Xia Jiang quickly finished her notes and asked, “Mr. Pei, we all know that the games produced by Tenda have so far achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim, which is a very rare accomplishment.”

“Many game developers focus solely on profit, choosing to sacrifice the game’s reputation, causing potentially legendary works to die prematurely.”

“There are also some game developers whose works receive praise but not sales, though they have good reputations; they can’t generate enough profit, sometimes even struggling to maintain normal company operations.”

“I must say, both situations are quite unfortunate.”

“So, could you tell us how you’ve managed to successfully balance sales and reputation simultaneously?”

Pei Qian silently sighed, “Actually, I have no interest in making money at all.”

“I’ve never considered how to balance reputation and profit. Each time, I thought the game would lose money, but somehow, mysteriously, the reputation explodes and sales surge.”

“I feel that so far, Tenda has made too much money already, to the point where I feel suffocated.”

“I also don’t understand why players praise my games while throwing money at me. It troubles me greatly.”

Xia Jiang nodded seriously, then continued writing rapidly.

“A designer who has transcended material enjoyment and pursues extremely high spiritual realms.”

“A soul that no amount of money can burden in the slightest.”

“Material enjoyments can be satisfied with just a little; spiritual pursuits, however, are endless.”

“Never worrying that his goals are set too high, but instead constantly engaged in self-reflection.”

“‘Is my level of thinking still not high enough?’ he often asks himself.”

After quickly finishing her notes, Xia Jiang asked another question.

“Mr. Pei, since you’ve already achieved such outstanding accomplishments, what is your next goal?”

Pei Qian cleared his throat somewhat solemnly, “My goal has never changed. I just want to make a game that loses money.”

Xia Jiang was momentarily stunned, then nodded and quickly recorded in her notebook.

“Could this be the realm of the undefeated master who seeks a worthy opponent?”

“Most designers spend their lives pursuing a successful game, while he secretly yearns for the favor of failure.”

“Perhaps mundane victories have become boring to him, and only an unexpected failure could let him feel a bit of challenge?”

“Using failure as a mirror to understand gain and loss.”

“Many strive for success, but those who strive for failure are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.”

“It’s hard to imagine what tremendous storms one must have weathered to develop such an incredibly calm and powerful mindset.”

Xia Jiang felt her thoughts flowing like a broken dam, the “scratch scratch” sound of her pen tip sweeping across paper was continuous.

Sitting across from her, Pei Qian began to fall into deep questioning about life.

Several questions interrogated his soul one after another.

Why isn’t she finding my answers strange at all?

What exactly is she writing?

Why does she have a completely “I understand” expression?

Pei Qian grew increasingly uneasy as he watched.

Wait, director, is there something wrong with the script?

I’ve been talking nonsense, so why hasn’t this journalist raised any doubts? Instead, she keeps taking notes seriously, as if what I’m saying is particularly profound.

Pei Qian wanted to secretly see what Xia Jiang was writing in her notebook, but the shorthand on the notepad looked like mysterious symbols—he couldn’t recognize a single character.

Should he ask?

That seemed somewhat inappropriate.

How could anyone, being interviewed by a journalist, actively ask what the journalist had written? Wouldn’t that be questioning their professional integrity? It would be too impolite.

On the surface, Pei Qian remained calm, smiling, but inside, he was completely bewildered.

He vaguely felt something wasn’t quite right.

They quickly moved on to the next question.

“Now, let’s talk about your new work, ‘Turn Back to Shore.'”

“As everyone knows, you choose a different game genre each time. What kind of inner drive pushes you to constantly advance into different fields?”

“Is it the spirit of courage to step out of your comfort zone, or your instinct for continuous improvement, or perhaps a transcendent attitude toward life’s games?”

Pei Qian was momentarily speechless.

This was getting more and more ridiculous!

The previous questions were relatively objective, but this question was already leading!

Pei Qian shook his head and firmly denied, “None of those.”

“I simply want to try some unknown fields to increase the chance of failure.”

This time, Xia Jiang didn’t take quick notes but smiled, “I understand.”

Pei Qian: “???”

What do you understand?!

I despise people who are so presumptuous!

Pei Qian was completely speechless. He was now 100% certain that this journalist had misunderstood him, and in an extremely absurd way.

Pei Qian was feeling frustrated, but at this moment, his rationality told him to stay calm.

Regardless of whether this journalist misunderstood or not, Pei Qian couldn’t forget his original purpose.

He needed to damage his public image as much as possible! Create a negative impression among the player community, thereby reducing sales, and possibly even causing his next game to fail miserably!

Thinking of this, Pei Qian regained his composed expression and gestured for her to continue.

Xia Jiang continued asking, “There have been many professional reviews of ‘Turn Back to Shore.'”

“Did you anticipate that professional game reviewers would evaluate this game in such a way?”

Pei Qian shook his head vigorously, “Not at all!”

Xia Jiang smiled, “Then, did you originally think the game’s meaning was very obscure, and were you prepared for people not to understand it?”

“Hmm? No,” Pei Qian shook his head. “I never expected them to give the game so many excessive interpretations.”

“Excessive interpretations?” Xia Jiang picked up her pen again.

Pei Qian nodded, “Yes, they completely over-interpreted it.”

“The highly praised storyline wasn’t created by me—I just randomly found some literature graduates from universities and had them write whatever.”

“The game’s high difficulty wasn’t designed to increase immersion.”

“I just wanted to make a game that tortures players. Seeing players suffer makes me particularly happy—it’s completely my twisted sense of humor.”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Pei Qian spoke very seriously.

Xia Jiang also nodded very seriously, “I understand, I understand.”

Pei Qian: “…”

Xia Jiang held her pen, wanting to quickly note some content, but feeling it wasn’t quite accurate, she asked, “Then what’s the deal with ‘Salvation’?”

Pei Qian answered honestly, “It was a cheat weapon I left for myself, which was accidentally discovered by players.”

Xia Jiang nodded, “So, you also played this game yourself.”

Pei Qian fell silent.

How should he answer this?

That he didn’t play it?

For such a simple question, there was no need to lie, right? Besides, if he said that, no one would believe him anyway.

He did play it?

That didn’t seem quite right either. He had just said the game was purely meant to torture players, but if he played it himself, wouldn’t that suggest he was also a masochist?

So, Pei Qian didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

Xia Jiang had an “I completely understand” expression and wrote rapidly in her notebook.

“Mr. Pei’s wit and humor also left a very deep impression on me.”

“Perhaps such successful people with strong inner cores all possess a natural sense of humor that makes an otherwise plain and simple interview fascinatingly witty.”

“Mr. Pei very straightforwardly admitted that ‘Turn Back to Shore’ is a game designed for the pleasure of torturing players.”

“But before torturing others, one must first torture oneself. Many players suffering in the game wouldn’t realize that their pain had already been empathetically experienced by the game’s producer.”

“‘Salvation’ was said to be for himself, but isn’t it also for all beings?”

“Until hell is empty, I vow not to become a Buddha.”

“Without this great compassion of sacrificing oneself to feed tigers and cutting one’s flesh to feed eagles, how could one create a game like ‘Turn Back to Shore’?”

Pei Qian, who had already spoken quite explicitly, looked at the serious-faced Xia Jiang writing furiously, and felt a wave of despair in his heart.

It’s no use; she won’t listen!

They were completely talking past each other—their thinking wasn’t on the same wavelength at all!

Pei Qian had no idea how to answer the next question.

Xia Jiang had finished her notes and was preparing for the next question.

Pei Qian hurriedly raised his hand to signal a stop, “Editor Xia.”

“Yes? What is it, Mr. Pei?” Xia Jiang’s face was full of sincerity.

Pei Qian carefully chose his words, “Do you perhaps think that your understanding of what I’ve said might be a little… off?”

Pei Qian thought he was already questioning Editor Xia’s professional competence, but not only did Xia Jiang not get angry, she even nodded with a smile.

“Mr. Pei, I understand.”

“Your thoughts are too profound. I try my best to guess, but can only guess at a part of them.”

“Like the brilliant stars in the sky, no matter how far one gazes, one can only see those that shine the brightest. Those magnificent views beyond our vision can only remain hidden in darkness.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Pei. I’ve tried my very best.”

Pei Qian: “?”

Am I discussing with you whether you’re trying hard enough?

You are indeed trying very hard—trying hard to misinterpret me!

How is it impossible to explain clearly?

No, this interview absolutely cannot continue.

If it goes on like this, who knows what the final article will look like!

As Pei Qian was thinking about how to escape, his phone rang.

He took it out and saw it was his 10 o’clock wake-up alarm.

When the company had nothing going on, Pei Qian usually slept until 10 o’clock. Today’s interview was scheduled for 9 AM, so Pei Qian had set an extra wake-up alarm.

Conveniently, the original 10 o’clock alarm went off.

Pei Qian turned off the alarm at lightning speed, then pretended to put the phone to his ear, “Oh, okay. Just wait a moment, I’ll be there soon.”

After putting away his phone, Pei Qian apologetically said, “Editor Xia, unfortunately, there’s a work matter.”

“Why don’t you continue interviewing my employees? I have to go now.”

Editor Xia hurriedly nodded, “Ah, alright, Mr. Pei. Today’s interview has been immensely beneficial for me. Go ahead with your business!”

Pei Qian silently turned and left.

Forget it! If you can’t fight it, avoid it!

If the interview continued, he might achieve enlightenment on the spot—better to sneak away quickly!

Watching Mr. Pei’s departing figure, Editor Xia silently wrote one more sentence in her notebook.

“The most terrifying thing in this world is when a genius works even harder than ordinary people.”

After writing this, Editor Xia signaled to the cameramen that they could turn on the cameras.

“Let me see, who should we interview first among the employees?”