Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 79

Suddenly being accused like that, Ye Yuxi looked completely confused.

“Huh? What are you talking about? Everyone kept saying the game was too easy before, didn’t they? I just made it a little harder… It’s not that bad, right? Don’t tell me you got stuck, Yuling?”

That fired Liu Yuling right up. She launched into an emotional rant, vividly describing how she and Meng Zhiyao kept hitting “Game Over” after “Game Over” while playing the Campus Nightmare 2 demo together.

“We didn’t even make it to the Yin-yang Road! We lost SAN points like crazy just from getting spooked by all those creepy events! The entry bar for this game is way too high! Players who got scared easily are probably going to drop dead the moment they start!”

“And then—when you barely make it to the Yin-Yang Road—there’s that eating game? It’s insane! Play it? You die. Refuse? You still die. No matter what you do, you’re screwed. What kind of game is this? It’s like the players are the ones getting played!”

“Even if you somehow manage to survive that, your SAN value is basically at rock bottom. And the moment you step onto the Yin-yang Road, you start hallucinating all these terrifying ghosts—and whatever little SAN you had left just drains away, throwing you straight into the same bad ending everyone gets when it hits zero—”

[Player’s SAN value has dropped to 0. Character has died.
Ending Achieved: “Doomed Before the Journey Even Began.”
Please try again.]

Just thinking about that soul-crushing system message made Liu Yuling want to cry. She immediately turned to her teammate, who had suffered through all those bad endings with her, seeking backup.

“Xiao Meng, you agree, right? This game’s insane! It’s like you die if you even breathe wrong—the whole experience is brutal!”

Meng Zhiyao blinked in confusion and looked up.

“Huh? Really? I actually thought it was fine.”

Even though she’d died a bunch too, just thinking about being completely surrounded by fear made her cheeks flush with happiness.

“As expected of Teacher Ye! This game is incredible! No escape room or murder mystery game even comes close to delivering this kind of pure terror! Please keep blessing us with more supreme horror!”

Liu Yuling: “…”

Traitor… No, a total freak is sitting right next to me.

Ye Yuxi: “…”

She was getting praised… but somehow, it didn’t feel that great. With a sigh, she looked a little defeated.

“Is it really that hard? If you just collect clues carefully at the start, watch the streamer and the chat, memorize the horror stories they mention, and stay away from the willow trees during the eating game, you won’t trigger any instant-death bystander flags.”

“And even if you do get targeted, it’s not game over! Stay calm, think it through, figure out which NPC is actually a ghost, refuse to go with it, and hold your ground for a few minutes. Then a real NPC will come rescue you.”

“And if you end up in the eating game, it’s even simpler! As long as you follow the rules exactly, there’s no instant-death flag at all…”

At that point, both employees were staring at their boss with hollow eyes.

She made it sound so easy!

But when you’re trapped inside that terrifying world, how calm do you think a normal person can actually be?!

Of course, Ye Yuxi knew reality was much harsher than theory. Seeing even her top-tier employees struggling so much, she had to admit… maybe she had made it a little too hard. Maybe her earlier games had been too easy, and now players had gotten a bit soft.

Still, difficulty should be ramped up slowly, not thrown at them all at once.

After thinking it over, Ye Yuxi decided she could split the game into different difficulty modes.

Hard mode would stay as it was.

But in normal mode, she could cut down the scare elements a little, keeping only the critical ones tied to the main storyline.

That way, at least half the players could survive long enough to properly reach the Yin-yang Road—

Because that was the real heart of the game! The storyline she had spent the most time and energy crafting. If players dropped out before reaching it, what a waste!

No matter what, she had to make sure they lived long enough to experience the true horror feast.

Ye Yuxi was just about to head into the back to work overtime when she suddenly snapped back to reality—

Wait, she hadn’t come here to debug!

She’d come to discuss something with her employees!

“Yuling, Zhiyao, good news! Our studio’s about to hit it big! DouDou platform just connected us with a company that wants to collaborate on merchandise!”

Determined not to get distracted again, Ye Yuxi rattled off the good news in one breath—

Her game was about to have its own merch! She expected her teammates to be just as excited.

Instead, she got two blank, confused faces.

“Huh? Seriously? Your game’s getting merch? Like what—life-size ghost dolls? Mini ghost dolls? Please don’t tell me it’s full-scale replicas of old phones and flashlights…”

Liu Yuling looked genuinely troubled.

She had bought a lot of game merch before—usually figurines or meaningful item replicas.

But Ye Yuxi’s game…

She honestly couldn’t imagine how that would work.

A ghost doll sitting on her nightstand? She’d be too scared to even go to the bathroom at night.

Meanwhile, Meng Zhiyao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, a gleam of excitement in her eyes.

“If it’s Teacher Ye’s game merch… I’ll definitely buy everything with my own money!”

She was already planning to turn her room into a haunted house where no living human could survive.

Now it was Ye Yuxi’s turn to look pained.

“What are you two imagining?! Sure, there’ll be some ghost-themed stuff, but most of it will be meaningful items! Like the protective charm from Campus Nightmare—the one carried by Ah Fei, the guy who always dies first. If players buy the charm, it’s like they saved him. Isn’t that meaningful?”

“And for players who scare easily, we’ll have yellow talismans they can stick up at home! It’ll help them feel a little safer!”

She pulled up a holographic screen, showing them a design draft for the talisman.

It had bold characters scrawled across it: “Evil Spirits Begone.”

Liu Yuling leaned over for a closer look and was genuinely impressed.

“Yuxi, you really thought this through! Your game now comes with paid after-sales service—first you scare us to death, then you sell us stuff to recover! When’s the merch dropping? Can I reserve a few?”

Ye Yuxi quickly did the math in her head.

“We’re syncing Campus Nightmare merch with the launch of Campus Nightmare 2 to boost the hype. As for Residential Area Battle Royale, its merch will drop earlier to ride the current wave before it cools off. Oh, and the best part? I confirmed it with the manufacturer—our studio gets unlimited samples for keepsakes!”

Seeing how Ye Yuxi had planned everything so thoroughly, Liu Yuling couldn’t help clicking her tongue.

“Not bad at all. I used to worry about you, you know. Ever since you started this studio, you’ve actually developed a business brain!”

Ye Yuxi puffed up her chest proudly.

Of course!

Making games burned money like crazy—

If she wanted to reach her grand vision, she had to start stacking her “coffin funds” early!

She spent a few blissful seconds imagining herself lying on a bed of money—

Only to suddenly remember something important she still needed to discuss with Liu Yuling.

Just as she was about to bring it up, someone tugged at her sleeve.

She turned—and found Meng Zhiyao staring up at her with eyes full of sparkling admiration.

“Every time I think Teacher Ye has peaked, she somehow gets even cooler!

You can design games and handle business—you’re completely beyond anything I ever imagined!”

Ye Yuxi: “……”

“No offense, but, uh, Zhiyao, do you happen to know someone with the ID ‘LuoDiChengHe’? They’re an employee at your sister’s company.” 

Seriously, were these two trained at the same “unstoppable compliment” boot camp?

How did they always manage to leave her both awkward and delighted at the same time?!