OGP CH64

The next morning, Xie Yunfan called an all-hands meeting for all employees of Yangfan Studio.

When everyone walked into the conference room, they guessed the meeting was likely related to last night’s negative trending topic. Many subtly stole glances toward Ning Sha of the art department.

Ning Sha looked aloof, revealing no emotion.

At 9:00 AM sharp, Xie Yunfan walked into the room. Sweeping his gaze across the audience, he said calmly, “I believe everyone is aware of last night’s public opinion storm. With our game blowing up, we are bound to become a thorn in our competitors’ sides, and going forward, they will resort to all kinds of underhanded tactics to smear Journey to the West.”

“I hope everyone can maintain a clear conscience when making games. Today, I also want to take this opportunity to make my stance crystal clear to everyone: Yangfan Studio strictly boycotts plagiarism. The moment a plagiarist is discovered, they will be fired immediately, and I will publicly announce the reason for termination to the entire industry, ending your professional career!”

“If the art team lacks inspiration, the writers hit a creative block, or level designers struggle with boss encounters… I understand all of these situations. You can speak to me privately, and I will adjust the schedule, but never take shortcuts to copy others.”

“I hope everyone takes this to heart.”

The employees seated below nodded in unison to show their understanding.

“Alright, meeting adjourned. Let’s make the most of our time to work on Chapter Three.”

He hadn’t singled out Ning Sha, making it clear she faced zero disciplinary action, only emphasizing that no one should plagiarize. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief on Ning Sha’s behalf and promptly returned to their workstations to resume work.

Xie Yunfan summoned HR Manager Liu Muyao and said, “Muyao, contact a professional headhunting firm immediately and poach a formidable PR manager for me. We didn’t recruit for a PR department during our initial hiring, which leaves us too passive in defending against rivals’ PR warfare.”

Liu Muyao: “Understood, I’ll reach out as soon as possible.”

Having arranged all this, Xie Yunfan exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.

Truth be told, he had originally just wanted to focus purely on making games.

Yet his enemies insisted on forcing him to adapt and evolve.

In this alternate world, the survival environment for boutique studios was brutal; over 90% of indie studios handed their completed games to corporate publishers for distribution, scraping by on meager royalties.

Inexperienced studios with no bargaining power were often forced to sell off their IPs to corporate conglomerates entirely.

Having developed multiple blockbuster mobile games back-to-back, yet refusing to partner with giants like Wings of Dream and Cool Play, made him a glaring thorn in their sides and a splinter in their flesh.

The pie was only so big, and Yangfan Studio insisted on seizing a slice… The underhanded tactics his rivals would deploy against him would likely only multiply.

There was no other choice; he had to make himself invincible.

On July 5, testing for Chapter Two concluded, and the final installation package was delivered to Xie Yunfan.

Xie Yunfan playtested it himself; finding no issues, he uploaded the client package to Mobile Home and the backend of the official Journey to the West website.

On July 10, Yangfan Studio posted an image of the court’s formal “Filing Acceptance Notice”.

Lawyer Zou had worked with remarkable speed, flying directly to the Imperial Capital to file the lawsuit and docket the case.

Frightened, that marketing account deleted the Weibo post, but it was in vain—the lawyer had already preserved screen-recording evidence.

Players voiced their reactions: “Who knows who’s trying to smear our LittleSailboat? This is practically reverse promotion!” “I wasn’t originally planning to buy Chapter Two, but with smear trolls attacking, I’m definitely dropping five yuan to show my support!”

The negative PR from days prior had inflicted zero damage on the game’s reputation; the sporadic trolls attempting to stir trouble online were swiftly shouted down by hordes of players.

The appearance of anti-fans instead triggered widespread reverse psychology, with players eagerly rolling up their sleeves in anticipation of purchasing the game that evening.

At 7:00 PM, the installation package for Chapter Two was officially opened for download.

Countless players who had been watching the clock rushed to download en masse, instantly crashing Mobile Home’s servers, triggering 404 connection errors, failed purchase screens, and endless bugs!

Yangfan Studio’s official website crashed as well…

#ServersCrashed# was pushed onto Weibo’s trending list by frantic players.

Qin Fang was stunned: “Even Mobile Home crashed?! Just how astronomical is this traffic?!”

The data department manager hurriedly replied, “Over thirty million people rushed in simultaneously to download the game. The servers hosting the client overloaded and froze.”

Over thirty million people rushing to pay, at five yuan a pop—that was 150 million yuan?!

Qin Fang barked urgently, “Have the network team fix it immediately! Switch servers and spin up ten download ports to ensure players can download smoothly!”

Yangfan Studio’s network department was in an equally frantic scramble to maintain their servers, with team lead Yu Baichuan not knowing whether to laugh or cry: “Boss, tens of millions of people flooded in simultaneously; our website is completely frozen!”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

It wasn’t that Xie Yunfan was careless; he genuinely hadn’t anticipated players’ spending enthusiasm would be this manic. The conversion rate had probably surpassed 90%, hadn’t it?

Tens of millions of people flooding in to pay within the same instant? No server on Earth, no matter how formidable, could hold up against that!

Downloads freezing halfway, failed payments, 404 network errors…

The chaotic mess left players thoroughly aggravated.

Innumerable players flooded Weibo, spamming the #ServersCrashed# hashtag:

[What’s going on? My connection won’t go through at all!]

[Payment failed on my end and the page won’t redirect!]

[My download completely froze, running at 10 kbps?!]

Yangfan Studio promptly posted an official announcement: “We sincerely apologize. Due to an overwhelming surge of users downloading simultaneously, the servers for Mobile Home and Yangfan Studio’s official website could not handle the load, resulting in a temporary outage. Urgent maintenance is currently underway; please bear with us for a brief moment~~”

Players chimed in with humorous banter:

[So many people waiting to see what happens next, hurry up!]

[Our community is cracked—we actually broke the servers?]

[This game is too popular! The rest of you stop playing and let me in first!]

[LittleSailboat, did you really have no clue how ridiculously popular your game was?!]

Fortunately, both Mobile Home and Yangfan Studio had contingency plans in place, immediately routing traffic to backup servers. Ten minutes later, downloads finally returned to normal.

Players who successfully purchased the expansion pack updated their games without delay and hurriedly clicked into the new stage.

To their surprise, the familiar Monkey Bro was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Two opened with an animated cutscene: the Tathāgata Buddha convened an assembly, declaring that the four great continents were rife with slaughter and sin, and that the Western Paradise possessed thirty-five collections of True Scriptures capable of exhorting humanity toward virtue. A devout believer needed to be found in the Eastern lands to undertake a pilgrimage across ten thousand mountains and rivers to obtain the True Scriptures.

Guanyin Bodhisattva volunteered to seek out this scripture seeker.

The realization dawned upon the players—no wonder the game was titled Journey to the West.

All that thrilling drama with the Great Sage in Chapter One was just the prologue?!

The core theme of “seeking scriptures” was only beginning right now!

Over on Lingmao TV, streamer Mengtu had ordered milk tea and snacks well in advance, fully intending to pull an all-nighter grinding through the game. By 7:30 PM, she finally finished downloading the client and jumped into Chapter Two.

Watching the assembly convened by the Buddha, she mused aloud, “So that’s what Journey to the West means! The Buddha wants someone to journey to his realm to fetch scriptures… Which means our Monkey Bro can be rescued, right? Isn’t the Great Sage the prime candidate for this pilgrimage?”

“Our Great Sage can cover 108,000 li in a single somersault; wouldn’t fetching scriptures be a walk in the park for him?”

“Hurry it up and save my Great Sage!”

Many viewers in chat were also watching the cutscenes with rapt attention.

Honestly, “binge-watching an animated series” inside a video game was a uniquely captivating experience!

Chapter Two’s opening narrative was quite extensive. Following the assembly, Guanyin Bodhisattva took her orders and headed east in search of the chosen one. A transition cutscene rolled, introducing the new setting—

The Mortal Realm, the Great Tang of the East, Chang’an City.

The architecture here was majestic and grand, starkly distinct from the Heavenly Realm. Looking down across Chang’an, the city was laid out in orderly geometric grids, filled with neat perimeter walls, magnificent palaces, and intricate corner towers.

Red lanterns hung high along the thoroughfares; the mortal world was bustling with lively energy.

A young scholar named Chen Guangrui, refined and handsome, was parading through the streets by imperial order after placing first in the imperial examinations. The Prime Minister’s daughter, Yin Wenjiao, was preparing to toss an embroidered silk ball to choose a husband; seeing him pass by and finding him exceedingly dashing, she deliberately tossed the ball right into his arms.

And so, arranged by the Prime Minister and his lady, the two were wed.

The couple lived in deep harmony and set off together for Jiangzhou to take up Chen’s official post. Unexpectedly, they crossed paths with river bandits en route. A scoundrel named Liu Hong, captivated by Lady Yin’s beauty, harbored wicked intentions, murdering Chen Guangrui in the dead of night, tossing his body into the river, and forcibly claiming his wife.

Lady Yin was already pregnant at the time, and for the sake of the unborn child, she had no choice but to submit to Liu Hong. After giving birth, she placed a letter written in blood inside the infant’s swaddling clothes detailing the couple’s tragic ordeal, placed the baby in a wooden basin, and cast him adrift down the river.

The infant was ultimately rescued by a monk from a monastery and raised as a Buddhist monk from childhood.

His monastic name: Xuanzang.

Eighteen years flew by in the blink of an eye, and Xuanzang had grown into an adult.

Xuanzang’s face appeared on screen: delicate brows, gentle features—even with a shaven head as a monk, he was remarkably handsome and refined.

Seeing this, the viewers couldn’t help but wonder—

[Xuanzang has such an elaborate backstory, he doesn’t look like an ordinary NPC!]

[His facial features clearly inherited the prime genetics of both parents; he’s legitimately good-looking.]

[Top scholar father, Prime Minister’s daughter mother—this lineage is kind of prestigious.]

[Where’s my Monkey Bro? What’s with swapping protagonists all of a sudden in Chapter Two?]

[Don’t tell me this newly introduced character is the boss of Chapter Two?!]

The audience watched while bantering in the comments.

Having gone nearly half a month without updates, everyone missed the Great Sage Equal to Heaven dearly.

Yet when Chapter Two started, the narrative branched into an entirely different storyline without a single glimpse of the Great Sage. As much as they yearned to see him, they were equally curious about this new figure.

With an origin story detailed to this extent, he was definitely no ordinary character!

Sure enough, upon learning the truth of his origins as an adult, Xuanzang embarked on his revenge.

Returning to Chang’an, he sought out his grandfather, the Prime Minister, and exposed the scoundrel’s crimes of killing his father, taking his mother, and impersonating his father in Jiangzhou to the Emperor. Emperor Taizong of Tang was enraged and dispatched troops to wipe out the bandits.

Having avenged his parents, Xuanzang was appointed by the Emperor to preside over Chang’an’s Dafa Temple, becoming a venerable high monk.

Soon after, Guanyin Bodhisattva arrived in the Great Tang of the East, observing from atop the clouds.

The camera framed a temple courtyard where Xuanzang was preaching the scriptures. Looking closely, the Bodhisattva recognized him as none other than the reincarnation of the Buddha’s disciple, Golden Cicada! Delighted, she and her disciple Muzha transformed into two filthy beggars, taking two divine treasures to hawk through the streets.

Their cries caught an imperial official’s ear, who presented them before Emperor Taizong. Taizong inquired about the price, to which the Bodhisattva replied, “Five thousand taels for the cassock, two thousand for the monk’s staff.”

Taizong asked in surprise, “What is so miraculous about these treasures that warrants such an exorbitant price?”

The Bodhisattva explained, “This cassock is woven of celestial silkworm thread and inlaid with luminescent pearls, emeralds, and red agates; it repels all evil, such that gods and demons dare not approach its wearer. This staff is fitted with copper and iron nine-linked rings; hence their high price.”

Taizong was deeply pleased: “These divine relics are perfect to bestow upon the eminent monk Xuanzang of Dafa Temple.”

The Bodhisattva said, “Since he is a monk of profound virtue, these treasures shall be gifted to him without charging a single coin.”

Delighted, Emperor Taizong accepted the relics and presented them to Xuanzang at Dafa Temple.

[System: Acquired [Brocade Cassock], Defense +10,000]

[System: Acquired [Nine-Ringed Staff], Mana +10,000]

Seeing this, Mengtu gasped in shock: “Holy crap?! Is Xuanzang a playable character too?! Why did we just receive equipment with such colossal stat boosts?”

When Xuanzang initially appeared, despite his handsome looks, rich lore, and detailed modeling, nobody connected him to Sun Wukong—their aesthetics were simply too divergent, leading players to assume he was an important NPC or a powerful boss.

Who would have thought he was actually a character under player control?!

Carrying her shock, Mengtu watched on.

The plot unfolded in a way no one could have anticipated: Guanyin Bodhisattva formally chose this “Xuanzang” to journey west for the scriptures! Emperor Taizong of Tang recognized Xuanzang as his imperial brother, bestowing upon him the moniker “Tang Sanzang,” commonly known as “Tang Seng.”

And even presented him with an official Travel Permit?

[System: Acquired item [Imperial Travel Permit]]

[Description: Official imperial document signed by the Emperor of Tang, serving as a transit visa when crossing various kingdoms.]

Mengtu said, “This travel permit is essentially a passport needed to travel abroad, right? So we have to control Tang Seng on the journey to the West? Devs, have you completely forgotten about our Great Sage pinned under that mountain?!”

Countless players who had paid for Chapter Two were itching to see how the Great Sage would be saved, only for Chapter Two to pivot to an entirely different protagonist!

What was going on?!

Harboring bewilderment, everyone kept playing.

[Stage 8: Double Fork Ridge]

[System: Main Quest Updated — [Evade monster ambushes and reach the destination alive]]

[Hint: Tang Seng possesses a mortal body with zero offensive capabilities and sluggish movement speed. Please make strategic use of the cassock bestowed by the Bodhisattva to evade lethal damage.]

Following the two system prompts, the familiar interface popped up.

Mengtu said excitedly, “We can control Tang Seng now! Let me check out his skills first!”

“‘First skill: [Gods and Demons Begone]. Hurls the cassock gifted by Guanyin to form a defensive barrier, shielding the party from a lethal blow? Not bad—this cassock is tailor-made for blocking boss ultimates!'”

“‘Second skill: [Nine-Ringed Staff]. Strikes the ground with the staff, restoring 3,000 Mana to a targeted ally and immediately resetting their skill cooldowns?!'”

“‘Third skill: [Merciful Buddha]. Chants sacred sutras, cleansing negative debuffs from allies within range.'”

“‘Fourth skill: [Alms Begging]. Monks traveling abroad must seek alms for sustenance; gathered food can be stored and distributed to allies at will to restore HP.'”

Reading through this quirky skillset, the stream viewers immediately perked up.

[Isn’t this an overpowered support?!]

[Healing, mana regen, debuff cleanse, ultimate negation—a complete all-around support!]

[Now that the support is here, does this mean Monkey Bro isn’t the only protagonist?]

[The Journey to the West must have a whole party, right?]

[Can players control every single character? This feels even more fun than Chapter One!]

Watching the cutscenes initially, everyone had found it quite jarring.

How could this plotline feel so completely disconnected from Chapter One?

Chapter One was all about how ridiculously badass the Great Sage was. Now Chapter Two had abruptly swapped protagonists to embark on a westward pilgrimage?

Only after inspecting Tang Seng’s skillset did everyone realize that the game featured an entire “protagonist party.” The player could control more than one hero, and the newly introduced Tang Seng was the dedicated team support.

Mengtu exclaimed excitedly, “Chat, let’s pilot Tang Seng and see how we beat this stage!”

Just as the system had warned, Tang Seng was a frail mortal in combat. He possessed no offensive abilities, had fragile defense, and moved at a crawl.

Had this been Monkey Bro facing monsters, he would have spun his golden staff and charged straight in, effortlessly smashing them to bits one by one.

Swapping to Tang Seng? What could he do?

Run!

This stage was designed as an “escape survival runner.” Encountering monsters, Tang Seng stumbled frantically through the wilderness; lacking mobility arts and physical agility, his fleeing speed was pathetically slow, and he constantly tripped and fell.

Mengtu steered Tang Seng in a frantic sprint, only to be overtaken by monsters in under thirty seconds.

Failed—try again.

Tang Seng scrambled to his feet to run again, pursued by a pack of demons. To his horror, the retinue of imperial guards sent to protect him was completely devoured by the monsters.

In the earlier chapter, everyone had grown accustomed to controlling the hyper-agile Sun Wukong; suddenly switching to Tang Seng threw countless players completely off. Across streaming channels, numerous creators were cursing aloud:

“Forcing a pure support to flee all on his own—does that make any sense?!”

“When do we pop the cassock? Its cooldown is a full minute long!”

“Do we block the damage right as the monster pounces?”

“Wait, that’s wrong! Holy crap, there are way more mobs later on; we have to conserve our skills!”

Many streamers hit a wall on this stage. In a pure evasion level where Tang Seng was so sluggish, players had to adapt on the fly—taking detours, hiding behind obstacles, and tumbling down slopes…

Liu-ge had better luck: discovering the most optimal path, he used the cassock at the pivotal moment to negate a fatal blow, safely reaching the destination.

Wiping the sweat from his palms, Liu-ge remarked, “No wonder Tang Seng is so terrified. If I were being chased through the woods by monsters like this, I’d be sweating bullets too!”

“Chat, Tang Seng is just an ordinary human with zero combat skills after all! In my opinion, since his role is support, our Great Sage must be the hyper-carry DPS.”

“So when the hell do we rescue my Monkey Bro?!”

After Tang Seng cleared Double Fork Ridge, another cutscene rolled.

Beneath the Five Elements Mountain, a monkey had been trapped for five hundred years. A clump of lush green moss grew atop his head, mold and green fuzz dusted his face, yet his fiery golden eyes remained intensely sharp and luminous.

Finally laying eyes on the Great Sage again, the audience’s excitement was beyond words.

The chat was completely blanketed in a snowstorm of bullet comments:

[Holy crap, Great Sage, long time no see!]

[My heart aches for Monkey Bro—trapped for five hundred whole years?!]

[Those Heavenly Court morons actually tricked my Monkey Bro into suffering here!]

[Hahaha, I feel bad for him, but his face covered in green mold is kind of hilarious.]

[Give it up for the Green-Haired Monkey!]

[Even covered in mildew, my Great Sage is still the Great Sage!]

Passing by, Guanyin Bodhisattva heard Sun Wukong shout excitedly: “Bodhisattva, save Old Sun!”

Guanyin paused: “I do have a way to save you.”

Sun Wukong’s eyes sparkled: “Speak quickly, Bodhisattva!”

Guanyin said gently, “In a few days, a pilgrim from the Great Tang of the East journeying to the Western Paradise for scriptures will pass this way. Are you willing to take him as your master and protect him on his westward pilgrimage?”

Sun Wukong nodded vigorously: “Old Sun is willing!”

The Bodhisattva said, “If he can scale the summit and peel away the golden seal affixed to the mountain by the Buddha, you shall be freed. Wukong, remember well: commit no more violence or wickedness. Only when the pilgrimage is fulfilled can you achieve the Right Fruit.”

Sun Wukong: “Old Sun will remember it well!”

The scene shifted: several days later, Tang Seng rode along the road on his little white horse.

Sun Wukong shouted instantly: “Master! Master has arrived!”

Startled, Tang Seng walked toward the voice in bewilderment.

There lay a monkey with moss covering his face, pinned beneath the mountain, unable to budge.

Tang Seng was dazed: “Are you calling me?”

Sun Wukong asked: “Are you the one journeying to the Western Paradise for scriptures?”

Tang Seng replied, “Indeed I am.”

Sun Wukong’s eyes gleamed with excitement: “Five hundred years ago, I was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who wreaked Havoc in Heaven! Because of my defiance, I was pinned beneath the Five Elements Mountain by the Tathāgata Buddha. Guanyin Bodhisattva told me to wait for you here, take you as my master, and protect you on your pilgrimage to the West! Quickly, save me!”

The Bodhisattva found him a disciple for protection? This disciple sounded pretty cracked.

Tang Seng was overjoyed, but had no idea how to rescue him.

Sun Wukong said, “Climb to the summit and peel away the golden talisman, and I can break free!”

[System: Main Quest Updated — [Rescue Sun Wukong]]

Seeing this, millions of players were thrilled beyond measure.

Our Great Sage was finally being rescued, and by the player’s own hands piloting Tang Seng!

Countless streamers and silent mobile gamers alike were filled with relentless drive—tonight, they had to rescue Monkey Bro, or nobody was sleeping!

The difficulty of this stage was even higher than the initial Huaguo Mountain climb.

When Sun Wukong scaled Huaguo Mountain, as an agile monkey, he could leap and swing with ease. But Tang Seng was a mere mortal, forced to scale the precipitous cliffs with his bare hands.

The Five Elements Mountain was extraordinarily steep; players plummeted to their deaths countless times.

Yet no one gave up. After all, to rescue the Great Sage, what did a few deaths matter?

Plummeting again and again, restarting time after time…

When players finally managed to haul Tang Seng onto the peak, many wanted to scream at the top of their lungs: Rescuing you damn monkey nearly killed us!

The moment Tang Seng reached the summit, the Buddha’s golden talisman dissolved into divine light and vanished.

Sun Wukong bellowed, “Master, stand back!”

Tang Seng hurriedly ducked aside.

Sun Wukong unleashed his full might; without the Buddha’s talisman suppressing it, the mountain shattered like foam in an instant!

Amidst the earth-shattering tremor, a monkey soared into the sky.

Tang Seng was stunned by the spectacle before him.

Once free, Sun Wukong looped joyfully through the sky, darting and bounding through the branches, scratching his ears and cheeks while laughing uproariously.

Watching his playful, irrepressible vitality, players actually felt tears welling up in their eyes.

Our Great Sage was finally free!

Only moments later did Sun Wukong remember the matter of formal discipleship.

Flying back before Tang Seng, he knelt and called out, “Master!”

Tang Seng gingerly reached out, stroking the dirty monkey head, and asked, “Do you have a monastic name?”

Sun Wukong replied, “Master, I am called Sun Wukong!”

Tang Seng thought for a moment and said, “I shall bestow another name upon you: Sun Xingzhe. How does that sound?”

Sun Wukong: “Good! Very good!”

[System: Sun Wukong has joined the party]

[System: Acquired new moniker [Sun Xingzhe], selectable in the system menu]

[System: Party Mode unlocked. Players may switch characters freely during combat.]

Seeing this prompt, countless players rejoiced.

Party Mode? Character swapping!

Throughout Chapter One, players controlled only Sun Wukong; Chapter Two was finally expanding the roster. Tang Seng was support, Sun Wukong was DPS—how would party synergy play out?

Hurry up and give us a battle to test it out!

Just as players were wishing for it, the game delivered.

The master and disciple had walked only a short distance before encountering a ferocious tiger, transitioning into the combat interface!

A party roster appeared on the left side of the screen: two avatars, Sun Wukong and Tang Seng, with remaining slots currently empty.

Tapping either avatar instantly swapped to that character’s perspective.

Liu-ge was eager to test it against the tiger.

He first piloted Sun Wukong, executing a fluid combo to whittle the tiger to half health, then instantly swapped to Tang Seng to block the tiger’s counterattack with the cassock, followed by his second skill, Nine-Ringed Staff, restoring mana to Sun Wukong and resetting his cooldowns!

He immediately swapped back to Sun Wukong to unleash another full burst!

As characters swapped, the camera shifted dynamically, dazzling the viewers.

Yet the fast-paced switching made combat intensely satisfying—Sun Wukong executed two back-to-back ultimates, delivering over 10,000 damage per critical strike, obliterating the tiger instantly!

Liu-ge was awestruck: “Holy crap, that’s sick!”

“The true intended way to play this game is multi-character party combat! Later on against tougher bosses, players will definitely need to juggle characters constantly to clear stages.”

“From the looks of it, Tang Seng supports while Monkey Bro carries; with Tang Seng’s buffs, Monkey Bro’s damage goes through the roof, and resetting the Ruyi Jingu Bang ultimate lets him burst twice in a row!”

“Can’t wait to see more characters join the Journey to the West squad!”

This game was truly becoming more and more fascinating.