The next morning, Xie Yunfan called all of Yafan Studio’s employees into a meeting.

As soon as everyone entered the conference room, they guessed the meeting might be about the negative trending topic from the night before. Quite a few people secretly glanced at Ning Sha from the art team.

Ning Sha’s expression was cold, and nothing revealed what she was thinking.

At 9:00 sharp, Xie Yunfan walked into the room, swept his gaze across the audience, and said calmly, “I’m sure everyone knows about last night’s public opinion. Our game has blown up, so of course we’ve become a thorn in the side of our competitors. Next, they’ll use all kinds of methods to smear Journey to the West.”

“I hope everyone can make games with a clear conscience. Today, I also want to make my attitude clear — Yafan Studio will firmly resist plagiarism. Anyone found plagiarizing will be fired on the spot, and I’ll publicly announce the reason. That will be the end of your career in this industry.”

“I can understand situations like: art with no inspiration, writing that gets stuck, or levels that can’t come up with a boss. If that happens, come and talk to me privately. I’ll adjust the schedule, but don’t take shortcuts and copy other people.”

“I hope everyone remembers this.”

The employees all nodded to show they understood.

“Alright, meeting over. Hurry up and keep working on the third chapter.”

He didn’t mention Ning Sha, which made it clear he did not intend to punish her. He only emphasized that no one should plagiarize. Everyone quietly breathed a sigh of relief for her and immediately returned to their desks.

Xie Yunfan called over HR manager Liu Muyao and said, “Muyao, contact a professional headhunting firm right away and find me a strong PR manager. We didn’t hire a PR department when we started, so we’re too passive when dealing with enemy public opinion battles.”

Liu Muyao replied, “Understood. I’ll get on it as soon as possible.”

After arranging all that, Xie Yunfan finally relaxed a little.

Actually, he had only wanted to make games in peace.

But his enemies insisted on forcing him to grow.

In this other world, the survival environment for small studios was extremely harsh. More than 90% of small studios had to hand their games over to large companies for publishing, while they themselves only got a tiny share of the profits.

New studios without much say could even be forced to sell the rights to big companies.

He had made several hit mobile games in a row and still refused to work with giants like Dream Wing or CoolPlay. No wonder he had become such a target.

The pie was only so big, and Yafan Studio was determined to take a slice from them. Against such a studio, these competitors were probably only going to get more and more ruthless.

There was no choice but to become stronger.

---

On July 5, the second chapter finished testing, and the final install package was delivered to Xie Yunfan.

He tested it himself, found no problems, and uploaded the package to Mobile Game House and the official Journey to the West website backend.

On July 10, Yafan Studio posted a “case filing receipt” image from the court.

Lawyer Zou was extremely efficient and had already gone to the capital to file the lawsuit.

The marketing account that had been spreading rumors got scared and deleted the post, but it was useless — the lawyer had already recorded the evidence on screen.

Players all said things like: “Who’s trying to blacken our little sailboat? This is basically reverse promotion!” and “I wasn’t planning to buy the second chapter at first, but now that the haters showed up, I have to spend five yuan to support it!”

The negative public opinion from the previous days did not affect the game’s reputation. The occasional accounts trying to stir things up online were quickly drowned out by a flood of player backlash.

The haters’ appearance actually triggered more of a rebellious response, and many players rolled up their sleeves, ready to buy the game that night.

At 7:00 p.m., the second chapter’s install package officially went live for download.

Countless players who had been waiting for the release rushed in to download it and completely crashed the server for Mobile Game House. The page threw up 404 errors, unable to connect, unable to purchase, and all sorts of bugs.

Yafan Studio’s own website also crashed.

“Server crashed” shot to the top of the trending list.

Qin Fang was shocked. “Even Mobile Game House crashed? Just how much traffic is that?”

The data department manager quickly replied, “More than 30 million people rushed in at the same time to download the game. The server hosting the install package was overloaded and froze.”

More than 30 million people paying at once? At five yuan each, that was 150 million yuan?

Qin Fang quickly ordered, “Get the network team to fix it immediately! Switch servers, open a few more download endpoints, and make sure players can download smoothly!”

Yafan Studio’s network team was also scrambling to maintain the servers. Team leader Yu Baichuan said helplessly, “Boss, more than ten million people swarmed in at the same time, and our website got stuck!”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

It wasn’t that he had been careless — he had just never expected players to be this eager to pay. The payment rate was probably over 90%, wasn’t it?

When millions of people suddenly poured in to pay, no server in the world could handle that.

All kinds of issues made the players furious.

Countless players rushed to Weibo and spammed under the topic #ServerCrash#:

【What’s going on? My connection won’t come through at all.】
【My payment keeps failing and never moves to the next page.】
【Why is the speed only 10K?】

Yafan Studio quickly released a statement:

“Sorry for the inconvenience. Due to the large number of users paying and downloading at the same time, Mobile Game House and Yafan Studio’s official website could not handle the load, causing a temporary server failure. We are urgently maintaining it now. Please wait a moment~~”

Players came out to joke about it immediately:

【Hurry up, then!】
【These players are too savage, lol】
【This game is so hot! Don’t play yet, let me go first!】
【Little sailboat, you really have no idea how popular this game is?】

Luckily, both Mobile Game House and Yafan Studio already had emergency plans. Backup servers were brought online immediately, and ten minutes later downloads finally returned to normal.

Players who successfully bought the expansion pack updated the game right away and eagerly opened the new stage.

Unexpectedly, the familiar Monkey King did not appear.

The second chapter opened with a cutscene: Tathagata Buddha gathered a group of people for a meeting and said that the four great continents were full of killing and wrongdoing, while the Western Heaven had true scriptures in thirty-five volumes that could encourage people to do good. They needed to go to the Eastern lands and find a believer, one who would travel through mountains and rivers to obtain the scriptures.

Guanyin Bodhisattva volunteered to find this scripture seeker.

Only then did the players understand — no wonder the game was called Journey to the West.

So the brilliant Great Sage in the first chapter had only been an opening act?

The “journey for scriptures” theme had only just begun now!

At Lingmao Live, Mengtu had already ordered milk tea and snacks, planning to grind the game all night. At 7:30, she finally finished downloading and started the second chapter.

After watching the cutscene of Tathagata’s meeting, she couldn’t help asking, “So Journey to the West means this! Tathagata wants someone to go to him to get the Buddhist scriptures… Then our Monkey King can be saved, right? Isn’t the Great Sage the perfect person for this?”

“Our Great Sage can do a somersault cloud ten thousand eight thousand li — isn’t fetching scriptures basically easy for him?”

“Come on, save my Great Sage!”

The chat was also full of people happily watching the animation.

Honestly, “watching an anime” inside a game was a really novel experience.

The opening of the second chapter was quite long. After Buddha finished the meeting, Guanyin received orders to go east to find the chosen person. Then a cutscene and location introduction appeared —

Human Realm, the Tang Empire in the East, Chang’an City.

The architecture was grand and magnificent, completely different from Heaven. Seen from above, Chang’an was laid out in neat squares, with orderly courtyard walls, elegant palaces, and exquisite corner towers everywhere.

Red lanterns hung along the streets, making the mortal world lively and bustling.

A young man named Chen Guangrui, handsome and refined, had just passed the imperial examinations and was parading through the streets as a newly crowned scholar-official. The daughter of Prime Minister Yin, Yin Wenjiao, was preparing to throw a silk ball to choose a husband. When she saw him pass by and noticed how elegant he looked, she deliberately tossed the ball into his arms.

Thus, the prime minister and his wife arranged for the two to marry.

After marriage, the couple lived in bliss and set off together to take up office in Jiangzhou. Unexpectedly, on the way they met bandits. A petty man named Liu Hong took a liking to Yin’s beauty and developed sinister intentions. That night, he killed Chen Guangrui and threw the body into the sea, then took the wife for himself.

At the time, Yin was already pregnant. For the sake of the child, she had no choice but to submit to Liu Hong. After giving birth, she placed a blood letter in the baby’s swaddling clothes, writing down the tragic story of the couple and placing the child in a wooden boat to drift downstream.

That infant was eventually rescued by a monk at a temple and raised there from childhood.

His dharma name was Xuanzang.

Eighteen years passed in the blink of an eye, and Xuanzang grew up.

His face appeared on screen — delicate brows, soft features, and even with a shaved head, he looked refined and handsome.

The audience watching grew suspicious.

【Xuanzang’s backstory is so detailed, he doesn’t seem like a regular NPC.】
【His features inherited his parents’ good genes — he really is handsome.】
【His father was a top scholar, and his mother was the prime minister’s daughter. This background is kind of impressive.】
【Where is my Monkey King? Why did the second chapter suddenly switch protagonists?】
【Could this new character be the boss of the second chapter?】

The viewers kept watching and joking.

After being cut off for nearly half a month, everyone had missed the Great Sage a lot.

But when the second chapter began, it told a completely different story line, and there was no sign of the Great Sage at all. While everyone waited to see Monkey King, they also became curious about this newly introduced character.

With such a detailed background, he clearly couldn’t be a simple character.

Sure enough, after Xuanzang learned the truth about his origins, he began to seek revenge.

He returned to Chang’an, told the emperor the truth about how the bandit had killed his father and stolen his mother while impersonating his father to take the post in Jiangzhou, and Emperor Taizong was furious and sent troops to wipe out the bandits.

After Xuanzang avenged his parents, the emperor let him stay at the Great Dharma Temple in Chang’an, where he became a respected monk.

Not long after, Guanyin Bodhisattva came to the Eastern Tang and watched from the clouds.

The camera paused on a temple, where Xuanzang was giving a sermon. Guanyin looked closely and realized this was none other than Jin Chanzi, a disciple of Tathagata Buddha reincarnated! Delighted, she and her disciple Muzha disguised themselves as two filthy beggars and went to the street carrying three treasures for sale.

Their calls attracted the attention of a court official, who introduced them to Emperor Taizong. When the emperor asked how much the treasures cost, Guanyin replied, “The kasaya is five thousand strings of cash, and the staff is four thousand strings.”

The emperor was shocked. “What makes these treasures so special that they’re so expensive?”

Guanyin explained that the kasaya was woven from silk, studded with pearls, emeralds, agates, and other gems. It could ward off evil and keep ghosts and gods away. The staff had nine linked rings made of bronze and iron, which was why it was so costly.

The emperor was very pleased. “This treasure is perfect for the great monk Xuanzang at the Great Dharma Temple.”

Guanyin said, “Since he is a virtuous monk, these treasures should be given to him. No need to pay.”

The emperor was happy, accepted the items, and sent them to Xuanzang at the Great Dharma Temple.

System: Obtained [Kasaya of Brocade and Gold], Defense +10000
System: Obtained [Nine-Ringed Staff], Mana +10000

Mengtu was shocked.

“Damn? This Xuanzang is also a player-controllable character? He’s even giving us equipment, and it adds so many stats?”

At first, when everyone saw Xuanzang appear, they thought he just looked handsome, had a detailed backstory, and a polished model. Nobody linked him to Sun Wukong at all. His style was too different — maybe he was an important NPC or a powerful boss?

Unexpectedly, he turned out to be a controllable character too?

Mengtu kept watching in stunned silence.

The story progressed beyond everyone’s expectations. Guanyin actually chose this “Xuanzang” to go west for scriptures? Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty acknowledged him as his imperial younger brother and gave him the title Tang Sanzang, commonly called Tang Seng.

He also received a pass document?

System: Obtained item [Travel Permit]
Description: An official document signed by the Tang emperor, usable as proof of passage when traveling through foreign lands

Mengtu said, “This travel permit is basically a passport, right? So we’re supposed to control Tang Seng to go fetch the scriptures? Dev, did you forget about the Great Sage under the mountain?!”

Many players who had paid to download the second chapter were eagerly waiting to see how the Great Sage under the mountain would be rescued. Instead, the second chapter started with a story that switched protagonists?

What is going on?!

---

Everyone continued playing with confusion.

Stage 8 · Double-Fork Ridge

System: Main quest updated — [Avoid monster attacks and survive to reach the destination]

Hint: Tang Seng is a mortal body with no attack skills and slow movement speed. Please make good use of the kasaya gifted by Guanyin to avoid fatal damage.

After those system messages, the familiar control interface appeared.

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

“The first skill: [Ghosts and Gods Keep Away]. Throw out the kasaya given by Guanyin to form a defensive wall and block one fatal blow for the team? Nice — this kasaya is clearly meant to block boss ultimates!”

“The second skill: [Nine-Ringed Staff]. Use the staff in hand to increase a chosen target’s mana by 3000 and instantly reset that target’s skill cooldown?”

“The third skill: [Compassion of Buddha]. Recite scripture to remove negative buffs from teammates in range.”

“The fourth skill: [Charity Alms]. Monks need to eat through alms. Food obtained from alms can be stored and distributed to teammates to restore HP.”

After reading those strange skill descriptions, the viewers in the livestream became excited.

【This is a powerful support, huh?】
【Healing, mana regen, buff cleanse, ultimate shield — full utility support】
【So the main character isn’t just our monkey?】
【Journey to the West should have a full party, right?】
【Can the player control every character? This already sounds more fun than Chapter One】

At first, when people watched the story, they found it strange.

Why did the plot feel completely disconnected from Chapter One?

Chapter One had been all about how amazing the Great Sage was. Chapter Two suddenly switched protagonists and said they had to travel west for scriptures?

Only after seeing Tang Seng’s skills did everyone understand that this game probably had a “main party,” and the player could control more than one character. Tang Seng, who had just appeared, was actually the team support.

Mengtu got excited. “Family, let’s control Tang Seng and see how to clear this stage!”

As the system description had said, Tang Seng was a weak mortal in combat. He had no attack skills, his defense was low, and his movement speed was sluggish.

If it were Monkey King, he’d just swing the Golden Cudgel the moment he saw a demon, smashing one with every strike.

But Tang Seng? What could he do?

Run.

This stage was designed as an “escape game.” When Tang Seng encountered demons, he had to flee through the wilderness in a panic. Since he had no light-footed movement and wasn’t very nimble, he was slow and would constantly fall over.

Mengtu controlled Tang Seng’s escape, but in less than half a minute, he was caught by monsters.

Fail, try again.

Tang Seng got up and kept running, with a group of demons chasing him. Even worse, the guards sent by the emperor to protect him had all been eaten by the demons.

In the first chapter, everyone had gotten used to controlling the agile Sun Wukong. Switching to Tang Seng in this stage left many players lost. In the livestream, plenty of streamers were cursing:

“Is it reasonable to let a support run away alone?”

“When should we use the kasaya? The cooldown on this thing is a whole minute.”

“Should I block the attack when the monster pounces?”

“No, wait — damn, there are more monsters behind us, we have to save skills.”

A lot of streamers got stuck in this stage. Pure escape stages made Tang Seng hard to handle because he wasn’t agile enough, so the player had to improvise: taking detours, hiding behind obstacles, stumbling and rolling downhill…

Liu-ge got lucky and found the fastest path. At the critical moment, he used the kasaya to block a monster’s attack and successfully reached the destination.

He wiped the sweat from his palms and said, “No wonder Tang Seng is so nervous. If I were being chased by monsters, I’d be even more nervous than he is.”

“Family, Tang Seng is, after all, a human with no combat skills! I think since his role is support, our Great Sage has to be the strongest output.”

“So when are we rescuing my Monkey King?!”

After Tang Seng cleared Double-Fork Ridge, another cutscene played.

At the foot of Five-Element Mountain, a monkey had been pressed down for five hundred years. A layer of green moss covered his head, and green mold had grown on his face too. But his eyes were still golden and bright.

At last, the players saw the Great Sage again, and their excitement was indescribable.

The chat was immediately flooded with white text.

【Damn, it’s been so long, Great Sage!】
【My heart hurts for Monkey — he’s been pressed here for five hundred years?】
【Those idiots in Heaven tricked my Monkey into suffering here】
【Hahaha, I feel bad but the moldy green hair is kind of funny】
【Welcome the moldy Monkey!】
【Even covered in mildew, my Great Sage is still my Great Sage!】

Guanyin passed by, and Sun Wukong cried out excitedly, “Bodhisattva, save old Sun!”

Guanyin stopped and said, “I do have a way to save you.”

Sun Wukong’s eyes lit up. “Please speak, Bodhisattva!”

Guanyin said gently, “In a few days, a man from the Tang Empire in the East will pass by on his way to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures. Would you be willing to take him as your master and protect him on his journey?”

Sun Wukong nodded hard. “Old Sun is willing!”

Guanyin said, “If he can climb to the top of the mountain and remove the golden seal posted there by Tathagata Buddha, then you will be freed. Wukong, remember this: do not commit violence and evil again. Only after accomplishing your merit can you attain true fruit.”

Sun Wukong said, “Old Sun remembers!”

The camera shifted.

A few days later, Tang Seng rode over from the other side of the road on a white horse.

Sun Wukong immediately shouted, “Master, Master is here!”

Tang Seng was startled and walked toward the sound, only to find a monkey covered in moss and unable to move, pressed beneath the mountain.

Tang Seng was a little confused. “You’re calling me?”

Sun Wukong asked, “Are you the one heading west to fetch scriptures?”

Tang Seng said, “Yes.”

Sun Wukong’s eyes brightened, and he said excitedly, “I am Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who caused a great uproar in Heaven five hundred years ago! Because I spoke out of turn against the heavens, Tathagata Buddha pressed me under Five-Element Mountain. Guanyin Bodhisattva told me to wait here for you, become your disciple, and protect you on the journey west to fetch scriptures. Hurry and save me!”

Guanyin had even found him a disciple to protect him? This disciple sounded pretty amazing.

Tang Seng was overjoyed, but he didn’t know how to save him.

Sun Wukong said, “Climb to the top of the mountain and remove the golden seal, and I’ll be able to come out!”

System: Main quest updated — [Rescue Sun Wukong]

Seeing this, countless players were thrilled.

Finally, my Great Sage is being saved — and by the player controlling Tang Seng, no less!

Countless streamers and countless players holding phones in silence were suddenly full of motivation — tonight, Monkey King must be rescued, and nobody was sleeping until he was!

This stage was even harder than Flower-Fruit Mountain.

When Sun Wukong climbed Flower-Fruit Mountain, he was a monkey, so he could jump and climb with ease. But Tang Seng was different — he was a mortal, and could only climb by hand.

Five-Element Mountain was extremely steep, and players fell countless times.

But no one gave up. After all, this was to rescue the Great Sage — what did a little hardship matter?

They fell down again and again, restarted again and again…

And when they finally controlled Tang Seng to climb to the mountaintop, many players wanted to shout aloud — saving this monkey was exhausting!

When Tang Seng reached the top, the golden seal from Tathagata suddenly turned into light and flew away.

Sun Wukong shouted, “Master, get back!”

Tang Seng hurriedly moved aside.

With one mighty force, the mountain that had been pressing down on him, now without Tathagata’s seal, shattered like foam in an instant!

The mountains collapsed and split apart, and a monkey shot out from beneath them.

Tang Seng was stunned by the scene in front of him.

After getting out, Sun Wukong excitedly leaped around in the sky several times, bouncing between nearby tree branches, scratching his ears and laughing loudly.

Watching his lively, mischievous behavior, the players even felt like crying.

My Great Sage has finally come out!

A moment later, Sun Wukong remembered the matter of apprenticeship.

He flew back in front of Tang Seng, knelt, and called out, “Master!”

Tang Seng cautiously reached out and patted the dirty monkey’s head. “Do you have a dharma name?”

Sun Wukong said, “Master, my name is Sun Wukong!”

Tang Seng thought for a moment and said, “I’ll give you another name. How about Sun Xingzhe?”

Sun Wukong said, “Good, good!”

System: Sun Wukong joined the party
System: New name [Sun Xingzhe] acquired, can be freely selected in the system menu
System: Team mode unlocked. During battle, players may switch between characters at will

Seeing this message, many players became excited.

Team mode? Character switching!

In Chapter One, the player had always controlled Sun Wukong. In Chapter Two, more characters were being added from the start. Tang Seng was support, Monkey King was output — how should team coordination work?

They immediately wanted to try a battle.

And that was exactly what the game did.

After the master and disciple walked only a short distance, they ran into a tiger and entered the battle screen!

A team panel appeared on the left side of the interface. There were two portraits: Sun Wukong and Tang Seng, with the remaining slots still empty.

Players could click any portrait to switch to that character’s viewpoint.

Liu-ge was eager to test the tiger.

He first switched to Sun Wukong, used a combo to bring the tiger down to half HP, then quickly switched to Tang Seng, used the kasaya to block the tiger’s attack, used skill 2, Nine-Ringed Staff, to give Sun Wukong mana and refresh his cooldowns!

Then he immediately switched back to Sun Wukong and used another ultimate!

As the player switched characters, the camera changed with it, and the viewers’ eyes were almost spinning.

But the rapid switching also made the fight incredibly satisfying — Sun Wukong used two ultimates in a row, each strike doing over 10,000 critical damage, and instantly killed the tiger!

Liu-ge was shocked.

“Damn, that’s awesome!”

“So the correct way to play this game is actually multi-character team battles? In the later stages, against harder bosses, players probably need to switch characters frequently to clear them.”

“Right now it looks like Tang Seng is support, Monkey is output, and with Tang Seng’s buffs, Monkey becomes ridiculously strong. The Golden Cudgel’s ultimate can be refreshed, so you can even unleash multiple ults in a row!”

“I’m really looking forward to more characters joining Journey to the West!”

This game really was getting more and more interesting.