The development of *Green Valley* entered its third week. The code was compiling, the assets were rendering, but the soul of the game was still missing.
Zhong Ming stood behind Lin Xia, looking at her screen. The writer looked exhausted, her messy hair tied up with a pencil, dark circles under her eyes.
"I can't do it," Lin Xia groaned, slumping over her keyboard. "I've written twelve variations of 'Nice weather today,' and they all sound like robotic scripts. How do you make small talk interesting?"
On the screen was the dialogue box for one of the NPCs, a character tentatively named "Elena," the local bar owner's daughter. In the current build, she stood behind the counter like a statue, repeating the same line of text.
"The problem isn't the text," Zhong Ming said, pulling up a chair. "The problem is the context. You're treating her like a vending machine. You're writing a 'function', not a person."
He pointed to a document on her second screen. "Tell me about her."
"She's... a barmaid," Lin Xia recited. "She serves drinks. She's polite."
"No," Zhong Ming shook his head. "That's her job. Who is she? What does she do when she's not serving drinks? Does she hate her job? Does she have a dream? Does she have a secret crush on the blacksmith but is too shy to tell him because he smells like soot?"
Lin Xia blinked. "I... I didn't think about that. In *Frontline Duty*, the NPCs just told you where to bomb next."
"In a social RPG, the NPCs are the content," Zhong Ming explained. "Players don't play *Green Valley* to farm cabbages. They play to escape their lonely apartments and live in a village where people know their name. We need to create 'Heart Events'."
"Heart Events?"
"Scripted cutscenes," Zhong Ming clarified. "Triggered by friendship levels. You don't just talk to Elena at the counter. You walk into the forest on a rainy Tuesday, and you find her crying because she failed a cooking recipe. You help her gather ingredients to try again. Suddenly, she's not just a barmaid; she's a person with flaws and goals."
He leaned in, typing out a new command in the design doc.
**[Character Archetype: The Tsundere / The Dreamer]**
**[Secret: Wants to leave the village to become a singer in the city, but is afraid of disappointing her father.]**
"Write that," Zhong Ming ordered. "Write the scene where she sings to herself when she thinks no one is watching. And write the dialogue where she gets angry at the player for overhearing it, but secretly thanks them for listening."
Lin Xia's fingers hovered over the keys. "A singer... in a pixel game? We don't have voice acting."
"We don't need voice acting," Zhong Ming said. "We have text speed, portraits, and music. We animate her sprite to sway slightly. We change her portrait expression from 'Angry' to 'Embarrassed' to 'Soft'. The player's imagination fills in the voice."
Lin Xia began to type. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed.
"I... I think I get it," she murmured. "It's not about the text box. It's about the feeling between the boxes."
...
**The Art of "Kawaii"**
Across the room, Su Qing was having a crisis of her own.
"I can't do it," she said, mirroring Lin Xia's earlier groan. She turned her monitor around to show Zhong Ming. "I tried to draw the 'Embarrassed' expression like you asked. But it looks... wrong."
The portrait on the screen showed a girl with a red face. It looked like she had a rash or a fever. The pixelated blush was blocky and harsh.
"It looks like she's sick," Su Qing said. "Not cute."
Zhong Ming walked over. The concept of "Moe" (萌)—the specific aesthetic of cuteness that triggers a protective instinct—was another lost art in this world of sharp angles and gritty realism.
"Cuteness is about geometry," Zhong Ming said, taking the stylus. "Round shapes. Soft edges. The eyes need to be larger than anatomically correct to convey emotion."
He quickly drew over the portrait. He rounded the jawline. He enlarged the eyes by 20%. He changed the harsh red blush to a softer, transparent pink overlay.
"And most importantly," Zhong Ming added, drawing a small sweat drop on the side of her head, "The iconic symbols. The sweat drop for nervousness. The vertical line of surprise. These are visual shorthand that players instantly understand."
He showed her the revised version.
"See? The blush isn't a medical condition anymore. It's an emotion."
Su Qing stared at the comparison. "It's... simpler. But it conveys more. It's stylized expressionism."
"It's anime logic," Zhong Ming smiled. "And it works. Now, I need you to design the 'Gift' icons. We need 50 items that the player can give to NPCs. Flowers, gems, cooked dishes. Make them look like treasures."
...
**The Sabotage**
Just as the team was hitting their stride, the door to the office slid open. It wasn't Zhou Kai this time, but a clerk from the Human Resources department.
"Notification for Lin Xia," the clerk said in a bored monotone. "You have been reassigned. Producer Zhou Kai has filed a requisition for a 'Senior Narrative Designer' for the *Frontline Duty* expansion pack. Your transfer is effective immediately. Pack your things."
The room froze.
Lin Xia stood up, her face pale. "What? But I'm in the middle of a project! Director Lin Wan approved my transfer here!"
"Director Lin Wan is in a meeting with the board and cannot be reached," the clerk said. "The requisition has the Vice President's stamp. It's done."
Zhong Ming looked at the clerk, then at Lin Xia. Zhou Kai wasn't just trying to sabotage the game; he was trying to break the team's spirit. Without a writer, the "Social RPG" aspect of *Green Valley* was dead. The holiday demo would just be a farming chore simulator.
"Wait," Zhong Ming said.
The clerk paused. "Sir, this is out of my hands."
"I know," Zhong Ming said calmly. He turned to Lin Xia. "How much of the dialogue is done?"
"Only... only about 20%," Lin Xia stammered, looking distressed. "The heart events aren't scripted yet. If I go now, the NPCs will just stand there."
Zhong Ming looked at the time. It was 4:00 PM.
"You have until 5:00 PM to clear out your desk, right?" Zhong Ming asked the clerk.
"Standard protocol, yes."
"Good," Zhong Ming turned to Lin Xia. "Sit down."
"Sir?"
"Sit. Down," Zhong Ming ordered. He pulled up a chair next to her. "We have one hour. We are going to speed-run the narrative design."
He activated his **[System]**. He needed to maximize his efficiency.
**[Using 20 Culture Points to activate: Focus Mode (Mental Clarity Accelerator).]**
His mind sharpened. The world seemed to slow down.
"Lin Xia, listen to me," Zhong Ming said rapidly. "Don't worry about the scripts for the demo. Focus on the *Bible*. We need to lock down the character personalities and the event triggers so that even an intern can write the dialogue later."
He opened a blank document.
**[Character 1: Elena]**
* *Schedule: Bar 12pm-12am. River 6am-9am (Singing).*
* *Loves: Amethyst, Spicy Food.*
* *Hates: Quartz, Hollow logs.*
* *Heart Event 1 (Trigger: 2 Hearts, Enter Bar after 8pm):* Player catches her practicing a toast. She trips. Player helps her up. She admits she wants to travel.
"Type!" Zhong Ming commanded.
Lin Xia, snapped out of her panic by Zhong Ming's intensity, began typing furiously. They worked in tandem. Zhong Ming dictated the architectural logic of the relationships—the math of love and friendship—while Lin Xia fleshed out the emotional context.
"Character 2: The Blacksmith. Stoic. Lonely. Loves rocks."
"Character 3: The Shopkeeper. Cheerful. Hides debt."
"Character 4: The Drifter. The mysterious stranger in the tent."
They worked at breakneck speed. The clerk stood by the door, tapping his foot, checking his watch.
At 4:55 PM, Zhong Ming hit 'Save'.
"Done," Lin Xia gasped, sweating. "We have the character sheets and the trigger logic for the first season."
"Upload it to the cloud server," Zhong Ming said. "And send a copy to my personal drive."
He turned to the clerk. "She's ready."
Lin Xia stood up, gathering her things in a box. She looked at Zhong Ming, her eyes tearing up. "Director... I'm sorry. I wanted to see this game finished."
"You didn't just write a document, Lin Xia," Zhong Ming said, handing her a small drive. "You wrote the heart. We'll implement it. Don't worry about the game. Worry about yourself."
He walked her to the door.
"And Lin Xia?" Zhong Ming added quietly. "Zhou Kai is a micromanager. He won't let you write 'emotion'. Use that. Write exactly what he wants, but slip in the subtlety. Keep your skills sharp. I'll get you back."
Lin Xia nodded, wiping her eyes, and walked out with the clerk.
The office felt empty. Li Wei and Su Qing looked devastated.
"They took our writer," Li Wei muttered. "Zhou Kai is playing dirty. We can't finish the RPG elements without a writer."
Zhong Ming sat back down at his desk. He stared at the 'Character Bible' they had just created.
"We don't need a writer for the demo," Zhong Ming said, his voice cold with determination. "We have the blueprint. I'll write the dialogue myself if I have to. But first..."
He opened the System interface.
**[Mission Failed: Keep the Team Intact.]**
**[Penalty: None (Due to external force majeure).]**
**[New Mission: Revenge.]**
**[Objective: Prove that 'Heart' beats 'Guns'. Make Zhou Kai regret his decision.]**
Zhong Ming looked at the code for the "Heart Event" system.
"Li Wei," Zhong Ming called out.
"Yeah, boss?"
"Implement the 'Gift' mechanic. I want the player to be able to give Elena a flower, and I want her face to change. I want a little heart to pop up. And I want it to feel more rewarding than headshotting an enemy in *Frontline Duty*."
He gripped his stylus.
"Zhou Kai thinks he took our weapon. He forgot that we're building a world, not a war. We'll win this with love."