Chapter 76: Interns Poached by Zhang Yang?

The learning version of God of Conquest surpassed eight hundred thousand copies sold in a single month!

In just four days, the romance version of God of Conquest broke five hundred thousand in sales, with installations exceeding seven hundred thousand!

This was a staggering, legendary record!

To date, no single-player game had ever reached such heights!

That included…

Both domestic and international markets!

Even as computers were gradually becoming more common, these numbers were still insane.

Zhang Yang was like a meteor streaking across the pitch-black night sky.

Beneath that night sky…

Countless people were stunned by that moment of brilliance.

Many lost sleep, while many others were intoxicated by it!

September 4th.

Mumaen Technology.

Liu Zhongshan was deeply shaken when he saw the data in these two reports and saw the various news outlets reporting on the phenomenon.

At the same time…

He rubbed his temples.

A simple romance game could actually sell such staggering, exaggerated numbers.

What else could he say?

A hint of regret gnawed at his heart. He had to admit that Zhang Yang was indeed a rare talent!

It was impossible not to feel frustrated after letting such a talent slip through his fingers.

However…

He wouldn’t blame Liu Yun.

Liu Yun had made mistakes, but she could faithfully execute his orders. She wasn’t like Shen Yi used to be, who would constantly use his company shares as leverage to criticize everything and obstruct Liu Zhongshan’s progress.

After taking another look at the romance version of God of Conquest, Liu Zhongshan smiled.

“The power of ‘free’ is truly formidable!”

“…”

That was his only lament.

However…

His expression soon returned to calm.

Zhang Yang’s maneuver could indeed mitigate losses, but even if he brought in capital, it would ultimately just be a collective effort to hype up a concept.

Furthermore, Zhang Yang himself wasn’t actually making much money. At most, it was just a few million in capital from investors testing the waters.

Besides, selling a million copies of a single-player game was the absolute ceiling. Even if he created another miracle, the revenue wouldn’t even be one percent of what an online game could bring in…

“It looks grand and influential, but it’s just making noise for the sake of it¹. Once you deduct the taxes…”

Liu Zhongshan shook his head.

Although he had started to pay attention to Zhang Yang as a person, he still felt the boy was just playing small-time games.

……………………….

September 5th.

Universe Technology.

Zhang Yang sat in his office chair, desperately staring at various tax reports and detailed financial accounts.

Facing row after row of data, his head felt like it was about to explode.

It was agonizing.

In this world’s version of 2005, the portion of individual income tax² exceeding one million was taxed at forty-five percent.

Enterprises fared a bit better…

With an overall deduction of twenty-five percent.

A portion of Zhang Yang’s accounts went through the enterprise, but a larger portion went through his personal accounts.

As a result…

Zhang Yang calculated it over and over. Out of five million, he only ended up with a bit over three million in hand.

When he looked at it closely, it would have been better to run everything through the company accounts.

Of course, Zhang Yang had never even considered tax evasion. If he ever got caught for that, his life would basically be over.

Moreover, no matter how seamless a scheme seemed, it would eventually leak out one day.

“Finance, finance, I need to hire a finance person! Why hasn’t anyone applied for the accountant position yet?”

“…”

Zhang Yang had a massive headache.

He felt omnipotent in the business world, but right now, facing these numbers, his brain was nothing but mush.

He had miscalculated the accounts several times. When he found the errors during verification, he had to painfully go through them all over again. It took a tremendous amount of effort just to get the numbers right.

Once the verification was finished, he slumped back in his chair.

Back when he had no money, he thought that earning it would make him very happy.

But now…

He suddenly felt very unhappy.

How could he be happy when he spent all day in the office doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?

Even when he slept, his mind was filled with various data points.

He even had dark circles under his eyes!

Forget it, forget it!

He pushed the series of reports aside and took out his phone to call Wu Zhuang from the marketing department.

Not long after…

A knock sounded at the door.

“Come in…”

“President Zhang, you were looking for me?” Compared to Zhang Yang’s headache in the office, Wu Zhuang was full of energy.

Success brings a refreshed spirit!

He was indeed feeling great.

Back in school, people always looked down on him. Now, everywhere he went, he was surrounded by people. Even a girl he used to have a crush on in school had been frequently messaging him lately to ask him out for dinner.

He felt that his spring had finally arrived.

“Mhm. Old Wu, the game downloads have broken five hundred thousand, right?”

“They’ve already broken it. We hit the mark last night, and now we’re at five hundred and fifty thousand!”

“Oh, good. So, how are the profits for the investors who invested in our company?”

“According to the current data, the biggest winner is Ice and Snow World milk tea, followed by Amayi clothing, and then Bluebird Computer…” Wu Zhuang pulled out a notebook of data from his jacket and began reporting to Zhang Yang very seriously. “Their specific figures are…”

“Wait, wait, wait. Just knowing the rankings is enough.” Zhang Yang interrupted Wu Zhuang and waved his hand.

He felt like vomiting the moment he heard the word “data” right now…

“Oh.”

“Old Wu, next, I want you to create a God and Goddess Ranking on the official website. Let the players actively vote for their favorite male and female characters from the game God of Conquest…”

“Alright, President Zhang. What’s our objective for doing this?”

“Have you ever heard of a Virtual Idol?”

“Huh?” Wu Zhuang was stunned.

He searched his brain, but he had no idea what a “Virtual Idol” was supposed to mean.

It was currently 2005…

Although computers were starting to become popular and there were initiatives to bring appliances to the countryside³, they were nowhere near being a household necessity like they would be over a decade later.

The concept of a Virtual Idol⁴ was even more avant-garde – so avant-garde that Wu Zhuang found it hard to believe when he heard it.

What exactly was this thing?

Why did it sound like something out of a science fiction novel?

Are we going to do this?

Can we actually pull it off?

When Zhang Yang saw Wu Zhuang’s bewildered expression, he suddenly felt a sense of blankness himself.

Then…

He suddenly remembered that it was only 2005.

Proposing such a concept in 2005 was indeed far too avant-garde.

Many people wouldn’t necessarily be able to accept it.

He shook his head.

“Let’s take it one step at a time. First, create the character ranking list and see how enthusiastic the netizens are…”

“Alright.”

“Right… there’s one more thing!”

“What is it?”

“Tell the colleagues to keep an eye on their bank accounts. It’s time for bonuses.”

“What? Bonuses again?”

“Yes. However, the amount this time isn’t much, so tell everyone not to get their hopes up too high…”

“Ah… this, President Zhang, if you keep handing out bonuses like this every day, can the company’s finances take it?”

“…”

When Wu Zhuang heard those words, his mind went completely blank for a moment.

He looked at Zhang Yang with a sudden flash of concern.

It wasn’t just Song Qingqing, who had already gone back to school; even he felt that Zhang Yang didn’t act like a typical boss.

Four games!

A bonus was issued for every single game release…

Even when everyone knew that the romance version of God of Conquest wouldn’t make much money, he was still handing out bonuses…

These benefits and treatments far exceeded those of other companies, even some listed ones!

This…

What kind of boss acted like this?

“That’s not something you need to worry about… Go on.”

“Alright.”

Wu Zhuang nodded and turned to leave.

Not long after he stepped out of the office, before he could even mention it to the other colleagues…

His phone received a notification for a transfer from the company’s bank.

He stared blankly at the eight thousand yuan.

Up until now…

In the two months or so he had been working here, he had already earned forty thousand!

In the past, when bonuses were issued, the company would erupt in cheers and screams.

But now…

Everyone picked up their phones one after another, their gazes becoming somewhat complicated.

“Old Wu…”

“Brother Zhao, what’s wrong?” Wu Zhuang instinctively looked over as Zhao Hang limped toward him.

“I did the math carefully. Although President Zhang made a lot of noise with this game, it doesn’t actually make that much money, does it? Compared to that learning game, this one is basically a one-off deal, right?” Zhao Hang’s expression was grave.

“Yeah, I calculated it too. This game is really just for the reputation… After deducting various operating costs and the series of base salaries, President Zhang really didn’t earn much.”

“And he’s still giving us bonuses? I heard those new guys who just joined haven’t even worked for half a month, and they already got three thousand in bonuses…”

“I don’t know what to say!”

……………………….

“Have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Zhang Yang’s side issued bonuses again!”

“What? Again? Didn’t they just issue them last month? Why again this month?”

“Apparently, for every game, aside from the basic development costs, every participant gets a cut…”

“Holy crap? For real?”

“My classmate just joined Zhang Yang’s Universe Technology. His internship salary is seven hundred. He’s only been working for ten days and only helped with some game scripting and bug fixes! Do you know how much his actual pay is now?”

“How much?”

“Two thousand!”

“For real? Two thousand? That’s more than I make in a month!”

“It’s true! President Zhang seems to have established a reputation, saying that those who come to work there aren’t employees, but partners. As long as you have the skill and the ability, you’ll get high returns!”

“Heavens! Are they still taking people?”

“They’re still recruiting, and they don’t even care about your degree. The only thing you need to provide is your resume and your previous research results. But they aren’t hiring many this time, the spots are limited…”

“I heard that Zhang Yang is preparing to enter the online gaming market. This might be an opportunity. If it succeeds, then…”

“I know about Zhang Yang. The man is a legend. Looking at his resume feels like looking at a god!”

“How about… we…”

“Try it together? This is an opportunity! Universe Technology just happens to be recruiting, so why don’t we…”

“…”

“…”

Mumaen Technology.

Several interns were whispering among themselves.

As they spoke…

Their eyes kept drifting toward the Human Resources office.

Two of them had written resignation letters. They stood up stealthily and slowly walked toward the HR office.

Once inside…

They saw the office director wearing a strange expression.

She stared at the two of them.

“You just got here and you’re already resigning?”

“We’re sorry, we can’t adapt to the company’s lifestyle…”

“Mumaen Technology is one of the top game companies in the country. You were selected through layers of screening. We will definitely put you in important positions in the future. If you leave now…” The office director looked at the two young men.

When she saw them shake their heads, she had no choice but to sign her approval.

After receiving the approved reports, the two young men left the office excitedly.

“Sigh, this post-80s generation⁵ can’t handle any hardship at all, really…” The office director shook her head and went back to work.

However, she hadn’t been working for long when there was another knock on the door.

“Hello, Sister Zhou… I can’t adapt to the pace of life at your company…” A pretty girl walked in timidly.

“Huh?” The office director, Zhou Xiang, looked the girl over.

The girl’s name was Su Nuannuan.

She was a top student from the Fine Arts Department of Yanjing University. She had been specifically recruited during a campus job fair a few days ago for focused training. Her resume was brilliant, having won many awards in painting and art. Her treatment was completely different from other interns, with her internship salary nearly doubled!

Miss Liu Yun had personally given instructions to make her a permanent employee after one month of internship.

She couldn’t adapt?

What was going on?

“Nuannuan, if you have any grievances with the company, you can bring them up…”

“It’s just that I can’t adapt to this nine-to-five routine… Actually, I value my freedom quite a bit…” Su Nuannuan shook her head earnestly.

“Working at a company generally means following their schedule, unless you want to be a freelancer…” Zhou Xiang said instinctively.

“Mm… maybe I’ll take the freelance path.”

“I see… Well, wait here for a moment.”

Zhou Xiang hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.

However, she needed to inform Liu Yun about Su Nuannuan’s departure. Zhou Xiang picked up the phone and made the call immediately.

But while she was on the phone, another intern knocked and entered.

He was also holding a resignation letter.

Zhou Xiang froze.

What on earth was happening today?

Why was everyone coming in to resign one after another?

…

“Nuannuan, regarding your internship salary, we can actually discuss it further…”

“It’s not about the money.”

“As for the hours, I can approve a flexible schedule. We’re desperate for talent and value you very highly…”

“I appreciate your recognition, Manager Liu, but I’ve still decided to resign.”

“…”

Inside the office.

Liu Yun’s chest heaved with heavy breaths.

Her emotions were a tangled mess.

She didn’t know why…

Ever since she became the HR Department Head, one frustrating thing after another had happened.

First, there was the matter of Zhang Yang out in the world…

Even though she never believed she was in the wrong!

But the more noise Zhang Yang made out there, the more bitter she felt.

It felt like watching her own failure unfold.

She even felt as if everyone in the company was staring at her with strange looks.

It was becoming unbearable.

Today!

Her mood soured even further after hearing that four or five interns had resigned for various reasons without warning, especially since Su Nuannuan, whom she valued so much, was among them.

She couldn’t understand it. She had treated Su Nuannuan so well; why would the girl quit before even finishing her internship?

These people…

What was wrong with them?

Not long after…

A knock sounded at her office door.

The door opened, and Zhou Xiang, the office director, walked in with a complicated expression.

“Manager Liu…”

“What is it?”

“They’ve all gone to Universe Technology! In fact, it’s not just our company; interns from other firms are flocking there too! This Zhang Yang is breaking all the unspoken rules of the industry! Su Nuannuan received a bonus from him, and the character she worked on has already hit the online rankings with massive popularity!”

“What!” Liu Yun’s face paled instantly at the mention of Universe Technology.

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes