Imperial Capital.
Fu Guoqiang wolfed down dinner, reminded his son to do his homework, then slipped into the study to wait for the game servers to open.
His wife, a civil servant, looked grim. After watching Xinwen Lianbo, she followed him into the study. "Fu Guoqiang, look at yourself. You're a grown man, yet you spend all day hunched over a computer playing games at home. Aren't you ashamed?"
"I'm only playing for a little while. It won't interfere with anything." As he spoke, Fu Guoqiang contacted his friends on QQ.
"You can rot to death in there for all I care!"
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
Fu Guoqiang curled his lip and couldn't be bothered to argue with his wife. After thinking it over, he went out and told the housekeeper to make him a cup of tea. Tonight, he was going to pull an all-nighter with the boys.
Back at his computer, Fu Guoqiang continued chatting on QQ:
"Who's still not here?"
"Yong Zi has something urgent to deal with. He can't make it tonight."
"That bastard. Always finding excuses when it's time to work."
"I finished downloading the game and just tried logging in. I can't enter the game yet, but I can create a character. This crappy private server actually has five servers."
"Five servers right from the start?"
"Each server can hold a thousand people. Go check the forum posts."
"I'll take a look."
Downstairs from the game studio, Tao Chenggang had rented another residential house.
There hadn't even been time to renovate it. The owner's bed, tables, chairs, and wardrobe were still inside.
This was the operations command center for "Legend of the Abyss"!
The computers had decent specs. Feng Tao had assembled every one of them with his apprentices.
"What do we do?"
Watching the game download count keep climbing, sweat began to bead on Tao Chenggang's forehead.
It hadn't even reached 1,500 downloads yet, but it was rising far too quickly.
"Give them another shot in the arm."
Chen Guiliang personally sat down at the computer and used the account named "I" from the promotional articles to make one final update to the "Private Server Development Log":
"Thank you, brothers and sisters, for your support. One Sword Comes West and I have boldly adopted many of your valuable suggestions. 'Abyss Private Server' is the child of all of us. We watched it grow from nothing into something, and tonight, it will finally be born. We hope it can thrive and grow strong..."
"The server we rented can accommodate a full 5,000 concurrent players. Haha, with such a huge server capacity, that should be more than enough. I'm freaking awesome!"
After reading the post, Tao Chenggang said, "That's it?"
Chen Guiliang stood up. "Yang Ge, have your boys reply to the post. Seventy percent should mock it and say that 5,000 concurrent players is pure fantasy. The remaining thirty percent should argue with those seventy percent."
"What's the point?" Xie Yang asked curiously.
Chen Guiliang said, "If the server has spare capacity, there's no point. If the server gets packed, we'll have follow-up moves."
Before he finished speaking, Yang Yuhui swallowed and said, "The total downloads across the major game forums have already broken 1,600. It's rising so fast!"
Chen Guiliang said, "It's only 7:40. Office workers in the big cities only got home not long ago. If their internet is laggy, they probably haven't even finished downloading yet. Who knows how many people are downloading it right now?"
"This doesn't make sense. No matter how successful the promotion is, there's no way it can break 5,000 concurrent players, right?" Tao Chenggang said.
Chen Guiliang couldn't figure it out either.
Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!
Someone pounded hard on the door outside and shouted anxiously, "Something big happened! Something big happened!"
Xie Yang swiftly rushed to open the door.
The studio manager Yang Yuhui had assigned there stood in the doorway and quickly said, "A lot of players in The Legend of Mir agreed to come play the private server together!"
"Explain clearly. When did this start?" Chen Guiliang hurriedly asked.
The man said, "When we were farming gold in the game, we noticed people discussing private servers several days ago. Some were even shouting in public chat, cursing Shanda while calling on people to play 'Legend of the Abyss.' A lot of players probably made arrangements long ago, but they were only chatting privately instead of making a public fuss. After 7:30 tonight, the Safe Zones across all The Legend of Mir servers were full of people shouting about going to play the private server!"
Chen Guiliang and Tao Chenggang exchanged a glance. They already understood what had gone wrong.
The Legend had lost many players, but it still maintained hundreds of thousands online and could probably still take first place in next year's most popular game rankings.
However, the game hadn't been updated in half a year, and most players had long since grown tired of it.
They had accumulated resentment and anger toward Shanda, yet they couldn't bear to leave, so they remained in the game.
Then Chen Guiliang's "Legend Refugee Post" had resonated with huge numbers of official-server players. The resentment and anger in their hearts seemed to have suddenly found an outlet, and they flocked to the game forums to read it.
Many only read without replying, yet quietly invited their friends to play the private server.
Their behavior was easy to understand: first, they missed the old days; second, they wanted to try something new on a private server; third, they wanted to deliberately get back at Shanda; fourth, they were just following the trend and joining the fun.
Especially those who wanted revenge on Shanda—there were a great many of them.
A large portion of them probably had no intention of spending money on dungeons. Some might even leave after playing for ten or twenty minutes.
But the influx of such a massive number of players would inevitably crash the server!
Shanda's hackers wouldn't even need to act. Enthusiastic netizens alone could lag "Legend of the Abyss" to death.
Yang Yuhui suddenly stood up, turned to the others, and said, "More than a dozen internet café managers have added me on QQ in a row. They said official Legend players at their cafés are asking whether the café computers have our private server installed. Those managers want to cooperate with us and are asking about the recharge commission."
"No higher than twenty percent. Try to negotiate it lower."
Tao Chenggang picked up the phone and headed for the stairwell. "I'll make some calls and see if we can rent a server on an emergency basis."
Chen Guiliang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had worked in gaming in his previous life, but he had never imagined there would come a day when he would fear having too many players.
Fu Guoqiang had already taken out his bank card and opened his online banking page.
If this private server was fun, he would throw down money to support it.
A Beijing big shot didn't lack money!
Besides, One Sword Comes West had posted that there was an unconventional recharge method, leaving Fu Guoqiang extremely curious and full of anticipation.
"Charge in, charge in! Time's up! Everyone enter Server One!"
Fu Guoqiang typed quickly in QQ.
After logging into the game, Fu Guoqiang switched to QQ. "I spawned in Ginkgo Village. Report your locations."
The six old Legend brothers reported their coordinates to one another and agreed to rendezvous somewhere.
The newbie village was incredibly lively at that moment.
Players packed the place, running around naked. Instead of immediately killing monsters and leveling up, they shouted and chatted in public chat.
"Haha, I got into the private server. Shanda can go to hell!"
"Chen xx, screw your mother!"
"As long as Shanda doesn't update, I won't play the official server!"
"Update my ass. I've waited more than half a year."
"Any old Blaze players? Come form a party!"
"Looking for girls! Any cute ladies?"
"..."
Fu Guoqiang grinned at the chat box. This atmosphere was fantastic.
He controlled his warrior character, first teaming up with the brothers in Ginkgo Village before hacking his way through monsters as they set off.
This private server leveled about five times faster than the official Legend servers.
"Damn, this Rake Cat is fierce!"
"It must be a mutated monster infected by the power of the void."
"Get it, get it!"
"Damn, I died."
"Hahaha, just like when we first played Legend. I actually got killed by a Rake Cat."
"..."
Seeing an old friend get taken out by a minor monster, Fu Guoqiang immediately burst out laughing as he typed.
He hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
"It dropped! It dropped!"
"A huge drop!"
"I picked up Fireball Spell."
"Holy crap! I got an Abyss Iron Bracelet. The stats are insanely broken. Attack 3, Magic 2, Tao 2, Accuracy 2."
His friend had already equipped the bracelet. Fu Guoqiang clicked to inspect it and found that its stats really were absurd, and it gave off a faint bloody glow.
Fu Guoqiang was thrilled. He typed, "Level up while looking for abyss-mutated monsters. Be careful not to let anyone steal them. A lot of people are playing this private server."
The brothers leveled up rapidly. After an unknown amount of time, Fu Guoqiang felt the game begin to lag.
But it was still barely playable.
A wild Corpse King in the mining area suddenly produced a huge drop. One brother shouted, "I picked up an Abyss Map Teleportation Scroll!"
"What's going on?" Everyone became excited.
The man kept clicking trade so his brothers could all check its stats.
Fu Guoqiang soon saw it too—
Abyss Map Teleportation Scroll: Mysterious power is invading the Marfa Continent. Void projections have formed in abyssal rifts at certain important locations. For details, ask the Old Soldier.
This was a dungeon ticket!
Mutated monsters and bosses on ordinary maps had an extremely low chance of dropping them, leaving Free Riders a way out.
There was another way as well.
"Big news! I just went to the bathroom, and when I came back, I switched to the forum and saw a hot post."
"What news?"
"Do you remember the Blessing Necklace quest? Completing it no longer gives gold or equipment. Instead, it gives an Abyss Map Teleportation Scroll. An Internet Troll discovered by accident that this quest can only be done once per person per day!"
In other words, Free Riders could complete the quest to receive one dungeon ticket for free every day.
That way, everyone could experience the dungeons. The Free Riders would have less resentment, while also being tempted into recharging.
"I'm going to find the Old Soldier and see what this teleportation scroll does."
Fu Guoqiang ran all the way there and found the nearest Old Soldier to speak with him.
The Old Soldier said, "Honorable warrior, abyssal power is invading. Are you ready for adventure? Every Abyss Map contains powerful monsters, as well as rich spoils... Remember, do not venture in alone!"
Fu Guoqiang glanced over the teleportation links and discovered that every map with a boss had a corresponding Abyss Dungeon.
The lowest-level Abyss Worma Temple required only one ticket to enter.
Higher-level Abyss Maps required two, three, four... tickets.
Moreover, entering alone was practically suicide. They had to form a party to fight the boss, meaning every person needed to contribute one ticket.
The Old Soldier also provided several email addresses and QQ numbers.
There was no need to ask. They were definitely for contacting someone to recharge.
QQ back then didn't even require approval to add friends.
Fu Guoqiang randomly added one QQ contact and asked, "How much is one Abyss Teleportation Scroll?"
The other party replied, "Five yuan each. Recharge fifty yuan at once, and you'll get twelve Abyss Teleportation Scrolls. How many would you like, bro?"
Fu Guoqiang found it amusing. He laughed and typed, "Send me your payment account. I'll recharge five hundred yuan first and give it a try."
"Okay. Please send us your game ID. Once we confirm the payment has arrived, we'll issue your teleportation scrolls."
The first transaction for "Legend of the Abyss" was completed just like that.
Looking at the Abyss Map Teleportation Scrolls in his inventory, Fu Guoqiang shouted in party chat, "Everyone come to the Old Soldier! Let's go run an Abyss Map together!"
"Damn, I just entered town and it's lagging so badly I can't even move."
"Brother Qiang, this game is unplayable."
"It's lagging like crazy. I'm going to the forum to curse them out. What kind of garbage private server is this?"
"Haha, my Taoist can teleport instantly too. It's lagging so badly I don't even know where I am."
"The lag has me moonwalking. I'm Michael Jackson."
"..."
There were too many players. The Server One server had finally exploded!
Before you continue