Chapter 81: Struggle, Struggle!

September 7th.

Night!

The employees of Universe Technology had not left. Instead, they had stayed behind of their own accord to work overtime.

The screensavers on many of their monitors had been changed to the logo of Dadi Technology.

They were excited, yet simultaneously a bit anxious.

Everyone knew exactly what kind of behemoth they were about to face.

Dadi Technology.

They were the true kings of Huaxia single-player games!

The pioneer of the currently popular Xianxia¹ game genre was Dadi Technology’s Legend of Sword and Fairy: Ask of Love²!

When people spoke of Legend of Sword and Fairy: Ask of Love, you might not have played it, but you had certainly heard of it. What you would have heard most about was its beautiful art style, its tear-jerking, turbulent plot, and the lingering heartache of a turbulent immortal path…

Whenever others spoke of this game, they would sigh with emotion, wishing they could dive into the game themselves to forcibly change the ending.

Then came Bloody Battle at Magic City Beach, which was Huaxia’s first domestic shooter in a true sense. Its sales figures directly established Dadi Technology’s position as the leader in Huaxia, stirring the hearts of countless players. Many colleagues at Universe Technology had played these games, and some had even entered the industry specifically because of them.

The subsequent Lone Island Gun God failed to replicate the legendary sales figures with its official release, but its reputation among the player community was incredibly high. People claimed it was the peak of Huaxia shooting games, rivaling many shooters from America.

There was another statistic that, while discouraging to mention, was a reality. Looking at the total installed base of both genuine and pirated copies, Universe Technology’s legendary God of Conquest could not compare to Lone Island Gun God. In fact, it lagged behind by a significant margin.

God of Conquest had simply benefited from being free and having massive promotion!

But this time…

They were going to engage in a real, head-to-head battle!

Could they actually win?

Truthfully, none of them were certain.

But…

Only by crossing this mountain would the world be able to hear their story!

………………………………

In the office.

After Zhang Yang finished handling the day’s finances, he let out a long sigh of relief.

He turned on his computer.

In just a few hours, the art department had already finished a set of character sketches and sent them to his inbox immediately.

There were sketches for five males and three females.

Although they were just template outlines, Zhang Yang was very satisfied after looking them over.

He couldn’t speak for the other departments in his company, but the art department was definitely strong. Even the newest colleagues were top-tier talents he had personally handpicked from the internet.

Shortly after the art department sent over the character outlines, Zhong Chongwen from the programming department also sent over various character settings and numerical data…

Even though Zhang Yang got a headache just looking at these numbers now, he still read through them seriously and sent a reply to confirm…

After finishing these tasks, he silently rubbed his tired eyes, closed them briefly, and let out a yawn. Details of Road Rash³ began to resurface in his mind.

That was many, many years ago…

Back when he was in middle school, it was a game he and his friends had pulled up while using the computers in the school lab…

He still remembered every detail of those scenes…

The original Road Rash was a game that could be played over a Local Area Network.

It supported up to eight players.

Zhang Yang didn’t plan to change that. In fact, aside from the original Road Rash’s graphics being subpar due to the era it was created in, which required significant optimization, the rest of the gameplay didn’t need much adjustment…

After considering the finer details, Zhang Yang felt a faint sense of nervousness in his heart.

Time!

Yes!

They needed time; they needed to fight for every second!

Currently, Universe Technology was inferior to Dadi Technology in every aspect. Zhang Yang was even worried that even with his optimized graphics, Road Rash might not match the visual quality produced by Dadi Technology.

If they couldn’t win on graphics…

In terms of gameplay, they didn’t really have an advantage either.

Although there were no racing games in the strict sense on the market right now, establishing such gameplay mechanics wasn’t difficult at all.

He believed that with Dadi Technology’s strength, they could set many of the rules almost instantly.

If two similar games were released on the market at the same time and competed as free-to-play titles, Zhang Yang truly felt uncertain…

This wasn’t cowardice before the battle; it was reality!

………………………………

September 8th.

Mumaen Network and the Korean company finally held their final meeting.

At the meeting, the Huaxia side led by Fan Qiang engaged in a heated discussion with the Korean representative, Kim Eun-tae. Liu Ruohan felt like her throat was going dry from translating.

Mumaen had already made concessions and even increased the licensing fees.

However…

Kim Eun-tae still shook his head.

His appetite was growing larger and larger.

After seeing the results the Huaxia side achieved by going free-to-play, his company was green with envy.

His meaning was simple: he wanted one-fifth of the Huaxia side’s profits.

This was clearly an unreasonable demand…

Fan Qiang naturally refused. This Kim Eun-tae was simply too greedy.

This meeting ultimately ended in failure. There was even a faint sense that they had completely fallen out, with the situation escalating toward lawsuits and both sides preparing for a messy confrontation.

That day, after returning to Huaxia…

Mumaen Technology held an emergency meeting. The meeting ultimately decided to abandon Legend and begin developing their own online game, Legendary World.

Liu Zhongshan’s idea was for Legendary World to undergo a series of graphical optimizations compared to Legend. He planned to wait until Legendary World became a hit and then migrate the Legend users over. That way, they would no longer be held hostage by the Korean side.

In the office.

“You’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time!”

“…”

Exhausted as she was, Liu Ruohan still logged into God of Conquest. The moment she saw Knight Prince’s handsome face, she felt her fatigue instantly vanish.

After all these days of effort, she finally upgraded her favorability from “Comrade-in-arms” to “Friend.”

Once the favorability level increased, Liu Ruohan noticed that the Knight Prince’s voice had changed. It became gentler, as warm as a ray of winter sunshine, making her feel incredibly comfortable.

Meanwhile…

Just as she was about to continue today’s favorability tasks, a notification popped up saying the game needed an update.

She stared blankly for a moment.

“A single-player game needs updates?”

Liu Ruohan logged onto the official website and downloaded the latest version.

After downloading and logging in, she found that all her data was still there. The only difference was that a flower shop and a jewelry store had appeared in the town.

Had Zhang Yang secured another round of investment for the game?

Besides that…

There seemed to be a billboard at the end of the town!

The billboard read…

“Congratulations to Universe Technology and BMW Group on their partnership!”

“A new game is about to be released. Registration for the closed beta is now open…”

“…”

Liu Ruohan suddenly discovered that as long as she clicked the billboard and let the advertisement stay up for ten seconds, she would earn one gold coin.

After it finished, she could click it again, wait another ten seconds, and earn another gold coin.

After clicking it ten times in a row, the game coins finally stopped increasing.

“Is this supposed to be product placement?”

Liu Ruohan felt a bit dazed.

Had Zhang Yang’s company really partnered with the BMW Group?

Liu Ruohan opened a web browser and searched for news.

Then…

She found a piece of news that left her jaw dropped.

“What!”

“Zhang Yang is actually going to compete with Dadi Technology?”

“And in the same free-to-play field?”

“Does he think he’s invincible just because God of Conquest was a free-to-play hit?”

“Has this man become so arrogant?”

“…”

Liu Ruohan was completely shocked by the news.

She looked at the comments below…

She found they were uniform in their mockery…

Occasionally, someone spoke up for Zhang Yang, but they were quickly drowned out by the collective ridicule and distrust.

In everyone’s eyes.

Dadi Technology was a sleeping tiger.

Even if its eyes were closed and it looked like a cat anyone could pet, the world would inevitably shake when it opened its eyes!

As for Zhang Yang’s Universe Technology.

It might look fierce, but it was a paper tiger that would tear at a single poke.

Some even said his so-called legendary data was full of empty, inflated numbers…

There was no comparison between the two.

Liu Ruohan instinctively tried to call Zhang Yang.

However…

Unfortunately.

Zhang Yang’s phone was constantly busy…

……………………………………..

Common Jasmine Orange had been on sale for a month.

Its data was staggering!

It had already reached three hundred thousand copies.

In just one month!

It had already broken the record for album sales in Asia!

With such incredible numbers, Zhou Yang swept across the land of Huaxia like a tornado, setting off wave after wave of frenzy.

Behind these astonishing figures…

Zhou Yang’s Star Entertainment Group had leaped to the top of the entertainment company rankings in Taiwan.

Although this ranking was temporary.

It was undoubtedly heartening. If they could maintain their momentum and continue to break records, Star Entertainment could very likely take another step forward!

A single song making a company explode in popularity.

This wasn’t without precedent; a few years ago, a similar love song had appeared on the mainland.

In the office.

“Well? Has Zhang Yang responded?”

“No… he says he’s been extremely busy lately.”

“What? So busy he doesn’t have time to attend the Golden Melody Awards⁴? Zhang Yang is very likely to win Best Lyricist…”

“He doesn’t seem to have any interest.”

“Huh?”

“What about the times we contacted him to buy songs? We offered him money, and he wasn’t interested in that either?”

“He was interested in that, but…”

“But what?”

“He said he’s been very busy lately…”

“…”

When Zheng Chen, the effeminate marketing director wearing glasses, heard the news, he was speechless!

He suddenly felt regret. Although he had put out feelers before, he hadn’t personally reached out to Zhang Yang.

So busy…

What on earth was this guy busy with?

…………………………

“Invitation to the Golden Melody Awards, Zhang Yang has yet to reply…”

“Star Entertainment’s marketing director, Zheng Chen, expresses regret to the camera that the company cannot contact Zhang Yang…”

“Zhou Yang talks about Zhang Yang…”

“Brilliant talent, but his focus isn’t on the music industry…”

“…”

“…”

The music world was buzzing.

As Common Jasmine Orange reached new heights, its creator, Zhang Yang, inevitably came into the view of all music fans.

However…

What truly made fans remember the name Zhang Yang was the fact that he hadn’t replied to the invitation from the Golden Melody Awards…

The Golden Melody Awards!

In this era, it was the temple of Huaxia music…

Ordinary people would break their necks just to get a glimpse, or even just to walk the red carpet!

Yet Zhang Yang…

In fact.

Starting from September 8th…

No one could contact Zhang Yang except for internal company personnel.

A group of reporters stood guard downstairs at the company, but they never saw Zhang Yang come out.

Not only did Zhang Yang not come out, but most of the employees rarely emerged except to eat…

They were basically all in a hurry. Some employees had disheveled hair and dark circles under their eyes, looking very haggard.

Yet, their eyes were full of fighting spirit, and they walked quickly, as if they were possessed by something.

Occasionally, items were brought in, such as folding beds and summer quilts⁵…

Later…

Aside from a few people coming out together to pick up takeout boxes, the company doors remained tightly shut.

This state of affairs continued for over half a month!

“Holy crap! What are these people even doing? They aren’t running some pyramid scheme, are they?”

“No way, right?”

“Who knows…”

“Should we call the police? Looking at them, it’s like they’ve been brainwashed…”

“Let’s wait a bit longer.”

“…”

It wasn’t until the night of September 25th.

The gates of Universe Technology finally creaked open…

A swarm of reporters who had been waiting at the entrance rushed forward.

They were beyond excited.

Zhang Yang took a deep breath. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were shot through with blood…

The others following behind him had all visibly lost weight…

“Take a break!”

“Get some good rest today!”

“Except for a few essential staff, everyone else take shifts to rest over the next two days!”

“Next, it’s time to witness a miracle…”

“…”

……………………….

Dadi Technology.

“How’s the programming coming along?”

“There are still a few minor bugs, but we’re already fixing them. In another half-day, we should be ready for the testing phase… If there are no issues during testing, we can move on to the next round of asset implementation…”

“Good! Everyone’s worked hard. By the way, project team, when is the estimated download launch?”

“End of September. Of course, October 1st⁶ would be even better. It’s a bit of a rush, and we still need to polish it and test the gameplay…”

“Mhm, start the pre-launch promotion then. Tell the marketing department…”

“Will do!”

Ding Ziguang, the head of the single-player project at Dadi Technology, looked at these young people.

They were all working incredibly hard.

He nodded, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.

This was the fastest game they had ever developed.

It took only a day for the framework data analysis, and just another day for the gameplay mechanics and market research.

These people were putting in the effort.

Even though he felt it was impossible for them to lose…

Even a lion must use its full strength when hunting a rabbit!

Just as he was about to announce that the project was nearing its end and many departments could take a short break…

Suddenly…

The assistant who had gone to notify the marketing department came rushing back in a panic.

“Director Ding! Zhang Yang’s game is opening for official download tomorrow…”

“What? What did you say?”

“Tomorrow, Zhang Yang’s new game, Road Rash, officially opens for download!”

“???”

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes