Zhang Chaohe sat in front of the simulator and logged into the test account provided by the project team.
The story of "The City of Wanderers" is set in a world where supernatural abilities awaken after a natural disaster, and different nations across the continent establish their own supernatural powers. However, once the radiation of these supernatural abilities reaches a certain level, ancient gods and powerful demons also appear, attempting to reclaim control of the world.
Those who awakened their supernatural abilities split into two factions: one advocating submission to the ancient gods and the restoration of the old world's glory; the other believing that humanity should build a new civilization itself. Players can freely choose to join a faction and embark on a journey of world exploration.
Because the "City of Wanderers" on the simulator is the current final version of the game, the map is fully open and looks very lively. Zhang Chaohe can also preview the characters in the card pools of the next few versions by opening his own card pool.
He discovered that although the "City of Wanderers" project team was making a 2D mobile game, they did not pander to otaku. Their aesthetic sense was much more sophisticated than the character illustrations in similar games, which greatly increased his positive impression of the game developers.
Project leader Zheng Xuecun began to introduce the main gameplay of the game - in addition to world exploration, dungeon teaming and fair mode PK, players can even experience the management gameplay of infrastructure games and happily build houses in their homestead!
Zhang Chaohe asked curiously, "There's a homestead system too?"
"Of course! We're planning to add a building block feature to the home system. Players won't be limited to using furniture blueprints from the game when building houses; they can freely assemble their own favorite furniture and house designs!" Zheng Xuecun said proudly. "Friends can also visit each other, which can increase online activity to some extent!"
Zhang Chaohe had only experienced this highly flexible infrastructure development gameplay in console games, and he was very interested: "Let me see?"
Zheng Xuecun said confidently, "Interested? Invest 200 million yuan in us and you'll immediately have the right to buy a sea-view property!"
This person went on and on boasting, but it turned out he was just making empty promises!
Zhang Chaohe said coolly, "Two hundred million yuan can buy me a sea-view villa."
Zheng Xuecun peeked outside—Wu Hui was still trying to bargain with Vice President Jiang, looking worried and as if he was about to kill himself to entertain Vice President Jiang.
The boss has already taken the lead, so what use is this useless face to him!
Zheng Xuecun steeled herself and flattered, "But if President Zhang invests 200 million in our game, next year there will be countless 200 million to buy villas!"
"You can just buy an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean then. Isn't that just a super ocean view PLUS version with more features for the same price?"
"I do own an island, and I built a resort hotel there. The annual net profit is around tens of millions." Zhang Chaohe lazily controlled his character to run forward, occasionally testing the ease of use of small functions such as dodging, sprinting, and exploration.
Zheng Xuecun: Why buy an island? Buy our game, and we'll have our programmers develop an entire ocean for you!
Zheng Xuecun looked a little dejected. Zhang Chaohe secretly glanced at him and saw him racking his brains to trick him into investing, looking like a wilted eggplant. In fact, he had already made up his mind to invest money, but he just wanted to make things difficult for the project team so that they would have a greater sense of urgency to make money.
Zhang Chaohe asked, "So how do you plan to help me earn back 200 million?"
Zheng Xuecun enthusiastically introduced: "In addition to the regular card pool revenue and character skins, we also support the purchase of stamina for rapid leveling up. The higher the level, the easier it is to explore the world! Moreover, once we have 200 million, we also plan to open up the purchase of special building materials and limited furniture blueprints!"
Zhang Chaohe grunted and asked, "So, how big is your game expected to be?"
Many interesting console and PC games have been slow to launch on mobile devices, partly due to copyright issues and partly because of their large memory footprint. While most mobile phones currently have 128GB or 256GB of storage, these devices can easily take up more than 30GB of memory.
This has significantly limited the pace of the game market's shift to mobile devices.
"28.5G." Zheng Xuecun said sincerely, "But! If you are willing to invest 200 million, we will soon have the money and manpower to optimize the game, and reducing it by half is not a dream!"
Zheng Xuecun was a strong-willed person and would never give up on the road to attracting investment!
With so many players eagerly anticipating "City of Wanderers," he must persevere until the game's release!
Zhang Chaohe stopped teasing him. Even in this world, it was a harsh winter for the gaming industry. Large companies used their superior resources to squeeze out and restrict smaller developers in various ways, and many good games disappeared before dawn in the vicious cycle of the industry.
He hopes that truly well-made games can break through the fast-paced, money-grabbing game market and carve out their own niche.
Because every dream has the potential to be realized.
Of course, this also includes the dreams of every investor.
Seeing the satisfied look on General Manager Zhang's face, Zheng Xuecun knew that they had successfully secured the investment! He forcibly suppressed the wildly upturned corners of his mouth and fawned over him, asking, "Are you really going to invest two hundred million with us?"
Zhang Chaohe didn't hesitate for long: "Okay—"
Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Wei suddenly appeared at the office door, her expression a sinister satisfaction, as if she had just devoured a child. She parted her red lips slightly: "Mr. Zhang, do you know how much investment I just negotiated?"
Jiang Wei, with a piercing gaze, abruptly cut off the two hundred million that Zhang Chaohe was about to say, and stuffed it back into his mouth: "It's 160 million."
His words clearly implied, "You know what will happen if you dare say even a penny more!"
Zheng Xuecun watched helplessly as Xiao Zhang, succumbing to his tyranny, quickly changed his mind: "Okay—invest 160 million!"
Zheng Xuecun: All those years of time, love, and hate were ultimately wasted!
Wu Hui and Zheng Xuecun watched the two golden statues leave the studio with joy on their faces but exhaustion in their eyes. They looked at each other and sighed – one thought he never wanted to fight with the female demon again, and the other thought he never wanted to play with rich people again.
⚹
Zhang Chaohe said goodbye to Jiang Wei and returned to work at Jiasheng. Assistant Chen was looking at documents when he looked up and saw General Manager Zhang walking briskly from the end of the corridor. He immediately stood up to greet him: "You're back, General Manager Zhang."
Mr. Zhang looked a bit listless, as if he wasn't in a good mood. Assistant Chen asked considerately, "Are you unhappy?"
Zhang Chaohe sighed deeply: "I just spent 160 million, of course I can't be happy."
Assistant Chen thought to himself, "It's not good for the boss to be so fussy. What should I do? I'll just have to look at the documents a little longer!"
But he figured he wasn't that close to his boss yet, so he could only offer a subtle and considerate suggestion to Xiao Zhang: "Why don't you play some games?"
He heard from Assistant Jiang that General Manager Zhang liked to slack off at work and play games, so he tried to use the same trick to deceive the ignorant goose.
Mr. Zhang still looked very upset. He stared at Assistant Chen with a wronged expression and said, "Sigh, I really want to eat something delicious."
Assistant Chen softened his heart for a moment—his cat would look at its food bowl with a wronged expression when it broke a glass in the house, as if the whole world had let it down.
Perhaps this is just a common trait among small animals. Assistant Chen thought with affection, a hint of reluctance appearing on his upright and resolute face, which resembled that of a representative of the uprising workers: "I heard that Nan Guan Xiao Guan on the 19th floor of Wan Tai Hui has invited D•M, the up-and-coming Michelin-starred restaurant owner from Beijing, to host a touring dinner. If you are interested, you can give it a try?"
Zhang Chaohe, the stray dog, remained calm: "Okay, then please reserve a spot for me."
Assistant Chen shook his head regretfully: "Their restaurant has a limited daily supply and does not accept reservations. You need to come in person to confirm your dining information."
“That works too.” Zhang Chaohe expressed his understanding—gamers are generally very forgiving of “limited editions,” so he could just pre-order it himself.
He pulled up Cheng Jixue's schedule for the day and found that he was not at the company, but was filming a program at the recording site of "National Collection".
Zhang Chaohe returned to the lounge without a word. Assistant Chen thought he had finally calmed down the rebellious young CEO Zhang, so he took out a new document with peace of mind. However, after reading only two lines, he saw the young CEO Zhang change into a T-shirt and jeans and hurriedly walk out!
The T-shirt also features a wildly drawn, exploding bear!
Assistant Chen hadn't experienced the special period when Boss Zhang wore trendy headbands after being teased by the goose, so he couldn't accept the boss's transformation from a suit and slicked-back elite style to a wild and rebellious cat-head style, leaving him dumbfounded!
The other women in the secretariat remained calm—just a couple of days ago, Director Zhang wore something even more outrageous; it was just about letting loose, so what was the big deal!
Assistant Chen rushed forward in a panic: "Wait a minute! Mr. Zhang, where are you going?"
Zhang Chaohe glanced at him, and like any mischievous child caught sneaking out to play video games by their parents, he gave Assistant Chen a cold look.
Assistant Chen: Honest and simple •jpg;
"Did you drive today?" Mr. Zhang avoided answering the question from earlier.
Assistant Chen hadn't yet reached the lofty level of bravery and fearlessness that Assistant Jiang possessed, and he was easily led astray: "Open...open?"
“Then let’s switch cars. You can drive mine today.” Zhang Chaohe slammed the McLaren car keys in the air.
The ultimate custom-made robin's egg blue McLaren Senna is a testament to Mr. Zhang's noble status; his travels are like those of an emperor, the most dazzling vehicle in the crowd!
Assistant Chen was terrified: "No, no, no..."
The assistant next to her chuckled to herself: "Pfft!"
Assistant Chen had no choice but to agree! Zhang Chaohe forcibly took his Volvo—the tall, muscular Assistant Chen could only watch pitifully as the arrogant young master Zhang left.
"You're not allowed to not open, understand?!" Young Master Zhang threatened loudly before leaving!
"I will definitely keep an eye on him!" the assistant chimed in happily.
Assistant Chen finally understood why this job had high requirements and higher salary—the children in the care program had bad tempers and would occasionally even beat up the kindergarten principal!
The assistant almost laughed herself to death: "Assistant Chen, you're twice the size of Assistant Jiang, how come you don't have any of Assistant Jiang's imposing manner!"
Assistant Chen said sternly, "Get back to work!"
⚹
Zhang Chaohe once again took advantage of the chaos to skip work and escape. He drove Chen's inconspicuous Volvo straight to the filming location, planning to grab Cheng Jixue after get off work and take him to enjoy the limited-edition dinner together.
Because he didn't have a work badge, he couldn't just sneak in—but he didn't want others to know that he skipped work to come here just to wait for someone to eat, so he could only call Cheng Jixue and ask him to come pick him up outside.
Not long after, Xiao Wen rushed out anxiously. He looked around and saw that General Manager Zhang was getting out of a rather plain Volvo with elegance and poise.
There was an exploding bear drawn on the lapel!
Zhang Chaohe just thought it looked good and wore it casually, but Xiao Wen was familiar with various niche trendy brands and knew that this was a limited edition T-shirt hand-painted by a foreign master. Her eyes lit up: "Mr. Zhang, you look really good in this!"
Zhang Chaohe immediately recalled Xiao Wen's heroic act of blocking drinks last time and said with emotion, "Give him a raise."
Xiao Wen happily clutched her heart—who wouldn't like Boss Zhang!
"Brother Cheng is already dressed up and it's not convenient for him to go out, so he asked me to pick you up." Xiao Wen led Cheng Jixue inside: "It'll be a little while before it's their turn. Brother Cheng asked me to take you backstage first, and then we'll go to the audience seats when the show starts!"
Today's program is fortunate to have the original scroll of the national treasure, the meticulous brushwork portrait of theatrical performance, titled "The Thirteen Masters of the Tongzhi and Guangxu Eras." To match the theme of the work, we have also specially invited Peking Opera actors to perform a traditional Peking Opera story.
Cheng Jixue was fortunate to perform alongside other veteran actors, taking on the leading role of "Qingyi" in the performance.
As Zhang Chaohe followed Xiao Wen into the backstage area, the scene was chaotic. As soon as he entered, a dark-faced old man who was adjusting his beard suddenly turned around and his eyes widened when he saw Zhang Chaohe come in!
For a moment, Zhang Chaohe was even intimidated by "Bao Zheng"—the other man's tiger eyes were wide open, a white crescent moon on his forehead was like a bright light hanging in the night, and because he was wearing a fat coat, he looked very tall, strong and powerful, and awe-inspiring, just like the upright and solemn Bao Qingtian in the book descended to earth.
He secretly exclaimed "Wow!" in his heart—no wonder storytellers say that Bao Zheng can distinguish between the living and the dead, he really is so powerful!
Seeing that he hadn't scared anyone, "Bao Zheng" was a little disappointed. He picked up a thermos from the table and put it in his hand, speaking in a rather gentle tone: "Who are you looking for?"
Heaven knows, all of them are in their late forties and early thirties. Even after seeing the news, they couldn't immediately connect this trendy young man with the sophisticated Mr. Zhang – they thought he was just an assistant teacher.
"I'm looking for Cheng Jixue," Zhang Chaohe replied politely.
"Go inside!" Bao Zheng said, clearing his throat before striding confidently toward the front desk.
As Zhang Chaohe walked in, Cheng Jixue came out to greet him. Today, he was performing the aria from "The Legend of the White Snake" where the White Snake angrily rebukes Xu Xian. He was dressed in white, with a red pom-pom on his head that swayed back and forth.
In order to depict the situation of the White Snake being chased and fleeing, she was dressed in a white skirt with a waist belt and two sleeves, and her every move resembled a beautiful white butterfly.
"You've arrived?" Cheng Jixue stood in front of him, and that pleasant woody scent gently wafted over him again—Zhang Chaohe suddenly remembered Bai Chen's staged accident and couldn't help but sigh that there were beautiful white butterflies too!
Zhang Chaohe: He's an ugly guy who always causes trouble!
"Is this your friend?" The young actor playing Xu Xian glanced at him. "Why don't you have your assistant take him to the audience? The sound effects are better there!"
Zhang Chaohe coughed and said, "Hmm... Haven't you been busy all day? I'll treat you to dinner after you get off work."
Cheng Jixue's makeup was all done, and her smile was exceptionally charming. She said sweetly, "Okay, then we'll leave early after I finish recording!"
Zhang Chaohe nodded obediently. The recording was about to begin. The backstage was too busy, so he could only say goodbye to Cheng Jixue in a hurry and follow Xiao Wen to the audience seats.
Xiao Wen had just greeted the production team when Zhang Chaohe quickly crouched down and joined the audience to wait for the show to begin.
The production team was overjoyed to hear that Mr. Zhang had come incognito to watch the performance! He was too embarrassed to fawn over him, but he really wanted to ride the wave of popularity, so he secretly instructed the cameraman, "Make sure you get plenty of footage of Mr. Zhang later!"