What’s more, which internet cafe did not have regular singers? This was nothing new to them.
Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had only opened a while ago. Every night, without fail, Zhang Yuan went on stage and sang passionately. Still, there was no use. Although the atmosphere improved, the improvement was limited.
As time went by, he sang less and less. Tonight, under the influence of alcohol, he went up on stage.
Zhang Yuan wasted no time exchanging pleasantries. He made the necessary adjustments and began singing. He did not sound perfect, but he sang pretty well. After all, regular singers at bars could not be that bad.
His low, hoarse voice echoed throughout the area.
In the past, Zhang Yuan always sang intense rock music. However, he very quickly realized that the audience was not playing along with him. They were not excited at all. Subsequently, he sang slower songs and ballads.
This way, at least the atmosphere would not be as awkward.
As Ma Yang sipped his alcohol, he listened to Zhang Yuan’s singing. He began to daydream. All of a sudden, he noticed a faint silhouette standing outside the glass panel. He was hesitating by the main entrance.
It was already nighttime. The internet cafe was brighter than outside. That meant that people could see clearly into the internet cafe from the outside. However, people inside could not see the outside environment that clearly.
Nevertheless, Ma Yang was sure he could see someone outside, pacing in front of the main entrance.
“A new customer? He’s even hesitating outside. This means there’s a fighting chance!”
Ma Yang immediately perked up. Although he had already become the General Manager of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, who was to say that he was not allowed to persuade guests to come in?
The manager held no airs as the General Manager at all.
He opened the entrance to the internet cafe with a warm expression. “Hey, Mister! Do you want to come in and play?”
The young man standing at the door got a shock. While he was pacing outside the entrance thinking, he did not realize that the main door had opened. All of a sudden, there was a huge face there, staring at him.
The young man looked embarrassed as he lowered his head. “I… I did not come here to surf the internet.”
“That’s alright. You can come in and drink alcohol,” Ma Yang replied warmly.
He studied the young man carefully. He looked slightly unsightly. His hair was a mess, and his clothes looked quite torn and tattered. He also looked untidy.
The young man scratched his head of messy hair and said, “I… I want to ask if you are recruiting a resident singer here.”
Ma Yang, “…”
He looked disappointed. They were not short of employees; they were short of customers!
Without customers, it does not matter how well you sing.
The young man witnessed Ma Yang’s huge, long face fall immediately. He quickly said, “I think I am better than that man. That’s why I came to try out.”
Ma Yang pondered for a moment and decided that there was no harm.
Zhang Yuan was already considered the Regional Manager of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes in Jingzhou. He could not go on stage to sing every day.
Hiring a resident singer was not a bad idea.
“Alright, what is your name?”
“Chen Lei.”
“Come, come in.”
Ma Yang led Chen Lei into Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and to a random seat. After a while, Zhang Yuan finished singing another song. He got off the stage to take a break.
Ma Yang gestured to the stage and said, “Go ahead. Don’t be nervous.”
Ma Yang had no musical talent as well. He could not differentiate between good and bad. He was thinking that if the young man proved to be satisfactory, he could at least be hired to take Zhang Yuan’s place on stage.
Zhang Yuan poured a cup of water, turned around, and found that his place on stage had been taken over.
A young man whom he had never seen before was making adjustments to the guitar. He looked like he was preparing to sing a song.
Zhang Yuan looked at Ma Yang, confused. “Brother Ma, who is that?”
“His name is Chen Lei. He came to audition as a resident singer. I’m thinking if he sings well, we can let him take the stage and sing. You can rest in the future.”
Ma Yang continued, concerned, “Your job scope is heavy. We have already recruited a new person to mix cocktails. Recruiting a resident singer would allow you to focus on managing internet cafes.”
Zhang Yuan really wanted to say that he had nothing better to do anyway. However, on hearing Ma Yang’s kind words, he felt slightly touched.
Ai, that’s not right. We have never recruited a resident singer.
Zhang Yuan was just about to ask this question when he heard a clear but slightly hoarse voice echo throughout the internet cafe.
“The flowers of spring, the wind of autumn, and the sunset of winter[1]…”
Zhang Yuan was stunned. “He’s singing an oldie.”
This song was very widely-known. Almost everyone in the cafe had heard it before. The moment Chen Lei began singing, almost everyone in the internet cafe who had been drinking turned to face the stage. It was almost like spring water was flowing from the stage onto the ground, surrounding everyone in the audience.
Zhang Yuan was still dazed. He could not help but hum along to himself.
Ma Yang continued drinking his alcohol and quietly said to Zhang Yuan, “I don’t think he sings as well as you do.”
Zhang Yuan cast a sideward glance at Ma Yang, frustrated. “Brother Ma… he sings so much better than I do.”
“Is that right?” Ma Yang was shocked. “His voice is neither that high nor that low. How is he better?”
Zhang Yuan felt like he was speaking an alien language to Ma Yang. However, recalling that Ma Yang was still his supervisor, he maintained his smile. “A good voice always manages to move its audience. Ballads sung with a voice like his sound heavenly.”
“I can’t appreciate it.”
“If you don’t believe me, look at everyone’s reactions.”
Ma Yang watched the audience.
Before this, when Zhang Yuan was singing, everyone focused on their own drinks and their own conversations. Although they were listening to Zhang Yuan, it was obvious that they took him as a background singer.
However, the moment Chen Lei began performing, everyone seemed to be captivated.
Everyone held their glasses and sang along. No one was speaking or chatting. A few people even stared at the stage in a daze. One could only imagine what kind of memories this song had dug up in their heads.
Zhang Yuan was moved. “Brother Ma, where did you meet such a talent?”
Ma Yang kept quiet for two seconds. “…he came on his own.”
“What a coincidence.”
“Not really,” Ma Yang replied, “He said he heard you singing from outside. He thought he could sing better than you so he plucked up the courage and came to the door. I think you should take the most credit for this.”
Zhang Yuan, “…”
“Brother Ma, I changed my mind. Let’s not hire him, alright?”
“No.”
[1] This is the first line to the song ‘The Story of Time’ by Lo Ta-yu.
Chapter 151 - Open the Server and Test Waters
A week later, on May 18th, Tuesday…
Shang Yang Games…
The edits on the earliest version of the games were already completed, but Ye Zhizhou still could not bring himself to submit them and update the game. Just the thought of changing Shang Yang Games’ fate and moving it towards an entirely new direction with just a single command from him made Ye Zhizhou’s hands tremble.
A full week after the meeting, what had to be edited was already edited.
According to Boss Pei’s instructions, all the purchase options in Romantic Taoist and Bloody Battle Song we
re wiped clean. Each of those games only had one purchase option left.
Romantic Taoist was an RPG[1]. There was no competition between players. That was why it was much easier to edit the game. Ye Zhizhou kept the most basic accelerator card as the only purchase option. After all, this game could be withdrawn at any time. It was no longer the company’s main focus.
The main focus was Bloody Battle Song.
After much consideration, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin decided on the only purchase option to retain in the game: the strength potion. They increased the price of the strength potion. Each person would only be able to spend a maximum of a hundred ingots every day. That was equivalent to ten yuan.
In order to achieve the aim of retaining only one purchase option, Wang Xiaobin practically redid the entire game’s level design. The other plans were edited according to these changes as well. They also introduced new functions as substitutes, such as the ‘Chosen One system’, which Ye Zhizhou suggested a while ago.
After making the changes, the game still appeared the same on the outside, but it was completely different at its core.
Wang Xiaobin sat down next to Ye Zhizhou and asked, “Are there any other problems?”
Ye Zhizhou shook his head and said, “No other problem. I am… just worried.
“We made huge changes. What’s more, we don’t have any successful games to refer to. We’re completely dependent on ideas that we thought of. I don’t know what the outcome will be like. I am putting myself out there completely.”
In the old Shang Yang Games—if a new idea was raised at a meeting, Old Liu would always ask, ‘Are there other games that have done this successfully?’ If the answer was no, the idea would be thrown out most of the time. Ye Zhizhou was already used to this way of thinking. That was why he was completely lost now.
“Brother Wang, you have a lot of experience. Do you think we’ll succeed?”
Wang Xiaobin sighed softly and addressed Ye Zhizhou seriously. “Little Ye, you are the chief planner now. You have to make these decisions. You cannot ask others anymore. Whether these changes succeed or not, the glory and responsibility will both be yours. As the chief planner, these are things that you have to be prepared for.
“Do you remember Game Designer? Everybody else’s opinions are just voice-overs in the game. Apart from throwing you off, they have not much effect.” Ye Zhizhou nodded slightly and sighed. “That’s right.”
Game Designer was a game that Ye Zhizhou played many times before. He already knew many options and outcomes like the back of his hand.
He could ignore the voice-overs completely in the game and choose all the right answers. However, although he understood all of these principles, he could not confidently ignore all the comments in reality.
Wang Xiaobin stood up and added, “It’s normal to feel confused. You just have to remember that you are doing the job that Boss Pei asked you to do.”
Ye Zhizhou’s eyes brightened.
That’s right. No matter what anyone else says, this was what Boss Pei asked him to do! Whether he succeeded or failed, it would be alright as long as he was following Boss Pei’s instructions, right?
At that thought, Ye Zhizhou hesitated no more. He quickly checked the games once more and sent a message to the group.
“Update the games.”
A few hours later…
Bloody Battle Song became a large-scale chat room for people.
Huge groups of gamers on various servers gathered in the city plaza of the main city to discuss the latest announcement about the update.
Ever since Bloody Battle Song was published, it had been updated tens of times. Each time, they would make an announcement about the updates. However, the announcements had never drawn a reaction such as this one before.
Gamers were no longer interested in fighting or leveling up. All of them were discussing the latest update.
“Which big boss can explain to us what the announcement means? The shop is only going to have the basic strength potion from now on? The others… are not going to be up for sale?”
“I think they said that they’re giving the others away.”
“Giving… away? Is this game going to be withdrawn? Is this the final revelry?”
“The moment that 888-yuan sword was put up for sale the last time, many people quit the game. I guess the game is going to be withdrawn sooner or later. We’ll play as long as it remains.”
“I feel like something is amiss. Are they making this ruthless move while there are few in the game? Why are they giving away all the good stuff? Are they retarded? Are they trying to push all the whales out of the game?”
“They can still spend money if they want to. They can buy the strength potion again and again. They are limited to ten a day. The more they buy, the more expensive it becomes. If they buy the maximum number each day, they can spend a hundred ingots.”
“Don’t be silly. A hundred ingots is only equal to ten dollars! The whales aside, this is a petty sum to even poor people like me.”
“I am absolutely confused by this huge move by the officials.”
“Our club president has gone to recharge his currencies. He says he wants to buy all the equipment before the update. Otherwise, he would not be able to buy anymore!”
“It’s too late. The changes have been made. Nobody is allowed to recharge their currencies anymore.”
“…I can’t recharge money even if I wanted to. That’s really something!”
“This reminds me of Ghost General.”
“I have a question. According to the way things are going-once the server is open, would we all start from zero again? Will we have to spend ten yuan each day to reach the peak of our battle power?”
“According to the official release by the company, that’s it.”
“That’s not right. How will we fight wars, then? If everyone has the same battle power, wouldn’t it become a numbers game?”
“No, I think there’s going to be a ‘Chosen One’ system. Based on the number of people each side has, they will strike a balance in terms of their skills. They’ll also select players on each side according to chances to have better skills.”
“You mean if I get chosen, then I will be able to experience taking on multiple enemies at a time?”
“Then, what are we still doing in this old server? Sell it, sell it! Sell it all! I’m going to the new server!”
Since the system first made the public announcement until the update was complete, gamers did not stop discussing the updates.
The normally silent official platform was suddenly filled with huge batches of new posts as well. People were discussing it very passionately!
Ye Zhizhou knew that gamers would not be able to understand the changes to the game that quickly. It was normal for so many people to be engaged in the discussion. In fact, it was a good thing that so many people were discussing the update. He had been afraid that people would remain silent even after such a big update. That would be terrifying
Ye Zhizhou started an alternate account to observe gamers’ reactions.
Unexpectedly, people were not opposing aggressively!
Ye Zhizhou thought that the whales would be cursing non-stop. However, after entering the game, he realized that many unsatisfied comments were quickly shot down. Nobody echoed these negative comments.
Everyone was discussing how the new changes would affect the wars or when the new server would be open.
“Everyone is interested in playing the new version. Are they really that excited?”
Ye Zhizhou looked at Wang Xiaobin and said, “Brother Wang, how about we open the server and allow people to test waters?”
[1] This is an acronym for Role-Playing Game.
Chapter 152 - Boss Pei Cuts Off an Infected Limb to Save the Entire Body
Wang Xiaobin paused. “Open the new server?”
It was not troublesome to do that, but the only problem was there might not be any gamers in it. Bloody Ba
ttle Song was already steadily deteriorating. They had no money to publicize or market it, and there were no ratings for the game as well. No new gamers were logging in.
The people still playing the game were old gamers who had stuck with the game from the very beginning. They could be said to be fiercely loyal; nothing could drive them away.
All of these people had accounts on the old servers. They had already spent huge amounts of money and time on those accounts. Even if they opened the new server, who would play on it?
Still, Wang Xiaobin held up an okay-sign with his hand and said, “No problem. It’ll be ready soon.”
The game was going to fail sooner or later; whether they opened the new server or not, it would not make a difference.
Ye Zhizhou immediately created an alternate account in the new server and quietly waited.
A few minutes later, the world channel in the new server became lively!
“They’ve really opened a new server!”
“Ah, ah, ah! I’m so sad that I did not get the couch!”
“Are there any guilds?”
“Comrades, look here! Our guild is developing harmoniously. We’re banding together and being led by whales. There is no battle we cannot win! We’re going to specially offer help to grandfathers and grandmothers prone to falling down. We welcome you to join us so that we can help more grandmothers cross roads!”
“The previous commenter, you’ve just copied and pasted the advertisement, haven’t you? There are no more whales now; how can they lead the guild?”
“How are there no more whales? Our guild’s whales have spoken; whoever joins our guild will get the maximum number of strength potions every day!”
“Holy sh*t! Quickly add me!”
More world channels were being added, one by one. Ye Zhizhou could not keep up with the various channels.
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