After returning to his desk, Yu Fei silently sighed.

Ah! How frustrating.

Although Mr. Pei had repeatedly tried to keep him, and his colleagues and readers were all very supportive, he had long lost interest in being the lead designer. The poor sales of “Ghost General 2” had only reinforced this feeling.

But Mr. Pei still wouldn’t let him go!

What could he do?

He couldn’t just continue like this indefinitely, could he?

Yu Fei strongly suspected that Mr. Pei was simply stalling. But why would Mr. Pei stall? Why did he think so highly of him? Yu Fei couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

If he couldn’t understand it, he might as well stop thinking about it.

Yu Fei sat at his workstation pondering for a long time before finally making a firm decision.

He absolutely couldn’t continue like this. He had to resign!

But going through the normal channels probably wouldn’t work. Mr. Pei’s attitude was already very clear—he wanted to keep Yu Fei.

Under these circumstances, the entire Tenda organization, including the gaming department and human resources, were Mr. Pei’s people. If Mr. Pei didn’t want to let him go, how could he leave smoothly?

Obviously, it wasn’t very likely.

So what should he do?

As it happened, Yu Fei thought of a good solution.

He decided to write a resignation letter, but this letter wasn’t for Mr. Pei—it was for the internet users!

If he wrote it for Mr. Pei, Mr. Pei might just throw it in the trash, which would be pointless. But if he showed it to internet users and created a big stir by publicly expressing his intention to quit, then under the attention of internet users, Mr. Pei would find it difficult to force him to stay.

There was no choice. Sometimes when the regular channels didn’t work, you had to take the less conventional route.

Yu Fei felt this approach might work, so he immediately decided to start writing!

As an online novelist, if there was one thing he didn’t lack, it was the ability to put pen to paper.

Of course, with the exception of procrastinators like Cui Geng.

“Dear readers and players:

Hello everyone, I am Yu Fei, the author of the novel ‘Eternal Cycle,’ as well as the designer for the latter half of the ‘Eternal Cycle’ DLC and the designer of ‘Ghost General 2.’

Of course, while I say ‘designer,’ I’m actually just a newcomer to the field. Most of the credit for this game should go to my colleagues in Tenda’s gaming department. I didn’t play any decisive role in its development.

I believe that I bear significant responsibility for the poor sales of ‘Ghost General 2,’ and I deeply feel that my abilities are not sufficient for the key position of lead designer at Tenda’s gaming department, nor for the important task of developing Tenda’s future games.

I am also a dedicated Tenda game player, with ‘Turn Back to Shore’ being my favorite game. But precisely because of this, I believe I shouldn’t hold back the entire Tenda gaming department due to my personal desires.

Tenda’s gaming department bears the arduous mission of revitalizing the domestic gaming industry and developing more quality games for domestic players. For me, having such a vision without the matching ability is not enough. My primary goal is to be an ordinary online novelist, focusing on writing my books well. However, now there’s a serious conflict between these two jobs, which has caused me considerable distress.

Therefore, I have submitted my resignation to Mr. Pei multiple times, expressing my intention to leave. Although Mr. Pei has tried to keep me for various reasons, my mind is made up.

I hope everyone will continue to support Tenda games, as well as my new book. Thank you all!”

After finishing, Yu Fei read it through from beginning to end, made a few changes to the wording, and finally nodded in satisfaction.

While it might not be the most formal letter, it clearly expressed what he wanted to say.

If he posted this on Weibo and had his readers share it, wouldn’t it cause some ripples?

As long as this matter became widely known, Mr. Pei would certainly find it embarrassing to force him to stay.

With this thought, Yu Fei immediately published it.

He did consider waiting until after the New Year, but then thought, better to handle one less problem now.

If he posted after the Spring Festival, what if there wasn’t enough time to generate sufficient attention? What if Mr. Pei had new development tasks on the first working day after the Spring Festival?

That would make things very complicated.

So, there was no time to waste!

After publishing this message, Yu Fei waited patiently for a while before checking the comments from internet users.

The first few comments had a fairly normal tone.

“I support your decision!”

“An online novelist who actually became a lead designer and created a game—that’s something to be proud of for a lifetime! Wanting to go back to continue writing online novels is a personal choice, and we all support you.”

“I also feel that the position of lead designer requires high professional skills. Having a writer with no formal training take on this role was a bit forced. Hope the next lead designer can continue to bring us all excellent works!”

“Hey, does this mean your new book will have more frequent updates? Two thousand words a day isn’t too much, right?”

But after a few more minutes, when Yu Fei refreshed the page again, he suddenly found that the tone of the comments seemed to have changed.

“Huh? Don’t leave!”

“Wait, you first said ‘most of the credit goes to the Tenda gaming department colleagues,’ then you said ‘I bear significant responsibility for the failure of Ghost General 2.’ Isn’t that contradictory? If you think you don’t deserve credit, then you don’t need to take the blame; if you’re taking the blame, that means you’re admitting you played an important role.”

“What do you mean by ‘the failure of Ghost General 2’? How has this game failed? Is there any fighting game that can compare to it right now? As a fighting game player, I really like this game!”

“What serious conflict? Can’t you find time to write your novel during the game development process? It might be slower, but that’s okay, we can all wait.”

“Exactly, don’t overthink it. If Mr. Pei wants to keep you, it means you’re capable, and perhaps even the best candidate right now. If you insist on leaving, what if the next lead designer isn’t as good as you? What then?”

“I think you’re just being too modest and lacking confidence. Even Qiao Laoshi has specifically praised you. Why do you need to underestimate yourself?”

“Right, sometimes excessive modesty equals arrogance. If you’re too fussy, everyone will think you’re just being pretentious!”

Seeing the latest hot comments that appeared, Yu Fei was completely bewildered, unable to make sense of it.

What was going on?

These people were actually trying to convince him to stay? And even more enthusiastically than Mr. Pei?

Especially the last comment, “Qiao Laoshi has specifically praised you”???

What was that about?

Yu Fei felt something was off and quickly went to his fan group to ask.

Soon, someone sent him a link to Qiao Laoshi’s video.

Yu Fei clicked on it and found that this video had just been released this morning, but its popularity was soaring rapidly!

It probably wouldn’t be long before it reached the front page!

Of course, given Qiao Laoshi’s status in the gaming community and the consistent quality of his videos, this achievement wasn’t surprising.

The key was the title of the video: “The Great Vision of Mr. Pei’s Gaming Empire as Seen Through ‘Ghost General 2’!”

Wow, Yu Fei was truly amazed.

They’re even talking about “vision” now?

Was that necessary? “Ghost General 2,” as a fighting game, was just a tear in time that, although of good quality, could only satisfy a niche player base.

Talking about “vision” was just outrageous!

A nearly obsolete fighting game, and they’re discussing vision?

The act of “investing huge resources to develop a fighting game” could be described in four words: narrow-minded thinking!

No wonder some people were going to Yu Fei’s Weibo post to try to keep him.

Clearly, Qiao Laoshi’s excessive praise for “Ghost General 2” had misled many people into thinking that Yu Fei was a truly capable lead designer, so they rushed over to persuade him to stay.

For Yu Fei, this was completely unacceptable.

Not just rationally unacceptable, but emotionally even more so.

“No, I need to see how this relates to ‘vision’ at all.”

Yu Fei, feeling quite indignant, clicked on the video to watch.

…

“Hello to all my viewer daddies, I, Qiao Laoshi, am finally back!”

“The two-month suffering journey has taught me a lot…”

In this first part, Qiao Liang briefly shared his experiences during the suffering journey with viewers, particularly showcasing his dramatically changed physique, as well as his forcibly tensed muscles and the vague abdominal muscles that could only be seen under specific lighting and shadows.

Regarding the suffering journey, Qiao Liang was extremely effusive, while also displaying his medal.

Clearly, this fell into the category of “suffering journey syndrome”: sufferers who, during the suffering journey, would wail and lament as if their lives were in danger; but after leaving the suffering journey, they became energetic and lively, even lavishing praise on the experience.

This “suffering journey syndrome” had frequently appeared among members of the first and second groups, and Qiao Laoshi was no exception.

However, there was still no scientifically sound explanation for the causes and pathological mechanisms of this syndrome.

After more than five minutes of “symptom display,” Qiao Liang began the main topic of this video, which was to formally review the game “Ghost General 2.”

“Alright, let’s get back to our main topic and talk about Tenda’s recently released new game, ‘Ghost General 2.'”

“During the time I was away suffering, many fans expressed regret, and some even gloated. Because I missed the hit games ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator’ and ‘Safe and Civilized Driving,’ and I didn’t even catch the popularity of the hit series ‘The Successor’!”

“Everyone felt that this was a huge loss for me.”

“To this I want to say, that’s small thinking, narrow vision! How could a mature content creator have such provincial views? How could one have such narrow thoughts?”

“As a content creator, jealousy and envy are absolutely unacceptable. I believe that if others can better explain Tenda games and provide viewers with different perspectives, that’s certainly a good thing! I never intended to monopolize the interpretation of Tenda games!”

“Games like ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator’ and ‘Safe and Civilized Driving’ are highly connected to reality and not difficult to interpret. For such simple homework, there’s no need for a top student like me to do it.”

“But ‘Ghost General 2’ is different. I’ve discovered that many people haven’t realized the important significance of this game and the grand vision behind it!”

“Since no one else has solved this puzzle, I’ll have to step in personally!”