My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!-Chapter 1003 - 583: Cutting to the Chase

Beijing, Shuimu University, a certain laboratory.

Only when the person on the other end of the phone repeatedly insisted they weren’t joking, and really wanted to stay at Baiyeji and work like a horse at the forefront of world technology.

Zheng Qiu finally realized...

There’s a kind of pain called throwing buns at dogs...

This time, the mole-playing game backfired.

He never expected that his top disciple, who had vowed to stay at the university with him, continue working in the lab, mingle in the academic circle, and inherit his legacy, would be persuaded to sell out.

At least Liu Jianming was a mole for seven years, yet you switched sides in just over a month? Isn’t that a bit too quick?

And the forefront of world technology?

Is my research not cutting-edge?

After much persuasion, explaining with reason and emotion, even many years of mentor-disciple relationship couldn’t shake the disciple’s resolve to leave the organization, so Zheng Qiu resorted to his trump card.

"Don’t forget your Senior Sister Dong is still in the lab, would you really leave her?"

Everyone has a secret crush from their youth; maybe the flimsy mentor-disciple bond isn’t enough, but how do you choose between love and career?

Who would’ve thought, the fatty’s next words would fry Zheng Qiu completely.

[Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’ve already convinced Senior Sister Dong to come with me.]

"I..."

The veins on Zheng Qiu’s forehead nearly popped out.

Goodness, even the backbone of the lab got quietly pried away?

How did I end up teaching such an ingrate!

[Old Zheng, I’m telling you, staying in our lab doing academic work is comfortable, sure, but it’s way too isolated.

It’s only after coming out that I realized how fast the world is developing.

Do you know how shocked I was when ’Bajie’ analyzed and produced a more concise proof process for the algorithm I spent half a year researching, in just 3 seconds?

Do you know that the prototype robots in our neighboring department have started sharing a cloud brain, meaning where one falls, no robot will make the same mistake again?

Do you know what this means?

Old Zheng, come over here!

With your skills, you could at least snag a minor leadership role under the chief. Then we can build Gundams together, aiming for the stars and the sea...]

In the smoke-filled lab, Zheng Qiu wore a melancholy expression, his mind replaying the fatty’s last excited words.

Hmm... he underestimated the aspiring traitor he taught.

This goes beyond just wanting to jump ship.

This guy intends to uproot my entire lab...

Taking a harsh puff of his spicy cigar, Zheng Qiu angrily stubbed it out.

"Baiyeji, is it! Demon Hunter, right! Stealing from me, are you! Fine, fine, fine!

I’ll come over and see exactly how you’re planning to build Gundams!"

...

"Alright!"

Spirit Realm Media Game Department.

Everyone watched as the progress bar on the computer finally reached 100%, feeling a bit excited.

"Now all the 3D character models and game scripts have been imported into the game engine. Next, we can proceed to the game testing phase."

"How’s the performance of the game engine? Hmm... I’m not doubting Baiyeji’s technical capability, but it’s a new product, and no other companies have used it before."

"Hey! Performance?" The slightly bald programmer adjusted his glasses.

"I bet Baiyeji didn’t expect that we just wanted to develop a mere simulation dating game.

This type of game that requires basic character interaction and scene modeling doesn’t need such high-level maps and engines at all.

Let me just say, the freedom and complexity of this thing are more than enough for AAA war games."

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

"Absolutely! It’s just that time was too short, and I haven’t fully grasped all the functions of this game engine yet. But according to its described underlying design, theoretically speaking, as long as you have the blueprints, you could even build Gundams in it."

"Uh... is that true?"

If Meng Lang were onsite, he’d definitely roll his eyes.

Is that true? This thing was meant for interstellar warfare, and you’re using it for a dating sim?

"Alright, the game script is running well, who wants to try it first?"

After another round of testing, the programmer looked at everyone in the game development team.

Everyone’s gaze instantly turned to a figure at the outer edge of the crowd...

"Uh..." Duan Xiaoyi awkwardly shrank her neck.

"Me?"

"Who else, you’re the only game tester here, right?"

"But all I did was give some suggestions, I wasn’t involved in the game creation at all..."

"That was to preserve your freshness for the first play. As a seasoned gamer, everyone knows how much of a drop there is in game experience between the first and second play, right?

Once you know the game’s content and strategies, more than half of the fun is gone, so you’re the only one we kept it secret from."

The smug planner justly said.

Duan Xiaoyi felt like crying but had no tears.

The reasoning makes sense, but as a real-time competitive game player, you want me to play a simulation dating game, does this game test reflex speed?

During this time as a total novice in the skill-laden game department, she neither understood technology nor could she draw, so her toughest task was helping to order takeout.

Fortunately, no one expected too much from a "well-connected" rookie, and with lots of free time, she learned a lot about simulation dating games while everyone else was busy, so now she could only brace herself to try it.

Thinking about how she had participated in the early design of a certain important female character in the game, she immediately chose the male player.

[♪♩♫♬~]

Amidst a melodious tune, the three-dimensional game screen slowly unfolded.

Zhuozheng Garden, Huqiu Tower, Eastern Gate, Suzhou River...

The scene swiftly swept over many familiar buildings, and then came to the skyscraper-filled CBD.

The screen darkened and brightened, and upon opening the eyes, the scene had switched to an ascending elevator, presented to the player from a first-person perspective, with the circular buttons lighting up floor by floor and the faint sound of mechanical movement.

"Ding~"

When the elevator door opened at the 39th floor, and with the character stepping out of the elevator, they were suddenly in the morning light of a fully transparent panoramic office.

The sound of the coffee machine grinding and the sound of high heels stepping on the floor formed the background noise, and the sea of clouds outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was being dyed honey-colored by the morning sun...

Suddenly, several A4 documents slipped right in front of the eyes...

A few strands of hair floated by as an exquisite beauty in a small suit and pencil skirt bent down to pick them up, and the light spot refracted by the wedding ring on her ring finger flashed at just the right time.

The first NPC character appeared!

Duan Xiaoyi’s eyes lit up.

The game screen in front of her, in two words... Beautiful!

The ultra-clear 4K with fine art style and color rendering was more exquisite than any other game she had played, exuding a sense of realism in the virtual world, as if she was in another unreal world.

Then the screen’s perspective shifted downward, the player seemed to be helping collect the documents.

[Um... you are...]

An input box popped up on the screen.

Duan Xiaoyi thought for a moment and entered her usual game ID..."It’s Better to Walk Dogs than Fall in Love."

[Oh, so you’re the new employee today, ’Tang Qin’, hello, I’m the secretary, Zhao Xue, from the CEO’s office.]

Facing Duan Xiaoyi’s puzzled gaze, the mischievous planner chuckled.

"To prevent players from using strange names that disrupt the storyline, all names that aren’t proper are automatically substituted with system-generated, similar-sounding ones."

"Oh~"

Duan Xiaoyi nodded in understanding.

No way! What’s improper about my name?!

[The CEO is already waiting for you in the office, follow me.]

Led by the swaying hips of the beautiful secretary, Duan Xiaoyi saw this time’s main strategy target in the luxurious office...

Yes! It’s "My Beautiful CEO"~

Hehe! Even if I can’t perfectly beat the game, given that I participated in designing the character and knowing the personality, winning her over should be a piece of cake, right?

Securing this target and then winning over a few more beautiful characters for bonus points should solidify my reputation as a "game tester," right?

But she would soon realize how far mistaken she was...

...

Two hours later...

"So... it’s the knife again?"

Duan Xiaoyi stared wide-eyed at the red tomato sauce dripping all over the screen for the Nth time...

"But I distinctly designed her with a mindset of romance plus a domineering president persona, why does she love knifing the player?" She complained, quite frustrated.

"Haha! Did you forget the name of our game?"

"Uh... ’Heart of Destruction’?"

"Precisely! How can it be called destruction if there’s a Happy End? So we specifically added a ’doom’ value attribute to all NPCs.

Once the doom value reaches a certain threshold, the character will trigger a dark transformation.

The romance plus domineering president persona falls under the type with strong possessive desire, so your frequent flirtations with other women triggered the death star~

It’s somewhat unconventional, but this is to fit the theme."

Duan Xiaoyi was speechless.

Fit the theme?

So you forcefully fit it in?

Also... Isn’t this supposed to be a love game? What kind of love game restricts players to interacting with just one NPC?!

Not death by driving into something or by a knife—aren’t tomatoes free or what?

You keep mentioning seriousness, if you didn’t say, I would have thought this is an 18+ game!

With Duan Xiaoyi’s resentful gaze, the mischievous planner adjusted his glasses with a middle finger, the lens glinting enigmatically.

"Don’t you get it? The so-called ’open-world adventure game,’ the focus isn’t ’open,’ but ’adventure.’

Plus the implication of ’destruction,’ so...

The difficulty we set for this game is...

Nightmare level!"

"Mm-hmm! Correct!"

"Absolutely a god-level planner!"

"Boss is mighty..."

Watching her coworkers nodding incessantly in agreement, Duan Xiaoyi gradually fell into confusion internally.

Is... is that so?

But with such a difficulty level, whether the game is destroyed, I wouldn’t know...

The players might be on the verge of collapse!