Chapter 28: How Ordinary People Can Make Money from Home!

June 29th.

On the final day of June, Shen Yi felt stifled in his office. He felt particularly anxious after seeing the number of members in the "Crazy Beat the Alpaca" forum growing steadily. He had raised his concerns more than once, but the final conclusion was always met with the retort: "They are making a single-player game, while we are making a massively multiplayer online game..."

He didn’t know why, but he felt he had less and less say in things. It seemed that whenever he voiced an opinion, someone would inevitably jump out to oppose him. Everyone appeared to be intoxicated by the traffic battle between their game, *Legend*, and the *War of Warcraft* game from Dadi Network. To them, the tens of thousands of downloads for *Desert Bicycle* were simply worthless.

However, *Legend* had a hidden danger: the use of cheats was becoming rampant. They had tried to crack down on them, but the results were minimal. And, of course, beyond the cheats, there were private servers.

He didn't know what the senior management was doing lately. The relationships between the various departments were becoming increasingly strained, especially his own Human Resources department. Back when they first started the company, the HR department had been autonomous, but now it seemed anyone could interfere. As for the group of people who had joined recently, he didn't know why, but while they were polite to him on the first day, after a while, they all seemed to start isolating him.

President Liu sat high above in his position, neither discouraging nor speaking, just watching from the sidelines like someone waiting for tigers to fight on a mountain.

Internal friction was consuming them. Externally, Dadi Company and Shengteng Technology were coming on strong, and other newly established companies were joining the fray, all hoping to get a piece of the pie. Although *Legend* remained the undisputed king of the Chinese gaming scene, the top dog in the imperial city, Shen Yi could already see the brewing crisis.

But what could he do now? Sitting in his office, facing the rising morning sun, Shen Yi sighed deeply.

Not long after, he heard a commotion from the Marketing Department. He subconsciously left his office. When he reached the department, he saw a young woman sitting in the seat of the deputy manager of marketing, surrounded by applause.

Had President Liu’s daughter taken a position? The heads of the Marketing, Technical, and Finance departments were all present. Even Liu Yun from HR was there. Had no one bothered to inform him about the appointment of the President's daughter?

Shen Yi instinctively looked over at Liu Yun. She now carried herself like the head of the HR department. At that moment, Shen Yi didn't know what had gone wrong. It felt as if, without realizing it, he had been isolated.

He returned to his office, feeling a strange sense of chill. In the past, as one of the founding shareholders, he would play golf with President Liu every week and vent about work. Back then, everyone seemed quite harmonious. But ever since *Legend* became a hit, something about the company had started to feel wrong. A sense of alienation had grown between him and President Liu for no reason.

Not only with President Liu, but other shareholders also began to distance themselves from him. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? After a long silence, he finally stood up. Amidst the noise, he knocked on President Liu’s office door.

"President Liu..."

"Oh, it's Old Shen. Come in. What's wrong? You look like you're constipated."

"..."

Shen Yi looked at President Liu, Liu Chongshan. He was still as energetic and smiling as he had been in the beginning. Yet, for some reason, there was an inexplicable sense of distance.

"President Liu, I feel like something has changed..."

"What has changed? You're overthinking it. By the way, the Technical Department called me last night, but I gave them a lecture..."

"What did they say?"

"Old Shen, every department has its own responsibilities. The Technical Department handles technology, HR handles personnel. They hope you won't boss them around... Ha."

"President Liu, I think their actions against cheats and private servers are far too passive. They have the technology, so why are they acting so lethargic all day? A company cannot function with this kind of internal strife..."

"Alright, alright, Old Shen. I know, calm down. Besides, don't the young people have their own ideas? Maybe their approach isn't perfect, but I'll talk to them later. Plus, this game of ours is licensed from a Korean company; there are many things we have to discuss with them..."

"President Liu, have there been any results from discussing this with the Korean side?"

"Their attitude is rather passive... Sigh..."

"If their attitude is passive, can't we think of other ways? I think we can sit down and talk about many things. Also, I strongly object to the pay-to-win model that *Legend* is about to roll out. A payment model is fine, but if you prioritize profit blindly, it will severely affect the game's balance and we will lose even more players!"

...

Half an hour later, Shen Yi walked out of the President's office with a look of helplessness. During their conversation, there were no substantive conflicts. He kept offering suggestions, and Liu Chongshan listened very carefully, smiling just as he always had, occasionally interjecting with a few words. However, it seemed he hadn't heard any decision that would lead to meaningful change.

Years ago, he thought Liu Chongshan was an ambitious man full of vision who would usher in a new era for Chinese gaming. Now, he suddenly realized that Liu Chongshan had gradually turned into a capitalist who only cared about cashing in.

He sighed deeply and returned to his office. What had happened to everyone? Seeing that the number of members in the "Crazy Beat the Alpaca" forum had increased again, he lowered his head.

"Zhang Yang is working hard to cater to players and find breakthroughs..."

"And you..."

"You treat players like nothing more than leeks to be harvested?"

...

Compared to the helpless worry of Shen Yi at Muma Technology, the staff at Universe Technology were experiencing their moment in the spotlight. Everyone was dressed in suits, sitting in front of their computers, striving with high morale.

At the entrance stood rows of brand-new electric scooters, each sporting the "Universe Technology" logo. Of course, they hadn't installed the horns yet. Zhang Yang was chewing gum, watching as various textures were created and turned into game scenes.

"President Zhang... is it really okay to draw like this? It feels like the art style is a bit distorted..."

"It's fine, what could possibly be wrong with it?"

"But this..."

"Just draw it like that!"

Zhao Hang, who was in charge of the textures, swallowed hard as he looked at the unbearable, hand-drawn images. Then he let out a long breath. Looking at the shops for electric scooters and suits... he finally understood why President Zhang had been giving them such great benefits.

It turned out that everything was at the cost of product placement!

"Are we really going to draw in so many advertisements?"

"Draw! Draw with all your might. It's great this way. Just copy the drawings; you don't even need to think. See how convenient it is?" Zhang Yang said quite seriously.

"President Zhang, I..."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, Old Zhao, how long will it take your team to finish this?"

"The workload is quite heavy. A week? If we outsource it, maybe a bit faster..."

"That's not enough. As fast as possible. I want the entire game finished in a week!"

"What? That’s not possible, we don't have enough manpower. Even if we started hiring now, it would be too late, right?"

"Is manpower really the problem?"

Zhao Hang didn't speak, just stared at Zhang Yang. *Isn't that obvious? If there's no manpower, who's going to draw? The ghosts?*

Zhang Yang was silent for a moment, then rubbed his chin. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Our *Desert Bicycle* has a lot of players!"

"So?"

"Since the creative scripts for the game were provided by the players, why not let them help with the drawing, too? In any case, our game..."

...

"Work eight hours, no educational requirements. As long as you can draw, you can earn over ten thousand a month, a hundred thousand a year! Ordinary people can make money sitting at home!"

On the evening of June 29th, Li Zongnan, an internet cafe owner sipping tea, stared in bewilderment as dozens of ads flooded the *Desert Bicycle* and "Crazy Beat the Alpaca" forums simultaneously. At first, he thought the forums had been hacked or flooded by spambots, but when he looked closely, he wiped his eyes, completely stunned.

What the hell?

Is this an official ad posted by "Universe Technology"? What kind of crazy stunt is this President Zhang pulling now? Making money at home?