October 10th, Sunday.

Qiao Liang updated the first episode of his “Return to Shore” complete walkthrough video. He then refreshed the page with satisfaction, reading the comments and bullet screen messages from netizens while waiting for the video’s popularity to continuously rise.

The comments section quickly became lively.

“First comment!!”

“Finally, I’m so moved!”

“Ah, Old Qiao’s video is finally here. Let me like it first to show support!”

“Old Qiao’s gameplay thinking is so clear, truly worthy of someone who has specifically researched the game.”

“Indeed, Qiao Laoshi has done thorough preparation for this video. He experiences the game from the perspective of a player with poor reflexes. He even has good tactics for some difficult parts. So timely!”

“Very professional, and he’s also planted many plot foreshadowings. Giving you 66 likes!”

“Brain: I’ve learned it! Hands: No, you haven’t.”

“I feel like Old Qiao and I aren’t playing the same game… why does he make it look so easy?”

Feeling the flattery from these hilarious netizens, Qiao Liang couldn’t help but feel proud.

I’m a professional game commentator. How could I be the same as others?

Qiao Liang himself was very satisfied with this video.

This video wasn’t focused on showing off skills, but rather on finding an easier way to complete the game from an ordinary player’s perspective.

Of course, for certain special monsters, Qiao Liang would first save the game, then complete it in multiple ways, demonstrating many different approaches to the viewers.

Besides this, some details hidden in the game, easter eggs, verification against the official novel, or speculation about certain puzzling points, all became particularly brilliant parts of the video.

Seeing his follower count growing rapidly, Qiao Liang felt both gratified and proud.

Who should he thank?

Of course, Mr. Pei!

If Mr. Pei hadn’t called him to Jingzhou to experience the game in advance, how could he have gotten so far ahead of other content creators?

Qiao Liang couldn’t help thinking that if Mr. Pei hadn’t let him experience the game early, he would probably still be struggling to complete it, being tortured to death by the game.

That’s why Mr. Pei is like family!

Not only did he invite me to experience the game, but he also repeatedly modified the game based on my opinions.

The game’s success must partly be due to my contributions, right?

Rounding up, could I, Qiao, be considered an “Assistant Designer for ‘Return to Shore'”?

Or a “‘Return to Shore’ Special Tester”?

Hmm, both sound good!

Qiao Liang casually flipped through a few fan comments and interacted with the comment section.

Soon, this video, dubbed by viewers as “October’s Strongest Series,” began climbing the rankings, first reaching the top of the gaming section, and then quickly charging toward AiLiDao’s overall rankings!

Qiao Liang scrolled through the videos on the ranking list and suddenly saw a familiar content creator’s name.

It was Hao Shuaiqi!

The title of his video was: When a Foreign Content Creator Livestreams ‘Return to Shore’ on Link Live.

Currently, the video’s popularity is also soaring, right behind Qiao Liang’s walkthrough video.

“Hmm, this guy’s efficiency is quite fast too. Let me see how our international friend is doing with the game.”

Qiao Liang clicked on the video.

Admittedly, Hao Shuaiqi lived up to his name (which means “handsome and cool”). He was indeed quite handsome, though he seemed a bit silly and knew how to create entertaining effects.

This foreign enthusiast had edited his Link Live stream recordings, added subtitles and special effects, and uploaded them to AiLiDao.

Hao Shuaiqi’s videos followed a completely different approach from Qiao Laoshi’s.

Qiao Laoshi’s videos were walkthrough guides. The pace wasn’t particularly fast, but the content was very compact. The entire route was planned out, everything seemed to follow a script, making players exclaim, “This game is actually this simple?”

Hao Shuaiqi’s videos, on the other hand, were completely first-impression videos, filled with scenes of a novice being slaughtered by monsters. In the livestream, he might die several times to a minor enemy, and Hao Shuaiqi had streamlined these death scenes, turning them all into entertainment.

Hao Shuaiqi wrote his epitaph as “He died,” and combined with the expressions captured by the camera, it let viewers see reflections of themselves playing the game, creating extremely entertaining effects.

From the bullet screen comments, it was clear that although Hao Shuaiqi kept dying, viewers found it extremely enjoyable.

“Hahahaha, the streamer died again.”

“That’s me.”

“This ‘he died’ is so witty.”

“I suggest the streamer change his epitaph to ‘Damn’ or ‘Noob’ on the second playthrough, the effect would be amazing!”

“Tenda Games enhancing our national prestige?”

“More like making international friends suffer, damaging international relations!”

“Cause of death: This monster didn’t look that tough.”

“Coming from Old Qiao’s video next door, getting two meals from one dish, the entertainment value is explosive!”

“Strange, when I play this game myself, I want to smash my controller, but why is it so fun to watch others play?”

“Please, streamer, find someone to play for you, I really can’t watch this anymore!”

Hao Shuaiqi had also prepared a large dictionary beside him and kept a poetry search website open. He often had to look up the meaning of plot elements.

To discourage foreigners from playing this game, Pei Qian had deliberately added many poems and classical Chinese texts, even hiding key puzzle content for some side stories.

For Qiao Liang, though his classical Chinese foundation wasn’t great, he at least had some knowledge and could guess the general meaning through a combination of guesswork and context.

But for Hao Shuaiqi, this was life-threatening. He often couldn’t find what he needed, even after flipping through the dictionary for a long time, and had to seek help from classmates and enthusiastic viewers.

However, whenever Hao Shuaiqi figured out the meaning of a poem and solved a puzzle, he would become extremely excited and feel a great sense of achievement.

Pei Qian had considered creating original poems to make it even more challenging, but that was too demanding to accomplish!

Even literature majors don’t specifically study poetry writing, and even if college students forced themselves to write poems, the effect would certainly be much worse than the classical poems from ancient masters.

Moreover, Ma Yiqun and Zhu Xing’an were already busy writing the storyline and didn’t have much time to meticulously compose poetry.

So the poems in the game were mainly selected from relatively obscure works that also had meanings appropriate to the context, directly embedded into the game.

With the help of the dictionary and poetry search, Hao Shuaiqi put in great effort and actually managed to solve these puzzles.

Then he would explain the meanings of these puzzles to the viewers in his livestream, triggering a chorus of “woo,” “LOL,” or “awesome” in admiration.

Link Live didn’t have a bullet screen, but viewers could still send messages in the livestream room to interact with the streamer.

Hao Shuaiqi was also very thoughtful in recording these foreign viewers’ comments during the livestream and regularly translating some interesting comments to display at the end of the video.

For instance, at the end of this episode, he showcased several messages from foreigners.

“Very interesting game, hope to see more!”

“Can someone give me a link to buy this game?”

“This game seems to be prepared for real players, it’s refreshing.”

“The content looks rich, and the feel and graphics are good too. I can’t wait to see more!”

“We need English!”

“日本語が必要！” (Japanese is needed!)

Seeing these messages, Qiao Liang couldn’t help but smile.

“Playing the game while flipping through a dictionary? That works?”

“It’s time for international friends to experience what suffering feels like!”

“But come to think of it, this game is so hardcore, no wonder it suits these foreign players’ tastes.”

“Let’s give him a like.”

Qiao Liang shared Hao Shuaiqi’s video, happily riding each other’s wave of popularity.

…

Tenda Games.

Li Yada looked at the backend data for “Return to Shore” and then at the game’s rating on TPDb, nodding with satisfaction.

Well, everything was flourishing!

The backend data was steadily growing, sales were continuously rising, and the refund rate was rapidly decreasing—originally over 20%, now less than 10%.

The game’s rating on the TPDb website was also constantly changing, with the total score now reaching 8.1. It seemed like it would continue to rise for some time.

Most importantly, in a few days, some media reviews would appear.

For domestic game media to review this game, the editorial team would need to complete the game before they could evaluate it.

With “Return to Shore’s” high difficulty, even the editors of gaming media were only human. Unable to complete it in a short period, they didn’t feel comfortable providing a review, so the media review section remained empty.

If several media outlets gave the game high scores, the rating on TPDb would definitely continue to rise.

“Mr. Pei is truly strategizing from within the tent.”

“Although Mr. Pei hasn’t been at the company these past few days, the game’s development completely aligns with his expectations. Indeed, this is what they call being confident and well-prepared.”

Li Yada couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

Opening the game’s comment section again, she discovered some new hot comments.

“We need English!”

Rows upon rows of the same message, all from different IDs.

Li Yada was startled.

At first, she thought someone was deliberately causing trouble. After all, the game hadn’t been promoted abroad, so where did these foreigners come from?

But looking roughly, she found that there were quite a few similar comments.

After careful investigation, Li Yada quickly identified the source.

An AiLiDao content creator called “Hao Shuaiqi” had been livestreaming “Return to Shore” on Link Live, which had attracted the attention of some foreign players.

These foreigners seemed quite eager, after all, “Return to Shore” was too challenging to play without understanding Chinese. The puzzle content in the game had to be abandoned.

Li Yada thought for a moment and felt she should report this matter to Mr. Pei.

After all, the overseas market was vast.

Just by spending some money to find a good translator, once the English version was created, they could find overseas publishers for promotion and distribution, earning an additional source of income.

Thinking of this, Li Yada decided to call Mr. Pei.

After all, finding translators and publishers was not a small matter and would cost money. It was better to get Mr. Pei’s approval.

“Let me consult with Mr. Pei to see if we should create an English version.”