When did you learn to act pitiful? (2)

As the year-end approached, even though the weather was getting colder, with the exams approaching, almost every grade level had already finished their classes. Still, the school library was crowded at any time.

With Xiao Mai preparing for exams and Luo Tuo on a business trip, the two of them naturally had no time to play games.

Strangely enough, even an idler like Lin Xun, seemed to have disappeared for several days.

Without anyone bugging her to log in every day, Yue Qianling settled down comfortably in her dormitory and spent several days working on her graduation project.

The soft glow of the desk lamp bathed her face as her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow beneath her lower eyelids.

Propping her chin on her hand, she absentmindedly swiped her phone and saw that her former project team colleagues had all posted a preview video of the Christmas event in their friend circles.

Since joining HC Interactive Entertainment, Yue Qianling had been working in a project team for an otome mobile game.

At the time, she had been lucky enough to join the team just as it was being formed and in need of additional staff. As an intern, she had been given the opportunity to work as the lead character designer for two of the game’s male protagonists.

Since the game’s release, these two male characters had consistently maintained high popularity, completely overshadowing the other three male characters in the game.

Of course, the success of these characters also owed a lot to the work of the scriptwriters, but Yue Qianling’s attention to detail in character design was a crucial factor in winning the players’ hearts.

In comparison, the other two male characters handled by her team leader seemed rather generic.

Today, when Yue Qianling saw the new teaser PV, she felt like a divorced mother visiting her ex-husband’s place to see her son.

The first person to share the teaser PV link in her friends’ circle was her team leader.

Yue Qianling clicked on it, but after just a brief look, she furrowed her brows and closed the video.

She contemplated typing a message to inquire who had taken over the character design for the two male protagonists, but she restrained herself from acting on impulse.

However, this didn’t stop others from noticing the difference because the art style and atmosphere were so much different from before.

In no time, one of her friends messaged her privately.

This friend was Yue Qianling’s college classmate, who had downloaded and played the game after seeing her promote it on her social media. In half a year, this classmate had spent quite a bit on in-game purchases.

Her classmate didn’t beat around the bush and directly asked Yue Qianling if they had changed the character designer for the male protagonist.

【Glutinous Rice Twist】: ???

【Glutinous Rice Twist】: Why are you so sharp?

【Xiao Wan】: Come on, this is my husband we’re talking about. I can even tell if he’s missing a strand of hair.

【Xiao Wan】: Why did you stop drawing?

【Glutinous Rice Twist】: I left the job.

【Xiao Wan】: I see. So, who drew this? It’s too ugly!

【Xiao Wan】: Since when did my husband’s smile become so sinister and arrogant???

【Xiao Wan】: And those pants, why are they showing his underwear tag, what’s that supposed to mean???

【Xiao Wan】: I’m so annoyed! I don’t even want to spend money on gacha anymore! I don’t want to answer his phone calls! I’m afraid he’ll grease me up!

Seeing how upset Xiao Wan was, Yue Qianling wondered what other players thought.

Yue Qianling shifted her focus and opened the official Weibo account for the game.

As she expected, the comments section of the latest event teaser PV on Weibo was fillede with criticism, and the discussion platform was no different.

Yue Qianling had taken over these two characters from the concept stage, and seeing them receive so much backlash left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it now.

With a sigh, she continued working on her graduation project.

However, it wasn’t long before someone reached out to her.

【Huang Jie】: Qianling, have you seen today’s teaser PV?

Yue Qianling thought for a moment and didn’t tell the truth.

【Glutinous Rice Twist】: Haven’t seen it yet, what’s up?

【Huang Jie】: Sigh, you probably don’t know, but the male protagonist you used to draw had the highest popularity. After you left, the team leader took over, and now that today’s teaser PV is out, players are furious. They are very dissatisfied.

【Huang Jie】: Now the team leader is venting her frustration on us during meetings.

【Huang Jie】: Seriously, what does it have to do with us?

【Huang Jie】: It’s not like we were the ones who drew it!

Yue Qianling: “…”

This was unexpected.

【Huang Jie】: If we don’t meet our revenue target this month, we’ll be in trouble.

【Huang Jie】: If only you hadn’t left, sigh.

【Huang Jie】: Just asking quietly, would you be willing to take on some freelance work?

Yue Qianling: “…”

She was speechless for a while before typing a reply.

【Glutinous Rice Twist】: I won’t take it. I’m busy working on my graduation project lately.

Doing freelance work for these card illustrations wouldn’t require too much effort for her and she could even earn a decent amount of money.

However, the thought of the boss’s words and what the team leader had done made her unwilling to work for them.

Let the team leader figure it out.

【Huang Jie】: Well, in that case, the team leader will have to make the changes herself. We can’t help with this.

Changes?

Yue Qianling was actually looking forward to seeing what kind of results the team leader could come up with.

The next morning, because it was the weekend, both Yue Qianling and Yin Xue slept in.

When she finally woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, and there were several unread messages on her phone.

【Xiao Wan】: Is HC trying to shut down the game???

【Xiao Wan】: Dammit, I’m so furious!!!

Yue Qianling, still half-asleep, asked her what had happened, while turning on the light as she got up.

Xiao Wan’s anger seemed like it would burst through the phone screen and hit Yue Qianling directly.

【Xiao Wan】: You really don’t know???

【Xiao Wan】: Go check the trending topics!!!

Following her advice, Yue Qianling opened the game’s trending topics, and what she saw immediately jolted her awake.

Here’s what had happened:

Since its launch, this otome game, although it couldn’t be considered a massively popular game, had consistently generated a substantial monthly revenue.

When players, who were like “sugar daddies”, expressed dissatisfaction, the game company naturally needed to address them and make improvements.

So, the project team worked overnight to modify the card art for the two male lead characters and issued an apology on Weibo along with the updated card art.

With these changes, the beloved characters remained the same, and most players were satisfied, and the initial anger seemed to have subsided.

However, not long after, someone used Photoshop to compare the new card art with the previous ones and created a side-by-side comparison.

It turned out that they had merely changed the characters’ outfits and backgrounds, while the faces of the male characters were exactly the same as the old ones!

This discovery further ignited the players’ anger. Not to mention the money spenders during Christmas events, many of the big spenders collectively declared that they would boycott spending money in the game. This directly hit the game’s revenue stream.

So, why did Xiao Wan come to Yue Qianling directly?

It was because even Xiao Wan noticed that the facial features of the characters in the new card art were identical to those of Yue Qianling’s artwork from the Mid-Autumn Festival event.

This made Yue Qianling question whether her team leader was incredibly clueless or simply believed that the players were stupid.

After being amazed for a while, Yue Qianling shook her head and set her phone down, sighing at how the world was full of all kinds of people.

Just then, her phone screen suddenly lit up.

An incoming call from Chen Yin.

Yue Qianling’s heart skipped a beat, and she immediately pressed the answer button.

Perhaps Chen Yin hadn’t expected Yue Qianling to answer so quickly because she started talking immediately, not realizing that the call had gone through. “The boss is always coming up with these embarrassing tasks and assigning them to me!”

After realizing the call had connected, Chen Yin paused for a couple of seconds before her voice softened.

“Qianling, are you awake? Sister needs to talk to you about something.”