70: Chapter 70 Damn it, I don't understand games at all.

The golden data stream on the system panel gradually faded, finally transforming into an ink-black badge that floated silently in the void.

Ye Fei closed his eyes, and it felt as if a thunderclap exploded in his mind. Bizarre and grotesque images, carrying massive fragments of memory, were forcefully stuffed into the depths of his consciousness.

It was the childhood memory of a little boy.

The little boy's name was Hidetaka Miyazaki.

At 11:30 PM, under the dim light of a desk lamp, little Miyazaki was writing his homework until his eyelids fought each other, and he finally slumped onto the desk and fell asleep. He didn't know how much time had passed when he was jolted awake by a surging urge to urinate.

He stood up in a daze, only to discover in horror that the homework notebook on the desk, which he had finished writing, had mysteriously refreshed, with all the handwriting gone. Not caring about anything else, he clutched his stomach and sprinted toward the bathroom.

When his hand touched the bathroom doorknob, no matter how hard he tried, the metal handle wouldn't budge. A line of large text seemed to drift through the void: [This door cannot be opened from this side].

Little Miyazaki was stunned. This was his own home, for crying out loud!

The urge to urinate surged like a tide, and he could only grit his teeth and turn to climb out of the bedroom window. But the moment he swung his leg over the window frame, a cherry tree branch that hung horizontally outside swayed gently in the wind and struck his buttocks with precision.

"Splat."

Little Miyazaki lost his balance and fell straight into a dry well on the ground in the yard.

There was no water at the bottom of the dry well, but it was bottomless. Little Miyazaki scrambled along the passage at the bottom of the well, and when he finally crawled out of the exit, he discovered he was in the middle of a desolate wilderness.

To go home and use the bathroom, he had to first climb over three steep mountains, wade through two waist-deep rushing rivers, traverse a primeval forest full of barbed vines, and finally sprint eight kilometers through a pitch-black air-raid shelter tunnel with no light whatsoever.

When he finally ran out of the tunnel, panting for breath, he could see the chimney on his house's roof from afar using binoculars.

Little Miyazaki couldn't hold it anymore and unbuckled his belt, preparing to relieve himself right there.

Suddenly, a warning popped up in his mind: [Urinating in public will trigger 'Divine Punishment.' The player must return to the toilet and touch the toilet lid to unlock the 'Excretion' function.]

The scene ended abruptly there.

Ye Fei opened his eyes, a layer of fine cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

He subconsciously touched his chest, feeling his heart beating strongly, but his conscience seemed to have shrunk by more than half.

"Now this is what you call game design..." Ye Fei muttered to himself, his gaze shifting from confusion to fanaticism.

"So that's how it is..."

Ye Fei looked at the game design documents he had written previously, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, "The games I made before were actually so gentle."

He looked at those strawberries in celeste that could be obtained just by trying a few more times, and at the parry mechanics in cuphead that allowed for a no-damage clear as long as one mastered the rhythm.

How was this torture?

This was practically Silver Horn Studio sending warmth to the players; it was an act of selfless charity!

"I didn't understand games at all before."

Ye Fei sighed to himself and casually pulled over the The Binding of Isaac design document, which had originally been prepared to "gently soothe players' souls."

The original The Binding of Isaac, despite its dark art style and heavy religious metaphors, was actually a relatively traditional roguelike shooter in terms of level design.

As long as players obtained powerful item combinations, like "Tech X" or "Brimstone," the late game was basically a walk in the park.

"Too gentle."

The previous Ye Fei felt it was enough, but now, looking at this plan, he only felt heartbroken and couldn't help but draw a big X on the cover page of the design document.

"Item combinations? Sure, have them. But next to every powerful item, you must arrange a trap that looks like a buff but is actually a curse."

Ye Fei's pen tip flew across the paper, making a raspy, rustling sound.

"For example, players see a shiny 'Double Attack Power' item in the treasure room. When they happily walk over to pick it up, the item will immediately transform into a 'Mimic,' which will not only instantly bite off the player's limited maximum of three red hearts but also turn the surrounding walls into spikes."

"Also, at every corner of every room, you must design a 'first-encounter kill.' The moment a player pushes open a door, what should greet them isn't a monster's attack wind-up, but a Bomber that has already entered its self-destruct countdown, with the explosion radius perfectly covering the entire entrance area."

"As for save points... No, this game has no save points. But we can make a 'Safe House' that looks like a toilet lid. Players can restore health after entering, but the cost is that for the next three levels, the movement speed of all monsters will increase by 50%, and there is a 10% chance to directly spawn a clone of the final BOSS."

As Ye Fei wrote, inspiration poured out of his mind like a volcanic eruption, unable to be stopped.

His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and his body even trembled slightly with excitement.

"Yes, that's it. This is art; this is a baptism for the players."

In the silent president's office, a low laugh suddenly rang out.

"Heh... hehe... hahahaha..."

The laughter echoed in the empty room, carrying an indescribable eeriness and neuroticism, like a madman who had finally found a new toy.

Outside the office door, Song Yan listened to the strange laughter coming from inside and felt a chill running down the back of his neck.

Standing beside him, Zheng Yiyun also had a subtle expression appear on her cold, aloof face.

She turned her head slightly, the hair hanging by her ear swaying gently, covering the faint mark on her face.

"What... is wrong with him again?"

Song Yan shivered and subconsciously hugged the report in his arms tighter.

"Knock, knock."

Song Yan finally gritted his teeth and knocked on the door.

The laughter inside stopped abruptly.

"Come in."

Ye Fei's voice returned to its usual calm and cold indifference, as if the person laughing strangely inside just now wasn't him at all.

Song Yan pushed the door open and walked in, immediately seeing the design document on Ye Fei's desk, which was covered in sketches of all sorts of bizarre monsters and traps.

On those sketches, a little person was being torn apart by countless absurd mechanics, with words like "Happy" and "Healing" labeled next to them.

Song Yan's mouth twitched, and he silently placed the report on the desk: "Brother Fei, this is the final data for the first day of cuphead. Also... the Esports Association just sent a notice; the opening ceremony for the National Challenge Tournament is scheduled for tomorrow at 8:00 PM. They have already distributed the 'special edition' game package we provided to the contestants."

Ye Fei closed the design document, looked up, and wore a gentle smile on his face: "President Li Zhengyang doesn't have any objections to the version we provided, right?"

"None."

Song Yan sighed, "President Li said, Silver Horn Studio produces only the best. He even specifically promoted it on the official website, saying that this challenge tournament is a 'healing journey that showcases the new style of Star Blue esports'."

Ye Fei nodded approvingly: "President Li is a man of vision."

As if thinking of something, Ye Fei chuckled, "Inform everyone later; to hold this tournament more perfectly, I've made a small update to the special edition game package."