After Playing the Fool and Marrying the Blind Villain [Transmigration] - Chap 81
In the hotel room, Pei Yi finished talking on the phone with Bo Yueming, Xiang Nansheng, and the others before turning around and telling Li Yuan, “Pear Garden, our presentation for the competition will continue as usual in the afternoon.”
“As usual?”
Li Yuan believed in his own game and in the judgment of his friend. The only thing he didn’t believe in was Ke Ming the thief calling them thieves.
“Pei Yi, Ke Ming did it on purpose. The setting of “Destroy the Alien Beasts” is more and more similar to ours, and they seized the advantage of the morning session. Our Last Fog presentation comes in the afternoon, and I’m afraid we’ll be beaten by him.”
Li Yuan had initially thought that after this period of experience, he had become mature, stable, and strong, but he didn’t understand until he met the person who had mocked and humiliated him in the past—
He still couldn’t bear to lose again, especially in this hard-won career.
Pei Yi saw his friend’s currently tense nerves and pushed him to sit down on the sofa, taking the initiative to hand over the cigarettes on the table.
“Pear Garden, smoke one? Then listen to me.”
“…….”
They were staying on a smoking floor, and it was a room near the window, so smoking a cigarette and a half now and then wouldn’t matter.
Li Yuan looked at the cigarettes stuffed into his hand and shook his head. “No.”
Firstly, he didn’t want to make his friend feel uncomfortable, and secondly, he remembered the goal of quitting smoking that he made before the New Year.
He poured himself half a glass of cold mineral water. “I’m fine, just tell me what you think.”
Pei Yi sat down opposite him and said, “Pear Garden, you’ve already read the description of the setting of “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” and it is the core operation of our “The Last Mist.” So let me ask you—”
“Who is better and who is worse regarding the background of the two games? Who is stronger and who is weaker in character settings? Who wins and who loses in the game’s NPC portrayal?”
Li Yuan took it for granted and voted, “Of course it’s our Last Fog!”
It wasn’t that he was speaking through a filter, but that their game was better.
Regarding the backgrounds of the games, there had been a winner between the two sides since the bidding in the capital. Pei Yi, as the architect of The Last Fog, had created a more magnificent and enormous world view.
On the other hand, the cobbled together “Destroy the Alien Beasts” still contained a shadow of many foreign sci-fi movies.
In terms of game character settings, there were four human characters and a “mutant wolf” in “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” while The Last Fog had six human characters and a “human zombie.”
It seemed that the former had copied them, but in terms of preparation time and related attributes, The Last Fog was definitely more detailed, richer, and team-oriented.
As for the final portrayal of the NPCs, beauty was in the eye of the beholder.
Pei Yi said from his own structural point of view, “In my opinion, Ke Ming forcefully increased the game characters of Destroy the Alien Beasts from one to five, which is actually superfluous.”
He wanted too many, and destroyed the uniqueness of the game.
“Pear Garden, do you remember their initial setting?”
Li Yuan was not a game architect, so he didn’t understand his friend’s first sentence for the time being, but he still remembered the original story concept of “Alien Beasts”—
Due to the improper operation of a gene experiment, a large number of mutated creatures escaped, which shortly affected humanity and brought global disaster.
And the “protagonist” of the game was the only person who was harmed by an alien beast but not infected, and could even make the other beasts bow down.
“Think about it, in the context of a global background without normal human beings, the ‘uniqueness’ of the protagonist is the key to attracting players.”
The lonely but exclusive brand of destiny was the key attraction of this game.
Of course, if the game was upgraded or there was another version, it was fine for new characters to be added.
But Ke Ming’s “Destroy the Alien Beasts” completely ruined the most exciting point at the beginning.
The uniqueness was no longer there.
In the initial setting of The Last Fog, there were many humans still surviving. The highlights of the game were the process of “amnesia” at the beginning, meeting “companions” on the road, and then “revealing secrets” side by side to learn the truth.
If The Last Fog 1.0 was limited to single-player battles, then the upgraded mobile game The Last Fog 2.0 was aimed at multiplayer team battles.
As the game’s chief planner, Pei Yi clearly understood the advantages of his own game better than the “copycat” Ke Ming.
“The other party plagiarized in order to make the two games have similar settings, but our ‘difference’ is the key to our superiority over them.”
“Pear Garden, we don’t need to change the settings. We just need to add a page of ‘innovation’ to the end of the presentation.”
“Innovation?”
“En, I asked Brother Xiang just now. We need to improve the degree of freedom in the game’s skill points, so that players can customize the attack range, distance, and even the attack path of each skill.”
If the player didn’t need to customize them, they could also follow the official preset settings.
Of course, custom skill changes had approved value ranges.
There was slight surprise in Li Yuan’s eyes. “Is this possible? Will it increase the load of the game?”
Pei Yi said honestly, “It will aggravate it a little, but GM is willing to increase investment to solve the technical and server problems, so we can just go ahead with it.”
Li Yuan’s tense nerves finally relaxed, and his interest in teasing was renewed. “You sought out that family of yours? Does this count as going through the back door?”
“That bastard Ke Ming has already gone through the organizers’ back door, what can’t I do?”
Pei Yi was straightforward and respected the rules of the game. “Besides, my back door won’t affect other people’s chances.”
“If Xiao Li finds this unsuitable, can’t you call another senior member of GM to give it a try? You guys, ah, walk through the front door carefully.”
“…….”
Li Yuan heard Pei Yi covertly mention Yan Cen, as if implying something, and coughed. “What are you talking about?”
Pei Yi met his eyes and smiled, saying nothing.
Li Yuan dropped the cigarettes in his hand and stood up. “Then don’t you want to increase the content of the presentation? I’m getting the computer. You say it and I’ll make the changes, let’s hurry up.”
“Okay.”
Pei saw this and took them, adding one more sentence at the end, “Pear Garden, don’t worry, our game can at least enter the top five.”
Even if, as Ke Ming believed, the favorites for awards were all concentrated in the morning session, the pressure of “choosing five out of ten” for the afternoon session would naturally be decreased.
What’s more, their game had never been a patchwork of ostentation—
You couldn’t become fat with one mouthful, and you couldn’t climb to the sky with one foot. Everything must be done step by step.
No matter how certain the result was in the eyes of others, there was a one in ten thousand chance that this could be changed, and they must be fully prepared for that chance!
Li Yuan broke completely free from the anger he had been coerced into, and became calm and confident. “En, I understand.”
Regardless of whether the result was predetermined or not, as long as they could back it into the top five, it would not be a waste of time for them.
What’s more, they still had their big move to deal with Ke Ming at the end.
. . . . . . .
It was as Pei Yi expected.
After two days of selection by the competition organizers, their Last Fog was still shortlisted into the top five. In addition—
Nebula Fun Tour’s “Traces,” Chanming studio’s “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” Mufeng Games’ “Dark Blue Sea,” and Jyou Entertainment’s “Gun God Hundred to One” were also shortlisted.
Soon, it was the last day of the competition, when the winning games were to be announced.
Pei Yi and Li Yuan’s seats were moved from the fifth row to the third row, and they were also arranged to the left of Ke Ming.
The eyes of the two sides met, then quickly averted.
Pei Yi didn’t want his friend to be influenced by a thing like Ke Ming anymore, so he took the initiative to sit next to the latter and gave up the other seat to Li Yuan.
Sure enough, as soon as the two of them sat down, Ke Ming immediately smiled and spoke out, “I really didn’t expect that we would still meet each other in the finals, ah.”
Pei Yi couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to Ke Ming’s trouble seeking behavior, so he simply ignored him.
“…….”
Ke Ming was taken aback, but his triumphant expression remained. “It’s a pity, ah, that you can only accompany me here.”
After all, how could there be two apocalyptic games among the top three in the game competition?
Since this spot was occupied in advance by his “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” it was destined that Li Yuan and others could only sit in the audience as losers and watch him go on stage to receive the award.
Thinking of this, Ke Ming’s filled more and more with the determination to win. “I heard that you plan to customize the attack settings of the game? This is indeed a good idea.”
“…….”
When Pei Yi heard this, a cold feeling finally formed in his heart. “Mr. Ke, no matter whether the idea is good or bad, it is not your idea.”
Seeing him finally react, Ke Ming came up with a high-sounding excuse, “We are colleagues, let’s learn from each other and make progress together.”
Did it matter who thought of it?
Was it important whether the innovation was exclusive?
As long as their “Destroy the Alien Beasts” was released before “The Last Fog” and thus captured the time difference, then who could tell who had copied whom?
Pei Yi could see everything in Ke Ming’s eyes, and his disgust became even stronger.
Ke Ming saw this and felt enjoyment in his heart – a reaction was better than no reaction. The angrier the other party was and the more he cared about it, the more relaxed he felt physically and mentally.
Ke Ming looked Pei Yi in the face again and asked persistently, “Teacher Will, I’ve been wondering in the past two days, have we met somewhere before?”
In fact, he had privately asked his assistant to investigate Will’s true identity, but there had been no news for a while.
Ke Ming returned to his senses and added, “You really look familiar to me.”
Pei Yi turned his eyes away, unwilling to give him another unnecessary glance.
Soon, the public announcement of the award-winning guests sounded on the stage—
“Congratulations to Nebula Fun Tour. The suspenseful crime-solving game “Traces” has been shortlisted for the top three in the 8th Original Game Design Competition!”
The audience burst into applause. As expected, “Traces” was a winning game.
As the representative, Gu Jianshen stood up calmly. Before taking the stage, he did not forget to glance at Pei Yi, his eyes revealing his sincere gratitude to him as the original architect.
Pei Yi smiled back. “Congratulations.”
Gu Jianshen replied in a low voice, “Teacher Will, I hope to see you on stage later.”
Although they didn’t speak loudly, the people nearby could still hear.
When Ke Ming saw this scene, there was a trace of ridicule in his eyes—
In his opinion, Nebula Fun Tour’s “Traces” was just a good investment, backed by a major game company like Weiyi!
As one of the investors behind the competition, perhaps it had already arranged for “Traces” to win the award. It was about the same as their “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” so no one was necessarily better than the other!
The awards for the three out of five were given one after another, so not long after, the voice of the award presenter was heard on stage again—
“Congratulations, Chanming Studios, the apocalyptic survival game “Destroy the Alien Beasts” has been shortlisted for the top three in the 8th Original Game Design Competition!”
At the moment the next winner was announced, other than Pei Yi and Li Yuan, who had long expected it, the voices of everyone else in the audience gradually became louder—
“How could this be, ah? I would have thought it would be Teacher Deng’s “Dark Blue Sea.”
“I also feel that the setting of “Alien Beasts” is too similar to some alien movies. It should be impossible to reach the top five. How come it still won an award?”
“I don’t think this game is very interesting. Could it be that the organizers opened a back door?”
“How could that be? Wouldn’t they lose their credibility?”
“…….”
Ke Ming ignored the comments coming from behind. He stood up and straightened his suit with the upright posture of a winner.
In his opinion, only losers talked behind others’ backs.
Ke Ming retaliated by ignoring Pei Yi and Li Yuan on the left, and looked at Deng Mufeng on his right, imitating Gu Jianshen’s words.
“Teacher Deng, I’ll see you on stage later. My intuition is always very accurate.”
Faced with his affirmation, Deng Mufeng smiled politely and said, “Thank you. Congratulations.”
As a game in the competition, “Gun God Hundred to One” was original in terms of the competition’s system, but there were also similar products on the market that could be substituted.
At this time, their game director was overjoyed to be in the top five, and had no intention of reaching the top three.
After all, getting the Top Five title was enough to launch their game.
By default, only one of the two shortlisted games of the same type would be chosen. So the only one left that could win an award was “Dark Blue Sea,” an ancient style game that had a reputation for awards.
Li Yuan looked at the back of Ke Ming as he appeared successfully on stage. Even though he was already prepared to lose the award, he still felt indescribable frustration and loss—
An original game design competition?
This year’s organizers had allowed plagiarism, and then arranged for a game to be shortlisted? Was this really fair to the other contestants?
Sure enough, there was no escaping the control of money no matter where you went.
Li Yuan looked at his friend and sighed softly. “I suddenly regret instigating you to participate in this competition.”
“How can this be considered instigation? Didn’t we decide to come after discussing it?”
Pei Yi suppressed the disappointment in his heart and comforted his friend. “Pear Garden, don’t give up on our career until the last second.”
Li Yuan smiled and sighed, “En, I know.”
He had always been glad that he had not rejected Pei Yi’s invitation to join forces. The other party’s words and deeds had helped him and changed him a lot.
Yes.
Even though the outcome of this competition had already been determined, they still had to wait until the last winner was announced.
On the other side, the self-confident Ke Ming came onstage and stood next to Gu Jianshen. “Mr. Gu, nice to meet you.”
Gu Jianshen looked at him with very neutral eyes, clearly not having expected this result.
He had originally thought that if Will’s “The Last Fog” could win the award, then the follow-up promotion of the two games could be used to do a joint wave of promotion.
But why did “Destroy the Aliens Beasts” win the award? No matter which angle you judged it from, this shouldn’t be the case!
The more Gu Jianshen thought about it, the more absurd it became. His eyes unconsciously turned toward the seats in the third row, and he had a vague guess in mind.
Ke Ming saw the indifferent attitude of the person next to him, and his eyes filled with disdain—
Sure enough, he was backed by a big company, so he made a show of himself and thought he was superior to others? But what was the use of complaining on behalf of YWY Studios?
The issue was settled!
Some people were destined to sit in the audience and watch helplessly, and were not worthy of being alongside him.
The moment this thought took shape, the award presenter diagonally to the side reported the final entry on the shortlist!
“—Congratulations to YWY Studios, the apocalyptic survival game “The Last Fog” has been shortlisted for the top three in the 8th Original Game Design Competition!”
The loud announcement of the award reached every corner of the venue through the microphone, suddenly turning into a slap to Ke Ming’s face.
“……”
Ke Ming’s expression changed at once, and he stared at the list in awarder’s hands in disbelief!
How was this possible?
Their game was the same style, ah!
Did the organizers, no, the judging panel consider the similarity aspect?
With the announcement of the last award, the audience once again burst into applause of recognition, and it was obviously more enthusiastic than when “Destroy the Alien Beasts” won the award.
“…….”
Li Yuan almost suspected that he had heard it wrong, and quickly looked at Pei Yi beside him. He was so surprised that he forgot his friend’s initial explanation and called him by his first name.
“P-Pei Yi? Is this our studio?”
Pei Yi suppressed his fluctuating emotions and smiled back. “It is, you heard it right.”
This result was unexpected, because they and “Alien Beasts” did collide in the same game category.
But the result was also reasonable, because their “Last Fog” had been qualified to win from the very beginning.
Pei Yi looked at his friend who was still shocked in surprise, and stood up proactively. “I’ll go up.”
Pei Yi passed by Deng Mufeng, who was sitting on the outside of the third row, and waved politely. The other person’s smile was a little forced. He obviously hadn’t expected that they would be able to get the last spot.
Pei Yi calmly took the stage and completed the award ceremony with Gu Jianshen and Ke Ming.
Five minutes later, the three of them prepared to go backstage under the instructions of the staff.
“Wait a minute!”
As soon as Ke Ming was out of sight of the personnel, he couldn’t help but call for them to stop.
He quickly walked around to Pei Yi and proclaimed, “No wonder you were so confident. It seems you used a back door?”
Otherwise, how could he have won an award too?
When Gu Jianshen heard this, he immediately frowned and stopped him. “Mr. Ke, please be careful with your words! What you just said was disrespectful to Teacher Will!”
“It’s fine.”
Pei Yi looked at Gu Jianshen, and there was an implication in his words. “Some people have dirt in their eyes, so everything they see is dirty.”
Since he had a back door through his connections, he suspected that everyone else had a back door.
Pei Yi raised his eyebrows slightly and stepped forward without any fear at all. “Since Mr. Ke doubts the judging results, why don’t the three of us apply for a re-review together?”
“I think it’s a pity that Mr. Deng’s “Dark Blue Sea” didn’t win the award. He must be given a spot.”
“I have no problem with it.”
Gu Jianshen was very confident. Although Nebula Fun Tour relied on a large company for support, they never engaged in malicious competition.
Pei Yi calmly mocked and coerced him, “Those who rely on true capability will have no problem, Mr. Ke. Don’t you think so?”
“…….”
Hearing Pei Yi’s obvious provocation, Ke Ming’s original pride vanished, and instead, his face turned colors with anger!
“We’ll see!”
As long as “Destroy the Alien Beasts” was launched first and dominated the market, he wanted to see how popular “The Last Fog” could be!
Pei Yi stared at his back as he turned away, an inaudible scoffing coming from behind his mask.
Just wait for the other party to show himself, and then catch them all!
Gu Jianshen standing next to him saw it clearly and asked in a low voice, “Will, your studio and Mr. Ke’s don’t deal well with each other?”
“Yes, ah, it’s not a matter of just one or two days.”
Pei Yi took off his stuffy mask and gave a summary, “Their creature images from the beginning plagiarized the previous work of our art director.”
“They changed the name this time, but the character settings are still plagiarized from the content of our Last Fog.”
Gu Jianshen recalled, “There are indeed many similarities. Is there anything you need my help with?”
“Not for the moment. If I need Team Leader Gu’s help in the future, I won’t be polite.” Pei Yi replied simply. He had his own plan—
He wanted Ke Ming to think he had tasted the fruits of victory, only to lose completely and fall to pieces!”
“Okay.”
Gu Jianshen glanced at the time and asked, “Are you free today? I mentioned treating you before, and if you and Mr. Li come together, we can treat it as a celebration for both of us being shortlisted and winning the award.”
Pei Yi nodded. “Yes, but it can only be at noon. We plan to return to the capital in the afternoon.”
Gu Jianshen was taken aback: “Why are you rushing back in such a hurry?”
Before Pei Yi could explain, the phone in his pocket vibrated. It was a call from Bo Yueming.
The smile on Pei Yi’s lips widened unconsciously. “Sorry, Team Leader Gu. I need to take this call.”
“Go ahead.”
Gu Jianshen gave him space in a measured manner and took his leave.
Pei Yi quickly answered the phone: “Er-ge.”
Bo Yueming’s voice sounded: “Congratulations Little Mr. Yi.”
“Why are you so well-informed?” Pei Yi knew what he was being congratulated for.
There was a certain sense of pride in the final note when he said, “Er-ge, am I awesome? Let me tell you, not only The Last Fog, but Traces was also designed by me!”
“What can you hide from me?” Bo Yueming was truly proud and happy for his lover, but he couldn’t help but think about something else. “When will you come back?”
Pei Yi had already planned his return trip. “Mr. Bo, when do you want me to come back?”
Bo Yueming replied, “The sooner the better.”
Pei Yi smiled back. “Then tonight. Yesterday, Pear Garden and I made a reservation for a flight at 3:30 in the afternoon.”
Their original plan was to return the next day on Friday, but after discussing it the night before, they unanimously decided to return earlier so that they could go to the studio and supervise the project.
Pei Yi glanced at the time on his phone and automatically started the countdown in his heart.
His eyes wandered around for a moment, and when there was nobody around, he teased secretly through the phone, “Husband, will you pick me up tonight? I miss you so much, ah.”
Bo Yueming was so moved by these few words that he responded earnestly, “Of course. Little Sir, I miss you too.”
