Chapter 16: Grand Prize Promotion (Part 1)

Xingxing Internet Cafe.

On the internet cafe’s counter, a piece of paper was pasted, displaying a link and an Invitation Code for Desert Bicycle.

Below it was a poster.

The poster read: “Universe Technology Season 1, waiting for you to join!”

At the bottom of the poster, a young Black man in a suit showed off his pearly white teeth while making an inviting gesture, oozing international flair.

The boss, Li Zongnan, repeatedly instructed the network administrator, Xiao Wang, to tell every customer who came in to surf the web about it. If they were interested, they should download it immediately.

An opportunity like this wouldn’t come twice.

They needed to get as many people in as possible before the grand prize was handed out.

In fact…

Xiao Wang didn’t even need the boss’s reminders. He had already downloaded the game and was secretly playing it at home.

The truth was that over the past few days, the game had suddenly exploded in popularity. People talking about it could be heard everywhere.

Even many guys obsessed with slot machines and lotteries had eagerly scrambled to the internet cafe to start playing Desert Bicycle.

They often heard about so-and-so winning a prize, or a buddy nearby making enough for cigarette money after playing for just a bit. They even heard rumors of someone hitting a grand prize worth several thousand yuan.

A few thousand yuan might not seem like much ten years later, but at this time, it was a very handsome sum.

“How many downloads today?”

“Thirty so far today.”

“Oh, good.”

June 23rd.

Li Zongnan patrolled the internet cafe, asking about the download numbers. When he heard the number thirty, he nodded. Then he turned a corner, found a machine, and used his points to revive and continue playing.

A short while later…

He heard a commotion coming from a corner of the internet cafe!

Upon hearing the noise, he instinctively turned his head toward that corner.

He saw a crowd of people gathered there. Everyone had a crazed look in their eyes and excited expressions. Some even had flushed faces and clenched fists.

Many players who were playing Legend put down their current quests and crowded over there as well.

“So close!”

“Holy crap, Ge Shen is amazing! Just a bit more, a little faster!”

“He dodged it! He made it past the twentieth stage!”

“Revive, keep running… faster, a little faster!”

“Damn, a new record!”

“…”

Li Zongnan stood up.

He remembered that corner was where the legendary all-nighter, Ge Yumiao, usually sat.

He walked in that direction and squeezed through the crowd.

Then, he stared at the screen in shock!

He saw Ge Yumiao, the great Ge Shen, operating the controls on the screen. With an incredible sense of rhythm, he was accelerating his bicycle across the highway.

Dismounting, repairing, mounting, dodging sandstorms…

These actions were performed in one fluid motion!

Furthermore, the points displayed at the top were staggering!

He actually had over a million points!

He remembered that during this period, Ge Yumiao had been constantly inviting relatives and friends, using their accounts to play the game.

He had stayed in that corner, switching from one account to another. When he got tired, he would nap in his seat for a few hours, and once he woke up, he went right back to it.

A large jug of purified water had actually been completely drained in just a few days.

“You have earned 1.3 million points. Would you like to cash out, or sacrifice all points to enter the final stage?”

“As the first player to complete this side mission, a warm system tip: If you fail the final stage, you will lose everything…”

“Another warm tip: After you cash out this time, others will no longer be able to obtain the side mission cash-out rewards, though they can still compete for the ultimate grand prize!”

“Countdown: twenty seconds, nineteen seconds, eighteen seconds…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone watching grew tense.

If he didn’t click to cash out by the time the countdown ended, Desert Bicycle would automatically default to entering the final stage!

Currently, aside from Ge Yumiao, everyone else had reached the tenth stage at most and simply couldn’t go any higher.

And for the tenth stage, they didn’t even get rewards because the rewards had already been taken by the great Ge Shen.

One frustrating aspect of this game was that the first person to clear a level would get a hidden grand prize, while everyone else could only earn a few dozen points here and there. Moreover, with the slightest slip-up, you had to use those points to revive. Unless you were truly focused, it was impossible to clear it without mistakes, but people like that were few and far between.

“Cash out! That’s over ten thousand yuan! Cash out!”

“Yeah, cash out! There’s no way this game will let one account take all the mission rewards and the completion reward at the same time!”

“Right!”

“Quit while you’re ahead! That much money is enough to let you live like a king for a year!”

“Exactly! Ge Shen, listen to me!”

“…”

Many people around him were dazzled by the million points and began to offer their advice.

Ge Yumiao, however, seemed unable to hear them. He remained fixed on the screen, his eyes bloodshot and rimmed with dark circles.

As the countdown ticked away second by second, he hesitated for a long, long time before finally gritting his teeth!

“Let’s do it!”

“…”

He clicked to proceed. Then, under the shocked, confused, and speechless gazes of everyone present, he clicked the next step.

Everyone watched as the million points were instantly cleared. A sense of emptiness washed over them.

They wished they could have clicked the cash-out button for Ge Yumiao!

Even the cafe owner, Li Zongnan, was utterly speechless.

The moment he clicked to proceed.

The bicycle and the yellow sands reappeared on the screen. The difficulty of the rhythm controls had become extreme. The sandstorms raged endlessly, and the bicycle shook constantly, breaking down and needing repairs as if it could never be fully fixed. Furthermore, he had to constantly dodge spikes appearing from below.

Being even a second late meant losing!

Moreover, in the final stage, there were no revives, no room for error, and the rhythm couldn’t be broken for even a single second.

It was practically inhuman.

Ge Yumiao was drenched in sweat.

But his eyes never left the screen.

Inside the internet cafe…

More and more people were gathering as word spread.

The place was packed so tight that not a drop of water could trickle through¹.

“He’s about to clear it!”

“Holy shit, he’s actually going to clear it!”

“Damn, someone can actually beat this broken game!”

“This guy sacrificed all his points just to unlock the final stage!”

“Fuck, he’s that hardcore?”

“…”

Half an hour later!

The entire internet cafe erupted in a frenzy of wild shouting.

“Congratulations! You have cleared every stage!”

“Congratulations! You have won the Universe Technology Season 1 Grand Prize!”

“…”

When those words appeared on the screen, Ge Yumiao was drenched in sweat, looking like he had just crawled out of a pool.

He let out a long, deep breath.

He was incredibly excited.

The final stage was practically impossible for a human to beat. Just looking at it made people’s scalps tingle, yet Ge Yumiao had actually done it!

Immediately after…

A banner appeared across the entire Universe Technology official website.

“Congratulations to ‘I Am Number One’ for winning the Universe Technology Season 1 Grand Prize!”

“Congratulations!”

“…”

…………………………

Muren Studio.

“What’s going on with Zhao Song? He hasn’t shown his face in two days!”

“No idea. He’s been missing ever since he provided the cheat data…”

“Forget him then. Anyway, is the cheat up for sale yet? How are the sales?”

“Our cheat… it seems it doesn’t work anymore. They put out a patch. Apparently, if you use a cheat to clear the game, your points are wiped. And it says…”

“Says what?”

In the Muren Studio, a young man wearing glasses looked at a screenshot provided by someone else, utterly dazed.

Specifically, after reading those few words, he was completely stunned.

“You’re too damn good. points are useless to you now. Since you’re so amazing, you probably don’t care about the leaderboard either. Earth can no longer contain you². Go to outer space!”

“…”

Not long after, another young man pushed the door open and entered.

“Brother Sun, this is bad. It looks like another paid auxiliary software³ has appeared. This one is even better than ours. It seems their data is completely undetectable… Although they can’t win prizes, they can still make it onto the final leaderboard. How the hell did they do that?”

“What?”

…………………………..

Universe Technology.

After Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen put the auxiliary software online, they immediately ran to the office.

A few hours later…

Zhang Yang put on a suit. Excitedly, he grabbed a “30,000 Yuan” prize board and a trophy engraved with “Universe Technology Season 1”. He rented a camera and, along with Zhao Hang and Zhong Chongwen carrying megaphones, left the cramped little room.

They had obtained the winner’s consent.

Zhang Yang was going to act as a reporter to handle the follow-up interviews and promotional work.

…………………………..

Xingxing Internet Cafe.

From far away, everyone could hear the sound of gongs and drums⁴. The suona, in particular, blared loud and clear!

By the time everyone realized what was happening…

They saw several young men carrying megaphones, looking festive and full of joy as they rushed into the internet cafe.

“Congratulations, Great God Ge! Congratulations, congratulations!”

“…”

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes