If it were the old Lin Nan, he would never have enthusiastically run off to help a shut-in get out of his rut just for money.
But recent events had already lowered his standards quite a bit. To him, having already done sothing as embarrassingly shaful as cross-dressing and going out in public—sothing that made his whole body tremble—it seed like there was nothing left to fear.
Anyway, he just had to keep his eyes on the money.
Chen Jiang rambled on for quite a while. Lin Nan could understand a few sentences at first, but once he started talking about code, Lin Nan was completely lost and couldn't understand a word.
"Oh wait, hold on a second." Chen Jiang excitedly stood up and quickly ran toward his bedroom.
Lin Nan thought he'd be left sitting alone in the living room, but unexpectedly, after just ten minutes or so, Chen Jiang opened his door. He'd changed into casual clothes—a short-sleeved shirt and shorts—and poked his head out to call to Lin Nan: "Co in."
"Coming, coming!"
It looked like the gaming topic had really hit the mark. Chen Jiang clearly no longer had any wariness toward him.
Lin Nan happily ran to his bedroom, but suddenly froze at the doorway.
A lone man and lone... man sharing a room—wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate?
Too lazy to think about it too much.
He walked straight into the room and found that Chen Jiang's bedroom wasn't as ssy as he'd imagined. Instead, it was clean and tidy with almost no trash or clothes visible. Even the bedding was neatly folded. Only the nightstand was neatly lined with various stuffed animals, making it look like a girl's room at first glance.
And surprisingly, there weren't any of those large, embarrassing body pillows he'd expected—maybe Chen Jiang had hidden them during those few minutes.
Chen Jiang seed to have been suppressed for a long ti. Seeing Lin Nan enter, his face unconsciously took on an excited expression. He sat in front of his computer, pointing at the screen and saying to Lin Nan: "This is the fruit of my three years as a shut-in!"
"Mm?" Lin Nan moved closer to look.
Chen Jiang stood up to give him the seat, his expression carrying so expectation and anxiety, like a child holding a report card waiting for parental praise.
"This is the ga?" Lin Nan didn't actually know much about gas, but he'd at least played them since childhood. He casually clicked the start interface and saw it was a text-based ga that didn't particularly interest him. Compared to other text gas' excellent artwork, this ga was clearly not outstanding—it could even be called crude.
Lin Nan looked up and asked: "A text-based romance?" (TN: Yes, I know it's vn.)
"It's a mystery/detective type ga! I modeled it after Danganronpa!"
What was Danganronpa?
He looked at the screen with so confusion. Crude illustrations and text narration served as the opening, then a simple character appeared in what seed to be an apartnt setting. Lin Nan found he could control this character to move around within the apartnt.
"You spent three years making this? All by yourself?"
Although he didn't understand ga developnt, Lin Nan still looked impressed: "The opening artwork and this scene—you made all of this by yourself?"
"Yes! The illustrations, code, models—all !" Chen Jiang described with animated excitent. "When I encountered sothing I didn't know, I'd find tutorials to learn it, otherwise it wouldn't have taken three years. Look at this scene—I made it with 3D Studio Max. Before that, I had no idea how to make models... And the code, look over there, those are all books I bought...
"My ga is already on Steam early access. Once I have money, I'll find professional artists and professional modelers to replace all the assets. Then I'll officially release it and it'll definitely be a huge hit!"
The ga was crude, and Chen Jiang's explanations were incomprehensible. Lin Nan lost interest after playing for ten minutes, but was still amazed by Chen Jiang's perseverance.
What kind of spirit could make soone persist alone for three years, not leaving ho for three years, just to make a ga?
"Pretty good. How much has it sold?"
At this ntion, Chen Jiang's expression imdiately dimd: "It's been a few months, sold a dozen copies or so, earned just over a hundred yuan."
"The uncle said you play gas all day. I thought you really were just fooling around..." Lin Nan's opinion of this shut-in completely changed. If this kind of perseverance had been applied to working and earning money, Chen Jiang would probably be financially secure by now.
"They don't understand computers. They think as long as I'm in front of a computer, I'm playing gas. If only this ga could be a big seller." Chen Jiang shook his head with a sigh. "Anyway, I'll have to look for work soon. This ga is just letting myself go wild while I'm young."
Lin Nan looked up at Chen Jiang's dejected expression and consoled him: "If you work at a ga company, this ga should serve as a good portfolio piece, right?"
"Who would want with this trash?"
Chen Jiang sat on the bed, sighing repeatedly.
"You have to try, right? If you can't get into big companies, try small ones. If small companies won't take you, try studios. You made an entire ga yourself—that basically ans you can do everything, right?"
"Knowing everything ans being half-skilled at everything." He seed very downcast.
Actually, Lin Nan felt that Chen Jiang's pursuit of his dreams was quite inspiring and blood-stirring—it was just unfortunate that this was reality.
Although he hadn't specifically followed indie gas, his three roommates all did. They said that last year a masterpiece called "The Scroll of Taiwu" was made by just a few people working from ho, and it later beca a huge seller, making them rich. His three roommates had each contributed a purchase.
Similarly, there was the recent "Ne Zha" animated movie. Its director, Jiaozi, had also spent three years at ho making animated shorts. With his excellent animated shorts gaining public attention, he finally had the confidence and budget to create it.
But such examples were rare after all—luck and ability were both indispensable. Chen Jiang had neither, just rushing in with his parents' misunderstanding and passionate enthusiasm, naturally ending up bruised and battered.
Fortunately, Chen Jiang was still young. Compared to those who failed at starting businesses and lost hundreds of thousands, he'd only lost three years of ti.
"How about we go out for a walk?" Lin Nan carefully tried to soothe his emotions. "Actually, the ga is pretty fun, it's just... the technical skills aren't quite there. If you found a ga company to practice at, and in a few years when you have money you could hire so helpers, then remake this ga—that would be pretty good."
This was Lin Nan's first ti encountering this kind of situation. Spiritually, he still supported Chen Jiang, but rationally speaking, what Chen Jiang was doing was actually quite childish.
Chen Jiang stood up listlessly and sighed: "I was actually planning to stop being a shut-in, but when I heard you were coming for a blind date..."
Like hell I ca for a blind date!
Lin Nan quickly understood what he ant.
People who'd been shut-in too long usually developed so social anxiety. Although Chen Jiang hadn't shown it during their conversation, he clearly had so fear about going out—otherwise he wouldn't insist on waiting for Lin Nan to co and accompany him before daring to leave.
"So, does this count as a date?" Chen Jiang's face turned red.
This was a common problem with shut-ins—once removed from their area of expertise, they didn't know how to communicate with girls.
"Let clarify first—I'm male." Lin Nan felt that if this misunderstanding wasn't cleared up, there might be problems. "Actually, the uncle saw you staying ho all the ti and thought it wasn't good, so he wanted to drag you out."
Chen Jiang froze, feeling his fragile little heart shatter into pieces.
What happened to the promised blind date?
"I think since we're already going out, to prevent you from continuing to stay ho in the future, how about just finding a job as a stepping stone?"
"...I guess that's fine?"
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