Get Out of My Computer!

Shen Miaomiao's heart lurched!

What did 'some discrepancies' mean?

After all!

She had already positioned this game as 'take not a single cent, focus on participation'!

In terms of sales, there was theoretically no room for a decline.

Which meant...

Shen Miaomiao's brow furrowed involuntarily, an extremely bad premonition rising in her heart!

"So..."

Shen Miaomiao hesitated as she spoke, her tone filled with uncertain dread:

"How many copies of this game did we sell?"

Surely there weren't really hundreds of suckers who bought Mario Bros.!

A pained grimace took shape on Shen Miaomiao's small face.

She carefully tossed out the question!

Then she heard Chu Qingzhou's light laugh on the other end of the phone:

"CEO Shen, what's wrong with you? Yesterday, weren't you saying you had full confidence in this game?"

"Oh, right,"

At this point, Chu Qingzhou seemed to remember something:

"I need to apologize to you. Yesterday, when you said this game had unique gameplay and boundless potential, I didn't believe it."

"But now it seems you really had a sharp eye back then, and your judgment of the market was quite insightful!"

Normally, hearing such a flattering compliment would make anyone happy.

After all, who doesn't like being praised!

But Shen Miaomiao was different!

Hearing Chu Qingzhou's words, she wasn't happy at all—instead, she broke out in a cold sweat!

I have a bad feeling about this...

If Sister Chuchu is praising her this much, just how many copies did this game sell!!!

"Ahem, Sister Chuchu, we're family, no need for formalities,"

Shen Miaomiao couldn't hold back her anxiety any longer and cleared her throat to interrupt Chu Qingzhou:

"So, what's Director Gu's sales result for Mario Bros....?"

"Haha, CEO Shen, your guess of a few hundred copies is way too conservative!"

On the other end of the line, Chu Qingzhou's voice was light and cheerful:

"We got off to a great start! 12 hours, total sales of 4,872 copies, total revenue of 9,744—we're about to recoup our principal!"

"...How... how many?!"

Before Chu Qingzhou could finish!

Shen Miaomiao let out a shrill shriek, sounding even more excited than Chu Qingzhou, almost cracking her voice.

"Haha, four thousand eight hundred seventy-two copies!"

Chu Qingzhou laughed heartily on the other end:

"What do you think? CEO Shen, you didn't expect this sales number either, did you? Surprise! Unexpected!"

Damn it!

Shen Miaomiao's vision went dark!

She collapsed directly onto the bed and rebooted on the spot!

Surprise... it really was too much of a surprise...

So surprising that she wanted to open the window right now, go downstairs to buy some fireworks to celebrate—without using the stairs or the elevator.

Did Cinema teach him how to make games like this?!

Were those players all crazy, with money to burn, buying such a piece of junk?!

Over four thousand eight hundred copies?!

Over nine thousand seven hundred bucks?!

So I only lost three hundred bucks?

Oh no, wait!

This was only the sales data for less than a day!

At this rate, Mario Bros. would break five thousand copies and easily recoup the principal!

But if the earnings exceed the principal before the system settles, the system will automatically determine the investment a success, and the rebate will be voided on the spot!

Thinking of this, Shen Miaomiao opened the system in despair and took a look.

[Rebate System]

[Current Investment Amount: 10,000 yuan]

[Expected Rebate Amount: 3,000 yuan]

[Time Remaining Until Settlement: 6 days 15 hours]

[...]

Gulp!

"Wh... why..."

Shen Miaomiao lay on the bed, her eyes filled with unwillingness, like a defeated villain boss just short of spitting blood.

On the other end of the phone, Chu Qingzhou seemed far too cheerful to notice her young lady's despair:

"Haha! Because we got lucky! Yesterday, a streamer happened to be doing a show and picked our game to stream live!"

"The show effect, hahahaha! I laughed so hard tears came out!"

"Anyway, I'll send you the video later. Take a look, it's really funny..."

As the call ended.

Shen Miaomiao lay stiff on the bed, as if she'd lost her soul.

A full half hour!

Only then did Shen Miaomiao let out a long sigh and wail:

"Ahhh—my little money—!!!"

This was way too ridiculous!

Who could have seen this coming!

And on top of that, she'd crammed last night by studying the sales data for casual games over the past three years!

Just on the Yiyou Platform alone, in those three years, fewer than 500 casual games had sold over 1,000 copies on day one.

Games that sold over 5,000 copies on day one? Even fewer—less than 50!

And those day-one 5,000-plus sellers were either household-name sequels, works by famous designers, or backed by established companies!

But their game, "Mario Bros."?

It was just a shoddy piece of garbage made by a newly restructured company that hired a dumb senior-year designer, with sloppy art, abstract characters, and sadistic levels!

How the hell did it sell so many copies?!

Could it really be, as Sister Chuchu said, a stroke of luck, bumping into a big streamer doing free promotion?

Thinking this, Shen Miaomiao picked up her phone again and opened the video Chu Qingzhou had sent her—

"...My verdict: it's nothing special!"

In the video, A Yin waved his hand at the camera, cool and confident.

And the abstract little cat in the game had also gone through countless trials and tribulations.

Now it stood triumphantly at the top of the grand staircase, staring at the flagpole not far ahead, a smile plastered on its face:

A Yin was a bit smug:

"See that up ahead? Tell me in the danmaku, loud and clear—"

The danmaku burst into laughter:

'It's -59 lives'

'Hahahaha negative sixty lives'

'I love this confident look of yours'

'Forgot how you got crushed by that random falling enemy just now?'

'I bet you can't even touch that flagpole in one life, I'll send you a rocket right now'

'Why are we still talking about rockets'

'Hahahahaha from now on, no rockets allowed in the stream'

'We should suggest to the platform to change the boss's rocket into a pipe shape'

'Heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking...'

The danmaku scrolled by with mockery and teasing, making A Yin feel like Kong Yiji walking into a tavern.

Sure, he'd been gaming for years, considered himself a veteran player with countless highlight reels, and though he sometimes messed up, he'd never been this ridiculous before!

Just one level!

He actually owed 59 lives!

If you counted the initial three lives given at the start, this Mario Bros. first level had tortured him over sixty times!

If this could be endured, what couldn't?

"Quit your bragging, bro! I'm right at the finish line, how could I possibly die now!"

A Yin shook his fist, venting at the barrage comments while also psyching himself up:

"I'll just make one big jump and clear the level—no way I'm wasting half a life!"

As he spoke!

A Yin took a deep breath!

"Here—I go!!!"

A huge leap!

Mario Bros. traced an elegant arc through the air, almost reaching the top of the finish flagpole!

Whoosh—!!!

Suddenly, a red barrage comment flew straight out from the right side of the game screen—

[Clear the level? Not a chance!]

Bam!

The red comment, like a speeding truck, slammed hard into Mario Bros., sending him flying!

Lives: -60

A brief silence.

A Yin's face shifted from green to red, then from red to purple, like a volcano on the verge of eruption!

Then, his face flushed crimson, he raised his fist and smashed it heavily onto the desk!

Boom!

The keyboard and mouse on the desk jumped with the vibration, and the controller was hurled away by A Yin!

That day, everyone in A Yin's neighborhood heard that roar of helpless rage, brimming with grievance, even tinged with a sob—

"If I ever play this game again, I'm a damn grandson!!!"

"Get lost! Get—!!!"

"Get out of my computer!!!"

Watching this scene, Shen Miaomiao couldn't help but wince from outside the screen.

Uh-oh, it looked like our game had driven someone insane...