I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

5 hours later...

"Uh, are those guys still around who said they'd send planes and rockets if we won? Even though we didn't win, I just wanted to ask. If you guys run away, I'll..."

"What do you mean by a streamer breaking their word? I'm saying this right here today, and I'll say it again: I won't end the stream until I clear the level!"

Four hours later.

"..."

The host, Teacher Gou, held the mouse, finding it extremely difficult even to lift a finger.

At this point, his live stream viewership reached a staggering 1200 million.

The screen was filled with a dense barrage of comments, making it impossible to read what was being said.

Moreover, new audience members continued to pour in.

Is this the streamer who got emotionally disoriented while playing a mini-game?

[This is trending! This streamer is still playing. Has he really been playing for 12 hours straight?]

Teacher Gou has really become famous this time.

He used to only be able to stream during relatively off-peak times; once it was prime time, nobody would watch him.

But now, he not only broadcasts during prime time, but he can also outshine those top streamers and get featured on the homepage!

But now, he really wants to end the broadcast!

He had been working on it all day, but still couldn't pass the second level.

This game is so hard!

During the 12-hour live stream, his repeated moments of emotional breakdown were recorded and clipped, and have already gone viral on video websites. It's estimated that he'll soon be joining the ranks of the most popular meme stars.

But he really wants to end the broadcast now!

Nobody knows how devastated he is right now!

Every time, I fail at the last few bricks. One layer is peeled off, but another layer appears, endlessly.

He even doubted whether he could actually complete the game.

I've used every ounce of my power, so why can't I beat the game?!

Most importantly, this game is incredibly addictive.

Even though I've been playing for 12 hours straight, even a AAA game like that should make me feel nauseous.

But he can still play this game.

It's disgusting, but you can still keep playing it. Some viewers have even been watching him play for hours and are still watching.

Most importantly, each level is different, and there is an element of luck involved when opening the bricks. Sometimes you will be surprised, and sometimes you will have a breakthrough.

If I say I'm just stupid, I don't feel like I made any mistakes. I always feel like I'll be luckier next time and maybe I'll be able to pass the game.

As for whether you can pass the level, the card combinations are different every time, but you always get stuck in similar situations. In the later stages, you don't have many bricks left, so you can't collect three at all.

"Brothers, let's take a break. Seriously, all I see is green right now. I feel like if I keep playing like this, I'm going to have a mental breakdown."

He put down the mouse, stretched, and lay down wearily for a while, while the screen was filled with comments again.

I've become lazy, so lazy.

[Don't rest, I just arrived! Streamer, come play!]

[Hey streamer, do you know you're famous?]

Teacher Gou straightened up, opened a web search, and immediately saw that he was the third trending topic.

"A streamer challenged himself to play a game meant for young children, refusing to stop until he beat it, and ended up streaming for 12 hours straight... Does that sound ridiculous? Wait, is this talking about me??"

He stared at the screen, mouth agape, where the following topics were trending:

How do I pass the level "Sheep is a Sheep"?

[I finally got a day off, and this game ruined my day!]

Has anyone managed to clear the game using a sheep-themed strategy?

It seems he's not the only one who's become famous.

The game "Sheep" has become incredibly popular.

Chapter 337 is kind of fun.

Teacher Gou browsed the trending topics list numbly, clicking on each one with lifeless eyes.

He's been playing "Sheep and Goat" for so long that his mind has completely wandered away from it. Now everything looks like a brick to him, and when he sees two identical Chinese characters, he wants to find a third one, trying to match three.

So when he first saw the trending topic, he had no reaction at all.

After watching for several minutes and refreshing the page multiple times, witnessing a double explosion of comments in the live stream and trending topics, he finally came to his senses.

He's famous! He's really famous! He's finally made it to the trending topics list – something he'd always dreamed of!

Of the tens of thousands of streamers on Shark, big and small, which one doesn't want to become famous and trend on social media? But how many actually manage to trend?

How much effort did he put in, how many roads did he travel, and how much pain did he endure that is unimaginable to ordinary people in order to achieve this day?

"Waaaaah..."

Teacher Gou suddenly burst into tears.

An adult's breakdown can come so suddenly.

The comments section was filled with messages:

Why are you crying?

Don't cry if you can't beat the game!

[You guys don't know, the streamer said he wouldn't stop streaming until he cleared the game, so he couldn't sleep until 2 AM. I'd cry too if I were him.]

[Tragic - Teacher Gou - Tragic]

[This is too tragic, hahaha, sorry, I laughed so hard I lost all my merit.]

The streamer's hardships were interpreted by the audience as him breaking down because the game was too difficult. Indeed, everyone's joys and sorrows are different; Teacher Gou only found their noise bothersome.

His breakdown was captured by enthusiastic netizens and uploaded online with the title "Shocking! Million-dollar streamer breaks down while playing games!" which sparked another wave of discussion.

Of course, this is a story.

During the 12 hours that Teacher Gou streamed his walkthrough of "Sheep and Sheep," the effects of Chen Ya's viral marketing were rapidly taking hold.

The game "Sheep and the Sheep" is experiencing explosive growth.

Players who encounter this game generally go through four stages:

The first stage is the initial experience; the game is not difficult and there is no desire to share it. However, the second level is a deliberately designed bottleneck in terms of difficulty.

The second stage is the excitement period. During this stage, players will constantly try various methods to pass the level, and try to pass the level by forwarding the game, watching ads, etc. Players in this stage bring huge revenue to the game.

The third stage is the decline phase, where players give up because the game is too difficult, or finally realize that the game cannot be completed and choose to put it down.

Then comes the final stage, where players become the fun-loving ones, forwarding the game to people around them and watching them break down, experiencing the same breakdowns as themselves.

Every moment, players are experiencing these four stages of transformation, thus turning the game into a community event.

The game itself is no longer important; what matters is the level of discussion it generates and the community it fosters.

Players engaged in emotional exchanges with friends through forwarding and sharing, rebuilding relationships and creating common topics for discussion.

The theory that Chen Ya had previously told Ishikawa Tō—"The highest level of gaming is friendship, and the essence of gaming is interaction with friends"—has unexpectedly returned to its origin in this way.

Thanks to the activation of the trashy game "Sheep and the Sheep," players have surprisingly started interacting and communicating with each other again, and there is very little negative emotion between them—because all the negative emotions are directed towards the game.

By the afternoon, Qin Sulan had completed the transition from the second to the third stage. After sending the game to her best friend, she was now moving on to the fourth stage.

Her best friend sends her one or two messages every ten minutes or so:

"I was so close to winning, I almost beat the game."

"Ughhhh, why was I just one brick short?! If I had just one more item, I could have passed the level!!"

"Can this game be played with in-game purchases? Is there a hacked version? Are there any cheats?"

"Trashy game."

Qin Sulan lay on the bed, tilting her head to look at her best friend's message, and let out a "chichi" laugh.

I opened Weibo and suddenly realized that the game had become a trending topic.

Furthermore, as you refresh the page, the rate at which the topic posts are added changes from one post every few minutes to one post per refresh, and then to dozens of posts per refresh.

The topic's popularity has seen an explosive increase.

This left Qin Sulan in disbelief.

The experience of watching a game she helped create become a huge hit right under her nose felt incredibly magical to her.

My best friend sent me another message:

I'm quitting. This game is trash, a waste of time.

Qin Sulan replied:

Show some respect, this is a game I personally helped create!

My best friend said, "Your drawing is pretty good, it has the style of a kindergarten teacher's simple hand-drawn sketches, but games really can give kids a brain hemorrhage."

Qin Sulan said: [Hahaha, it's clearly because you're too stupid!]

My best friend said, "Hey, everyone around me has gotten into playing this game because of me. My mom's been sitting there playing on her phone for an hour now."

Qin Sulan said, "Thank you for helping me promote the game. The more popular the game is, the more bonuses I'll receive."

[It's unbelievable that my friend's game became so popular; it's truly amazing.]

Qin Sulan said with a hint of pride, "That's right."

My best friend asked, "How's the game data going? How much money have you made? Do you know anything insider information?"

Qin Sulan said, "I don't know, I'm on vacation at home, but I'd like to ask anyway."

Go ask them.

Qin Sulan held her phone and typed a message for Shi Chuandong, whom she had added as a friend.

Although Ishikawa Tō is young, he has already shown signs of being a workaholic, and he stayed at the company diligently today.

When Shi Chuandong received Qin Sulan's text message, he was eating takeout.

At this time, "Sheep" had just made its first appearance on the trending topics list, and the data showed a sharp upward trend in the early stages.

The mini-program's backend data refreshes every 15 to 20 minutes. The data after it went viral hasn't been released yet, but it's expected to see a significant improvement, though the exact amount is unknown.

Chen Ya and Gu Yuqing were sitting at the far end of his office, both of them staring intently at the computer screen.

“Brother Ya,” Ishikawa Takashi said as he walked over, “Are you guys really not going to have lunch? It’s already two o’clock.”

"No, I'll go eat outside after I see the next update of the data," Chen Ya replied.

"Oh." Ishikawa Tō answered honestly, glancing at Gu Yuqing sitting next to Chen Ya. This beautiful woman was currently placing her stockinged feet, which had been taken off their high heels, on Chen Ya's desk.

After Ishikawa Dong returned, Gu Yuqing asked in a low voice, "Why didn't you order takeout?"

“I’ll order takeout,” Chen Ya said. “I’m thinking you might not be used to the food.”

"Oh," Gu Yuqing replied casually, but a refreshing sweetness involuntarily welled up inside her. "I'm not that delicate."

“The main takeout options nearby are large portions that are filling, but they lack in taste,” Chen Ya said. “I’m worried you won’t like it.”

"How thoughtful." Gu Yuqing smiled, then lowered her voice slightly and asked, "Do my legs look good?"

“It looks good,” he replied immediately.

How good-looking is it?

“It’s a national treasure,” Chen Ya said. “You should be charged an entrance fee to sit next to it.”

"Then hurry up and give me the ticket money."

"I'm sorry, I'm a minor."