By the end of March, the Copywriting Group had finished writing the plot for Mount Huaguo, and the Art Group had finished drawing the vast majority of the Mount Huaguo scenes. Shi Xiaoyu’s Sun Wukong had gone through five version revisions and was finally modified to Xie Yunfan’s satisfaction.

The game’s R&D finally had some staged progress.

Xie Yunfan convened a meeting with the Level Design, Programming, and Data Groups to communicate with everyone about the methods for making the levels, modifying data, and perfecting details…

Everything was proceeding in perfect order.

At the beginning of April, after a week of modifications and adjustments, the first level was finally completed.

Xie Yunfan sent the game demo to the Testing Group to do tests.

After earnestly playing the game, Huo Minghui proposed some modification opinions. He believed the simple mode was too mindless, while the challenge mode difficulty was immensely high; the span between the two difficulties was too large. The vast majority of players would find playing the simple mode very boring, while the challenge mode would be very off-putting. Could they compromise a bit?

After considering it, Xie Yunfan called the Level Design Group over and said: “Based on the simple mode, increase a certain amount of difficulty and add a ‘Normal Mode’ option, giving 60% of the players a certain degree of playability.”

Zhang Su said: “In other words, making three modes for every level?”

Xie Yunfan: “Mhm. Simple mode targets ‘hand-handicapped’ (unskilled) players, allowing them to easily clear the level and directly watch the plot; Normal mode covers over 60% of the player demographic; Challenge mode targets the approximately 20% high-end players.”

Actually, many single-player RPG games also had this kind of “tiered difficulty” division. Doing it this way was very friendly to all players, it was just that the Planning Group’s workload would double.

Xie Yunfan said: “I will design it together with you guys. Seize the time and produce the first level first.”

Zhang Su said straightforwardly: “Okay!”

With the boss coming over to help, what more could he say?

…

A week later, the three difficulties for the first level “Mount Huaguo” were entirely completed.

Xie Yunfan had everyone inside the company do an internal test. Everyone’s feedback was pretty good, so the difficulty division was settled, and subsequent levels would be designed this way as well.

It was just that a severe problem was encountered at the Bull Demon King level. Over at the Data Group, the values for Sun Wukong’s attack and defense and the Bull Demon King’s weren’t balanced properly; fighting the boss always felt too easy.

Modifying data and modifying skills took another few days, and the entire Planning Group was extremely busy.

But what surprised everyone was that Xie Yunfan truly achieved the “in principle, no overtime” he had spoken of during the meeting.

Although everyone was very busy during work hours, almost unable to leave their workstations, at 6:00 PM every day, the entire company would get off work punctually.

Logistics would turn off the lights on time; you couldn’t work overtime even if you wanted to.

Everyone was very perplexed inside—the boss didn’t seem to be in a hurry at all?

At other game companies, during the production stage, the Chief Planner would urge the progress every day. But Xie Yunfan never rushed them; instead, he patiently accompanied them, modifying details one by one.

Because the boss never scolded people, everyone’s work pressure wasn’t that massive, and their moods were relatively relaxed.

Although the progress in the early stages of R&D was very slow, with bit-by-bit accumulation, everyone also gradually figured out the core and style of this game.

A month later, the Art Group began rapidly accelerating.

Shi Xiaoyu had drawn many versions of Sun Wukong, but she finished drawing the Bull Demon King in just two days. She had now figured out the boss’s preferences, and finalizing drafts was super fast.

Similarly, for Ji Minglang who drew scenes, the Heaven Realm and Flat Peach Orchard passed review one drawing after another.

Once the art accelerated, the modeling side immediately kept up.

Qiao Jingmo had rich experience. The Sun Wukong model he made was very spirited, and every movement was lifelike. Darting around when walking, the monkey’s cuteness and agility were portrayed to the fullest. Although normally lively and naughty, when releasing skills, he was decisive and neat, extremely handsome.

Xie Yunfan was very satisfied with this “animated Sun Wukong.” Qiao Jingmo said he had referenced the behaviors and movements of wild monkeys; no wonder it was so vivid and true to life!

Over at the levels side, with Xie Yunfan taking the lead, the progress was much faster.

The Data Group and Level Design Group had constantly been breaking in together; dungeons had to be modified many times.

Every time the Testing Group proposed opinions, it meant other groups might need to rework things.

This position easily “offended people.” However, the few people in the Testing Group didn’t care about these things. They proposed opinions from the perspective of “players.” If they didn’t dare to speak up out of consideration for saving face, and the game got scolded by players after launching, what face would they have to take such high salaries?

…

In the blink of an eye, the time reached the end of April. Out of the 7 levels of the first chapter, 3 were already completed.

As for the materials Xie Yunfan handed over to Color Picture, they had also produced the opening animation according to the requirements.

Xie Yunfan took a look, and the quality was very good—worthy of being smashed out with money. At this animation level, every frame could be screenshotted and used as a desktop wallpaper.

However, the color tones were too bright and colorful. He had Liang Anwei readjust them to finalize the style, and the subsequent animations were also to be produced hastily.

For Sun Wukong’s animation voice acting, Xie Yunfan decided to personally oversee it.

Whether this character could come “alive” or not, the voice acting was crucial. When the drama version of Journey to the West back then became popular across the length and breadth of the country, the voice acting teacher added quite a lot of points.

Of course, the Great Sage of the alternate world couldn’t achieve a 100% perfect recreation, but they could try to fit the character as much as possible.

On this day, Xie Yunfan came to the voice acting studio cooperating with Color Picture.

The Voice Director was extremely surprised—it was his first time seeing a game planner coming to supervise voice acting! Was this planner a bit too dedicated to his work? He even manages the voice acting?

However, Xie Yunfan was the Client paying the money. Listening to the Client’s requirements was their professional quality.

The director called over a few voice actors from the studio to do live auditions in the recording booth.

As a result, five people were swapped in continuously, and all were rejected by Xie Yunfan. Those voice acting teachers were all extremely puzzled—voicing a monkey, where did so many requirements come from? Exactly what kind of monkey do you want?

The several CVs rejected just now all had a certain fan base, had voiced quite a few animations and TV dramas, and their voice lines were ever-changing… Were none of them actually matching Xie Yunfan’s requirements?

The Voice Director said: “Our studio currently only has these few well-known teachers. If you are dissatisfied with all of them, we can only find someone from outside.”

Xie Yunfan asked: “Are there any newcomers? We can let newcomers try too.”

The Voice Director thought for a moment and said: “Let Little Fang give it a try. He has a crisp youth voice line; in other animations, he only voices minor supporting characters and has no experience voicing protagonists.”

Xie Yunfan said: “It doesn’t matter, give it a try.”

A moment later, a youth walked into the recording booth.

He was clearly somewhat nervous. Lowering his head to pick up the script, he adjusted the position of the microphone, and read according to the lines: “Eat a strike from my, Old Sun’s, cudgel!” “What kind of monster are you? Your Grandpa Sun is here, quickly report your name!”

Xie Yunfan’s eyes lit up: “He’s the one.”

The Voice Director turned his head to look at Xie Yunfan with a bewildered expression—so you wanted this kind of eccentricly sarcastic monkey!

Xie Yunfan smiled and asked: “What is his name?”

The Voice Director said: “Fang Hezhi, still a high school student. He’s not a professional voice actor; he works part-time at our studio with his older brother, occasionally recording and voicing some minor supporting roles.”

Xie Yunfan said straightforwardly: “Just let him voice Sun Wukong, his voice line is very suitable.”

When this youth spoke normally, his voice was full of vigor. When he spoke with an eccentric sarcasm, pinching his throat, it indeed had that punch-inviting flavor of Sun Wukong, quite matching Xie Yunfan’s imagination.

Sun Wukong’s voice actor was the hardest to select; the other characters were much easier to decide. Xie Yunfan also listened to the voice lines for the Jade Emperor and Guanyin, selecting a few satisfactory ones.

After finalizing the candidates, the director began organizing the voice acting according to the script.

Color Picture was seizing the time to produce the animations.

Xie Yunfan sought out “Ding Dong Music,” whom he had cooperated with previously, to produce background music for some dungeons—hot-blooded combat ones, cute and lively ones; the addition of various types of music would make the game even richer.

…

End of April.

The original art for all the important NPCs of the Art Group was completely finished. The Level Design Group finished the initial demo versions of the 7 levels. They needed to test the difficulty and skill values, and these data all had to be repeatedly adjusted.

On this day, April 30th, Qihang Games’ official Weibo released a message.

“Dear players, the Remake version of Fighting Master will officially launch on May 1st!”

This news shocked the industry.

Back then, less than a month after Fighting Master launched, it was complained against by players and taken down. Chief Planner Xie Xinghe came out to apologize publicly, the Nebula Gaming Cabins encountered a wave of returns, and the Nebula Group went bankrupt and collapsed because of this.

He hadn’t expected that after two years had passed…

This game could actually be resurrected from the dead?!

Qihang took it back to remake it? Don’t let it get stuck with various strange bugs and be complained against into being taken down again!

The vast majority of players were not optimistic about it.

Only a small number of players harbored the thought of “I have a Qihang gaming cabin anyway, might as well play it since it’s free” and prepared to experience the new game tomorrow.

May 1st happened to be a holiday. Xie Yunfan stopped the work at hand, went to the Game Experience Center on the 20th floor, and turned on a gaming cabin.

At first, the Qihang gaming cabins only had Starry Sky Walk. Now, after logging in, the options had increased to include Ghost Realm and Fighting Master.

Xie Yunfan selected Fighting Master. The login interface was designed with a great atmosphere, being a fighting arena. After entering, there was a beginner’s guide level that taught players the most basic operations.

Then it entered the character selection interface. At first, Fighting Master only had 30 characters; now, after being remade, the number of characters had doubled.

Every character had detailed skill introductions and a “Practice Mode.”

Additionally, 10 combat maps had been added.

Xie Yunfan casually selected a “King of Fighters” to try playing. The sense of impact was done very smoothly; unleashing a combo felt incredibly exhilarating.

He switched to two ranged characters to play a bit; the skill designs were very novel. Gravity waves, inverted black holes? These familiar names should be characters made by their class monitor, right?

Compared to the once bug-ridden Fighting Master, the remade version was as if completely reborn. For players who liked fighting games, just the gameplay of the 60 characters alone was enough for them to study for a while.

The game also had a Ranked Match mode. He didn’t know what algorithm Qihang used for the networked matchmaking, but the matching speed was quite fast. Xie Yunfan found an opponent and casually played a match. There was no issue of data imbalance where one side crushed the other; different characters could trade blows back and forth.

Moreover, the network was very smooth; for a fighting game’s networked PK, he didn’t feel the slightest lag.

After playing for an hour, Xie Yunfan exited the game.

He was thoroughly relieved—this game would definitely become popular. Even if it didn’t explode globally, it could firmly establish its footing within the fighting game player demographic.

His older brother’s blood, sweat, and tears being able to gain a new lease on life made Xie Yunfan very happy for his brother as well.

That night, Xie Yunfan sent a message to his brother: “Brother, I experienced Fighting Master. The game is done very well, the operations are smooth, and using 60 characters for PK makes the gameplay extremely rich. The designs of many characters are very interesting.”

Xie Xinghe replied with trembling fingers: “Is that so? Do you think this game is fun?”

Xie Yunfan said: “Very fun, it will definitely become popular ^^”

Xie Xinghe’s eye rims suddenly felt a burst of sourness.

He hadn’t even dared to bring up this game before; after all, he had encountered countless curses and mockeries because of it. When the game was taken down back then, some players even cursed him to go die.

He hadn’t expected that a once failed work could still have a day to see the light of the sun again!

He truly had to thank his younger brother’s encouragement, as well as Luo Hang’s support.

Regardless of whether this game could ultimately earn money or not, him just seeing it re-launched was already very satisfying!

Xie Xinghe wiped his eyes, changed the topic, and asked: “How is your new game doing?”

Xie Yunfan said: “The levels are just finished, the other things still need to be perfected slowly.”

Xie Xinghe said proactively: “I’ll come back very soon to help you!”

---

Qihang’s remade version of Fighting Master climbed onto the hot searches that night.

This time, it wasn’t cursed onto the hot searches by players, but was praised onto them.

Quite a few veteran players went to play the game with judgmental thoughts, only to find it so fun they couldn’t stop.

New players also went to try this game and found that the 60 characters each had their own specialties: melee, ranged, mid-range; some could fly, some could run, and some could burrow underground.

Just playing in the bot practice arena alone could take a long time.

“The remade version feels pretty good ah!”

“There are no bugs like disconnecting or lagging; the fighting is smooth and silky.”

“Worthy of being Qihang, truly strong capabilities, rescuing a dying game back to life.”

The discussions online were very lively.

The first wave of word-of-mouth for a game’s launch was crucial.

Luo Hang had also sought out some media in advance to do positive promotion. In short, with this game launching in May, and without major game competition, everything went very smoothly.

Xie Xinghe fought a beautiful turnaround battle, finally able to hold his head high in the gaming industry.

On May 5th, Xie Xinghe returned to Rong City radiating vigor.

This time, he could be considered to have “retired after winning merit.” From now on, the operations of Fighting Master would be handed over to Qihang to handle. As for what characters to develop for subsequent seasons, there was no need for him, this “consultant,” to meddle.

Just lying down and counting money would do.

Not gonna lie, both he and Xie Yunfan had a game parked over at Qihang, letting them lie down and count money.

Xie Yunfan went to the airport to pick up his older brother.

After staying at Qihang for half a year, Xie Xinghe’s entire person had completely changed. High-spirited and full of energy, the decadent and depressed youth from back then had long since vanished.

His brother’s smile was exceptionally radiant.

Xie Yunfan was happy to see such a change in him.

After returning to the company, Xie Yunfan held a meeting and officially introduced Xie Xinghe to everyone.

From now on, the company’s HR, networks, logistics, and marketing—these departments unrelated to game R&D—would all be managed by Xie Xinghe. This way, Xie Yunfan could devote all his energy into game production.

Upon taking up his new official post, Xie Xinghe immediately stared at the Network Group making websites and had the Marketing Department make merchandise. He had loved playing games since childhood and understood game merchandise and various game official websites very well. Xie Yunfan handing these tasks to him could also be considered “catering to his preferences.”

Xie Xinghe felt full of drive!

Although he was no longer responsible for game production, these departments could also bring a lot of revenue to the company.

…

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was June.

Under Xie Xinghe’s supervision, the website was finally completed, and there were no issues after testing it several times. The first batch of Soul of Music merchandise was sent for prototyping; the quality was very good and they could be launched at any time.

Over at the Production Group, the plot animations handed over to Color Picture, including post-production special effects, were entirely completed. The game levels were also finished and were currently undergoing final testing.

Xie Yunfan packaged the game and submitted it for review. The AI review speed was very fast; the game approval number came down in early June, and the Huaguo Game Review official website also announced the news of this game passing review.

Game: Journey to the West
Genre: Class A Mobile Game
Submitting Company: Yangfan Studio

As soon as the news was announced, quite a few companies in the industry who had their eyes on Xie Yunfan started making moves.

The first to call was the best-informed boss of Mobile Games Home, Qin Fang. Last time with Soul of Music, he had negotiated a 10% revenue split with Xie Yunfan. How exactly would this game be proxied?

Qin Fang directly asked to meet with Xie Yunfan.

Xie Yunfan wasn’t polite either, saying straightforwardly: “President Qin, our game’s official website will launch very soon. Future games will open download channels on the official website. Of course, we won’t abandon Mobile Games Home’s user market either. I think, why don’t you just give me the treatment of Wings of Dream and Cool Play?”

Qin Fang widened his eyes: “You want to drop it to 5%?”

Because major manufacturers had many games—like Wings of Dream having over twenty mobile games—they could be downloaded on their own official websites, and simultaneously downloaded on Mobile Games Home. Game recharge payments were also split into channels like official website recharges, mobile app mall recharges, Mobile Games Home recharges, etc.

For these major manufacturers with long-term cooperation and many games, Mobile Games Home would give a certain discount, only charging a 5% proxy fee. After all, them renting servers and providing download links also cost money. It wasn’t like Qin Fang opened the website to do charity for you.

But Yangfan Studio currently only had two mobile games: Underworld Maze and Soul of Music.

Xie Yunfan truly had fat guts, actually daring to negotiate major manufacturer treatment with him?!

Qin Fang said helplessly: “Your game quantity is small. If I give you such a discount, other companies in the industry will definitely have objections when they hear about it.”

Xie Yunfan smiled slightly and said: “Although my game quantity is small, the quality is very high ah! Moreover, for the next game, I have a premonition that the download volume will be extremely considerable. It might even break a hundred million, who knows?”

Qin Fang: “…”

Break a hundred million? You’re starting to draw big flatbreads (make grand promises) now!

He discovered that although this guy Xie Yunfan seemed simple and straightforward on the surface, he actually had a lot of hidden schemes.

However, Xie Yunfan had produced three good games after all. Just looking at Yangfan Studio’s reputation alone, he couldn’t directly refuse. If Xie Yunfan didn’t go through Mobile Games Home’s distribution and risked everything to make all players go to Yangfan Studio’s official website to download, wouldn’t he lose a major client?

Qin Fang deliberated again and again, and said: “Okay, then for this game, we’ll sign a 5% revenue split contract.” He purposely sighed with feigned regret, “Sigh, I’ve taken a huge loss this time ah!”

Xie Yunfan thought to himself: What loss did you take? You’ve earned big time!

---

Wings of Dream’s Copyright Department’s Ye Teng had constantly been keeping an eye on Yangfan Studio’s game copyrights.

The previous game was a music game, which conflicted with their genres, so he hadn’t contacted Xie Yunfan. The game that passed review this time was called Journey to the West? The name looked very interesting.

Ye Teng hurriedly called Xie Yunfan, saying extremely politely: “President Xie, I see your new game has passed review. Do you have any intentions of cooperating? Our Wings of Dream is very sincere and can help you promote and publicize…”

Xie Yunfan said politely: “Thank you for President Ye’s good intentions.”

Ye Teng was stunned for a moment: “What do you mean? Are you dissatisfied with our Wings of Dream’s conditions? The conditions can be negotiated! Our Wings of Dream has a player base of hundreds of millions…”

Xie Yunfan said: “No need, I want to operate this game independently.”

Ye Teng: “…”

Operate independently? Do you have that ability?

Ye Teng felt that Xie Yunfan had gotten carried away because the games he made were a bit popular, not knowing the heights of the heavens and the depths of the earth.

His Ghost Realm being able to become popular largely relied on Qihang’s operational promotion; while Soul of Music and Underworld Maze were only popular within small scopes. Music games and labyrinth games were both niche games.

Wings of Dream’s major games, like Elf Kingdom, had player bases of over 200 million.

Your little underworld’s final download volume was only 10 million, wasn’t it? On what basis do you look down on us? Proactively seeking cooperation and being rejected, Ye Teng was incredibly angry inside, though on the surface he still chuckled and hung up the phone.

Exactly what genre of game was this Journey to the West?

For Xie Yunfan to be so confident?

Although he felt Xie Yunfan was somewhat arrogant and had an overly high opinion of himself, during the previous few intense competitions, Xie Yunfan had fought his way out of the tight encirclement… He faintly had a somewhat bad premonition.

Ye Teng frowned and immediately ordered his subordinates: “Keep an eye on the launch time of Journey to the West for me. Since he isn’t willing when I proactively seek cooperation, then press him down for me!”

If the fourth game became a massive hit again, no one would be able to stop Yangfan Studio.

…

That night, Luo Hang sent a message to Xie Yunfan reminding him: “Your game passed review? The industry is paying attention. I’m guessing some people will buy a black water army (paid trolls) in advance to fight a public opinion war with you and strangle the new game in its cradle. You must make preparations to counterattack.”

Yangfan Studio’s large-scale recruitment a while ago had been seen by everyone in the industry.

If the first game after the recruitment garnered countless negative reviews, it would shatter the myth in players’ hearts that “productions of Little Sailboat must be premium products.”

As long as the players’ good impressions were shattered, Xie Yunfan’s subsequent games would also be affected.

The business world is like a battlefield; one had to guard against the enemies’ methods.

Xie Yunfan pondered repeatedly and ultimately made a bold decision: “I understand. I will pick a good day and parachute (drop) it directly.”

Luo Hang raised an eyebrow: “No advance promotion for the game, directly parachuting it? Are you joking?”

Xie Yunfan sent a smiling face over, saying: “Not joking. The protagonist of our game popped out of a rock, which is also ‘parachuting’ into the world. This game is suitable for a surprise attack, giving everyone some surprises and unexpected joy, and also catching the opponents off guard~”

Luo Hang: “…”

Alright then, anyway, Xie Yunfan’s thinking was different from ordinary people. Luo Hang discovered that using common sense to explain his actions simply wouldn’t make sense.

He hoped that with this parachute drop, he wouldn’t land face-first and fall too miserably.

…

June 26th, a very ordinary Saturday.

Yangfan Studio’s official Weibo suddenly posted a message—

“Dear players, you’ve waited a long time!
Yangfan Studio’s official website is officially online. The address is as follows:
At the same time, the studio’s independently produced new game Journey to the West will meet everyone today.

Chapter One, Challenge Chapter.
Achievement contents include: Clearing the Tongue Ripping Hell (10 points), passing King Qinguang’s test (15 points), passing the Scissors Hell (10 points). ‘Damage-free clear’ gives the highest achievement points. There are also many achievements marked with ‘??’ later on, which should require players to achieve the previous stage’s achievements before unlocking.

—The unlucky bastard whose head was continuously snipped off 10 times in the Scissors Hell (Achievement 10 points, already acquired).
On her achievement panel, only this one entry was lit up.
Cheng Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I died so many times in the Scissors Hell, seems I didn’t die for nothing ah!”
She actually got an unlucky bastard achievement?
Alright then, it could be considered somewhat of a harvest!
While playing this game in the afternoon, the more she played, the more irritable she became. But now, seeing that she had unexpectedly acquired an achievement, she suddenly became happy and continued scrolling down.

Chapter Two, Treasure Chapter.
Every 10 rounds of treasure hunting completed rewards achievement points. There are also “Find 3 Grade-B Magical Treasures,” “Encounter a Treasure Stealing Ghost while hunting,” “Synthesize the first Treasure Map,” etc., which give a very large number of achievement points as well.

Chapter Three, Plot Chapter.
Complete the Qiaosheng and Liancheng plot quest to acquire 10 achievement points; complete the Nie Xiaoqian plot quest; also what Ah Bao side quest tragic ending/perfect ending; assist Gongsun Jiuniang in finding a grave, etc…
The dazzling array of plot achievements made Cheng Yuan widen her eyes in surprise. She hadn’t expected Ghost Realm to have so many plots? Qin Xiaorou would have plenty to play next!

Chapter Four, Scenery Chapter.
Take a group photo with Meng Po (Granny Meng) at the Bridge of Helplessness; walk into the center of the Sea of Lycoris (Spider Lilies); check your three lifetimes of fated marriages in front of the Sansheng Stone (Stone of Three Lives); travel through the Eighteen Pools of Baodu Mountain in the Ghost Realm; leave footprints reaching the Flood Dragon Cave; overlook the scenery of the Wangchuan River from the Sea-Gazing Pavilion; reach the highest point of Luofu Mountain, Feiyun Peak; find the Baishui Gate Waterfall…
Later on, there were still many mysterious contents marked with question marks waiting to be unlocked.
The more Cheng Yuan read, the more excited she became!
The Scenery System was a collection of the Ghost Realm’s landscapes and wondrous objects, equivalent to a “tourism check-in system.”
Players could travel all over the Ghost Realm. By reaching designated locations and taking photos to check-in according to the requirements, they could acquire the corresponding “achievement points.”
Cheng Yuan passionately loved traveling. During winter and summer vacations every year, she would go to various scenic spots domestically and abroad to check-in, take photos, and post them on her Moments. The Scenery System of Ghost Realm provided a colossal map for this demographic of “scenery party” players. There were countless bizarre and wondrous scenic spots here waiting for players to slowly explore.

The five mountains with strange names, the Ghost Realm’s Hell District, the Wangchuan River, the Sea of Lycoris, etc., all sounded very interesting.
You want to go to Luofu Mountain’s highest peak, Feiyun Peak? It definitely won’t be that easy to reach; you have to find a way to climb the mountain. Along the way, you might encounter some difficulties. But the moment you reach the mountaintop and acquire the achievement, you will definitely be very satisfied.
Cheng Yuan excitedly walked out of the Senluo Hall, only to discover her body suddenly soaring up into the air. She jumped in fright: “I can fly now? I’m currently in a wandering soul state… wandering souls can float everywhere?”
She tried moving forward and found her speed had increased significantly. With both feet off the ground and her body soaring, there was actually a feeling of being as light as a swallow; it was too miraculous.
Cheng Yuan flew all the way forward. The Ghost Realm’s map was large beyond her imagination; many places were dark fog areas, and she simply didn’t know where the so-called “Luofu Mountain” was.

She quickly discovered that every time she reached a new area, the fog here would disperse. Opening the system menu, she could see the area she was currently in on the map would light up, and some place names would appear. For example, the small mountain in front of Senluo Hall was called “Yin Mountain.”
She had reached the foot of Yin Mountain, so she unlocked the “Yin Mountain” area.
In a holographic game, players controlled their bodies to walk. If the map was too large, running the map oneself would be very tiring. From the achievements that had appeared in the Scenery System, it could be seen that the Ghost Realm’s map was quite colossal.

One couldn’t possibly slowly run to every place, right?
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly saw a red dot on the minimap in the top right corner. A strange circle icon appeared, with an arrow pointing towards that dot.
Curiously, Cheng Yuan walked toward that coordinate.
Upon arriving, she found something resembling an “array formation” nearby, flashing with a soft red light. Hesitating for a moment, she stepped forward, stepping into the middle of the array formation.

The surrounding blood-red light soared into the sky, like five giant red pillars. As they ascended into the sky one by one, a crisp sound effect transmitted beside her ears.
System: Yin Mountain Teleportation Array has been activated.
System: The teleportation arrays in the Ghost Realm are made from special magic. One can instantaneously teleport between teleportation arrays at any time.
Cheng Yuan said excitedly: “This is a teleportation point ah!”
So, there were teleportation arrays between the different areas of the Ghost Realm?
Once all the teleportation arrays were unlocked, one could instantaneously teleport between different areas, without needing to slowly run over from afar. This was too friendly to players.
Cheng Yuan continued forward. She planned that the first step was to open up the map!

Find the vast majority of the teleportation arrays in the Ghost Realm, and then travel all around looking for various scenic spots to check-in and take photos.
Just now she had even said she didn’t want to play this game anymore, only to be slapped in the face this quickly.
The game’s gameplay was very rich. Here, she had finally found where her joy lay.

---

Qin Xiaorou was watching the plot, Yao Jia was earnestly hunting for treasures, and Cheng Yuan was opening up the map everywhere.

Three girls who didn’t like “horror games” and were coming into contact with “holographic games” for the first time were having unadulterated joy playing Ghost Realm. They had all found content they liked here.
Meanwhile, for the vast majority of players who loved challenges, after dying over and over again in front of King Qinguang all afternoon, half had cleared the level and begun moving toward the next hell.

July 15th, the first day of Ghost Realm’s launch.
During the evening online peak period, Weibo’s #GhostRealm# topic was once again sent to the number one spot on the trending chat list by players’ fervent discussions!
At the same time, in the holographic sphere—the largest domestic forum specifically discussing holographic games—the Ghost Realm section also saw a massive influx of strategy-guide, help-seeking, and sharing posts.
The most popular one was “King Qinguang clearance experience sharing, cute newbies are welcome to come take a look.”

This post was pushed to the HOT list, with saves exceeding twenty thousand. Countless players shed tears of gratitude, replying to the post expressing they finally knew how to clear this boss. The hot-blooded passion for a nationwide pioneering effort was thoroughly ignited by the forum!

Someone posted to show off: “The treasure hunting system is super interesting. My luck is pretty good; in the eighth round, I found a Grade-B treasure [Qiankun Pouch], which can be used to catch ghosts and play with them!”

There were also people urgently posting to ask for help: “How do you fight the Grandmother in the Nie Xiaoqian plotline? I’m begging! Can someone give me a tip? My Nie Xiaoqian’s soul has already scattered and dispersed three times to protect Ning Caichen, wuwuwu.”

Someone replied: “I also encountered the Nie Xiaoqian side quest. Use that whip Judge Lu gave you. When the Grandmother pounces over, just seize the opportunity to attack her. The combat in the plot quests isn’t hard. Try a few more times, unskilled players can also pass it.”

Original Poster: “Thank you! I’ll go replay it right now, I must get Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen a Happy Ending (HE)!”
Suddenly, a post titled “Ghost Realm Judge Selection Strategy Guide” popped up on the homepage.

A player with the ID “Loves Playing Holographics” posted a very long strategy guide post.
“Cute newbies, are you still conflicted over which judge to choose? Let me tell you the correct way to start Ghost Realm. This is the precious experience I obtained after repeatedly restarting 5 times oh!
For the four great judges, choose Cui Jue first. He will calculate your lifespan in the world of the living (those interested can keep seeking him out for fortune-telling to see how many years you can live, ha), and then, he will activate the Scenery System and Achievement System.
That’s right, the Scenery System is for strolling through scenery and opening up the map!

When playing a game, the first step is of course to open up the map.
Going straight all the way, there are several teleportation points: Yin Mountain, the Eighteen Hells, Wangchuan River, and the Bridge of Helplessness. Walking towards the periphery, there are also wilderness areas like the Sea of Lycoris and the Mass Grave. The furthest away is the Five Directions Mountain Range.
Mount Taozhi in the east, Mount Bozhong in the west, Mount Luofeng in the north, Mount Luofu in the south, and Mount Baodu in the center.
There should be a lot of scenery inside these mountains. You can open up the teleportation points at the foot of the mountains first, and slowly climb the mountains to study them later.

I spent the whole afternoon running the map and discovered that the Ghost Realm’s map is truly f*cking outrageously large!
Therefore, you must open up the teleportation points.
This game is very suitable for long-term play. Once you open the map, you can teleport back and forth in the later stages. If you haven’t opened them now, it’s still not too late to go back and open them; it won’t affect your game progress.
Moreover, achievements are automatically recorded. After defeating King Qinguang and going back to find Judge Cui to open the map, you will automatically acquire the achievement points for the ones you’ve already completed!
For players with different preferences, here is some advice for you.
Wei Zheng corresponds to the Bounty/Treasure Hunting system. You can hunt for treasures, synthesize treasure maps, and accept bounty quests to exchange for underworld currency and magical treasures. Players who like collecting can choose Wei Zheng.

Lu Zhidao corresponds to the Random Encounter Side Quest system. There are many wonderful ghost stories, making him the undisputed choice for plot-party players.
Cui Jue is, of course, the Scenery system. Check-in and stroll around to get achievements. Choosing him gives you the wandering soul state for the large map (invalid in the Hell District). You can float back and forth like a ghost, accelerating map opening!

Zhong Kui is for those who like challenging bosses and navigating hell mazes. You definitely can’t go wrong looking for him; various bosses await you.
By the way, these gameplays can be done in parallel!
The system doesn’t stipulate that you can only choose one of them. You can choose Wei Zheng, and after accepting a bounty quest, talk to Lu Zhidao again to accept random encounter quests. Hunting for treasures while simultaneously looking for side quest NPCs is also possible!
For example, if you’re halfway through treasure hunting and feel it’s not interesting, you can also teleport back to Senluo Hall, find Zhong Kui, and go to hell to experience some stimulation!

Zhong Kui will save your challenge progress in the Hell District in real-time. If you passed King Qinguang today, and run off to play treasure hunting or side quests tomorrow, the next time you find Zhong Kui to go to hell, your progress will be the same as before—you will have already passed King Qinguang, and he won’t make you fight him again.
The degree of freedom in this game is extremely high. Players can do whatever they want to do; if they get unhappy halfway through, they can also stop and go do something else.
We are all free and unconstrained ghosts!

Finally, I must praise @YangfanStudio. I spent five hours running the map this afternoon, and I haven’t even finished opening all the teleportation points on the large map. There are also many hidden areas where I don’t know what to do.
This map is truly awesome, and the gameplay is truly rich!
Worthy of what the promotional slogan says—
Ghost Realm is not just a game, but a world!”
Chapter One: Havoc in Heaven is officially open for download. Players, you can go to Mobile Games Home to directly download it, or go to Yangfan Studio’s Journey to the West official website to download and install it.
Game download is free, and there are no item charges within the game. All the content of the first chapter can be freely played and enjoyed for free, oh!
A brand new game world awaits your arrival!”
Seeing this parachuted promotional Weibo post, players in the comment section neatly and orderly typed out one word (two characters)—
Holy crap!
We’ve seen dramas parachute (air without prior announcement), but a game directly parachuting is a first.
Little Sailboat, aren’t you afraid of breaking your legs from the fall?

__

Author’s Note:
Little Sailboat: Are you surprised? Is it unexpected? ^^