FPE Chapter 15

As a male high school student, He He’s only hobby in his daily life was playing video games, and because of that, he followed quite a few accounts that streamed gameplay. He had been following the content creator “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” for about a year now. This person was consistently active, had a humorous style, and pulled off the most outrageous in-game maneuvers imaginable. People who had originally followed him to learn game strategies ended up being so thoroughly entertained by his antics that they all moved him to their comedy bookmarks.

He He had first discovered this person because he had been playing an incredibly difficult open-world single-player game. The game had a main storyline in which players had to complete a series of smaller side quests to get acquainted with a powerful figure in the central city district, earn that figure’s favor, and thereby obtain the most crucial item in the game.

While fifty percent of players were still struggling through a pile of tedious tasks, forty percent had finally managed to meet the powerful figure, and nine percent were grinding away trying to win that figure’s approval… “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” was the only one who posted a video titled How to Get the Key Item in Ten Minutes that went viral across the entire internet.

He He hadn’t believed it at the time. He figured that even if someone had found a bug to skip all those tedious prerequisite quests, there was no way anyone could win over that powerful figure in under ten minutes — after all, the important NPCs in the game had vivid, complex personalities and were notoriously difficult to deal with. But when He He clicked on the video, he spat a mouthful of water straight at the ceiling, unable to believe what he was seeing.

This guy had actually found an unguarded side path, snuck into the powerful figure’s estate, beat him up, and forced him to hand over the key item. From the moment he slipped into the manor to the moment he ran out with the item in hand, the whole thing took less than ten minutes.

The maneuver was so shocking it alarmed the game’s developers, forcing them to pull an emergency all-nighter to push out an update. But even that did nothing. True to form — you have your tricks, I have mine — “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” still became the first player to complete the game using all sorts of maneuvers that no other player had ever thought of. Everyone immediately copied his walkthrough, and together they collectively compressed the lifespan of a single-player game from one year down to a single month.

From that point on, He He became a die-hard fan of “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen.” He eventually stopped playing games himself and just watched the man’s videos every day for a good laugh. So when “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” posted a video with a title that would have sent any fan into a panic, He He clicked on it without a moment’s hesitation.

He assumed it was just another new bit the content creator was pulling. Before the video even started, he was already wondering whether the guy had started playing some kind of amusement park management game. But by the time he finished watching, he was completely baffled. He dragged the progress bar back and watched it again, and the more he watched, the more baffled he became.

There was no question — it was a perfectly good comedy video. The faces of the visitors inside had been blurred, but the way they shrieked and leapt around in terror, and all the wild things they did to escape the creatures, was funny enough to make your teeth fly out from laughing. By the halfway point, He He was simultaneously marveling at how incredible the special effects were and wondering where the footage had come from, curious to know what the real-world objects were that had scared the visitors so badly. Then that segment ended, and “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen’s” voice came on. The screen cut to an introduction of the amusement park.

“I’m sorry everyone, I won’t be doing game streaming anymore. I’ve gone back home to take over the family business and opened an amusement park… This account will from now on be the official account of Fantasy Amusement Park. In a couple of days, once the official account application is approved, there’ll be a cute little blue verification badge… As you’ve all seen, this isn’t special effects. This is the actual real content of the park’s operations. I plan to build the park into a live-action game-themed amusement park, where everyone can enjoy an experience comparable to a fully immersive game…”

He He realized belatedly that Fantasy Amusement Park… wasn’t that the very place Cao Xiaoliang and Zhang He had recommended in their small group chat just two nights ago? At the time, he had even posted in the group saying there was no way it could be real, and had led a whole group of classmates in “debunking” the two of them. And now, his all-time favorite content creator was saying he was the owner of Fantasy Amusement Park — meaning Fantasy Amusement Park’s technology was actually real?

He felt this whole situation was somehow even more fantastical than Fantasy Amusement Park’s existence itself. His phone notifications were dinging nonstop. He He had a habit of leaving a comment before he even watched a video, and by now, a whole crowd of other users had already built a towering reply thread beneath his comment.

“Friend, your IP address is right there in Jin’an City — you’re so close. Did you know about this amusement park?” 

“Does anyone actually know if the content creator is joking around with us? Friend, why don’t you go check the place out and see for yourself?” 

“The person above just figured this out now? Haven’t you been on the trending page today? This amusement park has been all over the trending topics all day!”

“Today on the trending page, Little Daze Cutie and Jiang Zharen have been going at it all day. I was thinking at the time that Little Daze Cutie was pretty solid — taking money for a sponsored post but actually putting in the effort! But now that I’ve seen Xiao Chiyou Yizhen’s video, I’m wavering. Did the world change without me knowing?” “If Xiao Chiyou Yizhen had just posted a sponsored video, I could still chalk it up to Fantasy Amusement Park having deep pockets and supporting him for a paid promotion. But now that he’s saying this is his family’s own park, I’m freaking out — because I spent today helping Jiang Zharen go after Little Daze Cutie.” 

“I also live in Jin’an City, just three bus stops from Fantasy Amusement Park. Besties, wait for my update tomorrow!”

****

Little Daze Cutie had been locked in combat with Jiang Zharen all day long, her fingers aching from all the typing. She watched helplessly as the high ground of public opinion was completely seized by Jiang Zharen’s side. Some people had even started making regional slurs, saying Jin’an City was a poor backwater with nothing remarkable about it, that the people there were full of lies and would do anything to make money, and so on. It infuriated her, but there was nothing she could do — she was just a new, low-profile creator with almost no following, and she simply couldn’t go up against someone like Jiang Zharen, who had a massive fanbase and an entire team behind them.

Her friend tried to comfort her. “Just forget it. True gold fears no fire. Fantasy Amusement Park’s stuff is real — if they don’t believe it, that’s their loss. There’ll be plenty of chances to rub their faces in it later.”

Little Daze Cutie understood the reasoning, but she still felt aggrieved. At this point, it wasn’t even purely about defending Fantasy Amusement Park anymore — she wanted to stand up for her hometown. And besides, if she backed down now, wouldn’t they just be even more smug about it? She was just thinking she’d take a shower to cool off and then go back to fighting, when she heard her friend say, “Hey, there are suddenly a lot of people defending you in your comments section.”

Little Daze Cutie was startled. There had been some genuine park visitors speaking up for her throughout the day, but Fantasy Amusement Park had only just opened and didn’t have many visitors yet. Those voices scattered across the internet were few and far between, and they’d been quickly buried under the flood of Jiang Zharen’s fans. But when she picked up her phone now, she found that the comment section, which had been a toxic mess just a while ago, was now filled with plenty of normal comments — there were even people asking her for information about Fantasy Amusement Park. She scrolled through, puzzled, and discovered that all these people had come over from “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen’s” account. Little Daze Cutie didn’t follow gaming content and didn’t know many gaming content creators, but she’d heard of “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” — the guy was famous for his comedic style, and she’d occasionally stumbled across his videos.

When she now discovered that “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” was actually the owner, the shock she felt was mixed with a surge of warmth. For the first time all day, she felt like she was no longer fighting alone.

She immediately opened her direct messages to send him a message, only to find that “Xiao Chiyou Yizhen” had already messaged her two hours ago. She had been too busy fighting off Jiang Zharen’s fans and had turned off her notifications, only discovering the message now.

Little Daze Cutie smacked herself in frustration and hurriedly sent him a reply.

Xiao Chiyou Yizhen: Hi Xiaodai, I’m the owner of Fantasy Amusement Park. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. Hello, are you there? 

Little Daze Cutie: I’m here, I’m here! So sorry I’m only seeing this now.

After sending the message, she expected to wait a while, but to her surprise the other side replied instantly.

Xiao Chiyou Yizhen: No worries. Your video promoted my park today and got such impressive view numbers — I wanted to talk with you about a sponsorship fee.

Little Daze Cutie thought to herself, Is this owner actually a bit clueless? At a time like this, he’s casually talking about a sponsorship fee? She quickly typed out a summary of the online controversy that had been raging all day, placing particular emphasis on Jiang Zhairen’s malicious intentions.

On the other end, Chi Yizhen read Little Daze Cutie’s reply and felt genuinely surprised. He had been swamped with work the entire day and hadn’t had any time to pay attention to the online discourse. He hadn’t even had a chance to look at his own video’s comment section. His mindset was steady — facts were facts, and he didn’t particularly care what the comment section looked like. It simply hadn’t occurred to him that Little Daze Cutie would be this invested.

Little Daze Cutie: Boss, strictly speaking, what Jiang Zharen did in that video counts as defamation. We could actually sue him for this — we can’t just let him get away with it!

Chi Yizhen understood the logic, but that wasn’t the right move. For one thing, even though Jiang Zharen had been riding the hype wave and bashing the park, he had also driven a significant amount of traffic to Fantasy Amusement Park — backed by over a million views, most of the internet-browsing public had now heard the name Fantasy Amusement Park. For another, if he sent Jiang Zharen a legal notice right now, the man would probably delete the video, but it would almost certainly generate a backlash from netizens. His so-called “fake full-immersion” park had essentially no credibility in the eyes of most online users at this point.

After thinking it over, Chi Yizhen typed back: It’s fine. Let it simmer for a couple more days. A reporter from the city television station is coming to do a piece on the park tomorrow.

Little Daze Cutie was taken aback. No way — is the official media about to step in and do the face-slapping for us?