Chapter 24: My Seven In and Seven Out with Brother System

As for where the money to optimize the theme song came from—while the company’s accounts were empty, Gu Meng had his own ways.

It certainly wasn't from game revenue. Without special agreements, such funds would never arrive in a matter of days. To put it simply: if a player buys a game and the money hits the company’s account two minutes later, and then, following a major backlash within half a day, everyone decides to quit and demand a refund, could you really guarantee that the money could be clawed back from the developer? Or consider something more extreme, like the time *Maodou* was delisted by the official platform and forced to issue full refunds. What if a game company is pressed for payment but refuses to pay, and the boss absconds with 350 million, running off with his sister-in-law? How would the platform recover those funds?

Although the game industry in this world is flourishing, it hasn't reached the point of real-time settlement, nor would the finance department move money with such high frequency. At the end of the day, apart from the abundance of games, this world is largely the same as his previous life.

In truth, the most illogical and metaphysical element in this world is Gu Meng’s transmigration and his system. The system is truly unreasonable; Gu Meng has no idea where the money he spends on microtransactions actually goes. He also has no idea why such operations, which should theoretically create chaotic ledgers, don't seem strange to anyone. He only knows that money poured into the system is recorded in the company’s books as legitimate game production costs, and the system’s supplementary agreements ensure that these microtransactions do not negatively affect the host.

This is beyond the scope of simple data tampering or hacking a bank. To prevent everyone from being suspicious and to ensure Gu Meng is never questioned about the system... is it a law of causality influencing human subconsciousness? Or perhaps something like "Sequence 1: Writer"?

He remembered reading novels about game development before he transmigrated—the most popular genre where the protagonist tries to lose money but ends up becoming the richest man, promising to make a trash game but accidentally creating *Titanfall*... stories where the protagonist’s system offers ten or hundredfold returns on funds. Those systems were even more outrageous than his. Then again, once a system is involved, nothing is scientific anymore. It is precisely because of this that Gu Meng didn’t name his company "Game Science," but "Game Metaphysics."

*Youxuan* wouldn't receive its first batch of revenue from *Pure Love* until next month, but Gu Meng had money now. Simply because the bank stopped dunning him. In fact, they even offered him a new line of revolving credit. In business, banks are known for lending umbrellas when it’s sunny and taking them back when it rains. They had certainly tried to take the umbrella back before, but for Gu Meng, the sun was shining now. The sun was rising, and the sky was clear.

***

The video was released.

The players of *Pure Love Warrior Simulator* and the fans who had been following the *Maodou* lineage—or rather, the *Youxuan* lineage—accounts were the first to see the new promotional song.

"So *Pure Love* had a promotional theme song all along? A week late... was it because it was rushed, so it wasn't ready for the launch? Or does Boss Gu have some other profound intention?"

Gou Tong muttered to himself. "Every move Gu Meng makes is calculated a hundred steps ahead. There must be a very deep reason for this."

Although Gou Tong was still living in his old, dilapidated apartment, his spirit had been completely transformed. That video of his, which triggered the bug, had nearly ten million views on Bilibili alone. His follower count had surged from a little over a hundred thousand to over three hundred thousand in a week, and it was still growing. Moreover, other commercial offers were frequently reaching out to him. Most of them were people from the entertainment industry transitioning into filming "movie-games," thinking that Gou Tong’s luck was peaking and wanting to siphon off some of that momentum and traffic.

The promotional fees offered were getting higher and higher. He was taking his time, intending to pick the ones with higher quality. In this world, the quality of new movie-games produced over the last two years was much higher than in his previous life, and these works from the entertainment industry rarely had major flaws. In the past, Gou Tong would have taken any meal he could get, but now he was cherishing his reputation, carefully selecting the best of the best—a happy problem to have.

*Game Metaphysics* had also given him a bonus, and by next month, Gou Tong would be moving into a better place.

Gu Meng thought to himself: *The cards left behind by that 'flying old man' were terrible. While it looks like I’m the one who’s strong, you and the System are my true saviors. In this 'seven in, seven out' battle, I am Liu Shan, the System is Zhaoyun, and you are the white horse. Once the bank funds arrive, I’ll feed them to Zhaoyun to upgrade the MV, and then to you, my horse.*

Gou Tong didn't know any of that. In his mind, Gu Meng’s intelligence was comparable to that of Zhuge Liang. He figured that even without him, there would have been other contingency plans in motion, such as arranging for a trusted subordinate to pose as an ordinary uploader to post the bug video. He was just a lucky person who had stumbled into a stroke of good fortune and had a bit of courage.

After indulging in a series of fantasies about Gu Meng’s brilliant wisdom, Gou Tong clicked on the four-minute and thirty-three-second promotional theme song. At the same time, countless players did the same.

***

There was no singing at the start, just a short opening animation.

The face was obscured, but the clothing matched the beginning of the game; it was clearly the male protagonist walking into a dilapidated building.

"This place feels a bit familiar."

The hype for *Pure Love Warrior Simulator* hadn't faded yet, and although Gou Tong clicked on it shortly after its release, the screen was already filled with bullet comments.

"It appeared briefly in the opening CG; it’s where the hero and heroine played hide-and-seek when they were kids."

"Oh, it's that unfinished building. After the protagonist gets a lot of money, he can buy the land and develop it however he wants."

This building had appeared in the opening CG and could be entered during the actual game, where NPCs would claim it was haunted. If you went deep inside at night, you’d find it was just stray cats and dogs, or occasionally couples looking for thrills. Investigating the source of the rumors, some elders would say that back when construction stalled, someone jumped to their death from the rooftop, scaring quite a few people. Deciphering the mystery yielded a small amount of intelligence experience, but the rewards weren't high. It was somewhat useful in the late game, as working there provided bonuses—like bringing a computer to write horror stories, which would increase the quality of the work, or live-streaming ghost-hunting, which could attract more viewers. If you wanted to revitalize the town, you could buy this plot and redevelop it.

The protagonist walked up the desolate stairs to the unfinished rooftop, looking down from one of the town's rare high-rise buildings. The camera panned across a full panoramic view of the town: old streets and numb pedestrians.

He turned and spread his arms, embracing the past, and the camera returned to the building's interior. The phantoms of the young hero and heroine appeared from years ago, laughing and chatting just as they had yesterday. But as the heroine grew up, only the adult phantom of the hero remained in the unfinished building. He no longer had the joy of his childhood; the phantom walked up to the adult hero, and the two stared at each other, faceless.

"So high-end."
"Boss Gu is still going strong."
"I declare Boss Gu is a god."
"I second that declaration."
"Isn't that a bit much? It's just a few shots... okay, my contrarian instinct is kicking in, but this is genuinely impressive. No lines, no expressions, just visuals, yet it's so moving."

*That’s right,* Gu Meng thought, *these animated shots were made by pouring money into the System!*

The System had no limits; the only limit was Liu Shan, the one giving the orders. At this moment, everyone couldn't see the protagonist's face, so they naturally didn't know what he was thinking. They could only hear a soft chuckle.

It was unclear whether it was a sign of letting go or one of mockery. Strangely, those who had played the game knew this must be the awakened protagonist after triggering the hidden ending.

The scene then transitioned to live-action footage, and Gu Meng’s figure appeared on screen.

"Holy crap, the Dragon King."
"The man who lives in memes."
"The Lord of the Dragon Pictures."
"Dragon King, spit some water."
"Stop joking, the Dragon King is a true god in my heart, at least for now."
"True God Dragon King? Then he should definitely spit some water!"

The scene was a similar unfinished building, filmed in the suburbs of Donghua City. Gu Meng stood in front of a mirror, but his reflection was not synchronized. The Gu Meng in the mirror spoke first:

"Everything... is courageous."