Qiao Liang downloaded the document. After reading it, he only had one thought.
Are you playing around with me or messing around with me? I only read this script one time, and I already feel ashamed. How can you expect me to read this out in a video? You’re even saying it’ll be good if I can show my face?
Are you trying to destroy my reputation?
On the surface, this is a sponsored partnership; in actual fact, you are ruining my career!
Qiao Liang replied immediately: “I cannot accept it, I cannot accept it. Please look for someone else. I might be a penniless content creator, but I have my pride!”
Lu Mingliang was silent for a moment.
“Four thousand yuan?”
What the f*ck…?
Qiao Liang suddenly felt distressed.
See how rich this man is; the amount he’s adding to his offer is the same as the total amount companies normally offer me…
Still, it won’t be good money to earn.
“Can you let me play your game?” Qiao Liang asked.
Lu Mingliang, “I’m sorry, we are still testing the game, and it’s not convenient for us to release it. However, we can provide you with more materials for your video so that you can edit them in.”
Qiao Liang was speechless.
Materials for the video and a script… this financial backer was all prepared.
Everything looked very easy. He did not need to think of a synopsis; neither did he have to add special effects to the video. All he had to do was pinch his nose and read the script and then add the recordings of the games. Once he published that, he would earn four thousand yuan.
Everything sounded good, but the only problem was what would come after he published the video. He would probably not just be scolded for doing lousy work for a commission. He would be scolded for doing ‘shit work’ for a commission!
Before Qiao Liang thought about how to reply, Lu Mingliang sent over several materials for the video. They were all recordings of Game Designer, the game to be featured in the video. There were no voice-overs in this version.
The video itself would require the content creator to do a voice-over. Of course, they could not have two voices speaking at the same time. That was why Pei Qian requested for Lu Mingliang to take out the voice-overs for the game before sending the recordings over as video material.
Qiao Liang opened the first video. It was running.
The second video, still running.
The third and fourth…
They were all running videos!
The only difference was the details of the rooms. Each time, the character entered different doors, too. Qiao Liang could not tell what the meaning of the game was at all. However, the images were nice. They looked exquisite, and their style was fresh. All in all, it looked like a well-packaged piece of sh*t.
Qiao Liang pondered for a moment and then replied, “Well, may I ask if I can post this video in Trash Games Diss?”
Four thousand yuan was very tempting indeed. It was such a huge amount that Qiao Liang felt he could give up on his own reservations to a certain extent.
Of course, to outrightly feed the audience sh*t would be generating hatred towards him. He could not do that. However, if he could post this under his ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment, he could salvage the situation.
Although he would have to read the big client’s script for the entire duration of the video and he could not diss the game as he did in his previous videos—as long as he posted this in his ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment, the audience would think that he was being sarcastic and trying to achieve a comedic effect.
Then, he would not be hated by his fans! What’s more, he would be able to earn more. He would be killing two birds with one stone; how great.
Lu Mingliang quickly replied, “I’m sorry, you cannot.”
Qiao Liang expected this response because many clients did not understand the context behind these words. The moment they heard ‘Trash Games Diss’, they did not want their games to be associated with it. After all, who wanted their games to be called trash games?
However, in actual fact, as Qiao Liang saw it; ‘Trash Games Diss’ was where he could be his authentic self. On the other hand, ‘New Recommended Games of the Month’ was wholly used as a business tool.
The number of views that the Trash Games Diss segment got was more than ten times that of New Recommended Games of the Month. Many big clients despised ‘Trash Games Diss’ because of its name, but they had no idea how influential the segment was.
Thus, Qiao Liang decided to get an example to persuade the big client.
“I understand your worry, but please rest assured. The amount of influence the ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment has is more than ten times that of New Recommended Games of the Month! I am sure it will be beneficial to your game.
“You might not believe me. Here, let me give you an example.
“A few months ago, I dissed a domestically-produced, independent game called The Lonely Desert Road. After I dissed it, the game that nobody knew about became extremely popular. Two weeks ago, it reached more than two hundred thousand in terms of volume of sales!
“That’s right, that company was called… please hold on, I’ll check.”
He had made so many dissing videos; it was physically impossible to remember a small company that made just one game.
Qiao Liang opened the official games platform and quickly found the game.
He looked at the creator… Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.
“En?”
Qiao Liang felt like something was amiss.
What was the name of this big client again?
He scrolled up in the conversation window.
Wasn’t it also called Tengda?!
Qiao Liang looked at the other games created by this company. There were Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold. He was confounded.
Of course, he had heard of Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold before. However, since he normally focused on standalone games, he did not research much into either of these games; neither did he find out which company created them.
Now, he realized that Tengda created both of them as well!
The small company which created one independent game a few months ago had completely turned itself into a big client!
This… there’s something wrong with the plot!
Qiao Liang quickly tried to recall his previous messages but found that it was too late. He could no longer recall them.
Qiao Liang, “…”
Awkward; so incredibly awkward!
He quickly tried to salvage the situation. Qiao Liang said, “That’s right, it’s your company’s product! I did not think that I would get the honor of working with your company!
“Since that is the case, your company should know quite well the influence that the ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment has. If we post the video under this segment, the marketing effect would be very good!”
Lu Mingliang replied very quickly: “You have worked with our Boss Pei before? That’s great! Hold on, I have to ask Boss Pei for his opinion.”
Boss Pei?
That was probably the name of the boss of Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Could he be… the creator of The Lonely Desert Road?
En… very likely!
A few months ago, Tengda was an unknown, small company. The Lonely Desert Road was his first game. Even if the one who created the game was not the boss, he must have been an important partner.
It was most likely Boss Pei! There was a big problem, then.
Boss Pei… would not bear a grudge, would he? After all, I did harshly diss his game back then!
Qiao Liang began to panic.
Chapter 113 - Boss Pei was a Petty Man
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Back then, when Qiao Liang dissed The Lonely Desert Road, he did not think about doing any marketing for Tengda. He was purely doing it to satisfy his own interest.
His main intention was to become popular…
Although it turned out to be a win-win situation, where both the game and Qiao Liang became popular, the segment was meant to be a dissing segment. He dissed the game so badly; how could the creator of the game not bear a grudge against him?
He could only hope that the creator would be magnanimous.
Lu Mingliang replied very quickly: “Boss Pei is very happy. He says that the video must be published under the New Recommended Games of the Month segment. The script cannot be changed. What’s more, you cannot let your audience think it’s sarcasm. You must play the role well; it must sound genuine.”
He was confounded. He’s finished; this Boss Pei bears a grudge indeed! He wanted to watch Qiao Liang make a fool out of himself!
Although New Recommended Games of the Month was used especially for sponsored partnerships and the audience knew this very well, he could not publicize a game without any standard. He would be cursed by his audience for sure!
What’s more, since this segment was meant for sponsored partnerships to begin with, the audience would not think that he’s being sarcastic or using reverse psychology.
In addition to Boss Pei’s request for him to play the role well and sound genuine…
He could predict that once they saw the video, the audience would think he was shameless when it came to accepting sponsored partnerships. They would think Teacher Qiao was going against his own values!
Boss Pei was doing this on purpose, wasn’t he? He was taking revenge; everything about this situation made that clear! He could not accept this job, no matter how much they were offering him!
Qiao Liang immediately typed a reply: “I’m sorry, Boss Lu. You are asking too much of me. I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. Please find someone else for the job.”
Lu Mingliang, “Six thousand, Teacher Qiao!”
Qiao Liang, “…”
You’re not giving up, are you?
Are you going to keep adding to your offer to see where my bottom line is? Aren’t you trying to shame me?
This is not about the money… although, six thousand really is tempting…
Qiao Liang’s heart was bleeding.
That was a lot of money! If he used the six thousand yuan sparingly, it would be able to make him last for two months. He would not have to work for two months. He could play whatever he wanted. How tempting was that…?
He was struggling intensely inside. Ai, alas, he could not take this step. He just could not set his pride down.
Qiao Liang pondered over it for a long time before he began typing: “This is not about the remuneration.”
He had only types several words before a new message came in.
“Teacher Qiao, I just asked Boss Pei about this. He says he can pay you up to ten thousand yuan. Of course, this is the final price. I know that you are a content creator who cares a lot about your reputation. If you don’t want to accept this job, we will not force you.”
Qiao Liang’s hands trembled. He accidentally hit the Return key.
“This is not about the remuneration.”
The message was sent immediately after the previous one. It looked as if Qiao Liang was rejecting him.
Lu Mingliang: “Alright, we wish you all the best in your career. We will not bother you any further.”
Qiao Liang began to panic. Holy shit, that’s not what I meant! Don’t go!
He quickly hit his keyboard. The typing speed of this single man in his twenties suddenly peaked: “This is not about the remuneration. Boss Pei is my old friend. I will do him this favor for sure!”
The message had been sent.
Qiao Liang heaved a long sigh. It was a good thing that Lu Mingliang did not blow up in anger and send a whole load of curses to him.
Lu Mingliang, “Really? That’s great! I will send you more video materials right now.”
Qiao Liang downloaded these new video materials. In just a couple of minutes, he went from being angry, to worried, to shocked… to excited. All in all, his heart was set.
Would posting it in New Recommended Games of the Month ruin his reputation? He was accepting sponsored partnerships; there was nothing to be ashamed of! The audience would surely understand. En, that would be the case!
…
…
“Teacher Qiao accepted it?”
“En, that’s right.”
Boss Pei listened to Lu Mingliang’s update in his office. Satisfied, he nodded.
Who told you to mess with me back then?!
Without you, I would have incurred that loss of fifty thousand yuan. By now, my entire life would be different!
Pei Qian had to make Qiao Liang be the first to post this video. He had to see how he would get out of this one. Of course, Pei Qian was not doing this purely for revenge. Part of him was afraid that the same disastrous outcome as The Lonely Desert Road would happen again.
If he allowed the video to be posted in Trash Games Diss as Teacher Qiao suggested and the game became famous again because of it, he would kill himself immediately.
Thus, the video had to be posted in New Recommended Games of the Month, where there were much less traffic and much fewer viewers. In addition, if ‘I am doing this for the money’ was written all over the video, the plan would be fool-proof!
Just thinking about this simple pleasure made Pei Qian smile uncontrollably: he had just easily gotten rid of ten thousand yuan from the System Funds.
However, in front of Lu Mingliang, he had to control his expression. He could not ruin his image.
“How about the other UP Masters?” Pei Qian asked.
Lu Mingliang answered truthfully, “Some of them refused to accept the job even after we raised the price. However, quite a significant number of content creators accepted the job; I would say more than half of them.
“At first, after reading the script, most of them rejected me. However, I told them that other content creators would have to say the exact same thing and that they would not be the only ones or the first ones to say it. I also told them that they could delete the video after a month, and then increased the offering price. After that, a lot of them agreed.”
Pei Qian was happy to hear this. Indeed, people would be willing to read even the most shameful scripts as long as someone gave them more money for it. What’s more, to other content creators, this was not that serious at all. At the very most, it would only become a bad memory.
If a certain number of UP Masters were posting the same video, each of them would just be adding a new voice-over to the video. It was no big deal.
The first content creator to upload the video would have the hardest time. This was because the audience would not see the full picture when that content creator posted the video. After being fed sh*t, all of their anger would be taken out on him.
Pei Qian planned to make Teacher Qiao the first person.
As for why…
Hehe, Boss Pei was a petty man, wasn’t he?
…
…
In the rental home…
Feeling like he was being tortured in silence, Qiao Liang finally finished watching the video that he recorded.
“What have I done…?”
Qiao Liang’s heart was filled with mixed emotions.
On one hand, now that he was finished with the video, he was ten thousand yuan richer. Money had corroded his determination.
On the other hand, his head was hurting. Eating sh*t was much harder than he thought.
Logically speaking, this job was quite an easy one. All he had to do was read the script and then add in the video materials that Tengda had sent him. In one or two days, he could finish it.
However, Qiao Liang struggled with it for a full five days. It was only when the deadline was nearing that he could force himself to be satisfied with the job.
Qiao Liang practiced the slurping and gulping in the script alone seven or eight times. It was only then that he could make it not sound strange.
All his time was spent on this!
The next day was April the 1st. It was April Fool’s Day.
According to the original plan, Tengda’s new game would be published on that day. Qiao Liang was supposed to publish his own video on this day as well.
He felt slightly moved. It looked like Boss Pei had some conscience left!
Posting a video like that on April Fool’s Day would allow his audience to believe that this was an April Fool’s joke. That would ease the curses that would rain down on Qiao Liang.
However…
Since that day was April Fool’s Day, there would probably be more people watching his videos.
“Forget it, I don’t care anymore. I am being paid to do this. At the very most, I can avoid logging in once I post the video. I’ll be a coward.
“Once I get the ten thousand yuan, I can play games every day and disappear from the world until everything blows over!”
Chapter 114 - Never Touch this Rubbish Game!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
April 1st, April Fool’s Day…
Game Designer was officially up for sale. It was set at twenty-eight yuan!
Now that Tengda had made a name for itself and even recruited several video UP Masters to publicize its new game, it was impossible for it to publish the new game without gamers realizing it.
Pei Qian struggled with pricing for a long time.
He could not set too low a price because of lessons he learned from Ghost General. He could not set too high a price either because of another set of lessons he learned from Ocean Stronghold.
What should he do, then?!
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