Chapter 17

Twenty thousand downloads...

Sun Peng weakly swallowed, checked the time, it was three in the afternoon, and only fifteen hours had passed, yet there were already twenty thousand downloads...

His legs felt a bit weak. The highest number of concurrent online users for the Stone Age game was only around twenty thousand, and the total number of registered users was estimated to be in the millions. In less than a week, this cheat might spread throughout the entire user base...

After all, Abe Cheat was a paid cheat, so covering more than half of the players was just a pipe dream. But a free and useful cheat could potentially reach 100% coverage!

A young technician, seeing everyone's dejected state, tried to comfort them, "They will eventually start charging, and when that happens, the number of paying users will definitely drop sharply..."

Sun Peng glanced at him and said, "What if the number of paying users drops? As long as he sets the price no higher than 15 yuan, he can take all our users away!"

"Then we'll lower our price! To ten yuan!"

The one speaking was the former leader of the Abe team, Jia Bei, known as Abe.

"What if they also lower their price?" Sun Peng said coldly. "When you were competing with us using a free cheat, didn't you consider these things?"

Jia Bei was speechless.

Indeed, if the other side started with a free offer, they wouldn't be afraid of a price war. What a joke!

At the same time, on the second floor of the Big Spider Internet Cafe in Haizhou City.

Zhao Kang was like a soulless body, slumped in front of the computer, muttering to Li Mu, "If this cheat starts charging, how many people do you think would pay for it?"

"Probably no more than a few tens of thousands at most," Li Mu analyzed the current situation of Stone Age. Nationally, a few tens of thousands of people paying for cheats was a relatively reliable number.

"My God," Zhao Kang was completely stunned. "If there are thirty thousand, that's five hundred thousand a month! This..."

Li Mu remained calm. "Don't calculate it that way. The numbers don't work like that."

He then roughly explained the sales situation. Monthly sales start from zero and gradually increase, not reaching tens of thousands overnight. There are also various channel costs and distribution profits at different levels. If they sell three to five hundred thousand a month, making over a hundred thousand would be very optimistic.

"Even a hundred thousand is impressive!" Zhao Kang was dizzy. "My parents earn less than twenty thousand a year. It would take six to seven years to earn a hundred thousand. If we do this cheat business for ten to twenty years, we'd be billionaires."

Li Mu shook his head. "This business won't last long, at most two to three years."

"Why?" Zhao Kang was puzzled.

"Have you been to a disco?"

Zhao Kang nodded. "A few times, it's quite fun."

"Have you heard of the pill that makes people shake their heads?"

Zhao Kang nodded again. "I've heard of it."

Li Mu smiled. "The game company is like a disco. They invest in the venue, equipment, and staff, not just to earn ticket money, but also to sell drinks and fruit platters, which is a big part of their revenue, right?"

"Right."

Li Mu continued, "What is the head-shaking pill? It's a drug that makes people in the disco have more fun. So our cheat is like the head-shaking pill sold by the disco, making people who come to the disco have more fun. But for the disco itself, this is harmful, not beneficial. They don't get the money from selling the pills, and not all customers take them. Once someone takes them and has too much fun, it will affect those who don't take them. In the long run, those who don't take the pills won't want to come here anymore, and the disco's business will plummet. Do you think they will let you off?"

"Damn," Zhao Kang realized the complexity and exclaimed, "Not killing us would be a good thing!"

"Exactly," Li Mu smiled. "So, cheats are like head-shaking pills. The business can't last long. If you rely on one disco for too long, the disco will find ways to stop our pills from coming in and will also try to crack down on us. Then we'll have to move to another disco and continue for a while."

Li Mu continued, "Currently, the law has loopholes and hasn't caught up with this. But in the future, cheats will face a double attack from the government and game operators, and we might even be sentenced to prison. So, this is suitable for a quick profit, not for a long-term business."

Zhao Kang finally understood, nodding repeatedly. "What do you plan to do?"

Li Mu said, "We can't do it for long, but we can do it for two years. However, Stone Age has no future. The best way to handle Stone Age Dominator is to find someone to take it over. We'll get the money and wait until September or October to work on other games."

...

After calming down, Sun Peng carefully thought about his current situation and indeed planned to contact the developer of Stone Age Dominator to find out what they wanted. If they could cooperate, that would be best. If they were determined to crush him, he would be powerless.

So, Sun Peng added the contact information Li Mu left on Stone Age Dominator using his QQ.

A notification icon appeared in the lower right corner of Li Mu's computer.

Li Mu quickly opened it with a shortcut key and snapped his fingers, "Here he is!"

The friend request was from someone with the username "Da Peng Niao," and the verification message read, "The person in charge of Abe Cheat."

Li Mu had been waiting for him, and even his own username was created for him.

"Unyielding to the End."

"What kind of person would have a username like 'Unyielding to the End'? Damn..." Sun Peng cursed at the computer. These four characters gave him an extraordinary sense of pressure. Was the other side indicating that they would fight to the bitter end in the cheat field?

"Looks like he's not an easy one!" The programmers behind him clicked their tongues in amazement.

Just as they were talking, Sun Peng received a response.

"Unyielding to the End has refused to add you as a friend."

Zhao Kang asked in surprise, "Isn't he the one we were waiting for? Why did you reject him when he came to you?"

Li Mu smiled, a cunning look on his face. "It's only been less than twenty-four hours since the release. If I add him as a friend and talk about selling it now, it would be too embarrassing."

Zhao Kang widened his eyes. "You mean to keep him hanging for a few more days?"

"Exactly," Li Mu nodded and smiled. "The trial version of Stone Age Dominator has a fifteen-day trial period. There's still plenty of time. Let Abe's people suffer a bit more. The more they suffer, the more it benefits us."

"Whatever you say, I'll do it," Zhao Kang, who already admired Li Mu greatly, decided to follow his lead.

It was six in the evening. Li Mu said to Zhao Kang, "Let's go home. There's nothing urgent to do in the next few days. You can continue promoting it when you have time."

"What about the computers?" Zhao Kang asked. "Should we keep renting these two machines?"

"I haven't decided yet," Li Mu sighed. In this era, nothing was convenient. Real portable hard drives and USB drives hadn't appeared yet, and floppy disks had very low storage capacity. Internet cafe computers didn't have floppy drives, and even CD drives weren't standard on every machine. They usually had one or two for system installation.

Without a portable hard drive, ordinary computer hard drives lacked power and circuit solutions for mobile storage. CD burners were available, but they were expensive. He couldn't buy one just for a software and a bunch of source code. What a pain!

Li Mu decided to find another solution. If not, he would borrow some money from home to keep renting the two computers long-term.

At the counter downstairs, Li Mu said to Er Bin, "Brother Er Bin, has my three-day rental period ended? How long did I exceed today? Let's calculate the cost."

Er Bin waved his hand. "Go home. It's not like the business is always full every day."

Li Mu smiled. "Brother Er Bin is really nice." He continued, "Then, I'll rent for one more day tomorrow. I'll pay you when I come over."

"Alright, I'll start counting from tomorrow. Don't worry, no one will go to your room tonight."

Li Mu nodded. He needed to find a solution to the data storage problem tomorrow. Renting computers to store data was too wasteful and risky.

Suddenly, he thought of the Abe Cheat and asked Er Bin, "By the way, Brother Er Bin, do you sell cheats here?"

"Yes," Er Bin said. "Abe Cheat, I get it from a provincial agent."

"Provincial agent?" Li Mu frowned. "That's complicated, layer by layer."

"Who knows," Er Bin laughed. "Anyway, people from the provincial capital are responsible for running to each city's internet cafes. They came to talk to me."

Er Bin then said, "But it looks like Abe Cheat is going to fall. A new cheat called Stone Age Dominator came out last night and crushed it."

Li Mu smiled. "So, you'll have some losses?"

"It's no big deal," Er Bin laughed. "I sell less than a hundred a month. It's a minor loss."

Li Mu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "By the way, Brother Er Bin, do you have a CD burner here?"

"I don't have one. It costs over a thousand, and it's useless. What do you need it for?"

"Um," Li Mu nodded. "I want to burn something."

"I'll borrow one for you tomorrow," Er Bin said generously. "I saw one at a support company. They have a HP one."

Li Mu's eyes lit up. He knew that in this era, internet cafe owners weren't very proficient in hardware and software. Each city had support companies that provided installation, software installation, and maintenance services. A CD burner was essential for them.

"Thanks, Brother Er Bin."

"No problem," Er Bin smiled. "I'll get it for you when I pass by their place tomorrow. You can come in the morning, and I'll get you a couple of blank discs. They have plenty, and they're not expensive."