Chapter Ten: Securing the Home Front Before Repelling External Threats

The gaming influencer known as "Pure Fan" naturally had no knowledge of the metaphysical explanation that "President Gu has a system." He simply believed that Maodou had painstakingly buried so much content as a strategic feint, preparing for a desperate final stand against the mastermind behind the scenes.

Pure Fan could not fathom how dark the forces behind this were, but considering the police were blatantly lying and couldn't even produce a scapegoat truck driver, they were surely pitch black. He was no longer young... such enemies were simply invincible!

"I'm sorry, President Gu. I don't dare take the risk; you are the true tough guy!"

But some things in this world are simply unreasonable. "If Maodou can survive this, I will promote every game you release for free!"

...

At the main entrance of the Donghua City Police Station, Wang Feng, head of the former "Peak Media"—now "Peak Games"—stepped out and let out a long sigh toward the sky.

"It’s a tragedy. Who on earth did that to Gu Ritian? I’ve been called in for tea, tea, and more tea so many times. If they bring me back again, they aren't actually going to make me a scapegoat just to appease the public, are they?"

Peak Media was once a leading short-video company and a bitter rival of Maodou Media. Both sides had engaged in plenty of unpleasantries: poaching staff, bribing cleaning ladies to kill rivals' lucky plants with boiling water, sending corporate spies to steal footage, and attempting to seize company seals by brute force to paralyze the enemy... These were just common business tactics. Wang Feng had even considered poisoning Gu Ritian! But he declared, for the record, that it was just a thought. He hadn't been pushed to the brink yet, so he wouldn't actually resort to that. Everyone just thought about such things; Gu Ritian must have wanted to strangle him more than once, too.

Besides, Maodou Games had already been beaten into the dirt by everyone together, so why send a runaway truck to kill Gu Ritian? It made no sense. After ten days and ten nights of pondering the news, Wang Feng still couldn't figure it out. He could only assume it was some sort of personal vendetta... Tsk, but if it were a vendetta, he would still be the prime suspect. After all, it was common knowledge that he and Gu Ritian had been at each other's throats for years. Who could have done this and framed him for it?

...

Inside the police station, the invincible officers were equally baffled.

"It shouldn't be Wang Feng."
"Not necessarily; he remains the top suspect."
"I look at him and feel like he's a criminal."
"Which of these entertainment bosses doesn't look like a criminal?"
"Are you sure these recordings haven't been tampered with?"
"It's a dead end. In the previous frame, the truck was charging at 200 km/h, and in the next, it just disappeared?"

"The footage really hasn't been touched. We’ve gathered top experts from across the province; there are no signs of editing. Plus, there are numerous witnesses—once that truck entered the dead end, it simply vanished."

"Is it haunted? Now the public thinks we’re shielding the killer!"
"If I weren't the one handling this case, I’d think someone was shielding the killer too!"
"Our city police force has truly humiliated itself in front of the entire nation!"
"How on earth did the killer who crushed Gu Ritian pull it off?"
"Exactly. At that speed, he should have crashed straight into the wall!"
"Could it be a ghost?"
"What ghost? It must be a driver with special skills, professional training, and a specially modified vehicle, with accomplices helping to erase the tracks. As for the witnesses, perhaps they were deceived by some clever magic trick... This is likely an organized crime operation."
"You mean that Hollywood movie, *Now You See Me*? The Four Horsemen?"
"What Four Horsemen? In China, even Jesus wouldn't work here. I don't believe it—we must bring the killer to justice!"

...

At this very moment, as the release date arrived, a few hundred bloggers, influencers, game critics, and lucky veteran Maodou players who got early access began to discover "bugs" one after another. Like Pure Fan, they realized the power of the dark forces. Those who held a sense of justice and believed Maodou was fighting against the shadows naturally stood on Maodou's side.

Some didn't dare support Maodou openly, but they hinted on their feeds, personal Weibo, or forums that this installment was highly ambitious, meticulously designed, and even ahead of its time. "If you want to experience more gameplay, try experimenting when you encounter certain hidden scenarios; you might find a surprise." Everyone was supporting Maodou in their own way. The clever ones began to think: what if, after the game's release, Maodou used excuses like a broken capital chain, employees running off, project leads being fired, or new staff being unable to understand the "spaghetti code" left behind? Even if competitors pointed out, "You should fix this bug, otherwise I suspect you're just making trouble to cover up a feint," the "bugs" in this game could remain unfixed and persist indefinitely.

...

Meanwhile, at Maodou Games, Gu Meng was indeed thinking of firing some of the company’s executives.

But the reason was not the "visionary, shrewd, Dragon King returned, boundary-breaking, Dark Knight President Gu" narrative that the fans had cooked up. Their assumptions were a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—pure coincidence.

Gu Meng’s logic was simple: to defend against external threats, one must first stabilize the internal front. After transmigrating and integrating his predecessor's memories, combined with the guess that the truck driver was no normal person, he had a much clearer understanding of his competitors' true strength. The outside world thought the rivals were all-powerful, but they were actually paper tigers. As long as the game was good and he didn't lose his footing, there was no need to fear them. The tricks they played, Maodou could play too. The "Old Man" had just died; to avoid the spotlight, they might not dare use those tricks for a while.

The world’s gaming industry was extremely prosperous and still expanding. It was a vast field with great potential; in fact, every past failure was due to Maodou’s own mistakes. It was a fact that Maodou was stagnant and its themes were aging. It was also a fact that competition in the same track was intensifying. Competitors were hiring famous actresses to film "borderline" interactive movies, and one company had even brought in stars directly from Hollywood and Silicon Valley...

None of that had broken Maodou; the real downfall was Maodou itself. Poor decision-making, failing to read the situation, false advertising, failed transformations, and a risk control department that was completely incompetent... Add to that the disastrous timing and lack of public support. Even in this "doomsday" scenario, Maodou still had the strength for one final battle and the support of old fans. Unfortunately, without Gu Meng’s transmigration, this final Maodou title would have been released as a half-baked product, leading to its total death.

Whose fault was all this? By process of elimination, it certainly wasn't the fault of Gu Meng, who was just a "Crown Prince" and a mere actor. Of course, it wasn't the fault of the "Late Emperor" Gu Ritian—one should speak no ill of the dead. It was clearly the fault of the "treacherous officials." There were bad people inside the company!

It was obvious from how they spared no effort in coddling Gu Meng that the "Old Man" had been practicing nepotism once he made it big. All the executives were Gu Meng’s distant relatives, including the family on his mother's side—the mother who had been sent flying by a phantom truck ten years ago. He and his wife were like "cursed stars"; any close relatives they had were all either drowning, struck by lightning, falling off cliffs, or dying of severe illnesses... In short, they had all "ascended to heaven."

Gu Ritian had cared deeply for his family and feared he would curse his son to death, never expecting that his son’s fate would be even harder. Most of the company executives were either surnamed Gu or Meng—just distant relatives sharing the same surname. In the few days since Gu Meng had taken over, he had felt the nausea of dealing with these people. He didn't know how Gu Ritian had tolerated them, or perhaps they had only become arrogant because Gu Ritian was dead? Did they think young people were easy to bully?

Did they not know that young people were the most hot-blooded? During meetings, when he asked for some quiet and to stop snacking, they would open their mouths with, "Little Gu, I held you when you were a child."

Get lost! He had heard from his "flying" mother that everyone who held young Gu Meng had died! Are you trying to trigger an undead resurrection? Even the last one, Gu Ritian, had ascended to heaven to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the sun!

"I am a cursed star. 'Even the rain doesn't dare touch my clothes'—do you understand? I have no more ties to human sentiment!"

Gu Meng abandoned his last shred of hesitation. He leaned back, interlaced his fingers, and gave an evil, charming smile. You thought I wouldn't dare fire you? Think again! Holding 100% of the shares and having been the prince regent doing the actual work for ten years, my power in this company is absolute!

The Dragon King is now on the throne; all treacherous ministers shall perish!