“Ghost General 2” was inherently a challenging game. After all, Pei Qian was still figuring out how to discourage players—if it was too easy, it would become a mindless hack-and-slash game, so how could he discourage players then?

But it couldn’t be too difficult either. At minimum, Pei Qian needed to ensure that someone like himself, who only knew basic combos, could still complete the game after some struggle.

Therefore, levels like this typically had two difficulty approaches.

The high-difficulty approach avoided using the simplified combo mode, instead utilizing conventional complex combos, evading the boss’s attacks while continuously suppressing and dealing damage to defeat the boss in the shortest time possible.

However, this approach had little room for error. The boss’s damage was high, getting hit could easily lead to death, and complex combo mode was prone to mistakes. If the damage output didn’t meet requirements, failure was inevitable.

The low-difficulty approach involved using simplified combo mode while interacting with map mechanics.

Destroying the magical cores on the warship could weaken the boss while extending the game time. However, these magical cores weren’t easy to hit—they were subject to boss interference and only exposed one at a time at intervals.

Using the low-difficulty approach was definitely much slower than the high-difficulty method.

In this gameplay video, Cai Hong demonstrated the high-difficulty approach—ignoring the magical cores and defeating the powered-up Xu Chu through hard-fought combos.

During the battle, he was hit twice by Xu Chu, causing his health bar to plummet like a roller coaster, making viewers’ hearts race.

However, this was deliberate—specifically requested by Meng Chang and the “Ghost General 2” project team.

Cai Hong could have played without taking damage, but then how would players see how high the boss’s damage was?

In short, the video was quite spectacular, but Yu Fei felt worried.

His worry stemmed from three aspects:

First, this boss battle was among the less impressive ones in “Ghost General 2.” For truly magnificent scenes, moments like “Beheading Hua Xiong After Warming Wine,” “Borrowing the East Wind,” “Burning the Linked Camps,” and others were much more impressive and cooler than this scene.

Second, Cai Hong demonstrated the high-difficulty approach, but the game actually had a relatively lower-difficulty option. Would people think the game was too hard and be discouraged from playing?

Third, was it appropriate to promote with just this video? It wasn’t that this promotion method was wrong, but it seemed like a conventional promotion strategy. Yu Fei couldn’t see how this demonstrated the “Pei-style promotion method” that Meng Chang had mentioned.

When Meng Chang first came to develop a promotion plan for “Ghost General 2,” Yu Fei had been pleased, feeling that this project was highly valued by Mr. Pei.

Moreover, Meng Chang had explained many details about the “Pei-style promotion method,” suggesting that Yu Fei should watch and learn carefully so he could develop future promotion plans himself.

But despite Meng Chang’s lengthy explanation, where was this reflected in the current plan?

Yu Fei expressed his concerns to Meng Chang, especially regarding the last point.

Where exactly did this video demonstrate the “Pei-style promotion method” he had spoken about?

Seeing Yu Fei’s confused expression, Meng Chang smiled slightly: “This is where you don’t understand.”

“The way of military strategy is to mix truth and fiction, reality and illusion. Make the real seem false and the false seem real—the most important thing is to keep people guessing.”

“I know what kind of Pei-style promotion you were expecting.”

“Following conventional methods, we should be loudly announcing that ‘Ghost General’ will have an authentic sequel with major investment, personally handled by Tenda Games. We’d release some character art, models, and background story to mislead players.”

“We’d make them think this might be a large-scale card battle game following ‘Ghost General’s’ tradition, or an action game like ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ only to reveal the truth when ‘Ghost General 2’ is actually released, making them feel deceived.”

“Right?”

Yu Fei nodded. According to Meng Chang’s previous explanation of the “Pei-style promotion method,” this was indeed a basic strategy.

Meng Chang explained: “But you need to consider that we can’t use this method constantly. We can’t cry wolf too often if we want sustainable development.”

“At the beginning of this month, Ye Zhizhou from ‘Safe Driving’ used a similar approach. Although it achieved some effect, it was much weaker compared to what ‘Struggle’ achieved previously.”

“This sufficiently demonstrates that applying the Pei-style promotion method requires assessing circumstances and adapting to conditions. It must be adjusted according to different projects’ characteristics. We should never make the mistake of being dogmatic.”

“The reason ‘Struggle’ was so successful with this approach was that its ‘false advertising’ was deeply intertwined with the game’s inherent meaning. This made the promotion method itself part of breaking the fourth wall, which resonated with players.”

“For ‘Safe Driving,’ Ye Zhizhou was still a beginner who captured the form but not the spirit. Plus, the wolf had already been cried once, so naturally, the effect wasn’t as good.”

“Therefore, we can’t continue like this. We must make some changes.”

Yu Fei nodded in realization.

“I see! There’s so much depth to this!”

“But… does the current plan still conform to the Pei-style promotion method?”

Meng Chang nodded: “Of course. Can’t you see it?”

Yu Fei said somewhat embarrassedly: “No… To me, this just seems like a conventional fighting game promotion plan. We’re being straightforward that ‘Ghost General 2’ is a fighting game, and we’ve released actual battle footage, though this footage isn’t even the most impressive part…”

Meng Chang smiled slightly: “That’s exactly right.”

“The essence of the Pei-style promotion method lies in downplaying before highlighting. For ‘Ghost General 2,’ the best ‘downplaying’ is its fighting game attribute!”

“We honestly tell players this is a fighting game—a traditional fighting game with high difficulty. This way, core fighting game players will certainly be delighted, but they’re a small group. Most ordinary players will likely lose interest as soon as they hear it’s a fighting game.”

“But after deeply experiencing ‘Ghost General 2,’ they’ll discover it’s completely different from regular fighting games. It satisfies hardcore players’ demands for high difficulty while allowing ordinary players to enjoy the fun of fighting games!”

“Therefore, the essence of the Pei-style promotion method is: confusion.”

“It must have extreme deceptiveness, making our users unable to discern the true intention behind the promotion or determine the product’s greatest advantage. Only then can the Pei-style promotion method succeed.”

“So, making the real seem false and the false seem real—it’s in this mixture of truth and illusion that the profound depth of the Pei-style promotion method is revealed!”

Yu Fei finally understood.

It was clear that Meng Chang was full of confidence, and what he said actually made sense!

It seemed Meng Chang had advanced in his study of the Pei-style promotion method.

Previously, Meng Chang had been somewhat formulaic, rigidly following each step with less variation in his approach than Mr. Pei’s personal promotion plans. But now, Meng Chang’s promotional skills were gradually approaching Mr. Pei’s level.

If that was the case, there was nothing to worry about. They should proceed with this plan!

Yu Fei felt that the most comfortable aspect of being a Tenda manager was that regardless of what support was needed, you could always find professionals willing to help wholeheartedly. Even if they didn’t take full responsibility, they would at least provide professional advice.

Tenda’s company culture valued professional talent. Managers respected each other’s expertise and learned from one another, which was why Yu Fei could handle the gaming department’s work despite such a significant career switch.

With this in mind, Yu Fei nodded: “Good, let’s proceed with this plan.”

…

…

January 23rd, Wednesday.

In his office, Pei Qian watched the promotional video for “Ghost General 2” with a puzzled expression.

He was somewhat… confused by Meng Chang’s approach.

This promotional plan for “Ghost General 2” could be described as quite conventional. They first released promotional materials through official platforms, including promotional images, game introduction, and a gameplay video, while also conducting some standard promotion online.

For example, on Weibo and AiLiDao websites, they collaborated with Cai Hong, one of China’s top professional fighting game players, promoting that the game was jointly developed with numerous top domestic fighting game professionals, fully catering to fighting game enthusiasts’ experience.

Additionally, that battle footage was personally played by Cai Hong. Although there were two minor mistakes, overall the gameplay was quite spectacular, showing impressive technique and offering good watchability.

Pei Qian didn’t think much about those two minor mistakes.

Though Cai Hong was a professional player, he truly specialized in established fighting games. “Ghost General 2” was after all a new game, and Cai Hong wasn’t yet fully familiar with its various mechanics, so one or two mistakes were inevitable.

But this promotional plan left Pei Qian confused.

Regarding “Ghost General 2,” Pei Qian could say he was very familiar with it.

He had already completed the game as required by the system, putting in considerable effort.

Of course, Pei Qian used the simplified combo mode, transforming moves like ↓→↓→+A into ↓→+A, and fully utilized game mechanics during his playthrough.

For instance, in the Battle of Red Cliff where Zhou Yu fights Xu Chu, Pei Qian dutifully destroyed all magical cores before completing the level.

As for the game’s enjoyment… he did experience some, but fighting games ultimately weren’t Pei Qian’s cup of tea, so he didn’t appreciate it as deeply.

Regarding Meng Chang’s promotional plan, at first glance, it might seem like he had betrayed Pei Qian.

Promoting entirely based on the fighting game’s strengths—wasn’t this just an ordinary positive promotion? Had Meng Chang gone mad? Didn’t he want his commission?

But looking from a second perspective, one might see that this plan still had some discouraging effect. It did showcase the fighting game’s strengths, but that would only excite core fighting game players. For other player groups, simply knowing it was a fighting game would cause them to lose interest.

So, Pei Qian felt confused.

He had indeed hoped Meng Chang would evolve quickly, earn more commission, and make promotional plans increasingly effective. But after several rounds of evolution, Meng Chang seemed to be returning to basics, with strong confusing elements that left even Pei Qian unable to discern his true intentions.