Over the weekend, most players cleared Chapter Four of Journey to the West. On Sunday night, Yafan Studio was pushed onto the trending list again by players demanding updates.

This time, the trending topic was #JourneyToTheWestUpdateNow.

There were tens of thousands of comments under the studio’s official Weibo account, all saying things like “hurry up,” “release the sequel already,” and “update, update, update.”

The industry was shocked.

This was the first time a game had been pushed onto the trending list simply because players were urging for the next installment.

No one had expected that Yafan Studio’s decision to serialize an anime inside a game would not only make the animation widely praised, but also make the game itself something players kept coming back to discuss.攻略 posts about boss fights kept appearing on the forum, hot threads were posted every day, and players were highly active in the replies.

The animation was good, and the game was fun. There was really nothing to complain about.

The only downside was probably the serialization.

But serialization had its benefits too. It stretched out the game’s lifespan and helped the hype keep building. If everything had been released at once, players would have finished it in just a few days, and the effect would not have been nearly as strong as it was now.

At this rate, Journey to the West could dominate the entire game industry in the second half of the year.

__

At Wings of Dream headquarters, Tang Tonghai slammed a folder onto the desk and said coldly, “What did you people do? You failed to frame their art team for plagiarism, and now they’ve sued us in court?!”

The PR manager lowered his head in fear. “I’m sorry, Mr. Tang. I didn’t handle it properly…”

Tang Tonghai stared at the data in his hand, his expression extremely ugly.

Before Chapter Four launched, it had been the best moment to suppress Journey to the West. He had wanted to destroy the game’s reputation and trigger a mass player boycott with that move.

Instead, the marketing account’s smear campaign failed, and Xie Yunfan turned the tables.

At present, just the download count for Chapter Four on Mobile Game House had already exceeded 35 million.

Judging by how eager players were to follow the story, the game’s future hype would only keep growing with each update. Its earning power would become a truly terrifying number.

If this continued, Wings of Dream’s games would have a very hard time standing out in the second half of the year.

Tang Tonghai said, “Since you can’t find any problems with the game itself, why not go after their partners? That animation studio is new and probably not very stable, right?”

The others exchanged a look and immediately understood.

__

On Monday morning, July 13, Xie Yunfan called everyone to a meeting. Along with him came a young man wearing glasses, dressed in a gray shirt, with a refined and scholarly appearance.

Xie Yunfan smiled and said, “Let me introduce someone first. This is Song Qian, our new marketing manager. Everyone, welcome him!”

Song Qian had signed a non-compete agreement, so after resigning he had to wait several months before joining. Xie Yunfan kept his word and had kept the position open for him the whole time.

The boss’s respect moved Song Qian deeply. He pushed up his glasses and said seriously, “I’m very happy to be working at Yafan Studio. I hope everyone will take good care of me.”

Xie Yunfan asked him to take a seat, then continued, “Our response to Journey to the West Chapter Four has been excellent. After this weekend, Mobile Game House’s paid downloads have reached 38 million, our official website’s paid downloads have reached 15 million, and the game’s revenue has already surpassed 200 million. This is far beyond expectations.”

Hearing that number, the room burst into applause again.

This game was insanely profitable.

Most mobile games couldn’t even reach one billion in revenue in a single month, yet Journey to the West had already made over 200 million from Chapter Four alone. There were still many chapters left, and the total profit was almost unimaginable.

Xie Yunfan said straightforwardly, “Since the game has made money, everyone’s year-end bonus will not be small. I hope this gives everyone more motivation to keep making the follow-up content. We’ll keep a steady update pace of one chapter every 15 to 20 days, and finish before the end of the year. That way we can attract the winter-break players and let them download the whole game at once.”

The boss was controlling the update rhythm, and everyone just had to keep up. Hearing about the year-end bonus, the production team got even more excited.

__

After the meeting, Xie Yunfan took Song Qian to the marketing department, where Xie Xinghe was also present.

Xie Yunfan said, “Manager Song, take the marketing team and start preparing Journey to the West merchandise. Don’t rush the Sun Wukong figure; release that near the end. First make other merchandise. Going forward, report all merchandise development progress directly to Director Xie.”

Song Qian nodded. “Understood.”

Xie Xinghe suddenly said, “By the way, Yunfan, should we do some IP collaborations? I’ve seen a few games do crossovers recently and the results were pretty good.”

Xie Yunfan turned to his brother. “What kind of collaboration?”

“Tea collaborations, for example. Milk tea shops are everywhere in every major city, so that’s basically free offline advertising.”

Song Qian suggested, “I think stationery collaborations would also be worth trying. I did market research recently, and more than 50 percent of this game’s players are students. Middle and high school students love buying stationery, and there are stationery stores near schools everywhere. That would also be a great way to promote the game.”

Xie Yunfan’s eyes lit up. Stationery collaborations — he really hadn’t thought of that.

A Sun Wukong compass, a ruler printed with Monkey King art, a triangle ruler, an eraser, notebooks, pencils… that all sounded very practical.

Kids often can’t conveniently buy official merchandise online. But stationery collabs sold through physical shops near schools would be easy to access and affordable. Rulers, erasers, notebooks, and pencils would be practical and cheap.

Xie Yunfan patted Song Qian’s shoulder. “That’s a great idea. Contact some domestic stationery manufacturers first and let them produce licensed collaboration products. That way they can be sold directly nationwide. As for the revenue split, you can negotiate that.”

Song Qian nodded excitedly. Being recognized by the boss felt amazing.

Xie Yunfan said, “Let’s start with stationery. We can do other collaborations later. At the same time, keep pushing official merchandise development. I’ll leave all that to you.”

The marketing team was immediately energized.

Xie Yunfan was a very ambitious boss. He didn’t just want to make games — he wanted to expand the IP, open up the market, and even make Sun Wukong into a household name.

When that happened, stationery stores around the country would all be selling Journey to the West collaboration products. That kind of promotion was way more effective than buying trending searches.

__

After arranging the next round of work, Xie Yunfan returned with his brother to the 21st-floor office.

His phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed Liang Anwei, the boss of the animation studio Colorful Cinema.

Xie Yunfan answered in confusion. “Mr. Liang? What’s up?”

Liang Anwei said nervously, “There’s some bad news. Two of the main people responsible for our animation production have taken sick leave, and another one has to go overseas to take care of his father during surgery. The animation schedule is very likely to be delayed.”

Xie Yunfan frowned. “So coincidentally? How much of Chapter Three’s animation have you finished?”

Liang Anwei said, “Only about half. We’ve been rushing lately. The release you mentioned for the end of July may not be possible.”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

Something was definitely wrong. Was a competitor sabotaging them again?

If the previous smear campaign about plagiarism had failed, then this time they had simply changed tactics and gone after the animation studio instead.

After all, the animation in Journey to the West had become hugely popular. If the animation ran into trouble and failed to air on time, the game’s schedule would be affected too.

Liang Anwei suggested, “Should I have the current staff work overtime and rush it?”

Xie Yunfan interrupted him. “No. If someone works themselves to death overnight, I don’t want to see that on the news. Wait a moment — I’ll think of a solution.”

After hanging up, Xie Yunfan rubbed his temples helplessly. “These competitors never make their own games properly. They just keep staring at me and tripping me up. Those people at the animation studio were probably bought off too… This is probably Tang Tonghai again.”

Xie Xinghe’s expression suddenly changed. “By the way, Yunfan, do you think those black trending topics from two years ago, when Fighting Master launched, might also have been his doing?”

Back then, Xie Xinghe hadn’t thought too much about it. He assumed his game just hadn’t been made well enough, and he ended up stuck in guilt, publicly apologizing before the game was pulled.

Looking back now… that style of “killing off a competitor” felt awfully familiar.

Xie Yunfan said, “Brother, when your game was launched and then reported down within a few days, I already thought it was suspicious. There was definitely someone behind it. Back then, there were only Wings of Dream, CoolPlay, and Qihang working on full-dive games. If you tried to take a share, of course, someone would be unhappy.”

Xie Yunfan analyzed, “Now it looks very possible that Wings of Dream’s marketing company and paid-comment farms were all mobilized together, just to kill your game.”

Xie Xinghe felt a chill run down his spine.

Back then, he had almost despaired and considered suicide — and it might have been because someone was secretly sabotaging him?

The game industry really could be filled with such toxic creatures.

As they were talking, Xie Yunfan’s phone rang again. It was a message from Luo Hang: “The Rongcheng branch of Qihang Games is about to be established.”

Xie Yunfan asked curiously, “Where did you choose?”

Luo Hang sent back a smiling face. “Right next to you.”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

Luo Hang said, “Fighting Master is stable now, and I’m planning to officially hold competitions this year. The southern event center will be in Rongcheng. Last time I visited the Nanyang Park area, I found that your place has beautiful surroundings, fresh air, and cheap office rent. So I leased several floors in Building B and am renovating them now.”

“From now on, we’ll be neighbors. Please take care of us.”

Xie Yunfan had just been angry at the underhanded tricks of his competitors, but after receiving Luo Hang’s message, his mood immediately improved.

The game industry also had bosses like Luo Hang who were serious about making games.

Not every competitor was garbage.

Xie Yunfan took a deep breath and called Luo Hang directly.

Luo Hang answered with amusement in his voice. “What, you don’t welcome me as your neighbor?”

Xie Yunfan said, “Of course I welcome you. I called because I need a favor.”

Luo Hang replied without hesitation, “Go ahead.”

Xie Yunfan said, “The animation company I work with has run into some problems, and the animation schedule has been affected. If we can’t keep the game on track, then the chapter will go dark on us. I thought about it, and I really need your help. Doesn’t Qihang have an animation department? I want to borrow a few people temporarily to help rush the schedule.”

Luo Hang said readily, “No problem. How many people do you need? I’ll have them book tickets and go over this afternoon.”

Xie Yunfan felt warm inside. “Thanks. Three people will be enough.”

Luo Hang suggested, “Outsourced animation studios really are easy to run into trouble. Have you considered setting up your own animation department?”

Xie Yunfan said, “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Once Chapter Three is done, I’ll just acquire Colorful Cinema directly. Liang Anwei is talented, and if I recruit some reliable people and keep the animation department under our own control, that would be much safer.”

Luo Hang agreed. “Mm. See you this afternoon.”

__

Luo Hang moved quickly. That afternoon, he brought several trusted assistants and flew directly to Rongcheng.

Xie Yunfan was surprised. “You’re so busy. You didn’t have to make this trip yourself.”

Luo Hang smiled. “I just happened to want to see how my own office renovation is going.”

Building B was right across from Building A.

Luo Hang really was patient. He had set up the Qihang branch in Rongcheng and started renovations right next to Yafan Studio, yet Xie Yunfan hadn’t noticed at all.

It turned out that after visiting the office environment here last time, Luo Hang had liked Nanyang Park too and had rented a building here as well, planning to become Xie Yunfan’s neighbor.

Under Luo Hang’s arrangements, the assistants he brought joined the production of Chapter Three of Journey to the West.

Liang Anwei felt very guilty. Problems with his staff had almost caused the game to miss its deadline.

Xie Yunfan talked with him privately and planned to acquire Colorful Cinema.

After careful consideration, Liang Anwei agreed.

Backed by a big tree, life was easier. His own company hadn’t made money from animation, and they had almost even failed to pay salaries. Wasn’t it better to follow Yafan Studio and live more comfortably?

From now on, he would just focus on making game animation for Xie Yunfan.

The two sides reached an agreement, and the lawyers were asked to draft the acquisition contract.

Liang Anwei brought a few trusted subordinates and simply moved into Yafan Studio to work. With the people Luo Hang brought filling the gap in the animation team, Chapter Three’s animation production could continue smoothly, and the crisis was avoided.

As for the employees who had been bought off, Liang Anwei decided to investigate thoroughly and then fire them directly. Employees who stabbed the company in the back at a critical moment absolutely could not stay.

__

After the manpower had been arranged, Luo Hang went to check the construction site, and that night he flew back to the capital.

Xie Yunfan drove him to the airport.

“This time, really, thank you for helping out.”

Luo Hang said, “What’s there to be polite about? If you ever need me, just say the word.”

No matter how much money this game made, it had nothing to do with Luo Hang. He had helped purely out of friendship.

A friend who can help without hesitation, even booking a plane ticket and flying over the same day, is very rare. Luo Hang really was a loyal person.

Xie Yunfan looked at him. “Since you’ve moved Qihang’s branch to Nanyang Park, why don’t we cooperate on the next game too? Being so close makes it convenient.”

Luo Hang did not hide it at all. “Honestly, that’s exactly what I was thinking too.”

The two smiled at each other and said no more.

Some things didn’t need to be said aloud. They already understood each other.

Rongcheng was such a big city — why choose to work in Nanyang Park specifically? Luo Hang had put his branch there obviously to make future cooperation with Yafan Studio easier.

He was clearly prepared for a long-term partnership with Xie Yunfan.

Xie Yunfan didn’t mind Luo Hang’s little bit of calculation at all. After all, developing a full-dive game yourself would cost time, money, and effort, and might still fail. If there was an existing partner, why not use it?

Besides, Luo Hang was so reliable, and their previous collaboration on Ghost World had gone very well.

Yafan and Qihang, working together strongly — let the underhanded industry parasites keep losing their minds.

After seeing Luo Hang off at the airport, Xie Yunfan returned to the company.

This time, he did not post on Weibo saying that the animation production had been affected and the game would miss its update, pretending they were unable to release it and letting the enemy relax their guard first.

Then, when the time came, he would make a direct surprise drop and leave the opponent too late to react.

After all, the Great Sage had dropped in before.