Blind Date in Time and Space

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the public beta of "Zhao Guojianghu" was launched.

This is the most shabby product launch conference Song Yuzhu has ever seen in her ten years of work.

No, there was no press conference at all.

No reporters came, no rental venue, no celebrities, no warm-up before the press conference, and no industry insiders were present.

What Song Yuzhu saw was the so-called open beta of the game. In this small workshop where most of the people were fresh graduates, following the order of the young boss named Chen Ji, several programmers put a multi-G game After uploading, I clicked a few buttons.

Then, the young boss named Chen Ji announced that the game was successfully released.

A group of people began to applaud.

The girl in ancient costume also clapped and congratulated her, and even President Zhou also smiled and clapped.

After that it was gone.

The whole thing stood out speechless.

"Ten million, ten million, all gone without even making a splash?"

Song Yuzhu clapped her hands, but the smile on her face was very stiff.

In her opinion, President Zhou invested 10 million to help promote the game without saying anything, and the money was completely wasted!

What can we do with such a shabby product launch?

What did you release for 10 million?

Nothing at all.

Not even a single wave splashed.

President Zhou also wasted a day here.

Alas, I can only say that women who fall in love are unreasonable.

Song Yuzhu also saw that after the product was released, President Zhou sat and chatted with Chen Ji and the girl in ancient costume who was said to continue writing the Dream of Red Mansions.

The three of them had a pleasant chat.

The girl in ancient costume covered her mouth and smiled, with a picturesque look on her face, and said to Chen Ji: "Master, it turns out that this is what 'publicity' means. Does Master's game need Shu Min to promote it?"

Invite beautiful women to promote?

Song Yuzhu nodded secretly, it was a good idea.

But she was still skeptical about the game "Zhao Guo Jiang Hu" and had never heard of it before.

"You don't mind showing off?"

Chen Ji smiled at the little lady.

Women in ancient times were quite taboo about this kind of thing, even in the world of martial arts.

Xia Shumin was a little embarrassed and whispered: "If it were in Zhao country, Shumin would definitely not dare to do this, but on Earth... Miss Wan'er, many women here do this, right?"

When she was shopping in the brightly lit modern city last night, she saw many scantily clad women, and she also saw many photos of beautiful women with bare breasts and legs hanging on the walls.

When she saw that everyone around her was taking it for granted, she knew that this was a common occurrence on Earth.

Zhou Wan showed a bit of a smile in her eyes and said, "There are indeed many women doing publicity. If you want to help, Miss Xia, you can just take a few publicity photos."

"Ms. Xia, you do look very elegant when you wear this dress. It is very suitable for use as a promotional picture."

she added.

Xia Shumin's face was slightly red, and she said softly: "Thank you Miss Wan'er for the compliment. Miss Wan'er, you are also a beautiful person, and your appearance is the only one Shumin has ever seen in his life."

The two beauties complimented each other.

Chen Ji watched with pleasure.

"Master?"

Xia Shumin asked his opinion with her eyes.

"Promotion thing? Okay."

Chen Ji agreed.

Promoting the game is second to none. He is very confident in the artificial intelligence created by Ma Yien. It is a unique game play in the world. It is only a matter of time before it becomes popular.

More importantly, Xia Shumin leaves more marks on this world, which seems to make it easier for her to travel to the earth.

This time she was able to travel back in time, most likely because the electronic version of her continuation of Dream of Red Mansions was released. The spread of Miss Ban Shu's fame gave Xia Shumin an "anchor" to travel back to Earth.

Chen Ji guessed so.

"Then...what to do?"

Xia Shumin became nervous.

This was her first time working. She was taking game promotional photos on Earth, and she was helping the young master make a lot of money so that she could buy a big house for her and him in the future.

Chen Ji thought for a while and said, "It's not too troublesome. I'll just take a few photos of Shu Minqi in the company and send them to the Xuanfa advertising company and ask them to change the promotional pictures to your photos."

Xia Shumin had no objection.

If the young master said yes, she would do it and let the young master do whatever he wanted.

Zhou Wan said: "You don't have a camera in your company, right? I'll have someone bring one over. The photos taken by the camera will look better."

As secretary, Song Yuzhu is responsible for solving matters ordered by the president.

She picked up her cell phone and called the president's assistant, asking him to immediately find some equipment for shooting and arrange for someone to take professional photos and make promotional pictures.

Hongqin Capital does not have these people and equipment within the company, but again, if you have money, you can do anything.

Seven or eight minutes after the open beta started.

"Brother Chen, someone is online!!"

Huang Hao, who was staring at the background data, shouted, and a group of employees gathered around him.

For a game that costs more than 1G, you can download and install it, and almost someone will enter the game.

The number of people online is rising bit by bit.

From 1 to 10, to 100, to hundreds, to over a thousand.

Judging from the data growth rate, it is indeed the result of Zhou Wan’s 10 million yuan publicity. The number of players entering the game will not decrease much in the next few days.

The key is whether we can retain people.

Compared to Huang Hao and the others, Chen Ji was very calm and guided the little lady to play the game. Her white hands, which she usually used to hold the brush, were now holding the mouse and clicking awkwardly, controlling the game characters to walk, and interacting with NPCs. Have conversations, take missions to fight monsters, etc.

"Sir, ah, this is really Yongkang County..."

Xia Shumin's black and white eyes were staring at the computer screen, her face full of joy.

"The Rivers and Lakes of Zhao State" is about what happened in Yongkang County. The protagonist has several origins:

Gangsters from the wharf, young men from wealthy families in Yongkang City, hunters hunting in the mountains, day laborers from the Xia family, etc.

They all have one thing in common, that is, the protagonist has a clear goal and works hard to become a master in the Xiantian realm, hoping to be happy in the world, or to join the imperial court and become a big catcher.

In Yongkang County, which Xia Shumin is familiar with, she uses some things she is familiar with to interpret various bizarre game plots.

Why did my mother's chicken disappear on Wednesday, Aunt Li's son was bullied by gangsters, Uncle Wang went to the mountain to pick herbs and broke his leg, etc.

The little lady was addicted to catching chickens and collecting herbs for a while. It was not until the people taking promotional photos came that she reluctantly turned off the game.

Zhou Wan also tried it on her mobile phone for a while.

Others will only think that this is a game created with AI, and the plot of the game is scripted.

But she knew that a very important character in the game: the eldest lady of the Xia family, was a real person.

It can be seen that many NPCs in the game, such as Zhenbei Gun King, Thief Saint Liu Sangu, Chu Nantian, Li Changhao, major Jianghu sects, etc., all really exist in another world.

"Chen Ji..."

Zhou Wan looked at the young man, "I don't know how many secrets he hides, and how many worlds he has seen?"

The appearance of Chen Ji and those dreams was like a pebble thrown into the lake, breaking her previously peaceful life.

"Miss Wan'er, I, what should I do..."

Xia Shumin hesitated, not daring to go up and take pictures alone, so he turned around and asked her with his eyes.

"Let me help you."

Zhou Wan chuckled lightly and walked to her side to give her advice on what kind of shape and posture she should take to better show her elegant and ladylike temperament.

Chen Ji did not participate and watched the two beautiful women's concave shapes from the side.

There are no posing photos in the photos taken. They all show Xia Shumin's reserved and gentle appearance, either sitting at the desk holding a book, or covering half of her face with a fan, or using a brush to write good calligraphy.

After the photo was taken, the little lady wearing a traditional skirt walked up to Chen Ji with a blushing face and asked him for his opinion.

"It's very beautiful. Once my Shu Min appears on the scene, Zhao Guojianghu is the game that truly has a soul."

"Hehe~"

Xia Shumin, who felt that she had helped the young master, returned to her seat with satisfaction and continued to play her game of Zhao Kingdom.

This time she roped in Zhou Wan and the two of them played together.

Song Yuzhu couldn't understand more and more. Why did President Zhou seem to have such a good relationship with Chen Ji's girlfriend?

What she can't understand are games.

After the number of people online exceeded 1,000, this small game, which she thought was very inconspicuous, began to enter a stage of explosive growth.

Three thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, thirty thousand.

One hour after the open beta of the game, the number of people online exceeded 50,000, and the growth rate was substantial.

"Most of the game reviews are positive?"

Song Yuzhu tried searching for game reviews and found that most of them were five-star reviews. A few negative reviews were also focused on the lack of guidance and the game being too large. There were not many negative reviews on the game content.

"This game is weird. It's obviously 2D, but it feels bigger than Los Santos!"

"I'm so fucking shocked. What kind of fairy game is this?? All the people on the streets in the city are NPCs?"

"Brothers, I discovered one thing. Every time you enter the game, different tasks and dialogues will be generated. Most NPCs will be reset, and each dialogue will be different."

"Oh my god, what's going on with the map of this game? There are tens of thousands of NPCs in it, too many tasks to count, and there are many houses outside the city and mountains in the distance?"

"I learned from my fifteen minutes of observation that the scenes in this game are incredible, and none of the NPCs on the road are the same!!"

More and more players are amazed.

Song Yuzhu probably understood:

This "Zhao Guojianghu" mobile phone and computer are interoperable, and uses a superb random algorithm, uses the now very popular AI painting, and ChatGPT chat robot to simulate and generate a large number of game characters and events, ensuring that every player can You can experience different game tasks and dialogues.

Every time a player enters the game, the NPCs and events in the game will change. People are still the same people, but they have done their own things and acted according to their own personalities.

"This is a living arena!"

"Free? No mall?"

"The AI ​​algorithm of this game is quite powerful. Every game is different. Even every time you enter, the game will change over time."

The reputation of the game quickly gained popularity among the players and began to spread in various chat groups.

More and more players are starting to take action, taking screenshots to the group to show off that they have generated a beautiful ancient-style NPC in the game.

The number of people online continued to soar, and soon exceeded 100,000.

Two hours after the public beta of the game, a call came to Zhou Wan’s mobile phone.

"Thirty million to invest in Four-Dimensional Time and Space Company? Sorry, this game only invested 10 million when it was announced. Chen Ji's company is not short of funds for the time being."

Zhou Wan hung up the phone lightly, not giving the other party a chance to bargain.

Chen Ji is not well-known now, and her company is also very small, so outside investment comes to her.

It has been spread that Hongqin Capital is responsible for the promotion and distribution of this game.

Within an hour, as the number of people online for the game increased again, calls continued to come in.

The investment amount increased from 30 million to 100 million, and the valuation of Chen Ji's company soared from 10 to 20 million to hundreds of millions.

A game company has already offered a price of 100 million, accounting for 40% of the shares, and promised to provide a large amount of publicity resources and send a professional team to be responsible for the subsequent research and development of this game.

The conditions are generous enough.

The continuous operation of games is also a technology, from community management to game updates and so on.

"what is your opinion?"

Zhou Wan asked Chen Ji.

She believed that selling 30% of the shares for 100 million was enough to make a huge profit. After all, she didn't think Chen Ji wanted to make a big splash in the business field, so she might as well sell the game to cash out.

"not enough."

Chen Ji shook his head, paused, and said: "My goal is to transfer the rights to use the in-game AI, and the company's valuation will start at tens of billions."

You can’t make much money by selling games. Zhao Guojianghu hasn’t polished it enough, and AI is the big one.

"Ten billion valuation..."

After Song Yuzhu heard this, she didn't know what to say.

A company with a valuation of tens of billions has a product launch like this?

Are you sure there will be someone who takes advantage of you and gives you a valuation of tens of billions and is willing to invest heavily?

There are at most 20 domestic game companies with valuations exceeding tens of billions.

There are myths abroad about game companies with dozens of people being valued at tens of billions, but this obviously does not include four-dimensional space-time technology.

"Ten billions!"

After Huang Hao heard this, his whole body felt numb.

Because he still retains 1% of the shares in the company, wouldn't it be worth 100 million based on a valuation of 10 billion? !

"Brother Chen is awesome."

Several old employees who also had some shares were excited and exclaimed in lowered voices.

"It's difficult to get a valuation of tens of billions. You have to wait, and your game also needs to show a certain quality."

Zhou Wan feels that it is difficult to achieve a valuation of tens of billions. This is not a small number. Many listed companies have valuations of less than one billion.

But she obviously underestimated the power of the artificial intelligence created by Ma Yien.

Six pm.

The online sales of the game exceeded 500,000, and "Zhao Guo Jiang Hu" climbed to the top three free game download lists in major game stores, and the popularity of game discussions further increased.

Basically all game industry practitioners have paid attention to this dark horse.

Like gamers, people in the gaming industry are also speculating on how this game will make money.

Without changing the content of the game and without single-player sales, if you only rely on fashion to make money, then the game's ability to attract money will be greatly reduced.

While Chen Ji was having dinner with Zhou Wan and Xia Shumin, he posted a Weibo message using his company's Weibo account:

"Seven days later, the world of Zhao will enter the age of cultivating immortals, and "Zhao Sanhen Love and Enmity Record" will be officially released, priced at 35 yuan.

Friendly reminder, after purchasing this book, everyone remember to be prepared to flee the world. "

Xia Shumin almost spit out her rice, covering her mouth and coughing.

"The Record of Zhao Sanhen's Love and Enmity" was originally written by her to be printed by booksellers to make money, but it turned out that the young master also wanted it to make money in the game.

This book has indeed attracted the attention of the martial arts community in the Central Plains of Zhao Kingdom, and when put into the game, many players will also flock to it.

There was some kind of wonderful interaction between her and the young master, between the two worlds.

"Using game cheats to make money?"

Zhou Wan didn't quite understand.

But many players on Weibo guessed Chen Ji's intentions.

"It means that if we don't buy the secret book of cultivating immortals, we can only practice martial arts step by step, right? It's really cruel. According to the settings in the game, it will take at least ten years for the character to level up to innate!"

"If you buy Zhao Sanhen, will it be a version update? DLC?"

"What does it mean to be on the run? I bought game cheats and still have to run for my life?"

"Hiss, I guessed that people in the world also attach great importance to cultivating immortals?"

Chen Ji selectively responded to some people's comments, saying that cheats, a necessity, will only be available once every six months, and future updates will be released as DLC.

In addition, online dungeon play, large-scale events in the world, and the origins of more characters are also planned.

Players were relieved and encouraged more people to play this game.

After Chen Ji returned to the company after dinner, the number of people online in the game officially exceeded one million.

He finally received a call from a heavyweight game company:

Liu Ping, a vice president from Penguin Gaming Division.

Zhou Wan took the lead and contacted President Liu.

Chen Ji's goal is big companies. After all, there are only a few companies that can afford more than one billion.

but.

Mr. Liu was shocked when he heard that Chen Ji's quoted valuation was tens of billions.

"Mr. Chen, are you serious?"

With a valuation of tens of billions, if Penguin wants to get more than half of the shares, it will have to invest at least five billion, or four billion plus a large amount of equivalent resources.

Such a large investment must be decided through a meeting and discussion.

Chen Ji smiled slightly: "I don't know how you internally evaluate my game, but I can say with certainty that in the next ten years, no company in the world will be able to produce a game similar to "Zhao Guo Jiang Hu" There is not a single game."

"this……"

President Liu Ping hesitated.

Unique in the world.

This is indeed a scarce investment, and the AI ​​in this game can also be applied to other games to generate a series of values.

Not even just games.

If it can be spread to other fields, the valuation of tens of billions is indeed not much.

"Shall we make an appointment to chat tomorrow?" Liu Ping tried to ask.

Chen Ji refused, "I don't have that much time. I'm currently short of money, so I need to invest. If I can sell millions of copies of the game in seven days, then I won't be short of money and I won't need your money by then." invest.

If you want to talk to me, you must do so on the premise of valuing my company at tens of billions. "

Liu Ping frowned. Chen Ji dared to wait seven days to sell the money, which proved that he was indeed confident in his game and confident that no one could crack his server and learn his AI.

The DLC priced at RMB 35 per copy is undoubtedly very cheap considering the size of the game.

Judging from the current popularity of the game, player retention, online time and other data, it is not a big problem for the first DLC to sell more than 5 million copies after seven days, and there is a high probability that it will reach 10 million copies.

"I'll get back to you within three days!"

Liu Ping replied confidently: "There are not many companies in China that can invest billions, and Penguin is the best choice. Don't worry, Mr. Chen, we will give you the most fair valuation!"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Looking forward to it."

After he hung up the phone, Song Yuzhu couldn't help but said, "Mr. Chen, your tone really doesn't sound like you're doing business."

How can anyone talk about tens of billions of business like this?

What's more, the person standing opposite Chen Ji is the leading giant company in the country.

Chen Ji smiled and said: "It's not like I'm begging for investment. Besides, the money is enough. Now that the game has gained popularity, it's not a big problem to make money to buy a big house."

He made an expression towards the little lady.

Xia Shumin pursed her lips and smiled. The young master worked so hard to make money so that she could live in a big house in the future.

Song Yuzhu was speechless.

In the morning, she couldn't believe it to death that this small company could be valued at over one billion, and now it was aiming for tens of billions.

In other words, the man in front of me will definitely become a billionaire?

President Zhou's vision is really good, and he easily invests in the best people.

"It's getting late tonight."

Chen Ji said to Zhou Wan: "Shall I transfer 10% of the shares to you? It was agreed before, in return for your publicity and distribution of funds to me."

The contract had only been tentatively set before and had not been signed yet, but Zhou Wan had already spent 10 million to promote it.

Zhou Wan looked at him deeply and replied in a cold tone: "Just give me 1%."

Chen Ji insisted on giving her more. After all, there was no announcement of 10 million, and the game would be very slow to become popular.

In the end, Zhou Wan only accepted 3% as a condition for joining Chen Ji Company and becoming a shareholder.

Chen Ji also left 3% of the shares for Xia Shumin. As the future boss, how can the little lady do without shares?

She doesn't need it, but she can't live without it.

"Share?"

Xia Shumin was confused. She was not very familiar with shares. She only knew that the young master gave them to her and she could just accept them.

Anyway, her private money also belongs to the young master.

…

Nine o'clock in the evening, in the mall.

"Shu Min, do you want these cosmetics?"

Zhou Wan took Xia Shumin and walked around the mall, while Chen Ji followed the two beauties carrying large and small bags.

After knowing that Xia Shumin would return to her world soon, Zhou Wan suggested buying some things for her to take back.

Of course Chen Ji would not refuse. It was a rare time for a young lady to come to the earth, so she had to bring some gifts back.

So, the three of them took Zhou Wan's luxury car and went to the mall to go shopping.

"Thank you sister Wan."

Xia Shumin was very interested in rouge on earth and listened carefully to Zhou Wan's explanation of lipstick and eyebrow pencil.

When she left the mall and took the car back, the trunk of Zhou Wan's Rolls-Royce was already filled with various gifts. She also helped carry it up to the sixth floor where Chen Ji lived, and watched Xia Shumin disappear with all kinds of things. in front of her.

"Wait a few days and I will take you to the doomsday world?"

Chen Ji said to her.

Zhou Wan nodded, hesitated, and asked him: "Is it very cold in the apocalyptic world? I need to prepare some winter clothes. In addition, your company will be very busy these days, so we can go there after we are done."

Chen Ji had no objection, and the matter was settled.

…

"Miss!!"

Xia Shumin returned home with a bunch of gifts from the earth. As soon as she appeared in her study, two maids came screaming around her.

"Miss, you are finally back~~"

"Wow, Miss, you brought back gifts from the fairy world? Are these fairy fruits?"

"How is it possible? Young Master also brought a lot of things here~"

When she returned to her home, Xia Shumin's tone became much lighter. She gave the things in her hands to the two maids, clapped her hands, and looked like she was tired from shopping.

Cuizhu quickly asked the young lady to sit down, poured tea for her, and pestered the young lady to ask about the fairy world and the earth.

Luzhu hurriedly went to tell the master and his wife.

After a while, Lu Rui and Xia Yongcheng arrived, and they were relieved to see their daughter coming back from the fairy world.

Unfortunately, it was already late at night. After listening to what Xia Shumin said about the earth, the two of them asked her to have a good rest and talk about it another day.

The master and his wife left, but the two maids stayed with the young lady, pestering her to continue hearing about things on earth.

Xia Shumin was served by green bamboos. After taking off the underskirt she had worn for two days, her slender body comfortably soaked in the wooden bucket to take a bath. She raised her smooth jade hands to count, and her rosy little face was full of pride:

"Let me tell you, there are actually a lot of people on the fairyland earth. They have set up wires along the roads. The roads are wide and straight."

"Ah? Electricity, wire? What is it?"

"The wire is a very long hemp rope, with the power of thunder flowing... I'm not talking nonsense, it's the young master who said that those thunder and lightning can electrocute people to death~"

"Wow!! Immortal uses the power of thunder? Miss, really?"

"Well, the city where the young master lives is very large, with as many as 20 million people... People live in pavilions hundreds of meters high. The pavilions are smooth and straight, reaching into the sky..."

At night, the master and servant were lying on the bed.

The twin maids hugged their young lady's arms and listened to her talk about the fairy world and earth with sparkling eyes. They exclaimed from time to time until Lu Rui got up in the middle of the night and sent someone to listen for a while. After knowing that they had not fallen asleep, They were ordered to sleep and no more chatting was allowed!

Xia Shumin, wearing thin pajamas, was too excited to sleep in bed.

As soon as she closed her eyes, all the scenes in her mind were filled with the scenes on earth with the young master. Those magical things opened her eyes. She could never imagine such magical things based on her own imagination.

What made her feel warmer in her heart was that the young master was afraid that she would not be used to living on earth, so he specifically told her that she could live wherever she wanted in the future.

If you want to go to Earth, go to Earth. If you want to live in Zhao State, go back to Zhao State.

Young Master is so kind...

"Miss, are you still asleep?" Cuizhu asked softly.

"Um."

"Hehe, the young lady will marry my uncle in the future, will we also be able to go to Earth?"

"Um, do you want to go to Earth?"

"think!"

The three masters and servants hid their heads under the quilt and started chatting quietly again.

Xia Shumin is no longer shy about "marrying my uncle", but accepts it naturally and acquiesces to it in her heart.

Just waiting for Chen Ji's three letters and six etiquettes to marry her.