Chapter 105: Before the Invasion!

Yinlun Technology.

Song Chaoyang sat in silence, watching the Guichu^[1] videos of “Jinkela” and the announcement from Universe Technology that “Plants vs. Zombies” had already surpassed 3.2 million downloads.

It had only been five days!

“Plants vs. Zombies” was already on the verge of overtaking the 3.5 million download figure of “Soul of Racing,” a game that had benefited from the massive traffic redirected from “War of Warcraft”…

And these numbers!

They were far more authentic than those of “Soul of Racing.”

His emotions were a tangled mess. He wanted to say something, but in the end, the words wouldn’t come.

In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies, schemes, and slanders seemed futile, like a pathetic joke.

He had originally thought that after the failure at TCA, combined with the domestic media war he had stirred up, Zhang Yang’s Universe Technology would go into a terminal downward spiral.

But…

So what if they failed at TCA?

Instead of being extinguished, Zhang Yang was like a wildfire catching a gale, burning brighter and more crazily by the second!

“Mr. Song, our game ‘Deadly Train’ was released today…”

“We sold a thousand copies on the first day…”

“The data… it doesn’t look very good.”

“…”

His assistant held a data report, looking at Song Chaoyang with a worried expression.

Seeing Song Chaoyang wave a dismissive hand, the assistant tactfully left the office.

Everyone knew that 2005 was an era belonging to computers and games.

But…

Even in such an era, while some sang songs of triumph, others were destined for desolation.

Looking at the pathetic data for his own “Deadly Train,” then glancing at the first-day data for “Plants vs. Zombies,” which was a thousand times his own…

His spirits hit rock bottom. He felt a sense of the absurd.

He suddenly realized that he was nothing more than a small pebble on Zhang Yang’s road to success.

In fact, he wasn’t even significant enough to be a stumbling block.

He slumped into his chair, finally falling silent.

……………………

Noon, November 19th.

A light, steady rain fell over Yanjing.

Late autumn had arrived.

Walking along the roadside, one could see withered leaves falling, swept away by the rainwater.

As Song Qingqing passed by the men’s dormitories, she suddenly heard a chorus of screams erupting from the building.

The screams were laced with excitement and a palpable sense of agitation!

“The record’s broken!”

“It’s broken!”

“Our ‘Plants vs. Zombies’ broke the record!”

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“Our ‘Plants vs. Zombies’ has broken into the top five in the States!”

“Keep it up!”

“…”

Hearing the shouting, she instinctively stopped in her tracks.

Then, she saw a boy from one of the dorms sprint out of the building, draped in a “Universe Technology” team jacket like a battle robe.

Others watched him as if he were a fool, thinking the boy had lost his mind.

The boy was her classmate, Xie Yu.

Song Qingqing remembered that not long ago, he had bought a ticket to Japan and headed there with high spirits.

When he returned…

His mood had been visibly dejected.

In the days that followed, Song Qingqing often saw him running off-campus, hearing that he had personally gone to Universe Technology.

After coming back from there, his spirits had clearly soared.

Of course…

Because she had been busy lately, she hadn’t paid much attention to the TCA situation. She knew about her senior Zhang Yang’s circumstances and had even sent him a text message.

However…

Her senior hadn’t replied.

Until today…

Seeing this boy running like a madman in his “Universe Technology” robe, she realized her senior seemed to have broken another record.

He had broken the free download record of “Soul of Racing,” ushering in a new era for Huaxia’s single-player games.

She was sincerely happy for him.

Not far away…

Xie Yu continued to sprint through the campus in his “Universe Technology” robe.

Many people thought he looked like an idiot, perhaps even mentally ill.

Many students in the dorms even pointed at him with strange looks in their eyes.

But he didn’t care…

That night.

In Osaka, his heart had been broken.

After returning to Huaxia, he had felt even more despair.

The internet was a sea of nothing but abuse.

Such a brilliant game had been hounded until downloads were suspended…

What was wrong with the Huaxia gaming industry?

He felt as though he were witnessing the end of Huaxia games.

He knew that the people truly in despair were those at Universe Technology.

Strictly speaking, he was one of them. He had contributed art to “Beat the Grass Mud Horse” and had even received a certificate from Universe Technology…

He understood perfectly the agony of working hard, seeing hope, and then being struck down by a harsh reality!

He had made a banner and run to Universe Technology, and then…

Manager Wu Zhuang had personally handed him this “Universe Technology” robe.

On the robe…

Were the signatures of Zhang Yang and the rest of the staff.

“We let you down.”

“But from here on, it’s our era!”

“Please, bear witness!”

“…”

When he received the robe and saw the expression on Wu Zhuang’s face, he had been incredibly moved…

What followed was a wait that didn’t feel too long.

Shortly after…

“Plants vs. Zombies” was released!

He saw the dawn!

He saw “Plants vs. Zombies” achieve a staggering one million downloads in a single day, utterly crushing “Soul of Racing”!

He held it in!

He suppressed the excitement in his heart!

He heard that “Plants vs. Zombies” had been rated as a Semi-Masterpiece by UC Games abroad, and still, he held it in…

And then…

When he saw that within just five days, “Plants vs. Zombies” had completely surpassed “Soul of Racing” to truly set the download record for Huaxia single-player games—and more importantly, that it had climbed the US single-player download charts, dominating the rankings…

He could finally hold it in no longer!

Under the shocked gazes of his roommates, he threw on his robe and charged out of the dorm like a madman.

“However, the era that follows belongs to us!”

“Please, bear witness!”

“…”

Standing on the sports field, Wu Zhuang’s words echoed in his head.

He had run until his last ounce of strength was spent, finally stopping to gasp for air.

The era of domestic games was coming!

…………………

“It broke! It broke!”

“The record has been shattered!”

“A new record has been set! Not only did it break the record for single-player games in Huaxia, but it also set the record for export sales of Huaxia games!”

“Eight hundred thousand paid downloads in five days… these numbers are staggering!”

“…”

Across the internet, countless players were seeing one news headline after another from the gaming world.

“Congratulations to Plants vs. Zombies for breaking into the top five of the US single-player game download charts for November. This is the only Huaxia-made single-player game to ever appear on the list, and it has set a new historical sales record for Huaxia single-player games!”

“The American version of Beat the Grass Mud Horse will launch on the UC homepage at 8:00 AM on the 20th…”

“The American version of God of Conquest will launch on the UC homepage at 2:00 PM on the same day, the 20th…”

“…”

The defeat at the TCA earlier this month had caused many players to briefly lose heart.

They had once felt that Huaxia games were a lost cause, that there was no longer any hope of breaking into the international market.

But the emergence of Plants vs. Zombies had reignited the flames of hope deep within their disappointed hearts.

They watched as Plants vs. Zombies set a brand-new record for Huaxia.

Before they even had time to finish celebrating, they saw the game break into the top five in the United States…

And then…

The export of several other games from Universe Technology caused those flames of hope to burn even brighter.

Netizens flooded the official Universe Technology Tieba with congratulations and well-wishes, at one point crashing the forums entirely from the sheer volume of traffic.

They were ecstatic, as if they were witnessing the dawn of a brand-new era.

Rising like the morning sun.

…………………

Dadi Technology.

As Ding Ziguang watched the data for Plants vs. Zombies suppress Soul of Racing, he didn’t feel any resentment. Instead, he let out a long sigh of relief.

The frantic data of Soul of Racing stood in stark contrast to its fake activity levels.

Rather than calling Soul of Racing a fig leaf to cover their shame, it was more like a pillar of disgrace, nailed firmly into the single-player gaming circle.

And nailed into his heart.

But now…

It was all over.

Plants vs. Zombies would create a new record of its own.

And this new record, along with Universe Technology, would be remembered in the history of Huaxia gaming.

Ding Ziguang looked out at the pitter-patter of the light rain against the window.

He often felt a sense of unreality living in this world.

“I wonder how Zhang Yang’s other games will sell once they’re listed in the US.”

Looking out the window, he murmured to himself.

…………….

Did you think…

That only the gaming world was cheering?

No!

There was also the digital tech circle.

The games were like a fire; while they ignited the gaming world, they also set a blaze in the already glowing digital tech industry.

The Phelps phones were selling like crazy!

From the beginning of November until the 19th, a crowd of young people gathered outside various mobile phone stores across Huaxia every single day.

Despite the manufacturers working desperate overtime to assemble the handsets…

The Phelps phone still fell into a state of constant stock shortages. The backlog of pre-orders piling up every day gave the mobile phone store owners massive headaches.

“This data…”

“It’s a bit staggering.”

“What exactly is the deal with this Huaxia phone?”

“How is it so…”

“…”

Nokia Huaxia Headquarters.

Elbers, the head of operations from Finland, stared in shock at the mobile phone sales figures for November.

He found it hard to believe.

In November, Nokia’s sales were thirty thousand units.

But the Phelps phone, this Huaxia-made device, had reached sales of twelve thousand units!

While it hadn’t surpassed Nokia’s volume yet, it gave Nokia a distinct sense of crisis.

A more powerful camera, more robust gaming features, and a price point lower than Nokia’s—for many young people, what would they choose?

Did he even need to ask?

It would definitely be the Phelps!

What was going on with this game’s operating system…

Elbers opened a Phelps phone and fell into a long daze.

While the system had flaws in his eyes, it wasn’t backward. On the contrary, it was already keeping pace with Nokia’s phones, showing a faint trend toward developing into a smartphone!

Their company could easily find out that Phelps was a domestic Huaxia brand, but what about the consumers?

The name was simply too deceptive.

After staring at the sales reports for a long time, Elbers finally decided to report everything to the headquarters in Finland, hoping they would implement a series of measures targeting the Huaxia market.

The headquarters responded quickly.

They took this Phelps phone very seriously.

They immediately announced they would create another smartphone specifically for young people.

However…

In terms of pricing, they couldn’t possibly reach a price like 998 yuan.

Features like the camera weren’t difficult for Nokia; it was just a matter of making small adjustments and upgrades. The difficulty was the price!

When the headquarters saw that 998 price tag, they were momentarily speechless.

Once that price hit the market…

Even Nokia couldn’t withstand it.

If they entered a price war, what would happen to their high-end models?

The various configurations of this Phelps phone were just as good as their high-end models!

Ultimately, after repeated meetings and research, the headquarters’ response to Elbers was a price point of approximately 3,800 yuan.

When Elbers saw that price, he didn’t know what to say for a moment.

The Nokia brand itself was deeply rooted, but still…

With so many loyal customers, a price tag of 3,800 yuan shouldn’t have been an issue in theory…

But!

Why was there a faint, lingering sense of unease?

At Apple headquarters.

Joe Roy began to take things seriously the moment he saw the sudden rise of the Phelps Phone.

This was a system that originated in the United States, yet had been taken over and bought out by the people of Huaxia.

Although the current scale of the Phelps Phone wasn’t particularly large—more of an early display of sharp potential—it still gave him a subtle sense of crisis.

According to market analysis data, if the Phelps Phone were allowed to continue its rampage, it would undoubtedly seize a significant portion of the Huaxia market.

Once a brand concept became deeply rooted in the minds of consumers…

It would be difficult for Apple to enter the market later.

In terms of actual functionality, the Apple Phone didn’t even hold an advantage!

At this very moment…

The iPhone 3 team, which had originally planned to enter the Huaxia market in mid-2006, was locked in a heated debate.

They were arguing over whether to move their schedule forward or stay the course.

One side felt that since they targeted the high-end market and the Phelps Phone focused on the low-end, it didn’t really matter.

The other side, however, realized that the Phelps Phone’s features were incredibly powerful. It could potentially cannibalize their market share to such an extent that entering later would be nearly impossible.

The discussion was intense.

However!

While they were debating whether to enter the Huaxia market early…

Across the ocean in Huaxia, inside Zhang Yang’s office, they were discussing the American market!

“Our Phelps Phone must seize the US market!”

“We’ll launch it alongside those games…”

“We’ve already embedded suggestive mobile advertisements within those titles.”

“It doesn’t matter if Huaxia phones don’t have service centers for now, but I believe we need to get service centers up and running over in the States.”

“For the time being, we’ll only sell the Phelps Phone.”

“Even if we only sell ten or twenty phones, we’ll consider it a victory.”

“It doesn’t matter if we burn money to get them started!”

“We have plenty of cash right now! With sufficient funding and everyone starting from zero, let’s all be a bit more aggressive!”

“In the future, our goal is to kick Novia to the curb, topple Apple, and build a mobile gaming empire!”

“…”

Inside the office.

It was technically a meeting.

In reality, it was just Zhang Yang unilaterally brainwashing Tong Wei and the others.

Tong Wei stared blankly at Zhang Yang.

When he heard the part about being more aggressive, he froze for a moment.

They were already being this arrogant!

Was that really a good idea?

(End of Chapter)