Have you ever made games? Then you should write about games!

"First, put the scene of the eggplant crying at the beginning, then add keyframes, add a transition, and go back to where it all started."

"Next, add subtitles to the video, making the font smaller so it doesn't obstruct the view."

"Finally, add a slow-motion effect to the part where the eggplant cries for the horse, and add a fade-out effect at the end."

"OK, all done!"

Around 1 a.m., in a tightly packed building in a village in Huadu, a young man with a stubble beard, dark circles under his eyes, and a颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a sense of listlessness, apathy, or a sense of dejection) appearance was using video editing software to edit his screen recording.

After completing the last step, excitement flashed in the young man's eyes, and he quickly clicked the export button in the upper right corner.

Next, the young man logged into his Bilibili account, uploaded the exported video, and gave it the video title "Eggplant Crying Horse".

At this point, it was already 1:33 AM.

For most people in China, even if tomorrow is Saturday and they don't have to work, they would already be asleep by this time.

However, for college students, this is just the beginning of their nightlife.

"It's already this late, I wonder how many views it will get in the first hour after it's posted."

The young man glanced at the time displayed in the lower right corner of the computer screen, his right hand involuntarily tightening its grip on the mouse, a hint of anxiety flashing in his eyes.

There's a joke circulating online that says every child from Hulan gets their coming-of-age ceremony a train ticket south.

A full year has passed since the young people arrived in Huadu.

Looking at the hundreds of videos posted on the account, but with few views and few followers, the young man's heart was gradually filled with anxiety.

"I don't have much money left. I'll have to do day jobs again in the next couple of days. I should go to bed early tonight."

Sometimes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Young people are unwilling to wait an hour to check how many views their videos have received. Instead, they lie on the cool mat and slowly close their eyes.

The electric fan, older than him, was running in the sweltering room, offering little relief to the young man, but its deafening noise kept him awake.

The landlord had actually installed an air conditioner in the room.

With its energy consumption at level 5 and electricity costing only 21 kWh, the young people never touched the air conditioner remote control after moving in.

Pulling a corner of the blanket over his stomach, the young man closed his eyes and rolled his eyeballs upwards, hoping to fall asleep quickly and escape the torment.

After an unknown amount of time, the young man finally fell asleep amidst the noise of the fan, the buzzing of mosquitoes, and the footsteps of cockroaches.

……

At 6 a.m., the set mobile phone alarm clock wakes the young people from their sleep.

Pulling off the clothes stuck to his body and glancing at the human-shaped sweat stains left on the mat, the young man sighed softly and quickly began his pre-departure washing routine.

At 6:10, the young man finished getting ready and went out.

At 6:15, I bought three vegetarian steamed buns at the steamed bun shop downstairs, which cost four yuan.

At 6:22, I walked out of the urban village and threw the plastic bag into a roadside trash can.

At 6:40, we arrived at the "Human Resources Open-Air Hall" next to the bus station, waiting for contractors and agents to come and recruit people.

At 7:03, I was selected by an agency to work in a factory, earning 15 yuan per hour, which was not bad.

At 22:42 PM, I took the agency's van back to the bus station and received my day's wages, 165 yuan.

"Damn it, this agency is a total rip-off! They docked an hour's pay just because I spent five extra minutes in the restroom!"

When I got back to my rented room and sat down at my computer desk, it was already 23 p.m.

The young man's gaze gradually glazed over as he stared at the computer screen that was booting up.

"Is this the fate I was born to live, day after day, year after year?"

It wasn't until the computer screen emitted a blinding blue light in the darkness that the young man snapped back to reality.

"If the video I posted yesterday still doesn't get many views, I'll give up on this unrealistic dream of becoming a blogger and go back to working in a factory!"

Young people know perfectly well that the internet is absolutely the best channel for people from the bottom to turn their lives around.

No requirements, low investment cost, anyone can do it.

After entering his password and logging into his Bilibili account, the young man quickly covered the left-hand sidebar with his hand.

As he slowly removed his hands, a 99+ icon came into view on the 'My' button.

"It's...it's on fire?"

Incredulity welled up in the young man's eyes.

When he clicked into his profile page, the most recently posted video had already garnered two million views!

The number of followers displayed at the top of the personal page has also jumped from 3 to 30000.

In the video's comment section, among the comments with the most likes, besides those that joked about the famous scene of "eggplant crying on a horse," the top comment instantly caught the attention of young people.

"The clips are well edited. I hope the uploader will keep up the good work and continue to produce more interesting clips to help people like me who don't have time to watch live streams pass the time."

The young man stared at the comment for a long time.

Then, he quietly changed his account name to "Slice King".

He knew that he had seemingly found a broad and promising path.

After changing his name, the young man didn't waste any time. Instead, he opened multiple live streaming platforms and evenly distributed the live streams of Su Tao and the other three streamers across his computer screen.

Meanwhile, young people also made sure to record their screens.

……

Hangcheng.

Seeing the name "Terraria" appear on the trending list again, Chen Dong smiled and clicked on it.

Unsurprisingly, it contained the famous video of Eggplant Crying at the Horse from last night.

Even though Chen Dong had already watched it once, he still couldn't help but contribute to the uploader's completion rate when he saw it again.

Seeing the video's views continue to rise, surpassing a full ten million, which is equivalent to a large-scale promotion for "Terraria", Chen Dong couldn't suppress his joy.

"A game always needs some abstract players or some famous scenes to plant an anchor in the player's memory and attract new players to join the game."

This video of Eggplant Crying Over a Horse will definitely help Terraria achieve a breakthrough in its mainstream appeal.

With a smile on his lips, Chen Dong couldn't help but tap the button again, contributing another view to the uploader's page.

As the video's popularity gradually increased, not only Bilibili, but also the Yinpu platform saw a surge in derivative works.

These videos garnered numerous likes and also indirectly helped Starcard promote Terraria.

In other words, Chen Dong achieved the same promotional effect that other game companies spent millions of dollars to achieve without spending a single penny.

It's practically a win-win situation; we're ecstatic about it.