Chapter 13: Resident Evil: Raccoon City Stage One Released

“Boss, what did you say? Stream a Miteng game?” Shu Yiheng was the first to jump up, nearly flipping the table.

“A game made by trash like Miteng Company, and you want me to stream it? Wouldn’t that ruin my brand?”

“Exactly, Boss. The hundreds of thousands of followers in my stream came for my Battlefield skills. If you suddenly make me play some zombie shooter, will the fans buy it? Do you want my channel to survive or not?” another streamer chimed in loudly.

“Besides, I heard the game is free to download,” someone else added, their tone dripping with undisguised disdain.

“How good can a free-to-download game even be? It’s bound to be poorly made trash designed to trick people into downloading it, only to plaster the screen with ads. You play for five minutes, get hit with three pop-ups, and can’t keep playing until you watch them all.”

“That company’s reputation is in the gutter. They completely butchered their rip-off of 《Battlefield Vanguard》 before, and players are still cursing them for it. If we stream this, we’ll lose followers!”

Zhou Luo didn’t join the clamor, merely muttering under his breath, “Didn’t that game just release a trailer yesterday? It should still be a while before the launch.”

Tan Qianfan listened impassively until everyone finished complaining. Then, he drew a phone from his inner suit pocket, opened a page, and turned the screen toward them.

“Stage One of 《Resident Evil: Raccoon City》 has already launched. Here are its download numbers. See for yourselves.”

Several of them leaned in. On the screen was the store page for 《Resident Evil: Raccoon City》.

A row of numbers was displayed at the very top of the page. The moment everyone saw those digits, their eyes went wide.

“T-Ten million?” Shu Yiheng’s voice cracked.

“It’s only been live for a few hours, and it’s already hit ten million downloads?”

“To be precise, it surpassed ten million downloads after being live for three hours and seventeen minutes,” Tan Qianfan said calmly, pulling his phone back.

“And it’s still growing at a rate of two million an hour. At this rate, downloads will break twenty million before today is over, and hitting a hundred million within a week will be no problem at all.”

Everyone froze. In truth, they all knew that downloads for 《Resident Evil: Raccoon City》 wouldn’t be low.

After all, the earlier trailer was genuinely impressive, with the unmistakable feel of a AAA blockbuster, and it was being released for free. When a major title launched for free, even if it turned out to be a pile of shit, plenty of people would still taste it to see how salty it was^[1].

Yet no one had expected the download count to be terrifying to this degree.

Even 《Battlefield Vanguard》 had only reached fifty million downloads in a week, yet 《Resident Evil》 had achieved such numbers in just three hours.

This had already left world records several streets behind. If the hype really was that massive, streaming it might actually be worth doing.

“I assume I don’t have to stream it,” Liao Yunkai said calmly while everyone else was dazed.

He was the company’s indisputable pillar and primary cash cow. Commanding a massive legion of loyal fans, he naturally had the leverage to refuse.

What was more, he already made more than enough from streaming 《Battlefield Vanguard》. There was zero need for him to touch a new game with an uncertain reputation.

“Well…”

A troubled look crossed Tan Qianfan’s face. He let out a sigh before speaking slowly.

“Yunkai, Miteng Company specifically asked for you by name. I didn’t just slap my forehead and make this call on a whim because the hype was high. This is a sponsored gig from Miteng. Stream it for one day, and it pays as much as an entire month of your regular streaming salary. If you won’t do it, the contract we just signed will have to be scrapped.”

Naturally, he didn’t want to offend his own cash cow, but Miteng Company was simply offering too much money.

“Holy shit! A month’s salary for one day of streaming!”

The lesser streamers around them, who had been reluctant just moments ago, immediately had their eyes light up. As long as the pay was high enough, they would happily eat a pile of shit.

Yet they didn’t even have the right to choose. Everyone turned to look eagerly at Liao Yunkai, their eyes filled with anticipation, and even a hint of pleading.

Liao Yunkai, however, remained silent.

“How about this? Let’s check out the actual quality of 《Resident Evil》 first. I heard Captain Ao^[2] took Miteng’s sponsorship too, and he should already be live by now. We’ll watch him play a round first. If the game’s quality really is bad enough to ruin your reputation, I’ll turn down the gig immediately. I won’t force you.” Tan Qianfan gritted his teeth and compromised.

“Captain Ao took this sponsorship too? He really doesn’t cherish his own feathers^[3] at all!” Hearing Captain Ao’s name, Shu Yiheng cried out in surprise. Even Liao Yunkai looked slightly taken aback.

Captain Ao was quite the legend, or rather, a controversial figure.

He was also one of the platform’s top gaming streamers, operating on the same level as Liao Yunkai. At his peak, he had even been hotter than Liao Yunkai, frequently drawing two to three hundred thousand concurrent viewers in his stream.

Yet his style was completely different from Liao Yunkai’s.

Liao Yunkai was a skill-based streamer who boasted pinpoint marksmanship, seasoned tactical awareness, and the hardcore mechanics of an ex-special forces soldier. Watching his stream was like watching a military training film.

Captain Ao, on the other hand, was an entertainer. His gaming skills were a notch above the average player, but far from top-tier.

His success stemmed entirely from his mouth. He had risen to his current status through flamboyant commentary, exaggerated expressions, and wildly unpredictable antics. Viewers tuned in not to learn high-level play, but purely for the laughs.

Yet the man had one glaring flaw: he didn’t really cherish his own feathers.

To be precise, he was obsessed with money.

No matter what game sponsored him, he took the gig as long as they paid. Not long ago, he had recommended a piece of garbage called 《Return of the Little Sage》 to his viewers during a stream.

Just how bad was that game? The 3D models were as crude as something from ten years ago, the controls felt like swimming through mud, and it had more bugs than holes in a sieve. It crashed three times in ten minutes, yet carried quite a steep price tag.

Captain Ao had hyped the game to the high heavens on stream, tossing around phrases like “the pride of domestic gaming,” “game of the year,” and “you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t play this” without batting an eye. His fans took his word for it and bought the game in droves.

And then, the fans felt as if they had eaten aged dog shit.

And after that, Captain Ao’s comment section, private messages, and live chat completely exploded.

His follower count plunged by hundreds of thousands within three days, and his stream’s popularity suffered a cliff-like drop, plummeting from a peak of over two hundred thousand concurrent viewers to fewer than a hundred thousand. The backlash was so fierce he was nearly flamed off the internet.

Later, he posted a lengthy apology, admitting that he had misjudged things and let down everyone’s trust, and promising to be much more cautious when accepting sponsorships in the future. Only then did he gradually win back some of his fanbase.

Now, after finally letting some time pass and the heat die down a little, he was actually taking sponsored deals again.

“Let’s see how good the game is first, then,” Liao Yunkai finally relented.

He still couldn’t quite handle all those eager eyes staring at him. If this sponsorship deal fell through because of him, the others might not say anything out loud, but they would definitely resent him deep down. After all, cutting off someone’s livelihood was like killing their parents.

Besides, he was genuinely curious about the quality of 《Resident Evil》. The trailer’s quality was there for all to see, and with so much money poured into promotion, no matter how bad it was, it couldn’t possibly be that terrible.

Hearing Liao Yunkai give the word, Zhou Luo immediately turned on the television in the dining room and began searching for Captain Ao’s stream.

And right at that moment, Captain Ao’s stream had just begun.