Let you make a game, what the hell is Pokemon?.

Chapter 184 The First Experience with the Strange Tree, The Collapse of the Dream Factory!

In the live-streaming studio of the Brewing Light Dojo, Kiju took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the excitement brought on by the real-world rewards and the distractions from the outside world, and refocused his attention on the computer screen.

The icon for Pokémon Black and White 2 remains there quietly, exuding a mysterious aura similar to, yet different from, that of Emerald.

"Alright, alright! We've seen the excitement and tested the rewards! Now, let's get back to the main topic and see what this new game is all about!" Qi Shu flashed his signature energetic smile at the camera and clicked the launch icon.

After the familiar black screen, the title screen that appeared made her pause slightly.

Unlike the bright and warm orange tones of the opening of Emerald, the background of Dark Phantom is a deep night sky with a faint purple glow, and the music also carries a touch of mystery and remoteness, creating a full sense of atmosphere.

"Oh? This feels... a little different, doesn't it?" Kishu tilted his head, clearly more interested in the new game.

The next part of the process was the same as Roy's before her, experiencing the opening cinematic about sleep, nightmares, and the conversation between the two doctors. When she heard the name "Champion Tree," the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

Haha, the streamer is so funny!

[Wake up, host! You're not the real champion!!!]

[This opening plot is so mysterious, with all this light and darkness opposition, the World Tree... It seems much more complicated than the simple adventure in Emerald?]

[Feels more sophisticated now?]

When the game officially started, her character woke up in Ancient Town. Qi Shu skillfully controlled the controls, talking to her mother to collect her Pokédex and Poké Balls. The refined graphics and smooth controls, similar to Emerald, allowed her to quickly get the hang of it. She continued to share her impressions: "Hmm... the graphics are even better than Fantasy Era, and the controls are quite smooth too. Alright, let's go! Destination: the first gym!"

When choosing her starter Pokémon, she followed her heart and wanted to choose an Electric-type Pokémon, but found that this time it seemed that she could only honestly choose the starter Pokémon.

With no other choice, after a brief moment of thought, she directly chose Torchic.

"set off!"

Qi Shu clenched his fist, full of confidence.

Logically speaking, having gone through the initial challenges of Emerald, she should have been prepared for a tough battle.

However, the journey to Petalburg City, and the subsequent battles with the apprentices and even the gym leader Cuckoo, made her feel distinctly different.

"Huh? This Zigzagoon doesn't seem that hard to beat?" Qi Shu was a little surprised as she watched Torchic easily defeat the Pokémon she encountered in the wild. When she entered Petalburg Gym and battled the apprentice, she noticed the difference even more: "Hmm... this NPC's moveset seems pretty basic, and the AI ​​isn't that aggressive either, it's just standing there and attacking."

When facing Gym Leader Cuckoo, although Cuckoo's Pokémon still possessed the hardness of Rock-type Pokémon, Qishu clearly felt much less pressure. "Wow, why does it feel so much easier?" She even had a moment to comment, "Cuckoo is even using Geodude and Nosebridge, her strategy is much simpler..."

After a battle that wasn't too difficult, she actually managed to get her first badge.

Qi Shu was still a little dazed; this was way too easy!

After a brief moment of thought, she summarized to the camera: "Brothers, can you feel it? At least in the early stages of the game, the combat difficulty of 'Black and White' seems to be more friendly than that of Emerald! It focuses more on the story experience and the feeling of exploration?"

The comments section immediately seized on this point:

[Sure enough! I watched the streamer spend ages reloading the first gym in Emerald! But they beat the Darkrai gym in one go!]

[It seems like Darkest Nightmare is more story-driven? The difficulty was lowered to allow more people to experience the story?]

[Great news! Emerald almost made me give up, but this is perfect for someone like me who's terrible at games!]

[Perhaps the development team received feedback from Emerald and adjusted the difficulty curve?]

[Keep it up, streamer! Push the plot forward, I want to see the darker side of the story!]

[Speaking of which, Qishushu, why don't you go play Emerald and climb the ranks? You can win real-world prizes there! Why are you playing this new game?]

This comment instantly triggered a chain reaction, bringing the topic back to real-world rewards.

[Yeah! Instead of playing new games, why not catch more rare Pokémon in Emerald, get into the top 100, and maybe even get the top reward next month!]

Hey guys, stop looking and hurry up and download Emerald! There are still lots of people playing it now, maybe you can even crack the top 5%!

[Currently, climbing the ranks in Blackrock Depths is the right way to go! I'll watch livestreams to learn techniques, play simultaneously, and manage two accounts at once. I should be able to get into the top 50, right?]

[You're a genius!]

[Indeed, Emerald is practically overflowing with online players right now; it's a miracle the servers haven't crashed. You think you can get into the top 50?]

[That's right, this is a new game, and now is the perfect time to get a head start. Once everyone reacts, the experts will have already rushed to the back, and it will be much harder for you to catch up!]

Who knows if this game will start giving out rewards in the future? And what kind of rewards? If they do give out physical prizes, now is the best opportunity!

That makes sense! Let's seize this new market! I'm going to buy a Black Phantom right now!

Qi Shu smiled as he watched the debate in the chat: "Alright, alright, you all have a point. I'll definitely play Emerald and climb the ranks. But as a professional streamer, of course I have to be the first to explore this new game for everyone!"

"And as you've seen, this game might focus more on the story, so it's not as stressful to play and is suitable for a relaxing experience. What if there are some amazing Easter eggs or mechanics hidden in it? Follow me, and I promise you won't fall behind! Let's go!" Her words reassured some of the audience.

However, the frenzy sparked by the Emerald's remote reward distribution on the internet has created a tsunami-like effect. Almost every live streaming platform, social media, and gaming forum is buzzing with discussions about keywords like "magic candy," "reward distribution," and "appearing out of thin air." Countless people who were initially hesitant have become completely engrossed after seeing Qishu's live stream recording and numerous screenshots of the rewards shared by players.

On the game app's official website, the download volume of "Pokémon Emerald" began to soar in an almost vertical curve, instantly rising to the top of both the best-selling and popular charts. It unsurprisingly crushed Dream Factory's "Fantasy Era," which had been hyped up on various platforms for months and had received huge promotional expenses, and firmly held it in second place.

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of Dream Factory.

The atmosphere in the rooftop conference room was ten times more tense than when "Blazing Flame" had crashed and burned. Boss Cui Yu's face was ashen as he stared at the extremely ugly launch data curve of "Fantasy Era" on the big screen, and the glaringly high download and discussion popularity of Emerald next to it. His chest heaved violently.

"Someone fucking tell me! What the hell is going on?!" Cui Yu's roar almost lifted the ceiling. He slammed his fist on the table, making the water glass on it bounce. "Did our marketing budget go down the drain?! Pushed across the entire internet! Featured on the homepage! Three whole months of hype! And this is what we get?! Less than two hours after launch, it's been crushed underfoot by some crappy indie game?! Huh?!"

The department heads below all bowed their heads, not daring to breathe. The operations manager stood up with a stiff upper lip, his voice trembling: "President Cui... this... this really can't be entirely blamed on our PR team. It's mainly... mainly that Emerald... it... it..."

"What do you mean, 'it'?! Can it conjure money out of thin air?! Or is it free?!" Cui Yu interrupted impatiently.

"No...it...it sends players physical rewards remotely!" a young technician couldn't help but whisper.

"What the heck?!" Cui Yu thought he had misheard. He picked at his ear, his face filled with absurdity and disbelief. "Remotely sending rewards? What kind of rewards? Game items?"

"No...it's not a game item..." the marketing manager said with difficulty, taking out his phone and pulling up clips of Qishu Live and trending news. "It's...it's real stuff. Items that can enhance Pokémon's strength...like a kind called 'Rare Candy,' which can make a Pokémon level up...and...there's also something called Special Attack Booster, which can greatly increase the power of Pokémon's moves...these things appear directly on the players' desks..."

Before the man could finish speaking, Cui Yu snatched the phone, quickly swiping the screen. He watched the red box that appeared out of thin air on the Qishu table in the video, the white light emitted by the electric frog after eating the candy, and the overwhelming discussions and confirmations online... His face went from ashen to flushed, and then from flushed to deathly pale.

"Nonsense!!" He slammed his phone on the table, the screen shattering instantly. "This is definitely a publicity stunt! It's a marketing ploy by that damn Feng Studio! Photoshop! Special effects! You bunch of idiots actually believed it?! What was our PR department doing? Why didn't they give us a heads-up? Why didn't they prepare a contingency plan?! Were they slacking off again?! Did they embezzle all the funds?!"

As usual, he habitually vented his anger on his employees, attacking his subordinates with the most malicious speculation and insulting words. In the past, most people would choose to endure it for the sake of their jobs.

But today, things are different.

A young programmer sitting in the corner, wearing black-rimmed glasses, suddenly stood up, the chair screeching as he moved. His face was flushed, not from fear, but from pent-up anger.

"You fat pig! That's enough!" The young programmer's voice was hoarse with excitement, but its volume still drowned out Cui Yu's roar. "Even now, you're still deceiving yourself! All you do is curse us! Don't you know how trash your game is?! 'Blazing Flame' is trash, and 'Fantasy Era' is still trash even with a reskin, isn't it? Besides plagiarism, pay-to-win, and grind-heavy gameplay, what else can you do?!"

The meeting room fell into a deathly silence. Everyone stared at the young man in astonishment; some eyes showed worry, but most others gleamed with long-suppressed approval and satisfaction.

Cui Yu was stunned by this sudden defiance. He pointed at the young man, his finger trembling, "You... what the hell did you say?! You dare say it again?! You're fired! Get out! Get out of here right now!"

"Fired? I quit a long time ago!" The young man ripped off his employee badge from around his neck and slammed it on the table. "Do you think anyone would work for a stupid boss like you these days? All you do is make empty promises, no overtime pay, and constantly deduct performance bonuses! Even game developers wouldn't play your games! Look at other studios! They make fun games, don't rip people off, and even give players real items! That's what games are! Yours is just money grabbing!"

He became increasingly agitated, almost shouting, "I'm telling you, I'm sending my resume to that studio right now! Even if they only pay me three thousand a month, I'll be happy! At least I won't have to serve a clueless idiot like you who only knows how to exploit his employees! Goodbye! Never again!"

After saying that, he didn't look back, strode towards the conference room door, yanked the door open, and slammed it shut as he left.

The entire conference room fell silent, save for Cui Yu's heavy breathing. His face flushed and paled in turns as he pointed at the door, angrily yelling at the remaining people, "They've rebelled! They've all rebelled! Anyone else want to leave with him? Huh?! All of you, get out of here..."

His words stopped abruptly.

He saw that after a brief silence, several core members of the project team exchanged glances and then silently began to pack up their laptops and files.

"Hey! What... what do you want to do?" Cui Yu's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible panic.

A senior planner looked up at him calmly: "President Cui, I think Xiao Li is right. Dream Factory's path may really have come to an end. I'm sorry, I'm also resigning."

"Me too."

"Count me in."

"This shift is no fun anymore."

One person took the lead, and more and more people stood up, walking silently and resolutely towards the door. Some didn't even bother to pack their things, leaving empty-handed.

No matter how much Cui Yu roared, threatened, or even pleaded behind him, he couldn't stop the torrent of resignations.

Within minutes, more than half of the large conference room, which could accommodate dozens of people, had left, leaving only a few pale-faced, bewildered middle managers and a deathly-looking Cui Yu.

Cui Yu slumped into his chair, staring at the now-empty conference room. His eyes were filled with anger, resentment, and a sense of bewilderment and helplessness he had never felt before, a feeling of being completely out of control. He was used to being in control, using pressure and punishment to motivate his employees. He had never imagined that one day these people would so resolutely abandon him collectively.

After the anger subsided, a tremendous emptiness and panic swept over him.

The company's core team collapsed instantly, the new game was a flop upon launch, while competitors were booming... Dream Factory, the empire it had built from scratch, seemed to be really going to end.

He sat there blankly for a long time, and finally, a series of complex emotions flashed through his eyes, settling on an absurd yet irresistible thought. He muttered to himself, his voice so low that only he could hear it:

"That emerald... is it really that sinister? Maybe... I should give it a try?"

(End of this chapter)