Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

1982 12 Month 31 Day.

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, USA.

California winters don't bring biting winds; instead, they have a warm and pleasant feel. As the sun sets, it paints the palm trees in this affluent neighborhood a golden-red hue.

At this moment, the private estate owned by the High Table Group is bustling with activity and celebration.

The huge floor-to-ceiling windows were decorated with Chinese-style paper-cut window decorations (which Ruan Mei specially bought from Chinatown), and pine wood crackled and burned in the fireplace. On the long dining table, there was both Western-style turkey and steak, as well as authentic Cantonese-style pot dishes and glutinous rice balls, a fusion of Chinese and Western dishes, a dazzling array of choices.

"This lantern is hanging crooked, move it a little to the left!"

In the garden, Ya Zi, dressed in a red cheongsam, was directing the hanging of red lanterns, her face beaming with a bright smile.

"Okay, stop shouting, come in and help make dumplings!"

Wearing an apron and with her hands covered in flour, Ruan Mei poked her head out of the kitchen and called out. As the Lu family's recognized "head housekeeper," she was naturally in charge of organizing these family gatherings.

Just then.

The manor gates slowly opened.

A black Lincoln sedan drove in and stopped beside the fountain.

The car door opened, and a long, slender leg in black high heels stepped out. Immediately after, a woman with shoulder-length short hair, sunglasses, and a sophisticated, aloof air stepped out. She wore a high-end Jiahe business suit and carried a briefcase. She looked somewhat travel-worn, yet her unique charm, a blend of intellect and artistry, was undeniable.

Ruan Wen.

Having been in charge of the Golden Harvest branch in Japan and matters in Takamagahara, she finally arrived in Los Angeles on the last day of the year.

"Our busy man has finally arrived."

Lu Chen, who was in the living room accompanying Sophia and Laura to enjoy wine, suddenly brightened up, put down his wine glass, and strode over to greet them.

"Ah Chen."

Upon seeing that familiar man, Ruan Wen's tense expression instantly melted away, revealing a gentle smile. She dropped her briefcase, disregarding the presence of bodyguards, and threw herself into Lu Chen's arms.

"You must be exhausted?"

Lu Chen held her tightly, smelling the faint fragrance in her hair, and asked with some heartache.

"Not tired," Ruan Wen looked up, her eyes sparkling. "Things in Japan are all sorted out. The Takamagahara issue has been handed over to Ishii. JF cartridges are selling very well; right now, the whole of Akihabara is lining up to buy our red and green cartridges. I guess I... didn't let you down."

"You did a great job, even better than I expected." Lu Chen kissed her forehead. "Tonight, let's not talk about work, just romance. Welcome home."

At this moment, Qiu Di and Laura also ran out, taking the initiative to extend goodwill to Ruan Wen.

"Hello, Sister Ruan Wen, my name is Qiu Di, it's nice to meet you!"

"It's me, Ya Zi! You wouldn't believe how much Ah Chen has been talking about you these past few days while you were gone... Come on in, we made lots of dumplings, let's see what kind of filling you like!"

Looking at the room full of beautiful women, each with their own distinct personality but all deeply in love with him, Lu Chen felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

The dinner began.

The long table was laden with a fusion of Chinese and Western delicacies. Lu Chen sat in the main seat, looking around at the seven beauties seated around him—the gentle and virtuous Ruan Mei, the intellectual and capable Ruan Wen, the domineering and aloof Sophia, the heroic Ya Zi, the charming and lovely Laura, the wild and fierce Ba Wang Hua, and the shy and timid Qiu Di.

"Come, to 1982," Lu Chen raised his glass, his gaze sweeping over every beautiful face, "and to our future."

"Cheers!"

The crisp sound of glasses clinking rang out.

When the clock strikes midnight.

On the television screen, the crystal ball in Times Square, New York, slowly descends.

「5、4、3、2、1……Happy New Year！！」

Outside the window, countless fireworks soared into the sky, illuminating the Los Angeles night sky.

"Boss, Happy New Year."

Several girls surrounded Lu Chen and gave him New Year's kisses.

As the fireworks faded and the night deepened.

Looking at the flushed, dazed beauties around him, Lu Chen's lips curled into a wicked smile.

"Ladies, to celebrate the New Year, shall we... have a special sparring match?"

"Go to hell!"

"rogue……"

Although they were cursing, no one left.

That night, in the master bedroom of Beverly Hills, the specially made oversized round bed bore a burden that its age should not have to bear.

Spring's beauty cannot be confined within the garden walls; (a thousand words omitted here)

……

however.

Human sorrows and joys are not interlinked.

While Lu Chen was enjoying his newfound peace and quiet, hundreds of kilometers away in Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale...

Atari headquarters building.

January 1, 1983, early morning.

A hungover Howard Scott Warshaw drove his red Ferrari, a company award, into the company parking lot.

As Atari's star programmer and the actual developer of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," he had just received a huge bonus before the Christmas holidays and was currently in a state of great pride.

Although the game was rushed out in five weeks, he felt it was quite well done, both in terms of gameplay and innovation, and it received positive reviews from the media. Most importantly, it was delivered on time.

Happy New Year, Jack.

Howard greeted the security guard at the door in a good mood.

However, instead of responding with a smile as usual, the security guard Jack looked at him with a complicated expression, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"What's wrong? Did you lose money last night?"

Howard shrugged and hummed a song as he walked into the elevator.

The moment the elevator doors opened on the top floor.

"Ring ring—!!"

"F*** it! Where's customer service? Answer the phone!"

"What? Walmart says their warehouses are overflowing? They're not accepting any more orders?!"

"Damn it! The stock price has dropped another 5%! The shareholders are going crazy!"

A wave of noise, chaos, and anxiety, like that of a bustling marketplace, instantly engulfed Howard.

The office area, which should have been filled with people enjoying the New Year holiday, was now packed with them. People from the sales department, public relations department, and even the finance department were working overtime, and everyone's face was filled with despair and anger.

Paper documents were scattered all over the floor, and coffee cups lay overturned on the table, unattended.

Howard was stunned.

"What...what happened? Was there an explosion?"

Just then, a hand slammed down on his shoulder.

Howard turned around and saw his boss, the vice president in charge of the E.T. project. At this moment, the usually high-spirited executive had bloodshot eyes, a crooked tie, and looked as if he had aged ten years overnight.

"Howard..."

The vice president's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded on sandpaper, "You've come."

"What happened?" Howard's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition surged up.

"You've done your best," the vice president sighed, looking at the former genius programmer with a complicated expression. "This isn't your fault; it's the company's wrong decision."

"What's wrong?!" Howard asked anxiously.

"See for yourself."

The vice president pointed to a television set next to him.

On the screen, a special morning news report from CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) is playing.

The title was: [The Atari Lie: A Christmas Gift Scam]

In the video, a reporter is interviewing an angry mother.

"This is a scam! A blatant scam!" The mother roared at the camera, waving a box of E.T. cartridges. "I spent $40 on this garbage! My son played it for five minutes and then cried that it was a scam! The graphics are as ugly as a pile of vomit!"

Then, the scene changes.

The reporter then interviewed a little boy who was holding a Jiahe JF machine.

"I'm not playing Atari anymore!" The little boy proudly showed off the Pokémon screen. "Look! That's my Charizard! This is a real game! Atari is for idiots, JF consoles are the future!"

The television screen finally froze on a set of comparison images.

On the left is the simple green pixelated design of "E.T."; on the right is the exquisite colored illustrations of "Pokémon" and the explosive battle scenes of "Contra".

The caption below reads: [Electronic Waste VS Artwork].

Howard felt a "boom" in his head and froze on the spot.

"This...this is what you mean by 'huge sales'?" Howard asked, trembling.

"It should have been a huge hit." The vice president closed his eyes in anguish. "If it weren't for Golden Harvest... if it weren't for that damn JF machine... even if E.T. was terrible, with Spielberg's reputation, the kids wouldn't have had a choice but to accept it."

"But now, they have a choice, and it's a hundred times better than ours."

"Howard, do you know what? From Christmas until now, in just one week," the vice president said with a grim smile, "more than 100,000 returns. 100,000! Walmart, Kmart, Toys "R" Us... all the retailers are calling and cursing, demanding refunds."

"We prepared four million units. Currently, over one million units are still gathering dust in the warehouse, and the rest... will probably be returned to the warehouse soon."

"It's over. It's all over."

Howard slumped into his chair.

What he didn't know was that even without Golden Harvest's involvement, "E.T." wouldn't have become a blockbuster; instead, it would have been the final straw that broke the company's back.

The American gaming market has long suffered from a plethora of low-quality games. The indiscriminate release and arbitrarily priced garbage games have caused immense frustration for players. Atari's various missteps and the proliferation of subpar ported games have also fueled player resentment. In the previous era, *E.T.* was merely the catalyst.

Of course, Jiahe also contributed to the fact that this incident was even more intense than the one in the previous life.

Golden Harvest began its preparations well before Christmas. They not only bribed a large number of game critics to publish their reviews of "ET" in newspapers and magazines, but also hired a large number of "shills" to write advertorials and promote the superiority of the JF machine in shopping malls.

This was a premeditated attempt to suppress public opinion.

For example, the Los Angeles Times' front-page headline read: "The Death of Video Games? No, the End of Gresham's Law!"

The article uses extremely scathing language to denigrate Atari's "E.T." as worthless, calling it "a product of capitalist arrogance" and "an insult to the intelligence of gamers."

In the second half of the article, the tone shifts, and the author lavishly praises Jiahe's JF machine.

"Look at Pokémon, it's a vibrant world; look at Contra, it's a battlefield of passion. Golden Harvest is sincerely telling Atari: good games are made with heart, not garbage rushed out in five weeks."

"What do we do now?" Howard asked.

"Price reduction".

The vice president gritted his teeth and said, "The president has given the order. If we can't sell them, we'll lower the price! If we can't sell them for $38, we'll sell them for $28! We'll sell them for $18!"

"Boss, it's no use..."

The sales director closed his eyes in despair. "There are JF machines failing everywhere now. Players would rather spend $150 on a Jiahe machine than spend $10 on our junk."

"And...our inventory is too large."

"If we don't get rid of these million cassette tapes, the storage costs alone will bankrupt the company."

The next few days were an endless nightmare for Atari.

On January 3, Atari announced a price reduction for all E.T. games, bringing the price down to $28. Sales remained dismal.

On January 9th, the price was lowered again to $19.99. Still, no one bought it.

On January 16, the price plummeted to $9.99.

Even so, those game cartridges that were once considered treasures are still piled up like trash in the discount baskets of shopping malls, covered in dust.

Meanwhile, at the nearby Jiahe counter, the Pokémon cartridge, priced at $39.99, was still out of stock and was even being resold by scalpers for as much as $79.

And so, in the first week of 1983, the once invincible Atari empire, like the Titanic hitting an iceberg, began to sink rapidly.