Being a realistic theme, reality offered material everywhere. How rich Americans lived, how poor people lived—just a little research would yield a wealth of details that, when implemented in the game, would appear particularly rich.

In short, the two opposing voices online continued to argue. There were many players hurt and disgusted by this game, but there were also many die-hard Tenda fans forcefully reading between the lines. Although fewer in number, their voices were louder, and neither side could convince the other.

Pei Qian was well aware that this was a turning point, and he couldn’t afford to be careless!

Many previous games had successfully reached this stage, but as soon as Qiao Laoshi’s video interpretation came out, the situation immediately reversed, and the previous debates increased the popularity.

Therefore, Pei Qian absolutely could not allow this to happen!

He couldn’t control whether people could see life philosophy in “Struggle,” since “Struggle” was just a mirror, made entirely according to real life. Players analyzing real life would always be able to analyze some content.

But they could analyze all they wanted—just don’t praise it, and definitely don’t buy it!

Previously, Pei Qian had already thought of a way to “seal” Qiao Laoshi by using the opportunity of Thrilling Inn.

Pei Qian had said at the time that to find what was truly lacking in the Thrilling Inn video, Qiao Laoshi would need to abandon the “Masterpiece” series and not use it to interpret “Struggle.”

From Qiao Liang’s attitude, it seemed he had accepted this.

Of course, being a cautious person, Pei Qian wouldn’t let his guard down against any possibility.

What if Qiao Laoshi, seeing the online debates, became indignant and impatient, resolutely giving up on finding what was lacking in the previous video, breaking the seal, and once again releasing a “Masterpiece” episode explaining “Struggle”?

Wouldn’t that be terrible?

Pei Qian absolutely would not allow this to happen.

So, Pei Qian had already thought ahead—he would take preemptive action.

Walk Qiao Laoshi’s path, leaving Qiao Laoshi no way out!

…

Meanwhile, Qiao Liang had also completed “Struggle” at Slackin’ Internet Café.

Although he was currently busy working with Fei Huang Studio on a video exposing Zhujia Group’s formaldehyde-contaminated apartments, he still had to make time to play Mr. Pei’s new game. He could manage both without issue.

Qiao Liang had been waiting for this game for nearly half a year.

The “Masterpiece” series videos had also been on hold for nearly half a year without updates.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make videos about other companies’ games. There were so many good games in the world! If domestic single-player games weren’t good enough, there were still foreign single-player games. He could always find material for videos.

But Qiao Liang just felt that while other gaming companies’ AAA titles were good, they lacked that special flavor!

What flavor was that? It was hard to explain clearly.

The foreign companies’ games worthy of the “Masterpiece” series fell into two categories:

The first type: highly anticipated before release, overwhelmingly praised upon release, and became classics that endured over time;

The second type: highly anticipated before release, overwhelmingly praised upon release, with popularity gradually fading afterward.

Worse games were those that were hyped to the skies before release but deeply disappointed afterward. These weren’t even qualified to enter the “Masterpiece” series.

In short, those successful foreign AAA titles were all games that received attention from promotion to release and achieved success as a matter of course.

What was missing?

Qiao Liang felt it was a lack of plot twists and anticipation.

A game that received attention from the beginning of its promotion, which everyone knew was good, and that most people could analyze exactly what made it good, making an interpretation video at that point just felt meaningless.

It lacked novelty and uniqueness.

In contrast, Mr. Pei’s games were all highly controversial upon release, but after digging out their deeper meaning and interpreting them, they could cause public opinion to instantly reverse, with all flaws turning into advantages.

This kind of reversal and sense of anticipation was what Qiao Liang cared about most!

He had tried making videos about successful foreign games in between, but always felt they lacked that flavor, that brilliance unique to Mr. Pei.

Therefore, Qiao Liang, who treated “Masterpiece” as his most precious brand, didn’t want to pad it with videos that just seemed “pretty good.” This had little to do with the game’s quality and much to do with the interpretation method of the video.

A good game didn’t necessarily make for a good video.

So, this matter had been shelved.

However, seeing the game “Struggle” and the fierce debates online, Qiao Liang suddenly felt his creative passion reignited!

Using the “Masterpiece” series to interpret and transform all flaws into advantages—that was his mission!

If Tenda Games’ core players were now all masters of reading between the lines, approaching Tenda games with a halo effect, then Qiao Liang was the strongest among these masters.

After playing “Struggle,” he had much to say.

But he was also hesitant, mainly for three reasons.

First, there was too much diverse content to analyze in “Struggle,” unlike “Turn Back to Shore” which was more focused.

Qiao Liang casually thought about it and came up with at least ten points for analysis, such as wealth, wealth disparity, motivational speeches about struggle, the importance of education, exploitation and hatred between classes, the rich being out of touch with reality…

But these issues seemed too scattered.

“Struggle” gave Qiao Liang the feeling of being a mirror, showing the cruelty of reality, but without any clear expression.

It seemed impossible to find a theme or focus.

Of course, being just a mirror wasn’t necessarily a problem. As a realistic-themed game, sharply revealing reality itself had meaning, but for Qiao Liang, how should he make this video?

Should he explain all the key points? That would be more like analyzing reality than analyzing the game, lacking a good theme and entry point.

This video would be very difficult to make.

Second, Mr. Pei had said that to find what was missing in the Thrilling Inn video, he would have to give up “Masterpiece” and give up explaining “Struggle.” If he didn’t listen, he might forever lose the chance to find the problem with the Thrilling Inn video.

Finally, he was still busy working with Fei Huang Studio on the video exposing Zhujia Group’s formaldehyde-contaminated apartments.

If it were just playing the game, he could make time. But making two videos simultaneously meant dividing his attention, unable to give 100% effort to either.

So, Qiao Liang was torn.

In the past, when Mr. Pei’s games came out, he would quickly accumulate a lot of material and produce a video rapidly.

But this time, he felt very constrained, feeling his preparation was insufficient.

Qiao Liang decided to check the online comments, hoping to get some material and inspiration.

Whether criticism or praise for “Struggle,” it would help him better understand the meaning of this game, as everyone’s experiences were different, and everyone saw different content when playing “Struggle.”

However, after browsing through some mixed player reviews, Qiao Liang suddenly discovered something that shocked him.

Tenda Games’ official Weibo had posted a long message about “Struggle”!

“‘Struggle’ is a game with a realistic theme. It’s like a mirror, reflecting the many facets of real life. The game itself has no clear theme; the designer’s purpose is to let each player see different content from the game.”

“We welcome everyone to enthusiastically interpret the meanings contained in the game, such as: the meaning of education, class solidification, the essence of exploitation and poverty…”

“The official account will continue to pay attention, and excellent interpretations will be selected and rewarded with the surprise prize of full refunds for three games: ‘Game Developer,’ ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ and ‘Struggle’!”

Not long after this Weibo post was published, players had already begun participating enthusiastically!

Although “Struggle” was still highly debated online, there were many die-hard fans who were already trying to understand the game’s deeper meaning. Now, seeing such generous rewards, their enthusiasm was fully mobilized!

Some players’ comments had already been selected by the official account.

“One thing that impressed me deeply was that the poor and the rich in the game have become two highly divided groups, and the two groups cannot understand each other. Just like when the wealthy protagonist thinks, ‘how could someone not have time to accompany their child, could anyone be busier than a CEO?’ But the poor version’s story tells us that many poor people are indeed busier than CEOs, because CEOs can arrange their own time, but poor people cannot. They have to work more than ten hours every day, and the slightest relaxation would plunge them into the abyss. The wealthy protagonist’s tragedy is precisely because he never understood what kind of life the truly poor were living…”

This long comment was selected by the official Weibo, reposted, and awarded the surprise package of full refunds for three games.

Qiao Liang was stunned, almost cursing out loud.

What was the meaning of this activity?

Are you trying to steal my job?

This approach is wasting material! It’s a desecration!

Many profound meanings needed to be expressed using certain techniques to more easily gain resonance.

Qiao Liang was particularly skilled at this when making videos—first setting up suspense, laying groundwork, unraveling the threads, speaking eloquently, and finally revealing the truth.

However, the official activity now was like taking the plot summary of an excellent novel and completely extracting it, laying it out in front of the readers!

Many things are only good after sufficient build-up; directly throwing out a dry plot summary holds no meaning.

But the official approach now was encouraging all players to search for these points from the game and then throw them out dryly!

Players had already seen this content. If Qiao Liang were to use this material to make videos, the feeling would be completely different.

Players had already been spoiled. As soon as he opened his mouth, many people would already know what he was going to talk about. How could he work with that?

What was even more outrageous was that the official Weibo directly said: “‘Struggle’ is a mirror, with no clear theme itself.”

Didn’t this statement officially define “Struggle” as having no theme?

So if Qiao Liang found a suitable theme and presented it in his video, wouldn’t that conflict with the official definition, proving that he was over-interpreting?

The multiple blows from Mr. Pei left Qiao Liang in a state of confusion.

Many paths to interpret “Struggle” had all been blocked by Mr. Pei mobilizing the masses!