Chapter 289: We need the English version!
October 10th, Sunday.
Qiao Liang had just uploaded the first episode of his Turn Back Before It's Too Late full walkthrough. Feeling satisfied, he refreshed the page over and over, watching the flood of silly comments and bullet chats roll in as the video's popularity steadily climbed.
The comment section quickly turned lively.
"First!"
"Finally! I've been waiting for this forever!"
"Ah, Old Qiao's new video is here! Gotta drop a like first!"
"Old Qiao's thought process is so clear—definitely knows his stuff."
"Yeah, he really did his homework this time. The video's made from the perspective of an average player, with tons of useful strategies for tough spots—super timely!"
"So professional! And he even foreshadowed a lot of plot twists. Sixty-six likes for you, bro!"
"Brain: I've learned it! Hands: No, you haven't."
"Feels like Old Qiao and I aren't even playing the same game… Why does he make it look so easy?"
Basking in all the rainbow flattery from his goofy fans, Qiao Liang couldn't help feeling smug.
Of course it looks easy—I'm a professional gamer!
He himself was very satisfied with this episode.
This video wasn't about showing off fancy skills. Instead, he took the stance of an average player, helping everyone find easier ways to clear difficult sections.
Of course, for certain special enemies, Qiao Liang would save the game, then demonstrate multiple strategies for defeating them—showing viewers different approaches.
On top of that, he dug into hidden details and easter eggs, analyzed lore from the official novel, and even offered theories on mysterious plot points—making the video all the more engaging.
Watching his follower count skyrocket, Qiao Liang felt both proud and grateful.
And who did he have to thank for all this?
Naturally—President Pei!
If President Pei hadn't invited him to Jingzhou for early access, how could he have gotten such a head start over other creators?
Qiao Liang thought to himself: if President Pei hadn't given him that opportunity, he'd probably still be struggling to beat the game, getting crushed over and over.
See? President Pei really treats me like family!
Not only did he let me test the game early, he even revised it based on my feedback.
This game's success definitely has a little of my credit in it too, right?
Rounding up a bit, doesn't that make me something like a "Turn Back Before It's Too Late Assistant Designer"?
Or maybe a "Special Test Player"?
Yeah, both sound great!
Qiao Liang casually scrolled through the fan list, replied to a few comments, and interacted with his audience.
Before long, this video—hailed by viewers as "The Strongest Series of October"—was soaring up the charts, first topping the gaming category, then climbing toward the overall Aili Island leaderboard!
As he browsed through the trending videos, a familiar name caught his eye.
It was Handsome Hao!
The title read: "When a Foreign UP Host Streams Turn Back Before It's Too Late on Link Live."
The video's popularity was rapidly rising, right behind Qiao Liang's walkthrough.
"Huh, this guy's fast too. Let's see how our international friend's doing."
Qiao clicked on the video.
And indeed, Handsome Hao lived up to his name—he really was quite handsome, though he had an endearingly goofy vibe that made him great at creating comedic moments.
The foreign creator had taken his Link Live stream footage, added subtitles and flashy edits, and uploaded it to Aili Island.
Clearly, Handsome Hao's video style was completely different from Old Qiao's.
Qiao Liang's video was a walkthrough—not exactly fast-paced, but tightly packed with information. Every route was carefully planned, every action deliberate, making it all look so easy that viewers couldn't help but sigh, "Wait, this game's actually simple?"
Meanwhile, Handsome Hao's video was the complete opposite—a blind first playthrough filled with endless clips of him being mercilessly slaughtered by monsters. In his livestreams, he'd sometimes die several times to the same basic enemy. For the video version, he trimmed those deaths down into highlight reels, turning his constant suffering into comedy gold.
His chosen epitaph: "You died, again."
Combined with his exaggerated death expressions caught on camera, it was pure entertainment—viewers instantly saw themselves in his pain, and the results were explosively funny.
You could tell from the live comments just how much fun everyone was having, even though the poor guy was dying nonstop:
"HAHAHA he died AGAIN!"
"It's literally me playing this game."
"'You died, again' is such a mood."
"For his second playthrough, he should change the gravestone to 'Trash'—10/10 comedic value!"
"Tengda Games, bringing glory to the nation?"
"More like tormenting foreign players—diplomatic crisis speedrun!"
"Cause of death: thought the enemy looked weak."
"Came here from Qiao Liang's video—two perspectives, double the fun!"
"Weird… when I play, I want to smash my controller. But watching someone else suffer is hilarious."
"Please, just hire a carry already—I can't take it anymore!"
Handsome Hao even kept a massive dictionary next to him, along with an online poetry database—every time a poetic line appeared in-game, he'd have to stop and look it up.
To discourage foreign players, Pei Qian had deliberately stuffed the game full of classical poetry and archaic Chinese text—even hiding key side-quest clues within those lines.
For someone like Qiao Liang, whose grasp of classical Chinese wasn't great but barely passable, guessing through context still worked.
But for Handsome Hao? It was pure torture.
He'd spend ages flipping through that dictionary, often coming up empty, and had to rely on help from classmates or helpful viewers in chat.
Still, whenever he did manage to decipher a line and solve a puzzle, his excitement was infectious—you could practically feel his sense of triumph through the screen.
Pei Qian had thought about using entirely original poetry—that would've made things even more diabolical—but that was easier said than done.
Even literature majors couldn't casually compose elegant verses on command, and any "student-made poetry" would pale compared to the classics.
Plus, Ma Yiqun and Zhu Anxing were already busy writing the main story; there was no time for poetic perfectionism.
So in the end, the game just used a bunch of relatively obscure but thematically fitting ancient poems, woven directly into the plot.
Armed with his dictionary and poetry site, Handsome Hao somehow managed to crack those riddles anyway.
He even explained the meanings to his viewers afterward—each time earning a flood of "woo," "lol," and "awesome" reactions from the crowd.
Although Link Live didn't support danmaku comments, viewers could still chat freely during streams, interacting with the host in real time.
And Handsome Hao, ever thoughtful, recorded those comments and regularly translated the funniest ones to display at the end of each video.
For example, this episode ended with a few international viewer messages:
"It's a really interesting game, can't wait to see more!"
"Anyone got a purchase link for this?"
"This feels like a game made for real gamers. Super impressive."
"It looks so rich in content—great visuals and gameplay. I can't wait for the next part!"
"We need the English version!"
"We need the Japanese one too"
Seeing those comments, Qiao Liang couldn't help but laugh.
"Playing while flipping through a dictionary, huh? Not bad."
"Time for our international friends to experience what true suffering feels like!"
"Though, to be fair, this game's hardcore design really does match those foreign players' tastes."
"Give that guy a thumbs-up!"
With that, Qiao Liang happily shared Handsome Hao's video—the two creators boosting each other's popularity in perfect harmony.
. . .
Tengda Games.
Li Yada looked at the backend data for Turn Back Before It's Too Late, then checked the game's TPDb rating, and nodded in satisfaction.
Everything was thriving.
The numbers were steadily climbing: sales were rising, while the refund rate was dropping fast—down from over 20% to less than 10%.
The game's TPDb score was also improving, now sitting at 8.1, and it looked like it would keep going up for a while yet.
Most importantly, media reviews were expected to drop in a few days.
Domestic gaming outlets couldn't review Turn Back Before It's Too Late until their editorial teams had actually cleared the game first.
But given how brutally difficult it was, those editors—being mere mortals—hadn't managed to finish it yet, so there still weren't any official reviews.
Once a few media outlets gave it high scores, the TPDb rating would almost certainly rise even higher.
"President Pei truly plans three steps ahead."
"Even though he hasn't been in the office lately, everything is unfolding exactly as he predicted… as expected of a genius."
Li Yada sighed in admiration.
She opened the game's comment section again—and froze.
"We need the English version!"
"We need the English version!"
"We need the English version!"
A neat line of identical requests, all from different user IDs.
For a moment, Li Yada thought it was some kind of coordinated prank. After all, the game hadn't been promoted overseas—where would foreign players even hear about it?
But after scrolling a bit more, she realized there were lots of similar comments.
After some digging, Li Yada quickly found the source: a foreign streamer on Aili Island named Handsome Hao had been playing Turn Back Before It's Too Late live on Link Live, sparking interest among international viewers.
Apparently, these foreign players were getting pretty desperate. Without understanding Chinese, the game's riddles were completely unplayable—they could only brute-force or skip them.
Li Yada thought for a moment.
Maybe… this was worth reporting to President Pei.
After all, the overseas market was vast.
If they spent a bit of money to hire a good translator, they could release an English version, work with an international publisher for promotion, and earn an extra stream of revenue on top of that.
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
So she decided to call President Pei immediately.
After all, hiring translators and finding a foreign publisher wasn't exactly a small matter—it'd cost money.
This was something only President Pei could sign off on.
"Better ask President Pei first… to see if we should go ahead and make an English version."
<+>
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