Chapter 12: Lucky Wheel

The next day, once Su Cheng sobered up, he began working on getting the game listed for release.

Submission for review, uploading, pricing.

“What’s a suitable price?”

Su Cheng was in a bit of a dilemma.

He did not dare set the price too high, as that would only spawn a flood of pirated copies.

It was precisely for this reason that King of Fighters 1 had been priced at 9.9 Yuan.

Even at such a low price, a small number of pirated copies had already appeared online.

“Let’s make it a little cheaper than King of Fighters. The price for 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 will be… 9.8 Yuan.”

Su Cheng did not raise the price just because the game was an explosive hit.

Pricing was one of the essential elements behind the success of the King of Fighters series.

Rather than letting pirates profit, he would rather take a bigger bite himself.

Who didn’t have ten Yuan nowadays?

It couldn’t even buy a pack of cigarettes.

Some elementary schoolers got ten or twenty Yuan a day in pocket money.

Buying a dose of happiness for less than ten Yuan.

It was an absolute steal.

Priced at 9.8 Yuan, 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 officially went on sale on the Steam platform.

In just a single day.

Sales had already broken past a hundred thousand copies!

Over the past two days, King of Fighters 1 and King of Fighters 2 had brought Su Cheng nearly four hundred thousand Yuan in after-tax income.

With these two games backing him up, he didn’t have to worry about cash flow problems at all.

His honor points income, however, didn’t quite match the sales figures.

Su Cheng’s first reaction was that something had gone wrong with the system.

Thinking it over carefully, it seemed normal enough.

Not everyone who bought a game would actually play it.

Those who bought games without playing them, just leaving them to sit in their libraries for show, made up a fair proportion.

So there was nothing wrong with the system’s tally.

After a week of working overtime, Su Cheng had earned:

Nearly four hundred thousand Yuan in cash.

147 honor points.

“The Producer Store has refreshed.”

【Metal Slug Planning Collection Pack (151/150)】

【Metal Slug CG Promotional Video [Single Episode] (151/600)】

【Metal Slug Code Optimization Pack (151/400)】

“A CG promotional video costs 600 points?!”

“You might as well take my life.”

“This is way too expensive.”

Back when the beginner gift pack gave him a CG for free, Su Cheng hadn’t thought much of it.

Now that it wasn’t free and had been listed in the store, he realized just how pricey it was!

It was just like always using coupons to hail a cab for one or two Yuan, only for the price to suddenly jump to ten or twenty.

“Good thing I had four points left over after buying the resource pack last time, or I wouldn’t even be able to afford the planning pack.”

“Purchase planning pack.”

After purchasing the planning collection pack worth 150 honor points, Su Cheng was left with a pitiful single point.

He had hoped to save up to upgrade the game engine, but that would have to be put on hold for now.

Fortunately.

This planning package included all eight generations of Metal Slug, making it a high-value, worthwhile deal.

However, given current game content standards, releasing just a single installment meant players likely wouldn’t buy into it.

If he was going to make it, he would compile all eight generations into a single game and let players play to their hearts’ content.

While browsing through the system log, Su Cheng discovered that he had actually gained a chance at a lucky draw.

【Lucky Wheel】

【You currently have 1 draw attempt remaining. Would you like to spin?】

“Spin!”

As the wheel covered in question marks slowly spun, the pointer eventually stopped on the 【Daily Life】 category.

【Congratulations! You have obtained the item: Chin Gentsai’s sobriety pill】

Su Cheng: ??

A game item?

Su Cheng checked the item’s description and found that was indeed the case.

【Chin Gentsai’s Drunken Immortal Pill】

【Item Description: Due to the unique nature of Chin Gentsai’s martial arts training, he must drink alcohol frequently. His disciples with psychic powers secretly developed this wondrous Drunken Immortal sobriety pill – from the 《King of Fighters》 series】

【Upon consumption, physical damage to the body is reduced by 95%, and drunkenness is reduced by 25%】

【Single-use consumable daily life item, disappears after use】

【Duration of validity: 48 hours】

【Stored in the host’s personal inventory】

“Forming a game studio is definitely the right move. Otherwise, if I had to combine all eight generations into one on my own, who knows when I’d ever finish it.”

“Right now, it’s just me and Leizi.”

“The system didn’t provide art support this time, so I have to hire a few more artists.”

Su Cheng immediately registered on a recruitment app.

His job posting consisted of just one sentence: [We made King of Fighters 1 and King of Fighters 2. Looking for a few artists. Generous compensation, details negotiable in person.]

It showcased the studio’s strength while stating his hiring requirements.

Job seekers looking to slack off or fake their way through would basically drop the idea the moment they saw the words “King of Fighters.”

He chatted with applicants all the way into the afternoon.

Su Cheng identified several promising artists and scheduled all their interviews for tomorrow afternoon.

Why not today?

Today, Su Cheng wanted to hit the spa and check out with Li Lei what kind of scenery awaited on the upper floors of that bathhouse.

With the 【sobriety pill】 on hand, Su Cheng could get buzzed without ruining his body.

How could he not drink to his heart’s content?

Before Su Cheng could call Li Lei to make plans, Li Lei called him first.

“Wanna go to the bathhouse tonight?”

“Baths probably won’t work. Shi Xiaoqiang just contacted me, saying he’s treating us to KTV. Do you think we should go?”

An invitation from Shi Xiaoqiang?

That guy had just lost the Supernova departmental preliminaries. Why would he invite the two of them to KTV at a time like this?

“Why do I feel like he’s looking for revenge? Sounds like a Hongmen banquet^[1]!”

“Maybe the two of us shouldn’t go. I’ll call him back right now.”

Li Lei said with a touch of worry.

Revenge?

That was probably unlikely.

This was a society ruled by law.

Who would dare?

Besides, what kind of status did Shi Xiaoqiang have?

He was the eldest young master of Chaoren Network.

He would surely disdain resorting to such underhanded methods.

“It’s fine. Let’s head over. Just treat it as him picking up the tab for our fun.”

Su Cheng was a little curious about what medicine Shi Xiaoqiang was selling in that gourd of his^[2].

“Uh… alright, then. I’ll let him know.”

The two first met at the studio, then took a taxi to a KTV named [Furong Jinsha].

Once they arrived at the entrance.

Li Lei began getting cold feet again.

“Maybe we really shouldn’t go. Why am I feeling so creeped out?”

Li Lei usually seemed boisterous and loved to brag, but in truth, he was quite timid.

They weren’t in the same circle as Shi Xiaoqiang and rarely interacted with him.

To this day, neither Li Lei nor Su Cheng had ever spoken to Shi Xiaoqiang, nor were they on speaking terms with him.

Faced with the unknown, anyone would feel a touch of fear.

That was only natural.

“Don’t be scared. Just take your cues from me.”

The two arrived at Private Room 9999.

Purple neon lights served as the main illumination, tinting everyone’s faces in odd, strange shades.

There were six people inside the room.

Shi Xiaoqiang, Wang Yuting, Shen Manman, and two boys whose names Su Cheng couldn’t place, though he had seen them during the competition and knew they were part of Shi Xiaoqiang’s game development team.

Wang Yuting was singing 《Handwritten Past》^[3], her voice melodious.

Among them, a middle-aged man stood out prominently.

Everyone else was dressed fashionably, while he alone wore a suit and small, rectangular-framed glasses, looking thoroughly harmless.

Never seen him before.

He probably wasn’t Old Shi, either; Old Shi’s presence definitely wouldn’t be this weak, nor would he wear a suit to an occasion like this.

Several empty bottles were scattered across the coffee table; the group had clearly been drinking and singing for quite a while.

“Su Cheng, Li Lei, you’re here.”

An unfamiliar classmate smiled and came over to welcome them.

“Sit, sit, have a seat.”