I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords-Chapter 86 - 085. She must have an ulterior motive_1

Chapter 86: 085. She must have an ulterior motive!_1

Chapter 86: 085. She must have an ulterior motive!_1

“Seven million, that’s fast!”

Lu Ban looked at the play count data on the backend and was very satisfied.

Now, with more than a week left until the deadline, reaching ten million views should be a done deal.

Before starting the project, Lu Ban did some research on interactive videos.

Essentially, they are just a video version of text adventure games.

And to keep viewers repeatedly watching the video, you need the motivation of multiple endings and the exploration of various branches.

Of course, relying on these alone is not enough.

If a game is very difficult to beat, and almost no one can beat it, would normal people want to try it?

Not necessarily.

The times have changed, with many cloud players around, many people with clumsy hands or a lack of time like to watch others beat games, and a video completion counts as a victory too.

So, Lu Ban had to lower the threshold. For interactive videos, no operation is required, anyone can click to play, and after seeing the host push the plot so many times, everyone would eventually give it a try, especially since it’s free, at least take a look.

However, if the interactive video is too easy to beat, that’s also a problem, as Lu Ban’s goal isn’t just praise—he needs play counts.

Ten million plays translate to ten million video hits.

Even if one person watches it ten times, that still requires a million people to click.

The average daily active users of the old video website are fifty million, and the monthly active users are two hundred million. As Lu Ban’s video is not the most widely targeted and there’s a certain selectivity of the audience, to reach ten million hits in one or two weeks, rewatching is essential.

Therefore, Lu Ban needed to come up with some clever tactics to increase the number of hits contributed by one viewer.

There’s also another point: although Lu Ban had all these bells and whistles, human patience ultimately has its limits.

If an interactive video, or a game, remains unbeatable with no known way to beat it, the audience will eventually run out of patience and stop following it.

It’s like you’re constantly studying hard, researching test questions, focusing on study methods, from six in the morning till two at night, but if you still fail every exam, you’d get fed up after a few attempts and eventually choose to lie flat.

Therefore, just when everyone was captivated by the video and frantically exchanging possible methods to beat it, thinking it might be unbeatable, Lu Ban spent money letting some “in the know” big V answerers start to release information bit by bit.

For example, subsequent plot developments, possible strategies, and in the end, directly revealing the hidden secrets of the video.

Bit by bit they teased the viewers, releasing information, giving them a sense of discovery.

Like now, after the video’s few secret settings were exposed, the growth of the video’s hits entered a new phase.

Of course, the curiosity factor was also a highlight of the video. Lu Ban used Qin Tiantian to test injuries, and ordinary viewers watching those monsters, Fish-Headed People, bride and groom paying respects to heaven and earth, would just assume it was special effects and feel a bit uncomfortable.

Lu Ban guessed that only by directly viewing these creatures or being in the corresponding Foreign Domain could the extraordinary power interfere with human consciousness.

With that in mind, it seemed that those mighty existences couldn’t cross over into the world to police, and suddenly they didn’t seem so scary.

Having gained so many hits, Lu Ban now felt that spending ten days on video production was totally worth it!

In less than a week, the video’s hits would reach ten million, which directly grew Lu Ban’s fanbase to over five hundred thousand, and reaching a million fans seemed just around the corner!

Standing up and stretching his body, Lu Ban went out to the balcony for some Photosynthesis.

In fact, for Lu Ban, the most suitable places were those like open-air swimming pools.

In the water, he could breathe and expose more of his body to Photosynthesis without worrying about reports from concerned neighbors, killing three birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, swimming pools these days are all about comfort, mostly indoors with air conditioning, and getting caught swimming in the river during the flood season isn’t a good look, so Lu Ban had to settle for second best and just sunbathe on the balcony.

The ringing of his cellphone broke the silence. Lu Ban glanced at it, seeing that it was a call from his old squad leader Feng Yu.

He remembered chatting with her a few times on WeChat in the past, she said she was filming a TV series in the mountains with the Director, where the signal was bad. It looked like she must have returned to Jiangcheng now.

Lu Ban answered the phone, only to hear some noisy sounds on the other end, like Torrential Rain.

“Hey, have you finished work?”

Lu Ban asked a question.

“Not yet, I’ve encountered some issues here, I might be back a bit later.”

Feng Yu’s voice was indeed full of vitality, as if no matter how catastrophic the floods outside, she remained cheerful, as though the sun had dispelled the gloom, and just talking to her could brighten someone’s mood.

“I’ve seen the video you made, it’s pretty awesome, how did you come up with that?”

“Just studied it a bit.”

Lu Ban told the unvarnished truth.

“But those effects at the end, sigh, they’re too realistic, I can’t handle that kind of stuff, but it’s really good.”

Feng Yu complimented him again.

“Comparing it, the special effects in our crew here are really lousy, they look so fake, do you take orders? Otherwise, I’ll ask the Director to give you the special effects work.”

“I’m just dabbling, I’m very inefficient, it might take me half a month to get a little bit done.”

Lu Ban continued with his honest talk.

“Hey, when I come back this time, you have to have a meal with me, okay?”

After some casual chat, Feng Yu invited him again.

“Definitely, definitely.”

Lu Ban replied, said his goodbyes, and hung up the phone.

“Seeing everyone so busy and earnestly hustling for their livelihoods, I feel a bit guilty just lying here basking in the sun.”

Lu Ban couldn’t help but reflect.

He promptly shifted his position to let his side evenly soak up the heat too.

“But what do you think, with Feng Yu so persistent about having a meal with me, could she have an ulterior motive?”

Lu Ban asked his invisible friend.

“I’m thinking she might have an agenda.”

“I checked my Alipay account and I don’t owe her any money, we didn’t have any connections in college either.”

“Could it be…”

Thinking about some unsettling possibilities, Lu Ban’s expression turned serious.

He sat up straight, and earnestly said to his invisible friend.

“Could it be, she wants to borrow money from me?”

Lu Ban was conflicted for a moment.

“Actually, it’s not that I can’t, back when I was destitute she used to dine with me, now that I’m well-off, lending her some wouldn’t be a problem, as I don’t worry about eating or drinking and have no worldly desires.”

He pondered seriously, and then asked his invisible friend again.

“What do you think?”

“I think it makes sense.”

“Right? That way, next time we have a meal, I’ll ask her if she’s running into any trouble, she seems to have a tough time rushing around every day.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Hearing this response, Lu Ban turned to look beside him.

There was nothing there.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

Only an invisible friend.