For the next full hour, Rachel interviewed Evan extensively in Redbird Studios' reception room.
During the course of this interview, Evan also witnessed firsthand just how capable and professional GAME World truly was as a publication. Evan didn't actually know Rachel's specific position or rank within the magazine's editorial hierarchy, but throughout that entire hour-long interview session, Rachel's questions were consistently sharp and insightful, basically cutting directly to the core of every issue she raised. Even when it came to highly technical, professional-level questions about game design, after carefully listening to Evan's detailed answers, Rachel could usually offer her own unique insights and perspectives that demonstrated genuine understanding. For this entire hour, Evan could honestly be said to have held almost nothing back in his responses, except for certain sensitive topics, confidential business information, and similar protected details. By the end of their conversation, Rachel had become the person outside the company who understood Redbird Studios the most thoroughly.
She was genuinely a formidable professional.
This was Evan's conclusion about her.
After the interview wrapped up, Rachel didn't waste a single second lingering around. She left immediately to file her story, displaying some of that decisive, no-nonsense style that reminded Evan of his father Frank's approach to business. That very same afternoon, Evan saw his interview article published live on the GAME World official website.
The interview article used the currently viral and popular CG for Swallowing Heaven and Earth as its entry point and hook, first revealing the true origin story of the CG to curious players.
The explanation given matched exactly what Evan had told Logan previously: an old college classmate's production company in America had created the fifteen-second CG at a heavily discounted personal-favor price. That was the promotional video for Swallowing Heaven and Earth. As for the specific production company's name and details? Due to the old classmate's request for discretion, it would be inconvenient to publicly disclose that information, and Rachel had smoothly brushed past that detail without pressing.
Regarding what kind of game Swallowing Heaven and Earth actually was and what players could expect...
Rachel had skillfully incorporated substantial portions of their earlier discussion about the future potential of browser-based games, aspects of game delivery platforms and thematic approaches, while adding her own editorial perspective and analysis. She'd concluded the section with:
"Do not reflexively disparage or dismiss a game simply because it happens to be a browser-based web game, and do not blindly praise or overrate a game just because it carries a high price point and high production specifications. Whether any game is genuinely fun and worth playing ultimately depends on whether its spiritual core and design philosophy truly considers the players' experience and needs. It is fundamentally unrealistic and unfair to dismiss all web games out of hand with blanket criticism. For many talented producers and developers, they genuinely want to present well-crafted, polished games to players but find themselves constrained by limited available funding, insufficient manpower, and various other practical difficulties beyond their control. So a truly good game doesn't necessarily have to lean towards being a massive AAA blockbuster title with enormous budgets. A genuinely good game is definitely a work that has been presented by a producer with absolute sincerity and dedication, working within their available conditions and resources—and Swallowing Heaven and Earth represents exactly such a work."
Following that philosophical defense came a detailed introduction to Evan himself as a developer, along with some interesting background information and context about Redbird Studios' history. What genuinely surprised Evan was that Rachel hadn't included even a single mention of some of the more potentially negative news items they'd discussed candidly that morning during the interview, such as Redbird's previous failed project being scammed by contractors, or the internal family conflicts and power struggles within the company's leadership.
"It seems Rachel understands quite a lot about how this game actually works," Evan thought to himself with appreciation and respect. This interview article could essentially be considered Rachel's tangible investment in Evan's future career and reputation. There was absolutely no negative imagery or unflattering angles presented throughout the entire piece, and she'd even strategically leveraged the fact that he was an award-winning outstanding graduate of Harborview University for additional positive publicity and hype. His public image as 'a talented young creator constrained by unfortunate circumstances who had no choice but to diligently and sincerely create a browser-based web game with limited resources' had thus been carefully established and positioned by Rachel's editorial choices.
But just as Rachel herself had said during their meeting, investment was inherently a mutual relationship. Rachel had already made her substantial investment in him through this article. So what Evan needed to do in return was to quickly establish himself as a first-tier producer in the industry, and ensure that Rachel would have exclusive early access to his future projects and announcements as a trusted media partner.
Rachel's interview article also pushed this current round of marketing for Swallowing Heaven and Earth to reach a significant small climax of attention and engagement. With GAME World's authoritative report and endorsement, players across the community became even more genuinely excited and expectant about the unique browser game that Evan had described.
Evan immediately struck while the iron was hot and made an official announcement that Swallowing Heaven and Earth would launch its closed beta test with full data wipe starting two days later at 8:00 AM sharp. The beta test access slots would be allocated through an advance reservation system, and the first round offering of eight thousand reservation slots were completely snatched up and claimed by eager players in less than three minutes flat.
"Things are definitely looking up!" Evan, whose game development journey had been proceeding remarkably smoothly, had only one overwhelming feeling coursing through him: absolute delight and satisfaction!
If games as a medium needed careful balance and equilibrium, then Evan figured that everyone's personal life probably also operated under some kind of invisible cosmic balance system—like being lucky in romantic love but perpetually unlucky at the casino tables. For him specifically, just as his professional career was finally showing genuine promise and momentum, and he hadn't even started humming a celebratory tune yet, Emily came to his office to deliver some rather heavy and uncomfortable news:
Emily's mother wanted to personally cook dinner for Evan that evening.
Apparently she'd issued an absolute ultimatum to Emily, telling her daughter that she absolutely had to bring Evan home for dinner, or else she would come to the Redbird offices herself to personally invite Evan.
Just thinking about Emily's mother and what this dinner invitation actually implied, Evan's excellent mood instantly evaporated completely. As a mother, Emily's mom could genuinely be called excellent and exemplary—meticulously caring for her daughter with attention to every detail, consistently gentle and considerate in her approach. And if Emily wasn't exaggerating or lying, her mother was apparently also a genuinely talented cook. Moreover, she'd always reasoned calmly with Emily whenever conflicts or issues arose. From childhood through adulthood, Emily had basically never been physically punished or spanked even once—truly making her mother a paragon among other people's mothers, the kind everyone wished they had.
But perhaps precisely because Emily's parents' marriage had been extremely unsuccessful and had ended badly, after Emily's mother and father had divorced, Emily's mom had become particularly enthusiastic and intensely focused on Emily's own romantic prospects and marriage timeline. She seemed desperately determined not to allow the misfortune and pain of a failed marriage to be repeated in Emily's own life. This singular focus and pressure put enormous stress on Evan specifically.
"Why were you so loose-lipped back then? What kind of terrible idea was that supposed to be? Three-legged toads might be hard to find in nature, but two-legged numerical systems designers are everywhere in this industry, aren't they? Now you've gotten yourself completely stuck in an extremely awkward position," Evan reflected internally and critically on his past recklessness and poor judgment while walking downstairs with Emily to hail a taxi.
On the way to Emily's home, Emily bit her lip nervously, gathered her courage, and said to Evan somewhat hesitantly:
"If my mother happens to invite you to stay overnight at our place tonight, you'd absolutely better refuse that invitation."
Evan glanced over at her with an expression of disdain and mild offense:
"Do I honestly look like such a shameless person with no sense of propriety? Tonight, I'll crawl back to my own apartment to sleep if I have to, even if it means walking the entire way home. Besides, your mother is genuinely concerned about you and your wellbeing—she's not foolish or naive. Do you seriously believe that if I were to proactively suggest staying overnight at your place tonight, she wouldn't immediately grab the nearest broom and sweep me out the door the very next second?"
With that declaration, Evan smoothed down his hair, ran his fingers through it while checking his appearance in the taxi's rearview mirror, and continued with confidence:
"Why is your mother so satisfied and impressed with me in the first place? Isn't it precisely because I, your humble servant here, am young and financially successful, reasonably handsome, and most importantly, I clearly know when to advance and when to retreat, and I understand proper social etiquette and boundaries? So rest assured and stop worrying—in front of your mother, I am significantly more polite and well-mannered than you are. I absolutely won't make any inappropriate requests or suggestions that would reflect poorly."
Emily glared at him with visible annoyance at his confident smugness, then deliberately turned her head to look out the taxi window, no longer speaking or engaging with him.
The taxi eventually stopped in front of a well-landscaped residential community. This was located in the older district of Northfield City—an area that was somewhat poorly planned from an urban development perspective but rich in authentic local neighborhood flavor and character, making it actually a pretty decent and affordable choice for comfortable living.
After stopping at a fruit stand downstairs to buy a nice basket of fresh fruit as a gift, Evan and Emily climbed two flights of stairs together up to the apartment—older residential buildings in this area typically didn't have elevator access, which was definitely a notable drawback.
Evan pressed the doorbell button, and a moment later, the apartment door opened from within. However, Evan's observant eye keenly noticed a distinct hint of displeasure and tension on Emily's mother's face as she first opened the door. But this visible displeasure seemed to fade and smooth away quite quickly when her gaze landed on Evan standing there beside her daughter.
"Evan! You're here! Oh, I've told Emily so many times to bring you over for a proper home-cooked meal, but it took a whole month for you to finally come visit. Are you afraid that I won't entertain you well enough or make you feel welcome?"
Evan's face broke into warm, friendly smiles. "Please don't say that! Emily knows perfectly well—the company has been incredibly busy and demanding lately with the project launch approaching. Only now that the project work is finally finished can I actually relax a bit and take some time off."
Emily's mother smiled warmly and gestured them inside. "I know perfectly well that you two work incredibly hard. So today I specifically went to the market early to buy some really nice ingredients. We'll have a special nourishing meal tonight to help restore your energy."
Later that evening, after finishing dinner and helping clean up, Evan and Emily walked together downstairs through the residential community, chatting quietly.
"I noticed your mother didn't seem particularly happy earlier today when she first opened the door?" Evan asked with genuine curiosity.
"My father came by to visit today, and they ended up parting on bad terms," Emily looked up at Evan and said with a somewhat distant, conflicted tone in her voice. "I really want to succeed with Swallowing Heaven and Earth now, to prove definitively to that man that my mother and I can live very well without him being part of our lives."
Evan nodded seriously and said simply: "Don't worry. We will."
Translator here
Hy guys i wanted to ask you guys want me to continue this Fic because this fic has good amount of collection but no one gives powerstones tell me if i should stop and bring something else or if you guys have any recommendation for Fic i should Translate.