[Hello, Producer Jiang Rong. We’re reaching out regarding the online claims that your game credentials are falsified…]
“What does the official platform want?” Jiang Yu asked with concern.
After reading the message, Jiang Rong said, “The platform has contacted me – they’ll clarify the false information spread by Li Zhidong.” After all, Li Zhidong’s scheme hadn’t just targeted her; it had also cast a shadow over the reputation of the December Game Platform. The platform was certainly not going to take this lying down – they’d come to ask for her opinion on whether she was willing to disclose her identity.
“What do you think?” Jiang Yu knew she’d deliberately kept her identity hidden.
“I’ve asked them to reveal only part of my information first. My name will be announced during the live-streamed award ceremony once the competition ends.” Only a few days remained until the end of the monthly tournament.
With Jiang Rong’s consent, the December Game Platform quickly issued a response to the credential falsification controversy on their official account. Thanks to Li Zhidong’s deliberate publicity efforts, the matter had already drawn considerable attention – as soon as the platform responded, people flocked to their account to see what was said.
[Partial information about the developer of Slime Match-3 is as follows…]
Everything except her name was disclosed – her gender, age, alma mater, and other basic details were all made public.
“This information checks out.”
“Wow! The developer of Slime Match-3 is an alum of our school!” exclaimed some current and former students.
[The December Game Platform has always focused on new graduates as our competition participants. We ask that you trust our professionalism.]
The platform’s closing statement was polite yet carried a clear note of displeasure.
After reading the response, everyone turned their attention back to Li Zhidong, who’d started the whole mess.
“I knew the December Platform wouldn’t make a mistake like this.”
“Don’t underestimate their professionalism – in the past, others have tried similar tricks, but their applications didn’t even pass the initial review.”
“The platform has provided evidence – what’s Li Zhidong going to say now?”
Li Zhidong’s sense of triumph had completely crumbled; his supposed certainty of victory was shattered by the platform’s documentation. But admitting defeat willingly was impossible for him.
Clenching his teeth, he stubbornly insisted, “We went to the same school – how come I never heard of her! And besides, they’re still hiding her name. If they have the guts, they should make all her information public.”
[Regarding the developer’s name – we’ve learned it will be announced during the live-streamed award ceremony after the competition concludes,] a source from within the December Platform revealed.
This reassured the few players who’d still been skeptical.
“Only a few days left until the competition ends anyway.” They calmed down, no longer swayed by Li Zhidong’s provocations.
“I haven’t lost yet.” Li Zhidong muttered to himself. As the competition’s end drew near, his anxiety grew more intense by the hour.
On the fourth day of the countdown, the backend data for Jiang Rong’s game suddenly soared.
“What’s happening?” Bai Yang, Liang Man, and others wondered aloud. While they’d all hoped the game’s numbers would improve, the unknown cause left them worried rather than happy.
“I’ve checked – the ‘December Players’ on the platform just discovered Slime Match-3, which is why downloads are increasing so rapidly,” Jiang Yu confirmed after analyzing the data.
“December Players?” Jiang Rong raised an eyebrow.
“Why are they called that?”
“Mainly to distinguish them from tournament players. The platform’s users generally fall into two groups: first are the tournament players, who play the new monthly competition games right away – they’re currently our main source of players. But new tournament games have one drawback – their quality isn’t guaranteed. So most players won’t dive into games with unproven quality.”
“Instead, they wait until the tournament ends, then play the games that have been quality-tested and ranked on the leaderboards. These are the ones we call December Players.”
Jiang Rong understood. “If they’re the audience that plays after tournaments end, why are they playing early this time?”
“Mostly because of Li Zhidong. The scandal he started drew a lot of onlookers – since they’re already on the platform, they couldn’t help being curious about our game,” Jiang Yu explained.
December Players had never been particularly interested in tournament games, but all the drama surrounding this month’s competition had reached even those who rarely paid attention to the tournaments. At first, they’d only come to see what the fuss was about – but in doing so, they’d learned about Jiang Rong’s game. Seeing its positive reviews, combined with the competition’s approaching end and its high ranking, they figured they might as well give it a try. Once they did, they couldn’t stop playing.
Thus, in the final days of the monthly tournament, Jiang Rong’s game data skyrocketed.
“AAAAH! Slime Match-3 has hit 500,000 downloads – breaking the record for previous December Monthly Championship winners!”
When Bai Yang, Liang Man, and other fans saw the numbers, they couldn’t help screaming in excitement. They knew this final surge was thanks to the December Players, and they felt genuine pride and admiration for the game. This wave of growth was the perfect way to cap off the tournament.
When the competition officially concluded, Jiang Rong was the undisputed champion with over 500,000 downloads.
Next came the award ceremony, held on the holographic interstellar web. All participating developers were invited, though only some would win prizes. The ceremony was live-streamed to boost visibility for both the platform and the developers.
Even before the ceremony began, a large crowd of viewers was already waiting eagerly.
“The developer of Slime Match-3 is finally going to reveal her name and face!” Jiang Rong’s fans were thrilled, looking forward to her appearance.
“Based on past ceremonies, the better a developer’s ranking, the later they’ll appear,” some fans noted calmly, knowing they’d have to wait a while yet.
Soon, the live stream began, and participating developers took their seats one by one.
The December Platform’s award ceremony was held on a massive open-air stage, elevated so all audience members could see clearly. Facing the stage were rows of seats, each labeled with a developer’s name. When the ceremony started, contestants would leave their seats to receive their awards on stage. The higher a developer’s ranking, the closer their seat was to the front.
After entering the ceremony venue, Li Zhidong found his seat in the third row and sat down with a dark expression. Just then, the camera panned to him, catching the attention of some viewers in the live stream.
“They’re really brave to show up after that disaster,” one viewer marveled.
“I couldn’t face anyone if I were them,” another added – the audience had a very poor impression of Li Zhidong.
At the ceremony venue, Li Zhidong felt eyes on him from every direction, making him squirm uncomfortably in his seat. But his refusal to lose to someone who’d kept their identity hidden was the only thing keeping him going.
As more developers took their places, Jiang Rong finally appeared before the public. The camera focused on her immediately – tall and graceful, with a gentle smile on her lips, her calm and serene demeanor made her stand out among the other developers.
It wasn’t her looks that set her apart, but her presence – though viewers couldn’t quite put it into words, they could clearly sense she was different from the rest. Where she was soft and composed, the others seemed somewhat tense and agitated by comparison.
In an instant, countless digital fireworks exploded from the stage, while musical notes materialized and drifted throughout the venue – all celebrating the arrival of their champion. The audience’s eyes were fixed on her, their excitement palpable. “So this is what the developer of Slime Match-3 looks like.”
Most people were thrilled – but not all.
Li Zhidong, for one.
The moment he saw Jiang Rong’s face, he could barely believe his eyes. He rubbed them repeatedly, only to confirm it wasn’t a hallucination. The person who’d outperformed him at every turn in the December Tournament was actually Jiang Rong – the student who’d supposedly been at the bottom of their class.
His stunned reaction caused the camera, which had been focused on Jiang Rong, to shift slightly to capture him. Suddenly, the live stream switched from Jiang Rong to a close-up of Li Zhidong’s disbelieving face – startling many viewers.
[Damn it, what’s Li Zhidong doing now? Does he still refuse to accept defeat? I say we shouldn’t let him get away with this again.]
[Exactly – he’s done this over and over. We won’t tolerate it this time.]
The audience’s opinion of Li Zhidong was already very low.
Just then, a comment appeared in the stream’s chat: [That Jiang Rong – she and Li Zhidong were classmates, weren’t they?]
[Huh?!]
This news stunned the angry viewers.
[So it’s like family turning on family – a case of “the flood washing away the Dragon King’s temple” (an idiom referring to conflict between people who should be on the same side),] one viewer said instinctively.
[No, their relationship wasn’t close at all. Li Zhidong was the group leader for their graduation game project, and Jiang Rong was a member. She was supposedly a terrible student – I honestly can’t believe she’s now surpassed him,] an insider added.
[Jiang Rong used to have really bad grades?] viewers asked in disbelief.
[That’s one hell of an improvement then.]
[Improvement? Who knows how she got those grades now,] the insider replied – their unfriendliness toward Jiang Rong was evident even through the screen.
Not all viewers were fans of Jiang Rong, and those who weren’t quickly echoed the insider’s words. For a time, the entire chat was filled with doubts about her. They might have known they were making accusations without evidence, but they didn’t care about the truth – they just wanted to stir up trouble.
Meanwhile, at the live ceremony, the host happened to mention Jiang Rong’s alma mater and pointed out several of her former classmates among the developers in the audience. Li Zhidong drew particular attention as her former classmate. Now, one stood on stage while the other sat below – one calm and composed, the other growing paler by the minute.
Before knowing her identity, Li Zhidong had wanted nothing more than to expose every detail of her life. But now that she was actually here, his first emotion wasn’t anger – it was terror. Because…
“I’d like to take a moment to thank my teacher and classmate Li Zhidong for their ‘special care’ back when I was in school. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
“I know everyone’s curious about my game’s unique art style. The reason it’s so distinctive is that during my time at school, my interstellar-style game visuals were rejected by both teachers and classmates – which pushed me to forge a different path.”
Jiang Rong smiled faintly as she looked calmly at Li Zhidong in the audience.
Li Zhidong felt eyes from every direction turn to him. Unable to bear it any longer, he logged out of the holographic interstellar web on the spot.
[Why did Li Zhidong run off like that?] viewers were bewildered.
[Because he’s guilty! I was their classmate too. The truth is, Jiang Rong was always an outstanding student – one of the top in our class.]
[It wasn’t until our graduation project that she was assigned to Li Zhidong’s group. The reason Li Zhidong and the others kept saying her grades were terrible is because they stole her work and took all the credit.]
[For example, the graduation project Li Zhidong has always been so proud of – most of the work was done by Jiang Rong, but neither he nor the other group members would admit it.]
After all, acknowledging her contribution would weaken the impression of their own game development skills.
[Wait, if you knew the truth, why didn’t you tell the teacher?]
[Because the teacher was the one who arranged everything in the first place. Li Zhidong’s grades were never good, so he needed a top-notch stepping stone to advance further.]
[What’s the teacher’s relationship with Li Zhidong? Who’d believe there’s nothing fishy going on when a teacher sacrifices an excellent student to boost one who’s not good at games?]
[Because the teacher is Li Zhidong’s real father.]
That was why, even those who knew the truth hadn’t dared to openly support Jiang Rong before graduation. After graduation, if she hadn’t managed to pick herself up and succeed, they wouldn’t have bothered to explain the truth to the public.
[… ]