An Expert Is actually By My Side - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Inverse Jinxing is the Most Deadly!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Although Country Xia’s video game industry had just kicked off not long ago, it had garnered the support of policies because it was regarded as a significant weapon for cultural dissemination. Hence, its development was quite impressive.
As the largest platform for stand-alone games in China, the E-fun platform had a complete set of recommendations, game launch, and removal mechanisms to ensure that fresh blood was continuously introduced into this blue ocean market.
Take stand-alone games, for example.
All the games submitted by independent game producers with a total production cost of less than one million would be assigned to the stand-alone games section after the system evaluation.
The games in this section would have the opportunity to enjoy a series of support policies prepared by the E-fun platform for independent game producers.
For example, it would be on the recommendations feed on the main page of the platform.
This was the best spot on the entire platform with the most exposure. The game could be on the feed as long as the sales reached 100 within 24 hours after launch.
Under normal circumstances, the recommended games were mostly masterpieces of top quality. Especially considering that the graphics quality was the king in this world, even if there was no exquisite CG animation, there had to be a few screenshots of the game that could cheat people of their money.
However, 2048 was undoubtedly of a different species.
There was absolutely no graphics to speak of. In this recommendation list filled with exquisite CG and screenshots, it was like a pure white lotus that grew out of the mud but remained unsullied.
Its graphics were so coarse that they could be ignored altogether, and the gameplay was so simple that it was retarded. Even the [Congratulations on Winning] notification at the end was terribly sloppy.
Despite being in the game industry for many years, it was Zhang Xiang’s first time witnessing such a half-hearted and crappy piece of work being published on the largest game platform in China—the E-fun recommendations feed.
“This is so damn boring!”
Looking at the leaderboard that popped up in front of him, he was stunned. He had wasted half an hour to win the game, after all. He even suspected if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
That’s it?
It was a crappy game with no graphics, no storyline, and even the game mechanism was so simple that it only required the four up, down, left, and right keys. However, not only did it make it onto the E-fun platform recommendations feed, but the number of downloads was also rapidly increasing.
The last time he checked, more than a thousand people had downloaded it.
And not even three hours had gone by since its launch.
Even dumber was that there was actually someone who had f*cking scored 131072 points.
“Let’s say that the E-fun platform evaluators were out of their minds, but did the players’ tastes hit the dumpster as well?”
When he thought about how the epic masterpieces, that he and the audience had once promoted, were dead now, an unknown fire ignited in his heart.
What the hell does it have?
No way!
In order to maintain the healthy development of the industry, he felt that he had to ruthlessly criticize it in the live broadcasting room.
Of course…
It was mainly to verify that there wasn’t a problem with his taste.
Seeing that it was almost time for the broadcast, he tapped on the keyboard, changed it to the desktop page, and opened the live broadcasting tool.
As a well-known content creator in the live broadcast and game section of Bilibili, he, nicknamed Brother Xiang, could be regarded as an experienced veteran in the game critic field, except that his reputation wasn’t great.
Legend had it that there was no game that he couldn’t jinx to death. Hence, the players mocked him for being the biggest jinx in the game industry.
During every live broadcast, the audience derived the greatest joy from watching him enthusiastically flatter and sing the praises of a masterpiece that had not been launched online for the sake of money, then watch it die a horrible death as expected.
Over time, whenever he promoted a game on his live broadcast, some anti-fans would jump out and mock him for earning dirty money from the promotion.
In the beginning, he had fought back and argued that he was devoting his time and effort due to his love of the product and had not received any money. In the end, the developers who had taken hits couldn’t bear to watch on any longer. They sent their own man to expose Brother Xiang’s secret, complaining that he took their money but didn’t put any effort into promoting the product. They even attached a screenshot of the bank transfer. It became a trending topic afterward.
Later on, more and more people went with the tide and smeared his name. Seeing that no matter how hard he struggled, it was to no avail, he gave up fighting back.
After all, traffic was money.
Where there was traffic, there was money to earn.
That was indeed the case. At first, the developers were willing to pay him money since he still had some following.
However, gradually, no one looked for him anymore.
Although metaphysics was not credible, it was accurate!
Nobody would want their game to be carrying a jinxed buff the moment it was launched online. Moreover, some of the anti-fans were just too good at fighting. They would smear any game that he promoted, causing havoc in the comments section.
Just like that, popularity became a burden to Brother Xiang.
If he couldn’t get rid of his bad reputation, it meant that he wouldn’t be able to earn any dirty money. He couldn’t pay the rent if he didn’t earn that dirty money.
Zhang Xiang, who only had fans but couldn’t convert them to cash, was always trying to get rid of his bad reputation. However, because his mouth was just too jinxed, no game could withstand his curse.
Until one fine day when a long-awaited opportunity presented itself.
It was a massive epic game that had been promoted for an entire year and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce. According to rumors, the semi-finished demo had stunned the CEO of E-fun Corporation at the press conference so much that he gave a standing ovation. Under everyone’s eager anticipation, the demo was released.
Holding the CD of the demo version, Zhang Xiang gambled his entire career and made the most vicious and ruthless vow of his life out of love for the product for once.
“I’m going to praise it to the skies!”
“If such an awesome and amazing and sensational masterpiece fails, I, Zhang Xiang, will eat 1kg of shit on the spot!”
The results afterward were obvious.
That epic masterpiece, which most likely spent all its funds on the demo version and PPT, had a sudden death on the same day that it was launched.
Not only did Zhang Xiang, who had devoted his time and effort to the game, receive a lawyer’s letter from the developer, but he also owed the audience 1kg of shit.
Until now, there were still people chasing him to pay up. Later on, they even used ‘Xiang’ to refer to shit, reminding him not to forget the 1kg of shit-eating that he owed.
He suffered a massive loss from his actions.
From then on, he gritted his teeth and endured the humiliation, constantly seeking opportunities for a transformation. He made up his mind to stop being a game-promotion host. Instead, he switched to being a game critic.
In the future, whichever developer did not give him money, he would furiously criticize their new works.
Bootlicking ain’t as satisfying as criticizing others!
If I can’t collect advertising fees, I’ll just change my plan and charge you protection fees!
Today, I shall make this garbage the first target of my attack.
“Good afternoon, my dear audience. I am your Brother Xiang. I am slightly late coming online today because I was held up by a crappy game.”
[Brother Xiang is on air! Xiang fans, it’s time for our meal!]
[Brother Xiang, isn’t it about time you pay back that 1kg of Xiang that you owe?]
[Let me translate that for everyone. What Brother Xiang means to say is that ‘Your Brother Xiang is about to earn dirty money again but was held up when thinking about how to bootlick. Please excuse me.’]
[Must excuse him for sure! As long as the host pays back the sh*t he owes first.]
[Bros! Smash the dirty money on the public screen!]
Looking at the bullet screens on his screen, Zhang Xiang’s brows twitched furiously.
However, the audience was God and his masters. He still understood this simple truth. Hence, he didn’t flare up. Instead, he patiently continued with his live broadcast.
“If you think that I’m here to promote something for money again, then you guys are really looking down on your Brother Xiang. Today, Brother Xiang is here to uphold justice!
“The current game industry is going from bad to worse. Any trash can make it to the recommendations feed and occupy the space meant for the true premium products. Without further ado, let me show you what boring means.”
After saying this, he logged into the E-fun platform and opened the 2048 game that he had just played.
“This game’s gameplay is straightforward. You just use the up, down, left, and right keys to add two identical adjacent numbers together to get the number 2048.
“And after you spend half an hour to finish the game, you’ll then realize that this scam of a game is just beginning. As long as you are bored enough, the number can keep increasing.
“The stand-alone game section of the E-fun platform has really deteriorated nowadays. In the past, I could still occasionally purchase some games of good quality. But now, any kind of junk can be pushed onto the feed. I only realized this after playing for a goddamn half an hour and couldn’t get a refund. Although one yuan isn’t much, it really disgusts your Brother Xiang.
“All of you absolutely mustn’t play it. Aside from wasting half an hour of your life, this game won’t bring you any bit of pleasure.”
Incessantly criticizing the game to his heart’s content, Zhang Xiang felt like he had spat out a mouthful of old phlegm that had accumulated for two years. No words could express the joy in his heart.
However, when he looked at the bullet screen, he froze.
[Ermmm… How is it boring? Isn’t it quite okay?]
[Yeah, it’s quite interesting, in fact.]
[Although the gameplay is simple, happiness shouldn’t be discounted. I shall give it a go.]
[Let’s go. I’ll try it too.]
What the f*ck?
Zhang Xiang’s eyes widened.
Don’t these people have brains?
How on earth is this crappy game happiness?
Then, more undue comments appeared.
[This Zhang Xiang probably accepted some dirty job and is now smearing the fresh-talent production team.]
[Brothers, protect the comments section. We can’t let the evil forces succeed!]
[I shall purchase 10 copies first to show my disdain towards Xiang! Pooh! You dirty-money-earning thing! And you still say you’re upholding justice!]
Seeing the lines of text on his screen, Zhang Xiang nearly vomited blood.
F*ck!
When I promote a game, you say that I’m earning dirty money. When I criticize a game, you also say that I’m earning dirty money. This is going too damn far!
However, no matter how wronged Zhang Xiang was, it was of no use.
Trends were set through all these back and forth bullet screens. His broadcasting room manager had never taken care of anything, not to mention that managing things was useless at this time.
In the blink of an eye, the number of downloads of the game surged up by a thousand, and the entire situation turned around.
The screen filled with ridicule was a merciless humiliation to his professionalism!
Zhang Xiang felt that he was about to cry. Driven by his emotions, he suddenly slapped his thigh with his right hand.
“I beg you guys to stop buying it! Don’t your hearts ache from buying this trashy game?”
[Hahaha, I just want to buy it. One yuan isn’t anything. I’m happy to spend it!]
[Yup, yup, yup! We’ll talk about it after you’ve paid back the 1kg of shit that you owe us?]
[That’s right. Use a yuan to support a creator with dreams!]
Looking at the screen that was singing a different tune from him, Zhang Xiang finally became furious and powerlessly yelled into the screen in rage, “Eat sh*t, you people!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it.
However, before the emotion could sink in… Click! The screen of the live broadcast room turned black.
Immediately after that, a reminder from the ‘superb’ room manager popped out.
[Anchor, please take note of your manners. Do not insult the audience.]
Blocked period…
72 hours!
Looking at the jam-braking reminder and the full-screen barrage of “satisfying” and “justice from the heavens”…
Zhang Xiang was stupefied.