April 3.

Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Bao Xu, Lü Mingliang, and all the employees were closely monitoring the situation with “Game Developer.”

The atmosphere in the company was somewhat tense, and everyone’s expressions were grim.

Three days had passed, and from all perspectives, the launch of “Game Developer” had been terrible!

The initial promotion not only failed to have a positive effect but also discouraged many players.

The first batch of players who experienced the game didn’t rate it highly either, with opinions sharply divided.

Unlike previous games, with the popularity accumulated from “Ghost General” and “Sea Fortress,” “Game Developer” received considerable player attention as soon as it launched.

But a glance at the game’s comment section revealed that many players hadn’t understood the deeper meaning behind the game. After a brief try, they left negative reviews and quit!

“What kind of garbage is this? Not fun at all… Are you sure this was made by the ‘Sea Fortress’ development team? The quality has dropped too severely.”

“Only the graphics count as a positive. The gameplay is monotonous and quite boring, especially that narrator—was he deliberately made to annoy people?”

“Feel like I’ve been scammed. Not my cup of tea!”

“Can’t understand the gameplay. Feels like the designer is an elementary school student.”

“Has the design team gotten arrogant, or have players lost their edge? Did the success of ‘Sea Fortress’ make you think anything you make will sell?”

And so on.

Most players were hung up on the initial experience. Those who could persevere and grasp the deeper meaning were the minority.

This led to extremely polarized reviews for “Game Developer,” with many people giving either five stars or one star!

Lü Mingliang felt enormous pressure.

Would his first project as executive planner after taking over from Huang Sibo fail?

How could he face everyone?

He unconsciously looked toward Bao Xu, but Bao Xu’s expression made his mood even heavier.

Bao Xu wore an “as expected” expression!

Earlier, when Lü Mingliang had discussed it with Bao Xu, Bao Xu had predicted that this game would have only two possible outcomes.

Either it would become legendary, or it would fail miserably.

Because this was a work ahead of its time, with concepts too advanced and meaning too subtle, the average player would likely lose patience before experiencing the game’s true essence.

Seeing Bao Xu’s expression, Lü Mingliang became even more anxious.

“Brother Bao, the current situation… what should we do?”

Lü Mingliang was uncertain.

Bao Xu sighed softly: “We wait.”

“Mr. Pei must have anticipated this.”

“Now we can only do our best and accept whatever happens.”

“If it doesn’t work out, we’ll share the fate with Mr. Pei.”

…

…

Qiao Laoshi watched the video he had made from beginning to end.

He was very satisfied!

Because he strongly resonated with this game, and the game itself was so rich in meaning, Qiao Laoshi was full of motivation while making the video.

He completed it after three days of intense work, made several revisions, and perfected it!

This episode would be published in a brand-new column called “Godly Masterpieces” as its first entry.

Qiao Laoshi had a feeling that this series would become incredibly popular, perhaps even more so than “Trash Game Roast”!

However, before publishing, Qiao Laoshi needed to solve one problem.

That is… how to explain his previous video?

He had released two consecutive videos about “Game Developer,” which could easily lead to misunderstandings.

The first video was indeed sponsored content, but the second video represented Qiao Laoshi’s genuine thoughts, full of sincerity and valuable content.

The problem was, would his fans believe him?

To solve this issue, Qiao Laoshi racked his brains.

He knew clearly that if this problem couldn’t be resolved, then releasing the second video would still be ineffective. Most players wouldn’t carefully watch the content and would continue to harshly criticize him.

But if this problem could be properly addressed, then the first video could be instantly redeemed!

In that case, he would gain both reputation and profit—wouldn’t that be wonderful?

How could he completely reverse public opinion?

After much thought, Qiao Laoshi suddenly slapped his thigh.

He had finally come up with the perfect angle!

The previous video had been released on April Fools’ Day.

That was perfect timing.

Banana Potato Network was his main battlefield, where he had the most loyal fans who would listen to his explanation.

That was the advantage of location.

Moreover, not only had he published it, but many other video creators had also published videos with identical scripts!

That was the human element.

With perfect timing, location, and human factors, all he needed to do was answer one key question:

Why would Mr. Pei of Tenda do something so thankless?

After lengthy consideration, Qiao Laoshi finally thought of a possibility.

This was very likely a large-scale performance art piece released on April Fools’ Day!

By definition, performance art is a form of modern art where the artist personally participates in carefully planned actions and events, developing results through interactions with people, step by step.

This event perfectly matched that definition!

All video creators made videos strictly following a unified script provided directly by Mr. Pei.

After the videos were published, they caused tons of damage to their fans, becoming quite a failed promotional case.

In this event, Mr. Pei and all the sponsored streamers were participants in the performance art!

And this performance art had far-reaching influence…

Thinking about it this way, everything made more sense, and previously illogical behavior became reasonable!

But this was just the push factor.

Qiao Laoshi needed more evidence.

To verify his thoughts, Qiao Laoshi opened Banana Potato Network, ignored the numerous comments and private messages, and began searching for supporting arguments.

He discovered that after three days of bombardment and continued fermentation, a meme called “Qiao’s Sayings” or “Qiao Studies” was rapidly spreading!

Many people had even started uploading videos, spontaneously organizing imitation contests!

The mixed Chinese-English speaking style, catchphrases like “Wow” and “awesome,” and even some tone words and onomatopoeia…

Everything had become a meme!

In many unboxing videos in the tech category, the “Qiao Studies” phenomenon was particularly severe.

On one side was the dismal performance of “Game Developer”;

On the other was the rapid rise of “Qiao Studies” and countless netizens’ celebration!

Qiao Laoshi’s hands trembled with excitement.

Indeed, I guessed correctly!

This was a large-scale performance art piece, and it was extremely, extremely successful!

Mr. Pei, I’ve figured you out!

He immediately opened his video editing software and added a segment to the beginning of the completed video.

After finishing, Qiao Laoshi uploaded it with satisfaction.

“Yes, now this video is worthy of the column name ‘Godly Masterpieces’!”

Although Qiao Laoshi was facing the biggest crisis of his career, he was certain that in three-quarters of an incense stick—no, in a few hours-the public opinion about him on the internet would undergo a complete reversal!