Chapter 33: Someone’s About to Catch These Hands!

“Four hundred twenty-eight?!”
Zoey Parker yanked her feet off her Tech Tower desk, staring at Chloe Quinn in shock.
Chloe, her executive assistant, nodded grimly. “Yeah… 428.”
Zoey blinked, brain short-circuiting.
No way.
“Didn’t we have, like, under 600 entries total?” she asked, Seattle drawl sharp.
Chloe nodded again. “582 games in the Indie Game Fest.”
“And we’re 428th?” Zoey’s voice cracked.
Chloe confirmed with a tight nod.
Zoey sucked in a breath.
Logically, this was her dream—a garbage ranking meant Vampire Survivor would tank in sales, perfect for her “salty fish” vibe.
But something stank.
She’d been tracking the game’s buzz.
Streamers like Jada and SlickRick Brooks were hooked on Twitch, and Reddit and Steam Community were flooded with Vampire Survivor posts—strategy guides, superweapon recipes, you name it.
Top ten? Easy. First place? Maybe a stretch, but not impossible.
“Four hundred twenty-eight…” Zoey muttered, frowning at Chloe. “This data legit?”
Chloe shook her head. “Hard to say, boss. We can’t see the daily vote summaries in the backend. No way to verify.”
“But…” Chloe hesitated, flipping open her notebook. “There’s something else.”
“Spill it,” Zoey said, waving her to sit.
Chloe, ever the pro, had been compiling daily Vampire Survivor stats: media coverage, forum mentions, and IndieVibe homepage appearances.
“There’s a glitch in IndieVibe’s random rankings,” Chloe said. “They claim the fest’s game list is pseudo-random, 50 games per page, refreshing hourly for equal exposure. All about fairness.”
Zoey nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
She’d briefly considered begging IndieVibe to bury Vampire Survivor to tank its exposure.
But their “fairness” stance seemed ironclad, and she didn’t want to stir the pot.
Chloe continued, pointing to her notes. “In the past week, Vampire Survivor appeared in the top ten of the first page zero times. First page total? Zero. First five pages? Zero. Page nine? 130 times. Page ten? 30 times. Last page? 6 times.”
Zoey’s face darkened. “Refreshes hourly, 24 times a day, 168 times a week. And we never hit the first five pages?”
Chloe swallowed hard, nodding. “Yup.”
Zoey’s eyes narrowed.
She popped a lollipop from her drawer, chomping it to keep her cool. “Okay, say the random list is a system glitch. But 428th? That’s a glitch too?”
“I’ve seen the buzz,” she continued. “One in ten posts on forums, half the streamers on Twitch, 98% positive reviews. This is a straight-up scam in my face.”
Zoey wasn’t dumb.
Sure, she dreamed of being Seattle’s laziest fish, coasting through life.
But lazy didn’t mean stupid.
She’d aced financial engineering at Riverside University, raised under Mr. Parker’s empire, spanning tech to real estate.
This ranking screamed foul play.
Someone’s messing with me.
Zoey’s blood boiled.
She wanted to fail on her terms—lose because she chose to, not because some suit thought she was an easy mark.
“They’re toast,” she growled, crunching the lollipop to bits. “They think they can rig my rank and steal my votes?”
She waved a hand. “Book tickets to San Francisco. I’m asking IndieVibe what their deal is.”
Portland to San Francisco was a quick flight, under two hours.
“But…” Chloe hesitated, grimacing. “The random list is one thing, but the voting? We’ve got no hard proof they’re rigging it.”
Zoey sneered, yanking the lollipop stick from her mouth and flicking it into the trash like a dart.
Her eyes glinted. “I’m Zoey Parker, daughter of the Mr. Parker. I say they’re cheating. I need proof?”
Chloe shivered.
Zoey played the quirky slacker, all grins and laziness.
But that was just the surface.
Underneath, she was the heir to a ruthless mogul whose capital could crush industries.
To outsiders, her words sounded insane.
But Chloe, handpicked by Mr. Parker, knew the truth: if Zoey wanted, IndieVibe’s board could be out by tomorrow.
“Book the tickets!” Zoey snapped, tossing Chloe a lollipop.
Chloe caught it, flashing an OK sign. “On it!”
As she booked the flight, Chloe smirked.
Someone’s about to hit a brick wall.