Chapter 552: Selling "Dreams"
Hong Yutao sold his equipment, then logged off and looked for someone to borrow money on QQ. After a long time of trying, he still failed to get the money. He thought it was bad luck, then he stood up, patted Shi Jinhao on the shoulder, and said, "Haozi, let's go. Since I didn't get the money, I'll go to Uncle Da's place and buy some instant noodles to fill my stomach."
However, Shi Jinhao seemed to be petrified, sitting motionless in his seat, his eyes fixed on the computer screen.
Hong Yutao pushed Shi Jinhao's shoulder hard and said loudly, "Hey! Haozi, let's go."
Shi Jinhao finally woke up from his dream. He turned his head with lifeless eyes to look at Hong Yutao and murmured, "I seem to have made a fortune."
Without saying anything, Hong Yutao gave Shi Jinhao a big slap: "What kind of money are you making? Are you starving?"
Shi Jinhao was anxious, pointing at the computer screen and said loudly: "It's true, there is a player here who wants to buy my paralysis ring, and he said the price is 500,000 RMB. Let me wait here, he will come over later."
"What the hell are you talking about? This guy is crazy, a paralysis ring with such a rubbish attribute for 500,000 RMB?"
Although Hong Yutao saw the chat records on the computer screen, he didn't believe it at all: "I tell you, this guy is definitely a liar!"
Shi Jinhao said: "What does he want?"
"hiss……"
Hong Yutao was suddenly speechless.
Yeah, what does this liar want?
Worst case scenario, isn't it just a scam to get a paralysis ring?
Such rubbish accessories and equipment, if you get cheated, so be it. Anyway, you can’t sell them for many gold coins in the system store.
The two of them were shouting and yelling, which immediately attracted the attention of other players in the Internet cafe. Even the owner of the Internet cafe came over to join in the fun.
"Are you playing "Legend of Mir 2"? "
"What did you say? Someone offered you 500,000 RMB for a piece of junk equipment? Are you sure you're not kidding?"
"The properties of this ring seem to be really average. There is a 5% chance of stunning for five seconds. It's useless."
"This man is a fool, identification completed."
"Five hundred thousand to buy gaming equipment? Wouldn't that make you rich overnight?"
“That’s outrageous.”
At this moment, a group of people appeared at the entrance of the Internet cafe, led by a young man, followed by a large group of reporters.
The young man in the lead was naturally Li Quanwang, and the reporters behind him were all asked by Lu Yiming to come.
Li Quanwang shouted, "Who is 'Little Shrimp'?"
Hearing this shout, Shi Jinhao perked up, looked at Li Quanwang with complicated eyes, and said, "It's me."
Everyone in the Internet cafe looked towards the door.
Li Quanwang walked in with the reporter, and without saying anything, he took out a stack of brand new 100-yuan bills from his briefcase and said, "Five hundred thousand, do you want to count them?"
The accompanying reporters pointed various cameras at the two people and took pictures.
Looking at the hundred-yuan bill in Li Quanwang's hand, Shi Jinhao swallowed hard and stammered, "Are you...are you serious?"
Li Quanwang said unhappily, "I have hundreds of thousands of people every minute. Why don't you come here to have fun? Boss, help me open the machine, and I'll buy things."
"Okay... okay..."
The owner of the Internet cafe was stunned and hurried to operate. Hong Yutao said: "You can use my computer to log in. I am his brother."
"Um."
Li Quanwang didn't care. He logged into his account and said to Shi Jinhao, "Where's the paralysis ring? Give it to me, and the money is yours."
"Oh...oh...ok..."
Shi Jinhao operated his account woodenly and completed the transaction with Li Quanwang.
Li Quanwang threw a stack of banknotes in front of Shi Jinhao and said, "This money is all yours, count it."
Where had Shi Jinhao seen so much money? He had barely touched a ten-yuan bill, and he couldn't even tell whether a hundred-yuan bill was real or fake.
And he was smart. It would not be safe for him to go out in front of so many people with $500,000 in cash.
He quickly said, "Boss... I have my ID card with me. Can you accompany me to the bank to open an account and deposit the money?"
Li Quanwang said, "Okay."
At that moment, accompanied by Li Quanwang, Shi Jinhao took the money, found a nearby bank, opened an account, and deposited the 500,000 yuan into it.
Looking at the string of zeros on the passbook, Shi Jinhao felt dizzy.
He bit his lips tightly to prevent himself from screaming.
The previous second, he was a street urchin who was so poor that he couldn't even afford a meal.
In the blink of an eye, he already had half a million in his hands.
Half a millionaire!
With this money, you can buy a luxury house in the center of Baiyun City!
Hong Yutao's eyes turned red with envy, and he said, "Why don't you treat me to a big meal? Apart from anything else, you have to pay for my internet fee from now on! No! We fought for this ring as a team, and I have a share too!"
Shi Jinhao said loudly: "With so much money, why would we go out to surf the Internet? I will just give you a top-of-the-line computer!"
"You still have to give me the money!"
“…”
"We were fighting together. If you don't give me your share of the money, believe it or not, I will kill you."
In the Internet cafe, the people who witnessed the birth of a half-millionaire went crazy.
“It’s actually true!”
"A paralysis ring sold for 500,000 RMB?"
"What the hell, one piece of equipment for one house."
"If only I were that lucky."
"Hurry up and get some equipment. If you can get a paralysis ring, you'll be rich."
"Boss, drive for me for another three hours."
Soon, the news that a mysterious player spent 500,000 RMB to purchase gaming equipment appeared in the newspapers.
Five hundred thousand is definitely not a small sum. Even in the era of skyrocketing housing prices, it can be used as a down payment in first-tier cities.
Nowadays, you can buy a house in any city.
The stimulation of exchanging a gaming equipment for a house is really addictive.
For a time, the game "Legend of Mir 2" became extremely popular as news spread and word of mouth.
The Internet cafe that installed "Legend of Mir 2" was packed 24 hours a day and it was impossible to wait for a computer.
However, those Internet cafes that did not install "Legend of Mir 2" were deserted and had no players coming at all.
These Internet cafes took the initiative to seek change, downloading "Legend of Mir 2" and then installing the Tongxin Internet Cafe Management System to attract customers.
When school started in September, countless primary and secondary school students returned to the classroom, and the main force of "Legend of Mir 2" also shifted to college students.
Walking around the campus, you can see boys everywhere enthusiastically discussing the contents of the game, and the most mentioned topic is naturally the "sky-high" paralysis ring.
A boy wearing thick glasses, holding a book in his arms, with a scholarly look on his face, asked in confusion: "Why is this paralysis ring so expensive? It's obviously very ordinary in properties. Five hundred thousand RMB! Five hundred thousand, how many books can you buy with this?"
A high-spirited student next to him looked disdainful and said, "What do you know? This equipment is not for killing monsters, it's for PK. Haven't you read the posts on the official game forum? There are big-time warriors who use paralysis rings to fight three people of the same level. Now many guild leaders are offering high prices to buy paralysis rings. If you get one, you can have a car, a house, and everything else."
The boy adjusted his glasses and muttered, "I still find it incredible. This is 500,000 RMB! Not 500,000 gold coins. Is it worth spending so much money just to play a game?"
"What's the point of it? It's OK as long as the rich boss thinks it's worth it. You're not the one paying for it."
"That's right. Hey, it's nice to have money."
In just one month, the number of simultaneous online players of "Legend of Mir 2" exceeded 100,000, which shattered the views of many gaming colleagues.
Especially the Leijue Company, the pioneer of Xiaguo's online game market, suffered a huge loss and didn't even know where it lost.
More and more peers are gradually gearing up and eyeing the emerging online gaming market.
After all, Lu Yiming has proven through his own actions that this emerging business field has great potential.
Before long, Xiaguotai's "Network Three Kingdoms", Uchikotong's Korean online game "Light of Darkness", and Jingcheng Huayi's "Stone Age" all began to promote extensively, hoping to enter the mainland market and get a piece of the online game pie.
At Junzi Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Co., Ltd., Jiang Rongfa posted three exclamation marks on QQ, saying, "Mr. Lu, your marketing method is really amazing. Who could have imagined that there would be such a hype? Now the price of the paralysis ring has been recognized by the market, which means that it is possible to make money by playing our games! You can make money by playing games, who can stop it?"
Lu Yiming recalled his glorious days before and after the Olympics when he was obsessed with online games. He said to Jiang Rongfa, "Just wait. This is just the beginning."
Jiang Rongfa said: "Many games from Taiwan and South Korea have been released, and they are coming in with great momentum. They are all veterans in the game market, and we are pure newcomers. Mr. Lu, we can't rest on our laurels."
Lu Yiming also noticed this market trend, and he had played all these games back then. Although there were some eye-catching works, none of them could match the popularity and durability of "Legend of Mir 2" - let's put it this way, in the 1920s, more than 20 years after the release of "Legend of Mir 2", it was still possible to make hundreds of millions of dollars by selling various plug-in versions of web games. Who else could do that?
Lu Yiming said, "These guys are just small fry, not worth mentioning. But you have to be especially careful, and don't let go of any anomalies that disrupt the balance of the game, that is, plug-ins. Deal with them all together if you find them, and permanently ban anyone who uses plug-ins. Open a special section in the forum announcement to specifically target these plug-in dogs."
Among the three games, "Network Three Kingdoms", "Dark Light" and "Stone Age", the only one that is a bit threatening is "Stone Age".
It’s a pity that most early online games encountered a frustrating problem, that is, plug-ins.
Most game operating companies are unable to handle the problem of plug-ins, especially those companies that act as agents for foreign games.
The former "Legend of Mir 2" was ruined by plug-ins in this way, and the same was true for "Stone Age".
Especially in the Stone Age, it was to the point where ordinary players couldn't play the game normally without installing plug-ins, which led to the game becoming popular for a short time before many players abandoned it in anger.
As someone who has experienced this, Lu Yiming will naturally learn from it.
Jiang Rongfa said worriedly, "Not only killing people, but also destroying their hearts? Aren't you afraid that the players will make trouble?"
After the account is blocked, it is still posted on the forum. Is this something a human would do?
Lu Yiming said: "If they like to make trouble, then let them make trouble. It's not like I can't afford a lawyer. I'll slowly file a lawsuit later. And regarding plug-ins, it's clearly stated in the user instructions, so don't worry about a small number of players making trouble. What we want to create is a gaming environment that is as fair as possible. We are serving the vast majority of ordinary players, who are the bread and butter of Legend of Mir 2."
Jiang Rongfa thought about it and it seemed to be the case, so he said, "No problem, I will arrange it right away. All the cheats will be banned and their QQ will be blocked. And the cheat section of the forum will be posted at the top for public notice."
"Um."
After arranging matters for the gaming company, Lu Yiming prepared to leave for Suzhou and Hangzhou to keep his appointment. After all, he had promised Jack Ma that he would attend the first West Lake Sword Conference.
"Hello, Xiaoxue, let's go to Hangzhou. Jack Ma asked me to go over there for a meeting."
Shi Qingxue said, "I won't go. You're here to discuss serious matters. Why should I go to join in the fun? And I have to ask for leave from school. The procedures are too complicated."
"All right."
Although Lu Yiming felt sorry that he couldn't go with her, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't force Shi Qingxue to go with him.
On the afternoon of September 9, 2000, at Xiaoshan Airport, Jack Ma came personally to pick us up.
Lu Yiming looked at Jack Ma, who was dressed in a proper manner, and couldn't help but laugh: "Now you have made a name for yourself, Old Ma, and have become the leader of the martial arts world. That's amazing."
Jack Ma quickly said, "It's all because of my colleagues who are giving me face. There's no such thing as a martial arts leader."
At this time, Jack Ma's status in the industry was not as high as it would be ten years later. People like Zhang Chaoyang were the real bigwigs in the Internet industry.
But because Jack Ma invited his fellow Zhejiang native Jin Yong to preside over the debate, the presence of the great hero made this debate the pinnacle gathering of the Chinese Internet industry at that time.
Jin Yong's participation in the conference was also one of the main reasons why Lu Yiming decided to come and attend this forum.
After all, people of his age have grown up watching "Flying Snow and Shooting White Deer, Laughing Book and The Hero Leaning on Green Mandarin Duck".
Lu Yiming joked, "Not yet. You've even invited Mr. Jin Yong. Who else?"
Jack Ma was very proud in his heart, but he looked very humble: "Mr. Jin Yong is the host of this West Lake Sword Discussion. Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang, Quwen.com President Cao Guowei, NetEase Chairman Ding Sanshi, 8848 Chairman Wang Juntao, and Li Yanhong, who just returned to China to work on search, are also here."
Lu Yiming said, "Old Ma, if you hold more West Lake Sword Contests , it will surely become a great story in the future."
After receiving Lu Yiming's praise, Jack Ma seemed to feel lighter. He smiled modestly and said, "No, no."
After arriving at the hotel and resting for a night, the forum opened the next morning. When Lu Yiming appeared at the venue, everyone was shocked.
"Is Jack Ma so influential that he can even invite the richest man?"
"Yeah, it seems like they really came this time, even the richest man came."
"Let's go up and get to know each other later."
After the opening ceremony, many people came towards Lu Yiming holding their business cards.
"Mr. Lu, nice to meet you, I am..."
However, Sohu's Zhang Chaoyang remained unmoved.
Sohu successfully listed on NASDAQ. He felt that with the current momentum, the reason why Lu Yiming won the title of the richest man was because of his first-mover advantage. Given time, he would not be too bad and might not have no chance to win the title. After all, Sohu's listing on NASDAQ made Zhang Chaoyang feel that he was the trendsetter of that era, the son of God.
In the crowd, Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong stood like minions, watching from afar as Lu Yiming was surrounded and chatting and laughing with the big guys.
After Lu Yiming dealt with some people, he saw the two and took the initiative to greet them, "Brother Xiao Ma, Mr. Zhang, you are here too ."
Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong then came forward.
Lu Yiming asked: "Brother Xiao Ma, now that Tencent has been sold, what are you going to do next?"
Xiao Ma Ge said bluntly: "Online games have been very popular recently. I think we can make efforts in this area."
Lu Yiming heard this but remained silent.
When talking about the history of online games, Tencent is definitely a company that cannot be avoided.
Although all the original works made by Tencent have failed - in all aspects, such as e-commerce, short videos, online games, online videos, live broadcasts, online literature - all original products made by Tencent in all fields involved have failed without exception - but they are good at plagiarism. Relying on plagiarism, agency, agency then plagiarism, plagiarism then agency and other means, Tencent has directly become the number one in Asia.
Even Lu Yiming dare not underestimate the five tigers of Tencent.
Even if they lose QQ, the largest social platform, as long as they stay on the right track, they will definitely achieve something in the future.
"Yes, online games are indeed a very good direction, and many good works have emerged recently. I have to say, Brother Xiao Ma, your vision is really accurate. You have found a new track for you to develop in no time."
Lu Yiming praised a few times, and then pretended to be relaxed and said: "If you are short of money for starting a business, just tell me. I don't have anything else, but this money is enough. To be honest, I am also very optimistic about the online game track. If you have a good project, we can do it together."
After hearing what Lu Yiming said, Ma Teng and Zhang Zhidong were both nervous and excited.
After all, QQ was acquired by Lu Yiming because of Lu Yiming's early investment. Who knows what will happen to the new company after Lu Yiming's investment?
However, Lu Yiming's words solved their worries about funds. With Lu Yiming as a cash cow, they were more confident in starting a business.
