Awareness

A week later, Zhou Xiao finished his meeting and official business in the capital, but he did not hurry back to Ice City.

Instead, he stayed in the capital for another day with two subordinates. The three of them split up, randomly visiting various Internet cafés to investigate.

That evening, the three met at a mid-range restaurant and exchanged the information they had gathered.

When they saw that each of them had a flyer in hand, they exchanged knowing looks. Clearly, they had all found out about the same thing.

Zhou Xiao stared at the words "Greedy Blue Moon Legend" printed in large letters on the flyer for a moment before looking up and saying,

"Xiao Liu, you go first."

Called upon, Xiao Liu said gravely, "This afternoon, I visited seven Internet cafés. There were 216 people online in total, of whom 137 were playing Legend. I checked every single one of them. Thirty-one were playing our Hot-blooded Legend of Mir, while a few others were playing different Legend private servers. As for those playing this thing called Greedy Blue Moon Legend, there were nearly a hundred of them. The data isn't comprehensive enough, but the general trend can't be wrong!"

Zhou Xiao did not ask how his subordinate had distinguished between the two versions of Legend. He had spent the afternoon investigating as well and discovered that any mention of recharging in the upper-right corner of the screen meant it was that so-called private server.

The subordinate's report was largely the same as what he had learned himself. Zhou Xiao shifted his gaze to the other man, who immediately said, "I didn't visit that many Internet cafés. Instead, I stayed at one and played this Greedy Blue Moon Legend from beginning to end, trying out its functions. I even spent over a hundred yuan." At this point, the man hesitated before tentatively asking, "Boss, I don't know if I should say this..."

"Little Ma, say what you have to say. Don't beat around the bush!"

Little Ma thought for a moment, swallowed, then gritted his teeth and said, "Well... after playing Greedy Blue Moon Legend, I feel like our Legend is pathetically bad!" The other subordinate unconsciously nodded in agreement.

"Explain."

Seeing the encouragement in his boss's expression, Little Ma grew bolder. "We can summarize it from several perspectives. First, Greedy Blue Moon Legend is a heavily modified version of our Legend. Its premium map is a complete hodgepodge, with every boss thrown inside. Pay enough money, and you can kill them at will. The more money you spend, the harder the map's bosses become, and the better the equipment they drop.

"Second, the equipment. In the safe zone, I saw many pieces of equipment that don't even exist in our Legend. They were ridiculously flashy and extravagant.

"Second, the recharge system. It's free, yet there's a recharge option inside the game, so both ordinary players and rich players can find their own fun."

"Anything else?"

Little Ma shook his head, but Xiao Liu added, "There's one more thing, though it isn't about the game itself. It's about a website called the Beyond Legend Alliance. Besides Greedy Blue Moon Legend, it also has other Legend games, such as Blue Legend, Autumn Wind Legend, and Dudu Legend. There are six or seven Legend private servers on it in total, and the trend is growing more intense! A single spark can start a prairie fire. Boss, you need to report this to the higher-ups as soon as possible."

Zhou Xiao nodded. "You don't need to remind me. I know how serious this is. You two did well. I'll add one final point." The two subordinates immediately sat up straight and leaned forward attentively.

He tapped the words "Greedy Blue Moon" on the flyer with his finger. "The data from Ice City has also been affected, not just the capital. Xiao Liu."

Hearing the instruction, Xiao Liu immediately replied, "Boss, I'm listening!"

"Tomorrow, don't return to the company with us. After we finish eating, go straight to the ticket office and buy a ticket to Ice City for tomorrow. See if you can uncover any traces of Greedy Blue Moon Legend there. Stay no more than three days. Whether you find anything or not, return immediately and report to me!"

"Understood!"

After returning to the hotel, Zhou Xiao opened his laptop and began writing a report on Legend private servers.

The discoveries Little Ma had mentioned revealed certain patterns once compiled, but he was still too young. What he had seen was only the surface.

In his position, he needed to view the matter from a higher level and see its essence through the appearances.

The ability to heavily modify Legend

revealed a cruel fact: the source code of the official Legend game had been leaked!

Not only had it been leaked, the other party also had the ability to develop it further. That required the support of a powerful technical team.

The recharge system and free-to-play strategy indicated that the other party had a master planner.

Besides what his subordinate had mentioned, he had also noticed another phenomenon that afternoon: the atmosphere in the game was unbelievably heated. The moment players left the safe zone, they were all fighting in factions and engaging in PK.

If things were always like this, one could imagine how intense the siege battles would be.

As a seasoned operations professional, Zhou Xiao was sharp enough to extract some useful information from the messages on the public channel. The distribution of power on the server was remarkably balanced. The server he had visited had three major guilds, with many smaller guilds affiliated with them. The difference in strength between the three major factions was minimal, forming a situation of Three Kingdoms' dominance.

With his wealth of experience in operations, he knew that such an effect required human intervention. If things were allowed to develop freely, either one faction would dominate or two powerful factions would fight each other. For three kingdoms to stand in balance required a long time and a certain amount of coincidence. Yet Greedy Blue Moon Legend had only been developing for a mere month. How was that possible?

Therefore, the other party must also have an operations team with extensive experience.

Judging by this, although the other party's strength was far inferior to Shanda's, it still had to be a company with several dozen employees. It was not to be underestimated.

After finishing his report, Zhou Xiao read through it once. His intended meaning was plainly expressed on the page, and he was very satisfied with it.

He called his direct superior and gave him a brief update.

Then he clicked Send,

sending it to the email address of Luo Qianqian, a director and the Operations Director of Shanda Network. Besides holding that position, she was also the wife of Chen Tianqiao, the founder of Shanda Network!

The next day, Shanda was holding a meeting for its senior executives, but the report never reached Chen Tianqiao's hands.

Chen Tianqiao, the founder of Shanda Network, had just turned thirty that year and was at the height of his youth. Two years earlier, he had founded Shanda Network with relatives and friends, starting out with a cartoon website and anime community before securing its first investment.

After obtaining funding, he had decisively entered the interactive entertainment industry the previous year. With exceptional vision, he had secured the Korean online game Legend. Its momentum was currently surging, far exceeding his initial expectations.

During the meeting, they set the goals for the following month and assigned each department's tasks. After everyone else had left, Luo Qianqian remained behind, looking at her husband with an expression that suggested she wanted to speak but hesitated.

Chen Tianqiao asked curiously, "If you have something to say, just say it. Why are you being so coy with me?"

"Do you know about the situation with those Legend private servers?"

Playing with the pen in his hand, Chen Tianqiao said indifferently, "I thought it was something serious, judging by how unsettled you look. It's just a private server. A few days ago, someone below already reported it to me."

"Shouldn't we pay attention to it? What if—"

"There is no 'what if.' It's nothing more than a flashy little toy cobbled together by a few attention-seeking clowns. Users will satisfy their curiosity for a few days, then come back and keep playing as usual. We mustn't divide our attention right now. We need to focus entirely on our Legend. After all, our revenue last month was this much." Chen Tianqiao smugly held up two fingers.

Seeing that her husband knew about the matter but did not care, Luo Qianqian relaxed. She nodded and let the matter drop, but her attention was soon drawn elsewhere.

"Do you think next month's revenue will double again from this level?"

The man said confidently, "It'll probably be more than that. It'll keep increasing from here on out. Just wait and see!"

Luo Qianqian left the conference room. After returning to her desk, she directly stuffed the report in her hand into the wastepaper basket.

Sure enough, one's perspective differed depending on one's position!

Zhou Xiao was still too young!