Players Finally Crashed the Server

Imperial Capital.

Fu Guoqiang wolfed down his dinner, reminded his son to do his homework, and then slipped into the study to wait for the game server to open.

His wife, a civil servant, had a gloomy expression. After watching the news, she followed him into the study: "Fu Guoqiang, look at yourself. How old are you? You spend all day glued to the computer playing games. Aren't you ashamed?"

"Just for a bit, it won't delay anything," Fu Guoqiang said while contacting friends on QQ.

"May you rot in there!"

Bang!

The door was slammed shut.

Fu Guoqiang pouted, not bothering to argue with his wife. After thinking for a moment, he went out and called the nanny to make him a cup of tea. He was going to pull an all-nighter with his brothers tonight.

Back at the computer, Fu Guoqiang continued chatting on QQ:

"Who's not here yet?"

"Yong Zi has an urgent matter, can't make it tonight."

"That son of a bitch, lazy donkey has too much shit and piss when pulling the mill."

"I finished downloading the game and just tried logging in. Can't get into the game, but I can create a character. This crappy private server actually has five zones."

"Five zones right off the bat?"

"Each zone can hold a thousand people. Go check the posts on the forum."

"I'll go take a look."

Downstairs from the game studio, Tao Chenggang rented another residential house.

There wasn't time to renovate, and it even had the landlord's bed, tables, chairs, and wardrobe inside.

This was the command center for "Legend of the Abyss"!

The computer configurations were decent; Feng Tao and his apprentices assembled every single one.

"What should we do?"

Looking at the continuously increasing game download numbers, sweat was already beading on Tao Chenggang's forehead.

Although it hadn't reached 1500 downloads yet, the growth rate was too fast.

"Let's give them another heads-up."

Chen Guiliang personally sat down at the computer and, using the account of "I" from the promotional soft article, posted the final update to the "Private Server Development Log":

"Thank you, brothers and sisters, for your support. Many valuable suggestions you've put forward, One Sword Comes West and I have boldly adopted. The 'Abyss Private Server' is the child of all of us. We've watched it grow from nothing, and tonight it will be born. We hope it can grow strong..."

"The server we rented can accommodate a full 5000 people online simultaneously. Haha, with such a large server capacity, it should be more than enough. I'm truly awesome!"

Tao Chenggang finished reading the post content: "That's it?"

Chen Guiliang stood up and said, "Brother Yang, have your brothers reply to the post. Seventy percent of the replies should be mocking, saying that 5000 people online simultaneously is a pipe dream. The remaining thirty percent should argue with the 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 is full, there will be follow-up actions."

Before he finished speaking, Yang Yuhui swallowed and said, "The total downloads across several major game forums have already exceeded 1600. It's growing so fast!"

Chen Guiliang said, "It's only 7:40 now. Office workers in big cities have just gotten home. If their internet is slow, they probably haven't finished downloading yet. Who knows how many people are downloading right now."

"This doesn't make sense. Even if the promotion is successful, it's impossible to break 5000 people online, right?" Tao Chenggang said.

Chen Guiliang also couldn't figure it out.

Bang bang bang, bang bang bang!

Someone outside was banging hard on the door, anxiously shouting, "Something big has happened, something big has happened!"

Xie Yang was quick-witted and rushed to open the door.

The studio manager arranged by Yang Yuhui stood at the door and quickly said, "Lots of players from The Legend of Mir have agreed to come play the private server together!"

"Explain the situation clearly, when did this start?" Chen Guiliang quickly asked.

That person said, "When we were gold farming in the game, we noticed people talking about private servers a few days ago. Some people were also shouting in the public chat, cursing Shanda while calling for people to play 'Legend of the Abyss'. It's likely many players had already agreed, but they were just chatting privately and not shouting it out. After 7:30 tonight, the safe zones in various servers of The Legend of Mir were full of people shouting about going to play the private server!"

Chen Guiliang and Tao Chenggang exchanged glances, already understanding what the problem was.

Although The Legend of Mir had lost many players, it still maintained hundreds of thousands online, and it could still be ranked first in the most popular game selection next year.

However, the game hadn't been updated for half a year, and most players were already tired of it.

They had accumulated resentment and anger towards Shanda in their hearts, but they were reluctant to leave, so they had stayed in the game.

And the "Legend Refugee Post" created by Chen Guiliang resonated with a large number of legitimate players. The resentment and anger in these people's hearts seemed to find an outlet all at once, and they flocked to the game forums to read the posts.

Many people only read the posts without replying, but they quietly invited friends to play the private server.

Their actions are easy to understand: first, they miss the old days; second, they want to try something new in the private server; third, they are deliberately retaliating against Shanda; fourth, they are coming to follow the trend and join the fun.

Especially those retaliating against Shanda, there were many of them.

A large portion of these people likely wouldn't want to spend money on dungeons, and some might even leave after experiencing it for just ten or twenty minutes.

But the influx of a massive number of players would inevitably cause the server to crash!

There wouldn't even be a need for Shanda's hackers to act; enthusiastic netizens could easily make "Legend of the Abyss" lag to death.

Yang Yuhui suddenly stood up and turned to the crowd, saying, "More than ten internet cafe managers have added my QQ consecutively, saying that their internet cafe's legitimate Legend of Mir players are asking if their computers have our private server installed. These managers want to cooperate with us and are asking about the commission for top-ups."

"No more than 20% at the highest. Try to negotiate it lower."

Tao Chenggang picked up the phone and walked towards the hallway. "I'll make some calls and see if we can urgently rent some servers."

Chen Guiliang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had been in the gaming industry in his previous life and never expected a day when he would be afraid of having too many players.

Fu Guoqiang had already taken out his bank card and opened the online banking page.

As long as this private server was fun, he would generously top up to support it.

A Beijing Native wasn't short on money!

Moreover, "One Sword Comes West" had posted about an alternative top-up method, which made Fu Guoqiang very curious and full of anticipation.

"Charge, charge, charge! Time's up, everyone enter District 1!"

Fu Guoqiang quickly typed in QQ.

After logging into the game, Fu Guoqiang switched to the QQ interface. "I was born in Ginkgo Village. Report your locations."

The six old Legend of Mir brothers reported their coordinates to each other and agreed to meet at a certain spot.

The novice village was incredibly lively at this moment.

Dense crowds of players ran around naked. Their first priority wasn't to fight monsters and level up, but to shout and chat in the public chat.

"Haha, I'm in the private server. Shanda can go to hell!"

"Chen xx, I'll x your mother!"

"As long as Shanda doesn't update, Grandpa won't play the legitimate version for a day."

"Update my ass, I've been waiting for over half a year."

"Are there any old players from Lie Yan? Come and team up quickly!"

"Looking for MM, any girls?"

"..."

Fu Guoqiang chuckled as he looked at the chat box. This was too atmospheric.

He controlled his warrior character, first teaming up with his brothers in Ginkgo Village, and then heading out, cutting down monsters along the way.

The leveling speed in this private server was about five times that of the legitimate Legend of Mir.

"Holy crap, this Rake Cat is fierce!"

"It must be a mutated monster infected by the power of the void."

"Hit it, hit it!"

"Damn, I died."

"Hahaha, just like when I first played Legend of Mir, I can actually be killed by a Rake Cat."

"..."

Fu Guoqiang burst into laughter and typed when he saw his old friend being killed by a small monster.

He hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

"It dropped, it dropped!"

"A big drop."

"I picked up a 'Fireball Spell'."

"Holy crap! I picked up an 'Abyss Iron Bracelet'. The stats are insane. Attack 3, Magic 2, Dao 2, Accuracy 2."

His friend had already put on the bracelet. Fu Guoqiang clicked to view it and found that the stats were indeed insane, and it emitted a faint bloody glow.

Fu Guoqiang was excited and typed, "Level up while looking for Abyss mutated monsters. Be careful not to get them stolen; there are quite a few people playing this private server."

His brothers leveled up quickly. He didn't know how much time had passed, but Fu Guoqiang felt the game getting laggy.

But it was still barely playable.

A wild Corpse King in the mining area suddenly had a big drop, and a brother shouted, "I picked up an 'Abyss Map Teleportation Scroll'!"

"What's going on?" Everyone got excited.

That person kept clicking on the trade option, letting his brothers see the stats.

Fu Guoqiang quickly saw it too—

Abyss Map Teleportation Scroll: A mysterious power is invading the Marfa Continent. Some important areas have formed void projections in the Abyss Rift. You can ask the Old Soldier for details.

This was the dungeon ticket!

Mutated monsters and bosses in regular maps have a very low chance of dropping them, leaving a way out for free-to-play players.

There's another way out.

"Big news! I just went to the bathroom, came back, and saw a hot post on the forum."

"What news?"

"Remember the Blessing Necklace quest? After completing the quest, instead of giving gold coins and equipment, it gives an Abyss Map Teleportation Scroll. Someone (a shill) accidentally discovered that this quest can only be done once per person per day!"

This means free-to-play players can get a free dungeon ticket every day by doing the quest.

This way, everyone can experience the dungeon, and free-to-play players won't be so resentful. At the same time, it can entice free-to-play players to top up.

"I'll go find the Old Soldier and see what this teleportation scroll is for."

Fu Guoqiang ran all the way and found the nearest Old Soldier to talk to.

The Old Soldier said, "Respected warrior, the power of the abyss is invading. Are you ready for the adventure? Every abyss map has powerful monsters and rich spoils... Remember, do not enter alone!"

Fu Guoqiang glanced at the teleportation links and found that maps with bosses had corresponding abyss dungeons.

The lowest level, Abyss Worma Temple, only required one ticket to enter.

Higher-level abyss maps, however, required two, three, four... tickets.

Moreover, going in alone was equivalent to suicide. You had to team up to fight the boss, which meant everyone had to contribute a ticket.

The Old Soldier also provided several email addresses and QQ numbers.

No need to ask, they were definitely for contacting for top-ups.

In those days, adding friends on QQ didn't require application approval.

Fu Guoqiang randomly added a QQ and asked, "How much is an Abyss Teleportation Scroll?"

The other party replied, "5 yuan. If you top up 50 yuan at once, you can get 12 Abyss Teleportation Scrolls. Brother, how many do you want?"

Fu Guoqiang found it very interesting, laughed heartily, and typed, "Send me your collection account. I'll top up 500 yuan to try first."

"Okay, please send your game ID. After confirming the top-up is received, we will issue the teleportation scrolls."

The first transaction in "Legend of the Abyss" was thus completed.

Fu Guoqiang looked at the Abyss Map Teleportation Scrolls in his inventory and shouted in the team channel, "Everyone come to the Old Soldier! Let's go fight the abyss map together!"

"Damn, I just entered the city and it's so laggy I can't move."

"Brother Qiang, this game is unplayable."

"It's too laggy. I'm going to the forum to curse people. What kind of crappy private server is this!"

"Haha, even my Taoist can instantly move, I'm so laggy I don't know where I am."

"I'm moonwalking from the lag, I'm Michael Jackson."

"..."

There were too many players, and the server for Zone 1 finally crashed!