[I give up. I'm being completely played by miHoYo.]
[Woof woof woof~~ Miss Elf, hurry up and play it!]
[Friend above, there's really no need for that.]
"Oh my~~" Elysia was successfully amused by her audience.
However, she didn't forget the important matter at hand. She had already clicked on the short film Mei had just sent her and was playing it in the livestream.
The screen started black.
Only a chat box appeared at the bottom. Besides the text popping up, there was no voice-over, and even the speaker's name was '???'.
"..."
"The Hyperion has escaped the encirclement. The whereabouts of K423 and the Godsbane Armor prototype are unknown. The Herrscher has fallen into slumber again, but the Honkai corruption she triggered worldwide has not ceased."
"Under this crisis, Anti-Entropy may also reunite and ally with Theresa."
"Additionally, she is also an uncertain factor."
"The power of the feathers, the Eighth Divine Key, Fenghuang Down, seems to hide secrets I am still unaware of."
"But no matter. The experiment will not be affected by these matters."
The first twenty seconds were entirely a summary from the 'unknown' individual, recapping the birth of the Herrscher of the Void and the events that followed.
If it were just this segment, the short film wouldn't just be called ordinary; it would be called atrocious.
The crucial part was in the last ten seconds.
The image in the short film gradually brightened, and the sound of ocean tides could be heard.
It was a beach, with waves constantly crashing. The camera slowly panned up. The first thing to enter view was the serum container that Fu Hua had initially given to Murata Himeko, which Himeko then injected into Kiana.
Beside the container.
Kiana lay unconscious, half of her body submerged in the seawater.
The short film ended there.
[This '???' is Otto, right? Don't think I won't recognize you just because you're not speaking!]
[That's a lot of information, and... Damn it! I don't want to analyze anything! Scriptwriter, whatever you do, don't you dare knife Buggy!!]
[She should be fine. Himeko sacrificed so much. If Kiana also... Impossible! Absolutely impossible!]
[I'm going online right now to whale a 648 pack. Please spare Buggy!]
Although Himeko was currently the most popular Honkai Impact 3rd character, that was ultimately just a temporary surge due to the impact of "The Last Lesson."
The players truly loved the Initial Trio, and among them, Kiana, who temporarily had the most screen time in the main story and stood out, was undoubtedly the most popular.
Moreover, Kiana had suffered so much; Teacher Himeko had sacrificed herself to save her.
They couldn't imagine what would happen when the innocent, simple-minded Kiana woke up.
Su Luo then leaned in and said in Otto's voice: "Everyone, please re..."
[Get lost! Shut your mouth! Rest your mother's ass!]
[I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening!]
[I knew it, Otto, you had no good intentions.]
"..."
For various reasons, the level of hatred Otto garnered from players in this world seemed to be much higher than in his previous life.
He remained silent for a short while before saying, "In any case, please look forward to the next update."
After that, Su Luo let the girls take over the livestream. They were casually chatting with Elysia, who was excited to have found so many cute girls, while also answering questions from the livestream audience. He watched from the side, occasionally chiming in.
Ding-a-ling~~ Ding-a-ling~~
His phone suddenly rang.
"I'm going to take this call." Su Luo stepped outside to answer.
"Hello?"
"I heard about what happened with Honkai Impact 3rd." On the other end of the line was Li Yue from Penguin Games. "It's your first time making a game, after all. It's normal to make such a low-level mistake."
"You don't need to be too nervous. Just spend some time revising the main story. With Honkai Impact 3rd's quality, you'll quickly recover your reputation."
"Of course, if you've realized your lack of experience this time, I think you should understand that joining Penguin would be nothing but beneficial for you."
"..."
Li Yue spoke earnestly and at length.
Su Luo listened patiently, then tentatively replied, "Why don't you check the online opinions about Honkai Impact 3rd again?"
Li Yue: ???
Prompted by Su Luo, Li Yue hesitantly opened the computer on his left. With his free hand, he typed a few keystrokes, entering a few keywords.
Honkai Impact 3rd, The Last Lesson...
Actually, he had already searched before calling Su Luo. After all, everyone in the industry was paying attention to Honkai Impact 3rd, and he was certainly no exception.
At that time, the general tone online was basically like this—
[miHoYo I'll f** your mother! I'll f**ing kill you!]
[miHoYo, you have no heart! If you don't bring my Himeko back! I'm quitting!]
...
Such intensely emotional statements, one could feel the almost overflowing resentment of the players just by looking at them.
Now, however, Li Yue discovered that the online evaluation of Honkai Impact 3rd seemed to be gradually changing.
Besides the still numerous posts venting emotions, some posts with a different tone had also appeared.
[With "The Last Lesson," has Honkai Impact 3rd provided a completely different answer compared to other domestic games?]
[A Brief Discussion on Murata Himeko: With a mortal body, she stood shoulder to shoulder with gods.]
[A Brief Analysis: The Possibility of Himeko Still Being Alive!]
[Stop arguing, everyone! Let's talk about Honkai Impact 3rd's great wordsmith, the Herrscher of the Void! (Smirking emoji)]
Right, the last post could be ignored.
Li Yue was surprised to find that the online sentiment towards Honkai Impact 3rd seemed to be reversing.
"How did you do it?" he couldn't help but ask Su Luo on the other end of the phone.
"Through love and justice, of course, to enlighten the audience," Su Luo replied.
"?"
"Just kidding. At home, you rely on your parents; when you're out, you rely on your friends. I just got lucky and had friends help out."
"Friends?"
Puzzled, Li Yue began to trace the origins online and soon discovered the source of it all—Elysia's livestream.
"This... So that's how it is." Li Yue roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter and had an epiphany.
"You knew long ago that this main story segment of Honkai Impact 3rd would make netizens explode. So, you first arranged for Mei to co-stream with a major streamer, creating a gimmick to attract most of the Pilipili audience who wanted to watch streamers play Honkai Impact 3rd."
"Yes, your choice of a Pilipili streamer was also very clever. After all, Honkai Impact 3rd mainly targets the ACG demographic, and its influence on Pilipili is indeed much greater than elsewhere."
Su Luo, on the other end of the phone, listened to Li Yue's utterly convinced analysis, feeling slightly bewildered.
Li Yue, however, continued speaking to himself:
"After 'The Last Lesson,' you used a group sing-along to soothe some people's emotions, and then used Otto, the main story's major villain, to divert the players' anger."
"Finally, you had Himeko come out and sincerely explain how wonderfully Murata Himeko was portrayed, achieving an effect that wasn't quite a whitewash but was better than one. Perhaps those 'Rational Party' members later on were even a water army you hired."
He slammed the table slightly, somewhat agitated. "This is simply textbook-level operations."
"Impressive, truly impressive. The younger generation is indeed to be respected. It seems I, relying on my status as an industry veteran, underestimated you."
Su Luo: "..."