[I give up. I've been played by miHoYo like a fiddle.]
[Woof woof woof~~ Miss Fairy, hurry up and play it already!]
[No need to go that far, person upstairs.]
"Aiya~~"
Elysia was successfully amused by the viewers.
But she didn't forget the main task—she had already opened the short video Mei had sent her and was now broadcasting it in the stream.
The video started in complete darkness.
Only a chat box was visible at the bottom. Aside from the text popping up, there was no voice acting. Even the speaker's name was listed only as "???"
"..."
"Hyperion has broken through the encirclement. K423 and the Godsbane Armor prototype are missing. The Herrscher has once again fallen into slumber, but the Honkai she caused has not ceased across the globe."
"In this crisis, Anti-Entropy might reorganize and ally with Theresa."
"Besides, she herself is also an uncertain factor."
"The power of the feather, the 8th Divine Key, Fenghuang Down, seems to hold secrets I do not yet know."
"But it doesn't matter. The experiment will not be affected by these factors."
The first twenty seconds were a summary—spoken by the mysterious "???"—covering the birth of the Herrscher of the Void and the aftermath.
If it were just this, the short video wouldn't even be called average—it would be considered awful.
The real key lay in the final ten seconds.
The scene gradually brightened, and the sound of waves and ocean tides rose in the background.
A beach came into view, with waves crashing against the shore. The camera slowly panned upward, and the first thing visible was the serum container Fu Hua had originally given to Murata Himeko, who had then injected it into Kiana Kaslana's body.
Next to the container—
Kiana was half-submerged in seawater, unconscious.
And the video ended there.
[That "???" is Otto, right? Don't think I won't recognize you just because you didn't speak up!]
[That's a lot of information… Damn! I don't even want to analyze it! Writer, I'm begging you, don't hurt paramecium!!]
[It should be fine. Himeko already gave up so much. If something happens to Kiana too… No way! Absolutely not!]
[I'm topping up 648 right now to spare paramecium!]
Although Himeko was currently the most talked-about character in Honkai Impact 3rd, it was mainly due to the emotional high caused by Final Lesson.
What players truly loved were the main trio. Among them, Kiana—who had the most screen time in the main story—was undoubtedly the fan favorite.
What's more, Kiana had suffered so much, and Himeko-sensei had sacrificed herself to save her.
They didn't even dare imagine what would happen when that naive, single-celled paramecium Kiana woke up.
At that moment, Hokuto leaned in and said in Otto's voice: "Everyone, please cal—"
[GET OUT! SHUT UP! SCREW YOU!]
[I'm not listening, not listening, not listening!]
[I knew it! Otto, you're up to no good!]
"..."
For various reasons—
Otto's hatred value in the minds of players in this world seemed to be even higher than in Hokuto's previous world.
After a short pause, Hokuto said, "In any case, please look forward to the next update."
Then he handed the stream back to the girls.
They were chatting away with Elysia, who was still excited over discovering so many adorable girls, all while responding to viewer questions.
Hokuto stood off to the side, occasionally chiming in.
Ding-a-ling~~ ding-a-ling~~
Suddenly, his phone rang.
"I'll take this call."
Hokuto stepped outside and answered.
"Hello?"
"I heard about Honkai Impact 3rd." It was Li Yue from Penguin Games on the other end. "It's your first time making a game, so making this kind of rookie mistake is understandable."
"No need to panic. Just tweak the main story a bit. With Honkai Impact 3rd's quality, the public opinion will bounce back soon enough."
"Of course, if you now realize you're lacking in experience, then you should also realize that joining Penguin would benefit you immensely."
"..."
Li Yue continued with his earnest and heartfelt advice.
Hokuto patiently listened to the end, then cautiously asked, "Why don't you check the online reactions to Honkai Impact 3rd again?"
Li Yue: ???
Confused, Li Yue opened the laptop next to him.
With his free hand, he typed a few keywords—
Honkai Impact 3rd, Final Lesson…
In truth, he'd searched this even before the call. After all, everyone in the industry was watching Honkai Impact 3rd. He was no exception.
At the time, the internet was filled with reactions like:
[miHoYo, I [expletive]! I [EXPLETIVE]!]
[miHoYo, you have no heart! If you don't give Himeko back, I'm quitting!]
…And so on. Just reading it was enough to feel the players' overflowing resentment.
But now, Li Yue noticed that the public opinion around Honkai Impact 3rd seemed to be shifting.
Though there were still plenty of angry venting posts…
A new tone was emerging among the threads:
[With Final Lesson, has Honkai Impact 3rd delivered an answer unlike any other domestic game?]
[A brief analysis: Murata Himeko—matching gods with a mortal's body.]
[A simple speculation: Is it possible Himeko is still alive?]
[Stop arguing! Let's talk about the literary giant Herrscher of void! (LMAO)]
Hmm, maybe ignore the last one.
Li Yue was shocked. The tide of public opinion about Honkai Impact 3rd was reversing?
"How did you pull this off?" he couldn't help but ask Hokuto on the phone.
"Of course, I moved the audience with love and justice," Hokuto replied.
"?"
"Kidding. At home, rely on parents; outside, rely on friends. I just got lucky and had some help."
"Friends?"
Li Yue, now puzzled, started tracing the events online—only to quickly discover the origin—
Elysia's livestream.
"So that's how it was."
Li Yue quickly grasped the situation.
"You knew in advance that the main story would set the internet on fire, so you had Mei collaborate with a major streamer ahead of time to generate hype and attract the pilipili audience who wanted to see streamers play Honkai Impact 3rd."
"Yeah, picking a pilipili streamer was clever too—since Honkai Impact 3rd mainly targets the ACG community, its influence on pilipili is way stronger than elsewhere."
Hearing Li Yue's deep analysis, Hokuto on the other end of the call felt a little lost.
Li Yue just kept going:
"Then you used the chorus after Final Lesson to soothe some of the players' emotions, followed by shifting the blame to Otto—the main villain—to deflect their anger."
"And finally, you had Himeko come out to sincerely explain the brilliant writing behind Murata Himeko's character. It wasn't exactly a redemption, but it worked even better. And maybe the calm, rational posts were all your hired PR team."
He slapped the table in excitement. "This is textbook-level marketing!"
"Impressive. Truly impressive. I underestimated you just because I'm a veteran in the industry."
Hokuto: "..."