TENGDA CORP: PLEASE LET ME GO BANKRUPT!

CHAPTER 6: Launch Day and Misplaced Praise

The system's settlement day was only three days away. For Julian Vance, this was the most nerve-wracking week. His two major projects were officially released to the market simultaneously on Friday morning.

Julian decided to attend the launch event of Chloe Sterling's cosmetic brand, Ember Beauty, first. He wanted to see firsthand how his $300,000 was spent in the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Riverdale Hotel.

As soon as he stepped inside, Julian was momentarily surprised. The room had been transformed into a dark, futuristic-themed exhibition with blue and silver neon lights. In the middle of the hall, the Italian-made crystal bottles were displayed on marble pillars, made to look like rare items from outer space.

Chloe Sterling stood near the main stage in a silver evening gown. Her face looked tense, but as soon as she saw Julian arrive, her eyes instantly lit up. She walked quickly toward Julian, ignoring the several fashion critics crowding around her.

"Julian! You actually came!" Chloe whispered. Her voice sounded anxious as she gently held the sleeve of Julian's suit jacket. "Look over there. That old man came too."

Julian looked in the direction Chloe was looking. Arthur Sterling—Chloe's father and Julian's former investor who had ousted him—was standing in the corner of the room with several property businessmen. Arthur looked at his daughter and Julian with a cynical gaze.

"He thinks I'm going to shame the family name again today," Chloe muttered while biting her lower lip in frustration. "Those old investors have been whispering all along, saying that my grey cream is just the biggest cosmetic joke of the year."

Julian patted the back of Chloe's hand to calm her down, while holding back a happy smile. 'Good, Arthur! Keep being cynical. Your business vision this time is totally accurate!' Julian cheered inwardly.

"Just relax, Miss Chloe," Julian said with a serious face. "Let them talk. You just need to focus on presenting your idea."

When the event started, Chloe went up to the stage confidently. With her assertive speaking style, she explained the concept of Ember Beauty: premium cosmetics made of simulated meteorite dust to cleanse the skin of pollution.

When the product was shown and the price per bottle was announced at $250—a number Julian had deliberately set very high so it wouldn't sell—the hall momentarily fell silent. Arthur Sterling in the corner of the room seemed to smile cynically, certain that the product would only pile up in the warehouse.

However, right as the presentation ended, a large notification appeared on the main projector screen of T-Store, Tengda Corp's digital platform. In another part of the city, the game "Tic-Tac-Toe: Cosmic Edition" was officially downloaded automatically to millions of smartphones that had already pre-registered.

Julian, who was still in the hotel hall, secretly opened his phone to check the Tengda developer dashboard. He wanted to see how much that free, ad-free Tic-Tac-Toe game drained his server budget.

However, as soon as his phone screen lit up, Julian's face instantly went pale.

On the global video platform, Tyler "The Rage" Brooks was doing an emergency live stream titled: "TENGDA CAUSES AN UPROAR AGAIN! THE MOST UNIQUE GAME OF THIS CENTURY!"

On the stream screen, Tyler placed an 'X' symbol in the center square of the Tic-Tac-Toe board. Instantly, his monitor screen shook. The Unreal Engine graphics displayed a split night sky, and a silver-armored knight with hyper-realistic details descended from the sky while striking the earth with a giant sword. The sound effect of the strike was accompanied by booming music from the London symphony orchestra, creating a huge commotion just for a cross move.

"Are you guys seeing this?!" Tyler shouted at the camera while holding his head because he was so amazed. "This isn't just an ordinary Tic-Tac-Toe! This is a harsh satire of the current big game industry! Big developers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on boring open-world games full of shopping features, but Tengda? They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to perfect a two-minute game for free without ads! This is truly idealistic!"

The video instantly went viral globally within minutes. Millions of gamers and game critics agreed that this game was a form of satire against the greedy entertainment industry.

And a huge problem for Julian had just begun. Because the game had no ads, millions of users who were amazed by Tengda Corp's idealism felt bad about enjoying such a good game for free. They swarmed to press the "Creator Appreciation" button on the T-Store. Mass donations came pouring in immediately: $5, $10, and there were even some rich people who sent $1,000 just to support Tengda's movement.

Julian stared at the balance digit of his System Funds, which began to increase at an absurd rate.

"W-wait... why are the donations even higher than the first game?!" Julian broke into a cold sweat in the middle of the cool hotel room.

Before Julian could calm down from his shock, a thunderous roar of applause and commotion suddenly broke out inside the Grand Ballroom hall. Julian looked up and saw the crowd of rich people and beauty critics already fighting to get forward, surging toward Chloe's stage.