The annual meeting ended, the prizes were all drawn, the claw machines emptied, and everyone had eaten their fill. People began to file out.
Pei Qian checked his watch—it was just after four in the afternoon, perfect timing.
There were many prizes. Besides easily portable gifts like phones and red envelopes, there were also less convenient prizes like televisions, air purifiers, and game consoles.
Moreover, almost all the thousand or so attendees had won prizes. If everyone collected their prizes individually, it would take forever.
Therefore, the list of winners would be posted directly on the company intranet, and notifications of specific prizes would be sent through the internal communication software.
Afterward, the delivery personnel from Headwind Logistics would deliver all the prizes to everyone’s homes.
After all, everyone’s hands were already full with plush toys and figurines—they couldn’t possibly carry their annual meeting prizes as well.
Pei Qian was very satisfied with this annual meeting.
It perfectly fulfilled his requirements!
Money spent and time saved—perfect!
…
Bao Xu left the annual meeting venue with a gloomy expression.
What was he going to do now?
He had thought he would be safe until the next Best Employee selection.
Never did he imagine that the grand prize would be a trip, and a two-person trip at that!
Traveling alone was already troublesome enough, but a two-person trip? Damn it!
This is going to be the death of me…
As for where to go, he had absolutely no idea.
As he walked, his eyes suddenly lit up when he spotted a familiar figure.
Chen Kangtuo!
If he remembered correctly, didn’t this guy also win a prize?
Bao Xu thought he could go ask Chen Kangtuo about his specific plans—which city he was going to, and whether he could tag along.
If Chen Kangtuo and his companions were planning the itinerary, Bao Xu could save himself a lot of trouble.
With this in mind, he silently followed.
However, just as he was about to speak up, he noticed Chen Kangtuo sneakily meeting with Ye Zhizhou, Hao Qiong, and Lin Wan, then heading to a small coffee shop nearby.
Bao Xu frowned.
Hmm? Had these people already decided where to go?
Or were they also secretly planning to work overtime?
Bao Xu quickly followed them.
…
Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, Hao Qiong, and Chen Kangtuo arrived at the coffee shop and found a place to sit.
Lin Wan was very alert, looking toward the door: “Nobody followed us, right?”
Chen Kangtuo said, “I think Brother Bao followed us.”
Lin Wan was startled: “Bao Xu? Perfect, quickly call him over!”
Bao Xu was still outside considering whether to enter when Chen Kangtuo directly pulled him in and sat him down on a nearby seat.
Bao Xu was quite confused.
What was going on? Why all the secrecy?
The atmosphere was just like when he secretly worked overtime…
Lin Wan coughed lightly and asked, “Brother Bao, have you decided where to travel? You have experience with this.”
Bao Xu: “…”
Please don’t bring that up!
Bao Xu frowned: “Don’t even mention it, I’m worried to death.”
“I don’t want to have experience with this, not at all!”
Chen Kangtuo said, “But Mr. Pei said you can’t transfer this travel prize.”
Bao Xu nodded helplessly: “Yes. So I’ve decided, didn’t Mr. Pei say we can choose any city? I’ll just choose Jingzhou! I’ll stay in a five-star hotel in Jingzhou, so I can still go to work and play games every day…”
Chen Kangtuo coughed lightly: “Brother Bao, be careful what you say!”
“If you do that, what kind of impression do you think you’ll make on Mr. Pei?”
“Aren’t you putting yourself in danger?!”
Bao Xu suddenly awoke to the danger.
That’s right!
This approach was way too risky, as if he wasn’t dead enough already!
If he did this, the one-month paid vacation from the next Best Employee selection would probably seamlessly connect with it…
So this idea was too impulsive, definitely not feasible!
Bao Xu sighed helplessly: “I guess that won’t work.”
“So what should I do… Where are you all planning to go? Why don’t I just join you? You plan the itinerary, and I’ll just follow along and wander around.”
Chen Kangtuo smiled slightly and looked at Lin Wan.
Lin Wan confidently said, “We’ve already decided to go to Texas in the United States.”
Bao Xu scratched his head: “Texas? Are there any special attractions there?”
Lin Wan said, “Of course there are. There’s the world’s most terrifying haunted house: the ‘Foggy Mountain’ State Mental Hospital!”
Bao Xu: “???”
He looked at the four people present and found that everyone had different expressions.
Chen Kangtuo had a resigned-to-death expression.
Hao Qiong’s face was also full of tragic determination.
Ye Zhizhou’s face was a bit pale, obviously full of anxiety.
Lin Wan had the best mental state, with a hint of resolve in her eyes.
Bao Xu felt puzzled: “It’s just a simple trip, is it worth risking your lives…”
“Besides, I never heard that you all had this unique interest…”
“Wait, are you going to collect materials?”
Bao Xu suddenly realized the issue.
Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou were currently responsible for the horror game project, while Hao Qiong and Chen Kangtuo were in charge of the haunted house project.
All related to horror themes!
Lin Wan nodded: “Exactly!”
“The horror game and haunted house projects we’re responsible for are both very important, but the current progress is far from ideal.”
“On the game side, bugs are frequent, and the horror effect isn’t good enough.”
“For the haunted house, we haven’t even finalized the specific plans yet.”
“We can’t continue like this! We must learn from the most advanced horror experiences and personally feel that atmosphere to better complete our tasks!”
“In this annual meeting’s lottery, apart from you, Brother Bao, who truly deserves it…”
Bao Xu’s face darkened—how could he “truly deserve” it?!
Lin Wan continued: “Ye Zhizhou and Chen Kangtuo both won the travel prize, which is fate!”
“This is hinting that we should take this opportunity to collect materials!”
Looking at these four people, Bao Xu had only one feeling.
They’ve gone mad, completely mad!
Is that haunted house even a place for humans to visit?
Bao Xu had heard of this haunted house called the “Foggy Mountain” State Mental Hospital. It was supposedly an abandoned hospital in a remote wilderness, constantly shrouded in mist.
Later, local investors built this haunted house, utilizing the abandoned hospital ruins.
The haunted house looked like a dilapidated, desolate mental hospital, with no predetermined route inside—visitors could explore freely.
Inside were incredibly realistic light and shadow effects and terrifying scenes, along with many staff dressed as ghosts and zombies, “passionately interacting” with visitors.
This haunted house reportedly cost over two million dollars to build. Even if you ran through the entire course knowing the route, it would still take nearly an hour.
If you got lost… You could only pray for yourself.
To enter this haunted house, you first had to be at least 21 years old and pass a simple test to ensure your mind could handle it.
You also needed a doctor’s health certificate, and before entering, you had to sign a very comprehensive liability waiver.
In short, this was a typical place where you paid money to suffer.
A perfectly good company-paid trip, and these people wanted to turn it into a death-defying adventure?
Bao Xu certainly didn’t want to go.
Although a paid vacation was painful, a paid haunted house visit was even more painful!
He would rather go to the Sahara Desert to see camels than frighten himself in such a ghostly place…
But Bao Xu was still a bit hopeful, so he asked: “What about the rest of the itinerary?”
Lin Wan: “What other itinerary?”
Bao Xu was stunned: “It’s a five-day trip, right? You can finish exploring this haunted house in one day, can’t you? What about the other four days? Shopping nearby?”
Bao Xu figured that if everyone went shopping, he could stay comfortably in the hotel.
Suffering for just one day and relaxing in the hotel for four days wouldn’t be too bad.
Lin Wan shook her head: “Such an exciting haunted house can’t be fully explored in one day. If we just take a cursory look, we’ll forget everything by the time we return to China.”
“Didn’t Mr. Pei prepare an additional reimbursement allowance? I plan to do nothing these few days except buy tickets for this haunted house. After visiting once, we’ll go again. We’ll aim to visit three or four times a day, totaling thirteen or fourteen visits over five days. That way, we can deepen our impressions sufficiently.”
“By then, we’ll all be battle-hardened veterans. When we return, whether making horror games or haunted houses, we’ll surely be bursting with inspiration!”
Bao Xu: “???”
He was completely shocked.
To make such an itinerary—were they even human?
Going into such a terrifying haunted house three or four times a day, were they trying to kill people?
Lin Wan smiled: “What do you think? You can pair up with the three guys for two double rooms, and I’ll bring Li Yada along, perfect.”
Bao Xu was bewildered: “Wait, Li Yada and I work on GOG, which has nothing to do with horror games. If you want to court death, go ahead, but don’t drag us along!”
Lin Wan said seriously: “That won’t do!”
“Tenda Games and Shangyang Games both work under Mr. Pei, how can we make such clear distinctions? You’ll need to provide feedback on the horror game too.”
“In return, we’ll give you a character from the horror game as a hero in GOG.”
Bao Xu thought for a moment: “…Not enough.”
“One is too few, at least two!”
…
…
The next day.
Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd.
“Huh? Go to the United States?”
“And visit a haunted house?”
“I’m the lead game designer now, responsible for the GOG project. Is it appropriate for me to go off and play?”
After hearing Lin Wan’s suggestion, Li Yada was completely confused.
“What’s inappropriate about it? This is a prize from the annual meeting. Our trip is reasonable and completely in line with company regulations. Mr. Pei is a reasonable person; he definitely won’t disapprove.”
After Lin Wan’s persuasion, Li Yada had nothing more to say.
Let’s give it a try, then!
Go talk to Mr. Pei and see if he would allow the lead designer to go play in the middle of project development.
Before requesting leave, Li Yada first checked the status of GOG, especially the simplified version proposed by Dream Realization Venture Capital.
Simply put, they had achieved phased results.
Both initial versions were playable enough. The next steps were to fix bugs while continuing development.
The simplified version proposed by Dream Realization Venture Capital had already been updated in real-time on the computers at Slackin’ Internet Café, and based on current feedback, the response was better than the original version.
Of course, short-term data didn’t reveal much; they would need to continue observing for a while longer.
But this at least proved that the suggestions from Dream Realization Venture Capital weren’t nonsensical ideas from amateurs—they made sense.
Who knew why these investment people had such a profound understanding of games?
Opening her email, Li Yada found that He Desheng had already sent follow-up modification suggestions.
It had to be said, they were quite diligent in sending their suggestions.
So much so that Li Yada constantly suspected that this investment company might not have many projects to invest in.
Otherwise, why would they spend every day not doing their actual job, but instead focusing on giving suggestions for GOG?
But this was a good thing. As long as the suggestions were effective, Li Yada wouldn’t refuse them.
She briefly sorted through the suggestions sent by He Desheng and arranged them into the next week’s work plan.
This way, even if Li Yada went abroad to play, the design team could still maintain development progress according to plan.
After dealing with work matters, Li Yada finally rose from her seat, preparing to talk to Mr. Pei about the trip to the United States.