Chapter 37: Huh? This game isn't Maodou's entry?

"……No wonder President Gu is so confident."

"Of course. Isn't your Brother Gu amazing?" Gu Meng stood with his hands on his hips.

"Brother is the most amazing!" Wu Mengyou cupped her large breasts, feigning a look of worship.

"You're still being a bit too deliberate with that 'moe' act, but your chest does make up for it. I'll introduce you to Ms. Bu sometime later."

"That's really not necessary. I don't actually want to act like that."

Wu Mengyou thought to herself: *I’m standing right in front of you, can’t you see these massive knockers? With these, what can't I handle? Mentioning another woman right now? Next time, I’ll let Ms. Bu squeeze the life out of you!*

Gu Meng’s internal thoughts: *She doesn't like me, does she? ...It must be an illusion. The news lately is so terrifying; there's talk of the "male gaze," workplace harassment, and all these exposés... Secretary Wu is loyal beyond words; she’s become my indispensable tool. And I don’t mean the "secretary does the job, and the boss does the secretary" kind of tool. She’s my Xiao He. If I were to mess around with her, it might ruin her productivity.*

*It’s better to keep the relationship strictly professional and have her keep working for me. Making money is a higher priority than getting lucky right now... Oh, right, Ms. Bu isn’t a colleague anymore, so there's no risk to her work. Once this rush is over, I'll go catch up with her.*

*Once the employees start pulling their weight, things will get better. Then Gu Meng will finally be able to relax for a bit.*

...

Secretary Wu thought about Gu Meng’s capabilities. Since she was a layman, she couldn't truly comprehend the depth of his skill, so she decided to trust him for now.

"I will arrange for it as soon as possible. *Legends of the Martial Arts: Zero* will be released on all major gaming platforms, free of charge."

"Yes, that’s the way. Don't worry about what you think; it’s about what I think. For a mini-game of this scale, I can buy the web novel rights and churn out fan-made adaptations as much as I want."

"Be a bit more generous. It's just a product meant to serve as a promotional slide deck, so just treat it as an advertisement."

"Understood."

Seeing Gu Meng’s high-spirited demeanor, Wu Mengyou had nothing more to say. Perhaps this was the arrogance of a genius.

...

Handong City.

"This is good, very good."

"At first, I thought the simple art style meant Gu Meng hadn't put in much effort, but I didn't expect such a pleasant surprise."

"Small but beautiful, small but beautiful. There are so many details in this game; it looks rough, but it's actually incredibly refined. My blood is starting to boil with excitement again."

"As expected of Gu Meng. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be the champion of this Martial Arts Game Competition..."

By "unexpected," he meant things like the winner being pre-selected through backroom deals.

There was a certain possibility of that, as this was a significant event co-hosted by the Game Association and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, promising promotional resources and homepage features on many domestic platforms.

Platform resources were secondary—those could be bought if you had money—but no one turned their nose up at this kind of prestige. Because the theme was limited to martial arts games, it screened out many popular ACG-style games, making it easier to manipulate. It wasn't impossible for a "hidden champion" with a deep background to suddenly appear.

However, the competition itself was quite important. In this world, gaming had become a much more significant industry than film, drawing immense attention from all sectors of society. Since a game like *Legends of the Martial Arts*—which was clearly superior to its peers—was in the running, the difficulty of rigging the results would increase.

Qi Tongping himself was a man of significant background. He was quite different from a certain impoverished counterpart in another reality. The Qi family had produced titans of industry, and they were people who genuinely wanted to get things done.

The Game Association appointing him as the chief judge without prior notice was, in fact, a signal that there were no pre-selected contestants this time and that a fair fight was possible.

Just to be safe, Qi Tongping checked the other contestants.

"101 individual designers, almost all indie games. Small companies like Maodou or Youxuan are already among the top contenders."

"In previous years, there were mobile games from big manufacturers, but not this year... perhaps because they hadn't won major prizes before, or because martial arts mobile games don't earn enough?"

"Currently, only a few individual designers and small studios have submitted their game demos. Others will follow before the competition begins in December... Wait, Xiao Wang wrote this wrong. Youxuan has clearly already finished the complete game... Hm?"

"Hm?"

Qi Tongping realized the situation was different from what he had imagined. He pulled out Youxuan's application form.

"This game, *Legends of the Martial Arts: Zero*, isn't the entry? *Legends of the Martial Arts: True* is the entry, and *Zero* is just an attachment to demonstrate the story background and some gameplay mechanics?"

"Why? It's so polished for just a demo."

"And they are confident that *True* is much better than *Zero*? *Zero* has already pioneered a new martial arts worldview, and it can get even better? Are they trying to...?"

Qi Tongping found it hard to believe.

...

Nandi City.

"The Dragon King has released a new game! It’s only been a little over a month since *Pure Love*. He’s as prolific as a sow! I’m willing to call him the Pig King!"

"I’m just worried that because the time was so short, it might be a mess. I actually quite like the Dragon King."

Seeing the messages in the game content creator group, Gou Tong, who had already moved, quickly turned on his computer.

Sure enough, a new game had been released.

He logged into the revamped Game Metaphysics official website and scrolled down the list. Aside from the old Maodou games, there was a new title: *Legends of the Martial Arts: Zero*.

It wasn't just there; it was launching on all other major platforms as well. The Steam platform was fast with approvals, so it was already visible there too.

"Free to add to the library? Oh, I see. It's a demo."

"Nowadays, many games go into 'Early Access' when they're only 20 or 30 percent finished just to make a quick buck. Not just domestic, but even some famous foreign companies do this. President Gu choosing to release a free demo is still pretty cool."

Gou Tong read the summary...

"Why is there no official release date or update schedule? It feels like a complete game. Did they forget to write it?"

"It only has a summary of the game content."

"Under the pens of the two masters, Gu Yong and Jin Long, all well-known martial arts characters are gathered in the same space... Is he really that bold?"

"Not only can you customize your own transmigrator protagonist, but you can also choose to play as characters from the original works and change their destinies... Cool."

...

While Gou Tong was playing and taking notes for a strategy video, some speedrunners had already reached the ending.

A single playthrough was enough to unlock most endings and branches; only a few hidden sects, like the Yihua Palace or the Xiaoyao Sect, required multiple playthroughs to access.

"Wait, this game is an 'Early Access' title? Why does it feel like it's already finished? So, it really is just a free game? But doesn't Youxuan own the copyrights?"

"Why wouldn't he want to make money?"

"President Gu is generous."

While *Legends of the Martial Arts: Zero* continued to surprise players, rumors began to circulate online from industry insiders about Youxuan's true new work, *Legends of the Martial Arts: True*.

The leak claimed that this game was merely a trial advertisement and a prelude—something President Gu had thrown together casually on his own—and that the real big project was still to come.

Once the first complete map and a few martial arts styles were finished, the actual gameplay footage would be released as well.

...

Donghua City, Game Metaphysics.

"President Gu! Are we really going to finish it before December? With our current manpower, I'm afraid..."

The duo of Lupa and Huan Shou, representing the employees, came to the president's office to find Gu Meng.