Chapter 27

"Overall downloads have exceeded five hundred thousand."

After calculating for a while on his laptop, Zhao Kang gave Li Mu the latest results.

Li Mu smiled and said, "It's about time we start reaching out to the Abecheats people."

As he spoke, Li Mu sat in front of the computer and opened his "Never Give Up" QQ.

Sun Peng had added Li Mu several more times that night.

With a light click on the "agree" button, a new friend appeared in Li Mu's friend list, with a deep male profile picture — "Big Peng Bird."

This was Li Mu's first friend on his alternate account.

At that moment, Sun Peng was munching on a pancake for breakfast, while the others were still resting in another residential building. They were night owls, generally living on American time. The reason he woke up early today was because of the anxiety in his heart, waiting for "Never Give Up" to accept his friend request.

Suddenly, a coughing sound came through, making Sun Peng's spirits rise. He quickly opened the message and immediately threw the pancake aside, opened the chat box, and rapidly typed, "Hello, I am the head of Abecheats, and I would like to discuss a collaboration with you."

Li Mu replied, "We should be competitors, right? What's there to collaborate on?"

Sun Peng sighed in front of the computer. This guy is really arrogant!

However, Sun Peng still patiently replied, "Stone Age Overlord is indeed a very excellent cheat, but you can't keep it free forever, right?"

Li Mu: "Didn't you see the 15-day free trial period?"

Sun Peng: "Yes, but what about after the trial period? How do you plan to sell the cheat in large quantities and efficiently? Direct sales or monthly subscription?"

Li Mu: "How I operate is none of your business."

Sun Peng: "I have a sales channel that can sell over 30,000 monthly subscriptions. I want to collaborate with you. Are you interested?"

Li Mu: "Just because you say 30,000, it's 30,000?"

Sun Peng: "We sold 30,000 last month. Without Stone Age Overlord, I was planning to aim for 40,000 this month. It's summer break now, and the number of players is surging."

Li Mu: "So you want to help me distribute Stone Age Overlord?"

Sun Peng: "Something like that. I want to be the exclusive distributor of Stone Age Overlord. If you set the price at 15 yuan, you can net 6 yuan per sale."

Giving Li Mu 6 yuan was Sun Peng's conservative estimate. Previously, his Abecheats sold for 15 yuan, and his distributors took profits at each level, leaving him with only 8 yuan in gross profit. He had many people to support, and he thought it was very fair to take 2 yuan per sale.

Li Mu: "Can you pay in advance?"

Sun Peng was taken aback. Prepayment was something he had always dreamed of, but the distributors below him wouldn't agree. They always sold first and settled later, with the money being collected layer by layer. If "Never Give Up" wanted prepayment, it would be difficult for him. He would have to pay Li Mu first and then wait for the dealers to settle at the end of the month.

Abecheats' goal for this month was to sell 40,000 copies. Given the large download volume of Stone Age Overlord, if it started charging, selling 50,000 copies during the summer break would not be a problem. If he gave 6 yuan per copy, he would need to pay 300,000 yuan upfront. How much would he earn? The gross profit per copy was only 2 yuan, so 50,000 copies would yield 100,000 yuan.

100,000 yuan might seem like a lot, but he had a team to support. The salaries of the employees in the two teams, the rent for the office, and the living expenses of several people amounted to several tens of thousands of yuan each month. After splitting the remaining profit with the other two shareholders, he would be left with only about 10,000 yuan. To earn 10,000 yuan, he would have to front 300,000 yuan each month. How could he do this business?

Sun Peng: "We can't do it this way. The profit margin is too low, and we have to front so much money. That profit isn't enough to support the team. We are a merged team from Qianyu and Abecheats. Have you heard of them?"

Li Mu: "Are both of your teams programmers? I don't understand why you need technical personnel if you buy my cheat."

This question left Sun Peng speechless.

Indeed, if he stopped developing cheats, what use would he have for his current team? Would they just be a burden?

Li Mu asked again, "Is the sales channel in your personal control?"

Sun Peng: "Yes."

Li Mu: "Here's the deal. One million yuan, and I'll sell you the program and all the source code. You can handle it yourself. If your sales channel is as good as you say, selling 30,000 to 40,000 copies a month, you can earn at least 100,000 to 200,000 yuan per month. You'll recoup your investment in half a year."

Sun Peng was stunned in front of the computer.

He did some calculations in his head.

From his perspective, selling 50,000 copies of Stone Age Overlord a month was not difficult. If he took it over and used his own sales channel, he could earn 8 yuan per sale, which would be 400,000 yuan a month.

This was not gross profit, but net profit!

He wouldn't be tied down by the two teams, wouldn't have to develop or invest, and wouldn't have to deal with people like Jia Bei. He could earn 400,000 yuan a month on his own. If he sold for half a year, he would be rich!

Almost instantly, Sun Peng felt a sense of relief, as if he had shed all his burdens. He was so excited that he trembled and asked Li Mu on QQ, "Can you give me a discount? I can't afford that much money."

Li Mu: "No discount. You have three days to consider. There are others who want this cheat from me during these days."

Sun Peng: "Can you leave a phone number? I'll contact you when I've made up my mind."

Li Mu: "QQ contact is fine."

Li Mu closed QQ, and Zhao Kang looked at Li Mu as if he were a god and asked, "Will he really agree to one million yuan?"

Li Mu thought for a moment, "I doubt it. He probably doesn't have that much money."

The entire industry had been running for about two years, generating tens of millions in revenue. Sun Peng had a team to support and shareholders to pay dividends to. After all his hard work, he probably hadn't even earned 500,000 yuan.

Li Mu's guess was correct. Sun Peng did some calculations and found that he had only earned about 400,000 yuan so far.

Moreover, his business had only started to improve in the last two to three months, but it had been suppressed by Stone Age Overlord.

However, Sun Peng had been developing cheats for Stone Age for a long time and was very confident in the game, even to the point of being overly optimistic. Although he thought the price of one million yuan was very high, deep down, he believed that if he really bought it for one million yuan, he could recoup his investment in a quarter.

The problem was, where could he get one million yuan?

Sun Peng was not from a wealthy family; otherwise, he wouldn't be in this business. He had about 400,000 yuan, and his family could contribute at most 100,000 yuan.

It seemed that he wanted to swallow the big cake of Stone Age Overlord, but his teeth weren't strong enough.

However, he then thought of his other partner.

The one before Jia Bei joined. A rough calculation showed that he should have earned about 200,000 yuan by now. His family could also contribute some money. If they pooled their resources and negotiated with "Never Give Up," they could aim for 800,000 yuan and do it together, just the two of them, no more.

Sun Peng quickly made up his mind. The other partner was trustworthy and always obedient, unlike Jia Bei, who was difficult to control.

Sun Peng then closed his QQ, smoked a cigarette, and went to the adjacent building they used as a dormitory, waking everyone up.

With a worried look, Sun Peng sighed deeply under the gaze of about eight or nine people and casually stomped out the cigarette butt on the ground, "Guys, I've decided to quit."

"What??" Everyone except the two partners was unable to accept it.

Although they had not made a fortune, they were earning several thousand yuan a month, which was much better than being a white-collar worker. If they disbanded, everything would be over.

They had hoped that Sun Peng and the other two partners could contribute some money to help them through for a while.

Jia Bei also angrily spoke up, "Damn it, I'll quit too. It's meaningless. I'll stay home for a while and try again if a new game comes out. Anyway, there's no future in Stone Age!"

A technician who had been following Jia Bei frowned, "The technology of 'Never Give Up' is too advanced. If he's entering the cheat market, he won't just stick to Stone Age!"

"Damn!" Jia Bei cursed, "This guy is clearly trying to force us out! I don't believe this industry can be monopolized by one person!"

Sun Peng waved his hand, "Don't say useless things. Let's settle the accounts. Since we're parting ways, let's do it amicably. We'll pay everyone's salary for this month, calculated by the day up to today. We'll return these two houses this month. The computers and other equipment, the brothers who have been with me since Qianyu can take their computers, as a way for me to leave you a means of livelihood. If you know how to program and have a computer, you can do something else in the future."

Each of these computers, when assembled, cost about 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. Even with depreciation, they could still sell for at least 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. The price of electronic equipment didn't drop too quickly at that time, so Sun Peng was being quite generous.

When Sun Peng said this, the people from Qianyu breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, they had received some benefit, and Sun Peng had been quite considerate.

"Qianyu's people can take the computers, but my Abecheats people can't! I haven't made much money either."