45: Chapter 45 Excuse me, is this Eddie, my...sir?

December 7th, Imperial Capital.

After getting off work in the evening, Zhang Qingquan was lying on his bed scrolling through Bilibili.

Although it was nearing the dead of winter, the heating in the room was already on, so even though he was only wearing a thin pair of pajamas, he didn't feel any obvious cold.

He had just finished a round of Slay the Spire, clearing Ascension 20 again, and felt a bit bored.

If he browsed the forums, it was always the same old content back and forth, and the inflow of new players had stabilized, so he rarely saw those adorable or silly-looking newbies anymore.

So, he simply started scrolling through his favorite Bilibili, wanting to see if there were any interesting Slay the Spire videos.

But as he scrolled, a notification suddenly popped up on his homepage; someone he followed had posted an update.

Just as he was about to swipe away, the corner of his eye subconsciously caught a few words. Whoa! It was actually the official Bilibili account of Spark Games.

Huh?

Did they have a change of heart, realizing tower defense was too childish, and decided to turn over a new leaf and release slay the spire 2?

His heart stirred.

As a loyal supporter of Slay the Spire, he quickly swiped back and clicked in to see what it was about.

[ # Plants vs. Zombies # Internal Beta Recruitment ]

To thank our players for their continued strong support of Spark Games, we will be selecting a total of 10 lucky players from the comments section of this post to participate in a three-day offline internal beta test for Spark Games' new title, [ Plants vs. Zombies ]. Meals, accommodation, and travel itineraries are all included, and round-trip transportation will be reimbursed!

How to participate: Leave a comment on this post sharing your story with Spark Games, and we will randomly select 10 players from all comments.

Announcement date: December 10th.

Note: The event will take place from December 15th to 17th in Xuhui District, Magic City. Please ensure that the players selected for the quota can make the time arrangement.

Zhang Qingquan stared blankly at the screen for a few seconds.

The expression on his face was filled with the annoyance of dashed hopes, and he muttered:

"Plants vs. Zombies? What a crappy name; it sounds boring just hearing it."

Who plays that crappy tower defense these days?

Although in earlier years, the tower defense genre didn't lack quality games.

But in recent years, it had long since declined due to excessive homogenization, and the new games released were all just the same old stuff in new packaging.

If he had the time to take leave and play this thing, he might as well curl up at home, sleep from morning till night, wake up, drink an iced cola, and play a few rounds of Slay the Spire. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

He curled his lip and was just about to swipe away.

His finger was already touching the screen, but he suddenly stopped.

Meals and accommodation fully covered.

Round-trip travel reimbursed.

Magic City.

He suddenly remembered that since he started his current job, it seemed like it had been a full three years since he had left the Imperial Capital, except for business trips.

The last time he went out, it seemed to be when he graduated from university, when he went on a trip to Tianjin with a few buddies.

Just consider it a trip to Magic City. Anyway, it's a lottery, and with my bad luck, I won't win, so I'll just treat it as a bit of fun.

No sooner said than done, he first clicked into the pinned webpage in the comments section, left his mobile number and Bilibili nickname, and then went back and nimbly typed a line in the comments section:

[Don't really have a story, just played Slay the Spire for almost three hundred hours. If I get picked, I'll take leave and go to Magic City to have fun; if not, screw it.]

He clicked send, then threw his phone by his pillow and rolled over to sleep.

By December 10th, he had completely forgotten about it, his entire focus immersed in work and life.

It wasn't until that afternoon, while he was playing games, that his phone rang. He paused the game, picked it up, and saw it was a strange number from Magic City.

Magic City?

He didn't know anyone there.

Frowning, he answered with some confusion, and a gentle male voice spoke:

"Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. 'My ID is My...'?"

"Yes... no... it's me."

Zhang Qingquan was completely bewildered. For a moment, he didn't know whether to say yes or no, and his face instantly flushed with heat.

"Hello, hello, I am a staff member from Spark Games. Congratulations on being selected for the internal offline beta test qualification for our new game, [ Plants vs. Zombies ]..."

Zhang Qingquan was stunned.

The sense of shame from having his username read out loud hadn't even passed, and a sense of absurdity surged in his heart. It was hard to believe he could have such good luck?

Seeing that Zhang Qingquan didn't speak, the other party repeated it again.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Qingquan muttered:

"Are you sure you didn't pick the wrong person? I just left a casual comment, only wrote a dozen words."

The person on the other end of the phone laughed.

"We didn't pick the wrong person; it was a random draw. You have very good luck."

"This call is to remind you that if you are interested in participating in this offline internal beta test activity, please leave your specific information and contact details in the official private message. If it has been more than twenty-four hours and you haven't..."

Hanging up the phone, Zhang Qingquan stared blankly at the phone screen, dazed.

Holy crap, I actually won?

If he had known he had this kind of luck, and since he wasn't going to go anyway, he might as well have bought a lottery ticket. Why play some crappy tower defense?

...

At 7:00 AM on December 15th, Zhang Qingquan stood at the arrival exit of Hongqiao Airport.

As he walked out, he muttered to himself in complaint:

"I really didn't want to come! How did I end up muddle-headedly taking annual leave? Damn, is this Spark Games poisonous or what!"

December in Magic City was colder than he had imagined, but much better than the Imperial Capital. Fortunately, he was well-prepared and wore a down jacket, so he wouldn't freeze.

The exit was crowded with people coming and going; some were holding signs to pick people up, some were holding flowers waiting for others, and there were even tour groups waving little flags as they walked out.

He shrank his neck and looked around, searching for a long time but failing to find anyone who looked like they were there to pick him up.

Just as he was about to make a call, his phone suddenly vibrated.

It was that staff member he added on WeChat a few days ago, named Chen Yu, whose profile picture was a cartoon zombie that looked silly.

"Brother Zhang, have you arrived? I'm at the exit, wearing a yellow vest, holding a sign that says Spark Games."

Zhang Qingquan raised his head and looked around.

Then he saw a young man in his twenties standing by the pillar next to the exit, with a sturdy build as if he had just come from the gym, wearing a bright yellow vest.

He was holding a sign in his hand with the characters "Spark Games" printed on it, written in a crooked, childish scrawl.

Zhang Qingquan dragged his suitcase and hurried over.

"Are you Chen Yu?"

The other party looked up, his face immediately filled with a smile.

"Are you Zhang Qingquan? Hello, Brother Zhang! Welcome, welcome!"

He reached out enthusiastically and shook his hand very firmly:

"Had a tiring trip? The car is waiting outside; let's head back to the hotel first."

Zhang Qingquan wasn't quite used to this enthusiasm, so he pulled his hand back and followed him outside.

"Just me today?"

Chen Yu shook his head and said:

"Five are arriving today, picked up in batches. You are the earliest; some of the others won't arrive until the afternoon."

After getting into the car, it was a seven-seater business van. Although it looked ordinary, it was quite spacious and comfortable to sit in.