Chapter 53: Anyway, Have Some More Milk (It's 2025!)

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No matter what, winning an award is always a good thing.
If I don’t don this robe, how would the world know that my worldly ties have been severed and the golden sea has dried up?
Besides, his main mission—the primary task of developing a game optimized with system treasure chest items and garnering enough player praise to successfully elevate the host’s luck—is nearly complete, so there’s no need to worry.
The side quest—to win any annual national game award in China and receive a bronze treasure chest as a reward—also requires an award.
The “Cool Game Star” livestream on New Year’s Eve, jointly hosted by the official organizers and Mo Factory, honors the hottest new game of the year. Although it’s only the second annual event, it perfectly fits the mission criteria and is not a trivial, meaningless award.
After receiving the good news of achieving both the martial arts competition championship and the New Year’s gala’s Best Game of the Year, Gu Meng immediately booked a flight to Handong City and went straight to Qi Tongping’s home.
…
Handong City.
This time, more generous than before, Gu Meng, guided by the system prompts, carried six whole boxes in one go!
That’s six entire boxes of milk brought into his home.
Two boxes of Telunsu, two boxes of Ambrosial, and two boxes of Wangzai milk.
Gu Meng himself loves drinking milk.
No matter how expensive the milk, he can afford it; spending ten million on a game like “Heroes’ Saga: X” means he wouldn’t hesitate over this.
But Gu Meng was worried the system might classify high-priced goods as luxury items, thinking he was bribing someone.
Seeing these six boxes, Qi Tongping was left both amused and bewildered this time:
“Brother Gu, this is… you’re being far too polite.”
Not polite at all, in reality, such a sum was trivial to them…
Don’t underestimate the vice chairman of the Game Association; in this parallel world, it’s a position of considerable power and influence, even capable of affecting game approvals and licensing.
He has the authority to declare which games are artistic works, relaxing many standards—do you understand what that means?
And this is a parallel world where games are even more valuable.
Though Qi Tongping wouldn’t take bribes proactively, this position is quite special; he also works as a game consultant externally and has unavoidable social obligations, all within the rules…
Even without considering the position, just the official additional publicity spots, reputation, and company benefits from winning the championship in this competition…
Converted to money, that easily amounts to eight figures or more.

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Moreover, as the chief judge, when not hindered by unforeseen circumstances, his word carries enormous weight, even allowing a single veto, do you get it?
When results are prearranged, they only need a certain number of top spots, and if the higher-ups are particular, they won’t take them all. But to secure a championship, they absolutely cannot exclude the chief judge’s approval!
This was the usual practice in previous years when the competing games weren’t particularly strong.
And having money doesn’t necessarily mean you have access; even if you want to give gifts, there are people begging but still unable to deliver.
For example, when Gu Ritian was alive, he wasn’t qualified to visit Qi Tongping directly—his background was too lowly and he had no strong connections. Gu Ritian came from humble beginnings, so how could he compare to someone like Qi Tongping, whose roots were impeccable?
It just didn’t match, and if we talk money, Gu Ritian didn’t have the wealth of those big companies.
Besides, others who paid visits didn’t come as straightforwardly as Gu Meng—so grounded and sincere.
You might think it was a parent bringing gifts to a teacher, but in this day and age, parents with some means wouldn’t bring something so modest; in Handong City, people usually bring far more expensive items.
Besides, they couldn’t possibly drink it all; combined with the two boxes from last time, that’s eight boxes in total.
Last time, Qi Tongping had actually opened those two boxes and inspected them: just one box of regular pure milk and one box of yogurt.
There was no luxury disguised as local specialty watches, no Renminbi bills, no gold bars, not even cigarette packs or Maotai liquor.
Just two perfectly clean boxes of milk, leaving Qi Tongping utterly perplexed.
Too unsophisticated… no, Brother Gu is just too innocent!
Seeing him was like seeing his younger self—his idealized younger self.
…
With the New Year approaching, if they can’t finish it, just take it back to their hometown. A leader taking milk home isn’t strange; they keep their hands clean in the outside world.
Qi Tongping’s kindly attitude toward Gu Meng stemmed from genuine love for games and even a bit of admiration for this young man.
Such prodigious talent, single-handedly raising martial arts games to this height—this was the dream he longed for.
But in terms of social etiquette, Gu Meng fit the stereotypical image of the game genius too well, seeming somewhat detached from society.
Qi Tongping hesitated whether to offer some advice to Gu Meng.
He himself could be indifferent, but others might not be as understanding and might cause a lot of trouble…
Yet he worried that his own jaded adult mindset might tarnish this young man’s pure, passionate idealism—the very image he once imagined.
Sigh, when did he change so much?

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…
“Brother Qi, I really can’t thank you enough this time!”
“Nonsense. Your company’s game is truly powerful. Fairly speaking, the other games competing with you are the lucky ones.”
“No, no, you’re exaggerating. I did see many good games.”
“What good games? They’re only average. I found them uninteresting, but you’re different. You’re completely different.”
“Just luck, just luck.”
Gu Meng leaned back slightly, noticing Brother Qi’s intense gaze fixed on him, saying “You’re different”—he was a bit afraid Qi might have some strange fetish.
Gu Meng had trained in martial arts and could protect himself, so he figured it should be fine.
“Luck is merely the humble expression of the strong!”
Qi Tongping shook his head. If the gap had been small and Gu Meng had merely won by chance, that would be one thing. But this time the difference was so vast, what was there to say?
In fact, it really wasn’t just humble words—Gu Meng was incredibly fortunate.
He had crossed over and gained a system.
Moreover, Gu Meng hadn’t played many of the other games in this competition, finding most of them repetitive and inferior even to the independent game developed by the duo Phantom Beast Palu before joining the company.
But that duo lacked funds for promotion and missed previous competitions; otherwise, they might have placed… though not necessarily, since they also had no connections.
Although Gu Meng didn’t take the other competitors seriously, his acting in saying “there are many good games” was remarkably sincere.
Qi Tongping didn’t even realize at first that Gu Meng’s modesty was just a façade.
Anyone could say polite things; in their hearts, they might disdain others but keep appearances. The key was that Qi Tongping viewed Gu Meng through a strong filter—he had noticed the young game creator’s astounding talent during “Pure Love” and was becoming a middle-aged fanboy of sorts.
Because of the milk delivery incident, Qi Tongping believed Gu Meng was overly protected by Gu Ritian and lacked social experience, so he couldn’t help but offer a few words he probably shouldn’t have.
Finally, he dropped a somewhat obvious hint:
“This time, the award was secured for you early because other judges on the panel also contributed. Some of them and I jointly nominated you… And as for the other judges, it doesn’t matter much, but a few of them…”
…