Get Out of My Computer!

Shen Miaomiao's heart skipped a beat!

What did "some discrepancies" mean?

She had to know!

She had already positioned this game as "not making a single cent, participation is what matters"!

Theoretically, there was no room for its sales to drop any further.

Which meant...

Shen Miaomiao frowned involuntarily as an extremely bad premonition rose in her heart!

"So..."

Shen Miaomiao hesitated before speaking, her voice filled with uncertain fear:

"Our game sold a few hundred copies?"

Could it be that there really were over a hundred suckers who had bought Mario Bros.?

A pained expression took shape on Shen Miaomiao's little face.

She cautiously tossed out the question!

Then she heard Chu Qingzhou chuckle on the other end of the call.

"CEO Shen, what's wrong with you? Didn't you say yesterday that you had a lot of confidence in this game?"

"Oh, right."

At that, Chu Qingzhou seemed to remember something.

"I have to apologize to you. Yesterday, when you said the game's unique Gameplay meant it definitely had unlimited potential, I didn't believe you."

"But now it seems you really did have exceptional insight. Your judgment of the market was truly remarkable!"

Normally, hearing such a stream of flattery would make anyone happy.

After all, who didn't like being praised?

But Shen Miaomiao was different!

Not only was she not happy after hearing Chu Qingzhou's words, she broke out in a cold sweat!

Why do I feel like something's about to go wrong...

Sister Chuchu was praising her this much—just how many copies had the game sold?!

"Ahem, Sister Chuchu, we're practically family here. No need to stand on ceremony."

Unable to suppress the unease in her heart, Shen Miaomiao gave a light cough and interrupted Chu Qingzhou.

"So, Director Gu's Mario Bros. sales are...?"

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

Chu Qingzhou's voice on the other end was light and delighted.

"We had a smashing start! In twelve hours, we sold 4,872 copies for a total of 9,744 yuan. We're about to earn back the production cost!"

"...H-how... many?!"

Before Chu Qingzhou could finish!

Shen Miaomiao let out a shrill scream. She sounded even more excited than Chu Qingzhou, practically cracking her voice.

"Haha, 4,872 copies!"

Chu Qingzhou burst into laughter on the other end.

"How about that? CEO Shen, you didn't expect sales like this either, did you? Surprised? Shocked?"

It was over!

Shen Miaomiao's vision went black!

She flopped onto the bed and rebooted on the spot!

What a surprise... such an enormous surprise...

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

Was this how Cinema taught him to make games?!

Were those players all insane? Did they have money with nowhere to spend, buying this piece of junk?!

Over 4,800 copies?!

Over 9,700 yuan?!

So I only lost three hundred yuan?

Oh, no, that wasn't right!

This was only less than a day's worth of sales data!

At this rate, Mario Bros. would easily break 5,000 copies and recoup its costs!

And once the revenue exceeded the original investment before the system settlement, the system would automatically deem the investment successful, and the rebate would immediately become invalid!

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

Rebate System

Current investment amount: 10,000 yuan

Estimated rebate amount: 3,000 yuan

Time remaining until settlement: 6 days 15 hours

...

Gulp!

"W-why..."

Shen Miaomiao lay on the bed, her eyes full of unwillingness. She looked like a defeated demon lord, just short of coughing up blood.

Meanwhile, Chu Qingzhou was apparently too overjoyed to notice her boss's despair.

"Haha! Because we got lucky! Yesterday, a streamer happened to be making a show, and he happened to pick our game to stream!"

"The show was so hilarious, hahahahaha! I laughed until tears nearly came out!"

"Here, I'll send you the video in a bit. Take a look—it's seriously too funny..."

The call ended.

Shen Miaomiao lay spread-eagled on the bed, as though she had lost her soul.

A full half hour passed!

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

"Ahhh—my precious money—!!!"

This was way too ridiculous!

Who could have seen this coming?!

Besides, she had crammed the sales data for indie games over the past three years last night!

On Yiyou Platform alone, fewer than 500 indie games had surpassed 1,000 copies in first-day sales over those three years.

And fewer than fifty indie games had surpassed 5,000 copies on their first day!

The works that had broken 5,000 first-day sales were either sequels everyone knew, games made by famous designers, or titles backed by established companies!

But their Mario Bros.!

It was just a piece of trash casually made by a newly reorganized company that had hired a stupid senior-year designer—sloppy art style, bizarre characters, and hellish levels!

Why had it sold so many copies?!

Could it really have been as Sister Chuchu said—an explosion of luck, running into a major streamer who gave it free promotion?

With that thought, Shen Miaomiao picked up her phone again and opened the video Chu Qingzhou had sent her—

"...My verdict is: nothing special!"

Onscreen, A Yin flicked his hand toward the camera, looking dashing and confident.

Meanwhile, the absurd little cat in the game had endured countless hardships.

It was now standing triumphantly atop a grand staircase, staring at the finish flagpole not far ahead with a smile frozen on its face:

A Yin was getting a little carried away.

"See that? What's up ahead? Come on, chat, tell me loud and clear—"

The chat burst into laughter.

'Lives: -59'

'Hahahahaha, negative sixty lives'

'I love that confident look on your face'

'Forgot how you got crushed to death by that monster falling from the sky just now?'

'I bet if you can touch that flagpole in one life, I'll send you a rocket immediately'

'Why are we bringing up rockets again?'

'Hahahahahahaha, rockets are banned from this stream from now on'

'We should suggest to the platform that they change the boss's rocket into a pipe-shaped one'

'That's cruel, that's cruel...'

Mockery and teasing scrolled across the chat, making A Yin feel like Kong Yiji walking into a tavern.

Fair enough. After all these years of gaming, he could be considered a veteran player. He had pulled off countless brilliant plays. Though he did stupid things sometimes, he had never been this ridiculously awful before!

It was only one level!

Yet he had somehow gone fifty-nine lives into debt!

And if he counted the three starting lives, the first level of Mario Bros. had tortured him over sixty times!

Enough was enough!

"Who are you calling a coward, little bro? The finish line is right there—how could I possibly die again?!"

A Yin waved his fist, voicing his displeasure at the chat while also psyching himself up.

"I'll clear it with one big jump. There's no way I'm wasting even half a life!"

As he spoke!

A Yin took a deep breath!

"Here—I—go!!!"

One huge leap!

Mario Bros. traced an elegant arc through the air, just about to touch the top of the finish flagpole!

Whoosh—!!!

Suddenly, a red bullet comment flew straight in from the right side of the game screen—

Clear the level? Not a chance!

Bang!

The red bullet comment was like a speeding truck, slamming heavily into Mario Bros. and sending it flying!

Lives: -60

A brief, dead silence.

A Yin's face turned from green to red, then from red to purple. His entire body looked like a volcano on the verge of eruption!

Then, his face flushed crimson as he raised his fist and slammed it down onto the desk!

Bang!

The keyboard and mouse bounced from the impact, while A Yin flung the controller away!

That day, everyone in A Yin's neighborhood heard that impotent roar of rage, filled with grievance and even a hint of tears—

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

"Get lost! Get—!!!"

"Get out of my computer!!!"

Seeing this, Shen Miaomiao couldn't help baring her teeth repeatedly at the screen.

Oh no, it seemed their game had driven someone insane...