At 8:00 PM on August 18, the peak time for player online activity.

In the holographic gaming forum’s Ghost Realm dedicated section, all sorts of posts kept popping up like mushrooms after rain. In the Weibo #GhostRealm# super topic area, a massive amount of spontaneous praise and recommendations from passersby also appeared.

With every refresh, the front page would change completely.

The players’ enthusiasm was unprecedentedly high.

A massive number of posts discussing bosses appeared on the Ghost Realm forum.

“How do you beat the Night-Crying Ghost? Can an older brother or sister teach me? Wuwuwu, I’ve been pestered by that stinky kid for an hour, I’m about to collapse!”

“Has anyone encountered the Thunder Ghost? Holy crap! A single bolt of lightning struck me dead instantly.”

“Meng Tu is streaming fighting the Night-Crying Ghost, everyone can go check it out. Dying of laughter, she’s jumping up and down wearing Nie Xiaoqian’s outfit, like she’s going crazy online~”

“Hahaha, Nie Xiaoqian’s reputation is ruined!”

The wild bosses updated for this event were all super hard to fight. Many players were tormented by the bosses until they were crying and howling.

Taking their time to pioneer and clear them next, there was plenty to play.

Players who liked treasure hunting also shared the various magical items updated for this event on the forum, including how to plan treasure hunting routes and how to save Nether Coins faster. Many players had their own insights.

Passersby commented: “You guys have such good business minds playing a game!”

Treasure hunting players replied one after another: “Our goal is to become rich ladies of the Ghost Realm~”

“I’ve already saved 300,000 Nether Coins, jealous?”

“I saved 350,000, spent a few tens of thousands buying clothes, and have 300,000 left to exchange for magical items. Asking for help, which magical item is more useful?”

“Save a bit more. Once you have enough, directly exchange for the high-level magical item—the Soul-Summoning Banner.”

“The Soul-Summoning Banner is super awesome, I actually summoned Gongsun Jiuniang!”

“This magical item is indeed powerful. You can summon wandering souls from the Ghost Realm. And the summoned ghosts automatically become your teammates. Taking them to fight wild bosses is super useful.”

“I also saved a lot of Nether Coins and exchanged them for the Soul-Summoning Banner. I used it to summon Gongsun Jiuniang to assist me. Letting her float around can attract the boss’s attention, and I can focus on fighting the boss from the side.”

“Holy crap? You can play it like this?”

Seeing the insights shared by the big shots, players’ jaws dropped in shock.

It seemed that one couldn’t just play this game with one single playstyle. Combining different playstyles was the most interesting aspect of Ghost Realm.

[Sharing some photos I took]

This post was pushed to the trending section of the front page, with over a hundred thousand bookmarks!

The original poster, “Duoduo,” was a very famous scenery enthusiast big shot in the gaming circle. She loved taking photos and sharing them. Her camera angles were at a professional photographer’s level; composition and photo editing were a piece of cake for her.

The Ghost Realm scenery she photographed was exquisite, magnificent, and spectacular.

Many players replied and left likes: “The art style of this game is truly unique!”

“I dare say, there is no substitute for this in the whole world, it’s too awesome.”

“The peak of Mount Luofu is so beautiful. Unfortunately, clumsy-handed players like me can’t manage the controls and keep failing to climb up. Thanks to the OP for sharing the beautiful scenery.”

“That ghost building in the Ghost Market is so spooky. I didn’t expect that climbing up would give you a bird’s-eye view of the entire Ghost Market. Big shot is 666!”

[Detailed Guide on Playing Yezi Xi]

There were also players who spent the whole afternoon playing cards in the Ghost Market and posted a detailed tutorial video on the forum.

“After an afternoon of observation, the Yezi Xi gameplay in the Ghost Market is a built-in card minigame. The cards dealt in each round are entirely random!”

“The few ghosts each have their own characteristics. The old lady plays cards boldly; regardless of whether she wins or loses, if she has a card to capture with, she captures it, playing recklessly. The pale-faced female ghost is very smart, extremely good at counting cards, and has a strategy, so her win rate is super high.”

“And then there’s that skinny male ghost. He plays cards slowly, but actually has a lot of hidden schemes. He observes the situation on the board and would rather let someone else win than let you win!”

“The 10 NPCs in the entire card house all have different playing styles. You can choose the NPCs you like to play with. The cards dealt by the system are all random, so luck plays a huge factor. Of course, if you know how to memorize and count cards, it’s easier to win.”

“I played cards with this bunch of ghosts for a whole afternoon, it’s seriously super fun ahhh! Begging @Yangfan Studio, please make the Yezi Xi event permanent!”

Many players replied in surprise: “You can actually play cards? I didn’t even find where this card house the OP mentioned is.”

“I quit after playing just one round, didn’t really understand the rules of Yezi Xi. After reading the OP’s guide, I’ll go back and try playing with them again later.”

“These ghosts are so interesting! Support making the Yezi Xi event permanent!”

“There are so many places to stroll around in the Ghost Market. I suggest everyone wander everywhere; you’ll definitely discover surprises!”

[Guide: A’Bao Side Quest, How to achieve the HE (Happy Ending)!]

After multiple experiments, someone figured out the conditions to achieve the “perfect ending” for the A’Bao and Sun Zichu side story and shared the detailed guide on the forum.

For this random encounter story, the player’s different choices would lead to different endings, which was more interesting than the previous “fixed endings.”

It was said that after the player transformed into a parrot and carried A’Bao’s embroidered shoe back to Sun Zichu’s house, they could help Sun Zichu’s soul return to his body.

Sun Zichu and A’Bao got married with the blessings of friends and relatives, but this was not the end of the story. The good times didn’t last long; Sun Zichu died of a sudden illness, and A’Bao, overwhelmed with grief, hanged herself from a beam.

At this point, the story would branch out with multiple options.

Only if the player chose correctly at every step and completed the subsequent challenge quests could they assist A’Bao and Sun Zichu in reaching Senluo Hall in the Ghost Realm, pleading with Yama King to grant them rebirth for the sake of their deep marital love, thus achieving the Happy Ending (HE).

Once a wrong choice was made, either Sun Zichu would reincarnate early, missing A’Bao, or A’Bao wouldn’t be able to find Sun Zichu in the Ghost Realm and would never walk out of the River of Forgetfulness.

There were many types of Bad Endings (BE), but only one Happy Ending (HE).

Once the post was published, it immediately sparked heated discussions among story-loving players.

“Thanks to the OP for sharing, I’ve hit a BE four times already wuwu.”

“It is indeed quite hard to get the HE for this random encounter quest. The parrot carrying the shoe, A’Bao searching for her husband, and challenging the judges—all three stages are very difficult.”

“I transformed into the parrot and fell halfway down several times. I can’t believe there are so many choices later on!”

“Are you guys the only ones constantly doing quests? Am I the only one who felt that being a bird was fun after transforming into a parrot, flying everywhere to look at the scenery~”

“A thumbs up to Little Sailboat (Yangfan). The playability of the random encounter quests in this event is much richer than before. There are several story endings, and I collected all of them.”

Aside from the A’Bao side quest, the Ghost Festival also added a large number of quests assisting Ghost Market NPCs in fulfilling their wishes.

There was a post summarizing the various NPCs players encountered.

Helping the headless ghost find his head; helping the water ghost change into dry clothes; helping a lost little ghost find his parents; helping the glamorous female ghost catch a pleasing partner for a ghost marriage, and so on.

Many ghosts in the Ghost Market had their own unique stories.

For example, the blind and deaf old lady leaning on a cane couldn’t let go of her daughter even after death, and had not reincarnated. Taking advantage of the Gates of Hell opening during the Ghost Festival, she wanted to go see her daughter to tell her to live well…

The deep love between mother and daughter moved countless players.

It even made some players think of their own deceased relatives.

“If the Ghost Realm truly exists, I hope my dad doesn’t worry about me anymore. Your son is doing very well, please reincarnate with peace of mind.”

“My mom suffered her whole life and passed away from illness last year. Seeing this old lady in the Ghost Realm who refused to cross the River of Forgetfulness truly brought tears to my eyes… If there is an afterlife, I hope mom reincarnates into a good family and lives a happy, joyful life.”

…

The stories of the Ghost Market NPCs evoked the deeply hidden emotions of many players. A large number of posts recounting personal experiences and praying for the peace of loved ones appeared on the forum, somewhat shocking the administrators.

It had been a long time since a game like this could make players feel such genuine emotions!

The stories in Ghost Realm were sometimes exaggerated and bizarre, and sometimes vivid and touching. Every NPC was so alive.

Compared to those perfunctory games where NPC dialogues were all fixed lines…

Ghost Realm was truly eye-catching!

At 10:00 PM that night, a trending topic #GhostRealmConscienceGame# was pushed up the Weibo hot search list. The cause was that the famous blogger Purple Cauliflower posted another long Weibo, giving extremely high praise to this Ghost Realm event.

“Having played games for so many years, players can feel whether the planning team put their heart into it.

This Ghost Realm Ghost Festival event surprised me immensely and also pleasantly amazed me. The event content is incredibly rich. Just the NPCs in the Ghost Market number over a hundred, and each NPC has a different appearance. Most NPCs can also be interacted with.

Even the 10 card-playing ghosts in the card house have their own distinct playing styles. Actually, just making three fixed NPCs to play cards with players in this kind of minigame would be enough to make people happy. Yet, the developers created a realistic gaming environment, giving each NPC a different personality.

Creating such complex settings is actually a massive project. Just in terms of programming, the amount of code for 10 distinct NPCs grows exponentially.

There’s also the concept art and modeling for over a hundred NPCs, the rendering and production of the entire Ghost Market scene, the skill design for various wild bosses, the plot design for the random encounter system, and so on…

Making so much content consumes both time and effort.

It’s no exaggeration to say that just the Ghost Market portion, or the Yezi Xi portion, could be taken out and sold separately as an independent game.

Yet this is merely an event…

And it was made into a free event that everyone can enjoy to their heart’s content!

Is this not sincere enough?

I can’t even imagine the funds and manpower invested by the R&D team in the early stages. They must have been preparing this event for a very long time.

However, with such a massive event, they surprisingly didn’t harvest players like leeks. Clothes can be exchanged with Nether Coins earned through treasure hunting quests, and not exchanging them doesn’t affect your continued gameplay. All magical items can also be exchanged with Nether Coins.

This game has no direct P2W mall, and it doesn’t sell stat-boosting items.

I was genuinely moved by @Yangfan Studio and @Qihang Games.

It’s the first time I’ve seen a planning team making games so seriously and earnestly.

Ghost Realm will definitely blow up.

I hope there will be more teams domestically like Yangfan Studio that respect players and make good games. If the game is made well, we players are naturally willing to pay for it.

Don’t sit up high and mighty treating players like fools.”

As soon as this Weibo post was published, comments broke ten thousand in the blink of an eye, and retweets reached over a hundred thousand, triggering resonance from a massive number of players.

“God Cai said it well, this game Ghost Realm is indeed sincere. I strolled around the Ghost Market all afternoon, it’s so fun!”

“I dare say that Ghost Realm is the most fun holographic game of the past two years.”

“I smashed 3000 RMB into Vampire Legend 2 and was annoyed to death playing it. So far, I’ve spent less than 300 RMB on Ghost Realm, and the experience blows the game next door out of the water.”

“Just started working, can’t afford a gaming cabin. When the year-end bonus comes, I’m going to buy a Qihang gaming cabin to take home and play slowly. I could play this game for a year.”

“There are too many game companies that treat players like fools and leeks to be harvested. Yangfan Studio is the one actually making games properly. Thumbs up!”

Driven by the discussion among massive numbers of players, the hashtag #GhostRealmConscienceGame# rapidly climbed to the number one spot on the Weibo trending list, followed by a conspicuous “Explosive” tag.

This game, a month after its launch, finally exploded in popularity and broke out of its circle on the day of the Ghost Festival event!

The higher-ups of Wings of Dream and Cool Play were somewhat dumbfounded.

A single event resulted in a tide of rave reviews.

Heartfelt recommendations from players were growing more and more. Weibo, short video platforms, video editing sites, and even WeChat Moments were filled with organic “tap water” (spontaneous promoters).

Public opinion was completely out of their control.

They could no longer block the explosive momentum of Ghost Realm!

…

Meanwhile, overseas.

Qihang’s gaming experience centers in major cities were equally packed with players.

Countless players posted reviews on social platforms: “Hua Nation’s Ghost Realm is incredibly fun. During the Ghost Festival event, you can see a large number of cute NPCs.”

“Having played too many vampire-themed and zombie-themed games, I find the style of Ghost Realm to be very novel and interesting.”

“I really like the random encounter system inside. The side stories are wonderful and touching.”

“The boss designs are also very interesting. The Night-Crying Ghost scared me to death!”

“I haven’t cleared the eighteen levels of hell yet, so I plan to wander around the Ghost Market first. It’s a limited-time event, if you miss it, you can’t get in, right?”

“What festival is the Ghost Festival? Never heard of it. The game’s worldview is very rich, such a good game is worth spending time to slowly study.”

…

Players from all over the world were immersively experiencing this uniquely styled holographic game.

On the other hand, the recently launched Vampire Legend 2, due to its outdated gameplay and a Waterloo of its reputation, formed a stark contrast with Ghost Realm.

Set off by its peers, Ghost Realm appeared even more outstanding.

Not only was there universal acclaim domestically, but many foreign players also recommended it on their personal pages. Ghost Realm scored a high of 9 points on major game rating websites.

Those highly critical media outlets could only use topics like “human rights” to mock this game. Unfortunately, the media’s mockery could not stop the players’ enthusiasm to scramble and flood into Ghost Realm.

Just as Purple Cauliflower said—

Players can feel whether the developers put their heart into it. A well-produced game will naturally gain the players’ recognition.

---

On the night of the Ghost Festival – Hundred Ghosts Night Parade event, Ghost Realm reached its peak online count since launch.

During this period, the sales of Qihang gaming cabins had been constantly increasing.

Remember that on the launch day of Ghost Realm, the total market volume of Qihang gaming cabins in Hua Nation was 10 million, with 7 million online, marking a 70% boot rate.

On the day of the Ghost Festival event, the total number of Qihang gaming cabins had risen to 13 million, with 11.1 million online, reaching an astonishing boot rate of 85%.

Such a terrifying boot rate broke the holographic game boot record in the Hua Nation region over the past three years. Cool Play and Wings of Dream were still unable to grasp the exact backend data, but the people in Qihang’s Marketing Department were stunned.

Early the next morning, the Marketing Department manager excitedly knocked on Luo Hang’s door: “President Luo, the results of this event are excellent! As of 8:00 AM this morning, the accumulated online time of domestic players exceeded 30 million hours, and the direct P2W revenue through the paper-burning system also broke past 50 million!”

The game itself was a time-based fee system. 30 million hours online equated to 150 million in revenue. In-game items/clothes could all be exchanged with Nether Coins, so most players didn’t need to spend extra money.

Those willing to P2W were generally wealthy tycoons who were too lazy to do quests. Unexpectedly, just the consumption amount from these wealthy tycoons exceeded 50 million. Added to the time-based fee portion, the daily revenue on the day of the event reached 200 million.

Thinking back to the initial launch of the game, when Luo Hang withstood the pressure to do promotion, he never thought that the daily revenue of this game could break a hundred million… let alone break 200 million.

Over the past three years, Qihang’s market share had been constantly shrinking under the squeeze of Wings of Dream and Cool Play. Although he worked hard to promote Qihang gaming cabins all over the world, without excellent exclusive games, Qihang’s path would inevitably become harder to walk.

Initially seeking out Yangfan Studio was because he favored the unique style of Underworld Maze. Luo Hang merely wanted to make a niche, word-of-mouth game to draw back some users.

He never expected that Xie Yunfan would actually create a massive explosive hit!

He should find a chance to properly thank Yunfan.

After listening to his subordinate’s report, Luo Hang said, “Very good, continue keeping an eye on the market response. If the direction of public opinion isn’t right, report to me immediately.”

The Marketing Department manager replied, “Rest assured, President Luo. The internet is full of positive reviews lately. Occasionally there are some trying to stir up a rhythm to smear it, but they’ve all been scolded back by the players.”

Luo Hang: “…”

It seemed the players of Ghost Realm were used to being mocked by Black Impermanence, so each and every one of them had combat power off the charts. When encountering haters, they just directly scolded them back. It didn’t even require Luo Hang to have the PR department step in; a massive number of players was enough to defend this game’s reputation.

After hanging up, Luo Hang gathered the persons in charge of Qihang overseas and held a video conference.

Directors from Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and other regions all brought good news.

Qihang gaming experience centers in major cities had been continuously packed with players recently, and the sales of gaming cabins were also climbing steadily. The profits from these regions couldn’t compare to the Hua Nation headquarters, but added together, they were still quite substantial.

The general manager of the Qihang North America branch excitedly reported to Luo Hang: “President Luo, previously the CCN company changed their minds halfway, and the cooperation fell through. Recently, there are two companies here in North America who contacted me saying they have an intention to cooperate and want to schedule a face-to-face meeting with you. The conditions they offered are much better than CCN’s!”

At the beginning of this year, Luo Hang personally went abroad to initiate negotiations with the CCN company. After spending more than a month, a clearly agreed-upon cooperation was suddenly reneged on by the other party. The colleagues didn’t say anything, but they were actually all very angry inside.

Who would have expected that now two companies would come knocking on their door on their own initiative.

In the past, they ignored Qihang and looked down on it in every way. The current Qihang had become a hot commodity, with everyone scrambling to cooperate.

Luo Hang said calmly, “Conduct preliminary negotiations first and clearly compare the conditions of the two companies. After I finish dealing with the Ghost Festival event here, I will go abroad for a face-to-face meeting. This time we must sign the contract on the spot, we can’t be stood up again.”

“Understood, President Luo!”

After concluding the video conference, Luo Hang turned around and went to Xie Yunfan’s office.

The door wasn’t locked, and with a gentle push, he entered.

Xie Yunfan was busy with his head down, both hands clattering on the keyboard. He was so focused that he didn’t even notice Luo Hang walk in.

The Ghost Festival event had already launched, what was he writing?

Luo Hang stepped forward curiously and asked, “What are you busy with?”

Xie Yunfan stopped what his hands were doing, looked up, and said, “President Luo, I’m writing a meeting summary. I plan to gather everyone for a meeting another day.”

Luo Hang agreed, “It is time to have a meeting and tell everyone some good news. For this event of ours, the single-day revenue has already broken 200 million.”

Xie Yunfan was stunned: “That much?”

This number also exceeded his expectations.

Luo Hang was in a good mood. Leaning against the desk, he smiled and said, “The event’s reviews are very good. We also got on the hot search last night, and the online rate broke domestic records.”

Xie Yunfan scratched his head and said, “I saw the hot search. That Weibo big V, Purple Cauliflower, is always recommending our game. Should we thank him a bit?”

“I already had someone contact him. We wanted to give him a gaming cabin, but he said there’s no need, he already bought one.” Luo Hang thought for a moment and said, “How about we send him some limited-edition merchandise when the time comes? It would have more commemorative meaning.”

Xie Yunfan asked with interest, “Merchandise? What ideas do you have, President Luo?”

For a good game with a large enough player base and players who genuinely loved the game, many players would be willing to purchase game merchandise. Merchandise was also a very important source of profit.

Initially, Ghost Realm didn’t have the conditions to develop merchandise.

But now, the game had exploded out of its circle, and word-of-mouth was also excellent. Making merchandise at this time was indeed the most opportune moment.

Xie Yunfan also admired Luo Hang’s business acumen. It seemed Qihang’s marketing department had already put merchandise on the agenda.

Luo Hang said, “The marketing department’s preliminary plan is to make figures of highly popular NPCs. The first batch will be Black and White Impermanence and Meng Po. The design drafts are already out, I’ll have them sent to your email to take a look later. The second batch will feature the protagonists of the random encounter system: Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen, Sun Zichu and A’Bao, etc., sold as couple sets. There are also bookmarks of the Four Great Judges, Yama King card sleeves, and so on, which can all be developed down the line.”

Xie Yunfan suggested, “Let’s also release an official setting book. A concept art book plus text descriptions, make it exquisite, detailing the various settings of the Ghost Realm to everyone.”

Luo Hang smiled, “No problem. There should be many players willing to collect the setting book. I’ll contact a publisher when the time comes to make a commemorative bookplate.”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

You really are awesome! A setting book paired with a unique commemorative bookplate—that would absolutely be frantically snapped up. Merchandise like this won’t have to worry about selling out at all.

Luo Hang paused, his tone gentle as he said, “Regarding the profit split for the merchandise, the initial contract stated 60% for Qihang and 40% for Yangfan. I was thinking, should we change it to 50-50? The fact that this game could blow up is mostly to your credit.”

He sincerely admired Xie Yunfan. The key to this game breaking out of its circle was the chief planner’s strict quality control over the core gameplay mechanics.

If not for Xie Yunfan, they would have made a holographic version of Underworld Maze at best. It was because of Yunfan that this open Ghost Realm was born.

When the Ghost Festival event was first being planned, everyone also had dissenting opinions—It’s just an event, is there a need to make it so complicated?

Over a hundred NPCs, are you kidding? How can we finish drawing so many scenes! The story also needs different choices, the writing team is going crazy.

The programming team, just making the card-playing NPCs for Yezi Xi and writing the reactions of different NPCs under different scenarios, was about to go bald.

Every team was filled with complaints.

It was Xie Yunfan who steadied everyone’s mindset, maintaining strict requirements and striving for perfection, pushing every detail to the extreme.

He put a tremendous amount of heart into this game.

And his dedication was experienced by the players.

The countless positive reviews over the past two days were the best feedback for the planner.

Having served as Qihang’s CEO for so long, this was the first time Luo Hang proactively offered to yield profits. He wanted to use this method to express his gratitude to Xie Yunfan.

Unexpectedly, Xie Yunfan smiled and waved his hand, saying, “No need to change it. The planning and production of merchandise, the operation and maintenance of the online store, shipping, after-sales service, etc.—all of these are handled by Qihang. I don’t have time to manage these, so you taking 60% is completely justified.”

Luo Hang looked at him in slight surprise. To think his proactive offer of yielding profits was actually rejected. Xie Yunfan truly wasn’t greedy at all.

Xie Yunfan organized the documents on his desk and said, “Let’s go to the meeting!”

The two walked side-by-side to the conference room.

The colleagues from various teams were already waiting for them there.

Everyone had been working overtime frequently lately, and many people had obvious dark circles on their faces. Now that the event had launched, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the burden on their shoulders lighten significantly.

The meeting began, and Luo Hang spoke: “Thank you all for your hard work. I have some good news to tell everyone: our Ghost Festival – Hundred Ghosts Night Parade event achieved phenomenal results. The daily revenue on the day of the event broke 200 million!”

The crowd in the conference room widened their eyes in shock.

Did they hear that right? 200 million?

That was the revenue during the Spring Festival event for the top-tier national mobile game Wilderness Crisis, which had a domestic player base in the hundreds of millions!

Ghost Realm actually achieved it?

Awesome plus!

Luo Hang said, “Next, the event will continue for half a month. The game is receiving rave reviews worldwide, so I’ve decided to have finance withdraw this month’s profits in advance to give everyone a mid-term bonus.”

A bonus? Thunderous applause instantly erupted in the conference room, and everyone’s eyes lit up.

Although the people participating in this project were exhausted from overtime, concrete, hard-cash bonuses were truly thrilling.

How much could it be? Everyone looked at Luo Hang with great anticipation.

Luo Hang saw through everyone’s thoughts and said directly, “Six figures.”

Holy crap, a six-figure bonus!

The crowd wished they could pounce over and directly call Luo Hang: Sugar Daddy!

Working at Qihang, what was a little overtime?

Seeing how incredibly excited everyone was, Xie Yunfan also clapped along with them and joked, “President Luo, do I get a bonus?”

Luo Hang looked at him, his gaze gentle: “Your red envelope will certainly be the largest.”

Everyone excitedly applauded once again.

Xie Yunfan cleared his throat awkwardly and said, “Everyone has indeed worked hard during this period. There’s no need to rush preparing for the next event. Events for a single-player game don’t need to be that frequent. Have a good rest for a few days first.”

Luo Hang said, “Tonight I’ll treat everyone to dinner, let’s treat it as a celebration banquet.”

Another round of cheers erupted in the conference room.

After being busy for so long, it was finally time to harvest the fruits of their labor.