Chapter 5: You Made King of Fighters?!

Calling it living lavishly was a bit of a stretch; really, he was just preparing to set up a studio.

If he wanted to develop a major game next, relying on just a single horse and a single spear would never cover such a massive workload, even with the system’s Super Game Engine.

Lone-wolf development was only an option when someone had zero resources and no money.

A game studio couldn’t do without three core talents: design, art, and programming.

Su Cheng gave Li Lei a call.

“Where are you? Come out for a late-night snack.”

Li Lei was Su Cheng’s roommate and best friend.

“For real?!”

Li Lei was an incredible coder who had even won an individual programming competition award, and the two of them were tight.

Bringing him on board was a solid choice.

Barbecue and beer.

A sauna session, followed by a 388-Yuan hydrotherapy spa.

Su Cheng thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

It was nothing like his past life.

Back then, any spare cash went straight into property developers’ pockets.

Or it went to the 4S dealership^[1].

Or else to teachers for his kid’s endless after-school classes.

Among his classmates, Su Cheng had never been particularly lavish with money, though he would occasionally treat people to a meal.

What was going on today?

Late-night food, a sauna, and now a spa session.

Li Lei was touched beyond words.

Still, he didn’t voice his surprise.

Li Lei figured that Su Cheng must have finally gotten paid for some programming contract work.

He often gave Su Cheng pointers on code and had secretly tossed outsourcing gigs Su Cheng’s way, so enjoying a little luxury was nothing he had to feel overly grateful for.

“Want to head upstairs for the night^[2] later?” Li Lei asked. “My treat.”

Spend the night upstairs?

Su Cheng pictured it for a second.

Better pass on that.

He had called Li Lei out for serious business.

“What are you being so timid for? How about we grab an esports hotel^[3] room and play some games instead?”

“There’s this King of Fighters game that’s blowing up lately. I played a couple of rounds and it’s pretty good.”

Finally, onto the real topic.

Su Cheng didn’t invite Li Lei to join him right away.

Li Lei was great in almost every way.

The only problem was that he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and loved to brag.

Of course, that couldn’t really be called a flaw, and they were still good buddies.

Dinner was two hundred Yuan, the bathhouse cost over a thousand, and Li Lei covered the esports hotel.

Check-in.

Settling into the room.

“Let me tell you, the cinematics in this game are insane. Let me teach you how to play first…”

“I’m actually decent at it. How about we just go head-to-head?”

“You think you’re better than me? Man, I’ve been pulling all-nighters on this for two days straight and already beat it on the highest difficulty. Alright, time to teach you a lesson today.”

“I’ll take the letters, you take the numbers.”

K.O!

After several rounds in a row, Su Cheng beat Li Lei so badly he was practically left searching the floor for his teeth.

As expected, Li Lei began making excuses.

“The game is great and all, but there’s no online multiplayer, and I suck at playing on the number keys.”

“Then switch to letters, and I’ll take the numbers.”

“That works…”

By now, Li Lei had realized that Su Cheng was genuinely skilled.

The gap between them wasn’t something switching between letters and numbers could bridge.

The outcome was completely predictable.

He was pummeled by Su Cheng all the same.

“No more, I’m done.”

“I’m off my game tonight. Let’s just sleep early; we’ve got Old Zhang’s class tomorrow.”

Li Lei refused to admit he was trash at the game, stubbornly insisting he was just tired and out of it.

“Hold on, why are you so damn good at this?” Li Lei asked, thoroughly dissatisfied.

“I’m not bragging, but…”

Su Cheng hesitated, wondering whether to tell him the truth about King of Fighters.

“I was involved in part of the development and all the testing for 《King of Fighters》, so I’m a bit better at it.”

Li Lei: ???

This guy!

Playing the pig to eat the tiger^[4] all along?!

No wonder he couldn’t beat Su Cheng. So that was waiting for him all along.

When it came to game testing, many people held misconceptions.

Most assumed that playing games during work hours and getting paid for it was a sweet gig.

In reality, it was quite the opposite.

Having to follow test procedures over and over, playing the same feature module to hunt for bugs or areas to improve, was actually agonizing.

Plenty of people jumped ship after landing testing roles at game companies.

“No wonder you were throwing money around like that today.”

“Spill it. How much of a cut did 《King of Fighters》 give you?”

Li Lei felt even more touched than before.

Su Cheng had practically traded his life away to earn this money!

It was just too grueling.

“How much can outsourcing pay? Just a few tiny shrimp.”

If he invited Li Lei outright, there was a high chance Li Lei would refuse.

For no other reason than Li Lei was simply too talented.

Take this, for example:

Their counselor, Old Zhang, strictly forbade his students from doing outsourcing work.

Except for Li Lei.

The guy was a brilliant programmer and naturally gifted, the kind of intuitive prodigy who picked up everything without a teacher.

So, Su Cheng had to get Li Lei interested on his own.

Su Cheng floated the idea of setting up a studio and developing 《King of Fighters 2》.

“Wait a second, 《King of Fighters 2》? As an outsource job?”

“Well… not really. We’d be handling the core parts.”

“Count me in!”

Li Lei agreed without a second thought.

Although he had no idea where Su Cheng had gotten the connection…

King of Fighters was making such massive waves on the internet right now.

If he took part in the core development of King of Fighters 2, wouldn’t he be able to brag that King of Fighters was made by him?

Who cared whether it was King of Fighters 1 or King of Fighters 2!

The gameplay was simple, with almost no technical difficulty to speak of.

If they followed the template of the first game, a few guys with a few rigs could churn it out in a single week.

With Li Lei on board, the two went to sleep early.

Tomorrow was Old Zhang’s class, and the man was notoriously strict. Nobody dared to be late.

…

Su Cheng sat groggily in the back row throughout Old Zhang’s lecture.

Never missed a single class.

Never listened to a single word.

His presence was purely for the sake of company.

Noon.

“Hey, Su Cheng! Want to grab lunch together?”

“Su Cheng, do you have class this afternoon? Want to hit the internet cafe? My treat.”

“Brother Cheng, playing King of Fighters tonight? Teach me how to play Iori Yagami, will you?”

A bunch of people soon swarmed into the classroom.

They weren’t even from his department; some were civil engineering majors, some programming, some art.

Su Cheng couldn’t really call them close friends.

But they weren’t strangers either; they could exchange a few words and had played in dorm gaming tournaments together.

Su Cheng was utterly bewildered.

How did all these people know he was amazing at King of Fighters?

Su Cheng glanced at Li Lei beside him, who had fallen asleep halfway through class.

Needless to say.

He was definitely the one who spread the word.

Su Cheng pulled out his phone and checked. Sure enough, Li Lei had posted on Moments^[5] in the middle of the night.

The caption read: [Playing King of Fighters with King of Fighters developer Little Su!]

Attached below were two photos of them at the esports hotel.

Su Cheng: ???

Li Lei’s coding ability was universally recognized as number one in the school.

Posting this was partly his way of showing off that he knew the [King of Fighters developer].

If students from civil engineering and art already knew he made King of Fighters,

Then there was no doubt.

The entire university probably knew by now, including Old Zhang!

Before Su Cheng could decline the invitations to play King of Fighters, the teaching assistant hurried over.

“Su Cheng, Teacher Zhang wants you in his office.”

He was done for.

Talk about right on cue.