Meanwhile, at Chi Xing Studio.

“This way, please,” Meng Chang gestured to Qiao Liang.

Qiao Liang hurriedly nodded and followed, his face showing both anticipation and pleasant surprise.

He hadn’t expected Tenda to invite him as a special tester for this brand-new VR game!

Although Qiao Liang had previously been invited to experience “Turn Back is the Shore,” that was a long time ago. For recent games like “Duty and Choice” and “Fitness Showdown,” Qiao Liang hadn’t received such treatment, and hadn’t even heard much about these new games.

He didn’t know this was Mr. Pei deliberately keeping him in the dark; he assumed Mr. Pei had some special promotional or marketing considerations.

Although he had come up with many reasons and excuses for Mr. Pei, Qiao Liang still felt slightly bitter about not being invited to test new games.

What’s going on? As the person who understands Mr. Pei best, have I, Qiao Laoshi, lost even the privilege of experiencing Tenda’s games in advance?

This was truly disheartening.

So when Qiao Liang received Meng Chang’s invitation to experience Tenda’s first VR game developed in collaboration with Chi Xing Studio, he was exceptionally excited, thrilled, and honored.

Tenda’s new games needed him again—could this be some kind of positive signal?

Was he perhaps not far from officially becoming a Tenda external employee?

Qiao Liang couldn’t help but daydream.

Just before entering the work area, Meng Chang stopped.

“Qiao Laoshi, here’s the situation.”

“Since this game is still in the testing phase, the current quality doesn’t represent the final product, and we’re not certain what changes will be made later. So we hope you can keep this project confidential and ensure no information leaks online.”

“If possible, we’d like you to minimize online discussions, including forums, fan groups, and so on.”

Qiao Liang thumped his chest: “Rest assured, I’m a professional!”

“I’ll keep it strictly confidential, not a word will be revealed!”

“Um… is it okay if I chat with fans in my groups daily but don’t mention this game?”

Meng Chang thought for a moment and nodded: “That’s fine.”

Although it was just a verbal promise, from what Meng Chang knew, Qiao Laoshi was generally a man of his word who would strive to keep his promises.

Besides, a verbal promise was the most Meng Chang could ask for.

What else could he do? He couldn’t possibly detain Qiao Liang and prevent him from speaking in his fan groups during the trial period, could he?

That would be too outrageous and impossible to implement.

So for Meng Chang, a verbal promise was sufficient. Even if Qiao Laoshi chatted in his fan groups, as long as he didn’t mention “Animal Island,” there wouldn’t be any issues.

After all, his main purpose in having Qiao Laoshi playtest this game was to divert his attention and prevent him from getting involved with “Eternal Cycle.”

Keeping “Animal Island” confidential was just a secondary concern.

Having reached an understanding, the two continued walking and soon met Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou.

Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and Qiao Liang all knew each other. They greeted each other with warm handshakes, creating a harmonious and friendly atmosphere.

However, the looks Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou gave Meng Chang were not particularly friendly—cold and somewhat vigilant.

Although Meng Chang was now the head of the promotion and marketing department, officially part of Tenda, Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou were familiar with his previous style and actions.

Even though Meng Chang was gradually being changed by Mr. Pei after joining Tenda, who knew how far along that transformation had progressed?

So Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou maintained a natural state of vigilance toward him.

Meng Chang keenly sensed that he didn’t fit in with the atmosphere, so after a brief laugh, he prepared to leave: “Alright, Ms. Lin, please host Qiao Laoshi and coordinate the game experience with him. I’ll be going now.”

After leaving Chi Xing Studio, Meng Chang let out a long breath.

Good, everything went smoothly!

Although there were some minor flaws, his plan had succeeded. Qiao Laoshi would definitely be fully immersed in evaluating “Animal Island” for the next period and wouldn’t pay attention to “Eternal Cycle.”

He had eliminated a hidden danger on the path to his commission!

The “minor flaw” he referred to was that his plan had raised Lin Wan’s suspicions slightly.

Meng Chang had first called Lin Wan, saying Qiao Laoshi wanted to test “Animal Island.” After Lin Wan agreed, he called Qiao Laoshi, inviting him to Chi Xing Studio to participate in testing “Animal Island.”

That’s how he had connected them.

But this plan wasn’t flawless. The biggest issue was that Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and Qiao Laoshi were familiar with each other, but Lin Wan, Qiao Laoshi, and Meng Chang weren’t close…

Why would acquaintances need a stranger to connect them?

It was quite strange.

Meng Chang’s explanation was that, as the head of the advertising and marketing department, he happened to be working on a promotional plan for next month that involved both Qiao Laoshi and Chi Xing Studio.

This somewhat awkward excuse had managed to get him through, but clearly hadn’t completely eliminated Lin Wan’s suspicions.

Of course, this wasn’t a major problem. Even if Lin Wan had suspicions about his motives, she couldn’t possibly guess the truth behind it. After all, the agreement between Meng Chang and Mr. Pei was strictly confidential, and no outsiders would know about it.

Having arranged for Qiao Laoshi, Meng Chang felt much more at ease and prepared to go back to consider if there were any other loopholes.

……

At Chi Xing Studio, Lin Wan found a workstation for Qiao Liang in the office area, then handed him a VR headset from a foreign brand.

The “Animal Island” demo was loaded on the VR headset.

“It’s still in the development stage with quite a few issues. If you find any problems during your experience, feel free to provide feedback to our project’s lead designer at any time,” Lin Wan said.

Qiao Liang immediately nodded: “Don’t worry!”

“Mr. Pei previously invited me to participate in the internal testing of ‘Turn Back is the Shore,’ and I made huge contributions to that game’s balance!”

Speaking of this, Qiao Liang’s face was full of pride.

His so-called “huge contributions to balance” actually meant that he had painstakingly identified the best weapons in the game, which Mr. Pei then nerfed one by one.

Especially weapons like the Guandao, one of the few that could reduce the game’s difficulty—these were nerfed so severely that even their own mothers wouldn’t recognize them.

At that time, Qiao Liang didn’t understand and even mistakenly thought Mr. Pei was deliberately making things difficult for him.

But once “Pudao” was released, Qiao Liang instantly understood Mr. Pei’s intention in nerfing these weapons.

It was to highlight the power of “Pudao” and allow players to better experience the game content!

Therefore, Qiao Liang remained quite proud of the contributions he had made to “Turn Back is the Shore.”

Lin Wan smiled: “Turn Back is the Shore? That’s perfect. Our project should be completed in about a month, and then it’ll seamlessly connect.”

Qiao Liang was stunned: “Seamlessly connect? Connect to what?”

Lin Wan had intended to mention the new DLC for “Turn Back is the Shore,” but suddenly realized that was wrong.

She couldn’t say that.

Because the “Eternal Cycle” DLC involved copyright development of works from Terminus Chinese Website’s Inspiration Class, and Mr. Pei had explicitly said not to leak this information!

Fortunately, Lin Wan had only said “seamlessly connect” without mentioning anything else.

This shouldn’t count as leaking information, right?

Lin Wan hastily changed the subject: “Nothing, you’ll know when the time comes.”

“Anyway, I have something to attend to, so I’ll leave you to experience the game. Feel free to find me if you have any questions.”

Lin Wan quickly made her exit to avoid Qiao Liang noticing anything unusual and digging deeper.

Watching Lin Wan leave, Qiao Liang felt confused.

What did she mean by “seamlessly connect”?

Would there be another new game for him to experience in a month?

……

While the authors in Terminus Chinese Website’s Inspiration Class were frantically revising their works, more and more readers in their fan groups were discussing the same question.

What exactly was going on with these slacker authors from the Inspiration Class?

Their work ethic now was completely different from before!

Especially authors like Cui Geng and the other two—they had been intensively revising their works over the past few days, modifying about ten chapters every day.

And these weren’t just minor tweaks. Many plot elements had changed, becoming more reasonable and refined.

Estimating their work hours, these people must be working at least five to six hours a day, not counting the time spent reconceptualizing stories and reorganizing novel structures.

If all time was accounted for, they were probably working a full eight hours.

For these slackers, working a full eight hours was an absurdly extreme thing!

As for the other authors, although they weren’t revising as frequently, they were either increasing their update frequency or preparing new books—all of them had abandoned their slacker status.

Was this a distortion of human nature or a moral decline?

The sudden happiness felt almost unreal, causing readers to speculate about what was happening.

“When slackers collectively start working hard one after another, there must be some special reason behind it! If everything remained the same, they definitely wouldn’t be in this state!”

“Did they get a pay raise?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. As far as I know, the Inspiration Class’s buyout fees are already among the highest in the industry, so a raise is unlikely. Besides, if there really was a pay increase, Cui Geng and Yu Fei would be updating more or starting new books. Why keep revising old books repeatedly? Revisions don’t pay.”

“Maybe there’s a new rule where revisions are paid?”

“Then why aren’t other authors revising to earn that money?”

“So… what else could it be? I really can’t think of anything.”

“Maybe they get special recommendation spots based on performance? Or access to other channels? Or perhaps some guaranteed bonuses?”

The netizens let their imaginations run wild, but none hit the mark.

After all, Terminus Chinese Website had never had any copyright development for its works before, so readers instinctively didn’t think in that direction.

All they could imagine were better recommendation spots, better distribution channels, or better website contracts.