Chapter 66: A New Storm Has Arisen!

Chapter 66: A New Storm Has Arrived!

August 5th.
Saturday.

A series of short queues formed outside music and audio-visual stores of all sizes.
Countless people were waiting for the release of Zhou Yang's new album, *Common Jasmine Orange*.

In the early hours of the morning...
The music stores had already hung up promotional posters early on.
On them were written: "Zhou Yang's new album, *Common Jasmine Orange*, makes a breathtaking debut!"

On the promotional poster, one side of Zhou Yang's face was illuminated by sunlight, while the other half remained in shadow. Set against the orange-red hues of the setting dusk, he looked exceptionally cool, evoking the image of a knight walking between the realms of darkness and light.

A year ago!
Zhou Yang released a new album that detonated a large portion of the Mandopop music scene.
This shocked Zhou Yang's back-end company, and even the management of Star Sky Entertainment!

They had never imagined that such quirky, fast-paced music that people couldn't even quite understand at first listen could sell so many copies, and even briefly become a massive trend!
They keenly realized that an era of trends belonging to the younger generation was about to begin!

During the subsequent lull, countless young, handsome, and talented idols were packaged by them in the exact same way, achieving massive sales figures. For a time, it was hailed as the beginning of an era where immortals fought among gods!

However, regardless of ringtone download counts, album sales, or even pirated sales, not a single idol singer had ever reached the heights achieved by Zhou Yang's *Storm*...

A year later...
Many of his songs were still being sung across school campuses!
His posters were still generating profits for countless small street vendors!

..............................

Saturday.
Everyone at Universe Technology was hard at work.
Zhang Yang, however, gave himself a rare day off.

Equipped with an MP3 player, wearing earphones and a hoodie, he took a walk down the streets.
Looking at everything in this world, and even observing the young people walking on the streets, he was truly overcome with a profound sense of nostalgia.

Many trendy youngsters already had marquee flashing-light speakers attached to their mobile phones.
The speakers blasted songs downloaded from the internet stored on memory cards.

He looked at the music stores along the street...
He gazed at the MP3 and MP4 players displayed in the shop windows...
These were the absolute trendiest gadgets!

Back then, he had been obsessed with such devices for a long time, dreaming of owning one.
Yet, he could never have imagined that in the future, these gadgets would be replaced in the blink of an eye.

What about that middle-aged man Tong Wei mentioned?
Why hasn't he come looking for me?
Could it be that he started his own business?

Zhang Yang hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
The trend of this era should be quite obvious by now; many sharp-witted individuals must have cracked the sales code of mobile phones long ago...

Zhang Yang didn't say anything further.

"It's here, it's here!"
"Zhou Yang's new song is here!"
"Oh God, it's finally here!"
"Wow... the boss is out, he's bringing them out!"
"Boss, give me an album!"
"Boss, I want a cassette tape!"
"..."

Bursts of excited voices erupted from the nearby music store.
Crowds of people swarmed into the music shop to purchase cassette tapes.

Zhang Yang walked closer to take a look.
He found that most of the cassette tapes in the store were pirated compilations of various singers' hit tracks...
However, upon seeing Zhou Yang's new album, Zhang Yang realized the store owner wasn't completely unscrupulous; the copies sold were basically genuine cassette tapes.

Ten yuan per copy...
Many fans were more than willing to buy them.

As for another singer's album released during the same period—Zhang Linjie's album—it was cast aside, looking utterly neglected and receiving almost zero attention.

That was the case with many singers: aside from a single lead track that was worth listening to, all the other songs on the album were mere filler garbage meant to pad out the tracklist for the fans.
Buying such an album always left one with the frustrating feeling of getting less than what was paid for.

Zhang Yang squeezed his way into the music store. Glancing over at the store's gaming section, he spotted numerous surprisingly decent standalone games on the market.
Even...
He stared in disbelief at a computer game with a yellow background placed prominently in the front row.

*"Universe Bicycle!"*

His eyes widened.
Even this thing had a pirated version?

"Boss, how much for this game?"
"Oh, this game? It's sold as a bundle, buy the album and get the game for free..."
"Is this game not selling well?"

"What do you mean it's not selling well? This is the previously viral *Desert Bicycle*! Haven't you heard of *Desert Bicycle*? That moneymaking game..."
"Can games still make money these days?"
"Why are you asking so much... Hey, you over there, don't touch the albums, pay first before taking the cassette!"
"..."

Seeing the store owner's constipated and gloomy expression, Zhang Yang knew instantly that the pirated *Desert Bicycle* wasn't making any money, and hardly anyone was buying it.
Damnit, it was practically gathering dust sitting right here!

Come to think of it, it made sense. *Desert Bicycle* had managed to go viral basically by relying on gimmicks like making money by recruiting others. Once played for a long time, the core gameplay was actually extremely boring. Stripped of the incentive to make money, who would still want this game?

After wandering around the music store for a bit,
just as Zhang Yang was preparing to check out other places, he suddenly received a call from Tong Wei.

"President Zhang, we've arrived in Beijing. Where are you?"
"On the street. What's up?"
"There's something—something very important!"
"Oh?"

Over the phone, Tong Wei's voice sounded extremely agitated.
He sounded like he had taken a stimulant, so excited that one could even hear him panting between words.

..............................

"The sparrows outside the window are chattering on the telephone poles
You say this line has such a strong summer vibe..."

I don't know when it started.
Right beside Chen Weiwei's office, this melody began playing on an endless single-track loop.
Over and over again.

Chen Weiwei walked downstairs.
On her ride back at noon, the driver's car stereo was also playing the melody of *Common Jasmine Orange*...
The driver was completely entranced by the music.
He kept humming along, fortunately without swaying his body with the rhythm as well.

After getting out of the car...
Major shopping malls were likewise playing the song on an endless loop.
Over and over again.

Sparrows, telephone poles, outside the window...
Accompanied by the soft, gentle melody, Chen Weiwei suddenly felt as though she had been transported back to that summer many years ago—the era right after the college entrance examinations, when she was full of longing for the future.

Of course, aside from that, she felt a lingering sense of daze throughout her body.
To this day, she was still in a state of sheer disbelief.
Such a wonderfully melodic song had actually been written by Zhang Yang.

What she found even more unbelievable was that there seemed to be many more songs just like this one written on Zhang Yang's A4 paper.

Upon returning home...
She quietly lay on her bed, listening to the music.
Listening and listening, she found herself growing somewhat drowsy.
Exhausted, she drifted off to sleep to the accompaniment of the music. In her dream, she seemed to have returned to that summer from years ago...
Although there was no first love...
Neither was there such overwhelming exhaustion, nor those sleepless nights tossing and turning, nor so much pressure, nor, at the same time, such a frantic, busy work schedule.

In a daze, she had a very, very long dream...
When she woke up.
She found that the sun was already setting, bathing everything in evening glow.
She felt wonderfully refreshed.
Her mental state was better than ever before!

Her phone had been bombed with missed calls, but she remained completely oblivious...
In her life...
Opening her window, she gazed at the sky filled with sunset clouds.
When she opened her computer next...
She discovered that the sales figures for her computer in China were rising once again.

Upon seeing the sales numbers for the game *God of Walkthrough*, her eyes widened in direct shock!

................................

Taiwan.
The sunset glow across the sky illuminated the window.
Li Ziwen clenched her fists, watching the skyrocketing album sales, her hands trembling uncontrollably with excitement!
She felt as though her heart and the blood in her veins were about to burst!

Yes!
Even someone like her could not escape being shocked by the data, and thus deeply stimulated!

Last year...
The total album sales for *Storm* reached 700,000 copies!
It created a peak for Zhou Yang's solo album sales!
And sparked a massive storm!

She had originally thought that was the peak.
In fact, she had already mentally prepared herself for a slight decline in album sales this time around!

Yet, she never expected that this was merely the beginning...
In less than a single day!
The total album sales across China had already reached a terrifying 70,000 copies!
That was a bit more than five times the first-day sales of *Storm*!

Insane!
It was absolute madness!
She would never have dreamed that *Common Jasmine Orange* would perform with such fierce momentum!

Zhou Yang beside her was equally excited.
After double-checking repeatedly for a long time, he finally confirmed that these figures were real!

Shortly after...
He received a call from the marketing department!

"Brother Zhou!"
"According to our survey, out of every two customers walking into music stores in Taiwan, one is buying our *Common Jasmine Orange*! Furthermore, their enthusiasm is so high that many music stores have already run out of stock..."
"..."

This was an unprecedented spectacle that Star Sky Company had ever witnessed!
The entire Star Sky Company seemed to be cheering!

After finishing the call, Zhou Yang took a deep breath and looked at Sister Li.
"Sister Li, what height do you predict our album sales will reach this time?"
"Don't be impatient just yet. Let's observe for another two days. If the album's upward trajectory doesn't drop off significantly over the next two days, then we can make a prediction. This time, the data is so terrifying it even feels unreal to me!"
"Alright!"
"..."

Before they could finish chatting, a knock sounded on their office door.
Shortly after...
The marketing director, the bespectacled, effeminate Zheng Chen, suppressed his excitement and walked in.

"Sister Li!"
"Director Zheng, what is it?"
"Didn't you mention before that Zhang Yang seemed to have other songs in his hands?"
"Yes, why?"
"Nothing much. Could you give me Zhang Yang's contact information? I'd like to talk to him!"
"Huh?"

..............................

"Holy shit!"
"Holy shit, tell me this isn't real!"
"This song *Common Jasmine Orange*, oh my god, was written by Zhang Yang?"
"Who is Zhang Yang?"
"You don't know who Zhang Yang is?!"
"What the fuck! I really don't know who Zhang Yang is!"
"The hottest educational game right now, do you know it?"
"Ah, I've heard of it..."
"That's the game produced by Zhang Yang's company!"
"Wait, is that the deadbeat who's been getting cursed out on the internet all this time?"
"Deadbeat my ass, he hasn't been one for ages. He only became a deadbeat for a reason—he was screwed over by his dad!"
"My god..."
"I'm going to check out that educational game right now!"
"..."

"Holy crap, the download count for this standalone game has already broken 300,000! Oh my god!"
"Breaking 300,000 in less than four days, even *Human Killing Machine* didn't manage to pull that off!"
"The download count for *Human Killing Machine* has only just surpassed 500,000 up to now!"
"Wait, why does the second-ranked *Island Gun God* at 200,000 downloads suddenly feel like a mere sidekick?"
"Could this game actually break the myth of standalone PC games?"
"Oh mother, there's a really good chance it will!"
"..."

"Brothers, Zhang Yang went on Zhejiang TV's *Today* program!"
"Brothers!"
"Holy shit, the music video for another song in *Common Jasmine Orange*, *Dream Chaser*, was made by Zhang Yang's Universe Technology. Everyone, come take a look..."
"Oh my god, it really is!"
"Good grief!"
"..."
"..."

Across the internet!
A terrifying storm was frantically taking shape, sweeping fiercely through China's entire music and gaming circles...
(End of this chapter)