Since the release of Honkai Impact 3rd's 1.2 update, Zhao Yi and his uncle, Zhao Wenbo, immediately took notice.
After all, the game they were working on was essentially an "imitation" of Honkai Impact 3rd.
After more than half a month of development, their game, "Maiden's Journey," was nearing completion.
Now, with Honkai Impact 3rd suddenly skyrocketing in popularity and dominating Weibo trends, they naturally took notice.
"Hahaha… young people are still young. They actually killed off a character they sell in-game,"
Zhao Wenbo looked at the dense flow of information on Weibo, his expression shifting from anger to delight.
The moment he saw "The Last Lesson," Zhao Wenbo, almost instinctively, seized this opportunity.
An opportunity to tarnish Honkai Impact 3rd and use it as a stepping stone for his new game, "Maiden's Journey."
The moment Ai Li Xi Ya went offline, Zhao Wenbo immediately contacted internet trolls to spread rumors and create negative sentiment online.
They relentlessly smeared Honkai Impact 3rd with the claim: "Honkai Impact 3rd killed off a character for the sake of hype."
After a few hours of fermenting, his goal was finally achieved.
Now, compared to half a month ago, public opinion on miHoYo had almost completely reversed.
Sixty percent of the discourse was criticizing miHoYo.
The remaining twenty percent were onlookers, while only a mere twenty percent were speaking up for miHoYo.
Under his manipulation, Honkai Impact 3rd's rating plummeted rapidly.
"Uncle, this tactic is truly brilliant. You simply used a few internet trolls to turn all those fans who previously supported Honkai Impact 3rd against it,"
"But… what if the Honkai Impact 3rd team changes the storyline?"
Zhao Yi was no fool. Currently, the issue with Honkai Impact 3rd was simply that Kiana Kaslana was killed off.
The reason players were so furious was precisely because they truly loved this game.
If miHoYo really did change the storyline, the current public backlash would quickly disappear, and they would simultaneously win back the players' favor.
If this were to happen, Honkai Impact 3rd's reputation would swiftly rebound.
"You're not dumb to think of that," Zhao Wenbo nodded in approval, then confidently smiled. "It doesn't matter if that miHoYo boss actually changes the storyline."
"I don't expect to use this little trick to bring them down, so…"
"What we need to do now is to quickly finish "Maiden's Journey" as soon as possible."
"Right now, you immediately go to the official website and release an announcement about our new game. Seize this opportunity while the players are disappointed and pull them over to our side."
"Also, inform everyone to work harder, speed up the game development, and try to release the public beta within three days."
After listening to his uncle's words, Zhao Yi immediately understood.
Brilliant! Truly brilliant! As expected of my uncle.
As long as Honkai Impact 3rd doesn't modify the storyline within three days, they can completely exploit the players' anger and draw them to their side.
Leveraging the current popularity of Honkai Impact 3rd, coupled with Tencent's vast traffic and user base.
Zhao Yi couldn't even imagine how popular "Maiden's Journey" would become once it was released…
…………
Meanwhile, the online discussion continued to rage on.
Under Honkai Impact 3rd's official accounts on Bilibili and Douyin, countless players left messages hoping for a change to the storyline, a resurrection for Kiana Kaslana.
The official account's latest video had already garnered over 2 million likes.
Just as the players were lamenting and leaving comments, Honkai Impact 3rd's official account suddenly updated with a new video.
Upon seeing this, the players were instantly excited,
At this time, updating a video, it must be an announcement.
Is Kiana Kaslana finally coming back to life? Did miHoYo finally realize their mistake?
However, when they clicked on the new video, they discovered… this was the darned animated short for "The Last Lesson"?!
【You bastards! miHoYo, you're not human!!】
【I was already stabbed in the heart this afternoon, and you dare to release this? I'm quitting the game!】
【Wuwuwu~~ My Kiana Kaslana~】
【miHoYo is choosing to die a silent death! Brothers, we haven't bombarded them enough yet!】
【Just a passerby, this animation is pretty good, why are they all cursing?】
【The rise of Chinese animation?】
【God damn Chinese animation… this is a game…】
Although the players were constantly cursing, they couldn't help but watch the video repeatedly.
Because… it was truly exquisitely made.
They watched, cried, and cursed, creating a strangely surreal scene.
…………
On the other side, at Ai Li Xi Ya's house.
After going offline, she had been comforting Eden.
However, Eden couldn't stop crying no matter what.
While crying, she eventually fell asleep in Ai Li Xi Ya's arms.
Thus, Ai Li Xi Ya, feeling sorry for Eden, let her sleep on her lap.
It took more than three hours for Eden to finally wake up.
"Eden!" Ai Li Xi Ya was incredibly happy to see Eden awake.
"Ai Li, how… how long have I been asleep?"
"Eden only slept for more than three hours. If you're not tired enough, you can continue to sleep, oh~"
"Ai Li Xi Ya's lap will always have a place for Eden~"
Eden shook her head: "No need…"
Seeing that Eden's mood was still quite low, Ai Li Xi Ya directly buried herself into Eden's embrace, incessantly acting cute.
"Eden~ Don't be sad~"
"If you don't want Kiana Kaslana to die, why don't we just buy miHoYo?"
"Then we'll supervise their scriptwriters together, and absolutely not let them write storylines that make our beautiful girls suffer."
Eden shook her head: "No need, their storyline is very good… very serious…"
"I also like it a lot…"
"Huh?" Ai Li Xi Ya tilted her head, reaching out to touch Eden's forehead. "No fever~"
After confirming Eden was alright, Ai Li Xi Ya then laughed and said, "As expected, Eden is the most gentle and adorable girl~ You were clearly upset by them, yet you still want to speak up for them."
"I love Eden the most~"
Eden flicked Ai Li Xi Ya's forehead, pretending to be angry. "What do you mean upset by them…? "
"I just… I was moved… Never mind, I'm going to take a bath~"
"Do you want Ai Li Xi Ya to accompany you?~"
"No need~"
…
After taking a bath, Eden had also regained her composure.
However, when she opened her phone to browse the information online, she found that Weibo was completely dominated by Honkai Impact 3rd's related keywords.
She could have guessed this, so she didn't pay much attention to it.
She simply clicked on her own Weibo and typed out a message.
"miHoYo, you have no heart (crying)"
It was evident from Eden's backend data that her fan count was a staggering 90 million.
These were completely genuine followers; she had never purchased even a single bot account.
Such figures surpassed even veteran pop stars.
Since her debut, Eden had only posted a dozen or so Weibo posts in total.
These were mainly promotional posts for her new album, with absolutely no information unrelated to "music."
Therefore, this was the first time she had ever complained online.
That's right, she posted this Weibo just to vent her frustration.
Because "The Last Lesson" truly shattered her composure.
【Image: Void Drifter】