It wasn’t just Xie Shuangxue who was paying close attention to the unfolding storyline; the Gods and Demons game department was on high alert too.

They were in the middle of a meeting because something unusual had happened with the plotline written by Lin Tong, the lead planner. This meeting had been scheduled in advance, but today, the atmosphere was especially tense—because Yu Haiqing himself, the president, was attending.

Normally, someone as busy as Yu Haiqing wouldn’t bother with minor plot adjustments, but today, he’d arrived early at the Gods and Demons department. He immediately requested the entire “Book of Floating Dreams” storyline from Lin Tong and, upon hearing there was going to be a meeting on the plot deviation, took a seat, showing no intention of leaving.

All the team leads were present. Liang Zhongtang from the tech team and Zhuang Feng from the testing team sat off to the side, silent. The game screen displaying the storyline was on the monitor in front of them. Lin Tong sat beside Wei Lan, while Yu Haiqing read through the script. He hadn’t said anything yet, so Wei Lan kept her eyes on the screen.

She frowned as she watched Xie Shuangxue take the lashes, and her frown deepened when Ling Xuan reached out to catch him.

The first frown was worry for her favorite character, but the second was pure job-related concern.

Could this be a character deviation?

“I don’t think so,” Wei Lan muttered. “Ling Xuan was designed to respond kindly to those who treat him well, and as for our dear Snowy—” she glanced at the screen, sighing, “poor thing, look at him getting beaten like that. My poor boy.”

While she and Lin Tong chatted, Yu Haiqing lifted his head and stared at Xie Shuangxue on the screen.

He watched intently as the scene unfolded, from the whipping, to the medicine application, to Ling Xuan’s defiance of his master and his careful attention to Xie Shuangxue.

After watching the entire altered sequence, Yu Haiqing finally spoke, “What’s everyone’s take on the updates to SEA’s response handling? Let’s hear it.”

There was a moment of silence, then Liang Zhongtang gathered his courage and spoke up first, “SEA’s permissions are too broad now. There are definite issues with the storyline, but we… can’t change it. Should we consider an emergency fix?”

Too many characters had started to change, and SEA repeatedly refused manual adjustments. The Skeleton Ghost boss had died earlier than expected, so Chen Xin survived, which caused a chain reaction of butterfly effects. But the frustrating part was that the current developments still fell within SEA’s understanding of this world.

Yu Haiqing only nodded, expression unchanged, gesturing for the other leads to continue.

The testing and art teams had little to say, as their main work was in preparing new versions for launch and not directly affected by these changes.

When it was Lin Tong’s turn, she was well-prepared.

“I have to admit there’s been some plot deviation, but I stand by my opinion from yesterday—it’s not a bad thing,” she said earnestly. “Having a few unexpected storylines emerge from interactions is essential in a high-freedom, holographic game. Players are unpredictable, and NPCs are intelligent. We should embrace their evolution rather than overreact. Just let things run naturally.”

Her attitude was almost enthusiastic.

The appearance of the hidden boss had boosted the confidence of the planning team, making these current changes seem insignificant. In the storyline, Xie Shuangxue was a notable antagonist, while Chen Xin and Ling Xuan were small characters who both died at Xie Shuangxue’s hands in the early stages. They had few lines and screen time, and Ling Xuan’s brother, Ling Luo, was the real secondary male lead.

Although a deviation in a side character’s storyline was technically an emergency, it was far from unprecedented in holographic gaming.

The tech team disagreed, and Liang Zhongtang couldn’t hold back, “If we let this go, what do we do if things spiral out of control later?”

Lin Tong gave him a look but didn’t rely on mere words to counter him. Instead, she presented a detailed, illustrated report to support her argument.

The key example in Lin Tong’s materials was Xie Shuangxue.

She pulled up the forum discussion, noting that the player reaction to this incident was far from what they’d expected.

Truthfully, Endless Sea hadn’t invested much in marketing for the Xie Shuangxue character and hadn’t planned on promoting him as a trending topic. But “Xie Shuangxue’s Punishment” shot up in popularity, and as soon as people clicked on it, they found players lamenting.

“I log on to see my boy getting beaten up! Endless Sea, do I owe you money for you to treat him like this?”

“Let him go! He’s obviously being used by someone.”

“Dog planners, come out and take your punishment!”

It seemed the Gods and Demons planning team’s respite from player complaints was over. But it was clear that players were deeply invested in Xie Shuangxue’s character.

For Lin Tong, it was simply a free KPI boost.

Thanks to Xie Shuangxue’s popularity spike, Gods and Demons remained at the top of both hype and revenue rankings, while Dreamscape’s counter-marketing efforts failed once again.

“Plot deviation isn’t the same as character deviation. If we look closely, none of the characters have strayed from their core settings. It’s simply that the players have grown fond of them.”

“Take Xie Shuangxue as an example. His actions can be explained as pitiable, or as cleverly calculated within the plot. But players overwhelmingly believe he’s pitiable and endearing.”

“If this deviation aligns with player expectations and draws attention, why not let it be?” Lin Tong’s voice grew more confident as she spoke. “Department Head Gou, President Yu, it’s rare to create a breakout character. A wildly popular character can bring immense benefits to the game. Aside from us in the game department, even Lin Jiao Live reported a significant increase in traffic yesterday. I just hope we don’t squander this potential.”

Wei Lan felt like applauding her. Anything to support her precious Snowy! If her Snowy could become wildly popular and walk a path of adoration, she’d be thrilled.

Even Gou Yuan, usually laser-focused on maintaining technical perfection, perked up at these last few points. He knew a popular character could be hugely profitable for the company, though he still had some reservations, “But what if the plot collapses later?”

“It won’t. SEA has self-correction capabilities. We should trust the main brain chip,” Lin Tong responded. “Besides, the main storyline is still stable. The protagonists….”

She hadn’t even finished speaking when a change occurred.

The conference room had several screens showing different perspectives, and one in the middle displayed the protagonists’ progress.

In the storyline, Chun Yao and Luo Yin were examining the medicine and discovered something suspicious. The last bottle that Luo Yin mentioned was the one found in Xie Shuangxue’s possession during the setup.

At the time, the evidence seemed incriminating enough that they didn’t examine it closely. They simply confirmed the presence of demonic energy and declared him guilty. Xie Shuangxue’s quick confession only further averted suspicion.

Chun Yao examined the bottle and noticed it was indeed different.

The medicine used for external wounds was powder-based, and upon comparison, it seemed like something had been mixed in, reducing the demonic energy.

“The demonic energy in this medicine needs to reach a certain concentration to trigger a reaction. Today’s amount was just enough to trigger it, meaning Elder Ling had it prepped in advance,” Luo Yin explained. “But with the last bottle missing some demonic energy, it wouldn’t reach the threshold, and Elder Ling’s plan would’ve failed.”

Luo Yin pieced things together. “Xie Shuangxue must have tried to resist at the last moment, but he was too weak. Given the circumstances, he had no choice but to protect himself. He’s pitiable; we can’t blame him for this.”

Chun Yao was stunned. Xie Shuangxue’s firm confession had seemed strange from the start. The two had even wondered if he was truly forced. Otherwise, why didn’t he ask Chun Yao for help or expose Elder Ling during the interrogation?

Now, Chun Yao was nearly certain Xie Shuangxue had been coerced. He simply couldn’t speak about it openly.

Chun Yao gave Luo Yin a meaningful look. If not for Luo Yin’s keen eye, he might have been another victim. Luo Yin’s honesty and clarity were impressive, and Chun Yao couldn’t help but admire him. Even Chun Yao had failed to notice the subtle differences in demonic energy at first, but Luo Yin did. It was fitting, given his lineage as an exorcist.

“Fortunately, Ling Xuan and Chen Xin are taking care of him. I’ve already sent medicine to him,” Chun Yao sighed. “Also, I promised Lord Xie that I’d adopt him. I’ll officially register him as a core descendant of the Feather Clan so that no one can slight him over this incident.”

Seeing this play out, Liang Zhongtang instinctively glanced down at the SEA backend controller he carried with him.

SEA hasn’t flagged any errors!

Even the protagonists’ behavior was changing—could it really be this free?

But Lin Tong knew why.

The protagonists and the main storyline hadn’t changed.

At this point, Chun Yao had always felt pity for Xie Shuangxue, and Luo Yin had never intended to exploit a wounded child. The current events simply amplified Chun Yao’s compassion and fostered trust between him and Luo Yin, bringing their bond closer.

This was entirely in line with SEA’s storyline requirements, so why would it flag an error?

In fact, this was more compelling than Lin Tong’s original plot.

And Yu Haiqing didn’t seem displeased after watching this sequence. Instead, he wore an inscrutable smile. Glancing at Lin Tong, he asked, “Do you still stand by your view?”

Lin Tong nodded firmly.

“Good,” Yu Haiqing said, eyes still on Xie Shuangxue on the screen, before rising and concluding, “No need to alter SEA. Keep it as is.”

On his way out, he even took the storyline script with him.

As soon as the boss left, everyone in the office let out a collective sigh of relief, though Liang Zhongtang still looked concerned.

Just like that? Isn’t that a bit too relaxed?

Wei Lan, however, was perfectly at ease. She was only worried about designing new outfits for her precious Snowy. As the meeting ended, she couldn’t resist pulling Gou Yuan aside to whisper, “Wasn’t President Yu supposed to stay out of all this? Why does he suddenly have time to be here?”

Gou Yuan sighed, not sure how to respond.

He’d noticed yesterday that Yu Haiqing’s interest had shifted back to Gods and Demons.

He’d quickly reported the success of the hidden boss event and asked if they should adjust SEA’s autonomy. But Yu Haiqing hadn’t responded.

Gou Yuan had assumed it meant the president didn’t care about these details. Then, he received a notification that the account “Jiu” had logged in.

Only Gou Yuan knew—Jiu was Yu Haiqing’s personal game account!

How could he not care? He even logged into the account he’d abandoned ages ago to check it out personally. Who knows where this sudden interest came from.