Vinny, with a sense of solemn duty, launched Desert Bus.
As the loading screen faded, an endless golden desert stretched before his eyes. The sky was a brilliant, piercing blue, and a straight road cut through the yellow sand like a blade, extending all the way to the horizon.
A slightly weathered blue bus was parked by the roadside, its model precision far exceeding the "Happy Match" standard of this world.
"Whoa. Chat, this has some substance." Vinny's eyes lit up, and he subconsciously sat up straight. "These graphics. This lighting. This sand texture."
"You're telling me this was made by the same Shovel King who made Infinite Scrolling? Did he switch teams?"
"Or did he finally get enlightened? Did we misjudge him? Is this perhaps a king that rivals Rainbow Bubble Dragon?"
The chat also began showing surprised reactions:
[Holy crap? This graphics quality?
Fake, right? Was this really made by the same person?
Did the Shovel King achieve enlightenment in the shovelware field?
Don't jinx it, chat. Observe cautiously.]
With a glimmer of rekindled hope, Vinny pressed the W key, and the bus slowly rumbled to life, driving forward along the road.
The wheels rolled over the asphalt with a low, droning friction sound, and the sand dunes on both sides slowly receded from view.
"Feels pretty good, chat."
"The driving feel is decent. Although there's no force feedback, the visuals are pleasing to the eye." Vinny relaxed slightly, actually enjoying this exotic driving experience. "It's just a bit boring, constantly driving..."
"Huh? Is that a progress bar in the upper left corner? Why hasn't it moved at all after driving for so long?"
He stared at the long bar graphic that resembled a UI element. The bus had been driving for several minutes, but the bar hadn't filled by a single pixel.
"That's not right, chat." Vinny suddenly leaned closer to the screen, squinting to examine it. "This isn't a progress bar."
"This seems to be that... that sticker or indicator strip on the bus dashboard. It's just a texture. It doesn't move at all."
The chat exploded instantly:
[Hahahahahahaha! I knew it!
A fake progress bar! True infinite scrolling!
The taste is right! This is the flavor! The Shovel King has returned!
Blake Weiss: Didn't expect that.jpg
I can't hold it in! I really shouldn't have had any expectations for him!
Hahahahahahahahaha I'm dying of laughter!]
Vinny was somewhat exasperated. "Alright, alright, so this is how you want to play, huh?"
"It's fine, chat. Just treat it as a scenery simulator. The scene is indeed well-made, and the gameplay is somewhat innovative... what the hell."
"So I just keep pressing W? Can I reverse? Can I steer?"
He tried pressing the S key, but the bus didn't react.
He tried pressing A and D, but the bus stubbornly continued along the straight road. Even a slight deviation was pulled back to the center of the road by an invisible force.
"So it's just an automatically playing slideshow, and the only interaction is holding down the W key to prove you're still alive?" Vinny was unimpressed. "Don't spam Alt + F4 in chat. I was fooled once by Infinite Scrolling. There's no way I'm quitting early this time."
"I'm going to see what kind of tricks this thing can pull."
He deadpanned to chat while restlessly pressing random keys.
Suddenly, when he pressed the H key—
"HONK—!"
A loud, slightly hoarse bus horn suddenly blared, breaking the desert's silence.
Vinny and the audience were both stunned.
"Just a horn?" Vinny pressed it again. "HONK—!"
He pressed it again. "HONK—!"
He pressed it rapidly and continuously out of boredom.
"HONK! HONK! HONK—HONK—HONK! HONK!"
A meaningless but strangely rhythmic blare rang out.
"Wait a minute..." Vinny suddenly stopped his fingers, his expression turning a bit strange. "Chat, I think I've discovered something incredible..."
He tried again, this time consciously controlling the rhythm of his key presses.
"HONK—HONK—HONK—HONK——"
Although the tone was monotonous, a sense of rhythm actually emerged.
"Holy crap. So this is a rhythm game? Using horn sounds to make a beat?"
Vinny got excited and began trying to tap out more complex rhythms with the horn.
Although these rhythms were basic, combined with the continuous low hum of the wheels and the unchanging desert scenery outside the window, they created a unique atmosphere—lonely, yet somehow vaporwave. A self-entertaining solitude.
The chat also went wild:
[66666!
A musical genius, that one.
Driving a bus in the desert and DJing! I'm hyping this game up!
No, this gameplay is too crude, but why does it feel so strangely engaging?
Quick, try if there are any other keys!]
Vinny tapped out a beat with the horn while continuing to hunt for other functions.
Finally, his finger hit the M key.
Suddenly, a gentle, melancholic piano melody drifted out, instantly drowning out the monotonous drone of the wheels.
"Oh!" Vinny and the chat exclaimed simultaneously.
The appearance of the music seemed to inject a soul into this lonely desert journey.
Although the scenery hadn't changed—still an endless desert highway—the feeling was completely different. It transformed from a stifling boredom into an immersive reflection.
Then, a soulful voice began to sing, echoing softly in the cab of the bus.
"It's been a long day without you, my friend..."
"And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again."
"We've come a long way from where we began..."
"Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again... when I see you again."
"Holy crap, there's actually music. And it slaps." Vinny's energy shifted. He no longer felt bored. Instead, he started to follow the music's rhythm, pressing W to move forward, occasional horn honks adding flourishes to the beat. "This feeling is right. Desert Bus DJ. This is my highway hip-hop."
The chat also boiled over:
[Don't tell me, it's actually pretty good.
Indeed.
Indeed + 1.
Vinny, stop talking, keep listening.]
Vinny shrugged but said nothing more.
The music echoed in the bus. The melody and lyrics were completely new to everyone in this world, yet they strangely resonated deep within people's hearts.
The song shifted—a rap verse kicked in, the flow smooth and reflective.
"Damn, who knew?"
"All the planes we flew, good things we've been through."
"That I'd be standing right here talking to you 'bout another path."
"I know we loved to hit the road and laugh, but something told me that it wouldn't last."
Vinny's body, which had been swaying to the rhythm, gradually slowed down. The playful expression on his face unconsciously faded.
He no longer honked randomly, but simply held down the W key, letting the bus carry this sudden song, driving through the endless desert.
"Had to switch up, look at things different, see the bigger picture."
"Those were the days, hard work forever pays..."
"Now I see you in a better place."
The scrolling speed of the chat also noticeably slowed down:
[This song...
Never heard it, but it hits different...
Why do I feel inexplicably touched?
The lyrics speak to my heart...]
Then the song hit the emotional peak—singing about family being all you've got, about someone standing by your side through everything, about one last ride together. A few messages floated by:
[Damn, it reminds me of my college roommates.
True.
Man, I miss him a bit.]
The pre-chorus built up, and each promise to tell them everything when they meet again struck like a heavy hammer in the hearts of every viewer watching the stream.
In this world where games were only match-3s and generic loops, where media was often shallow, the impact of a song directly expressing brotherhood and loss was undoubtedly immense.
"How can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?"
"Everything I went through, you were standing there by my side..."
"And now you're gon' be with me for the last ride."
The stream fell completely silent, with only the song, the sound of the wheels, and the wind in the desert remaining.
There was a brief blank in the chat, as if everyone was listening quietly.
Vinny took a deep breath, subconsciously wanting to open his mouth to crack a joke and lighten the mood, but found his throat a little tight.
He finally just murmured in a low voice: "...This game. It has something to it."
The song soared into the bridge, the vocals haunting and beautiful:
"So let the light guide your way, yeah..."
"Hold every memory as you go..."
"And every road you take, will always lead you home, home."
"It's been a long day without you, my friend..."
"And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again."
The last lyric fell, and the music gradually faded, but the piano melody seemed to loop in the silence.
After more than ten seconds, the chat finally exploded—but no longer with the previous laughter and memes. It was filled with genuine emotions and question marks:
[???????
I'm actually crying... Damn, those idiots don't even know to text their boy.
I want to go back to freshman year, I want to mess around with my three best friends again for a few years! (Crying.jpg)
What song is this? Why can't I find it?
Does the Shovel King also write songs??
Is this really a game made by the person who made Infinite Scrolling?
I broke down, chat. I just sent a message to my buddy, and he replied instantly asking what's up, bro.
This game shouldn't be called Desert Bus; it should be called To My Stupid Friends!
Buy it! Not for the driving, but for this song, I'll buy it!
'When I see you again...' Vinny, quickly tell us what this song is called!]
Vinny rubbed his slightly sore eyes, forcibly pulling his emotions back, his voice much lower than usual. "Chat... this... I really didn't expect this."
"This game... it's something else."
He alt-tabbed out of the game and quickly opened his browser to search for the lyrics.
"'It's been a long day without you'... 'Family is all that we got'... Can't find it. Absolutely can't find it." He looked at the camera in disbelief. "Chat, this song seems to be an original."
"It's from this game."
"What kind of wizard is this Blake Weiss anyway?"
"He can make a piece of garbage like Infinite Scrolling, and also make something like this... this..."
He couldn't find the right words to describe it for a moment.
At this moment, the meaning of the game seemed to be completely subverted.
Endless driving was no longer a punishment, but rather an immersive listening experience—a piece of performance art with a lonely, romantic touch.
The road without an end seemed to become a metaphor for life and friendship—the journey is long, but as long as there are memories and emotions accompanying it, it's not truly lonely.
"No, I have to listen to it again." Vinny switched back to the game, no longer speaking, just letting the bus drive quietly, waiting for the song to play again.
The popularity of the stream reached an unprecedented peak at this moment—the SharkStream admin directly featured Vinny's stream on the homepage, and most people browsing the gaming and chat sections clicked in.
Although the new viewers didn't know what was happening, the streamer's nostalgic expression and silence, combined with the prolonged absence of messages from regulars, made them subconsciously wait as well.
The audience was no longer there for entertainment, but was deeply attracted and moved by this extremely contradictory yet harmonious combination—the ultimate boring gameplay and the ultimate heartfelt music.
The sales and concurrent player count of Desert Bus began to soar at an almost insane speed.
On Steam's new game popularity chart, its ranking shot up like a rocket, quickly breaking into the top one hundred from several thousand in just a few minutes—and the momentum showed no signs of slowing down.
Meanwhile, in the Crane Interactive conference room.
Blake and Ivy were having a pleasant conversation—at least on the surface.
Ivy was ecstatic, believing that this "philosophical thinking" game was bound to be a huge loss, and her mission was within reach.
Blake, on the other hand, sat calmly, testing the other party's bottom line with this art piece.
Suddenly, in the lower right corner of Blake's vision, system notifications quietly reappeared and began refreshing at an astonishing rate:
[Desert Bus sales +1]
[Desert Bus sales +1]
[Online players exceed 10]
[Online players exceed 50]
[Received player review: ★★★★★ (Title: Lonely Romance!)]
[Received player review: ★★★★★ (Title: Desert Highway DJ, Start!)]
[Received player review: ★★★★★ (Title: Brothers, I miss you guys, I'm coming to hang out with you soon!)]
[Received player review: ★★★★★ (Title: One Last Ride!)]
[Sales +1... +1... +1...]
[Online players exceed 300!]
[Steam New Game Popularity Ranking increased, current ranking: 998]
[Ranking increased: 875]
The notifications flashed by quickly, almost blurring together. One second it was in the thousands, the next it was in the eight hundreds, and the next it was in the two hundreds.
Blake still maintained a calm smile on the surface, listening to Ivy's "high praise" for the game's philosophy, but his heart was already stirred:
Oh? It's already having an effect?
It seems that players in any world have no resistance to games with a touch of performance art...
"System, block real-time notifications."
The notifications disappeared instantly.
He looked at Ivy, who sat opposite him completely unaware of all this and still fantasizing about her "big loss plan," and the smile on his face became even more genuine.
Although the previous games were a bit of a mess, Desert Bus should have saved him some face, right?
Ms. Harper should also be happy, right?
Blake's previous guilt completely vanished, replaced by full confidence.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.