After hearing Lu Xiaoping’s explanation, the other executives revealed expressions of sudden understanding and nodded in agreement.
It made perfect sense.
The biggest confusion for these executives had been what was going on in Tenda Group’s mind—why would they portray themselves negatively in such an important game?
Lu Xiaoping’s explanation of “ostensible criticism but implicit praise” perfectly answered everyone’s questions.
On one hand, they gained traffic and a good reputation through self-deprecation; on the other hand, they implanted a subconscious impression in everyone’s minds that Tenda was better than other companies.
And in the specific implementation, they also incidentally turned the tables on the Anti-Tenda Alliance.
It was truly killing three birds with one stone.
No wonder this was absolutely a poisonous scheme—only someone like Mr. Pei could devise such a vicious strategy.
Cultured people are the most frightening; they can insult you without using a single vulgar word, to the point where you don’t even realize you’ve been insulted.
Fortunately, Lu Xiaoping, having made films for so many years, had a precise grasp of artistic implications and successfully analyzed Mr. Pei’s intentions.
Nie Yunsheng said: “So we should now seize this weakness and attack fiercely.”
“We need to expose Tenda Group’s sinister intentions. We should point directly to the core issue: this game appears to be cyberpunk-themed on the surface, but in reality, it completely betrays the core of cyberpunk. It doesn’t genuinely oppose autocratic and dictatorial corporations; instead, it uses this method to seek legitimacy for its own company’s monopolistic business, subtly guiding all viewers and players.”
“Their intentions are absolutely condemnable!”
“As long as we can create this public opinion, our film will definitely seize the high ground when it’s released.”
“Because ‘My Property’ clearly has a higher purpose than ‘The Future You Choose.'”
At this point, everyone present nodded in agreement.
“After all, our film is a classic science fiction work that has truly stood the test of time. Mr. Pei is still young; producing so many excellent games and films over a long period, he’s bound to run out of talent eventually.”
“I agree. Although we haven’t yet grasped some of the details of ‘The Future You Choose’ film, judging from the game, the film’s purpose shouldn’t be much higher. At the very least, I think ‘My Property’ has a very good chance.”
“By the way, how exactly are the release dates for these two films arranged?”
Lu Xiaoping said: “They’re being released on the same day. We didn’t participate in the Venice Film Festival specifically to stick closely to Fei Huang Studio. Whether a day earlier or later, I was afraid Mr. Pei might have some special tactics waiting for us.”
Everyone gave a thumbs up: “Good, a head-on collision—that’s gutsy.”
All present approved of Lu Xiaoping’s decision.
If their film was released earlier, Mr. Pei might make some targeted arrangements that would significantly diminish their results. If released later, their film might be completely overshadowed by “The Future You Choose,” considering Mr. Pei’s unparalleled marketing capabilities.
So it was best to choose the same release date. With both sides openly competing, online film reviews would likely discuss both films together, inevitably determining which was superior.
Previously, when competing with Mr. Pei, these people had habitually tried to gain advantages through underhanded tricks and small tactics, but ultimately these methods had proven to be like lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet.
Now they finally understood: to defeat Mr. Pei, they couldn’t be timid—they needed a head-on collision.
This time, everyone was full of confidence in their film “My Property”!
…
…
Friday, September 20th.
Qiao Liang looked at the video being uploaded for review, stretched, and let out a long breath.
“Finally completed!”
“I miss this feeling so much! It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a thoroughly satisfying experience. Playing Mr. Pei’s games is indeed like finishing a thick philosophy book. It always leads to sudden enlightenment, giving profound inspiration.”
“The only difference is that philosophical texts are obscure and difficult to understand, which would make someone uneducated like me drowsy. But Mr. Pei’s games are full of fun, unconsciously broadening my horizons and showing me completely different things.”
As someone who prided himself on understanding Mr. Pei best, Qiao Liang had always been very confident in his insight.
While playing this game, Qiao Liang sensed many familiar elements that he had vaguely felt in previous Tenda games, though they were more obvious this time.
Moreover, the puzzles in “The Future You Choose” were moderately difficult and perfectly arranged. When explored deeply, their implications seemed to emerge endlessly, making it very suitable for video analysis.
Qiao Liang secluded himself for two entire days, thoroughly excavating all his accumulated knowledge and understanding about Tenda, before finally producing this review video.
He was absolutely certain that Mr. Pei was using this unique game to convey some crucial information to all players.
And for Tenda Group, which was winning victory after victory and about to completely defeat the Anti-Tenda Alliance, this crucial information was likely also Mr. Pei’s target planning and crisis warning for the next phase.
Qiao Liang had already regarded this game as an epoch-making milestone work among Tenda games.
While patiently waiting for his video to be reviewed, he prepared to check online evaluations of the game.
During his video creation process, Qiao Liang had remained disconnected from the internet, mainly to avoid having online opinions interfere with or influence his own thoughts.
Now that the video was completed, it was about time to look at external game reviews.
However, after briefly browsing Weibo and some forums, Qiao Liang’s brow furrowed.
“What’s going on? How can such an enjoyable game have so many people picking at its flaws?”
“They’re saying the gameplay is monotonous and the content not rich enough. They’re also saying that while the game appears to be self-deprecating on the surface, it’s actually just making a show of it—ostensibly criticizing but implicitly praising, a means of putting down other companies?”
“This is outrageous! This interpretation is completely skewed, yet so many people are choosing to support it. It’s truly absurd!”
Qiao Liang became increasingly angry, filled with righteous indignation.
Whenever such things happened, he was even more anxious than Tenda Group’s staff.
Online negative reviews of the game mainly focused on two aspects.
First, the gameplay was monotonous and the content not rich enough. From beginning to end, the protagonist Captain Rude seemed to be only an outsider. Although he continuously unlocked various combat abilities, the game content consisted solely of constant battles against ever-emerging enemies, which didn’t seem fundamentally different from certain shoot-’em-up action games.
Elements like team members, supplies, equipment, and money in the game all seemed to appear out of thin air. When the protagonist failed, someone would rescue him, and the cybernetic doctor would replace his prosthetics with the newest models. When starting a new campaign, reinforcements would come from all directions. It could be said that he never had to worry about being cornered.
This made players feel the entire process was relatively monotonous, lacking more complex and interesting gameplay. The entire experience was just shooting from start to finish, and the plot left players confused.
Second, critics denounced the game as actually being a form of ostensible criticism but implicit praise—not genuine self-deprecation, but rather a bid for undeserved reputation.
What constitutes genuine self-deprecation? It means completely making oneself the antagonist, portraying one’s own ugly aspects in the game, and ultimately being defeated—that’s genuine self-deprecation.
But Tenda’s approach in this game was clearly reserved. On the surface, they arranged themselves as the villain, seemingly criticizing themselves, but as the game progressed to later stages, Tenda Group appeared to be a principled, idealistic company, showing a trend toward redemption. And the resistance leader Captain Rude’s final moment of confusion on the rooftop seemed to suggest that he was wrong, further deepening this impression for players.
From this perspective, the game’s story didn’t seem particularly outstanding in terms of ideological depth and purpose. To some extent, it had degenerated into a work of self-promotion.
If a company used a work to portray its own theme, but instead of criticizing, it praised itself, could such a work still be considered excellent? This required a question mark.
Both these perspectives had stirred considerable discussion online, with numerous supporters.
The first view was widely supported by players, as most players didn’t care about the game’s deeper meaning but could directly experience whether the game was fun to play.
The second view attracted some “cloud players.” These players, though not deeply experienced with the game, enjoyed discussing game content and plot, offering their subjective evaluations.
That this game was poorly received by both actual players and cloud players showed how forceful this wave of public opinion was.
After reading these discussions, Qiao Liang actually let out a sigh of relief.
“Fortunately, I didn’t read these online game reviews before making my video; otherwise, I would have been angered to death by these people. My creative thinking would definitely have been influenced.”
“But it’s fine; whether my video comes out earlier or later doesn’t affect the outcome, because I’m the one who truly holds the key to the truth.”
“As long as my interpretation of the game is correct, no matter when the video is released, these erroneous statements will naturally dissipate.”
“Perhaps Mr. Pei has prepared a backup plan, since the film hasn’t officially premiered yet.”
“But given the current situation, I don’t think any backup plan is needed at all. With Qiao Laoshi taking the field, it’s enough to cut down these shady villains!”
Qiao Liang wasn’t worried at all, because he had already noticed these two issues being hotly discussed online and had analyzed them in his video. However, the reasons he analyzed were completely opposite to these online statements.