Cannon Fodder Genius Game Producer - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The 8th Day of a Blockbuster

The First Generation GM4 Console???

The final secret turned out to be that???

Why is it limited to the first generation? This makes no sense!

From the moment Tracer Studio released this announcement, console players across the globe began to discuss it heatedly.

Inside the Jixing Studio, the entire workspace erupted in excitement the second “Teacher Bu Shu” unlocked the final secret CG of Sky Demon Thief.

Zhang Sui: Crap, the ultimate easter egg!!!

Zhang Sui: Teacher Bu Shu is a god!!! Tracer Studio issued an official announcement immediately confirming the ultimate easter egg set is complete!

The developers at Jixing Studio knew exactly what this meant. A secret hidden for eight years was finally unveiled by a Chinese player; beyond the thrill of the moment, there was a profound sense of shared pride.

On Weibo, the trending search pushed directly by the WG platform had already parachuted into the top ten.

Not just on Weibo—once WG confirmed Tracer Studio’s announcement, they immediately mobilized all their promotional resources to push Teacher Bu Shu’s live room as breaking news across the entire platform.

The operations department at WG was currently a chaotic mess of activity, but every staff member had a face beaming with joy and excitement.

This was quite literally a massive pie falling from the sky and landing right in WG’s hands.

They immediately performed emergency capacity maintenance on the platform. As expected, traffic pouring into WG from international channels was surging exponentially in the same time slot.

Sky Demon Thief was indeed a landmark console game; its sequels were widely beloved, and five years ago, the film adaptation became a global box-office smash, making the protagonist, Phoenix the Phantom Thief, a classic cinematic icon.

The movie currently in production was the second sequel, Sky Demon Thief: Treasures of the Crown, so even passersby who weren’t console gamers had some understanding of the game.

Starting from WG’s platform-wide push, the wave of discussion had ignited across many different demographics.

Zhang Sui was still excitedly marveling at the appearance of this miraculous secret, but the expression on Lin Cheng’s face beside him was a bit strange.

As a transmigrator, Lin Cheng had memories of the ultimate secret of Sky Demon Thief, but those memories came from the release of Sky Demon Thief: Treasures of the Crown two years from now.

In that hit movie, which also harvested a massive global box office, Tracer Studio attached the ultimate easter egg that no one had solved in ten years to the end of the film. At that time, it triggered a massive global discussion.

But why was the secret discovered by a Chinese player two years early this time?!

For a moment, panic surged in Lin Cheng’s heart—could it be that someone else besides him had transmigrated?!

Ding—System has scanned. Aside from the host, no unknown transmigrators found.

Ding—Host’s rebirth will cause changes in the life trajectories of certain characters.

The notification from the system allowed the panicked Lin Cheng to settle down—thank goodness, he was still the only one with the “Golden Finger” and the ability to predict the future.

The system was right. As a unique transmigrator, from the second he was reborn, he would naturally and unknowingly influence the life paths of others.

This “Teacher Bu Shu” probably had this unique encounter because of his influence.

Lin Cheng’s panic and vigilance lasted less than ten seconds. He no longer felt any special tension regarding the accidental existence of Teacher Bu Shu. After all, he had a system. Even if this Teacher Bu Shu was lucky enough to trigger a secret, what use was that?

It was just temporary fame.

He was the man destined to become the King of Games!

Though he was convinced of this, Lin Cheng still took note of Teacher Bu Shu. His instincts told him there was something special about this person, so he etched the name into his mind.

Pei Shu, who was in the middle of his stream, suddenly felt his body become light. This peculiar sensation shook him awake from his immersion in the details of the CG.

Pei Shu paused. This feeling… he had just experienced it once today.

It was that sensation of a heavy burden being lifted, similar to when he left the Universal Building.

Pei Shu arched an eyebrow, looked down at the controller in his hand, and then at the Sky Demon Thief gameplay on the TV screen.

Evidently, something he did in the stream just now had reduced the influence of the “Plot Will” hanging over him by another layer.

So, what could it be?

Pei Shu turned his head to look at the bullet chat on his phone screen.

“The final secret of Sky Demon Thief?” Pei Shu read out the words that appeared most frequently on the screen.

The viewers in the live room were originally discussing the ultimate secret frantically on the public chat when they saw the previously immovable Teacher Bu Shu finally acknowledge the comments.

Ahhhh! Teacher Bu Shu, you finally looked back!!!

You opened the ultimate easter egg of Sky Demon Thief!!

As a wave of such comments flashed by, the audience was hit with a visual critical strike as Pei Shu leaned closer to the camera—his slender neck turned slightly, shifting the lines of his throat, while a few strands of his natural curls fell near his ear.

Since the start of the stream, it was clear that the lighting in Pei Shu’s living room was excellent. The afternoon sun spilled into the room and now landed on his skin, making his fair complexion look delicate and translucent.

Because he was close to the lens to read the chat, nearly half of his face was in the frame. The corners of his mouth seemed naturally tilted into a smile, and the pale pink of his lips made people want to reach out and touch them.

In a single second, the style of the bullet chat shifted drastically.

Ahhhh, WIFE!!!

Does Wife want a kiss? I’m coming!!

Ugh, how old is Wife this year? His skin is so good! It’s white to the point of glowing, I really want to pinch it…

? You only want to pinch his skin? I’m different, I just want to cuddle!

Pei Shu, who was trying to read serious comments, noticed these as well. He chuckled, not minding the strange tone of the chat, and turned to address the question many had been asking.

Why did Tracer Studio create a version of a secret that could only be triggered by the First Generation GM4 limited production batch? Did the first-gen machines really have different hardware configurations than later models, as many had speculated in the past? Otherwise, how could this be explained?

Pei Shu had spent these past eight years as a muddled “cannon fodder tool,” so he didn’t know the secrets behind this either.

However, combining the information he was currently reading from the chat, he had a vague hypothesis.

Pei Shu turned and touched the casing of his GM4; there was no obvious change in its operation.

He smiled and spoke to the live room: “The Biak Group wouldn’t ruin their own reputation over hardware issues. Since Biak stated there is no difference in hardware configuration between the first-gen GM4 and subsequent batches, then there truly should be no difference.”

Viewers: ?!

By now, due to WG’s platform-wide push and Tracer Studio’s announcement, a massive number of domestic and foreign viewers had flooded into Pei Shu’s room.

English comments asking what Pei Shu was saying began to appear in the chat.

WG’s operations staff were quick-witted; they immediately attached a real-time voice translation plugin to the room, while WG’s own subtitling team began providing English simultaneous interpretation in the public chat.

A viewer hearing Pei Shu’s words immediately raised a doubt: Why wouldn’t Biak lie?!

Pei Shu glanced at the screen, knowing WG was managing things, and didn’t mind. Instead, he asked curiously: “Eight years have passed. If the Biak Group lied, has no one ever dismantled the machines to compare the first-gen with later batches? Is there any proof of different hardware?”

The questioning crowd was instantly silenced.

There actually was proof!

And those teardowns had confirmed that Biak was not lying, leading many players to believe that the “first-gen difference” was merely a false legend circulating among fans.

Pei Shu didn’t need to look at the chat to know that Biak wouldn’t do something so stupid as to destroy their own reputation.

Connecting Biak’s production capacity during the first-gen launch with the massive sales volume of the GM4 later on, another possibility surfaced.

Pei Shu rubbed his chin with a smile: “I suspect the secret doesn’t lie in the hardware configuration. Biak originally had its own direct factories. They were extremely strict with quality control (QC) for their hardware. But the price of strict QC and a high perfection rate is low production capacity.”

“Eight years ago, with the launch of a revolutionary product like the GM4, they were bound to receive widespread attention. They had to seize that golden window to increase their market share.”

“To do that, they inevitably needed more hardware manufacturers and assemblers. And the result of having more third-party manufacturers is that the QC of the hardware produced and assembled could no longer reach the rigorous standards of Biak’s own direct factories.”

The bullet chat, which had been noisy and excited, grew quiet as viewers became captivated by Pei Shu’s calm narration.

Indeed!

These viewers all knew the history of how Biak expanded its production.

In the live room, Pei Shu continued while thinking: “With different suppliers, even with hardware of the same specifications, there will inevitably be fluctuations in quality control. To increase market share, they had to lower the inspection standards and allow more manufacturers to enter the field. This was a choice Biak had to make.”

“Of course,” Pei Shu smiled at the game on the TV. He manipulated the controller, casually walking through the streets of Yasifern, the capital of Sky Demon Thief, observing the lighting changes. Compared to the previous CG, the performance in the city was stunning, but not as “extreme” as the CG.

While moving in-game, Pei Shu opened the GM4’s frame rate monitor—a value that affects the smoothness of the game. Generally, a frame rate above 30 fps (frames per second) provides a smooth experience. A qualified console needs the hardware foundation to maintain higher frame rates and higher-quality graphics.

Seeing Teacher Bu Shu open the monitor, veteran players began posting their own frame rates in the chat.

My GM4 basically stays stable at 35 fps for Sky Demon Thief. Stable 35 fps +1. I’ve seen some scenes drop frames, but not often. The Royal Capital might be specially optimized; it can stay around 40 fps. With motion blur, the overall experience is excellent.

As soon as they finished typing, Pei Shu’s result came out—45 fps.

It was a bit higher than what most people were seeing—just a bit, seemingly not much of a difference—but that specific value made the viewers looking at the stream feel that Pei Shu’s footage was just a bit smoother and more delicate than what they saw in their own games.

Crap, it’s here! That exact illusion!

Over the past eight years, people had often claimed that on the first-gen GM4 vs. the standard model, the visual effects of the same game were slightly different. The difference was so subtle and subjective that players could never reach a consensus.

In Pei Shu’s case, his machine was averaging 45 fps. This wasn’t vastly higher than normal, and occasionally a standard user might see their machine hit that rate too. Over time, people had dismissed the suspicion.

Seeing this, Pei Shu laughed and finished his thought: “Of course, even if Biak lowered their standards, their habit of hardware rigor remained. Their final assembly excellence rate was still high. So to be precise, I suspect the GM4 first-gen and later standard models have the same hardware specifications, with only a tiny gap in hardware quality control and the final assembly quality.”

“The margin of this difference likely doesn’t exceed 5%.”

“This gap is Biak’s compromise. Parts from different suppliers might have only a 0.01% standardization variance, but as the saying goes, ‘a miss is as good as a mile.’ Once these tiny differences are assembled, they create the final value difference in product quality.”

The audience was stunned.

Crap! What Teacher Bu Shu says makes so much sense!!! It feels like the absolute truth… So there is a gap, but it’s not large? Then why wouldn’t Tracer Studio release this secret on later models???

Pei Shu saw the question and smiled. “Of course. A small quality gap doesn’t mean no gap. This difference might manifest in certain detailed functions—for example, I suspect that under the original QC, the GM4 supports limited overclocking? Biak could guarantee that with superior hardware quality, the impact of overclocking on the hardware’s lifespan would be minimized, allowing the first-gen GM4 to have some ‘beyond-the-era’ extreme performance in games…”

“For instance, this special easter egg from Tracer Studio?”

At this point, Pei Shu laughed with his hand to his lips, his peach-blossom eyes reflecting the sunlight, curving slightly.

He wondered if a secret appearing after eight years was a surprise for Tracer and Biak.

“Well,” Pei Shu said with a lingering smile, “of course, these are just my guesses. For accuracy, we still have to wait for official responses from Biak and Tracer.”

With that, Pei Shu waved to the audience. “Alright, that’s it for today’s stream. Next, I’m going to enjoy my game time.”

Ahhhh! Why is the stream ending already?!

The viewers were still marveling at his analysis when he suddenly cut them off.

Don’t go!!! Ugh, Teacher Bu Shu, weren’t you going to play? Keep streaming!

Unfortunately, no matter how much they pleaded, Pei Shu heartlessly closed the live room.

Consequently, a wave of viewers organized Pei Shu’s hypothesis and prepared to seek final official answers from Biak and Tracer to see if he was right.

Biak Group: …

The PR team at Biak, who had been monitoring Pei Shu’s stream since the secret was unlocked, wanted to cry but had no tears.

This Teacher Bu Shu… talking about “just a guess”…

Guess my foot!

He had stripped them down to their underwear!

They felt so exhausted.

Finally, having been completely exposed, Biak was forced to issue an official announcement. The document, written urgently by the PR team, was identical to Pei Shu’s analysis, albeit wrapped in marketing jargon to insist that Biak had “never lied.”

Biak stated: All GM4 hardware configurations to date are identical. However, to ensure hardware lifespan and a normal gaming experience for players, the overclocking feature was not enabled in subsequent models.

Public opinion erupted: “It really was like that!”

Teacher Bu Shu’s hypothesis was perfectly validated!!

But why wouldn’t Tracer Studio adjust the details of the CG to fit the standard GM4?

Someone asked under Tracer’s announcement, and they received an answer quickly: “Biak Group raised a similar request, but one of the original purposes of creating this easter egg was to showcase the extreme capabilities of the GM4 console. Reducing the graphical detail would deviate from our original intent, so we chose to refuse.”

All players: …

Fine, that’s very Tracer.

In a single afternoon, news such as Teacher Bu Shu Unlocks Sky Demon Thief Final Secret, Teacher Bu Shu Returns to the Scene After 8 Years, Teacher Bu Shu Accurately Guesses the Secret of the GM4 First-Gen, and Biak Group Apologizes for GM4 First-Gen Discrepancies flew across the global gaming community.

The name “Teacher Bu Shu,” after eight years, spread across the world for the first time.

By now, Pei Shu, who had ended his stream, saw a flood of blocked messages finally pour into his phone. Only then did he realize how much of a rollercoaster his afternoon stream had been and how far it had reached.

As he casually scrolled through various messages on his WG homepage, one message suddenly caught his eye.

Teacher Bu Shu, I am so glad to see your stream appear again… I once made you my goal to strive for. But unfortunately, my life seems to have fallen into a state of massive chaos. Everything I was once proud of has been smashed to pieces. I can’t figure out why anyone would call me a plagiarist… but I have no way to defend myself.

Teacher Bu Shu… sadly, it seems I have followed in your footsteps and continued onward…

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