Chapter 284: President Pei, Don’t Worry—Your Protector Has Arrived!
Chapter 284: President Pei, Don’t Worry—Your Protector Has Arrived!
Beijing.
Staring at the online discussions surrounding Turn Back Before It’s Too Late, Qiao Liang was filled with righteous fury.
How could they so shamelessly distort President Pei’s intentions?!
Slander. Utter, baseless slander!
These brainless haters—anyone could see the clear signs of organized paid commentators behind them.
And who hired those paid commentators?
It had to be those despicable competitors!
They couldn’t make good games themselves, and now that Tengda’s reputation and sales were soaring, they were jealous beyond reason. Instead of improving their craft, they resorted to the dirtiest of tactics—trying to drag Tengda through the mud.
Absolutely vile!
Qiao Liang hated that he couldn’t immediately step forward and make a video exposing the motives of these paid trolls—to clear the name of such a rare masterpiece.
Fortunately, there was only one day left until his agreed meeting with President Pei.
Tomorrow, Teacher Qiao would officially make his grand return—to strike a heavy blow against those haters and paid commentators!
Qiao Liang checked the materials on his computer, as well as the script he had written.
According to his plan, he would finish editing the next episode of Masterpiece Showcase today—a video summarizing the brilliance of Turn Back Before It’s Too Late.
After that, he would begin producing a full walkthrough series.
With a game like this, releasing ten or more videos would be no problem at all.
He could turn it into a full-fledged video series—a saga showcasing the pain and effort he had endured, flaunting his skill, and finally satisfying his fans who had been waiting for so long.
First the masterpiece episode, then the full playthrough series—just like dragons following the phoenix.
Perfect!
Feeling fired up, Qiao Liang started working on the new video.
Masterpiece Showcase, Episode 2: Turn Back Before It’s Too Late—A Hardcore Journey of Self-Interrogation!
All the footage was ready, and the script was nearly finished. All that was left was editing, voiceover, and uploading.
This time, the content wouldn’t focus entirely on the game’s difficulty—since that topic had already been beaten to death online.
In Qiao Liang’s view, the paid commentators and haters had deliberately fixated on the game’s difficulty as its supposed flaw. That was despicable enough—but to dwell on that same point would only play into their trap.
Their true goal was to center the entire conversation around difficulty—to demonize it—so that less confident players would be too intimidated to even try.
If he kept hammering on difficulty, he’d only reinforce the perception that “this game is impossibly hard,” which would discourage even more potential players from buying it.
No—difficulty was a natural barrier, and it was also the battlefield the haters had chosen.
To defeat them, he had to fight from a higher dimension—a dimensionality reduction strike, to borrow gaming slang. He needed to explain the reason and purpose behind the game’s difficulty!
After enduring so much suffering himself, Qiao Liang had finally found that higher dimension:
The spiritual core of the game.
By connecting its punishing difficulty with its underlying philosophy, he could reveal the true meaning the game wanted to convey to its players.
Qiao Liang compiled various discussions he had gathered from Terminal Chinese Web, combined them with his own reflections from playing, and wove them into his script for this video.
After reviewing it several times, he nodded in satisfaction.
Then, he opened his video editing software.
“President Pei, don’t worry—I’m here to protect your legacy!”
. . .
October 7th.
Pei Qian scrolled through webpages, checking the latest data for Turn Back Before It’s Too Late.
After all the noise and controversy from the past week, the forums had finally quieted down a bit.
A week had passed, after all. Those who wanted to buy the game had already done so. Those who’d been tricked into trying it and regretted it had mostly refunded it by now.
And some top players were already on the verge of quietly clearing the entire game.
Under circumstances like this, ordinary topics could no longer stir up heated debate.
Every game had its golden period of publicity, and Pei Qian figured that as long as they made it through this window of time, things would start to calm down afterward.
From the current situation, the online discussions about the game’s high difficulty had, in fact, achieved their intended effect—the sales growth had noticeably slowed in the past few days.
After all, the current market wasn’t very friendly toward high-difficulty games—there were simply too many “unskilled” players out there.
Once the impression of a game being “extremely difficult” became deeply ingrained in people’s minds, it might not harm its reputation, but it would certainly affect its sales.
Many players wouldn’t admit they lacked skill, but the moment they heard a game was punishing or masochistic, they’d vote with their wallets and skip it.
After all, there had never been a Soulslike game in the domestic market before, so the player base for that kind of self-torturing experience hadn’t really been cultivated. The number of people who genuinely enjoyed suffering through games was still too small.
Pudu’s existence had somewhat improved that situation, but as far as Pei Qian was concerned, things were still within acceptable limits.
Still, he couldn’t relax just yet.
Because Teacher Qiao’s video hadn’t been released.
As long as that guy’s video wasn’t out, Pei Qian couldn’t sleep soundly.
Pei Qian had already mentally prepared himself for the eventual release.
He figured Teacher Qiao would most likely make a very detailed walkthrough video—analyzing the pros and cons of each weapon, the attack patterns of every boss, and so on.
For Teacher Qiao, this was his greatest advantage compared to other content creators, and the easiest kind of video to produce.
If that was the case, Pei Qian wouldn’t be too worried.
Even if Qiao Liang didn’t post it, other skilled players who had already cleared the game would surely release similar guides sooner or later—it was inevitable.
Such videos would certainly help players who were stuck or those who preferred to “watch someone else play,” but they wouldn’t necessarily boost sales.
Pei Qian had already considered this when he invited Teacher Qiao to test the game in the first place—the risk shouldn’t be too big.
As long as the final fortress—the perception of the game’s difficulty—wasn’t breached, Pei Qian could rest easy.
After refreshing the Aili Island website again, Pei Qian decided to take a short break and watch a show.
But then, right on the front page, a brand-new video appeared:
“Masterpiece Showcase, Episode 2: Turn Back Before It’s Too Late—A Hardcore Journey of Self-Interrogation!”
Pei Qian: “?”
He clicked in immediately.
The description contained a smaller line of text:
“Many players gave up on this game because of its high difficulty, and that’s truly a shame. In my view, this isn’t a game that drives away unskilled players—on the contrary, only those unskilled players can truly grasp the game’s true value!”
Pei Qian: “???”
What the hell?!
Only unskilled players can appreciate its value?
What kind of nonsense is that?!
Watch your mouth! If players start misinterpreting the game’s meaning, you’re going to be responsible for that!
Panic instantly washed over Pei Qian as he hurriedly opened the video.
…
“Hey everyone, I’m still your good old Teacher Qiao.”
“Actually, ever since Turn Back Before It’s Too Late launched, players have been pestering me to release a video.”
“But it’s only coming out today.”
“Did I procrastinate again? Nope, quite the opposite. In fact, a month ago—back when the game was still in development—I received an official invitation to playtest it.”
“The reason I waited until now to post this video is because I promised the dev team not to post any spoilers for one week after launch, so everyone could personally experience the game’s depth and meaning.”
“I just didn’t expect that everyone would focus solely on the game’s difficulty and completely overlook its deeper meaning. That, I have to say, is truly a shame.”
“What I want to emphasize is this—the game’s difficulty exists to better express its underlying themes.”
“This is not some mediocre title. This is a masterpiece—a game whose sense of immersion reaches unprecedented heights, surpassing every other game out there!”
“My dear viewers, please allow me to explain in detail!”
After hearing this opening monologue, Pei Qian was completely dumbfounded.
What the hell?!
This guy, Teacher Qiao, was playing by none of the expected rules!
Pei Qian had originally assumed Qiao Liang would focus on the game’s difficulty—that he’d make a standard walkthrough video discussing combat mechanics, weapon balance, boss strategies, and so on.
But no, that wasn’t the direction at all!
Judging by his tone, Qiao Liang wasn’t planning to harp on difficulty. Instead, he was going straight for interpretation, and he’d already slapped a shiny golden label on the game—calling it “a game with the most immersive experience ever created”?
Even Pei Qian himself was confused now.
Immersive experience?
Was he even talking about Turn Back Before It’s Too Late?
What “immersion” was there to speak of?!
The environments were bleak beyond saving, and the players were pummeled by monsters from the first second they entered the game—how was that immersive?!
Utterly perplexed, Pei Qian continued watching.
“Everyone, please note that my upcoming story analysis will be based on three main sources.”
“First, the in-game details I observed during my full playthrough.”
“Second, the lore and setting material found in the official novel of Turn Back Before It’s Too Late, published on Terminal Chinese Web.”
“And third, the insights I gained through my repeated suffering and gradual improvement over countless play sessions.”
“Among these, the official novel of Turn Back Before It’s Too Late actually offers a story even richer than the game itself. Many mysteries I couldn’t understand in the game found their answers in the novel. If you’re interested, I highly recommend reading it.”
“The link will be posted in the pinned comment—feel free to check it out yourselves.”
Pei Qian trembled again.
Why the hell is Terminal Chinese Web getting dragged into this?!
Pei Qian was aware of the official tie-in novel hosted on Terminal Chinese Web.
But wasn’t that thing universally hated?!
He had once glanced at the comments section himself—it was absolute chaos, full of people roasting it in increasingly creative ways. He had no idea how Ma Yiqun and his team had managed to endure the barrage of criticism and still keep that novel pinned to the site’s homepage.
In Pei Qian’s view, the novel hadn’t attracted readers at all—it had repelled them. It had even made bystanders question whether Terminal Chinese Web was secretly promoting garbage content through shady deals.
In that sense, the novel was practically performing a public service—discouraging potential users from visiting.
Because of that, Pei Qian hadn’t bothered to intervene.
But now, why on earth had Teacher Qiao latched onto that of all things?!
Pei Qian’s heart lurched violently as he hurriedly continued watching.
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