19: Chapter 19 is a viral sensation online: Shu Yu played pixel games all night? Warning: It's so good!

1:00 AM, Chen Shuyu's home.

Chen Shuyu stared at the computer screen, her eyes bloodshot, her fingers holding the mouse somewhat stiff from being tensed for so long.

"Damn it, dead again!"

On the screen, a green monster made of blocks silently approached, followed by a "hissing" sound of a burning fuse, and then a loud bang.

The screen turned red, and a few large characters popped up mercilessly: [You Died!]

"Ahhh! My iron sword! My newly crafted iron sword!"

Chen Shuyu clutched her hair and let out a desperate wail.

A few hours ago, when her best friend sent over the installation package, she had refused.

When she opened the game and saw the pixelated graphics filled with jagged edges that looked like a throwback to the NES era, she sneered, "That's it? These pixelated graphics look like a twenty-year technological regression. Even a dog wouldn't play this."

As it turned out...

She spoke too soon.

From her initial look of disgust, to her surprise at punching down her first block of wood, to the novelty of crafting her first crafting table.

Especially when night fell and the low growls of zombies echoed around her, a pure sense of survival dread instantly gripped her heart. She had to bury herself in a hole like a caveman, shivering as she listened to the monsters' footsteps overhead.

This kind of immersion was something those AAA masterpieces with beautiful graphics but hollow gameplay could never provide.

"Just one more game—I'll go to sleep after I get my gear back."

Chen Shuyu gritted her teeth and clicked [Respawn] once more.

Before she knew it, the sky outside began to turn light.

...

The next morning, at the Su family villa.

Auntie Wu had just brought the warm milk to the table when the doorbell rang.

Su Qingxue, dressed in a sharp business suit, was sitting at the dining table reviewing reports. She looked up to see Chen Shuyu drifting in with two massive dark circles under her eyes, her steps unsteady as if she had been completely drained.

"Shuyu?" Su Qingxue put down the tablet in her hand, her brow furrowing slightly. "Did you go stealing pigs last night? Why do you look so exhausted?"

"Don't even ask."

Chen Shuyu slumped into a chair, took the hot coffee handed to her by Auntie Wu, and gulped down half a cup before feeling her soul return to her body. "I got totally wrecked by my best friend... no, by a pixel game."

"Is it minecraft?" Su Qingxue was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, that crappy game with pixelated graphics all over the screen." Chen Shuyu spoke through gritted teeth, yet with a hint of nostalgia. "Everyone in the company group was talking about it last night. I originally wanted to go in and criticize it, to find some flaws, but... Qingxue, this game is addictive! Truly addictive!"

She gestured wildly with her hands, "Even though the graphics are trash, the degree of freedom is insane! I can build whatever I want, go to the Nether, and even make redstone circuits... If this kind of game is ported to our phones, it will definitely blow up the market!"

As the secretary to the president of Guanghui Mobile, Chen Shuyu still retained her sharp business sense.

Su Qingxue nodded thoughtfully. "I watched Lu Li play it for a bit last night, and it is indeed quite interesting. But we don't have time to worry about games right now. Has there been any movement from Tianqiong Interactive Entertainment?"

At the mention of official business, Chen Shuyu forced herself to cheer up and pulled a stack of documents from her bag.

"Those guys are moving very fast. That traitor Zhang Yuqing took a lot of our core data with him. Tianqiong Interactive Entertainment released a teaser poster for their new phone this morning, focusing on the gaming phone concept. What's more... they acquired Nokia's mobile phone business department a year ago, and they actually kept this information under wraps until now."

During this period, through various channels and headhunting firms within the industry...

They finally found out who exactly was poaching talent from Guanghui Technology's core technical department.

It was this very Tianqiong Interactive Entertainment, an internet gaming company with over a hundred million domestic users.

They had actually sensed the business opportunity as well and were preparing to enter the mobile phone industry.

It was unclear whether they thought they were an easy target, or if they didn't dare to provoke Dami Company, which ranked much higher in the industry.

In short, Dami Company had only had a few insignificant small-timers poached by Tianqiong Entertainment.

Su Qingxue took the documents and flipped through a few pages, her expression gradually turning serious.

"Acquiring Nokia for hardware backing, plus already being a gaming company, focusing on information security and gaming performance... they are aiming right at our Guanghui Technology's weak spot." Su Qingxue tapped her fingertips gently on the table. "As expected, did their UI design also clash with our Guanghui UI 6.0?"

"It's more than just a clash; it's practically a one-to-one replica!" A flash of anger crossed Chen Shuyu's eyes.

"Zhang Yuqing stole all of our design concepts. Now that they've beaten us to the release, if we still use 6.0, we'll be accused of plagiarism instead."

The atmosphere became somewhat oppressive for a moment.

Guanghui Technology was at a critical period of transformation. Although there had been a breakthrough in Full-screen display technology, if the customized Guanghui UI system was intercepted, the consequences would be unimaginable.

For the September launch event, were they going to pair the Full-screen display with Guanghui UI 5.0?

Wouldn't that be like Lü Bu riding a dog?

Therefore, the research on the "Xingchen" deep OS was of the utmost urgency.

Currently, the compilation of the deep OS was not even at 30%, and they had already encountered many technical difficulties.

This would require help from Lu Li's friends.

But Lu Li had that lazy temperament again.

"Where is Lu Li?"

Chen Shuyu asked subconsciously.

Without her realizing it, that seemingly lazy man had become the key to solving problems in her subconscious.

"Still sleeping."

At the mention of Lu Li, Su Qingxue's tone softened a bit. "He went out to play for five days and is exhausted. Fortunately, his team of friends helped out, otherwise we wouldn't have broken through with the Full-screen display technology so quickly."

"What about the product manager position..."

"Him?" Su Qingxue shook her head. "You know what his personality is like. If we really let him manage products at the company, he'd run away in two days. I found a mentor for him and plan to let him hold a nominal position first to learn slowly. He should be able to take over in a week."

The two of them chatted a bit more about the company's strategy against Tianqiong Interactive Entertainment, and then hurriedly left.

...

The sun was high in the sky.

A corner of the curtain in the master bedroom on the second floor was blown open by the wind, letting in the dazzling sunlight.

On the large bed, a heap of blankets squirmed a few times.

Lu Li rolled over, stretched comfortably, and his joints let out a series of popping sounds.

"Aah! This is what life is supposed to be like."

He lay spread-eagled on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

No suffocating laboratory white noise, no annoying bug fixing, and no need to worry about going bald or sudden death from staying up late.

Lu Li walked downstairs in his slippers. On the dining table was a loving breakfast made by his wife—a sandwich and warm milk, with a sticky note pressed next to it: [Remember to drink the milk.]

"A virtuous wife and a good mother, what more could a husband ask for?" Lu Li happily took a bite of the sandwich, the flavor of mayonnaise exploding in his mouth.

After eating and drinking his fill, he casually tossed the plate into the dishwasher and only then remembered he hadn't checked the game data yet.

"Oh right, it's been 48 hours since the game's release, the data should be about ready."

Lu Li slowly strolled into the study, turned on his top-spec computer, and logged into the Steam backend.

Although he had confidence in minecraft, this was a parallel world after all. What if the players here had bizarre tastes and only liked pay-to-win web games?

However, the moment the backend page refreshed, the sandwich in Lu Li's mouth almost fell onto the keyboard.

Whoosh—

Downloads: 86,421

Concurrent Players: 32,000+

Approval Rating: 98% (Overwhelmingly Positive)

"Holy crap?"

Lu Li rubbed his eyes.

Over eighty thousand copies in two days? This is an indie game with absolutely no promotion, relying purely on word of mouth!

Just how starved have the players here been all these years?

Even when minecraft first came out in his previous life, it wasn't this explosive, right?

He clicked on the review section, and a screen full of glowing praise rushed at him:

[ID: Grumpy Bro]: Who the hell said this game's graphics are garbage? Come out and catch these hands! I stayed up until now just to build a sky garden! This isn't just a game, this is art!

[ID: Jedi Knight]: It's my first time playing a game with absolutely no tutorial, yet I don't find it annoying at all. When you craft a wooden pickaxe for the first time, and mine coal for the first time, that sense of achievement is absolutely amazing! This game is only selling for 70 yuan? The developer must have let a dog eat their conscience, I suggest raising the price!

[ID: Only I Am Not There]: I'm an architect, and this game is simply my dream game! I've already recommended it to our entire studio. The boss is currently leading us to recreate the Forbidden City in the game!

[ID: A Well-Known Game Streamer]: Brothers, stop rushing me for LOL updates. Tonight I'll stream minecraft's survival mode, and I won't end the stream until I mine diamonds!

It's a hit.

A total, massive hit.

Lu Li leaned back in his executive chair, quickly running the numbers in his head.

Ten dollars a copy, which is 70 RMB. Eighty thousand copies is 5.6 million. Deducting the platform's 30% cut and taxes...

In just these two days while he was lying in bed sleeping, his account gained nearly four million?!

And this was only the beginning. As word of mouth spread, this number would grow exponentially.

Although his wife was rich, and he was rich too and didn't care about money, who would complain about having too much of it?

"This way, I won't have to go to work at Guanghui Technology anymore!"

Lu Li leaned back in his executive chair, crossing his legs.

He remembered his bet with Su Qingxue, a period of five days.

In five days, he had easily coded a standalone game. Now, his title as a game designer was completely genuine, right?

He could completely and confidently live off his wife... oh no, he could also call it retiring behind the scenes.