Chapter 23 Settling Scores after Autumn

"Damn it! Why is this happening!!"

Lilith angrily scratched her head, her golden inverse cross hair clips on her twin tails shaking continuously.

Clearly, her composure was already a bit shattered. She had completely lost the battle of public opinion when it came to bugs, and no matter how hard she tried, there was no way to pin the blame on Gu Fan anymore.

But just when Gu Fan thought he had safely weathered this round of questioning, Lilith found a new line of attack.

"Alright, let's drop the issue with the code, but how do you explain the matter of the tester! How could you choose such a person to be the test team leader!"

As she spoke, she pulled out a sheet of paper from her bosom and threw it onto Gu Fan.

"Now is the perfect opportunity for you to explain, why on earth would you hire someone who can't even play games to be the test team leader!"

Gu Fan picked it up and saw that it was Su Tong's resume.

He couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart.

He had been puzzled as to why, after he had recruited Su Tong, Lilith never brought it up. Was it because she was busy with other matters in Hell?

Now it seemed that Lilith wasn't oblivious; she simply didn't bring it up because at that time, "Sisyphus" was not yet finished, and no bugs had appeared, so the timing was not right.

Now, Lilith was planning to settle scores after autumn!

But Gu Fan still remained calm, as he had already prepared for this beforehand.

"You're talking about Su Tong? Isn't she exactly the best choice for the test team?"

Lilith snorted coldly, "Then let me ask you, there was someone named Ren Yu before, clearly a senior tester with stronger skills. Why didn't you hire him?"

Gu Fan spread his hands innocently, "Shouldn't you be asking yourself that question?"

Lilith was taken aback, "What does this have to do with me!"

Gu Fan said righteously, "Did I not want to hire him? The fact is, the people simply wouldn't come! Not just Ren Yu, there were several people interviewed that day, but none of them would come! Who made you insist that employees in our company can only get at most 80% of the salary they would at other companies!

"They would have to take a pay cut to switch jobs, and it's already quite gracious of them not to knife me on the spot, okay?

"I'm practically risking my life to recruit for you!

"Without the raw materials, even the most skilled chef can't cook a meal, so it's extremely lucky to catch someone like Su Tong who is willing to take a pay cut to switch jobs!"

Lilith was a bit speechless, indeed, it wasn't about willing or unwilling; it was about people not coming at all!

The clause that employees can only earn up to 80% of the highest salary from other companies was clearly written in the contract, and Gu Fan was just following the contract.

Lilith's voice noticeably dropped an octave, "But you can't just hire someone so bad at playing games to be the test team leader!"

Gu Fan retorted, "Who says being bad at playing games disqualifies you from testing? That's an amateur mistake!

"First off, being bad now doesn't mean being bad forever.

"Secondly, the profession of game testing shouldn't require gaming skills!"

Lilith was startled; it was the first time she had heard this argument: "Why not?"

Gu Fan explained, "Simple, I ask you, which is greater in this world—people who are good at playing games or those who are not?"

Lilith was momentarily lost for words, "The ones who are not are greater in number."

Gu Fan nodded, "Exactly! Even in the same game, the experiences of noobs and pros are completely different. Great players might neglect the issues that noobs face.

"In contrast, noob testers are more likely to spot problems and better reflect the real state of the player when playing the game!

"It's like solving math problems; math geniuses can't explain them to those who fall behind because steps that geniuses see instantly and take for granted are like impassable chasms to others.

"So is there a problem hiring a noob player as a tester?

"Besides, she graduated from Imperial Capital University, which implies she is intelligent, proactive, and persistent—all essential qualities for a game tester.

"Getting her for the price we're paying is already a great deal; what more do you want?

"Yes, she's a bit noob right now, but she has huge potential for improvement!"

Lilith was left speechless, seemingly shocked by Gu Fan's brazenness.

She thought deeply for a long time, as if trying hard to find a reason to refute Gu Fan's argument, but unfortunately, in the end, she failed.

In the end, she said angrily, "Fine, I won't pursue the game's BUG, but don't think you can get away so easily as the Test Team Leader, I still need to have a serious talk with you!"

"You two stay late for overtime on Monday night! I want to meet her in person!"

After speaking, Lilith angrily took two cans of Coke from the refrigerator and vanished in an instant.

...

...

At 9am on Monday morning, Gu Fan arrived at the company on time.

He bought a coffee downstairs and, while sipping on it, looked out the window, feeling great.

After Sisyphus went on sale on Saturday night, it had a day of slumping because the promotion was rather single-faceted, so it was severely lacking in sustainability, even making one feel it was about to flop.

But on Sunday night, after Instructor Ding discovered the "Rolling Stone Acceleration" and "Dragon Flap Wings" BUGs, the game's popularity suddenly warmed up!

Almost overnight, his live stream clips spread all over the internet, and the heat for the Sisyphus game instantly skyrocketed and continued to grow, reaching new highs!

During the daytime on Sunday, the game had already reached 230,000 downloads, but the sales were only a little over 700, a sight too dire to behold.

Most players had no desire to buy after trying it.

But now the situation was different.

Not only did the downloads surge to 300,000, but sales also increased significantly, going up by an order of magnitude to over 5,000!

Clearly, many players had made a purchase without even trying the game.

Those who originally wanted a refund completely dismissed the idea.

Through a plethora of videos and live stream clips, new players had identified compelling elements in the game, namely "Rolling Stone Acceleration" and "Dragon Flap Wings," so their desire to purchase had visibly increased.

What's more, the number of people live streaming this game had visibly increased.

Upon opening various live streaming websites, Sisyphus was nearly sweeping the gaming section, and it wasn't just single-player streamers playing it—many multiplayer streamers were too!

There was even a group of people specifically testing "Dragon Flap Wings."

Of course, besides "Dragon Flap Wings," they were also creatively testing other possibilities, like "Dragon Raises Its Head" and "Dragon Swings Its Tail."

This meant attempting to jump to other spots on the dragon's body after mounting it, to see if they could bounce even higher.

Although the tests confirmed that "Dragon Flap Wings" reached heights far beyond "Dragon Raises Its Head" and "Dragon Swings Its Tail," confirming the latter two had no practical value, these entertaining videos still achieved high popularity online.

Without a doubt, under such popularity, Sisyphus would experience an all-out explosion in heat!

Up to now, everything had been going according to Gu Fan's plan.

The only slight issue was that Lilith had targeted Su Tong's game skills, insisting that she was not qualified as the Test Team Leader.

Tonight, Lilith was going to come over in person, and Gu Fan needed to prepare in advance.

After reflecting for a long time, Gu Fan looked toward Su Tong, who was battling away at the computer.

Since the official release of Sisyphus, Su Tong's work as the Test Team Leader was considered finished; currently, like Gu Fan, she had no work on her hands.

But unlike Gu Fan, who was slacking off every day, Su Tong was always busy.

Whenever Gu Fan looked over, she was playing Sisyphus.

"I wonder how good Su Tong has gotten at this game."

Because Gu Fan had been busy, writing code during the development and fixing bugs during the testing phase, he had only briefly checked on Su Tong's progress during the first week of testing.

At that time, Su Tong had completed the game, but it was mostly achieved through numerous failures, taking over 40 hours, which was almost three times the estimated average completion time of 15 hours for players.

By the second week, Gu Fan was preoccupied with a series of pre-launch tasks, leaving him no time to pay attention.

He was just relieved that Su Tong hadn't discovered the hidden core mechanics of "Rolling Stone Acceleration" and "Dragon Flap Wings" before he got busy with his own things.

So far, Gu Fan hadn't inquired about Su Tong's progress for about ten days and had no idea how well she was doing.

If Su Tong's gameplay level had significantly improved, perhaps it could shut Lilith up?