What the hell? Paid vacations are something to be troubled about?!

Please give all these “troubles” to me—the more the better!

Sun Xi never expected that Min Jingchao, who looked so trustworthy with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would turn out to be such a master of humble-bragging.

Especially when he said this with a completely serious expression on his face, showing no signs of humble-bragging, but instead sincerely expressing some kind of distress.

It was as natural as when people complained about their work—too many tasks, too much overtime, overbearing bosses.

Min Jingchao saw Sun Xi’s constipated expression of wanting to speak but hesitating, and realized he was probably misunderstanding. He explained, “Tenda’s paid vacations are not the same as what you’re imagining.”

“Take a look at this video.”

Min Jingchao tapped a few times on his phone and opened a video on the AiLiDao website—the promotional video that Meng Chang had made for Suffering Travel.

Sun Xi remained silent for a moment, then reached out to take the phone.

His expression seemed to say, “Let me see how you’re going to continue with this humble-bragging!”

The video wasn’t very long. At the beginning, a deep, resonant male voice narrated: “There are many experiences in life you haven’t tried, distant places you haven’t been to. Whether you see them or not, they’re waiting there for you.”

“There can be many journeys, many forms of beautiful distant places, and when they meet you, they become unique…”

Accompanying the narration were various wonderful landscapes—lush forests from aerial perspectives, and scenes of people rock climbing, rappelling, and wading through water to challenge nature.

The video was very professional, both in terms of equipment and technique—a very standard promotional video.

Compared to other travel promotional videos, it was more concise and direct.

Many travel agencies’ promotional videos tended to be more artistic, with scenes of pretty girls walking in fields wearing long dresses, picking wildflowers, writing in journals with fountain pens, and so on.

After all, female demographics were very important, high-quality target user groups for travel agencies—a key demographic to attract. Including more footage of pretty girls also made the entire promotional video more pleasing to the eye.

These were conclusions drawn after continuous market research to cater to market demands.

However, this promotional video didn’t include anything unrelated to travel—just beautiful scenery and genuine challenges against nature, even the narration was done by a deep male voice.

Apart from this point, it had no essential difference from other travel agencies’ promotional videos.

Sun Xi was somewhat surprised: “Suffering Travel? I’ve never heard of this travel agency before.”

Although Traveler Bao Xu had some reputation, Suffering Travel was still an internal project without large-scale commercial promotion. People who closely followed Tenda’s various new industries might know about it, but ordinary people like Sun Xi, who only paid attention to Tenda’s games, knew little about Suffering Travel.

Min Jingchao briefly explained the origin of Suffering Travel, then said, “The people you see in the video are all department heads from Tenda. Including the special training from the month before, they’ve been suffering outdoors for two months now.”

“By coming here to help, I’ve dodged that bullet—I’d say I’m very lucky.”

Sun Xi: “…”

Incomprehensible!

How was that suffering? It was clearly a benefit!

“Jingchao, I think you’re being a bit extreme. What kind of suffering is this? It’s just going outdoors and even getting to play rock climbing—how fun is that!”

“Going outdoors to experience the beauty of nature and relieving fatigue caused by overtime work—isn’t that great?”

Min Jingchao was silent for a moment: “You think this way because the promotional video is somewhat deceptive…”

He knew what Hu Xianbin had encountered during the Suffering Travel experience, so he clearly understood that the promotional video only showed the most beautiful aspects in advance.

It was like when many bigshots posted videos of themselves rock climbing or surfing online—at first glance, it looked especially impressive and exciting, but when you actually tried it yourself, it was a completely different story!

Sun Xi was completely dismissive: “How could it be deceptive? No matter how much deception there is, its nature as a paid vacation won’t change!”

“Ah, I’m so envious. I really hope Mr. Zhou could arrange this kind of benefit for us too.”

Min Jingchao responded with a laugh: “If you really want to go that badly… you could suggest it to Mr. Zhou, arranging a package for everyone after ‘Bullet Hole 2’ is completed, so the team can go experience Suffering Travel together.”

“Of course, I won’t be going. Those who want to go can eagerly sign up.”

Sun Xi was delighted: “Really? That would be great! But… if I suggest it, there’s little hope. If you suggest it, Jingchao, there might actually be a chance!”

A paid vacation was too wonderful to even imagine.

But it wasn’t completely hopeless. If the game succeeded and made money, Zhou Muyan could be quite generous.

However, it would be better if Min Jingchao made the suggestion. If others suggested it, it wouldn’t work as well, given the image and status that came with his position.

Min Jingchao chuckled: “No problem. I’ll talk to Mr. Zhou about it later and definitely fulfill your wishes.”

He was clearly eager for this to happen.

Because Suffering Travel could only accommodate a limited number of people for each session.

Although Min Jingchao had escaped to Yangcheng, he hadn’t completely escaped the shadow of Suffering Travel looming over his head.

What if one day Mr. Pei had a sudden impulse and arranged for him to be on the list for the newest session?

Since Sun Xi and the people at Tianhua Studio were so envious and eager to go, he could mention it to Mr. Zhou and let them go.

If they took up the spots, wouldn’t Min Jingchao himself be safe?

Perfect plan!

Sun Xi hadn’t expected that casual chat would lead to an unexpected gain. He happily said, “Thank you very much!”

He gleefully browsed through the comments below the video.

More than a day had passed since the video was published, and there were already quite a few comments.

The comments were similar to Sun Xi’s attitude—people showed some interest in Suffering Travel.

“Is Tenda finally entering the tourism industry? This promotional video gives a good impression—not too many affected segments, practical throughout.”

“Exactly! It’s fundamentally different from promotional videos made by other travel agencies—not gaudy at all!”

“I’m feeling tempted. What should I do? Work has been too tiring lately, and I really want to travel and experience the beauty of nature…”

“Why is it called Suffering Travel? Did they deliberately choose this name to appear unique? I didn’t see any suffering in this video?”

“I heard it’s still in the internal testing phase but will be open to the public in the future. When that happens, I’ll definitely be the first to sign up!”

Min Jingchao also saw these comments. Unlike Sun Xi’s reaction, he shook his head helplessly.

Ah, everyone was still too young and didn’t understand the treachery of human nature.

Sun Xi didn’t think too much about it, treating it as just a humble-bragging episode from Min Jingchao. He organized the list, sent it to Zhou Muyan, and began working on his own tasks.

By noon, Zhou Muyan came to invite Min Jingchao and Sun Xi to lunch together.

Tianhua Studio had a cafeteria with reasonably tasty food. Zhou Muyan, afraid that Min Jingchao might not be used to the food but too polite to say anything, often invited him to eat together.

Once the project development got on track and Min Jingchao became more familiar with the other team members, Zhou Muyan could stop worrying.

Zhou Muyan led the two to a private room in the company cafeteria, ordered a few simple dishes, and chatted while eating.

Min Jingchao didn’t forget what he had discussed with Sun Xi earlier and said to Zhou Muyan, “Mr. Zhou, I’d like to make a request. If ‘Bullet Hole 2’ becomes quite popular after its launch, could we arrange a paid trip for all members of the project team?”

“As it happens, Tenda’s Suffering Travel has recently begun formal operations and will be officially open to the public in a month or two.”

“Mr. Zhou, you see, Suffering Travel is mainly designed to temper employees’ physical fitness and cultivate a spirit of hard work. Here’s a promotional video.”

Min Jingchao opened the Suffering Travel promotional video on his phone and handed it over.

Zhou Muyan frowned slightly as he listened.

Hmm? Paid vacation?

The project had just been established, the game was still in its early planning stages, and they were already thinking about traveling?

The project team had already gathered a group of people who didn’t want to work overtime, with questionable work efficiency and attitude, and now they were being told in advance that there would be a paid vacation after project completion? This was too much!

He briefly looked at the promotional video, then very perfunctorily took out his own phone and clicked “follow.”

If he just handed the phone back, it would seem too dismissive. At least by clicking follow, he was making a gesture to let Min Jingchao feel he was actually noting the request.

“Alright, I’ll keep this in mind for now.”

“However, Brother Min, this matter can’t be rushed. After all, the game hasn’t even begun development yet—we’re still in the hard-working stage. It’s a bit premature to talk about paid vacations.”

“Don’t worry, if the project succeeds, these minor matters will be easy to arrange.”

On the surface, he was temporarily shelving the idea, but in reality, he was politely refusing.

Sun Xi, listening on the side, knew Mr. Zhou would react this way.

This was only because Min Jingchao had brought it up that Zhou’s response was somewhat polite. If they had suggested it, they might have been scolded.

But being rejected was normal; Sun Xi hadn’t had high hopes anyway.

Seeing that Zhou Muyan didn’t agree, Min Jingchao didn’t say much more and changed the subject, continuing to eat and chat.

…

In the afternoon, Min Jingchao and Sun Xi returned to their workstations. After a short lunch break, they continued working.

Designers were busiest when games were first launched. Both men were immersed in writing design documents, and for a long time, only the sound of keyboard typing could be heard.

After a while, Sun Xi stretched, went to the water bar to get a cup of coffee, and scrolled through his phone while drinking.

“Oh? Suffering Travel has updated with a documentary?”

Sun Xi had previously followed the Suffering Travel account. Although Zhou Muyan had politely refused the paid vacation request, it didn’t affect his longing for such an opportunity.

However, after watching the documentary for a few minutes, Sun Xi’s expression suddenly changed.

What the hell was this!

What was shown in the documentary was completely different from what he had imagined!

Sun Xi couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat, suddenly understanding why Min Jingchao was afraid when talking about paid vacations.

This Suffering Travel was truly pure suffering!

Just looking at the painful expressions of these people while rock climbing, one could empathize with their desperation.

The promotional video was deceptive. From a distance, it seemed like everyone was vigorously climbing and enjoying themselves, but when the close-up shots were shown, revealing the details of everyone’s desperate expressions, it was clear this was definitely not enjoyable!

Sun Xi patted his chest, feeling he had narrowly escaped disaster: “Thank goodness! Fortunately, Mr. Zhou didn’t agree.”

“If Mr. Zhou had actually agreed, we’d be in big trouble!”

If the game succeeded but they still had to go suffer, that would be too desperate.

And he had suggested that the entire project team go together—if they actually went, wouldn’t the others strangle him alive?

Fortunately, the wise and powerful Mr. Zhou had immediately seen that this Suffering Travel wasn’t a good thing and had politely refused the proposal.

But not long after putting down his phone, he saw Zhou Muyan come out of his office and head straight toward Min Jingchao.

“Brother Min, I just watched that documentary from Suffering Travel, and I think your suggestion is excellent!”

“It seems this Suffering Travel can really temper one’s will. I agree with you—after ‘Bullet Hole 2’ is completed, regardless of whether it succeeds or not, I’ll arrange this for everyone in the project team!”