Chapter 28: Ordinary People Can Make Money at Home Too!

June 29th.

On the penultimate day of June, Shen Yi felt stifled in his office.

He was particularly anxious after seeing the growing number of people on the “Beat the Grass Mud Horse” forum.

He had reported his concerns more than once.

But in the end, the response he received was always something like, “They’re making a single-player game, while we’re making an online game…”

He didn’t know why.

His voice in the company was carrying less and less weight.

It seemed that whenever he offered an opinion, someone would always jump out to oppose him.

Everyone seemed intoxicated by the traffic battle between Legend and Dadi Network’s War of Warcraft.

To them, the tens of thousands of downloads for Desert Bicycle were simply not worth their attention.

However…

The game Legend had a hidden danger.

Cheating programs were starting to spread like a plague!

They had tried to crack down on them, but the results were ultimately negligible.

And of course, besides the hacks, there were the Private Servers…

He didn’t know what the higher-ups were doing. The relationships between the various departments were becoming increasingly strained. This was especially true for his HR department. Back when they first started the business, he could manage HR himself, but now it seemed like anyone could stick their hand in. Furthermore, the new batch of employees who had just joined were polite to him on their first day, but after a while, they all seemed to start isolating him.

As for President Liu, he sat high above it all. He neither intervened nor spoke, simply watching everything unfold with the air of someone sitting on a mountain to watch the tigers fight¹.

Internal friction was consuming them from within.

Externally, Dadi Company and Shengteng Technology were coming at them with aggressive momentum.

Other newly established companies were also joining the fray, unwilling to be left behind, hoping to claim a piece of the pie.

Although Legend was still the undisputed hegemon of the Huaxia gaming world, the top dog in the imperial city, Shen Yi could already see a full-blown crisis on the horizon.

But…

What could he do now?

Facing the rising morning sun, Shen Yi sat in his office and let out a long, heavy sigh.

Not long after…

Shen Yi heard a commotion coming from the Marketing Department.

He instinctively left his office.

When he reached the open workspace, he saw a young woman sitting in the seat of the Marketing Department’s Assistant Manager amidst a round of thunderous applause.

Had President Liu’s daughter just started her job?

The heads of Marketing, Tech, and Finance were all present.

Even Liu Yun from HR was there.

No one had even notified him that President Liu’s daughter was starting today?

Shen Yi instinctively looked toward Liu Yun on the other side.

At this moment, Liu Yun looked exactly like the person in charge of the HR department.

In that instant…

Shen Yi didn’t even know what had happened.

It felt as if, without him even realizing it, he had been completely isolated.

He returned to his office, feeling a strange sense of chilling betrayal.

In the past, as one of the founding shareholders, he would play golf with President Liu every week and vent about work frustrations.

Back then, everyone seemed to be in harmony.

But…

Ever since Legend became a hit, this company had started to feel more and more off.

A sense of distance had grown between him and President Liu for no apparent reason.

Not only was there a distance between him and President Liu, but the other shareholders had also begun to distance themselves from him for some reason.

He hadn’t made any mistakes, had he?

He remained silent for a long time before finally standing up.

Amidst the ongoing noise outside, he knocked on the door to President Liu’s office.

“President Liu…”

“Oh, it’s Old Shen. Come in, come in. What’s wrong? You look like you’re constipated.”

“…”

Shen Yi looked at President Liu, Liu Zhongshan.

He was just as energetic and full of smiles as he had been at the start.

Yet, for some reason…

There was an inexplicable sense of detachment.

“President Liu, I feel like… something has changed.”

“What’s changed? You’re overthinking things. Oh, right… the Technical Department called me last night, but I gave them a piece of my mind.”

“What did they say?”

“Old Shen, every department has its own responsibilities. Tech handles tech, and HR handles HR. They hope you won’t go around meddling in their business… Ha.”

“President Liu, I think their efforts against hacks and Private Servers are far too passive. They clearly have the technical skill, but what are they doing all day? They look completely listless. A company can’t survive this kind of internal infighting…”

“Alright, alright, Old Shen. I know. Calm down. Don’t young people have their own way of thinking? Maybe their approach isn’t quite right. I’ll talk to them later. Besides, we’re just agents² for a Korean game. For many things, we have to consult with the Korean side.”

“President Liu, has there been any result from consulting with the Koreans?”

“Their attitude is quite passive… Sigh.”

“If their attitude is passive, can’t we think of something ourselves? I think there are many things we can sit down and discuss. Also, I firmly oppose the pay-to-win model that Legend is about to introduce. There’s nothing wrong with a monetization model, but if you focus solely on squeezing money out of people, it will seriously impact game balance. We’ll lose even more players!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Half an hour later, Shen Yi walked out of President Liu’s office.

His expression, however, was one of utter exhaustion.

During their conversation, there had been no substantive conflict.

He had been offering suggestions, and Liu Zhongshan had listened intently.

He had been smiling, just like always.

He would even chime in with a few words occasionally.

But…

Shen Yi hadn’t heard a single decision that would lead to any meaningful change.

Years ago, he had felt that President Liu, Liu Zhongshan, was an ambitious man full of aspirations who would usher in a new era for Huaxia’s gaming industry.

But now…

He suddenly realized that Liu Zhongshan had gradually turned into a capitalist who only cared about raking in money.

He let out a faint sigh and finally returned to his own office.

What was happening to everyone?

When he saw that the number of people on the “Beat the Grass Mud Horse” forum had increased significantly again, he lowered his head.

“Zhang Yang is over there working hard to cater to the players, searching for a breakthrough…”

“But you guys…”

“You’re treating the players like sheep to be sheared³?”

“…”

……………………….

In contrast to the helpless worry of Shen Yi at Mumaen Technology, the staff at Universe Technology were entering their finest hour.

Everyone was dressed in formal suits and leather shoes, sitting before their computers and working with high morale.

Parked by the entrance were rows of brand-new electric bikes, each bearing the Universe Technology logo…

Of course, they didn’t have horns installed yet.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yang was chewing gum, watching as various textures were being churned out and turned into game scenes!

“President Zhang… is it really okay if we draw them like this? The art style feels a bit… distorted…”

“It’s fine! What’s the problem?”

“But this…”

“Just draw it like that!”

Zhao Hang, who was in charge of the textures, looked at the series of handmade drawings that were hard to even look at and swallowed hard.

Then, he took a deep breath.

He looked at the shopfronts for the electric bike store and the suit shop…

In fact, once he saw these storefront photos, he finally understood why President Zhang had given them those “benefits.”

It turned out…

It was all for the sake of product placement!

“Are we really going to put this many embedded ads into the drawings?”

“Draw them! Put your back into it. This is great, just draw what you see. You don’t even have to use your brain. See how convenient it is?” Zhang Yang said earnestly.

“President Zhang, I…”

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, Old Zhao, how long will it take your group to get this ready?”

“The workload is quite large. A week? If we outsource it, it might be faster…”

“Not fast enough. The faster the better. I want the entire game finished in one week!”

“Huh? But we don’t have enough manpower. Even if we hire people now, it’ll probably be too late, right?”

“Is manpower really an issue?”

“…” Zhao Hang didn’t say anything, he just glanced at Zhang Yang.

Wasn’t that obvious?

If there’s no manpower, who’s going to do the drawing?

Are ghosts going to draw it?

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

“Our Desert Bicycle has a lot of players, doesn’t it?”

“So?”

“The creative scripts for those game scenarios were provided by the players, so why not just let the players help with the drawing too? Anyway, this game of ours…”

“???”

…………………………

“Work eight hours a day, 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 from the comfort of their own homes!”

On the evening of June 29th.

Li Zongnan, the internet cafe owner, was drinking tea when he stared in bewilderment as dozens of ads began spamming the Desert Bicycle and Beat the Grass Mud Horse forums simultaneously…

At first, he thought the forums had been infected by a virus or hit by a bot farm⁴.

But when he looked closer!

He rubbed his eyes, completely stunned!

What on earth?

This was an official advertisement posted by Universe Technology?

What kind of stunt was President Zhang pulling now?

Making money from home?

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes