"So that's the trick—reverse psychology to bait me?" Zhang Xiaofan sneered inwardly.
"Fine then. Send me the test game. I'm not afraid of a little challenge!" He typed back, even adding an angry emoji to sell the act.
"Good. Don't let us down," Don't Play Mobile Games replied, sending over an APK file—a mobile app installation package.
The file was named Terror City DEMO.
Xiaofan hesitated for a long moment before deciding to install it. He wanted to see just what kind of scam this really was, and how they tricked people step by step.
First, the phone wasn't his, so he wasn't worried about hackers tampering with it. Second, he had already checked—there was nothing important saved on this device. The QQ account he logged in with was barely used, so even if it got stolen, he would lose nothing.
He tapped confirm. The phone began installing Terror City DEMO.
The game was surprisingly large, taking over three minutes to finish installing. Once it did, a new icon appeared on the screen: a cityscape with the word DEMO stamped across it.
"These scammers really go all out just to cheat a little money," Xiaofan muttered, tapping the icon. The app launched. He was determined to uncover what kind of trickery lay behind this.
The game opened to a registration page, but offered a direct QQ login. Without much thought, he logged in using the QQ account already on the phone.
Inside, the game looked like any ordinary mobile title. A short tutorial taught him the controls. It was a third-person fighting game with enemies like zombies, mutant crawlers, and grotesque monsters.
"To call this horror? Not even close," Xiaofan thought. The only challenge was the sheer number of controls—the game demanded quick reflexes and advanced skill to defeat the monsters.
But that was exactly his strength.
Before Xue came into his life, Xiaofan had spent nearly all his free time either writing game novels or mastering mobile games. He was a natural-born player. After checking to make sure Xue was asleep in her crib, he began his playthrough.
The combat felt smooth, the hit effects satisfying, the graphics surprisingly detailed and realistic. The deeper he got, the more impressed he became. Before long, he was completely absorbed.
Half an hour passed. He finally reached the last boss. Dodging and slashing furiously, his character barely clinging to life, he managed to bring the monster down. One life. Clear.
"If I played again, I could probably do it with full health," Xiaofan thought, a little disappointed.
But the clear screen didn't end there.
A new stage appeared. Unlike the combat sections, this one was a maze game: ten layers deep, each requiring the player to find the exit before time ran out.
The maze was brutal. Traps everywhere. Paths shifting unpredictably. Without a pattern, it was impossible to navigate.
Xiaofan was stuck on the very first floor, running in circles. Everything looked identical.
Then, a chill crept up his spine. It felt as though someone was watching him. He spun around. No one was there.
The phone chimed. A new notification popped up:
"Maze-type game detected. Activate Maze Hack?"
Xiaofan remembered—this phone came with dozens of pre-installed "hacks." One of them was exactly that: a Maze Hack.
Relying on his own brain would take too long, and he didn't have the time. He accepted.
A green arrow appeared under his character's feet, pointing the way forward.
With it, progressing was easy… though the hack wasn't flawless. Sometimes the arrow vanished, or even led him into dead ends before recalculating.
"Maybe it's intentional," Xiaofan mused. "To make it look less suspicious to the server?"
Clever.
After half an hour of zigzagging through, he cleared all ten layers of the maze.
Next came a puzzle stage. The setting: an underground lab where a murder had occurred. The player had to gather items and piece together clues to solve the case.
This time, Xiaofan came prepared. Before diving in, he minimized the game and manually activated the Puzzle Hack, Treasure Hunt Hack, and a few others.
When he returned, every hidden object and clue lit up in his field of view.
With the hacks, solving the mystery was quick. He identified the culprit, pieced everything together, and cleared the stage.
The screen flashed. Golden letters blazed across it: 3S. The highest possible rank.
"Congratulations! You have cleared the game. Your verification code is 9975. Press any key to exit."
"That's it?" Xiaofan quit the game, took a screenshot, and messaged Don't Play Mobile Games.
"What's the code?" came the reply.
"It's in the screenshot. 9975." Xiaofan didn't hesitate. It wasn't like this was a bank code—telling them was harmless.
"Your verification code has been accepted by the server. Your result: 3S! Your mobile gaming skills are the highest our studio has ever recorded! Congratulations, you have passed Panic Studio's recruitment test. If you agree to join, we will advance your first day's salary. Thanks to your outstanding performance, your base pay will be set at 500 yuan per day!"