The Cannon-Fodder Genius Game Developer

[New novels: I Went from Figure Skating to Becoming a Short-Track Speed Skating Demon King; Three-Year-Old Soldier King Prodigy (please add them to your reading list). Weibo: @Wang Ling Da Cai Cai] [P.S. I looked back and realized I barely used the premise from this blurb about “showing the original protagonist the price of abusing his golden finger” ← awkward] Pei Shu was an invisible junior planner at a top studio in one of the country's leading game companies. He'd worked there for eight years, and fewer than ten coworkers even knew him. Pei Shu had never understood why he had let himself achieve nothing for eight years. Then one day, he woke from a dream and realized the world he lived in was a face-slapping game story, where the protagonist became famous nationwide in three years and monopolized the global market in five. The bad news: He was the one getting face-slapped :) In the original story, the protagonist was already exceptionally talented in college. After joining the company, he immediately discovered a major numerical bug in one of its S-rank projects, becoming famous overnight and eventually rising to the top of the game industry. Pei Shu was the one in the story who created the bug and flatly denied making a mistake. “Interesting.” Pei Shu raised an eyebrow and quickly accepted the setup. But when he took a closer look at the “protagonist's” path to fame, Pei Shu discovered that this “feel-good story protagonist,” who had risen to prominence back in college, was an incompetent loser who only knew how to abuse his golden finger. Starting in college, the “original protagonist” had trampled one promising independent game developer after another, leaving these once-brilliant talents to fail halfway through and suffer public humiliation. Looking at these gifted people left in obscurity and the hard work of theirs that had been ruined, the usually calm Pei Shu finally flew into a rage. “In that case...” Pei Shu decided to teach this “original protagonist” a lesson about what it meant to pay the price for abusing his golden finger! That day, a game studio called Bu Shu, “Never Lose,” was founded. It brought together the “cannon fodder” whose lives had been derailed by the protagonist. Led by Pei Shu, the studio gradually began to set off a gaming revolution that swept across the world Scene 1: The original protagonist was reborn and returned to an era when many talented developers had yet to make it. Full of confidence and raring to go, he pulled out a game made in the future by the famous developer A: Players are sick of endless trashy pay-to-win games. We need to make a truly free-to-play game! Employee: Boss! Bu Shu Studio's trashy pay-to-win cultivation game is trending at number one! Protagonist: ? Single-player games lose money? That's because idiots don't understand players! He'll release the innovative single-player game made by future industry legend B and sweep the sales charts! Employee: Boss! Bu Shu Studio's old-fashioned single-player game has swept the sales charts! Protagonist: ?! Much later, under the glittering lights of the international awards stage at the GAME ceremony, known as the Oscars of the global gaming industry, Pei Shu held the “Game of the Year Award.” And the “original protagonist”? The original protagonist was finished...! Scene 2: After Pei Shu shook off the influence of the plot's will, he went on to save many other geniuses who had been affected by it. But as he kept saving them, these geniuses started looking at him differently. Genius A: Xiao Shu, our ideas about games are so compatible... Genius B: Xiao Shu, I want to make games with you forever! Genius C: Xiao Shu, I... Studio financier D: Bro, look how amazing they are. I'm the only one who can do nothing but trail behind you. Pei Shu (rubbing his forehead): ...Li Chuyue, enough. Stop talking. Upcoming novel: My Players Are Way Too Eager to Spend! Blurb: Late at night, which idiot manager was the one who said, “Why do mobile games need to be optimized for different phone models?” and which idiot planner said, “I want to add a hundred artifact slots”? The laid-back game planner Ji Pei lit the cigarette dangling from his lips with a weary look. Ji Pei (lying flat JPG): Mr. Lin is absolutely right. The lead planner is absolutely right! Mr. Lin & Lead Planner: Good. In that case, Lao Ji, do as we say. Ji Pei (lighting a cigarette wearily): I can't. I can't live like this anymore. Ji Pei used to be a game developer with dreams, but reality turned him into a dreamless slacker. Worse, he was a slacker who had been laid off for being “too old.” At twenty-nine, he was already about to exceed the average age in the gaming industry. Finding a decent job again was going to be a nightmare. So, whatever... He'd just be a shameless, money-grubbing game planner. Ji Pei only meant to find some trashy studio and throw together a few pay-to-win games to get by. But who knew the studio he casually went to interview at would have a young, idealistic boss... who was also incredibly handsome? (crossed out) Ji Pei was swayed by his good looks. (crossed out) For the sake of saving the young boss's studio so he could keep collecting an easy paycheck (?), righteous Ji Pei had no choice but to risk it all and make one trap-filled game after another, games that made players desperately open their wallets and beg him to take their money. Watching the players work so hard to keep the studio from going bankrupt, Ji Pei calmly lit a cigarette: The studio's future is in your hands! (smile) Players: =_,= Screw you! You scummy planner, prepare to die! Content warnings: *This is a fictional setting!!! It has nothing to do with real games or platforms. WG is just a random name the author, who can't think of names, came up with... *Same-sex marriage is legal in this fictional world. *Someone has an unrequited crush. *Probably a feel-good story. The author is terrible at romance and may not be able to improve, QAQ. *The blurb and preview have been revised a few times ← the author agonized over this for ages ← even the title has changed several times. I'm in tears. *The top is the younger brother of the financier. Age gap, mwah~ Theme: Devote yourself to the work you love. Work hard, create wholeheartedly, and make something great.