Chapter 27. No Way, You Actually Did It??
If this were any other time, seeing Sirin cry this hard would've made the viewers hype and giddy.
But right now, how much better off could they be than Sirin?
[First off, I feel nothing, okay?
It's just my bro who can't hold it together.
I'm totally fine.
It's just my bro...]
[How can anyone write a story like this?
Who could possibly watch this and not break down?]
[Streamer, could you cry a little quieter?
You're making me want to cry too.]
[I'm getting old.
I can't handle this anymore...]
[Couldn't hold it.
I was secretly watching the stream at work and bawled my eyes out.
My boss saw me and thought something happened at home, and gave me a 1,000 bonus...]
[Dude, everyone's in their feelings.
How come the vibe flips the moment it's you...]
The story of To the Moon was undoubtedly a success.
As the player advanced step by step toward bringing John and River together again, the deep sense of immersion made players empathize, shed tears, and finally hit an emotional peak when John and River held hands once more.
Life is never smooth all the time.
Behind the daily mask of smiles often hide grievances and helplessness no one knows.
Forcing a smile to answer a supervisor's unreasonable demands.
Squaring your shoulders so your wife and kids won't see your fatigue.
Or facing romantic setbacks with a gentle smile.
At this moment, all the pent-up negative feelings of the past erupted at once.
Even the most stoic had reddened eyes.
The game screen faded to pitch black.
Credits began to roll.
Naturally, almost every entry was a name that read "Xander."
Art, music, planning, design—line after line was him.
Oh, and for the Programming section he even added "Hatsune Miku."
This wasn't anything special by itself.
It was just a small indie game.
Some people might be curious who the designer was, but most didn't care.
They loved the game; the designer didn't matter that much.
Until the final lines appeared.
"Special Thanks:
Thank you to Miss Pink Elf and Eden Studio for their support and help with the game's music."
Beneath that was the address of Miss Pink Elf's Schicksal Blog.
Not many noticed this at first.
But as those lines stayed centered on the screen, more and more people saw them.
Xander had deliberately designed this screen so you had to click to return to the title, so…
The bullet comments exploded, no surprise there.
[Huh?]
[Huh?]
[Huh?]
[Wait, this—no way— is that… Eden??]
[Even Miss Pink Elf?
No—this has to be fake, right??!!]
Even with tears not yet dried, the shock of this scene still made them gape.
Had the designer gone mad for clout, daring to latch onto Eden?
What kind of person is Eden?
A world-class vocalist with over one hundred million real fans.
And you—some tiny, shoestring indie—how dare you drop Eden's name?
Even if it's Eden's studio, that studio exists to serve Eden alone.
And setting Eden aside, Miss Pink Elf is a mega-blogger with tens of millions of followers too.
This isn't someone you can clout-chase with.
Among the tens of thousands watching, many were fans of Miss Pink Elf and Eden.
They'd been deeply moved just now, and then this hit them out of nowhere—total whiplash.
[I do love the game, but chasing hype like this—this designer...]
[No way.
How did he even dare??!!]
[Outrageous.
Fan turned hater.]
[The game is great.
The designer though...]
[Why pull this cheap stunt?
Might as well just buy some paid traffic.]
...
It's not that people refused to believe.
But it's like in the old days: you're an unknown who made a tiny offline game only dozens of megabytes in size, yet you somehow got Andy Lau to sing your theme song.
Never mind whether it "fits."
It's just too absurd—who could believe that?
But sometimes reality is that strange.
Some of Elysia's fans were so annoyed they went straight to her Schicksal Weibo to "raid."
But the moment they opened it, they saw a fresh post from their specially followed blogger "Miss Pink Elf," made ten minutes ago:
"Played To the Moon with Eden today.
It's truly a very, very wonderful story.
Only one bad thing—making girls cry is just too much!
(Secretly telling everyone: the 'For River' inside? I played that myself.
By the end, even Eden's eyes were red~)"
By now this post already had tens of thousands of comments.
The fans who saw it were dumbfounded on the spot.
Huh??????
No way—you actually did it???
Everyone had already lowered their lances to charge, and then they realized they'd almost friendly-fired.
Awkward much.
As for staying angry now?
Angry at what—this is double-fan ecstasy!
About-face.
Countercharge!!!
[A good game finally drops, and the designer goes and pulls a stunt like this!!]
[I swear, now I can't even choose between crying and fuming.
I'm just numb.]
[Outrageous.]
The live chat was still slinging insults.
But soon, different bullet comments appeared.
[Guys, hold up—don't flame yet.
Go check Schicksal Weibo.
It's real!!!!!!!!]
[Miss Pink Elf has already posted and confirmed it!!!]
[I just checked Eden Studio's public site.
Among the listed works there's actually "For River."
Dude, you really did it?]
...
As these comments piled up, the haters faltered.
Huh???
It's real?
They skeptically opened Weibo, saw it for themselves, and were stunned into silence.
Not two minutes later, the chat's tone flipped yet again.
[I said from the start this designer had potential.
You all didn't believe me.]
[Yeah yeah, exactly.
I totally believed in him the whole time!]
[With storytelling of this caliber, inviting Miss Pink Elf is perfectly reasonable, no?
Be bolder next time—invite Eden directly!]
[All right, if that's how we're playing, I'm in too（smirk）.]
The twist upon twist eased much of the earlier sorrow, and people finally had the mood to banter in chat again.
Just then, they noticed the streamer was still crying, and they were having none of it.
They'd all been jump-scared, so what was with the little lass still sobbing?
[Quit crying and get up—big news just dropped!!]
[Useless— all you do is cry, cry, cry.
Get up and eat the drama!!]
[Pufferfish, stop bawling there.
Open your eyes.
This is urgent!!]
[Stop crying, stop crying— get up already.
The village is handing out male incubi.]
[Crying?
Crying counts against your time~]
Everyone was dying to see the streamer's reaction.
Isn't that the fun of watching live?
Maybe the bullet comments worked, or maybe Sirin was simply cried out.
She wiped her face on her sleeve and lifted her small, tear-stained, heart-tugging face.
At that moment, the bullet comments suddenly thinned.
Sirin saw the on-screen Special Thanks.
In an instant, her eyes went wide, and she hiccuped from fright.
Then… she cried even harder.
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