Chapter 144: Chapter 143: On Whether Zombies Read Newspapers
Besides providing a massive boost to her teammates’ financial well-being, Galina, as an integral part of the team, also had another important mission.
To be their spokesperson.
It might sound strange, but public speaking is a skill that truly requires practice.
As for the other members of the Repin Wangwang Team, they were severely lacking in this department.
They were all good apprentices, twenty years old and fresh out of the womb, who had never so much as held a girl’s hand, their minds dedicated solely to their Magic Books.
On the forums, they could talk and laugh like seasoned scholars, but face-to-face with a stranger, they’d immediately become tongue-tied fools.
Just introducing themselves to their classmates at the start of the school year had been a monumental challenge for them.
So forget about introducing a game on a livestream. They could just about handle being in front of a camera, but the thought of the footage being broadcast to millions of viewers? Not fainting on the spot would be an overachievement.
And so, the team’s last hope—their one and only designated "social terrorist," Galina—was shoved into the livestreaming area after a few minutes of cramming the lore for *Druid vs. Necromancer*.
The moment she appeared on screen, the bullet comments exploded.
That’s right, bullet comments.
To enhance the livestream’s interactivity, Zog had somehow managed to rig up a bullet comment system.
Otherwise, he felt that game livestreams would be missing that special something.
The implementation was quite convoluted. First, they set up a discussion thread for the stream on the forums. Then, an Illusionist created text projections of the comments and cast them onto a green screen.
A Transformation School Mage on-site would then remove the green background and composite the text with the main broadcast feed.
As a result, there was about a one-minute delay from when a comment was posted in the discussion thread to when it appeared on screen, and the whole process was very expensive.
But for the audience, it was already incredibly impressive.
"Can anyone see my comment?"
"Mr. Raul, I love you!"
"Why is the dev team’s representative a tree?"
"It’s *Druid vs. Necromancer*, so obviously she’s a Druid. Some people just don’t get it."
"Don’t kid me, are there really Druids whose wild shape is a tree? I thought they were all animals."
"What kind of wild shape keeps a human face? It’s late at night, that thing just scared the sleep out of me."
In the end, it was Raul who provided the correct answer.
"You’re playing the Tree Man from *Palomino and the King of Ancient Hills*, aren’t you?"
Hearing her idol say this, Galina nodded eagerly, causing the leaves atop her head to rustle noisily.
’As expected of the actor I’ve got my eye on,’ Galina thought. ’He’s so knowledgeable.’
Raul also explained to the audience, "This play is one of Master Frederick’s most famous works. If a theater troupe ever performs it, I highly recommend you all go see it."
Frederick was Galina’s family name. When paired with "Master," it usually referred to her grandfather, the very man who was currently directing the filming of the *Mechanical Warrior* Magic Shadow Drama.
The only time Galina had ever acted in a play was purely thanks to her grandfather pulling some strings.
"Alright, let’s have our drama-loving member of the game development team introduce the game," Raul said, moving the stream along and bringing the topic back to the main event.
"This is a tower defense game where players need to plant defensive flora, one by one, to stop the advance of a zombie army. It’s a game that combines both strategy and fun," Galina recited fluently.
She had just memorized all of that a moment ago.
She could get away with not studying until finals week every semester, all thanks to her pretty decent memory.
"Fighting off zombies? Doesn’t that mean it’s a horror game? I’m too scared to watch."
"Yeah, *Holy Mountain Journey* scared the daylights out of me."
"Imagine being scared by zombies. You’re really something else."
"What’s tower defense? I thought this was going to be a fighting game between Druids and Necromancers."
Amidst the heated debate in the comments, Raul launched the game’s demo.
With the backing of the Zog Group’s art resources, the opening comic had been completely redone.
It was a bright, sunny morning. Inside a Druid’s cabin in the woods, a smiling sunflower swayed rhythmically in its flowerpot.
All sorts of plants with personified expressions grew in every corner of the room.
Everything seemed peaceful and serene.
But on the next page, a large, lurching horde of zombies shambled down the path outside the yard.
They had gray-green skin, stick-thin arms and legs that looked like they’d snap at the slightest touch, a pathetic amount of hair, and asymmetrical eyes—one large, one small—that radiated a "wise" glow.
At the same time, the zombies’ indistinct groans echoed in the background.
It was an art style unlike anything seen before.
Raul hadn’t expected the game to look like this.
As the lead actor in *Holy Mountain Journey*, he didn’t have a very good impression of such creatures.
During filming, he had even occasionally been frightened by some of the scripted scenes.
And yet, these zombies didn’t look the least bit scary.
On the contrary... how should I put it... they were actually kind of cute. They didn’t look like a tide of death, bent on devouring every living thing, but more like the village idiots.
He didn’t mean to discriminate against village idiots, but the goofy look of these zombies made him want to laugh.
"Cute! So cute! I want a sunflower like that too!"
"Merch! We want merch! I don’t care if this game makes it or not, I’m buying the merch for sure!"
"These zombies are hilarious, too. What kind of Necromancer would summon such pathetic zombies?"
"To be fair, as a Mage Apprentice from the Necromancy School, the zombies I summon are even worse than these."
"Is it just me, or is that big mushroom in the corner on the first page... kinda lewd..."
"Humans can’t... or at least, they shouldn’t..."
"How dare you assume their species is human?"
Whether it was bizarrely good or bizarrely bad, it was better than being bland.
When an art style sparks such a heated discussion, you’re already halfway to success.
Raul officially began the game.
The first few parts were the tutorial levels, teaching the player how to collect sunlight and plant their defenses.
As long as you weren’t so brainless that even a zombie would shake its head in disappointment, you could pass without a problem.
But Galina, at his side, was providing maximum emotional support, saying with a face full of adoration, "Mr. Raul, you’re so amazing! You made it this far without failing even once!"
This was an essential part of fan culture one just had to experience: no matter how mundane the idol’s action, it was always amazing in the eyes of a fan.
This included, but was not limited to, memorizing their own lines, "persevering" with a performance despite a tiny cut on their hand, or knowing how to solve a simple algebraic equation.
Finally, Raul reached the first level that posed a slight challenge.
A new type of zombie appeared in the bottom lane.
It was a zombie in a suit jacket and shorts, wearing glasses and holding a newspaper. Though its age was impossible to tell, it gave off a distinct old-man vibe.
In that lane, there was only a single sunflower and a peashooter.
’Should I place a nut here?’ Raul wondered. ’The top lane is also under pressure, and the cooldown isn’t fast enough to plant one in both.’
"It’s fine, it’s just an Ordinary zombie. Mr. Raul, you don’t need to worry about it," Galina’s voice chimed in.
Raul decisively bolstered the top lane.
’Always listen to the developer,’ he thought. ’Whatever they say, goes.’
However, he had no idea that Galina’s understanding of the game was even worse than his own. At least he was actually playing it.
As the zombie’s newspaper was shredded, it suddenly sped up, charging toward the small, helpless peashooter.
The sound of the plant being devoured, CHOMP CHOMP, filled the air.
Raul tried to salvage the situation, but it was too late. He glanced back at Galina, his eyes filled with confusion.
The bullet comments erupted with laughter.
"An ’Ordinary’ zombie!"
"Hahahaha..."
"She did that on purpose! Definitely on purpose!"
"She wants to see Raul fail."
"Why does it go berserk when its newspaper is gone?"
"This game is nuts."
"What a coincidence. I love nuts games."
Since it was a demo level, there were no emergency lawnmowers. Amidst a sea of gleeful comments, the newspaper-less old man zombie did not disappoint, charging straight into the cabin.
"THE ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS!"
A bright green message appeared on the screen.
