“What should I say, then? I’m prepared to give it one star.”


  “I think it’s alright. Two monsters at the beginning deal higher damage. Just dodge them and kill them-it’s quite simple. You’re giving the game one star because of that? Why aren’t you reflecting on your own lousy skills?”


  ?

  “What the h*ll are you sending me a question mark for? We have principles as fake reviewers. We should do a good job if we are getting paid. How can you be so irresponsible after taking the boss’s money?” “F*ck, if you’re so righteous, why are you working as a fake reviewer? You’re just a beggar; stop acting like you’re an official in the emperor’s palace.”


  “Are you not a f*cking beggar, too?”


  “If you’re so awesome, why are you working as a fake reviewer? Why don’t you fight for justice like other keyboard warriors?”


  “What’s wrong with me working and earning some pocket money? How do you know I’m not a keyboard warrior in my spare time?”


  Hu Xiao realized that these two were going to engage in a full-on debate and quickly stopped them. “Alright, stop arguing! Both of you are banned from speaking for an hour! We are professionals; you have to learn how to control your anger, understand?

  “Don’t bring your emotions to work. Be as calm as me. Get it?”


  Hu Xiao was speechless.

  In fact, this was normal. Although the fake reviewers were all in a single group, they were all being paid to work. There were hundreds of people in that one group; how could he expect all of them to see eye to eye?

  What’s more, people who worked as fake reviewers were genuinely short of money. They probably had unhappy lives and enjoyed picking on fellow netizens with a keyboard in hand. Naturally, these people were ‘good with words’ and would resort to ‘asking about others’ family and friends’ once a hint of a disagreement took place.

  Hu Xiao could not write this argument off as an accident.

  He was just realizing that Hardcore Reviews’ UP Master’s requests had not been that simple after all.

  There’s a scam in all of this!

  If the boss had given the fake reviewers a clear direction-such as to mindlessly praise or criticize the game, the fake reviewers would have been able to get the job done without much objection.

  Nobody would stand up to fight the instructions. After all, every fake reviewer was professional.

  Yet, the boss did not give them clear instructions on what to comment.

  That was why people were discussing the game in the group. They had differing opinions, which resulted in internal conflict.

  The administrator had to step up and ban those people from speaking. What’s more, he had to threaten to kick people out and forbid them from ever working as a fake reviewer again if they started picking fights. It was only then that they regained control over the situation.

  Hu Xiao read everyone’s comments and realized that most people were criticizing the game. Many people had low-quality hardware that caused the game to lag horribly. Naturally, their first impression of the game would suffer if their gaming experience was lousy. Others were similar to Hu Xiao; there was no problem with their hardware, but they had been tortured by beasts shortly after entering the game. Of course, they began to dislike the game as well.

  0

  However, a minority in the group thought the game was alright.

  The graphics weren’t bad, and the movements were smooth. They also felt good when they managed to attack. Although the monsters at the beginning could kill them, they only had to be more careful to avoid being killed. Ultimately, they could still defeat those monsters.

  That minority had quite a good first impression of the game. That was why they had very different comments compared to the majority

  That was expected. After all, there was bound to be a couple of players in any group who enjoyed a good challenge.

  Among the group of fake reviewers, there were a few youths who were addicted to the internet and used to playing at internet cafes. They had vast gaming experience. Their first reaction when they met with such a game was not to smash their computers in anger but to rise up to the challenge.

  Although these were the minority, they represented a different voice.

  Hu Xiao pondered for a moment and realized that it was impossible for everyone to come to the same conclusion. However, there was no need for them to do so.

  The boss asked for everyone to comment on the game based on their first impression. He had not specified whether he wanted positive or negative comments.

  Since that was the case, Hu Xiao decided to allow everyone to comment whatever they wanted!

  Hu Xiao typed, “Alright, stop arguing. Get to work. If you want to give it one star, then do so. If you want to give it five stars, then do so.

  “We’re all professionals here. If you have personal feuds, use your keyboards to resolve them on the forums. Don’t argue in this group. You’re being paid to type in the forums, but if you argue here, you’ll be banned from speaking.”


  Everyone in the group thought about it and realized that Hu Xiao was right.

  What was the point of arguing in the group? It was time to get to work!

  Fake reviewers who had a bad impression of the game immediately gave it one star. They expressed disappointment in it and did not recommend it to others. Then, they refunded and uninstalled it.

  Those who felt more interested in the game gave it five stars and left good comments. Then, they came up with a list of good things to say about it.

  After all, they were all professionals in mindlessly praising and criticizing.

  They were naturally good with words. In fact, they would find it more difficult to write ordinary and boring comments.

  What’s more, their jobs did not consist purely of writing comments.

  Each person was being paid three or four hundred yuan. Of course, they could not earn that amount by writing one comment.

  Everyone had been assigned a task: they were to write reviews, posts, and comments on the official platform, Weibo, forums, and the like. They were also to comment on other popular posts, and like and share one another’s comments and posts.

  The boss had paid them a huge sum after all. They had to employ every method in the book.

  Thus, fake reviewers who had already written their posts and comments began to share the respective links to the chat group. “Please like this comment for me, brothers.”


  “You can copy and paste this comment. Brothers who need it can use it as reference.”


  “Brothers, this is my Weibo post. Please share it.”


  “I think a gamer on Aili Island published a video to diss the game. To the brothers who want to diss the game, like and share that video as much as possible. Fight to push it onto the homepage.”


  ‘There is a post praising the game here. To the brothers who want to support it, go and give the post a boost.”


  The fake reviewers went full steam ahead with their tasks. They kept sharing posts about Repent and be Saved on various platforms. One group kept posting negative comments while another group kept giving the game five stars on every review site.

  They moved the catfight from the group to various other websites and forums, making sure to amp up their resilience and determination. The fight was so intense that neither side seemed to be winning.

  As he observed these developments, Hu Xiao could not help but bury his head in his hands. For some reason, he felt like something was amiss.

  “This is my first time encountering a situation like that. It’s like two parties on opposite sides had hired the same group of fake reviewers…


  “But it doesn’t matter. In any case, I’ve already done what I could according to the boss’ request.

  “Yet, the comments on the game seem to be in a mess. They’re basically on two extremes.”


  Out of curiosity, Hu Xiao checked online for other comments about Repent and be Saved.

  They were indeed extremely divided. There were many five-star and one-star ratings!

  Of course, this was partly because the fake reviewers had been adding fuel to the fire. However, even after discounting the fake reviewers’ influence, Hu Xiao could tell that gamers were divided about the game.

  Those who were cursing the game developers to no end were doing so for the same two reasons: the game had high hardware requirements and was way too difficult!

  Many gamers complained of dying more than ten times while fighting the little monsters at the beginning of the game. They insisted that something had gone wrong with the system design!

  Some cursed the operations staff and others cursed the planners. All in all, most people thought that the systems designer had added an extra zero in one of the figures.

  “I can’t take it anymore. This game is way too difficult. I can’t even play it! Can someone tell me if the system will be adjusted to ordinary levels in the future? If they are going to adjust it, I’m not going to refund the game.”


  Many comments were expressing similar thoughts.

  Although they were not all on the same page, the gamers did not seem too upset. Perhaps this was because they could refund the game within five hours.

  The game had only just been released; it would be a long time before their five hours would be up. After trying the game out, many people realized that its quality was quite good. In terms of graphics, movements, impact, art resources, and the like; the game was outstanding.

  They could figure out a way to meet the hardware requirements.

  However, it seemed unusually difficult. They could only hope that the developers would make the necessary adjustments. Many people thought that there was a malignant bug in the game. For that reason, they did not rush to refund it. Instead, they waited for an announcement from the official platform.

  If the officials agreed to repair the bug which allowed little monsters to kill the players, they could continue playing the game.

  However, a while later, a post was published on the game’s official Weibo page.

  “Dear players, officials have vetted the game before releasing it, and it is already at optimum difficulty. There are no malignant bugs. No more adjustments will be made to the difficulty. This is to ensure that every gamer can enjoy the full game experience.” Within a few minutes, the Weibo post was shared in various forums and gaming chat groups. More and more comments began to appear underneath the Weibo post.

  11?”


  “I’m slowly typing a question mark.”


  “What are the officials up to? How can this be the ‘optimum difficulty’ after vetting?”


  “Ensuring every gamer can enjoy the full game experience… (yeah, right).” “I thought the officials made an accidental mistake. They did it on purpose?!” “What? Can someone explain what the meaning of the epitaph is?”


  “No more adjustments will be made? Are you sure? Hehe, once the sales volume drops, I wonder if you will still be so stubborn. I’ll wait for you to slap your own face.”


  “I’m laughing as I read these complaints from lousy players. ‘It’s the officials’ fault that I can’t beat the little monsters. They made the game too difficult! It’s not because of my sh*tty skills!’”


  “You wonder why people say local gamers are only fit to play mindless web-based games that solely require them to click the ‘enter’ button. The moment the officials make a game slightly more difficult, they cry and insist that the officials reduce the game’s difficulty. Why don’t you just ask them to let you deal 999 damage with just one blow?”


  “How the h*ll is this just ‘slightly more difficult’?!”


  “Why are you playing this game if you’re retarded? Save the time and get yourself treated.”


  “I @#*%*…”


  Soon, a battle ensued in the comments section of the Weibo post.

  Hu Xiao thought he saw hints of his fake reviewers in the comments section, but he could not be certain.

  Nevertheless, Hu Xiao knew very well that his fake reviewers had joined in the argument. In fact, the comments with the most likes could have been written by his own friends.

  Yet, he could not tell who exactly they were!

  This was because other people’s comments looked like they could have been posted by his fake reviewers as well.