Chapter 45: Zhang Yang’s “Freebie”

July 7th.

Morning.

The first thing Zhang Yang did upon waking up was check the download numbers for his two games.

The total downloads for Desert Bicycle had finally broken seventy thousand!

Unfortunately…

Its potential was exhausted.

Although it still gained downloads every day, the numbers were only increasing by dozens at a time.

Beat the Grass Mud Horse had surpassed a total of one hundred and thirty thousand downloads.

The growth rate was now very slow. Data from all sectors indicated that this game’s potential had essentially reached its limit.

Of course, this couldn’t compare to Shengteng Technology. Their game, Human Killing Machine, still held the top spot in total downloads and was currently sprinting toward the two hundred and thirty thousand mark.

They had set yet another record for single-player game downloads.

“Shengteng Technology is still impressive. As expected of a company backed by Q-Dog…”

Zhang Yang mused for a while, then took out his phone to check his company’s account balance.

One hundred and thirty thousand!

This figure gave him some sense of comfort.

However, he didn’t let himself get swept up in the joy of the numbers. Instead, he stared silently at the morning sun on the horizon.

It wasn’t enough.

Not nearly enough.

After a long moment, he stood up and looked at the sparse decorations in his room, falling into deep thought.

In truth, he was facing a problem.

It was the production of his next game.

The new game, while still a single-player title, couldn’t be a small-capacity game like Desert Bicycle or Beat the Grass Mud Horse.

The few people currently in the company wouldn’t be enough, no matter how hard they worked.

A romance game.

Actually, these had been on the market for a long time.

Their sales were usually quite decent.

One could never underestimate the power of the shut-in demographic.

To truly stand out, the game had to be more refined and offer a deeper sense of immersion.

In a sense, it was a game defined by visual and sensory settings. Players needed to see the things they found most beautiful and longed for most in their hearts.

The setting, the graphics, and various chance encounters within the plot all had to be pursued to the absolute limit.

These things were vital!

Only by pushing these elements to the extreme could you give players that sense of immersion.

Only then would they be more willing to play.

To achieve that level of perfection, the game required more complex programming and a greater number of character designs and art assets. These illustrations had to be incredibly detailed; if they could be detailed down to every single strand of hair, that would be even better.

The more detailed the work, the greater the workload. The greater the workload, the more hands were needed.

The current rented house was too primitive and far too crowded.

Even adding just one or two more people would make the entire company feel like it was about to burst.

After all, this was just a two-story residential rental.

“It looks like I need to move the company again!”

“Sigh…”

“This time, it’s really going to cost a fortune.”

Zhang Yang let out a long, melancholy sigh.

His mood suddenly felt a bit stifled.

Just as he was about to head downstairs for breakfast, he heard a dog barking outside his window.

Zhang Yang instinctively looked out.

And then…

He saw his landlord, Bao Qiang, leading a dog with one hand while eating a wrap with the other. Wearing flip-flops and carrying a heavy ring of keys, he walked forward with an expression of utter boredom.

Fine.

Brother Bao had woken up early again, ready to collect rent.

Seeing Bao Qiang made Zhang Yang feel even more stifled.

We throw away our pride and work ourselves to the bone every day, obsessing over every little detail just to earn a bit of pocket change…

But Bao Qiang!

To give his rent collection a sense of professional ritual, he would personally come to collect the rent every time a lease was due.

Furthermore!

This guy didn’t collect annually; he did it once a month.

With so many tenants and so many properties, Zhang Yang saw him almost every day, wandering through the alleys and streets with his jangling keys.

The comparison between them was enough to drive someone mad.

For some reason, Zhang Yang felt like Brother Bao was his natural nemesis.

He could talk to others about dreams, money, the future, or trends.

As long as they were ordinary people, Zhang Yang could always find their human weaknesses and find a way to win them over.

But facing Bao Qiang?

The man spent his days in boxers and flip-flops with a dog, looking like he was suffering from the loneliness of the peak¹.

How do you deal with that?

Are you sure you’re not just jealous?

Two hours later.

“President Zhang, originally I planned to follow the trend and raise the rent for the seventh and eighth floors of my office building, which usually goes for a hundred and twenty thousand a year. But seeing as you’re young, capable, and have a limitless future, I won’t raise the price this year. Hmm, I’ll also throw in the adjacent dormitory rooms for free.”

“…”

“Rent is collected monthly. I’ll come by when the time is up. Sign the contract first, then give me a twenty-thousand-yuan deposit.”

“…”

“Here are the keys. You can mess around with the place however you like… just don’t knock down any load-bearing walls.”

“…”

“Oh, President Zhang, you guys get to work. I’m heading out to keep collecting rent.”

Zhang Yang finished signing the contract.

As he watched Bao Qiang lead his dog away with a cheerful smile, he felt an indescribable sense of frustration.

He had looked at Bao Qiang’s office building before. Each floor was over three hundred square meters, totaling six hundred for both.

Seventy or eighty thousand a year…

The location was excellent, right in a bustling central district. It was definitely worth the price.

And today, Bao Qiang had even thrown in dormitories. While the dorms were a bit subpar, they were still better than having so many people crammed into their current small space.

But still…

Comparisons really were odious.

Some people spend their whole lives dreaming of reaching Rome.

While some people…

Were freaking born in Rome².

Renting the space wasn’t the end of it. Zhang Yang also had to equip his core staff with computers costing at least ten thousand yuan each.

After all!

He couldn’t keep letting everyone use their own laptops forever, could he?

With five core members currently, that was fifty thousand!

And he would need more computers later!

Damn it!

Where was the money going to come from?

Calculating it like this…

Should he outsource first?

Outsourcing was an option for now, but that also required money—and potentially even more of it.

Ouch.

Money, money, money!

Zhang Yang suddenly felt a pang of heartache so sharp he could barely breathe.

“Sigh, President Zhang, do you think I’ll ever have the chance to be as cool as Brother Bao in this lifetime? Once I make some money, I’m going to buy a house…” Zhao Hang, the head of the art department, looked out the window at the spot where Bao Qiang had disappeared, suddenly struck by a wave of emotion.

“Yes, if you make money these next few years, you definitely need to buy a house. Other investments might not pay off as well as real estate…”

“Mhm… right, President Zhang, you called me over for…”

“Now that the new office space is rented and the equipment is on the schedule, it’s about time for us to cast the net…”

“Huh? Cast the net? What net?”

“Back when we were making Beat the Grass Mud Horse, didn’t we specifically give out certificates and prize money to those top-tier artists? You have their information, right?”

“I do.”

“Contact the group that received the highest prize money. Ask them if they’re interested in a job making ten thousand a month, a hundred and twenty thousand a year. If they’re willing, have them come in to work tomorrow. Oh, and I heard several of them looked like very pretty girls in their photos, right?”

“Yes!”

“Even better. The company is short on some eye candy. Also, you have the info on those netizens who were great at programming, right? Contact them as well…”

“…”

As Zhao Hang watched Zhang Yang stare out the window with a profound look in his eyes, he froze.

Then, it clicked!

In that moment!

He finally understood why Zhang Yang had been so obsessed with gathering information on those netizens and handing out prize money and certificates!

So…

He was scouting for talent among them, and then…

Wait!

Ever since Desert Bicycle, President Zhang had been casting a wide net under the guise of prize money!

Weren’t Ge Yumiao and Qian Cai exactly…

The fish he had caught?

Moreover, the netizens who had received prize money and certificates already had a great impression of the company. They felt the company was reputable and had a keen eye for talent!

Wasn’t this just…

After Zhao Hang left, Zhang Yang continued to stare silently out the window.

His mind was filled with thoughts of those computers.

Finally…

He turned on a computer and looked up contact information for various major computer brands online.

When he scrolled to one particular manufacturer…

He hesitated for a moment.

…

Bluebird Computer³ headquarters.

Liu Ying, the head of the business department, was meticulously handling various commercial matters.

As a recently established domestic computer brand, the company had been looking for a spokesperson to promote the brand.

Just as she was staring at the celebrity Zhao Yiman, preparing to have a chat with her, she suddenly received a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Hello?”

“Oh, oh, oh, it’s President Zhang. Hello, President Zhang, hello…”

“Hmm?”

Liu Ying listened to the voice on the phone, feeling a bit dazed.

It was somewhat hard to believe.

“Hello, Miss Liu. I have great respect for your company’s entrepreneurial journey. I feel that your company’s philosophy and management style align perfectly with my own. I especially admire your President Chen. For a woman under thirty to dive into entrepreneurship under such immense pressure in this era, pushing forward through every hardship, is a truly admirable feat in itself!”

“…”

“To express our appreciation and respect for your company… we are willing to design a game for you for free! We will also allow it to be pre-installed on your company’s computers for synchronized promotion. Furthermore, we will use President Chen as the character prototype and base the game’s style on your corporate philosophy and office environment…”

“…”

(End of Chapter)

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Translator’s Notes

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1. loneliness of the peak: The original text uses the phrase “lonely as snow” (寂寞如雪), a popular internet meme and wuxia trope. It describes a “top-tier expert” who has reached such a height of success, wealth, or power that they no longer have any rivals, leaving them in a state of melancholic, bored isolation. ↩
2. born in Rome: This refers to the viral Chinese internet adage: “All roads lead to Rome, but some people are born in Rome.” It is used to highlight the inherent advantage of the “second-generation wealthy” (fuerdai) who possess by birth the status and resources that others spend their entire lives trying to achieve. ↩
3. Bluebird Computer: The name ‘Bluebird’ (青鸟, Qingniao) is a frequent reference in Chinese tech contexts, most notably to Beida Jade Bird (Beida Qingniao), a major IT conglomerate. In fiction, such names are often used to evoke real-world industry giants from the era of China’s rapid technological growth. ↩