The truth you want
Because it suddenly connected with reality, Zhixing Games' previously unknown new game suddenly became popular.
"I've been so caught up in all the gossip lately that I've forgotten about Qinqin Zhixing's new work. I'm placing an order now."
"Goodness, you guys really don't do any promotion at all, even after being neglected since its launch."
Before it went unnoticed, Zhixing Games' new game had only sold a meager four-figure sum. Four figures, that sounds pretty impressive.
But this is a game of knowledge and action.
Which game doesn't have sales exceeding five figures?
"Hey, do you guys remember at the annual New and Outstanding Works selection event, when the producer from Southern Games Studio said he was worried about the funding of a bold startup like Zhixing Games? Hahaha, actually, I always thought Zhixing Games was the kind of company that barely had enough to eat, investing all their funds into game development and leaving nothing for advertising, until I saw how wealthy our CEO Jiang is... that's when I realized what it means to be more worried than the emperor."
Fortunately, Pigeon knew what players were like, and this time she learned from her previous experience with "Sculpture" and didn't go live again. Instead, she prepared a gameplay video in advance and waited for someone to finally notice Zhixing's new game before uploading it.
"It's rare to see the pigeon spirit so punctual. It seems I still need to urge him on more often."
"They actually made such a long live video. I've got my electronic pickled vegetables for the next two or three days now."
The game's opening screen features the Zhixing Games logo, which looks more upscale than the one used in the previous game, "Sculpture".
The logo animation evolves along with the game; while others remain unchanged, Zhixing Games manages to bring a sense of novelty to it.
The game is played from a first-person perspective, but you can only see a pair of eyes; nothing else is visible.
The protagonist appears to be sitting upright in front of the computer, but his hands are not visible; only a mouse cursor on the computer screen seems to represent his hands.
There is a semi-transparent decoration icon in the upper right corner, allowing players to customize their computer desktop by choosing features such as the keyboard.
Unlike typical game logic, where players play games and gradually unlock skins, this game doesn't follow that logic.
Other gameplay elements seem to be limited to the computer screen within the game interface. This game doesn't offer a tutorial, or rather, a particularly immersive one.
Everything is hidden, requiring players to study it a little to figure out how to play. However, the learning curve isn't steep; when players' eyes are on the computer screen, they'll naturally be drawn to the vibrant colors.
Then proceed to the next step.
Players can freely click on any website installed on their computer, including news websites, video websites, and social media platforms, and will find that the same account exists in various places.
And it also has tens of thousands of fans.
After a brief exploration, the pigeon was once again confused: No, how do you play this game?
So, can I watch the news?
Is he no longer pursuing the path of ascension, but instead taking the path of compassion for all beings and caring for the world?
Pigeon recalled his last live stream of "Out-of-Body Simulator" and said that good games always require exploration. This was a puzzle game, and the title was "Your Truth".
Based on just these two points, Pigeon felt that no amount of speculation was too much.
She randomly clicked on several news articles, videos, and posts of thoughts published by others on social media platforms, and they all had a common feature: a box for posting comments.
The box appears to contain the first step.
Please share your thoughts on this matter.
Unlike the gentle prompts typically used in the real world, where software reminds users to speak amicably and avoid conflict.
Pigeon paid attention to the main body of the news, which was roughly about how employees were asked to continue working overtime late at night. Unable to bear it any longer, they stood up and angrily rebuked their boss on behalf of everyone, and were praised by netizens as role models for all.
Pigeon couldn't help but complain: "Zhixing Games, you're still keeping up with the latest news as always."
She thought about it and, following the usual pattern, it seemed that her randomly selected first level was quite simple.
He then commented directly: "Young people should have the courage to stand up and refuse unreasonable demands. They are role models for us all, and I hope that more workers will be able to bravely defend themselves in the future! As for this company, I still advise them to think twice."
These words were spoken.
On the regular internet, this would be met with both approval and criticism. Pigeon (the author) also did a very simple and crude categorization: Approval? Those who approve are my half-brothers and sisters.
Disagree? And you're even questioning me?
This is clearly a case of biased opinion, everyone should criticize! Pigeon was a prominent figure on Tieba in his early years, and he could come up with all sorts of abstract art.
She immediately started typing on the keyboard while explaining to her camera.
"Please don't compare me to the character I play in the game. I'm just doing this for the sake of the show, everything is for the sake of the show."
"Look at me, I'm just an ordinary blogger with no special skills. I can't possibly play games in the game and expect my fans to like me, can I?"
"So I want to create a persona of an abstract blogger, focusing on postmodern abstraction."
Although Pigeon, who was recording the live video at the time, couldn't see the comments, she could easily imagine that after this segment came out, the vast majority of the comments were criticizing her for revealing her true nature.
Is this something I can say? (Covering mouth)
However, after a period of intense battles against the AI, Pigeon quickly fell into a period of fatigue. This game is quite boring. Is it just a swearing simulator?
I spent 18 yuan to buy a swearing simulator.
There are plenty of them online. Pigeon stared at the screen, deep in thought. She looked around, still trying to figure it out, and then realized that she had suddenly lost a few followers.
Why am I losing followers?
Is it because her brilliantly abstract speech confused her fans?
Wait a minute, shouldn't we be admiring her?
As Pigeon continued to ponder the screen, his computer suddenly started displaying pop-up windows, which multiplied exponentially, from one to two, then two to four, quickly filling the entire screen.
The pop-up window was full of comments.
The comments were varied, with some questioning whether the pigeon was just trying to gain attention, others accusing it of shifting towards political correctness, and still others resorting to insults.
Because the game "Your Truth" was designed with a rating system from the beginning, it was only available to people aged 18 and above.
Therefore, the abusive comments here have not been censored at all.
The insults were so severe that even Pigeon, a seasoned veteran, was shocked, and the pop-up ads continued to multiply like a virus.
Then, I inexplicably failed on my first mini-run.
Pigeon: (Lost in thought) (Lost in thought again) (Attempting to decode) (Decoding failed)
My computer has a virus?
Her brain's central processing unit's high-speed buffer storage device could no longer accommodate the instruction decoding stage. The data thread overclocked and looped for a short period of time, changing the state of the instruction and mapping program, causing the content of the large-scale integrated circuit to exceed the critical array limit.
Then the game just restarted.
This time, Pigeon didn't have the leisure to decorate her desktop. When she opened it on her second playthrough, it was a new account with tens of thousands of followers reduced to just over a few thousand.
However, judging from these software programs on the computer, their history records the events that occurred in the previous cycle.
This proves that the timelines are connected.
Pigeon, being a perfectionist, certainly wouldn't overlook such historical records. After taking a look, she realized... good heavens, it turned out that she had been prejudiced and had taken things out of context.
They only thought of him as a role model for us, never considering that the company was innocent.
The main issue is that there have been quite a few company building collapses in real life this year.
The truth of the matter is that the employee was not hired and harbored resentment, so he spread rumors.
At first, he was praised by netizens as a role model for our generation, and he was quite pleased with himself.
After everyone expressed their opinions, the situation immediately reversed, with the company stepping in to clarify that the employee was not an employee of the company.
It was just an unintentional misjudgment, yet the consequences were so severe.
In an instant, he went from a small blogger with tens of thousands of followers to one with only a few thousand.
Having completed the first playthrough of the story and killed the pigeons, I gradually figured out how to play the game. In this game, the number of fans is a symbol of a player's level.
As a truth blogger, the most important thing is to convey the truth to everyone. Pigeon needs to find clues amidst a massive amount of conflicting information and then investigate.
And all of this happened online.
The logical relationships, temporal relationships, and causal relationships are extremely important, requiring a very high level of puzzle-solving skills from the player.
Perhaps this explains why "Your Truth," which had been online for almost a week after the consumer safety incident and had remained silent, suddenly became popular again.
This game and the consumer safety incident are perfectly aligned.
The public initially believed the blogger, then turned to believe the company, and was then attracted by the company's employees' revelations. In between, the company further proved that the employees were not affiliated with the company, and then the blogger posted another article.
What a dramatic and unpredictable show!
Moreover, in "Your Truth," Pigeon has to admit that the game's name is as well-chosen as ever.
"As you can see, the name is just four simple characters: 'Your Truth.' Combined with the fact that the game is a puzzle game, it's a puzzle game."
"At first glance, it seems unremarkable, but after actually playing it, you can feel that the difference between 'Your Truth' and ordinary puzzle games is that what you discover may not be the truth."
"Even much later, when you happen to come across that incident again, you will realize that your understanding was only partial and one-sided."
"What you believe to be the truth can mislead others into agreeing with you."
"Although I've only played this game for a short while, I've already come up with an even more cultish idea: we can completely recreate the truth we want."
"Then repeat this artificial creation of yourself hundreds or thousands of times, and this 'truth' will become the truth."
"Moreover, if the theory is feasible, we, as online influencers, would not have to bear the cost of making mistakes in judging online events—that is, the group of comment pop-ups that appeared in the first week, or even the result of canceling our accounts."
"That's all for today. There will be more analysis in the follow-up episode, so please stay tuned. I'm the procrastinator who will definitely update next time. Thank you for watching!"
See you in the next video!
The blogger sees it from one perspective, while the fans and viewers see it from another.
"Good grief, every time you fail to capture the truth, you have to sacrifice a bunch of fans, right?"
"What is this, a madman's diary of the internet age?"
"The name Zhixing Games is quite good, no wonder it's my destined husband. It's not called 'The Truth,' but 'Your Truth,' which naturally adds a qualifier."
"I was so worried about why they weren't doing any marketing. Who could have predicted that a consumer safety incident would suddenly occur? It coincided with reality and caused a huge uproar."
"It can only be said that President Jiang is the one who knows how to promote. He doesn't spend a single penny, just relies on fortune telling. So what will be the next game? I'm already looking forward to it."
The comment section was bustling with activity when I refreshed the page and Pigeon's latest post was pushed to the top.
"Dear viewers, I have successfully found the clue that connects all of Zhi Xing's games throughout the year in 'Your Truth,' and this clue is very unexpected."
"The video explanation is being produced at an expedited pace, so please stay tuned."
Is sacrificing fans to reopen the store a manifestation of some of President Jiang's unknown malicious intentions?
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