Resumo do episódio 20 de No Pain No Gain
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In the Tengda conference room, the team was incensed by a smear video targeting their new game, "The Divine Mountains and Seas". Suspecting Zhou Muyan of Fingle was behind it, some employees wanted to physically confront him, while others suggested retaliating by circulating old footage of him mistreating staff at Sky Fire. Lin Wan remained calm, drawing strength from the team’s unity.
Observing from his office, Pei Qian struggled with his desire to fail for financial gain versus his reluctance to betray his hardworking team. He eventually entered the meeting and authorized a full-scale counter-offensive, declaring that he would not let sincere efforts be wasted. To the team's delight, he and Xin Hailu announced that the budget for the game would have no upper limit. Reinvigorated, Sibo (Zhou Sibo) pledged to develop hundreds of marketing strategies.
However, the campaign hit an immediate snag. Sibo reported that major content creators and video platforms were refusing their commissions, as Zhou Muyan had effectively initiated a digital blockade. Undeterred, Pei Qian suggested bypassing the online platforms by utilizing Tengda’s physical storefronts.
This offline push gained traction: Qiao Liang released a supportive video, M&Y Internet Cafe hosted high-stakes competitions, and other Tengda businesses offered perks like rent discounts or free meals at the nameless private restaurant for players who reached certain levels. During this time, Li Shi (Mr. Li Jr. ) faced pressure from his father, who warned that supporting Tengda against a Dayake-backed company like Fingle was bad for business.
Li Shi stood his ground, arguing that the goal should be to grow the entire industry "cake" rather than letting one player monopolize it. As Tengda’s numbers climbed, Zhou Muyan resorted to dirtier tactics. He coordinated with the search engine Chacha Net to redirect searches for "The Divine Mountains and Seas" to his own game, "Infinite Imagination". Sibo also discovered that traffic was being limited across all social and short-video platforms.
While the team wanted to pay double to break the blockade, Pei Qian intervened. He noticed the staff was trapped in a cycle of toxic overtime and realized they had lost sight of their original goal: creating a "utopia" where players could find happiness. He urged them to stop focusing on defeating Zhou Muyan and instead focus on surpassing themselves. Following this shift, the team redirected their energy into optimizing the game.
They simplified the tedious newbie tasks and introduced "dimension-breaking" features, such as allowing players to order real-world takeout or read web novels directly within the game. They also linked an in-game wishing pool to Ma Yang’s "Immediately Fulfill Dreams" social media account to grant player requests. Celebrity cameos from Lu Zhiyao and Shi Huo, who provided autographs as rewards, further boosted the game’s popularity.
Eventually, the platforms that had blocked Tengda relented, signing new strategic cooperation agreements as the game surged to the top of the charts. Fingle’s aggressive tactics ultimately backfired. Eric confronted Zhou Muyan, revealing that the government was investigating Fingle for malicious marketing, spreading falsehoods, and inciting online abuse. To protect the company, Zhou Muyan took personal responsibility for the misconduct, effectively ending his career.
As he left, his assistant Xu Ming dismissed Pei Qian’s success as "dumb luck," but Zhou remained contemplative. His final stop was outside the Tengda building, where he saw Pei Qian exit. His initial anger faded as he watched the Tengda staff swarm around Pei Qian, laughing together like a family. Witnessing this genuine camaraderie, Zhou Muyan realized what he had truly lost. He walked away into the shadows as news reports announced a new crackdown on malicious online competition to maintain a "clean and harmonious" internet environment.
