On the evening of August 25th, Xie Xinghe personally drove to the airport to pick up Xie Yunfan. The moment he saw his younger brother, he ran forward excitedly, rubbed Xie Yunfan’s head, and said with a heartached expression, “I haven’t seen you in half a year, how did you lose so much weight? Have you not been eating on time?”

“I’ve been staying up late working overtime a lot recently, I’ll be fine after resting for a while.” Xie Yunfan looked at his older brother, who had a rosy complexion, and smiled, “Brother, you look like you’re in good shape. Is the renovation going smoothly?”

“Mhm, it’s almost done. I’ll take you to see it tomorrow.” Xie Xinghe proactively took the luggage from his brother’s hands and put it in the trunk. “Let’s go, let’s head home!”

The two got into the car together.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Xie Xinghe looked at his brother and said, “The game Ghost Realm you made is very popular. I saw the online reviews are extremely good, and many streamers are playing this game.”

Xie Yunfan said, “The revenue of this game is very high. It broke 200 million on the day of the event, and the August revenue should be able to break 1 billion, not even counting overseas.”

“That’s so awesome!” Xie Xinghe simply couldn’t believe it.

Ever since Underworld Maze made big money, he had become a “die-hard fan of his younger brother.”

The Xie family had gone bankrupt once. If the two brothers didn’t unite, how could they turn things around? Xie Xinghe was actually very clear-headed about this.

He didn’t feel jealous that his brother was more capable than him, nor did he feel inferior or sad because of it. Instead, he quickly sorted out his feelings and fully assisted Xie Yunfan.

His brother was his pride, and in the future, listening to Yunfan would be the right thing to do—his shift in mindset truly saved Xie Yunfan a lot of worry.

An hour later, the car arrived at the Xie family’s villa in the suburbs of Rong City. Xie Yunfan entered the door and changed his shoes.

Aunt Lin, who had graying hair, was cooking in the kitchen. Seeing the two arrive home, she hurriedly greeted them: “Yunfan is back! Go change your clothes first, dinner will be ready right away.”

This aunt had always been taking care of the two brothers in the Xie family. Back then, their parents were busy with business, so Xie Yunfan grew up with her, and she was like family to them.

Some time ago, she had matters to attend to in her hometown and took a leave of absence to go back. Recently, Xie Xinghe invited her back again. The food she cooked was indeed delicious, and Xie Xinghe had grown accustomed to eating it since childhood.

Xie Yunfan greeted Aunt Lin and went back to his bedroom to change into loungewear.

When he arrived in the living room, his older brother was washing fruit.

For his return this time, his older brother had prepared a sumptuous welcome banquet, even buying seven or eight kinds of fruit, treating him like a VIP.

Xie Yunfan’s heart warmed. He walked up to his brother and said softly, “Brother, there’s another piece of good news I want to tell you.”

Xie Xinghe looked up at him: “What news?”

“Luo Hang wants to remake Fighting Master. He went abroad on a business trip, and when he returns to the country, he’ll discuss the cooperation details with us.”

“Really?” Xie Xinghe’s voice trembled slightly. “That’s great!”

He admitted that Fighting Master was a failed product, but it was still his painstaking work that he spent two years researching and developing.

He also hoped this game could see the light of day again.

Previously, Wings of Dream offered a buyout price of 30 million, which was simply an insult to him. Now, Qihang had the intention to cooperate. Even though he knew Luo Hang was only willing to cooperate out of respect for his brother, at least it was an opportunity!

Xie Xinghe took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “Qihang has helped us a lot. For this Fighting Master cooperation, let Luo Hang take the bulk of the profits. I just need 10% or 20%. I don’t expect to make much money off this game. I’m already very satisfied that it can be overhauled and re-released.”

“Brother, the core idea of this game is actually quite good. Handing it over to Qihang to remake will definitely turn a profit.” Xie Yunfan gently squeezed his brother’s hand and said, “There’s no need to yield the profits we ought to receive. This is your painstaking work, you can’t just sell it for cheap.”

“…Okay!” Xie Xinghe quickly turned his head away, not wanting his brother to see his red-rimmed eyes. He didn’t know how to describe the joy and excitement of surviving a disaster.

Last year, he almost committed suicide. At that time, he truly didn’t have a single shred of hope or confidence left to keep living.

Who would have expected that today, his game would have a chance at life, and his brother’s talent would shine brightly. Their Xie family had truly “returned from the dead.”

The bitter winter had passed, and the warm spring had brought blooming flowers.

In the future, things would definitely only get better and better.

“Cough, let’s eat first. Aunt Lin made your favorite sour cabbage fish.” Xie Xinghe changed the subject and led Xie Yunfan to the dining room.

The dining table was filled with delicacies, all of which were Xie Yunfan’s favorites.

The familiar aroma thoroughly whetted Xie Yunfan’s appetite. He took out a red envelope, handed it to Aunt Lin, and smiled: “Auntie, you’ve worked hard, here’s a red envelope for you.”

Looking at the bulging red envelope, Aunt Lin felt overwhelmed by the favor: “There’s no need to give a red envelope! My salary is already very high…”

“Please accept it. Thank you for taking care of us brothers. Later on, for my company, I still want to invite you over to be the head chef.”

“Really? Then I won’t be polite!” Aunt Lin accepted the red envelope with a beaming smile. She heard that Yunfan was very good at making money recently, so she could also bask in some of his glory!

**

After dinner, Xie Yunfan returned to his bedroom and organized his textbooks.

He was reporting to school on August 30th. He had to quickly make up for the classes he missed during his half-year leave of absence. There were fewer major courses in senior year, so he could use his free time to retake the subjects he previously failed and pass them.

Xie Yunfan opened his phone, found his roommate’s WeChat, and sent a message over: “A-Yan, could you send me your class notes from last semester?”

When Ji Yan saw the message, he flipped up from his bed like a carp and replied: “Holy crap! How did you suddenly reanimate?”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

Ji Yan: “Where did you go last semester? You didn’t come for the whole semester. The teacher said you took a leave of absence for family matters. Do you know how the classmates were gossiping about you?”

Ji Yan: “They said your Xie family went bankrupt, and you might not have been able to handle the blow and ran off to commit suicide…”

Xie Yunfan was speechless. Couldn’t these classmates think of something good?

Ji Yan: “I sent you messages, and you didn’t reply. I thought something had happened to you.”

Xie Yunfan said apologetically: “I was in the Imperial Capital for the first half of the year and was too busy, so I probably missed the messages. Sorry about that. I’ll treat you to a big meal later.”

Ji Yan was very confused: “What did you run off to the Imperial Capital for?”

Xie Yunfan said: “I went to participate in a game production project. I’ll tell you in detail after school starts. Please send me the notes. I happen to have a few days to review and prepare for the make-up exams when school starts.”

Ji Yan quickly sent over a pile of organized documents and said: “If there’s anything you don’t understand, hurry up and ask me. You absolutely have to pass the make-up exams.”

Xie Yunfan sent an emoji package: “Thank you ^^”

The former Xie Yunfan was actually always using this roommate, Ji Yan. He would have Ji Yan help sign in for classes and even had Ji Yan help hand in his homework.

However, after Xie Yunfan reincarnated, he found Ji Yan quite cute. He didn’t have any scheming thoughts, loved eating snacks, had good grades, and was kind and easygoing.

More importantly, Ji Yan didn’t look down on him and often earnestly persuaded him to take his exams seriously. He was a warm-hearted, pure, and straightforward person.

Xie Yunfan casually asked: “By the way, how is your graduation project coming along?”

Ji Yan vigorously scratched his head and said with a bitter face: “I’m getting a headache over it! Even though our school isn’t a key university, the assessment for the graduation project is still very strict. We can’t copy others’ games; they have to be original. It’s too hard ahhhh!”

Xie Yunfan said: “You still don’t have a clue? How about we do it together after school starts?”

Ji Yan paused, then sent a string of words between laughter and tears: “Yunfan, I also really want to carry you along. But, I truly don’t have any good creative ideas; my brain cells are almost all dead. When I have a good idea, I will definitely carry you!”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

I will carry you.

Forget it, there was no point explaining it clearly to him right now.

Xie Yunfan said: “We’ll chat face-to-face later. I’m going to review first, see you when school starts.”

Ji Yan earnestly instructed: “Review properly! If you can’t pass the final clearance exams in senior year, you really won’t be able to graduate!”

Xie Yunfan: “Got it~”

Classmate Ji Yan was truly worrying his heart out over his graduation issue.

After ending the conversation, Xie Yunfan opened the materials Ji Yan sent and took a look. He understood a lot of the game design knowledge. Carefully memorizing the exam content for these courses shouldn’t be a big problem.

The problem right now was the graduation project.

For the game design major at Rong City University, graduates needed to submit an original game work. Even if it was just a 10MB mini-game, as long as it was original and featured a novel design, the professors in the department would pass you, and you could graduate smoothly.

If the graduation project got stuck, graduation would be delayed.

The graduation project allowed students to form teams to participate, but it did not allow students to affiliate with large game studios to “freeload off their designs.”

Some students had formidable family backgrounds and could directly intern at professional game companies and participate in certain large-scale game projects, but this could not be submitted as a “graduation project work.”

There were two requirements for graduation project works.

First, it had to be a work completed by the student during their time in school.

Second, the game planning team had to be composed entirely of students. To prevent certain top students from carrying slackers to muddle through, the team could not exceed 6 members, and everyone had to have a detailed division of labor.

Asking graduated seniors for help, or finding outside assistance to write the planning proposal, or even spending money to buy a game made by someone else, were all not allowed.

Actually, Xie Yunfan’s Underworld Maze met the conditions for the graduation project and could be submitted directly. Apart from the art and music, which he bought, the design and production of the entire game were independently completed by him.

But he wanted to make a new mini-game to guide his alumni, such as Ji Yan, who was going bald over the graduation project, and some other classmates who had helped him during university. He didn’t want to owe favors.

There was no need for the graduation project work to be too complicated.

Making a simple mini-game with novel gameplay would be enough.

The copyright of the mini-game could be held in his own hands, and it could be added into a large-scale holographic game as a casual gameplay feature later on.

The first thing Xie Yunfan thought of was a rhythm game (music game).

In large-scale online games, music mini-games could be implanted, just like the “Yezi Xi gameplay” he implanted in Ghost Realm. It wouldn’t affect the core of the game and could also provide players with a good place to relax casually.

Since what he excelled at were ancient-style games, this rhythm game should also focus primarily on the ancient style. That way, when it was implanted into large-scale ancient-style martial arts or cultivation online games in the future, it wouldn’t feel too out of place.

What would be good to make?

Xie Yunfan went online and did a detailed search on the market conditions.

There were still no rhythm games among holographic games. After all, holographic games were very expensive to charge for, and not many players were willing to spend tens of dollars just to go into a game specifically to listen to music.

Rhythm games were all titles on mobile platforms.

Currently, the most popular rhythm game was Rock Band operated by Wings of Dream. It was a multiplayer online beat-matching game, similar to O2Jam from his past life.

This game was free-to-play, and its profits relied on selling clothes, room decorations, and diamond VIP cards. Various angel wings, evening gowns, makeup, and jewelry—at first glance, the colorful flashing special effects dazzled the eyes.

Rhythm games had a fixed audience. If made well, one didn’t need to worry about sales.

Moreover, the graduation project had no high requirements for the game’s profitability. Making this game was mainly to lay the groundwork for large-scale games later on.

Since the most popular rhythm game currently featured a flashy rock music style and required completing a ton of daily quests every day…

Then he would do the opposite and make a fresh and elegant casual rhythm game centered around various ancient-style musical instruments.

Instrument anthropomorphism was an excellent concept.

The name of this game would be Soul of Music (Yuehun).

---

The next day, Xie Yunfan went to the Nanyang Industrial Park with his brother.

Ever since visiting Qihang, Xie Yunfan realized that a 500-square-meter office building was far from enough. Because of the existence of holographic games in this world, just one gaming cabin took up several square meters.

He would definitely be independently developing holographic games in the future, so his studio also needed a confidential game testing center.

Therefore, he asked his brother to rent out floors 18 through 21 entirely and have them newly renovated and designed.

The 18th floor was the workspace for the game R&D team, divided into different departments such as art, writing, level design, and programming. Next to the office area were a tea bar and a snack leisure area, where employees could come and rest anytime they were tired.

The 19th floor was for back-office departments, like the marketing department, network department, HR department, finance department, etc. They didn’t usually need to work together with the R&D team, so separating them could avoid mutual interference. It similarly featured a leisure snack area for employees to relax.

The 20th floor was the game testing center. The entire floor was left empty to be used for placing gaming cabins from Wings of Dream, Cool Play, and Qihang, as well as a large number of mobile phones for testing purposes.

People who make games also need to play games frequently. When employees had free time, they could come here to play games developed by others to see what strengths and weaknesses they had. Of course, the games they developed themselves could also undergo closed beta testing here.

The 21st floor was the visitor reception area, conference rooms, merchandise display area, and Xie Yunfan’s office.

Xie Xinghe brought his brother to the 21st floor.

The office he arranged for his brother had quite a large floor area, featuring spacious floor-to-ceiling windows that offered an unobstructed, panoramic view of the beautiful scenery of the wetland park outside.

Opposite the desk, there was also an entire wall of large bookcases/display cabinets, where he could display his favorite figures, ornaments, and so on.

Standing in front of the window, looking at the landscape beneath his feet, Xie Yunfan felt quite excited—the long-lost enthusiasm for entrepreneurship had returned!

This was the starting point of Yangfan Studio. For many years to come, he would be working here, realizing his dreams step by step.

Just like back then when he started from scratch, leading a team to create his own gaming kingdom.

Doing it all over again this time, he was still full of confidence!

Xie Xinghe asked attentively: “How is it? Are you satisfied?”

Xie Yunfan looked at his brother: “Brother, the renovation is exceptionally well done! Let’s go to the flower market another day to move some plants over. We’ll air it out for two months before officially recruiting.”

Places that had just finished renovation might have air pollution, which wouldn’t be good for the employees’ health. They would open the windows to ventilate it for a while before starting work.

Anyway, he hadn’t graduated from university yet. He would finish his graduation project first, and think carefully about what to make for his next game.

Xie Xinghe asked: “How many people do you plan to recruit this time?”

Xie Yunfan said: “For the art team, Ning Sha and Chu Yue will come back after finishing the handover work for Ghost Realm. They’ve already decided to follow me and work for me, so we just need to hire a few more assistants. Programming, writing, data, level design—every department needs to hire people. We also have to find an HR manager to oversee the employees of the entire studio.”

He thought for a moment and said: “Wait until I decide what the studio’s next game will be before officially recruiting. It will be winter vacation at the earliest. Brother, you can busy yourself with overhauling Fighting Master first.”

Xie Xinghe nodded: “Alright, we’ll take our time!”

Xie Yunfan turned back to look at the office area.

The office building had just finished renovation. Currently, it was empty, and they hadn’t even had time to buy desks and computers yet.

In the near future, this place would gradually be filled with all kinds of talents.

He hoped that friends from different professions would join his team when the time came, and make more fun games together with him.

Xie Yunfan was very much looking forward to the arrival of that day.

---

On August 30th, Xie Yunfan carried his backpack and arrived at Rong City University to register, bumping into quite a few classmates.

When everyone saw him, it was as if they had seen a ghost, and one by one they revealed looks of disbelief.

A missing person had suddenly returned, what was this situation?

Some gossipy classmates secretly discussed it in private.

“Xie Yunfan came back?”

“Did he really take a leave of absence last semester? I thought he just found an excuse because he didn’t want to study anymore.”

“He even smiled at me, it startled me!”

“I saw him in the cafeteria too, he looked quite energetic. Who was it that said he couldn’t take it and went to commit suicide? Can we stop spreading wild rumors?”

“Some people just have cheap mouths. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if the Xie family went bankrupt, Xie Yunfan still lives better than a lot of people.”

There were also some who took pleasure in his misfortune and said: “So what if he’s back? Failing so many subjects, I feel like he definitely won’t be able to graduate.”

“This rich second generation drinks, hits the bars, and skips class every day, and he just didn’t even show up last semester! If the school issues him a graduation certificate, that would be truly hilarious.”

Class 1 of the Design Department at Rong City University had a total of 40 students.

Some classmates disliked Xie Yunfan’s previous style of doing things, some simply paid no attention to him, and there were also some who sympathized with him and were willing to help him.

However, Xie Yunfan didn’t blame his classmates.

The former young master of the Xie family was indeed unlikable. Aside from the few friends who had a relatively good relationship with him, he couldn’t be bothered to care about the evaluations of others.

After graduation, everyone would go their separate ways, and they wouldn’t contact each other again anyway. As long as they could maintain face, it was fine.

That evening, Xie Yunfan took the initiative to treat, calling his roommates Ji Yan, Zhang Zizheng, and Xu Kairan to have dinner together at a restaurant right outside the school gates.

These three roommates had always been quite good to him.

Especially Ji Yan, who genuinely hoped he would attend classes properly and graduate smoothly, and often gave him review materials to look at.

As for the other two roommates, Zhang Zizheng was a game fanatic who would hole up in the dorm playing games whenever he had free time; Xu Kairan preferred collecting all sorts of weird materials and liked spending time on various gaming forums.

After the meal, Xie Yunfan proactively asked: “What stage has everyone progressed to with your graduation project works?”

Ji Yan scratched his head vigorously: “I haven’t even written the planning proposal. I still haven’t figured out what to make.”

Sporting a pair of dark circles, Zhang Zizheng sighed and said: “Playing games, I’m awesome. Making games, I seem to be an idiot.”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

You curse yourself quite harshly.

Xu Kairan said excitedly: “I plan to make a monster-raising game. Get some little monsters, feed them nutrient solution every day, and they can transform after they grow up!”

Xie Yunfan said directly: “Isn’t this repeating Monster Paradise from Wings of Dream? The gameplay sounds very similar.”

Xu Kairan whispered: “The monster types are different. If I draw those little monsters myself, I should be able to barely pass the review, right?”

Ji Yan said: “That’s not necessarily true. Last year there were a few seniors who made reskinned games with similar gameplay, and they got sent back to be redone.”

With current games, the gameplay was largely identical, so it was indeed quite hard to innovate.

The graduation project was truly a headache-inducing matter.

Students in the game design major learned theoretical knowledge well and could be assistants to others. But having them act as chief planners and come up with an original game themselves was still quite difficult!

With 10 months left until graduation, the graduation project was imminent.

Ji Yan suggested: “How about we apply to join the class monitor’s team? I heard their game plan has already been produced.”

Zhang Zizheng said with a bitter face: “The class monitor completely looks down on us. I went to him a few days ago, and he said his team was already full… It obviously wasn’t full, he just didn’t want me!”

Seeing everyone’s dejected appearance, Xie Yunfan said softly: “Let’s make one ourselves. I have an idea, do you guys want to hear it?”

The three of them turned their heads in unison to look at him.

Xie Yunfan said: “Let’s make a simple rhythm game, anthropomorphizing all the ancient instruments like the guzheng, pipa, erhu, etc., giving them some background stories, and designing music levels of varying difficulties.”

When Xie Yunfan talked about games, his expression became incredibly serious: “After passing the levels, you can collect fragments of the soul of music to redeem different instrument codex entries, which then unlocks higher-level stages.”

Xie Yunfan said: “This would be a collection-based level-clearing rhythm game. It’s light and casual, without tedious daily quests, and can be pulled out to play a couple of rounds anytime.”

The three of them were stunned.

They had indeed never heard of this gameplay.

The rhythm games on the market were all multiplayer beat-matching games with all sorts of messy glowing wing special effects, making players dress up flashily to dance on stage to the music. The music style was also predominantly rock and heavy metal.

Your instrument anthropomorphism, clearing levels to collect codex entries? And using a bunch of guzhengs and pipas, can that work? It sounds super niche, doesn’t it?

The three revealed doubtful expressions one after another.

Xie Yunfan said: “Go back and think about it. If you’re willing, we’ll make this mini-game together as our team’s graduation project work.”

The three looked at each other in dismay.

That night, Xie Yunfan went straight home. He hadn’t lived on campus since freshman year, and there wasn’t even bedding for him in the dorm.

Ji Yan and the others returned to the dorm and discussed it in private.

Zhang Zizheng said: “I think Yunfan’s creative idea is actually quite good. Regardless of whether this game can become popular or not, at least this kind of gameplay is very novel! The graduation project has no requirements for sales or profitability anyway; getting the dean to pass you is the most important thing, right!”

Ji Yan was about to scratch his head bald.

Over the past few years of university, Xie Yunfan copied his homework at every turn. He truly had no confidence in Xie Yunfan’s level of academic coursework.

However, he himself indeed couldn’t think of a better creative idea either.

A-Zheng was right. For a graduation project work, it wasn’t required to be explosively popular; as long as the dean stamped his approval and you got your graduation certificate, that was enough.

The emphasis was on originality and novelty!

Xie Yunfan’s idea was indeed quite novel.

Thinking of this, Ji Yan threw caution to the wind, gritted his teeth, and said: “How about we just give it a try first?”

Xu Kairan said: “I also feel that instrument anthropomorphism is at least much fresher gameplay than my monster-raising game.”

The three deliberated in private and decided to follow Xie Yunfan and try making it first. There were still 10 months anyway; if this game failed, there would still be time to switch to another one.

---

At 10:00 AM the next morning, during recess.

Some classmates in the design department were dozing off, while some gathered in twos and threes to discuss the graduation project issue.

Xie Yunfan suddenly walked up to the podium and said loudly: “Excuse me for interrupting, our Dorm 318 is preparing to make a rhythm game as our graduation project work. The team is currently short on people. Is there anyone skilled in music rhythm or writing and planning who is willing to join us?”

The classroom fell into an eerie silence, and the classmates looked at each other in dismay.

Someone whispered in discussion with the classmate next to them:

“A rhythm game? Like that beat-matching game Rock Band? You can’t make much novelty out of that gameplay, right!”

“Moreover, you have to buy copyrights for a lot of pop songs, and copyright fees are so expensive. Does he have that much money?”

“Rhythm games went out of fashion ages ago. Even the most popular Rock Band is going downhill. What kind of trick can he possibly pull off?”

“Are their minds running dry? To actually make a rhythm game! Just pressing a few notes back and forth, what’s interesting about that?”

Rhythm games were, after all, a niche genre. What kind of fun rhythm game could a group of university students make?

Absolutely no one was optimistic about this work.

There was no response in the classroom for a long time. Some people even secretly rolled their eyes and mocked him in private.

Standing on the podium, Xie Yunfan wasn’t embarrassed at all. His gaze swept over the entire room, and he smiled and said: “I know everyone isn’t very assured about me, but graduation is coming up soon, and I also hope to produce a qualified graduation project work.”

Xie Yunfan paused: “The planning proposal is already written. Our team is still short two people. Classmates who are willing to join can contact me privately later. Thank you.”

He walked off the podium calmly and returned to his seat.

Ji Yan leaned over and whispered: “Damn, I broke a sweat for you! You have some guts, openly recruiting right off the bat!”

Xie Yunfan said calmly: “It’s fine. If we can recruit teammates, it’s easier to arrange work with more people. I want to have it made before the end of the year, so it can be launched during the winter vacation.”

Ji Yan: “…”

You’re even thinking of launching it?

Wouldn’t it be incredibly awkward when nobody buys it then?

The morning classes quickly ended.

Xie Yunfan publicly recruiting for his graduation project team seemed to be just a trivial interlude, and no one cared.

No one sought him out for the whole afternoon.

It wasn’t until the evening that a girl finally sent him a message privately.

The girl’s name was Zhou Shiyue, the most introverted girl in the class.

She always kept to herself and rarely participated in any activities. From freshman to senior year, Xie Yunfan hadn’t spoken a single word to her and barely even knew her.

This girl was quite mysterious, and Xie Yunfan didn’t expect her to contact him proactively.

Zhou Shiyue said very politely: “Hello Yunfan, I still don’t have a clue about my graduation project work, and I’m very interested in your rhythm game. I know a bit about writing and copy processing, and I usually write short stories online in my free time. Can I join your team?”

Xie Yunfan was very surprised.

Writes novels? Could she be a big shot?

He asked curiously: “What genre of novels do you write? Can you show me?”

Zhou Shiyue sent a shy emoji: “I write ordinarily, I don’t really want to expose my pen name. However, for the game’s writing processing, as long as the plot isn’t overly complex, I shouldn’t have a problem.”

Xie Yunfan said understandingly: “Okay, welcome to the team!”