Chapter 11: The Frenzied Game Promotion (Part 2)

Chapter 11: The Frenzied Game Promotion (Part 2)

“Hey, big brother, if you’re interested, try out this money-making game. It’s a nice way to earn a little extra cash. I made ten bucks just yesterday! Every day when you’re free, you can think of it as pocket money.”

“What’s that? A money-making game?”

“Yeah, it’s called Desert Bicycle. You just pay five yuan to download it first, then every task you complete earns you money. Look at my phone account—these are all withdrawals I’ve made…”

“Really? Five yuan? Could it be a scam?”

“It’s only five yuan, why be afraid? Even if it is a scam, it’s just five yuan—you can’t get ripped off for that little. Besides, I have a copy of the boss’s ID card…”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

“Great! Use this invitation code when you sign up. Oh, and if you don’t have a computer at home, you can use an internet café!”

“Okay.”

The taxi drove on. Chen Shou chatted casually with his passenger, steering the conversation invariably toward Desert Bicycle.

At this very moment, the backs of the taxi seats, the windows, and the door panels were plastered with the game’s download link and his invitation code.

A certain thrill lingered—

The thrill came from the game itself.

One reward after another, withdrawals made again and again!

These stimulated the nerves, triggering the brain’s reward system!

And it was all real money!

But another kind of thrill was rooted in reality…

Take Chen Shou, for example.

He didn’t play games, but he was deeply interested in earning extra money.

Especially when it only took a few words to make some extra cash—he was all in.

Anyway, he had already made back the five-yuan cost.

From this morning until noon, he had invited ten more people and earned another five yuan.

Withdrawals were quick and effortless; though the earnings weren’t much, who would turn down extra money?

With almost every passenger, he repeated the same pitch. At this point, he felt like a seasoned insurance agent, polished and practiced.

Seeing passengers copy the invitation code and leave delighted, he smiled brightly.

He called home.

“Honey, check out how many points I have now.”

“A thousand points?”

“That’s ten yuan in hand! Time to withdraw!”

“What? You want to play the game? A resurrection task? And get another five hundred points?”

“Alright, then I’ll just withdraw five yuan. But look, Liu Mei is already making money playing the game. Why can’t you? If you really can’t do it, then let’s just give up. Maybe you just don’t have the knack…”

Chen Shou patiently urged his wife, Liu Jia, but after she angrily hung up, a trace of helplessness flickered at the corner of his mouth.

This woman was obsessed.

No talent, so should we just give up?

All the points I worked so hard to gather, just lost to a game?

This…

The game was truly addictive.

Liu Jia had realized she’d fallen into a trap.

Yet, she refused to quit.

Sitting before the computer,

Each time the task was completed and the coin sound played, it drove her nerves wild.

The game wasn’t very difficult, but it demanded extreme concentration.

Every time she was about thirty points shy of the withdrawal threshold, a hidden task would appear. Completing it would bring her to the required hundred points for withdrawal.

When the hidden task appeared, she had to stare at the screen intently. As soon as a sandstorm showed up, she had to use the left and right arrow keys to start cycling.

Liu Jia’s focus was a bit off, always a split second too slow to get on the bike.

A split-second delay meant the bike would be knocked down by the wind and sand, ending with a “Task Failed” or “Game Over” message.

Her slight OCD made her indifferent to how many of her husband’s points she had spent. At this moment, she only wished to complete even a single hidden task.

She no longer cared about the money she could earn, not even interested in the grand prize of thirty thousand yuan!

As long as she could withdraw just one yuan!

Even one yuan was enough.

But…

She just couldn’t reach it!

Of course, it couldn’t be the game’s fault, since her sister had already withdrawn money and was onto the next round of tasks.

Her sister even sent her MMS messages showing off every time she completed a task.

But she?

“Lost again?”

She stared at the failure screen, furious.

She wanted to use Chen Shou’s points to revive but found he’d already withdrawn them!

In this game, revival required points!

And there was no recharge interface— the only payment was five yuan to download the game and create a new account.

You could only exchange points for money, not money for points, or invite ten people to amass five hundred points before reviving your character!

It disgusted her.

“Forget it, I’ll make some calls.”

As a full-time housewife, she rarely made calls, but she bit the bullet and started dialing.

“Hello? Old Zhang? Can you do me a favor? Download a game—I’ll give you an invitation code.”

“What? Desert Bicycle? You downloaded it too? Were you just about to call me?”

“Who invited you? Liu Mei?”

After hanging up, Liu Jia made more calls.

“Hello? Xiao Liu…”

“You downloaded it too?”

“…”

At the Starry Night Internet Café,

In 2005, the café was filled with players engrossed in “Legend,” a game by Mustang Network.

It was essentially the same as Zhang Yang’s earlier “Legend” game.

Apart from the name, the content was nearly identical, imported from the Great Stick Kingdom, featuring three classes: Mage, Taoist, and Warrior.

Since the release of “Star Mission” by Earth Network in March that year, “Legend” had lost some traffic to the new game. The two titles seemed to be competing for supremacy.

Looking around the café, most gamers were playing titles of this kind.

On the afternoon of June 20th,

The owner, Li Zongnan, finished his usual rounds and sat at the counter smoking.

Several taxis were parked outside; a group of drivers entered.

The leader carried a promotional poster and warmly offered a cigarette.

“Boss.”

“Hm?”

“We want to cooperate with you.”

“What kind of cooperation?”

“We install this game on your computers, you post this poster, and for every download, we pay you three yuan. What do you think?”

“Huh? What’s this?”

“This is Desert Bicycle, a newly released game where the rich second generation throw money around…”

“You’re in game promotion?”

“No, we’re just partners…”

“Okay, give me the poster—I’ll take a look.”

After reviewing the poster and eyeing the eager taxi drivers, he was puzzled. Why were these people promoting a game?

Not believing in it, he shook his head and tossed the poster aside.

But soon, a few others showed up—

This time, college-aged young men.

“Boss, want to talk about a partnership?”

“What kind?”

“Desert Bicycle. You get your users to download it; I pay you two, no, three yuan. You’re just sitting around anyway, so it’s easy money. Here’s my invitation code; just download and register.”

“????”

Li Zongnan stared at the poster.

He was stunned.

Then, almost instinctively, he opened the website and clicked into the Universe Technology official page.

The bold headline read: “An Entertainment Game That Pays You!”

He was bewildered…

Evening came.

Zhang Yang saw that downloads had surpassed a thousand.

A faint smile curved his lips.

Then, seeing the account had received over five thousand yuan and spent just over a thousand, still profiting four thousand, he narrowed his eyes.

He called Zhao Hang.

Zhao Hang, eyes red with excitement, entered, ready to report the data.

“Brother Zhang, we’ve made it, we…”

Zhang Yang remained composed.

His gaze fixed on the filtered users and the rapidly updating data.

“Stay calm!”

“The wind is picking up!”

“But not strong enough yet…”

“Let’s distribute the rewards…”

“It’s time for another big gust!”

“By the way, our server capacity is three thousand users. Let’s use some of the money to upgrade the server…”

“More people will come in…”

“When we hit ten thousand, that’s when we start making money.”

After speaking, he narrowed his eyes.

He continued watching the download count climb.

Though excited inside, his expression was utterly calm. Everything was going according to plan.

Life is like a chess game…

And he was the player.

In the blink of an eye,

The battle was about to begin…

Smoke filled the air!

(End of Chapter)