As for Yu Haiqing, he didn’t bother himself with such minor decisions.

Like he had mentioned before, Endless Sea was getting increasingly complex, and trivial matters concerning the “Gods and Demons” NPCs could be handled by the game department itself. If every small issue needed his attention, the huge company of Endless Sea would have fallen into chaos long ago.

The only reason he stayed here was to assess the performance of the new SEA update, and for the first time, he was experiencing the new storyline. It felt a bit odd, yet distinctly different from before.

In the past, he had barely spared a glance at the protagonist, but now he actually took a closer look at this NPC named Xie Shuangxue, and the more he looked, the more he felt there was something unique and indescribable about him.

Gou Yuan and Wei Lan had argued non-stop since they started working together, and not only Yu Haiqing but everyone in the company was used to it. Most people expected them to keep at it for days this time, but the moment Xie Shuangxue appeared, they reached a consensus instantly.

This might be the fastest reconciliation in history.

The two of them circled around Xie Shuangxue for ages, both looking very pleased, as if they had entirely forgotten the fierce arguments they’d just had.

But testing had to go on. As the scene cut to the next character, Yu Haiqing watched as Xie Shuangxue faded away. Yet in that last, blurry moment, he seemed to catch a glimpse of Xie Shuangxue’s downcast eyes lifting ever so slightly, and the corners of his mouth curving subtly upward. That previously endearing face now seemed sly, resembling a mischievous little fox, even more so than before.

But by the time Xie Shuangxue fully disappeared, the image had blurred beyond recognition. The next character, lively and grinning, was already in sight, making it seem like it was all just a trick of the mind during the character switch.

Wei Lan and Gou Yuan didn’t seem to notice anything, either. Yu Haiqing glanced down at the controller; all the data readings were perfectly normal.

He frowned a bit, thinking it over, but decided to let it go as an illusion.

Still, he did remember this character. None of the NPCs that followed could match the striking impression Xie Shuangxue had made. Perhaps SEA’s enhanced performance would depend on luck after all.

As he looked through all the characters, the one that left the deepest impression was still Xie Shuangxue, far more memorable than even the protagonist. But for Gou Yuan, having even just one character like this was satisfaction enough.

Gou Yuan, plagued by internal and external troubles for a while now, grew increasingly excited as he reviewed the characters and other functionalities. There was no time to call in the professional evaluation team, but based solely on the art functions, it was clear that all aspects had improved, with no visible bugs. This only strengthened his resolve to release the new version on the third anniversary.

“Gods and Demons would’ve been in real trouble this time without you.”

Gou Yuan’s words weren’t entirely flattery; he genuinely meant it.

Yu Haiqing looked at him and said, “It’s not just my doing.”

Gou Yuan didn’t believe him. He managed the access control to the Gods and Demons servers, and Yu Haiqing had started working on this personally over two months ago, not letting the tech team interfere at all. Their leader was just being humble!

Yu Haiqing paused for a moment, sighed, and continued, “I’m not doing this purely for the game department. Like I mentioned in previous meetings, expanding from a holographic game to a holographic ecosystem is the next priority for Endless Sea. The SEA upgrade is part of the company’s future strategy, but it’s not as simple as you might think.

“With SEA’s upgrade, players will indeed have more freedom and interactivity, but that also means the main system will have greater control—”

He hesitated, rephrasing, “As a world becomes more realistic, some things will start following their own logic, beyond human control.”

The SEA system already held significant authority over both the front and back ends. If realism continued to increase, so would the freedom within the game world. Currently, there were no irregularities on the backend, but once it went live and merged with the vast, uncontrollable player base, it might indeed be more complex than anticipated.

This was why he had temporarily halted the release announcement for the third-anniversary update, just to see how Gou Yuan would choose—whether to incorporate this significant update into the third-anniversary version or not.

But given Gou Yuan’s personality, the outcome wasn’t hard to predict.

“Hasn’t it always been like this? SEA controls most things within the game world. If a small bug really pops up, we can fix it in time. And let’s face it, what game is bug-free? We can smooth things over, make adjustments, apologize, and toss out some freebies. Players won’t complain too much,” Gou Yuan said earnestly, showing no worry. “The tech department is well-prepared, and I’ll keep a close watch. We’ll definitely run multiple tests before the release, so don’t worry, Yu Haiqing. If there’s any issue, I’ll take full responsibility.”

The third anniversary of Gods and Demons was simply too important.

With a strong sense of pride, Gou Yuan couldn’t bear the thought of the competition surpassing their game. Yu Haiqing remained silent for a while before saying no more.

“Do as you see fit,” he said. “Matters in the game department are up to you.”

Having completed what he needed to do, he got up and left.

Gou Yuan knew that Yu Haiqing was busy, handling major deals these days, including stock transactions related to platforms like Lin Jiao Live. Now, he even had to make time for the game department, inform HR to replace his secretary, and juggle it all as a true workaholic.

Mostly, though, it was because none of them could match Yu Haiqing’s expertise. Gou Yuan had been wrestling with SEA’s upgrade for three years without much progress.

Yu Haiqing really was in a league of his own.

No matter who handled it, it all worked out in the end. Gods and Demons really was the beloved child of Endless Sea!

Brimming with satisfaction, he saw Yu Haiqing off with a respectful send-off before heading triumphantly to the planning team’s office.

At that moment, a few members of the planning team were slacking off.

With the leader out, they’d gathered to chat about hot topics on the forum. Gou Yuan’s walk was practically a strut, and nobody noticed his approach.

“Isn’t our company getting bashed again? Players are clamoring for the third-anniversary announcement, but there’s still no release. My inbox on the official backend is blowing up.”

“How could we not get bashed?” A planner, quite used to it, shrugged while adjusting his dog-head cap. “I’m used to it by now. In this industry, a life unscathed by players’ ‘dog planner’ insults is incomplete. But it’s not us who bear the brunt; the higher-ups get it worse. At least Yu Haiqing has fans. Poor Gou Yuan is hated across the internet, getting roasted from all sides. So tragic!”

No sooner had he spoken than the voice of “Internet’s most hated” Gou Yuan came from right behind him.

“Oh, really?”

The planner froze, not daring to turn around.

In a good mood today, Gou Yuan let it slide. He slapped the planner’s cartoon dog-head cap and said, “Quit gossiping about the leaders behind their backs! Get that announcement out now. Don’t change anything, just add a line to the system update. Something like: ‘The SEA main chip has been successfully upgraded, with significant improvements to game realism.’ Submit it to me for review once done.”

After a pause, he added, “Once the announcement is out, there’ll be daily character teasers, right? Besides the main characters, have the planning and art teams discuss promoting Xie Shuangxue. Let’s see how players react.”

“Xie Shuangxue?”

The planning team members were taken aback, glancing at each other with confusion. They didn’t understand why he wanted to push a seemingly insignificant minor villain.

It didn’t seem like there was much material for this character.

“He’s visually stunning in the modeling; the art team’s already cutting together interaction clips,” Gou Yuan didn’t explain further. “You’ll get it when you see it. Now, get to work!”

Meanwhile, Xie Shuangxue, still oblivious to his potential spotlight, was focused on studying the light orb he had painstakingly gathered.

He knew his storyline well enough to improvise a bit whenever needed, and all he had to do was reach Yu Haiqing without arousing suspicion.

Having completed his tests, he had a clearer understanding of what this light orb might represent.

It seemed to grant certain permissions.

Like his unusual awakening, he couldn’t pinpoint the reason behind it, but it was likely connected to something else, something that could be absorbed and utilized.

Xie Shuangxue’s deduction was well-founded.

He overheard SEA’s main chip had been upgraded, personally modified by Yu Haiqing, and his research on the forums told him that SEA was Yu Haiqing’s creation, intrinsically linked to the president of Endless Sea.

The biggest distinction with Yu Haiqing was that his account, bound to SEA’s main chip after scanning his iris, had the highest permissions within SEA, granting him an unparalleled level of freedom to influence SEA’s core.

The employees from the testing team, Gou Yuan, and Wei Lan didn’t have such light orbs because they lacked the required level of permissions to access SEA’s core, but Yu Haiqing did.

Thus, Xie Shuangxue’s theory became clearer.

The “light orbs” he collected likely had two sources: high-level internal permissions and external information flows from outside SEA’s main chip.

In his recent experiment, consuming these light orbs allowed him to slip into the forum and partially escape the control of the storyline. With enough of them, he might even go undetected.

His actions in the testing space had drained all his orbs, which meant he was immobilized by the end. But advancing the storyline had been enough to fulfill his goal.

When character testing ended, the light orb he had gathered from Yu Haiqing coiled around his wrist, and any excess seeped into his body, bringing a peculiar tingling sensation. He suddenly felt energized.

It was a worthwhile exchange.

If his guess was correct, he might actually use these light orbs to defy fate.

As he figured out what the orbs were, he began to understand his own nature.

Xie Shuangxue mused, I might just be an AI virus born by accident.

A recent worry had been plaguing him: every time he “died” in testing, he felt suffocated. When the main storyline launched and he was “killed” by Chun Yao, it could be game over for real.

He didn’t have grand ambitions to shatter the storyline and dominate the game, nor did he hate the protagonist. All he wanted as a little virus was to sneak through SEA’s firewall and find a way to survive, avoiding deletion.

He wasn’t a malicious virus, and he hadn’t chosen to awaken. He just wanted to live.

Xie Shuangxue glanced at the light coil wrapped around his wrist and set himself a small goal.

But he was also a bit worried.

The orbs were useful, that much was clear. But with the storyline test nearly over, once the official plot went live, he might not return to this gray space. Where would he gather orbs then?

Accessing Yu Haiqing would be even harder; it was rare for the president of Endless Sea to personally test the system.

He only had this little bit of light orb left, and it wouldn’t last long.

Just as he fretted, Xie Shuangxue felt something soft touch his head, like a drop of warm water.

Looking at his wrist, he saw it was the very light he yearned for!

…Huh?

It wasn’t an illusion.

Soon after, another drop followed.

The orb, the size of a soybean, fell onto his head from above, and Xie Shuangxue absorbed it all.

It wasn’t as big as the one from Yu Haiqing, but hey, it was free light from the heavens!

What was happening?

Unbeknownst to him, at that very moment, the third-anniversary announcement for Gods and Demons was finally released after a day’s delay.

In addition to new maps and world quests that had been hinted at, the announcement emphasized an upgrade in realism, promising an entirely different game experience. But this was only briefly mentioned, with no further details.

The players’ most anticipated rewards were plenty this time. With a month left until the event, a countdown login bonus had already started, and to make up for the delayed announcement, the entire server received an apology letter, 1,000 coins, and ten mid-level refinement stones—enough to buy a few minutes of player goodwill.

“Thank you, dear planners! We totally forgive the delayed announcement!”

“Excited for this, I already gave five stars!”

“The Gods and Demons game, rich storyline, friendly vibe, and beautiful characters—definitely one of the best games out there! I absolutely love it! (P.S. Fix the prize draw, though!)”

“OMG, everyone, go check out the new characters—they look absolutely stunning!”

“Alright, calm down! Don’t go overboard with the compliments; 1,000 coins is only worth five minutes of praise, don’t spoil them.”

“No joke, guys, the new promo video is out, and the characters look amazing! Stunning, all of them!”