Chapter 12: The Mad Game Promotion (Part Two)
June 20th, evening.
Night was gradually falling.
Li Zongnan, the internet café owner, took a drag from his cigarette and stared intently at the download success page of "Desert Bicycle."
A money-making game?
What kind of game was this?
Could it possibly be a scam?
He had seen it all in his many years, but he had never heard of a game where you could actually earn money!
Yet, curiosity got the better of him.
Even if it was a trick, he wanted to know what kind of trick it really was.
Five yuan to download?
Two hours on one machine, and it would pay for itself, right?
He wasn’t short on five yuan.
With that thought, he looked back at the computer desktop.
Soon, an icon for the game appeared.
The icon was simple: on a faded yellow desert background, a person riding a bicycle headed toward an unknown distance. Surrounding the road were only yellow dirt hills and two cacti.
It looked very much like the pixel games that had been popular a few years ago.
He clicked on the game and took another look.
While other games were several gigabytes in size, this one was very small—less than one gigabyte.
The smaller the game size, the simpler the content, and the fewer elements it contained.
He instinctively opened the game.
The first thing that popped up was a registration page, followed by a bank card binding interface.
He hesitated for a moment but eventually linked a bank card with no money in it.
Only after completing this step did he enter the game…
“The future world, where humans are locked in a fierce battle against alien creatures…”
“You wake up…”
“Only to find yourself lying in an endless expanse of yellow sand. In the distance, a vast highway stretches forward. When you come to your senses, you realize you are a medic. You must deliver medicine to the base camp within eight hours; otherwise, not only will the people in the base camp perish, but you will die as well!”
“This will be an eight-hour ordeal of loneliness!”
“Players, are you ready?”
…
As the game started, such background text appeared, accompanied by a heavy, somber image of ruins.
Li Zongnan pondered deeply.
He wasn’t rash by nature. In his youth, he had considerable gaming talent—many family role-playing games where everyone else struggled to progress, he had already cleared with ease.
Eight hours?
The total game duration—meaning it only took eight hours to complete the game!
If you didn’t finish within eight hours, you failed!
That was the dark implication of the background story...
He then officially entered the game.
The controls were simple—left and right mouse buttons to steer, and the nearby Enter key to get on and off the bike or make repairs…
“This game seems a bit interesting!”
Li Zongnan maneuvered the bike, dodging one sandstorm after another, watching the score and gold coins jump and increase beside him.
Though calm, he knew this was the game’s reward mechanism!
This was a psychological trick—everyone hopes to gain something and hates to lose anything.
This game’s reward system was brilliantly executed: every time a task was completed, the sound of coins was loud and clear, the background music became joyous, constantly reminding you how close you were to cashing out and how many points you had.
This subtly stimulated dopamine production in the brain, making you eagerly anticipate task completion and giving an invisible sense of achievement.
Li Zongnan’s focus sharpened; he was very skilled in every aspect.
He quickly completed a task!
Afterward, he looked at the one yuan ready for withdrawal.
As he hesitated whether to cash out, suddenly, a shout erupted from the internet café.
“Holy shit, damn! I completed the achievement, the first player in the game to hit 200 points…”
“Rewarded with 20,000 points! Two hundred yuan!”
“Oh my God!”
“I cashed out! Damn, they really paid me two hundred yuan!”
“This is real! Damn, this game is genuinely money-making!”
“Damn!”
“Boss, give me three bottles of Coke and fifty yuan internet credit. I’m going to grind through this game and earn thirty thousand!”
“Quick, boss, come over! I can’t disconnect, or I won’t complete the tasks!”
Li Zongnan was stunned.
Then he saw a young man shouting excitedly, rushing over like he’d gone mad.
Li recognized him—it was Ge Yumiao, a “pro gamer” who spent all his time in the café chopping through “Legends,” sleeping in the café when thirsty or tired, known by all parents as the epitome of a bad influence.
Li Zongnan instinctively approached and saw the man’s eyes red as he stared at the screen, playing Desert Bicycle with overwhelming excitement.
Li even worried the guy might have a heart attack from the intensity.
“Holy shit, this game is real? So many people in the ‘Big Goose’ chat were bragging about achievements in this game, and I didn’t believe it!”
“Is this real?”
“Damn!”
“It actually exists?”
“Ge God, can you take a photo for me? I want to post it in the Big Goose chat group.”
“Damn, I’m downloading it too. I always thought this was a scam—but turns out, it’s a rich kid’s money-spending game?”
…
…
The players chopping through “Legends” in the café, hearing the shouts, surged over.
They stared at the screen, seeing the “Withdrawal Successful” message and the notification from Ge Yumiao’s mobile banking app…
Once they confirmed the money had really been withdrawn, everyone was ecstatic!
“Don’t crowd around; don’t disturb my gameplay. Boss, don’t watch, just top up my internet credit, don’t disconnect! I’ll pay you later. You have a card machine, right? Swipe it yourself. The password is six sixes. This game can’t be interrupted—the tasks get harder, but the rewards get better!”
…
Ge Yumiao kept roaring at his machine, eyes fixed on the screen, completing task after task, so focused he didn’t even care about the card’s password anymore…
Li Zongnan was stunned and instinctively took the card to the machine to swipe himself…
“Boss, is this real?”
“Is there money on the card?”
…
Many people instinctively gathered around.
Checking the card, Li Zongnan indeed found money on it!
“There is!”
He nodded doubtfully and stared intently at his own game screen.
Upon hearing there was money on the card, the group of “Legends” players instantly went wild!
They rushed back to their seats and started downloading the game.
Li Zongnan, while helping Ge Yumiao top up, noticed a message on his game screen:
“Task failed. Use 10 points to revive? Withdraw? Note: After withdrawal, you still need 10 points to revive and restart the game. For details on earning points, please refer to the points official website…”
…
He declined withdrawal and exchanged 10 points to revive…
Then the shouts began again.
“Boss, have you topped me up? Don’t disconnect now—I’m almost done with the task!”
“Damn, boss, I failed the task—was half a second too slow!”
“Shit, someone beat me to it!”
…
After topping up Ge Yumiao’s account, Li Zongnan looked at his own game screen and saw it had failed again.
“Task failed. Use 20 points to revive? Points not enough to withdraw!”
…
At this moment, he finally understood: this game demanded complete concentration!
Then, opening the official website and seeing how to earn points…
He finally grasped why so many people had been asking him to help promote this game today.
Bring in ten people and earn 500 points—that’s five yuan!
And his internet café easily had two hundred visitors a day!
If all two hundred downloaded the game?
That would be one hundred yuan.
At that moment…
He understood everything!
Just then…
A banner appeared on the Desert Bicycle interface.
“Ding!”
“Zhang so-and-so completed the second phase task; rewarded 30,000 points, 300 yuan!”
Upon hearing this…
The entire internet café erupted with excitement!
In less than half an hour…
Half of the players originally grinding “Legends” suddenly changed their minds and downloaded Desert Bicycle. Some even pulled out their phones to make calls, recruiting more players everywhere…
Ge Yumiao, meanwhile, stared at the “Game Over” screen, furiously pounding the keyboard.
“Ahhh, I messed up just now! Damn, the game crashed, I failed the third phase task. Revive! Revive! Push for the fourth phase rewards!”
“Not enough points? Damn, why no recharge interface? Damn it, can’t recharge?”
“I have money—why can’t I top up? I’m complaining!”
“If only I hadn’t cashed out earlier, I could’ve revived and passed the level first to get the rewards!”
“Calling to earn points?”
…
Night fell…
Ge Yumiao, who had never used a phone before, was now the first to pick his up and join the calling frenzy…
(The End of this chapter)