14.7k People Already Startled

Early in the morning, Meng Shu made breakfast for his parents as usual, set it on the table, and returned to his room.

As he passed by Meng Xiaoran's room, he noticed her door was wide open, not closed at all.

And the girl was still inside, sound asleep, probably having stayed up late watching dramas on VR again last night—likely not waking up before 10.

He shook his head, thinking how careless this girl was, not even shutting her door while sleeping.

So he helped close it for her.

Then he found that the door, due to severe aging, could no longer close properly.

Moreover, the bottom was badly corroded; the gap under the door could no longer be called a crack—it was more like a doorway. Even a small puppy could easily squeeze through, let alone rats or the like.

Looking at his sister's room, then glancing around the surroundings, Meng Shu sighed inwardly.

This house had been rented for over twenty years.

That meant, in those twenty-plus years, the house had never been renovated or redecorated.

As a result, not only was the interior severely aged, but even the outer walls were somewhat damaged, exuding an air of antiquity.

The only reason his parents still lived here was the cheap rent—just eight hundred yuan a month for a three-bedroom, one-living-room unit.

Gently pulling his sister's door shut, Meng Shu returned to his own room.

He sat in his chair, silent for a long time.

It seemed that moving to a new place would have to be added to his future plans.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, turned on his computer, and logged into the Cyber Platform, ready to check how Dark Forest was selling.

It was now 6:40 in the morning, meaning the game had been unlocked for nearly seven hours.

Meng Shu had already mentally prepared himself for dismal sales.

After all, in this world, the horror genre wasn't well-received, and horror games had a terrible reputation, being looked down upon.

He clicked into the developer backend on the Cyber Platform, glanced at the data, and was instantly stunned.

Dark Forest's latest sales figure was...

80,000 copies?

Meng Shu thought he must have misread it, or maybe added an extra zero.

So he rubbed his eyes and looked again, carefully.

80,000!

Still 80,000!

He hadn't misread!

It really was 80,000 copies!

Meng Shu could hardly believe it!

From its unlock to now, in less than seven hours, Dark Forest had actually sold 80,000 copies!

What did that mean?

It meant that even during the dead of night, when everyone was asleep, over 80,000 people had bought this game.

And a day had twenty-four hours, meaning there was still an entire daytime period for people to purchase—the first-day numbers were unknown!

His price was 69 yuan, so 80,000 copies came to...

5.52 million yuan!

In less than seven hours, he had earned 5.52 million yuan!

And aside from the time cost, there were almost no other expenses!

It was pure profit!

Pure profit!

Even the initial 30,000 yuan to start the company had come from video earnings, and those videos were from the system gift pack.

In other words, this 5.52 million yuan was entirely pure profit!

Meng Shu's heart raced with excitement. He downed several glasses of water before calming down.

He never expected—truly never expected—

In this world, where the horror genre was barren and had a terrible reputation, His horror game could still achieve such results.

His original expectation was that selling 10,000 copies in the first twenty-four hours would be good enough.

But the result far exceeded his expectations!

In less than seven hours, it had already multiplied his mental estimate several times over!

So what would the first-day total be?

Were the domestic players in this parallel world really this numerous and this supportive?

Sure enough, once certain policy restrictions were lifted, the legitimate existence of games became even more aligned with the current era, allowing a game to reach and be understood by more people, rather than being confined to a single-player niche like in the original world.

At this moment, Meng Shu couldn't wait to find out how many copies would sell in 24 hours.

Based on this trend, a conservative estimate—100,000 copies!

He wasn't greedy; he knew his own limits. He wasn't some big studio or celebrity. A first-day sale of 100,000 copies would already satisfy him.

Meng Shu was drinking water and grinning from ear to ear.

He wanted to stay reserved, to keep his composure, but the sales data of 80,000 copies in just 7 hours made it impossible for him to act aloof and indifferent.

If it weren't for the sake of his neighbors and his own reputation, he would have loved to throw his head back and laugh, shouting, "My fate is mine to command, not heaven's!" like a villain in a xianxia novel.

So after the excitement passed, he entered the game's review section to see what buyers had to say.

Passerby A, 5 hours played:

"Awesome! Awesome! I thought it was another cash-grab trash game, but after watching a streamer play it, I got up and bought it on the spot. Scared me so bad I didn't dare turn off the lights all night!"

Passerby B, 2.5 hours played:

"I was terrified after playing the prologue for over 30 minutes. Barely made it to Chapter 1, then the underground tunnels scared me stupid. I heard it's even scarier at night, but I really don't dare keep playing."

Passerby C, 3.9 hours played:

"This is what a horror game should be! What the hell are those other games on the market? Just cash grabs. Learn from this indie developer! The money was well spent! But the game? I really don't dare play it!"

Passerby D, 5 hours played:

"This game makes my scalp tingle. So many parts are pure scares with no real danger, but it's torture. I honestly wish a monster would show up that I can see and touch—that would be more reassuring. Instead, it's this eerie environment with nothing there, yet it scares the piss out of you!"

Passerby E, 5.9 hours played:

"Saw it from a streamer, thought it looked interesting, so I bought it. I figured the streamers' screaming was just for show, but after playing it myself, my voice went hoarse."

Reading these reviews, Meng Shu smiled inwardly.

Earning recognition from a wide player base was already a fulfilling achievement.

It seemed horror games weren't something people disliked.

Rather, there just hadn't been any good works released, leaving the genre filled with low-quality titles propping it up.

Now, with the arrival of "Dark Forest," it crushed all previous horror games, making it no surprise that players loved it.

Meng Shu leaned back in his chair, feeling at ease, and closed his eyes.

Instantly, a data panel appeared in his mind.

Design: 60 (Average) Programming: 60+3 (Average) Art: 60 (Average) Music: 60 (Average)

"Dark Forest": 67,000 people scared Total Fear Points: 143,000

Seeing this data, Meng Shu opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Programming had gone up by 3 points.

Probably just a slight improvement in skill during his development time.

The others hadn't changed—maybe because he hadn't used them? That made some sense.

But those Fear Points...

That caught him off guard.

Nearly 140,000!

Calculated at a 1:1 ratio, with 67,000 people repeatedly scared in the game, 140,000 didn't seem unacceptable.

Still, he hadn't expected that a small game like "Dark Forest" could scare people in this parallel world so badly. They really needed some mental conditioning.

Well then, let me take on that responsibility!

Meng Shu closed his eyes again, entered the system's game store, selected the horror survival category, and began browsing for a new game.

Then he realized.

His 140,000 Fear Points seemed a bit lacking.

He could barely afford any decent horror games.

Even the cheapest one, priced over 40,000, was just a 2D survival mini-game like "Skyhill."

Well, damn.

Meng Shu felt like crying but had no tears.

He seemed to have 140,000 Fear Points in hand, full of confidence.

But he couldn't even meet the minimum requirement to buy a game.

After thinking it over, he decided to let it go.

He'd check the sales and Fear Points again after 24 hours.

For now, he'd head to the online streams to see how the game was being received.