Chapter 258: Sophisticated Trolling

I don't know when it started, but a huge group of trolls rushed into the online world.

Trolls themselves aren't scary; what's frightening is that these trolls appear cultured, their posts seem logical, even coherent and well‑argued.

"Is this Adventure Island really high quality? As for the gameplay, isn't it just the traditional monster‑slaying level‑up? Maybe there are some innovations, but overall Lu Yu is just riding on old ideas."

"I agree with the comment above. As the country's top game producer, can Lu Yu be satisfied with a game of Adventure Island's caliber?"

"If Lu Yu keeps hiding in his comfort zone, he will never make any progress."

"And about the game's style: it's clearly a hot‑blooded leveling game, so why use cartoonish characters, with background music and world that are all overly lively? It's a mismatch!"

"Lu Yu doesn't think that this haphazard mash‑up counts as so‑called innovation, does he? If it does, then Lu Yu's creative well has truly run dry."

"Disappointed—truly disappointed with you. So, the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment?"

These remarks instantly flooded the entire internet, becoming the hottest comments on major portal sites and the most active threads on forums.

As mentioned above, when these people troll, they don't even use profanity; their arguments are packed with logic, making it hard to see that they're trolling just for the sake of trolling.

Even so, after reading their comments, one can't help thinking: this time, Lu Yu is at a loss. If he truly lacks good ideas, perhaps he should accumulate more and release a game later.

This is what we call sophisticated trolling—most people don't notice it, and its impact far exceeds that of ordinary trolls.

At this moment, the Hidden Dragon Technology General Manager Office.

"Bruce, you really understand how the internet operates."

"To think of such a way to troll people—it's like killing them invisibly!"

"What reaction will Lu Yu have this time?"

"We didn't say he's incapable; we just said he hasn't met expectations."

"That's just perfect."

The General Manager couldn't help but praise repeatedly.

Indeed, the current online trend is exactly what Bruce has sparked.

In this era, the internet hasn't become highly developed yet, so there are no professional trolls at this point.

Bruce's ability to devise sophisticated trolling in such a clear way already puts him ahead of his time, fully proving his competence.

Bruce didn't look particularly smug; he merely nodded slightly and said, "The real show starts now—Lu Yu will definitely strike back."

"I've seen Lu Yu's previous promotion of Legend; he's not only a game‑making genius but also a master of steering public opinion."

"Make the marketing team stay fully alert, constantly watching the flow of comments."

"This time, Lu Yu won't be able to turn things around!"

The General Manager hurriedly nodded and said, "Don't worry, Bruce; the current situation is too favorable for us—we simply cannot lose."

"If we need people, we have people; if we need capital, we have capital; if we need connections, we have connections as well."

Bruce pondered for a moment, then gave a gentle nod.

Although this is Huaxia, the power of capital remains strong.

Bruce has only been in Huaxia for a month, yet he has already met plenty of people.

So this battle, he is certain to win!

…

Grand, Lu Yu Office.

"Xiao Yu, the direction of the discourse has shifted now."

"Someone must be steering it from behind; their method is quite sophisticated."

"At present, we don't have many options."

"Only… only suppress the hype."

Chen Qiao looked at Lu Yu anxiously and said,

Lu Yu pondered for a moment before speaking, "No need to suppress the hype."

"This level of hype benefits both Grand and Penguin."

"We might as well let things continue to ferment."

"But…" Chen Qiao couldn't help but utter those words; for now, this hype is naturally beneficial to Grand and Penguin.

Increase brand awareness, boost exposure, making Penguin and Grand companies with nationwide recognition.

But… what about the ending?

If there's no good conclusion, the higher the current hype, the heavier the backlash Penguin and Grand will face later.

But…

Still, his expression was too calm, as if he had already anticipated the situation and planned his response.

So… Chen Qiao truly had nothing to say at this point.

Lu Yu wasn't really in a hurry then.

But as always, the game issue can ultimately be used as a game argument.

Isn't the thing that fills Lu Yu's mind the game itself?

If it really doesn't work, would releasing a League of Legends game still raise any doubts from the outside?

But actually, unless forced, Lu Yu doesn't want to reach this point for now.

Because Wang Meng and others are still at Ke Da's R&D center, Lu Yu doesn't have enough outstanding talent under his command.

After all, it's League of Legends; if development is truly pursued, Lu Yu wants to deliver the best version.

But of course, it's not urgent now.

Lu Yu still wants to see if Bruce has any other tactics.

To Lu Yu's surprise, Bruce hadn't acted yet, yet the online sentiment shifted again.

This is probably the strangest incident in internet history… a mutual tearing among Netizens, right?

No one expected such a thing to happen.

Including Lu Yu, including Bruce, including everyone.

In a dormitory of a certain university, Xiao Hua had just returned from the teaching building, and she immediately turned on her computer.

"Sisters! We're about to start an adventure."

After two days of trial play, Xiao Hua had already become addicted to Adventure Island.

Her extracurricular life was no longer boring, and her life now had something to rely on.

Now Xiao Hua even became more proactive than all her roommates.

"Wait! I'll first check the forum for a guide."

"Xiao Hua, you haven't really played games before, so you don't know, but actually when playing games, if you have the help of a guide, the game becomes much easier."

The roommate replied.

"Okay, you go to that forum to look at the guide, I'll go look too." Xiao Hua thought for a moment, felt the roommate made sense, and quickly opened the browser.

Then, Xiao Hua and her roommates went onto the forum together.

Then...

Xiao Hua and her roommates were all stunned.

They just wanted to come find a guide, but discovered the entire forum was questioning Adventure Island.

In these netizens' comments, Adventure Island was utterly worthless!