Aunt Tao is Very Happy

Tao Xue wasn't interested in making games. She squatted under the camphor tree, poking ants.

She picked up a twig and fixated on one ant.

When the ant crawled a few centimeters, she used the twig to block its path, startling it into changing direction.

Little devil, so wicked!

Xie Yang, however, pricked up his ears, eavesdropping on Chen Guiliang's phone call.

At this moment, this guy's grand ambition wasn't to pass the civil service exam and become an official, but to make games and become the richest man in China.

Chen Guiliang continued, "I've thought about it carefully again these past few days. Legend itself has a weapon upgrade system. We can start from there, no need to add any new features. The guaranteed drop accessories from dungeons can be used by players to upgrade weapons. This way, we handle the problem of wealthy players repeatedly farming dungeons and getting excess overpowered accessories. It can increase their motivation to keep farming dungeons."

Tao Chenggang praised, "Good, good!"

What a pity, adding sockets to equipment and embedding gems, etc., the official Legend server hasn't launched that yet. This kind of gameplay requires adding new features, which is a bit difficult technically.

Chen Guiliang continued, "To increase game immersion, we can add a dialogue option for players at the veteran NPC who teleports them to dungeons, to flesh out the world view. We can say that during the war between good and evil, a mysterious Void power invaded. Those dungeons are all projections of the real world within Abyss rifts. Overpowered equipment that's hard to name can all have 'Abyss' or 'Void' added as a prefix."

Tao Chenggang laughed heartily, "Never seen someone running a private server who also makes up stories."

Chen Guiliang said, "I have a bit of OCD."

"Alright, do as you say. Anyway, it's just adding a piece of dialogue," Tao Chenggang said.

Chen Guiliang reminded him again, "Remember, our main promotional point is: No selling equipment, everything is earned through drops. You and Yang Ge write an article recounting your experiences playing Legend over the years, write about your happiness, sadness, friendship, etc. It's best if it can include the major events in Legend's history."

"You mean that promotional article?" Tao Chenggang asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "Yes, the more emotional, the better. After you finish writing it, send it to my email. I'll polish it before posting it on the forum."

The two continued to chat for over ten minutes before finally ending the call.

Chen Guiliang also sent his email address via text message.

This email was one he applied for at his uncle's house before. He had long forgotten the email he used during high school in his previous life.

As soon as Chen Guiliang put his PHS back in his pocket, Xie Yang eagerly asked, "What's going on? Are you making a private server with someone?"

"You know about private servers too?" Chen Guiliang countered.

Xie Yang said, "I'm a veteran Legend player, how could I not know about private servers? Every internet cafe has Legend private servers, but they're particularly boring to play. Take Hua Yu Internet Cafe for example, the highest level map is only Zuma Temple."

This so-called "Hua Yu Internet Cafe" was, of course, a knockoff, not a real chain brand.

Xie Yang often went to Hua Yu Internet Cafe. The computers there were the worst, so the prices were also cheap. The member price was only 1.5 yuan per hour.

The Legend private server at Hua Yu Internet Cafe was a garbage framework downloaded for free by the net administrator, and the server was directly set up in the internet cafe. Such a shoddy product actually had people playing it, and some even recharged to buy equipment. The net administrator could take the opportunity to earn some pocket money.

"How did you end up making a private server with someone?" Xie Yang pressed.

Chen Guiliang simply said, "I know an internet cafe owner, and I provided him with some game ideas."

Xie Yang pressed, "Does it make money?"

"It might make money," Chen Guiliang didn't give a definite answer.

Xie Yang excitedly said, "Count me in. I don't need money, I just want to participate."

He felt that as long as he participated, it would be considered doing something big, and whether it made money or not was irrelevant.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "I'll call you when it goes online. I'll give you a few overpowered pieces of equipment, and you can be a shill in the game, guiding those rich people to recharge. Or, you can help reply to posts and promote it on the forum."

Hearing this, Xie Yang became even more excited, "Don't worry, I know what to do!"

Chen Guiliang reminded him, "Don't talk about this everywhere. After all, running a private server is illegal. Don't spread it around in class or the dorm either."

"I know, I won't tell anyone," Xie Yang thumped his chest in assurance.

Chen Guiliang was still quite confident in him. Although Xie Yang was usually unreliable, he never faltered at critical moments.

Tao Xue finally stopped teasing the ants, threw away the twig, and said, "Are you guys done talking?"

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "Thank you, Aunt Tao, for specifically coming to bring me the PHS."

"It's not just bringing it to you. I personally went to buy it at noon and even helped you set up the plan and recharge," Tao Xue emphasized her great achievement again.

Chen Guiliang chuckled and said, "You're an aunt, so of course the elder has to work a bit harder."

Tao Xue was smug and continued to take advantage, "Then you're not Senior Zhang Wei anymore, you're my little nephew... no, that's not right, you're my big nephew."

She was especially happy now. She had always been tricked by Chen Guiliang before, but now she finally got one back.

Made a killing!

Chen Guiliang called her Aunt Tao a few more times, coaxing Tao Xue until she was completely disoriented.

"Aunt Tao, wait here for a moment." Chen Guiliang quickly ran back to the dorm.

When he reappeared, he had a book in his hand.

"For me?" Tao Xue asked in surprise.

"It's a reciprocal gesture," Chen Guiliang said, "Hai Zi's Poems, a genuine copy bought from Xinhua Bookstore. It has my thoughts on reading the poems inside."

This literary girl was too lively and cheerful.

Maybe reading more of Hai Zi's poems would make her a little more melancholic.

"Thank you, big nephew." Tao Xue's eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled.

Chen Guiliang continued to paint a rosy picture: "If I pass the preliminary round of the New Concept competition, I'll get to meet many writers. I'll help you get some autographs then."

Tao Xue was even happier: "Help me get Yu Hua's autograph. I'll bring my To Live and have him sign the flyleaf, and it would be best if he could write a blessing."

"No problem," Chen Guiliang readily agreed.

Tao Xue's mood became even more cheerful. She continued chatting idly with Chen Guiliang, occasionally saying a few words to Xie Yang.

It wasn't until the evening self-study was about to begin that she happily waved goodbye and skipped off to the classroom with Hai Zi's Poems.

Even after Tao Xue left, Xie Yang was still excited.

"Ha~~ Ha!"

Xie Yang paced back and forth under the camphor tree, finally resorting to punching and kicking the trunk to release the excitement he couldn't contain.

"Let's go, time for evening self-study in the classroom," Chen Guiliang reminded him.

Xie Yang caught up in a few steps and sincerely praised, "Brother Chen, you're so damn awesome! Seriously, I've wanted to make games for a long time. I originally planned to do it in college, but I didn't expect to be able to participate while still in high school."

He had always been very lost, not knowing what to do, but now he finally had something to work on.

At the same time, his doubts grew.

Why would Chen Guiliang, who never played online games, suddenly partner with someone to create a private server? And even give them ideas?

Brother Chen was becoming more and more mysterious.

He had always been mysterious; Xie Yang had never been able to see through him.

As they walked outside the teaching building, Xie Yang excitedly said, "Brother Chen, when we go to college in the future, we can choose the same city. During college, I'll follow you to start a business, and we'll make a big splash together!"

Chen Guiliang laughed, "You dog, your words are quite bold."

Evening self-study.

The homeroom teacher, Liu Shuying, walked into the classroom.

"We had a parent-teacher meeting last weekend, and the teachers and parents exchanged opinions. We all agreed that the seating arrangements should be adjusted again."

"In other classes, seats are arranged according to grades. But our Class 11 is an experimental class, and everyone is a good student. I felt there was no need to make students feel awkward, so most of the time, it was random assignment with slight adjustments based on height."

"Now that we're in the third year of high school, since some students lack a sense of shame and ambition, we will rearrange seats according to the midterm exam results."

"From now until the college entrance exam, seats will be changed after every midterm, final, and mock exam!"

"Wu Meng, you sit in the middle of the first row."

Wu Meng was the top liberal arts student in the city next year and ranked first in the entire school in this midterm exam.

Most of the students in the class cast envious glances at Wu Meng.

Except for the poor students, they didn't want to sit in the front row.

Liu Shuying continued, "Bian Guanyue, although she didn't participate in the midterm exam, she has been working hard during this time. Bian Guanyue, you will be classmates with Wu Meng."

As soon as she said this, all the students in the class looked towards the back row.

Something was strange!

Bian Guanyue immediately refused: "Teacher Liu, I don't think this is fair. I didn't participate in the midterm exam."

"This is my arrangement," Liu Shuying said. "If your final exam results are not good, I will move you back to the rear again."

Bian Guanyue felt a surge of anger. She guessed that her father had pulled some strings.

Her father always interfered with her studies and life!

Liu Shuying said nothing, waiting for Bian Guanyue to change seats, and the other students also waited.

Bian Guanyue could only compromise. She couldn't disrupt the entire class because of her conflict with her father.

Seeing Bian Guanyue carrying her schoolbag and holding her books and test papers towards the first row, Li Jun gloated and quietly gave Chen Guiliang the middle finger.

Chen Guiliang pretended not to see it.

After Bian Guanyue sat down at the desk in front of the podium, Liu Shuying finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had to complete the task assigned by the dean.

"Li Rui, you sit at the desk to Wu Meng's left." Liu Shuying held the midterm results list and continued to read out student names.

Chen Guiliang, who only did the multiple-choice questions in math and failed English and liberal arts comprehensive, was actually moved to the second to last row this time.

This was because two students had quietly scored even worse than him.

"Hello, Brother Chen." His new deskmate, Qin Shanshan, walked over with her books and test papers, smiling.

"Hello."

Chen Guiliang didn't have a deep impression of Qin Shanshan. He only knew that her parents worked for the tobacco company and that she chose to repeat a year in his previous life because she didn't get into a second-tier university.

This girl also liked to wear makeup and could barely be considered a beauty.

The sudden change in seating by the homeroom teacher somewhat affected Chen Guiliang's strategy.

But it didn't matter.

The evening self-study session at No. 2 High School lasted a full 2 hours and 15 minutes. Each class was an hour long, with a 15-minute break in between.

The homeroom teacher, Liu Shuying, supervised for an hour and then left.

Chen Guiliang took advantage of the break to run to the restroom, but he actually wanted to skip a self-study session. This was because Tao Chenggang had sent him a text message saying that the promotional draft had been sent to his email.

"You're skipping class?" Xie Yang appeared sneakily.

Chen Guiliang was startled. "Why don't you make any noise when you walk?"

Xie Yang said, "You're just feeling guilty."

The two took a detour to the back gate of the school, afraid of running into the homeroom teacher.

They arrived at the internet cafe street, where business was particularly booming. They walked into two internet cafes in a row and couldn't find any seats. Most of the customers were students skipping evening self-study to play games!

Of course, not all of them were students from No. 2 High School.

Because there was also No. 7 Middle School next door, as well as No. 7 Middle School's junior high division.

Adding the three schools together, the total number of students was over ten thousand, so the internet cafe street had no shortage of customers.

When it came to skipping class to go online, No. 7 Middle School was even more impressive; hardly anyone stayed in the classrooms during evening self-study.

Let's put it this way: with Xie Yang's current poor grades, if he transferred to No. 7 Middle School, he could easily rank first in the entire school.

Finally finding an internet cafe with available seats, Chen Guiliang immediately checked his email upon logging in. The soft article sent by Tao Chenggang was titled: What Games Can We Old Legend Players Still Play Now?

Chen Guiliang read it carefully and evaluated the article as "detailed in content, but lacking in emotional appeal."

He had to polish it himself.

Soon, Chen Guiliang changed the title to: The Voice of a Legend Refugee: The Internet is So Big, Where is My Home?

Xie Yang logged in but didn't play games. He sat over to watch Chen Guiliang revise the article and occasionally offered suggestions for changes based on his own gaming experience.

It took half an hour to finish all the revisions. Chen Guiliang chatted with Tao Chenggang on QQ and said, "This article will be first published on 17173, which has the largest traffic. After you have the studio's water army hype up the post, then forward it to private server forums like 17577 in the form of spontaneous reposts by netizens."

Traffic and water army were terms defined by Chen Guiliang, and Tao Chengang, Yang Yuhui, and Feng Tao were already used to them.

Tao Chenggang received the email, read the article carefully, and immediately replied on QQ: "You're really awesome! The content of the article is still the same, the people and events haven't changed, but just changing the wording and sentence structure makes it incredibly emotional."

Xie Yang, sitting next to him, said, "When this article is posted, it will definitely become popular on gaming forums."

(Seeking guaranteed monthly votes.)