Qingdao, in an ordinary residential building, and a minimalist decorated room.
Chen Yan was staring at a document on the desktop in a daze.
The name of the document was, "The Hidden Guardian".
This is a game that Chen Yan has designed for five years. It was a rare puzzle game on the market. It was his dream from little to build a game that would become widely played and appreciated.
He was responsible for the creation of the game system as well as a few individual characters.
However, the expense of developing the game was out of reach for him at the time.
According to his estimates, at the very least one or two hundred yuan would be required to get this idea off the ground in its early stages.
It may even potentially cost hundreds of thousands of yuan to make a whole game, including the artist, music soundtrack, and other elements of production.
For the current Chen Yan, that sort of money was unattainable.
"Mhm." Chen Yan groaned slightly and closed the document that he would have read every day and then walked away from the computer, taking out his cell phone and preparing to play mobile games to divert his attention away from the difficulties he was experiencing.
Opening up the game he usually enjoys, a sudden pop-up had appeared on the screen, shimmering brightly with red bolded text, almost as if it was luring him to play.
[Ding! Welcome, Player! Experience a unique and interesting game: Yunyang Girlfriend]
[This game is unique in itself as we are marketing on mobile ads and no sign-up is required! However, a minor detail is that you must bind the game! ;) And after binding, others cannot use it.]
[Now that we have finished introductions, would you like to bound the game?]
Looking at the pop-up ad on his phone, Chen Yan was full of questions.
A game advertisement?
Didn't I subscribe to a monthly subscription for no ads to appear?
First off, He understood the word "Yunyang". It was an emerging world of entertainment from the Internet. For example, the Yunyang that raises cats, the Yunyang that raises dogs, and so on.
Yunyang generally refers to people who are unable to raise their own cats, dogs, or any sort of pet because of personal conditions, therefore, they remotely raise these pets through the Internet to feel healthier and happy.
In the process of raising, these people will also feed, give rewards, and participate in the process of raising the pet. It was similar to how a real-life pet would be taken care of.
But...
"Raising a girlfriend? What the hell!?"
"Is this... some kind of ero game?" (T/L: Porn)
"I know that I'm feeling upset LOL, so you recommend this kind of game to relieve my boredom?." (T/L: League of Legends)
"That..."
"Fine, I'll give it a try."
Thinking so, he clicked the yes option.
[Congratulations on binding the game! However, please answer the question(s) that will soon pop up on the screen for the system to match you with your first Cloud girlfriend] (T/L: Cloud is used as another slang word for the internet]
After a few seconds, a question appeared on Chen Yan's phone screen.
[Please choose your girlfriend's view on love]
[ 1) Focus only on herself 2) Discuss between each other. 3) Will only listen to her boyfriend]
"Girls who are confident and cheerful are the cutest!", Chen Yan spoke, and then chose option 3.
[Please choose your girlfriend's view on heterosexual dating]
[1) Open to all 2) Mixed Opinions 3) Normal. 4) Not interested in any male other than her boyfriend, and has always saved her purity for her boyfriend]
Chen Yan felt that this question was testing his integrity as a human being, and it took an intense amount of will to choose option 4.
After choosing, he looked around the room frantically and then sighed in relief, Chen Yan felt that the options he was choosing were selfish and not realistic.
[Please choose the look of your girlfriend]
There is no option to simply customize a character that he can create, so Chen Yan could only write broadly of what he liked, "Young, pearly white skin, beautiful, cute and cuter!", and other wonderful phrases that are feasible to use to describe ladies in general.
After finishing, Chen Yan filled out the remaining questions.
There were so many that it made Chen Yan wonder if he had fallen into a new type of scam and was deceived.
Just as Chen Yan frowned more and more, finally, a prompt popped up on his mobile phone:
[All selections have been made, and the system will match you with a girlfriend who is most suitable for you and closest to you based on the various options selected by the player, such as appearance, marriage and love, and heterosexual dating.]
[Matching...]
[Match successfully! Congratulations, and congratulations once again to the player for having the chance to raise a girlfriend!]
At the end of the prompt, a picture of a girl appeared on the screen of Chen Yan's phone.
She had a little oval face with medium-sized eyes and faintly set brows, and her overall look was flawless. She was the epitome of purity, to put it simply. Even Chen Yan was under the impression that this was the kind of first love that everyone was thinking about.
Her gorgeous eyes appear to be imbued with some strange and captivating magical power. She is not very tall, seeming to be just 1.6 meters in height, but she is well-proportioned, with an accentuated upper body curve that does not detract from her attractiveness.
Her eyes were curved like two crescents as she smiled. She exhibited a feeling of self-assurance and joy. It was a lovely sight that made anyone feel warm and fuzzy.
Chen Yan was smitten with the girl's picture after he spent some time looking at it.
Soon after, a loud ring came from Chen Yan's phone.
[Yu Qiaoqiao. Age: 19 years old. She grew up in an orphanage, with characteristics like simple and strong, but also had an inferiority complex and a deep-seated sensitivity in her heart]
[Not too long ago, she was successfully admitted to Kotoshima University with a score of 612 and became the pride of the orphanage. Besides studying, she is also doing odd jobs to earn living expenses.]
[She will mail the remaining living expenses to her teacher of the orphanage regularly to improve the lives of her brothers and sisters in the orphanage. She is a kind and good girl.]
Looking at this introduction, Chen Yan was surprised, "This game is pretty real. Even the background of my girlfriend is so detailed."
"But... this profile does not match the photo. She exudes so much confidence, but the evaluation is giving her an "inferiority complex"."
"The production team is useless."
At the same time, the phone continued to list the prompt.
[Yunyang Girlfriend successfully matched, and the game officially started. All the content of the game will follow the laws of reality and the development of the player's girlfriend.]
[A girlfriend may become angry, cry or move, and be happy. She may also study, graduate, and apply for a job, even be unemployed, start a business, or go bankrupt.]
[She doesn't know the existence of you, a cloud supporter, however, you will be the only one for her. Please respect and love her.]
[Yu Qiaoqiao's initial favorability rating: 0 ]
[The player's initial wealth value: 0 ]
[Note. Wealth is an asset in the player's game. You can purchase various items or withdraw cash.]
[Feeding the player's girlfriend, or buying presents for her, you will receive wealth points.]
[The initial ratio of wealth withdrawal is 1:10. For every 1 yuan spent on the player's girlfriend, you will get 1 point of wealth, therefore, withdrawing 10 yuan.] (T/L: 10 Yuan= $1.50)
[The player's girlfriend has her own likes, dislikes, and personality, so she will have an initial good impression of the player.]
[The affection level will have a certain impact on the game function. After the increase, the player's girlfriend may also become your real girlfriend and never leave you.]
[So, please try to increase the affection points as much as possible. And...buy a lot for your girlfriend!.]
Looking at the series of prompts in the game, Chen Yan looked dazed.
What is this all about?
Why does it state, "cash withdrawal"?
Is this supposed to be a sort of scam?
If you spend 1 yuan, you can withdraw 10 yuan after spending it?
A very good withdrawal rating?
When the time comes, a player can find that there was no way to withdraw cash, It would be considered getting cheated by the game!
Don't be fooled.
Chen Yan pressed the [Continue] button to see what the game had in store for him next, although privately warning himself not to be duped into spending yuan.
[The game is officially starting...]
With these words, Chen Yan's phone flashed twice, and then a pixel game interface appeared.
On the interface, there was a character who looked similar to Yu Qiaoqiao who was walking towards a convenience store.
At the same time, a little bubble was displayed on top of the pixelated character, showing: [Shopping]
Chen Yan tried clicking on different sides of the screen a few times and found that there was nothing that could be manipulated.
And after researching for a couple of minutes, Chen Yan found that the design of this game is very simple.
In addition to the main interface, and the introduction page of the girlfriend, there was only one [shop] that was locked.
It seems like I don't have any option to spend yuan and being deceived won't be an issue.
Overall, it looks very plain.
"This game is still a semi-finished product, right?"
"They actually want to promote this kind of semi-finished game? Must be nice to be rich. If only that money was given to me to continue making, "The Hidden Guardian"."
Chen Yan fiddled with it for a while, but couldn't figure out how the game worked and boringly threw the phone aside, stretched his waist, touched his stomach, and felt a little hungry.
Looking at the clock hung in his room, it was noon.
He looked around the room, no matter whether it was the refrigerator or under the bed, he could not find any food.
"Huh? I ate all the instant noodles at home?"
Chen Yan touched his wallet and found out that he still had money, so to the convenience store he went to "buy some goods."
Putting on his coat and picking up the phone on the floor, Chen Yan went downstairs in slippers.
…
Chen Yan is a native of the Chinese city of Qingdao. Since he was a youngster, he has enjoyed participating in games. His ambition is to become the biggest gaming firm in the nation and to fundamentally alter the landscape of domestic video games!
His efforts have been focused on this goal since his undergraduate years when he created two short games on his own that were well accepted when they were released. He hopes to continue this work after graduation. And "The Secret Guardian" is also a game he has been designing since college. It is the project he has most hope that will succeed.
After graduating, Chen Yan established a game studio that specialized in the business of game gold, which included reproducing copies, collecting gold coins, and then selling them for RMB to fund the project.
Although boring, the income is still pretty good.
He generally remains at home, playing games from dawn to night, creating copies, and getting takeout when he needs anything to eat.
However, while he is playing games, there are always moments when he loses track of time, so he usually eats a cup of noodles at home.
Soon after, he arrived at the convenience store and opened the door, and at the counter was an aunt in her forties.
Chen Yan greeted her, "Aunt Liu is on duty today, help me get a box of instant noodles."
Aunt Liu, the clerk, is obviously very familiar with Chen Yan. She smiled when she saw Chen Yan and when she did, her face was full of wrinkles, "Xiao Chen is here to buy again, or do you want the old sauerkraut noodles?."
Chen Yan replied, "Yes. Help me get two bags."
Aunt Liu nodded and turned to move to the small room on the back to move instant noodles.
Chen Yan stood in front of the counter and waited boringly. While waiting, he looked at the shelves next to him, wanting to see if there was anything delicious.
As a result, just as he was looking, a girl walked out from the shelf and came into Chen Yan's sight.
In addition to having a pale complexion and a charming look, she also has a tinge of sadness between her brows, as well as the proud curvature of her upper body.
Seeing the beautiful woman suddenly, Chen Yan couldn't help but pause on the girl's face for a while.
Then... he was stunned.
What...
Why is this girl so familiar?
Chen Yan looked at the girl, and his eyes filled with confusion.
For a moment, a flash of lightning appeared across his mind.
This...
How is this exactly the same girl as the girlfriend I'm raising in the game!?