Chapter 131 Accounting

Chapter 131 Accounting

Early Tuesday morning, 16th floor of Hailong Building, Finance Department of Qihang Technology.

Jiang Shuo was hunched over the computer, his nose almost touching the screen. The Casio calculator he usually used for accounting was clicking away so loudly it sounded like a machine gun firing.

"Reset to zero. Add ten. Add three. Add ten." Jiang Shuo muttered to himself, his fingers moving so fast they left afterimages.

Zhang Jian strolled in, carrying a half-filled cup of coffee, and peeked at the constantly updating recharge records for the voice information service on the screen.

"Shuo, with that hand speed, it's a shame you're not playing Counter-Strike." Zhang Jian chuckled. "Did you figure it out? How much did you score?"

Jiang Shuo suddenly looked up, his eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot but frighteningly bright.

"I can't figure it out! I simply can't keep up!" Jiang Shuo slammed the calculator on the table. "Three yuan a set of clothes, ten yuan a month for a VIP membership—are these netizens crazy? They buy virtual clothes without batting an eye! Just in the last minute, over three hundred more orders popped up in the backend!"

Wan Lianghao happened to be passing by and, upon hearing this, swaggered in, chiming in with a thick Northeastern accent: "What's this called? This is the charm of art. Who wouldn't be happy to spend three yuan online to pretend to be a tycoon?"

"You're kidding me," Jiao Liwei squeezed into the finance office. "I just browsed the forums on HaiNei.com, and right now the hottest topic isn't your tattered clothes, it's the parking space wars!"

Jiao Liwei took out his phone, opened a text message, and handed it to Zhang Jian.

"Look, my old buddy from high school, now studying at the broadcasting department, just texted me cursing." Jiao Liwei laughed so hard his shoulders shook. "He said he finally saved up enough money to buy a used Alto, parked it in his department manager's virtual parking space, and then, after going to the restroom, his manager gave him a ticket and fined him fifty gold coins!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jian slapped his thigh with amusement: "This guy is really pitiful. But putting a ticket on the boss is indeed exciting. In real life, they're meek and submissive, but online they're ruthless, putting tickets on their bosses and parking in their bosses' spaces. These white-collar workers are venting all the resentment they've accumulated in the workplace in our game."

"Absolutely." Jiao Liwei put away his phone. "Right now, all the posts on Haiwainet are about how to time it so they can park in other people's spaces and put up tickets. There are even posts bragging about how they bought a limited-edition luxury sports car and parked it in the space of their crush's female colleague to show off. The level of interaction is incredible."

Jiang Shuo didn't have time to listen to their idle chatter. He stared at the total figures in the back office and swallowed hard.

"Stop talking." Jiang Shuo's voice trembled as he pointed at the screen. "Twenty hours. From four in the morning until now."

Zhang Jian leaned closer: "How much?"

"Two million four hundred thousand." Jiang Shuo turned his head and looked at the people in the room, feeling like he was dreaming. "A record-breaking turnover, surpassing one million RMB in twelve hours. The highest record of Happy Farm has been completely shattered."

The finance office fell silent instantly.

The group of people looked at each other in bewilderment.

Two million four hundred thousand—that was earned in 2000 by selling prepaid memberships, virtual clothes, and virtual cars—all created using just a few lines of code.

Zero cost, no inventory, pure profit.

Bai Yuhang appeared at the entrance of the finance office, still holding a teacup. Su Muqing stood beside him, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at the group of dumbfounded boys.

"You're scared out of your wits?" Bai Yuhang walked in.

"Mr. Bai, I feel uneasy making money like this." Jiang Shuo pushed up his glasses. "There's not even any actual product. Are netizens really willing to hand over their money?"

"Vanity and the desire to compare are human nature, the most primal driving forces," Su Muqing continued, her voice clear and crisp. "Look at parking space grabbing and QQ Show; they're essentially providing a low-cost form of social display. You might not be able to afford a sports car in real life, but on HaiNei.com, you can park it in front of your friends for just a few dollars. This emotional value is more addictive than the physical object itself."

Bai Yuhang nodded. "That's right. Chen Yizhou spent ten million to distribute flyers and give out five-yuan red envelopes, which is just physical customer acquisition. Our combination of tactics is a psychological war. By binding familiar relationships to interests and vanity, this kind of social stickiness, once formed, will multiply exponentially. No one can take it away."

"Chen Yizhou is probably crying right now, staring at the dismal data of 5Q Campus Network," Zhang Jian grinned. "Does he think ten million US dollars is enough to live on? He's practically a cash cow giving money to our domestic network and QQ. It's true what they say, there's no harm without comparison."

"Alright, stop laughing. Go back to your office and keep a close eye on the abnormal server traffic." Bai Yuhang tapped Jiang Shuo's desk with his knuckles. "Jiang Shuo, go talk to the telecom company's duty desk and ask them to allocate personnel to add a few more phone lines tomorrow. Today's turnover will double by tomorrow."

Upon hearing that the price could double, Jiang Shuo grinned widely and quickly nodded in agreement, "Okay! I'll contact the telecommunications bureau right away!"

The temporary office area for 5Q Campus Network is located on the second floor of the Sohu Network Building.

With two huge dark circles under his eyes, Chen Yizhou stared intently at the screen, having spent over an hour using drawing software to cut out a pixelated image of a cabbage.

Wang Xiaochuan stood up at his workstation, his expression strange.

"Mr. Chen, I think we don't need to raid the farm anymore."

Chen Yizhou suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot: "What? You've written out the underlying logic?"

Wang Xiaochuan shook his head and handed over a printed data report.

"See for yourself. Qihang Technology updated everything this morning. Real-time group chat, email, video chat, virtual avatars, monthly memberships, and a new web game called 'Parking Wars'—it's all here." Wang Xiaochuan's tone was tinged with helplessness. "Our 5Q campus network is now so deserted that you can hardly find any real people posting. Users are all comparing whose clothes are nicer and whose name is more popular in QQ groups."

Chen Yizhou grabbed the report and stared at the several unheard-of features and the precipitous drop in 5Q daily active users. He felt a wave of dizziness and almost collapsed onto the keyboard.

He leaned against the workstation partition for support, then plopped down in front of Wang Xiaochuan's computer, rubbing his face for a while to calm down.

But when he looked up, he saw a daily active user curve on the screen that was in freefall at a 90-degree angle, and his eyes instantly turned red and almost bled.

Old Zhao is usually slow-witted and lacks tact. Sitting at the workstation next to him, he slowly dragged the mouse: "Mr. Chen, look at the edges of this cabbage leaf. Should I trim the rough edges again? Otherwise, it won't look smooth."

Chen Yizhou suddenly bulged his veins, grabbed the coffee cup on the table, and smashed it hard on the ground.

With a loud crash, the porcelain cup shattered on the floor, and brown liquid splashed all over Old Zhao's trouser leg, startling him. He quickly said, "I'm not fixing it. Please don't throw things around anymore, it's scary."

Wang Xiaochuan stood by his workstation, wanting to say something, but after opening his mouth, he didn't know what to say.

The office area fell silent instantly.

Just then, the door was pushed open.

Wu Tao, carrying a folder, yawned and sauntered in, a perpetually amiable smile on his face.