Chapter 25: Collecting Scripts

June 27th.

The lingering glow of the sunset drifted across the sky.

On the Qiandu Tieba¹ forum, the Desert Bicycle community had already surpassed fifty thousand followers.

Official game download figures had formally broken the forty thousand mark.

Although the download speed had noticeably slowed after the grand prizes were distributed, and several similar pirated games had begun to appear on the market, the attention surrounding Desert Bicycle remained incredibly resilient.

Furthermore, within the latest rankings for single-player games in all of Huaxia, Desert Bicycle had successfully fought its way into the top twenty, and it seemed to be climbing even higher.

Shen Yi stared at the download numbers.

He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Their project might not compare to the large-scale single-player games developed by major corporations, but he felt they were like wild grass, stubbornly surviving against the wind and rain in the middle of a desert.

Up until now…

All of these achievements were the result of their team’s marketing.

Or rather, it was all thanks to Zhang Yang, that young man who was constantly chewing gum.

A talent like that had to be taken seriously. If he became a competitor to their company in the future, the consequences would be endless!

“President Liu, even if our company doesn’t have an open position, I still believe we should recruit them!”

“Even if we hire them just to let them rot, we cannot allow them to become our rivals!”

“Right now, they are still weak…”

“And what if their next game becomes a massive hit?”

“If there’s no position, we can create one for them. At most, we give them a high salary for a year. Within a year, I believe internal conflicts will cause them to collapse…”

“They’re just a bunch of kids, after all. They can’t stay a solid, unbreakable unit forever!”

“…”

“…”

Two hours ago.

Shen Yi had called President Liu.

On the phone, President Liu had sounded very serious, saying he would treat the matter with caution and had even consulted several departments about it.

However, a few hours later, when Chi Rui from the development department and Sun Ying from marketing left the office, Shen Yi felt a premonition of disaster.

“Director Shen, I think we should focus on Shengteng Network, on the network side of things…”

“Our company needs to reduce internal friction and focus all our energy on what’s coming next.”

“You haven’t been involved in game development, so you surely don’t understand that bringing a game from development to market is not something a bunch of kids can pull off. If even the slightest thing goes wrong, the entire project could face bankruptcy…”

“Director Shen, are you getting more timid as you get older? Are you actually afraid of a few kids who just started out?”

“…”

As they brushed past him, Shen Yi heard bursts of mocking laughter.

In their eyes, that group of youths didn’t even qualify as competitors, let alone a threat.

Mumaen Technology had already reached a certain height. Once you reached that height, you should act accordingly, rather than wasting energy on trivial matters, right?

When Shen Yi heard this…

He was suddenly overcome by an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

The sun was setting in the west.

Shen Yi lit a cigarette and took a drag.

As the company grew larger and moved toward going public, it felt less and less like the company it had once been. It seemed to have lost the vigilance it once possessed.

He didn’t know if it was just an illusion…

But he felt his own authority was constantly shrinking.

The entire company was like a carriage, racing frantically toward a destination he could no longer control.

Yes.

That was exactly how he felt.

He remained silent for a long time, ultimately deciding not to call Zhang Yang or the others.

“Perhaps this is already a foregone conclusion. I just hope the new management will be a bit more cautious when they take over.”

“…”

While he was lost in his thoughts, his phone received another message.

Liu Yun from the HR department had been officially appointed as the HR Vice Manager today.

His expression changed slightly.

Why had he known absolutely nothing about this beforehand?

……………………….

“What the hell is wrong with this game?”

“Why is it that when we use this cheat, we don’t even start running before it tells us we’re ‘too awesome’ and just wipes all our data and points to make us start over?”

“But when we use that other cheat, the game stays perfectly stable until the end?”

“This is some serious double-standard bullshit!”

“…”

Inside the Eagle Cheat Studio.

Several young men were staring intently at the Desert Bicycle cheat they had been developing for days.

Everyone was speechless!

They had originally wanted to create a cheat for Desert Bicycle to make some quick cash.

But…

Not only had someone else beaten them to the punch with a cheat they’d worked so hard on, but their own software kept running into various issues mid-game, making the experience completely unplayable!

What the hell!

What was the meaning of this?

……………………….

Once the review for Beat the Grass Mud Horse was approved, the anxiety Zhang Yang had been feeling finally subsided.

In this world, many things were a bit more relaxed.

Or perhaps things were just more relaxed in 2005?

Aside from not being allowed to use actual profanity, a bit of parody and spoofing was generally allowed to pass, as long as parents didn’t report it.

In the office.

Zhang Yang set the approval report aside and began to seriously look at the money he had earned.

Desert Bicycle was still making money for him.

In just a few days, he had earned nearly twenty thousand more.

Of course.

Part of it came from the game itself, but the other part came from…

The cheat software!

Yes!

Although the price for the Desert Bicycle cheat was relatively high at ten yuan per download…

The number of people downloading it was enormous.

In just a few short days, the download count had broken one thousand.

It was 2005.

While game cheats could be cracked down upon, many people still chose to develop them driven by profit.

And they were truly becoming more rampant. Zhang Yang took a quick look online and found at least five or six games similar to Desert Bicycle…

The future gaming environment might improve eventually, but for now, it was what it was. Ever since Legend became a massive hit, cheats had been everywhere!

Mumaen Technology had spent six months banning them, only for more to pop up in their place.

At this point, it was better to manage the flow than to try and dam it up.

Instead of letting other cheat developers reap the rewards, he might as well strike first and quietly pocket all that money himself!

He would make his cheat more polished and stable than anything else on the market, leaving the other Desert Bicycle cheats with nowhere to turn.

Hmm…

Of course, cheats wouldn’t be allowed in competitive play, and their data wouldn’t be recorded on the leaderboards.

In a way, it wouldn’t ruin the experience for regular players; it would be more like a private server.

Hmm…

Once the time was right, he could simply shut the cheat down…

That was the general plan.

Night deepened.

Zhang Yang let out a yawn…

Then.

He checked the traffic for the “New Game Script Collection Contest” on Universe Technology’s official website and the follower count for the newly created Beat the Grass Mud Horse Tieba.

Clicks on the game project had already surpassed three thousand.

As for the Tieba, it had gained over a thousand followers in just the two hours since its creation.

These were all good signs.

However, he couldn’t afford to be overly optimistic.

Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes and pulled out his phone…

“Hello, is this Master Chen?”

“Yes, it’s Zhang Yang. Master Chen, are you free right now? Could you come to our company for a meeting?”

“Right, the more taxi drivers, the better…”

“How about this? I’ll treat everyone to some barbecue.”

“You know some motorcycle taxi drivers too?”

“That’s even better!”

“…”

“Is this Boss Li from Xingxing Internet Cafe?”

“Haha, are you free today? By the way, do you have the contact information for any other internet cafe owners?”

“Haha, we’d like to discuss a potential collaboration with you all.”

“…”

“Is this Manager Liu from Chuangye Advertising?”

“Yes, the more ads, the better…”

“…”

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes