Chapter 15: The Local Area Conquest

Lin Feng's plan was to introduce "Age of Empires" and "StarCraft," which were already popular nationwide but had not yet reached Chushi, to the public ahead of time. Lin Feng believed that "Age of Empires" and "StarCraft" would definitely make many students skip classes to experience their charm, as he himself had once been obsessed with these two games. The popularity of these games only slightly waned when another groundbreaking game, "CS," was released, but even during the peak of "CS," it could not stop a large number of players from loving "Age of Empires" and "StarCraft."

In Lin Feng's memory, "CS" would not officially enter China for another six months, and it would take a year to reach Chushi. Lin Feng believed that within the next year, with these two games, "Chufeng Net City" would remain extremely popular, and the surrounding internet cafes would gradually decline.

Small internet cafes were inherently unsuitable for playing such LAN games. A cafe that could barely form a 4v4 match would have a ruined game if one computer was occupied by someone. If the cafe owner expelled the disruptive player, they would lose that player and their friends forever. Therefore, when LAN games became popular, it was destined to be the end of small internet cafes.

Of course, Lin Feng had another purpose for introducing "Age of Empires" and "StarCraft" at this time: to stabilize the prices at "Chufeng Net City." The small internet cafes around, due to losing customers, had already started a price war, offering 2 yuan during the day and 3 yuan at night. As "Chufeng Net City" expanded its computers, these small internet cafes would lower their prices even further until they could no longer sustain their operations and had to close down.

Lin Feng did not want to respond to the price war by lowering prices. He needed to earn enough initial capital in the short term, so the initial profit could not be low. Therefore, his strategy was to give people a reason they had to come to "Chufeng Net City" to play.

"Age of Empires" and "StarCraft" were Lin Feng's most powerful weapons.

"Brother, are these two games fun?" Chu Zhixuan, who was extremely efficient, brought back two large posters the next day.

"Hehe, brother, just wait and see how the players will flood our net city!" Lin Feng smiled confidently.

"Really that fun?!" Chu Zhixuan was also intrigued. He had been watching these students play various games, and even though he was over thirty, he had experienced the joy of gaming. However, he did not enjoy RPGs with their long storylines and the need to find items to progress. He also did not like SLG games, finding them unrealistic. He preferred fast-paced, exciting games.

The posters Chu Zhixuan printed for "Age of Empires" and "StarCraft" were very appealing, making people want to play. Lin Feng also posted a banner between the two large posters.

Do you want to experience the cold weapon warfare of the ancient era or the futuristic space warfare? Everything is at "Chufeng Net City"! Here, you can fulfill your dream of being a general!

That afternoon, after school, students flocked to "Chufeng Net City," clamoring to play these two games. However, these games had just entered Chushi, and most people were not very skilled, only following some basic strategies they found online to slowly upgrade, build armies, and fight. They could not fully experience the joy of commanding and battling as described on the banner.

"Alright, I'll play 1v7. Who's up?" Lin Feng knew he had to demonstrate the true charm of these games to the students.

Wow! The crowd was stunned. 1v7 was extremely arrogant. Some people had occasionally played "Age of Empires" and "StarCraft" online, but it was usually 2v2 or 1v1, and no one had ever boasted about playing 1v7.

"I'll do it!" A third-year student jumped up,不服气 (unwilling to admit defeat).

"I'll join too!" With someone leading, others joined the battle.

"Hey, brother, are you sure? You'll be embarrassed if you lose." Chu Zhixuan kindly reminded him. He had played these games, finding the long upgrades and battles boring and not particularly enjoyable.

"Hehe, brother, just wait and see!" Lin Feng would not have boasted about 1v7 if he was not confident. He had seen the level of "Age of Empires" in Chushi, and it was still very poor. Most players took about 22 minutes to reach the Bronze Age, while Lin Feng, with his not-so-outstanding skills, could reach the Iron Age in the same time.

Of course, the poor skills of these students were partly due to the limitations of the small internet cafes in Chushi. Due to the size, online play was restricted, so most people could not fully appreciate the charm of these games and thus did not study them deeply. This allowed Lin Feng to confidently boast about 1v7.

Lin Feng arrogantly chose the Hittites, a powerful Iron Age civilization. The other seven players chose a variety of civilizations, with the most common being the Shang Dynasty.

Amidst the sounds of hunting deer, gathering fruits, and chopping trees, Lin Feng was the first to upgrade. A minute later, the other seven players also upgraded, but they reached the Bronze Age, while Lin Feng reached the Iron Age, a full minute ahead.

Playing "Age of Empires" and being one age ahead of the opponents, with a one-minute lead, was an overwhelming advantage. The battle unfolded as Lin Feng predicted. When his 15-range gold catapults went into action, they were invincible, easily destroying the opponents' units like Sun Wukong defeating Zhu Bajie.

"This is too unfair." The spectators behind Lin Feng could not stand it.

Lin Feng's gold catapults destroyed large areas with each hit, while the opponents' catapults were like toys, breaking easily. It took several of their catapults to damage one of Lin Feng's. Lin Feng used his technological advantage to offset the severe numerical disadvantage.

Lagging behind means being beaten! — Chairman Mao was right!

As the battle progressed, the seven players' combined forces suffered continuous defeats. Finally, they decided to split their forces, with five players blocking Lin Feng's troops on the front line, while the other two gathered all their forces to directly attack Lin Feng's base.

Lin Feng saw through their plan clearly. However, he was not afraid and instead took advantage of the lack of enemy forces to launch a major offensive.

After a fierce battle, with the other five players exhausting all their forces, Lin Feng's "main" forces were also depleted.

"Hurry, you two, destroy his base!" The five players shouted in unison. They no longer had the strength to fight, and the outcome of the battle depended on the two players who had retreated to attack Lin Feng's base.

The crowd shook their heads. They were not lamenting Lin Feng's near defeat but the惨败 (crushing defeat) of the seven players.

When the remaining two players led all their forces into Lin Feng's base, they encountered layer upon layer of walls tightly surrounding Lin Feng's territory. After the two players struggled to dismantle all the walls, their initially confident expressions turned to shock.

"This... this is too much!" The two players screamed and immediately quit the game.

Inside Lin Feng's territory, countless gold catapults and ballistae waited for the two players' forces to arrive.

"Let's play another round!" The seven players, having lost to one, felt very embarrassed.

"Sure, I'll play with you." Lin Feng smiled, but this time he chose the Assyrians. He wanted to show them that "Age of Empires" had more than one way to play.

While the seven players were still struggling to upgrade to the Tool Age, Lin Feng reached the Bronze Age in 13 minutes and sent out a small team of cavalry to hunt at 14 minutes. When the last player finally reached the Bronze Age, Lin Feng's cavalry had already wiped out the other six players and were at the last player's doorstep.

"Expert!!!" The crowd praised in unison.

Lin Feng could see from the crowd's eyes that these two battles not only showed the diversity of "Age of Empires" but also ignited their passion for the game.

The next battle would be the classic "StarCraft."

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