Game: Escape from the Start, Scaring Zhou Jie to Tears on Every Platform

Ye Zhao transmigrates into the body of a struggling game developer and binds to the Ninth Art Creation System. He spends three thousand Focus Points to redeem all the source code and art assets for Outlast, then brings in three former colleagues to form Dawn Studio. Together, they work themselves to the bone and finish the full version in two weeks.

He prices the game at 79 yuan on the Steam platform, with a ten percent discount for the first week. Using an alternate account and pretending to be a fan, Ye Zhao goes to Zhou Jie's livestream to stir things up. "Do you dare livestream yourself beating this horror game?" Zhou Jie makes a bold declaration in front of everyone. "If I say I'm scared even once, I lose!"

The immersive pod starts up, and eerie violin music plays. Miles drives to Mount Massive Asylum in the dead of night. The iron gates are rusted, the corridors are pitch-black, and the camcorder can only see in the dark, so he has to conserve its battery. When the first asylum monster leaps out of the shadows, Zhou Jie lets out the loudest scream of her life, bursts into tears, and scrambles out of the game.

The livestream comments explode. "79 yuan for two hours of Zhou Jie screaming in agony? Worth it!" Outlast rockets to the top of the Steam platform's best-sellers on its first day. Looking at the numbers soaring in the backend, Ye Zhao turns to Wang Ye with a broad grin. "The next one: Resident Evil. We'll make the whole platform cry and call us daddy."

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.