Chapter 240 – Work Overtime, and Do It Hard

The development progress of Cloud Journey throughout July was far from ideal.

The game was initially planned to have 6 main levels and a secret true ending. By the end of July, only three levels had been completed. There was still a lack of testing to identify bugs, and the art resources remained a significant workload.

To address this situation, Mei Fang reached out to some artists he knew on C Site for outsourcing assistance, with Guo Yun responsible for coordinating and unifying the art style. This was also a way to train her in managing work handovers.

At this point, most of the game’s functions had already been developed, so the workload for the programming team had actually decreased. They were mainly focused on fixing bugs and releasing builds.

The biggest issue now was with the planning department. In July, Zhang Ming was still in the middle of extra classes, so he could only spare a little time each day to help.

In reality, the tasks involved in game planning were much more complex than many people imagined. Besides the basic configuration tables, more advanced tasks required learning to use U3D plugins to configure some interface-related elements within the U3D environment. Since many early U3D plugin features were not practical, Mei Fang often had to write new ones on the spot to make things somewhat more manageable.

Seeing Mei Fang tirelessly handling configuration tasks day and night, Lin Youxi proactively asked if she could help with some of the planning work. At first, Mei Fang refused:

“This is my responsibility. I can handle it faster on my own. It’s fine.”

“Even if it takes some time to teach me, it would still be better than you doing it all alone, even if the work is a bit slower,” Lin Youxi persuaded him. “If you take on all this work by yourself every time, on top of managing everything else, the pressure on you will be too much. I’m worried about your health.”

Her concern reminded Mei Fang of the cause of his sudden death in his previous life: on one hand, he was worried that his team would slack off, wasting time and delaying progress. On the other hand, he was afraid that if they did it themselves, the quality would suffer. In the end, it all came down to Mei Fang needing to personally oversee everything.

While this was clearly the mindset of an overworked employee, it also reflected Mei Fang’s sense of responsibility.

“In addition to being the lead planner, you’re also the boss. If you exhaust yourself and get sick, the progress will come to a complete halt. I think it’s feasible to reduce your workload at the cost of some efficiency to lower your stress levels.”

Lin Youxi continued, “I remember Zhang Ming won’t have extra classes in August. If you want to train him properly, you need to make good use of him. I recall he plans to discuss with his parents and homeroom teacher about moving to a regular class after the summer break so he can dedicate more energy to game development. This month is crucial for him.”

“That’s true. Zhang Ming has been very proactive lately. But since we can’t communicate face-to-face, it has been quite inconvenient at times…”

“Why not just bring him over here?” Lin Youxi suggested. “There are plenty of budget hotels near the school. We could ask Sister Yue Yue to book a room for a month. The cost should be manageable.”

“Speaking of that, actually, at the end of the month, Lin Xi Technology and Ximilu Games will officially start operations, right? By then, once the office renovations are complete, we’ll surely need to prepare for the first all-staff meeting, so I was thinking——”

“You want to call everyone over in August to spend the summer holiday together?”
From the side, after hearing Mei Fang’s idea, Xia Yuan counted on her fingers and said, “Let me think. Xinyi, Xiaoxue, Xiaoyu, Yun Yun, Sister Yue Yue, Zhang Ming… That’s six people already. I’m not sure a single hotel room could accommodate everyone.”

“We could do it this way: Zhang Ming and I can stay at the hotel, and since the house is full of girls, it would be inconvenient for the two of us guys to stay there. With three bedrooms and two people per room, it would work out perfectly.”

“What do you mean, ‘perfect’? There’s no way I’d let anyone else sleep in your bed! And Aunt Meijuan’s room is quite small—it can only fit one person.”

“Then Guo Yun and Sister Yue Yue could stay at their own homes since they’re in Jiangcheng anyway. Wouldn’t that be just right?”

After discussing it, the three of them talked to Mei Yue. Though reluctant to leave such a comfortable place with free food and accommodation, Mei Yue eventually agreed and quickly moved out of the apartment. She also booked a standard twin room for the still minor Mei Fang and his friend at the hotel next to the residential complex.

Next came the more complicated task of contacting everyone. Mei Fang asked about everyone’s availability in the Ximilu Studio group chat.

Upon learning they could spend the summer in Jiangcheng, Peng Xue and Yue Xinyi, who didn’t have much going on, immediately signed up. Liu Xiaoyu and Zhang Ming hesitated, saying they needed to convince their parents. In the end, Xia Yuan and Mei Fang took the initiative to call their parents directly to get their permission.

And so, the final month of the Cloud Journey development sprint officially began.

Considering that once their friends arrived, Mei Fang, Xia Yuan, and Lin Youxi would hardly have a moment to be affectionate, so Mei Fang agreed to let Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi sleep with him to recharge their super energy.

Of course, it was all very proper—just lying in bed and sleeping, just like when they stayed at the hotel during winter break in their hometown. Although Lin Youxi had plans to be a little mischievous, she eventually gave up on the idea under the firm insistence of Xia Yuan and Mei Fang.

Everyone kept things innocent—they really didn’t do anything.

Before the team members from Baimei County arrived, a batch of laptops and office supplies that Mei Fang had purchased was delivered to their house. These laptops were paid for by the company account, so after Zhang Ming and the others used them during this summer, they could still be utilized in the office, which wasn’t a waste.

August was the busiest month since the studio’s founding. Everyone got up early and stayed up late, working hard to push the project forward. Some members, who had less involvement in the Cloud Journey project, focused on other tasks.

Peng Xue and Liu Xiaoyu were part of Xia Yuan’s music team. Xia Yuan and Liu Xiaoyu were already well-versed in this area, while Peng Xue mainly reviewed their work and provided feedback. She also tried to persuade Liu Xiaoyu to join their band as a keyboardist, but Liu Xiaoyu politely declined, citing her busy schedule.

However, this didn’t mean Liu Xiaoyu was unwilling to join Xia Yuan’s band; she just wanted to focus on the game development work first.

Meanwhile, Yue Xinyi was temporarily taking on the role of a game tester within the team, testing areas that felt off or had obvious issues. This was similar to her work as a C Site operator, where she collected, recorded, and reported bugs—something she ended up doing quite well.

On the planning and configuration side, Mei Fang, Lin Youxi, and Zhang Ming were all working at full capacity. Although the workload was heavy, with Mei Fang’s requirement documents as a guide, there were no major mistakes.

During this period, Mei Fang had been sharing a room with Zhang Ming. The two would usually return around 10 PM after a busy day, with barely any conversation between them. After getting back, Mei Fang would still video call Lin Youxi and Xia Yuan to wish each other goodnight.

Zhang Ming had always kept out of Mei Fang’s personal relationships, but after a while, he couldn’t help but get curious.

“So… are the three of you still this close?” he asked.

“Yeah… why?” Mei Fang responded.

“I was just thinking, both Xia Yuan and Class Monitor are really outstanding girls. When the day comes for you to make a choice, it’s bound to be painful, isn’t it?”

“Whoa… You actually started talking to me about relationships. I’m impressed; our little Ming Ming has really grown up.”

“Stop being gross.”

Riding the topic, Mei Fang countered Zhang Ming, “What about you? How’s it going with… who was it again?”

“You mean Lu Xueqing?”

As soon as Zhang Ming said her name, Mei Fang shook his head with a smile and said, “See? I knew you still liked her!”

“W-what do you mean, like? It’s only because you kept gossiping about the same thing over and over… You’re trying to trick me.”

“So, is the reason why you haven’t discussed dropping out of the science experimental class with your homeroom teacher and parents also because you don’t want to be separated from her?”

Zhang Ming didn’t answer immediately, and Mei Fang caught on, “I get the feeling there’s a lot you’re holding back. I won’t force you to talk, but you should try to be more carefree.”

Lying on the bed with his hands behind his head, Mei Fang casually shared his thoughts with Zhang Ming.

“When you like someone, be brave enough to pursue them. If you want to be with her, try your hardest to keep her. Don’t wait until it’s too late and then regret it—life doesn’t offer a second chance.”

“Sometimes, you worry that confessing will ruin your friendship, but whether you try or not, people will gradually drift apart. If there was never any real feeling, you can just look back and laugh about it; but if both of you hesitated and missed your chance, that’s something you’ll regret for the rest of your life. Ever heard this saying? ‘Only by giving your true heart can you win someone’s true heart, but you might also get hurt the most; keeping your distance can protect you, but it also dooms you to eternal loneliness.'”

“Here you are, acting like some relationship guru when you’ve never even had a girlfriend. I’m amazed.” Zhang Ming sighed. “But considering your ten-plus years of experience as a childhood sweetheart, I guess you’re not completely without credibility…”

Seeing his friend’s reaction, Mei Fang turned on his side, propping his head up with his hand, and curiously asked, “So, you really like Lu Xueqing, huh?”

“Get lost! I’m turning off the lights and going to sleep!”

Annoyed, Zhang Ming turned off the lights in the hotel room.

Mei Fang was pleased that Zhang Ming didn’t treat him entirely like a boss—it would be boring otherwise…

Thanks to everyone’s persistent efforts, as well as Mei Fang’s enthusiastic encouragement, Cloud Journey finally released its official 1.0.0 version just before the end of the summer vacation.