Chen Kangtuo smiled and said, “No problem, you can ride as many times as you want. If you want to experience it again, please return to your seats.”

The investors didn’t hesitate, immediately returning to their seats to experience it a second time.

Could they really decapitate the Zerg Queen?

If only they’d known earlier—they would have taken the shooting more seriously instead of slacking off.

Earlier, some investors had assumed this project was like other indoor roller coasters with a fixed route, and that the guns were merely there to enhance immersion and engagement without actually affecting the route.

But now it was clear this wasn’t the case at all!

Four people formed a squad, and their performance on the battlefield determined the subsequent route.

Upon hearing that there was still much content they hadn’t experienced, these investors couldn’t resist.

They had already been considering riding again but thought there was no point repeating the same content. Now that they knew there was new content to discover, they were eager to go for another round!

Pei Qian stood on the side, watching in astonishment.

Something wasn’t right.

Pei Qian had been thinking that if these investors returned terrified, he would have to use his silver tongue to persuade them to ride again.

But there was no need for persuasion—they voluntarily got back on, not one missing!

This was quite distressing.

Chen Kangtuo asked in a low voice, “Mr. Pei, are you sure you don’t want to try it?”

Pei Qian shook his head.

Although he was quite curious about what it was like inside, Mr. Li and the others were already on their second ride. If he, on his first ride, happened to cry out, wouldn’t that ruin his image?

Today, Mr. Li and the others were clearly enjoying themselves and probably wouldn’t leave until they were completely satisfied.

Perhaps he should come back another day when no one was around and experience it secretly!

…

December 19th, Wednesday.

Pei Qian sat at his computer, eagerly waiting for Mr. Qian to submit his article.

There was no hope for the roller coaster project. After visiting two days ago, Pei Qian’s hopes had been thoroughly dashed.

The key was that after being stimulated on-site, he had been continuously stimulated several more times during the following two days.

Walking down the street, he could see advertisements for the roller coaster on bus billboards.

Browsing the web, he would also see ads for the roller coaster.

Even within the games “Sea Fortress” and “Mission and Choice,” they were advertising the roller coaster with joint promotions!

Of course, these two games hadn’t actually incorporated the roller coaster’s content into the games to prevent spoilers.

But merely promoting the roller coaster in the game announcements was deadly enough!

After all, these two games had far too many players—even just a small portion of redirected traffic would be enough to keep Shudder Lodge busy for a long time.

Pei Qian had even heard that tourists in Jingzhou were already eagerly waiting. Though the roller coaster project wouldn’t officially open to the public for another week, many people had already gathered outside, taking photos and videos of the site.

Clearly, when the roller coaster officially opened, it would likely be packed all day.

Pei Qian felt helpless. He hadn’t expected that despite implementing numerous restrictions, they would instead inspire Chen Kangtuo to create such an interactive game-type indoor roller coaster.

Nothing more to say—Chen Kangtuo had already made the honor roll for the next session of Suffering Travel.

Now Pei Qian could only wait for Mr. Qian’s hit piece to provide him with a bit of comfort.

Finally, Mr. Qian sent over his hit piece.

His efficiency was clearly quite high—he had promised three days and delivered in three days. This kind of spirit was worth learning from for certain chronic procrastinators.

Pei Qian was pleased and quickly examined the article after receiving it.

After reading it, Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction.

Perfect!

This Mr. Qian indeed had some skills—this was exactly the hit piece he desperately needed!

Once this hit piece was published, it would definitely cause a significant reaction and make the situation for “The Successor” even worse!

“Good, go ahead and publish it. I’ll transfer the final payment right away.”

Pei Qian was also straightforward—he always treated generously those who could truly help him lose money.

Mr. Qian received the payment and said, “It was a pleasure working with you! If you have similar jobs in the future, you can find me again. I’m quite professional in this area!”

Pei Qian chuckled, “I can see that.”

What followed next was waiting.

Pei Qian had initially considered spending more money to hire some internet trolls to boost the article’s popularity, but after reading the entire piece, he felt it wasn’t necessary.

Because Mr. Qian’s ability to stir up controversy was first-class. Once this review was published, it would definitely cause a huge debate. At that point, netizens would argue endlessly among themselves, eliminating any need for paid trolls.

Since that was the case, there was no need to waste money on it.

…

That evening.

Cui Geng was happily playing games at a nearby Slackin’ Internet Café.

After finishing writing “The Successor,” he had been slacking off, not starting any new books at all.

Readers were urging him quite persistently, but Cui Geng remained unmoved.

Because he had his own set of excuses.

Cui Geng claimed that he was helping Fei Huang Studio with filming guidance as the original author, so his new book would have to start a bit later.

In reality, this was purely an excuse…

Since Fei Huang Studio was filming in America, he hadn’t gone with them at all. Director Zhu Xiaocai would occasionally ask him a few questions, but often he couldn’t answer them and would let Fei Huang Studio’s writing team make their own decisions.

But given the successful precedent of “Eternal Cycles,” the readers were still fooled by this procrastinator, believing that he truly played a “huge” and “irreplaceable” role in the filming of “The Successor” series.

In fact… whether he was there or not made no difference.

Although “The Successor” series had already begun streaming on the AiLiDao website, the filming work hadn’t completely finished!

Cui Geng had made up his mind to wait until all episodes of “The Successor” had finished airing before considering starting a new book, which would be at least a month later.

And even a month later, he would only “start conceptualizing a new book.” When would he actually come up with the concept? That would take at least a month or so—anything shorter wouldn’t sufficiently demonstrate the care, thoroughness, and hard work of his creative process.

Of course, Cui Geng was still “earnestly absorbing inspiration” at the Inspiration Class during the day.

Since the three-work adaptation plan had been put on the agenda, “Eternal Cycles” had achieved great success, and Fei had even become a main designer at Tenda Games, the Inspiration Class had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Previously, authors in the Inspiration Class had all wanted to leave; now, each one was full of motivation, as if their work would be the next to be adapted.

Moreover, other authors from Endpoint Chinese Web also viewed joining the Inspiration Class as an honor and were putting in tremendous effort to produce successful works.

Endpoint Chinese Web’s attraction to authors had greatly increased, with even many authors from other sites coming over.

But as a slacker, Cui Geng obviously didn’t feel much pressure.

Just after finishing a game, his phone rang.

Cui Geng saw it was Huang Sibo calling and quickly answered.

“The situation is not good. I’ve sent you a film review that’s online—take a look at it right away.”

“This review isn’t an ordinary hit piece. See if you can come up with any way to refute it?”

Huang Sibo’s voice sounded serious.

After the first three episodes of “The Successor” went online on the AiLiDao website, the situation could be described as quite unfavorable.

There were many viewers giving negative reviews online, and the popularity and view count were slow to rise.

Although Meng Chang had spent a lot on publicity for “The Successor,” from the current situation, the promotional plan hadn’t been effective and had even misled some viewers, further lowering the reputation and ratings.

Currently, “The Successor” was barely maintaining a rating of around 7 on the AiLiDao website.

Compared to those anime series with ratings of 9.5 or 9.8, a rating of 7 could be considered quite poor, though still passable and not particularly low.

On one hand, this was because some of the viewers had read the original work, and fans of the original recognized the quality and high fidelity of the series. On the other hand, it was because the series was genuinely well-made and entirely in English, giving it a sense of prestige that felt like watching an American series, which was a plus in the eyes of certain viewer groups.

But now, this review had come out.

If the viewpoints in the review gained widespread acceptance among viewers, then the rating would likely continue to fall.

At that point, the situation would become really ugly.

Fei Huang Studio hadn’t signed a buyout contract with AiLiDao website, but rather one that calculated payment based on “The Successor’s” popularity, views, ratings, and other metrics.

With things in their current state, how could they face Mr. Pei?

Cui Geng quickly said, “Brother Huang, don’t worry yet. Let me take a look at this review.”

He clicked on the URL Huang Sibo had sent and found the review.

The title of the review was: “A Simple Analysis of the Deep Reasons for ‘The Successor’s’ Failure: Anti-Superhero, Yet Self-Important Due to Excessive Dumbing Down.”

Just seeing this title, Cui Geng also frowned, feeling the pressure.

Looking at the author, named “Mr. Qian,” who was a somewhat famous online film critic.

Although this Mr. Qian had a mixed reputation online, with many supporters and many detractors, and many people claiming he accepted money to write hit pieces, it had to be said that this person did have some skills, and his articles had significant influence online.

From the title alone, it was clear that Mr. Qian had come prepared.

First, the phrase “A Simple Analysis of the Deep Reasons for ‘The Successor’s’ Failure” was quite cunning.

Strictly speaking, “The Successor” hadn’t failed yet. As a series, only the first three episodes had aired so far, with the story barely beginning. Although the current rating wasn’t great, who knew if it might turn around later?

But Mr. Qian had directly adopted a conclusive stance, essentially treating “The Successor’s” failure as a major premise and an established fact.

This way, he wasn’t simply criticizing—he was merely analyzing the reasons for its failure.

And the latter half of the title directly targeted the core of “The Successor’s” story: the anti-superhero theme.

Mr. Qian used the four-character phrase “self-important” to describe it, clearly intending to undermine the value of “The Successor” from its story core, causing the entire series to collapse from its ideological foundation.

Cui Geng felt like he was facing a powerful enemy and didn’t dare take it lightly as he continued reading.