After ordering breakfast delivery from Slackin’, Qiao Liang could finally browse his phone with peace of mind.

Previously, he hadn’t dared to check his phone for fear of spoilers, as his Moments feed and fan groups could be filled with spoiler-posters, and one careless glance would ruin everything.

But now, Qiao Liang had seen the entire story of “Mission and Choice,” so he wasn’t afraid of spoilers anymore!

It was already dawn, and his fan group had completely quieted down. The wave of movie ticket posts in his Moments feed had also been pushed down by newer content.

Various forums still had many threads discussing the plot of the “Mission and Choice” movie, though most of these forums would label posts with “Contains Spoilers” to avoid negatively affecting users who hadn’t seen the film yet.

Qiao Liang skimmed through the chat history in his fan group and looked at the online discussions about the “Mission and Choice” plot.

“Indeed, great minds think alike—everyone can see this film was made with skill!”

“But people are repeating the same praise for this film. We’ll have to wait for professional critics to offer their flowery reviews to get something worth reading.”

Qiao Liang browsed through online posts, still immersed in reflecting on the “Mission and Choice” storyline.

However, internet users’ vocabulary for praising “Mission and Choice” was too limited—all just phrases like “awesome” that lacked substance. Reading too many of these became aesthetically tiring.

It would be more interesting to read professional critics’ analyses.

Since “Mission and Choice” didn’t have preview screenings, professional critics couldn’t watch it before its release, so they naturally couldn’t write reviews in advance.

The explosion of positive word-of-mouth for “Mission and Choice” would probably have to wait until after noon.

By then, the daytime audience would have seen the film, various reviews would be published, and the ratings would stabilize. “Mission and Choice” would inevitably usher in a new wave of viewers.

Qiao Liang continued browsing forum posts when he suddenly realized something.

“Hmm, why aren’t many people mentioning the game?”

The movie forums were one thing, but surprisingly, most posts about “Mission and Choice” on gaming forums were also discussing the movie!

“Has anyone seen Tenda’s new movie ‘Mission and Choice’? It’s so good! Never thought this classic domestic garbage game would see such a day!”

“I saw it, but afterward I was even more confused. Wouldn’t this theme be more suitable for a game? Why choose to make a movie?”

“Maybe the game will be released soon, who knows?”

“Perhaps they thought RTS games were already declining and making one wouldn’t be profitable, so they didn’t make it? At least movies can earn box office revenue.”

“I don’t believe that. Mr. Pei is such a business genius—what would he make that doesn’t earn money?”

Seeing these discussions, Qiao Liang felt both amused and frustrated.

They were still guessing when the game might come out?

It’s already out—you just haven’t discovered it!

Qiao Liang’s first feeling was that this situation was absurd. At least several million dedicated single-player gamers in China were keeping an eye on Tenda Games, yet “Mission and Choice” had been released, and not a single person had discovered it? Only he had played it?

That seemed ridiculous!

But on second thought, Qiao Liang realized it actually made sense. Tenda’s approach acted like a multi-layered filter.

To discover the remake of “Mission and Choice” immediately like Qiao Liang did, one would need to meet several conditions simultaneously:

First, they must have purchased the original “Mission and Choice” from the “Domestic Classic Games Collection.”

Second, after purchasing, they must have kept the game installed, not deleting it.

Finally, in the early hours of this morning, they would need to check for updates to “Mission and Choice” or have automatic updates enabled and notice the download content to realize that the original client had been replaced!

The first condition alone would eliminate 99% of players. People’s money doesn’t grow on trees, and everyone knows “Mission and Choice” was an extremely terrible game. For the same price, they could buy discounted AAA titles—who would buy this garbage game?

If you have too much money, you could at least skip stones on water and hear a sound—what’s the point of buying garbage games?

The second and third conditions were also difficult to meet. Even if someone bought it for collection purposes, there was no need to keep the client on their computer, let alone pay attention to its updates. All players knew the company had gone bankrupt, and no one would update the game anymore.

Moreover, it was currently dawn.

The update package was pushed around midnight, likely at the same time as the movie’s release.

Those truly interested players probably went to the theaters to watch the movie right away, while those who couldn’t get tickets went to sleep.

Players like Qiao Liang, who coincidentally opened the original “Mission and Choice” game, were probably one in ten thousand.

Clearly, without Qiao Liang, it might take other players a very long time to discover the “Mission and Choice” game update.

Realizing this, Qiao Liang instantly became excited.

“Indeed, I truly understand Mr. Pei’s intentions!”

“What was Mr. Pei’s purpose in making all these elaborate arrangements?”

“To prevent players from discovering the remake of ‘Mission and Choice’? To save everyone money?”

“How could that be!”

“It must be to give everyone a surprise!”

“Appearing in this way creates a stronger sense of ceremony!”

Qiao Liang suddenly understood Mr. Pei’s intention.

If they had simply released a separate game called “Mission and Choice Remake,” most people wouldn’t connect it with “Mission and Choice” and would consider them two completely different games.

But Mr. Pei’s cleverness lay in having the “Mission and Choice Remake” reborn from the corpse of “Mission and Choice,” giving it a very strong symbolic meaning!

It symbolized the end of that shameful era from more than a decade ago, symbolized the rebirth of the “Mission and Choice” game, and simultaneously proclaimed to all players the arrival of a new era!

And all of this was hidden in that “Domestic Classic Games Collection,” hidden in the “Mission and Choice” game, waiting for players to discover.

With this in mind, Qiao Liang decided to post on Weibo:

“Thank you, Mr. Pei, for the gift given to all domestic single-player gamers on this special day!”

Then, he took a screenshot from his computer showing the current size of “Mission and Choice” at tens of gigabytes, and attached it to his Weibo post.

After posting, his food delivery arrived.

Qiao Liang finished his breakfast, feeling relieved and happily went to bed.

He had completed his phase mission: letting all domestic game players know about the existence of the “Mission and Choice” remake.

Next, he needed to rest well, recharge, wake up for lunch, then go see the “Mission and Choice” movie. After the movie, he would play the “Fantasy Battle Remake,” and finally produce an episode of “Legendary Works.”

A perfect plan!

Satisfied, Qiao Liang lay in bed and quickly fell asleep.

In his dreams, he seemed to see domestic single-player games flourishing, various AAA titles frequently emerging, occupying a place in the world gaming circle…

…

Meanwhile, Pei Qian had just woken up.

He looked at his watch—it was 8 AM.

Today was Saturday, and he should have been enjoying a nice sleep-in, but Pei Qian had been tossing and turning in bed for a long time without feeling sleepy.

He was utterly worried!

Yesterday, he had deliberately gone to bed at 11 PM, neither going to see the midnight premiere of “Mission and Choice” nor following online discussions.

He simply turned off his phone and buried his head in the sand, fearing a repeat of the previous situation where he ended up in tears at the theater.

If all went as expected, the “Mission and Choice” movie had premiered early this morning, and the game had also been updated.

“The game is hidden so deeply, it should hold out for two or three days, right?”

“The movie is more concerning, but the screening rate isn’t high, and there’s little promotion. Even if there’s some good word-of-mouth, as long as it doesn’t break through to the mainstream, it shouldn’t be a big problem.”

At this point, Pei Qian could only comfort himself this way.

After washing up, he sat on the sofa, took out his phone, but then hesitated.

It felt like the nervousness of checking exam results.

The difference was that with exams, lower scores cause more distress, whereas for Pei Qian now, better results caused more distress…

Pei Qian couldn’t help thinking about the promotional strategy from a while back.

“Meng Chang is really all talk and no action. He started with a bunch of impressive operations, but then suddenly dropped the ball at the end!”

“He even beat his chest telling me to trust him. Trust him? Yeah, right!”

“Whatever, he’s not completely useless. At least he suppressed the initial hype. Besides, it’s his commission that’s being deducted, not mine…”

Just thinking about the early promotion work for “Mission and Choice” made Pei Qian furious.

Meng Chang had acted like a know-it-all, constantly promising to handle all promotional work, and things had indeed gone smoothly at first. But as the film’s release approached, everything suddenly collapsed!

First, it was Fanqi Media’s Weibo, then GOG’s new hero. The hype that had been suppressed with such effort suddenly surged again!

Pei Qian saw it happening and felt anxious, but couldn’t intervene.

He could only console himself that Meng Chang probably knew what he was doing and was now in seclusion thinking of countermeasures.

After preparing himself mentally for a long time, Pei Qian turned on his phone.

Shortly after powering on, various messages began bombarding him!

“Congratulations, Mr. Pei! The film’s reception has exploded—definitely a masterpiece!”

“Today’s theater attendance is very good; cinemas are already increasing our screenings!”

“#Lu Zhiyao’s Acting# is trending on hot searches again!”

“The scene at the end where Lu Zhiyao exchanges lines with AEEIS has received enthusiastic responses—our fully automatic intelligent argument machine is selling like crazy again!”

“Mr. Pei, your method of tucking the ‘Mission and Choice’ remake into the original game is brilliant! Players are discussing it now, and in just a few hours, ‘Mission and Choice’ has reached the top five on the official platform’s bestseller list. Reaching number one is probably just a matter of minutes!”

These messages came from various department heads and friends like Lin Chang and Wu Yue—all with good news!

The most outrageous were several messages Lin Chang had sent in the early hours yesterday.

“Mr. Pei, are you watching the midnight screening? The movie is about to start!”

“[Image] (the theater is completely full)”

Two hours later:

“Amazing! This movie is simply amazing!”

“No need to say more, this movie will definitely be a hit!”

“Mr. Pei, that final plot twist was incredible—twist after twist! I never expected Captain Qin Yi would be betrayed in the end and become the Hive Overlord! Can you reveal anything about what happens next? I can’t wait to see the sequel!”

“I never expected Lu Zhiyao to perform a one-man show so well—it’s truly surprising!”

After a few more minutes, Lin Chang probably tried calling Pei Qian but found his phone was off.

“Mr. Pei, are you already asleep? Such confidence is admirable…”

“By the way, I’ll arrive in Jingzhou tomorrow at noon. Mr. Pei, please do me the honor of having a drink together. Regarding Ai Wan, the old man has new instructions and asked me to communicate with you.”

After reading this long string of chat messages, Pei Qian fell silent.

Qin Yi was betrayed in the end and became the Hive Overlord?

Had he… been spoiled?

He had never watched the entire “Mission and Choice” movie, and he hadn’t gone to see yesterday’s midnight premiere, so he didn’t know the specific plot.

And now Lin Chang had completely spoiled it for him…

Clearly, Lin Chang never imagined that Mr. Pei—the owner of Tenda Group, the source of the film’s creative concept, and a gold medal screenwriter—actually had no idea about the plot of “Mission and Choice”…

Pei Qian initially didn’t want to respond. “Mission and Choice” had unexpectedly gotten off to a strong start, and Pei Qian was already feeling terrible. How could he have the mood to dine with him?

But then he saw that Lin Chang mentioned it was about Lin Wan, and after considering, Pei Qian felt he should meet with him.

What if the old man had suddenly come to his senses and was preparing to let Lin Wan return to inherit the family business?

Please take Lin Wan away—it’s becoming unbearable!

Since Pei Qian had arranged for Lin Wan to join Shangyang Games, she had successfully completed several projects. Although her presence in these projects wasn’t particularly strong, her resume looked very impressive.

But the more successful projects there were, the more anxious Pei Qian became.

Pei Qian thought he should speak well of Lin Wan in front of Lin Chang this time, and hint to Old Man Lin: Lin Wan now has the ability to stand on her own; it’s time to let her return to share your burdens!

With this in mind, Pei Qian immediately replied: “Alright, see you at noon!”