Chapter 592: I Never Exaggerate
Zou Zhuo returned to the main hall, walked up to the front counter, and ordered a cup of milk tea, trying to soothe his wounded spirit.
“How was it? Did everything go smoothly? Having fun?” Chen Mo asked with a smile.
The corner of Zou Zhuo’s mouth twitched slightly. “Fun my ass! Boss, this game really is more twisted than the last one, isn’t it? Aren’t you afraid it’ll flop doing this?!”
Chen Mo chuckled. “I told you from the start it’d be harder than the last one. I never lie, and I never exaggerate. If I say it’s harder, you’d better believe you’ll feel it!”
Zou Zhuo pressed his hand to his forehead. “Boss, couldn’t you have picked a better place to be honest?!”
Chen Mo asked, “How far did you get?”
Zou Zhuo thought for a moment. “Uh, I was on a bridge, and I ran into a Taurus Demon that sent me packing.”
“Oh, you’re still early on,” Chen Mo said. “You haven’t even left the tutorial area yet. But hey, you did manage to find your way to the Undead Burg outside the city pretty smoothly.”
Zou Zhuo narrowed his eyes. “So, you deliberately connected a bunch of high-level areas around the Firelink Shrine just to screw with me, didn’t you? When I first started, I stumbled into a place called New Londo Ruins, and those ghosts there absolutely wrecked me…”
Chen Mo smiled. “Yeah, that’s right. That’s a map you’re supposed to visit in the mid-to-late game.”
Zou Zhuo was stunned. “Mid-to-late game?! No wonder I was getting one-shotted left and right… Boss, that’s seriously shady. Couldn’t you at least mark it? Or lock the door and make me find a key to get in?”
“Oh, come on, how could I do that?” Chen Mo spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “It’s all about the game’s story. In the lore, New Londo Ruins is directly connected to Firelink Shrine. I can’t just go changing the plot on a whim.”
Zou Zhuo looked utterly baffled. “Boss, who wrote the story? Do you really need me to spell it out? It’s all your call—you can change it however you want!”
Chen Mo shook his head. “Not at all. It’s like how many authors let their characters drive the plot forward; they don’t just write whatever they feel like.”
“Making games is the same. When a designer crafts the game’s background, they have to treat the game world as a real place, letting the characters within it push the story along. That’s how you make the narrative feel authentic… So, I don’t have the final say on the story—I have to ask the characters in the game. Lord Gwyn himself decreed that New Londo Ruins sits beneath Firelink Shrine, so what can I do?”
The corner of Zou Zhuo’s mouth twitched again. “Boss, that sounds so reasonable, I almost believed you…”
Chen Mo chuckled and continued, “Besides, we have to offer players multiple options. Maybe some players actually enjoy starting their playthrough in New Londo Ruins right away? Perhaps they think the Undead Burg is too easy and offers no challenge, so they want to dive straight into a high-level area. We need to accommodate those players too.”
Zou Zhuo winced. “Boss, those players probably make up less than 1%!”
Chen Mo said with righteous indignation, “Are you looking down on that 1% of elite players? What’s wrong with them? Aren’t they still players? We have to consider their preferences too, don’t we?”
Zou Zhuo struggled to find a retort and finally blurted out, “That sounds so reasonable, I can’t even argue…”
Chen Mo chuckled softly and muttered under his breath, “Of course. I’ve practiced this. If my tongue weren’t sharp enough, how could I con those programmers into doing all the work for me?”
Zou Zhuo blinked. “Boss, what did you say?”
Chen Mo smiled. “Nothing. Take a short break. You’ve still got to finish Dark Souls: The Prequel.”
Zou Zhuo grimaced, feeling like he’d jumped straight into a pit of fire…
Why did he have to set that stupid challenge for himself back then? He’d really walked himself right into a trap!!
…
News that Dark Souls: The Prequel had been completed had already spread far and wide. Many Dark Souls fans had come specifically to the experience store, eager to try out the game.
But Chen Mo had only given Zou Zhuo the green light to play early; everyone else would have to wait until the next day.
So, many players were itching with impatience. Before, when the prequel seemed far off, they hadn’t felt much anticipation. But now that they knew it was finished and they had to wait just one more day, the wait felt like pure torture.
They all crowded around Zou Zhuo, knowing he’d already played it, and wanted to squeeze some useful information out of him.
As for why Zou Zhuo got to play first? Well, everyone strongly suspected he’d made some shady backroom deal with the boss!
Zou Zhuo suddenly became a minor celebrity. Many veteran Dark Souls players gathered around, firing off questions left and right.
“How is it? Is Dark Souls: The Prequel fun?”
“I heard the story features a lot of big shots, like Gravelord Nito and the Witch of Izalith. Have you seen any of those bosses?”
“By the way, what exactly is the Dark Soul? Does the prequel explain it?”
“What kind of bosses are in the prequel? Are there any Lords of Cinder?”
Zou Zhuo winced. Even though he’d played for a long time today, most of it had been spent running back to his bloodstain. He really couldn’t answer most of these questions.
Especially the question, “Is Dark Souls: The Prequel fun?”—that one left him completely at a loss for words.
“Well, to be honest, I haven’t played that long. I just got past the first tutorial boss, and I haven’t even seen the second one yet.”
“Difficulty… it feels about the same as before, but to use the boss’s own words, the level design seems to have improved again…”
“As for the story… it feels more epic than the last one. The game says that ringing two bells will reveal the truth about the Undead’s fate. It might be setting up some big lore stuff. But the game is so long, I haven’t even seen a bell yet…”
“You’re asking if the prequel is fun? Yeah, it’s a blast. I can’t stop playing!”
These people were already die-hard Dark Souls fans, itching to play. Hearing Zou Zhuo’s words only made them want to dive into a game pod right then and there.
“I knew the boss’s skills were top-notch. The prequel’s bound to be great! I’ll be at the experience store first thing tomorrow!”
“Same here. There’ll probably be a huge crowd tomorrow. We might not even get a game pod.”
The Dark Souls fans huddled together, chattering excitedly. They all showed immense interest in the Dark Souls: The Prequel trial that would start at the experience store the next day.
Only Zou Zhuo silently made the sign of the cross over his chest. “Amitabha. May you all survive your tribulations…”
But what Zou Zhuo didn’t expect was that his hidden, malicious remark would bring him unexpected disaster…