Chapter 15 How much is the monthly subscription?

At this point, Lilith suddenly realized something was off.

Why did she feel like she was in a weaker position now?

Before, there was only one beanbag chair in the one-room apartment living room, and Lilith always occupied it, while Gu Fan could only sit on a small stool, clearly at a disadvantage.

But when had Gu Fan sneakily bought a single-person sofa?

Now, Lilith still sat on the beanbag, but with Gu Fan on the single-person sofa, it was Lilith who seemed to be at a disadvantage.

Realizing this, Lilith immediately stood up and marched over to Gu Fan with righteous indignation, staring him down.

Gu Fan wisely got up and sat on the beanbag chair.

Lilith was very satisfied with this and laid down on the single-person sofa, looking comfortable.

Gu Fan picked up a notebook, "You mean the marketing plan? I'll jot it down. This time we're not getting Instructor Ding to do the promotion, are we?"

When Instructor Ding promoted "Infernal Trajectory" last time, he had really gone all out.

In the final moments, he discovered the "Bullet Bending" bug and continued streaming past 11:00 PM, thoroughly researching the bug and convincing everyone it wasn't a bug but a core gameplay feature, causing the bug to spread all over the internet that very night.

This directly resulted in a significant decrease in the negative emotions Lilith could harvest.

Initially expecting to reel in twenty or thirty million, it felt like she had been amputated from the chest down, harvesting less than eight million to date!

After Gu Fan had completely absolved himself of any responsibility, Lilith's grudge had been focused solely on Instructor Ding.

Therefore, Gu Fan guessed that Lilith was likely to change promoters this time.

However, somewhat unexpectedly, Lilith said through gritted teeth, "No, still use him! He likes playing our games, right? Let him have his fill!"

...

...

The next morning.

Gu Fan arrived at the company first thing and reached out to Instructor Ding via the streaming site's contact info to talk about game promotion.

Instructor Ding was pleasantly surprised to learn he was speaking with the president of Transcendent Heaven Gaming Company, and a bit puzzled.

"Huh? Wasn't "Infernal Trajectory" also your company's game last month? I remember the person who came to talk to me about promotion wasn't you. What, did that person quit? Why are you, the boss, personally stepping in now?" asked Instructor Ding, confused.

Gu Fan didn't quite know how to respond, "This involves some internal changes in the company that I won't go into. Anyway, I am indeed here to discuss a new game collaboration with you.

"The game is called Sisyphus, and we still need your help with promotion."

Instructor Ding was happy to oblige, "No problem! I've already sent over my rate card.

"And there's no need to send a successful case study, we've worked together before. You've seen for yourself the effect of my "Infernal Trajectory" promotion; otherwise, you wouldn't be a returning customer. Isn't that right?"

"President Gu, how many hours do you need me for this time? If it's two hours, I can give you a little discount! After all, we're old customers, and I genuinely like your company's games, I like to speak the truth."

Gu Fan looked at the rate card, it was the same as last time: 400,000 for two hours.

Given that Instructor Ding was currently the top gamer on Totoro Live Streaming, the price wasn't exorbitant considering his market value.

Gu Fan paused for a moment, "How much for a month's package?"

Instructor Ding nearly choked, "What are you talking about, President Gu? Don't scare me like that!"

If it's calculated at 2 hours daily, at least 20 days a month, right? That would amount to 8 million.

Even with a discount, it would still be at least six or seven million.

What gaming company is so extravagant as to spend a few million just on promoting through one streamer? Are they burning cash?!

With so much money, wouldn't it be better to spread it across several streamers, or buy traffic on gaming platforms?

And for Instructor Ding, such a deal wasn't too favorable either.

The key point was that Instructor Ding couldn't possibly stream this game every day. Even for a Meal-Getting Immortal, audiences might tolerate a meal every few days, but every day for a month? How could he viewers stand it!

He'd make money, but at the cost of his popularity.

Gu Fan joked, "Just kidding, how could I seriously consider a monthly package?"

Instructor Ding breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought so, President Gu, please don't be so humorous, you scare me. So, how many hours do you want me to stream?"

Gu Fan thought for a moment, "A month is indeed too long, how about ten days? Two hours a day, if you give a discount, how about 3 million in total?"

The other end was silent for a while before Instructor Ding sent a "groundhog freaking out" emoji.

The gods, a ten-day package!

Though cut by more than half compared to the previous monthly deal, the duration was still absurdly long!

Three million in ten days—it's obviously a sky-high sum for the average person, but as we've said before, for a top-tier streamer like Instructor Ding, this amount seems a bit like chicken ribs.

Take it, and if the game isn't fun, it could really hurt your popularity. In the long run, it's uncertain whether it would be worthwhile.

Don't take it, and it feels like a bit of a loss. After all, although these streamers' quotes are high, opportunities to cash in like this don't come all the time, and there usually isn't much from gifts.

After much thought, Instructor Ding finally said, "How about this, President Gu, I'll stream it for five days to start with. If the game is really fun and makes for good content, I'll keep going for a while longer. If I can't bear to stream it anymore, I'll refund you for the unused days. How does that sound?"

Gu Fan immediately agreed, "No problem."

Instructor Ding felt a bit embarrassed, "Oh my, your company's special favor towards me is truly flattering!"

Gu Fan chuckled inwardly, special favor is hardly necessary; true loathing is more like it.

"Flattering is needless to say, but personally, I do have a small suggestion."

Instructor Ding was a bit surprised, "Hmm? Go ahead."

Gu Fan sincerely suggested, "I recommend that from now on you do as many good deeds and be as charitable as possible; it will be beneficial."

Instructor Ding was confused.

What the hell?

However, since the other party was still the Client Daddy, Instructor Ding didn't say much, "Oh, President Gu, do you mean that as a major streamer, I should be mindful of my social influence? Don't worry, I understand that. The website has trained us on that."

Gu Fan chuckled silently, social influence? I'm mostly worried that if you do something shameful and end up in Hell, falling into Lilith's hands, that's a scenario too beautiful for me to contemplate.

At that point, you might actually get to play a 120% realistic 'Sisyphus' consciousness-link VR edition.

After arranging the promotional partnership with Instructor Ding, Gu Fan glanced over and found that 'Sisyphus' had successfully passed the review and immediately updated the game's basic information.

This time, the game's price was set at 48 yuan, nearly three times that of "Infernal Trajectory"!

But this game still adopted the strategy of trying it out for two hours before paying.

Clearly, Lilith had taken Gu Fan's advice on this point and increased the price, hoping to add somewhat to players' negative emotions.

The game's promotional images were still taken directly from in-game footage.

The only slightly headache-inducing aspect was the game's tagline.

Gu Fan thought for a moment and soon had an idea.

"In this game, you will play as the mighty deity Sisyphus, exploring the grand Purgatory world depicted by Dante in 'The Divine Comedy', and you can even interact with the Infernal Great Dragon and experience a thrilling adventure!"

Once finished, Gu Fan nodded in satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Su Tong was watching earnestly by his side, ready to learn.

As a talented student from the literature department of Imperial Capital University, Su Tong thought Gu Fan would delegate the task of writing the game description to her, but that wasn't the case, leaving her somewhat disappointed.

However, this spirited girl quickly adjusted her attitude, thinking that she was, after all, a beginner and not yet ready to handle such an important job. She resolved to adopt the right mindset, to watch and learn seriously.

But after seeing the description Gu Fan had written, she was perplexed.

"President Gu, I feel that this description... doesn't quite fit our game, does it?"

Clearly, if one were only to read the description and see the promotional images, they might misunderstand and think this is an action-adventure game set in Purgatory.

This sort of deceptive advertising made Su Tong, fresh out of school, blush with embarrassment.

Gu Fan chuckled, "How is it deceptive advertising? Which part of what I said is incorrect?

"I ask you, isn't it Sisyphus you're playing as? And isn't he a mighty deity?

"Isn't this game set in the Purgatory world described by Dante in 'The Divine Comedy'?

"Can't you interact with the Infernal Great Dragon? Isn't it a thrilling adventure?"

Su Tong wiped the sweat from her forehead, "But in our game, when you encounter the Infernal Great Dragon, don't you just get slapped away and sent back to the start...

Gu Fan confidently retorted, "Never mind the slapping away, tell me, is it an interaction or not?"

Su Tong muttered softly, "And this adventure doesn't seem to be quite so thrilling..."

Gu Fan continued confidently, "Sweating profusely is quite thrilling in its own right. Alright, let's settle on this description. You're still new, ask less, watch more, learn more, got it?"

Su Tong nodded silently, "Understood."

Having said that, she returned to her own seat and continued to play 'Sisyphus', pushing that enormous boulder again.

It must be said, while Su Tong might lack skills, she certainly had resilience; she continued to persevere through such a challenging game.

Saturday evening at 8 PM, 'Sisyphus' officially went on sale!