Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 36
After the game’s ending was triggered, the surrounding scenery reverted to the nighttime campus of May University—the default login and logout screen for the game.
Liu Yuling suddenly found herself back in the dark campus setting, and all the terrifying memories she had suppressed came rushing back, causing her to shudder violently. Unable to keep up her usual streaming persona, she hastily muttered a few words before logging off, leaving her viewers in the live chat staring blankly at one another.
【Uh… is the stream over?】
【Looks like it. The other three players are MIA, and the only dependable one doesn’t seem to want to continue. Let’s call it a day, folks.】
【Wait, what?! Everyone said they were done, so why are you all competing with me to buy the game? My payment page’s been stuck for ages!】
DouDou Platform exploded.
This wasn’t an exaggeration. Initially, a surge in viewers was driven by the renowned streamer Ji Yu, but soon, the combination of her comedic chemistry with two hapless players and the game’s spine-chilling content drew an overwhelming wave of spectators. The live stream’s concurrent viewership soared to a staggering 500 million.
While five hundred million might not sound like much compared to the total population across the Eight Galactic Systems, it was a jaw-dropping number considering the timing, platform, and niche genre of the stream.
Even though the platform enjoyed massive traffic, DouDou officials never anticipated such an unexpectedly high conversion rate—essentially, they hadn’t foreseen that so many viewers would immediately decide to purchase the game. Their unprepared servers couldn’t handle the demand, and the purchase page promptly crashed.
Thankfully, the DouDou tech team sprang into action, rapidly addressing the issue before the problem could escalate to a full-scale platform-wide crash. That would have been a legendary and utterly embarrassing failure.
Within 30 seconds, the purchase page was back online. In just one minute, the sales for Campus Nightmare: May Bridge hit an astonishing figure.
Ye Yuxi checked the backend system, only to find that even the data dashboard was lagging. It took a full ten minutes before the revenue-sharing figures refreshed on her screen.
Lying lazily in bed and casually pondering her next steps, Ye Yuxi suddenly bolted upright. Her eyes widened as she stared at the virtual screen so intently it seemed her face might pass right through it.
“How… how many zeroes is that?”
In a daze, Ye Yuxi sat frozen, already savoring the intoxicating feeling of sudden wealth, even though the money wasn’t yet in her account.
Is making games really this profitable?!
Who would’ve guessed how many new ideas for games were brewing in her head? She had been budgeting carefully, thinking about creating small, simple games just to recoup her funds. But now, she realized she had been far too conservative!
The first thing to do with money?
A real game designer would tell you: go big, take risks, and keep pushing the envelope!
Invest the earnings back into production. Everything is for the dream of creating the ultimate game!
As for her next project, she already had some ideas. Players had mentioned that the game’s single-player mode felt limiting. So, for the next title, she planned to design a multiplayer role-playing experience.
“Still, I just pulled an all-nighter not long ago. There’s no way I’m starting work now,” Ye Yuxi mumbled to herself before collapsing back onto her bed.
She slept straight through to noon. By the time she woke up, her roommate Bai Siqi was nowhere to be seen.
Ye Yuxi didn’t bother wondering where her roommate had gone. She headed straight to the cafeteria, eating while scrolling through her game’s forum.
Yes, it had been less than 12 hours since the game’s launch, but the forum was already buzzing with posts. Clearly, many players had binge-played overnight after watching the live stream.
She casually clicked into a pinned highlight thread by DouDou’s moderators and was astonished to find that players had already pieced together most of the branching choices she had hidden in the game—all in just one night.
[Friendly Reminder: Although this is a single-threaded, single-player game, as long as players follow the game’s guidance, they won’t encounter any progression blocks. However, the difficulty isn’t as low as people might think. The innovative ghost mechanics will scare timid players, and a single wrong choice can prevent the player from achieving the Perfect Ending.]
[Let me talk about the Perfect Ending that Sister Yu emphasized during her stream. To achieve it, you need to ensure all friendly NPCs survive.]
[The first NPC to die, Ah Fei, is the hardest to save since his death occurs while he’s separated from the player. After numerous attempts, I discovered that if you speak to Ah Fei before the spirit summoning ritual begins and raise his favorability during the conversation, he’ll promise to give you the protective charm his grandmother blessed for him. With the charm, Ah Fei will survive a ghost attack and reunite with Wen Qian in the second stage.]
[At this point, players unlock an achievement: “Always the First”—probably because Ah Fei finally doesn’t have to die first.]
[Next, you must improve Wen Qian’s favorability after meeting her. Otherwise, she won’t trust you and will fall victim to Li Hua’s schemes due to her impulsive romantic decisions.]
[Helping Qiu Zi is much simpler: stay by her side at the beginning of the game to prevent her from recklessly getting herself killed. Oh, and when going to meet Li Hua, don’t bring Qiu Zi along. Instead, leave her hidden at a distance. If Qiu Zi sees Xu Yi, she’ll impulsively charge at him, only to be immediately killed by the ghost.]
[If you do the exact opposite of the above steps while keeping yourself alive, you’ll unlock the worst Happy Ending: No One but Me, where the player is the only survivor. This ending hints that Xu Yi will eventually kill you deliberately.]
[That said, this ending is also tough to achieve—it’s almost impossible for all the NPCs to die, right?]
“Amazing. They managed to unlock nearly all the endings—just how many playthroughs did it take?” Ye Yuxi marveled at their dedication.
Though the players missed some minor details, they weren’t crucial to the main story. For instance, if players switched their flashlight to UV mode in the archive room, they would discover numerous bloodstain reactions, triggering an Easter egg CG. It revealed that Old Liu from the archive room had uncovered Xu Yi’s suspicious expenditures and secretly collected evidence, only to be killed for it.
However, this revelation didn’t significantly impact the main plot—it was just a background Easter egg.
“Has no one figured out yet that the flashlight can switch to UV mode?” Ye Yuxi stretched lazily. “No worries, the next game will make you fully appreciate that feature.”
Just as she was about to enter her virtual creation space, a message popped up from DouDou.
“This is…”