Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 532 Sweet pastry

Jingzhou City, headquarters of Momo Group.

Kong Feng rushed into Cheng Yi's office and said in a hoarse voice, "President Cheng, the Honghuang Treasure Pavilion you launched is absolutely the greatest operation I've ever seen in the gaming industry. We can completely replicate it in the domestic version."

Cheng Yi shook his head and laughed, "It can't be done domestically."

"Why?" Kong Feng asked, puzzled.

Cheng Yi said, "This is a double-edged sword. It can be done overseas, but not domestically."

"But I heard that NetEase has been pursuing this matter all along," Kong Feng said, still somewhat unwilling to give up.

The Honghuang Treasure Pavilion was only open for 24 hours this time, and the transaction fees alone reached an astonishing 75424741.

That's close to 100 million.

I don't even dare to think about it.

Kong Feng continued, "President Cheng, if we were to launch this in China, we could make the game completely free. Do you know how much in transaction fees Honghuang Treasure Pavilion earns every 24 hours?"

"One hundred million?" Cheng Yi guessed.

"About 7500 million." Kong Feng swallowed and said, "With this, we won't need game cards anymore."

Just as Cheng Yi was about to answer Kong Feng's question, Huang Wenrong rushed in without even knocking.

"President Kong is here too." Huang Wenrong nodded to Kong Feng and said, "Perfect, saves me the trouble of going to two different places."

Seeing Huang Wenrong's solemn expression, Kong Feng was also somewhat confused.

Huang Wenrong placed a financial statement in front of Cheng Yi and said, "President Cheng, there are serious problems with these few entries from Momo Games."

The places Huang Wenrong pointed to had several income and expenditure details marked in red.

Kong Feng peeked out on tiptoe and couldn't help but say, "Isn't this the transaction fee income of the Primordial Treasure Pavilion?"

“Yes!” Huang Wenrong said, “Look at these thirteen transactions. The first one has a transaction price of 831 million and a commission income of 249.3 million. The second one has a transaction price of 628 million…”

Huang Wenrong went through all thirteen incomes one by one, each of which was over a million.

Huang Wenrong asked sharply, "Does our game have equipment that expensive? Is this person crazy or stupid to spend seven or eight million on a single piece of equipment?"

"The market is determined by people," Cheng Yi chuckled.

Huang Wenrong exclaimed, “You can still laugh? I suspect that people from Southeast Asian casinos are using our Honghuang Treasure Pavilion to launder money! I request that Honghuang Treasure Pavilion be suspended immediately and that corresponding systems be established to prevent this from happening or to stop cash payments altogether.”

"No way." Kong Feng, who was standing to the side, immediately became anxious and said urgently, "What does the players' behavior have to do with us? They are free to spend 10 million to buy a piece of equipment! A Rolls-Royce costs more than 10 million."

Huang Wenrong was amused by Kong Feng's words and couldn't help but say, "Mr. Kong, these are completely different things. Cars have real value."

“Our game equipment also has practical value, and I’m not going to cancel it anyway. Now is a great time,” Kong Feng said urgently.

Cheng Yi sat cross-legged in the boss's chair, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, quietly watching Huang Wenrong and Kong Feng argue.

Only after the two had argued heatedly did he stand up and try to smooth things over: "Alright, the weather's getting colder, why are you two still so irritable?"

Huang Wenrong said in a deep voice, "This is a very serious problem."

“I understand what you mean,” Cheng Yi said. “We can compromise and produce a few artifacts worth a few million. These artifacts don’t have to be very powerful, but they must be high-class. Let’s make paralysis rings. The starting bid is 10. We just need to get a convincing price.”

Cheng Yi looked at Kong Feng and said, "President Kong, I'm leaving this matter to you. I will have Chen Zhi organize wealthy people from various Asian countries to participate in the auction. This paralysis ring should fetch at least ten million."

"Ten million?" Kong Feng wondered if he had misheard.

Cheng Yi sneered, "A graffiti painting can fetch 73 million, is it too much for our powerful paralysis ring to sell for 10 million? By the way, let's add another function to the paralysis ring: the owner of the paralysis ring can freely transfer to any server after three months of the server opening."

"Okay." Kong Feng understood Cheng Yi's meaning.

Huang Wenrong understood Cheng Yi's meaning: this was about skirting the rules, skirting the edge of the rules.

However, considering the current predicament facing Momo Group, he felt relieved.

These days, if you want to make money honestly, the only way is to open a small shop.

"Remember, the total number of paralysis rings produced across the entire server cannot exceed ten," Cheng Yi added.

"Okay." Kong Feng nodded.

Cheng Yi then looked at Huang Wenrong and said, "Old Huang, is this a good way to handle it?"

“Okay.” Huang Wenrong approved Cheng Yi’s compromise.

Cheng Yi looked at Kong Feng and said, "President Kong, you just asked why we don't set up the Primordial Treasure Pavilion in China, now I'll answer you."

“If someone tries to curry favor with you and recommends you play this game, and you happen to find a paralysis ring, and then happen to sell it for ten million in the Primordial Treasure Pavilion, what do you think that is?” Cheng Yi asked.

"It's income from a side job," Kong Feng replied.

"What if that paralysis ring was accidentally dropped at your feet by someone trying to curry favor with you?" Cheng Yi asked again.

"This..." Kong Feng fell silent.

This should also be considered side income, right?
Cheng Yi laughed and said, "Of course, with the size of our Momo Group, this kind of thing can be easily covered up, but I don't want to give others any leverage. Every penny we earn in China must be justifiable."

“This kind of borderline work can be left to Chen Zhi; he’ll do a fantastic job.” Cheng Yi smiled and said, “Alright, go ahead and get busy. We need to hurry up with the paralysis ring matter and get the auction going before the financial statements are released.”

"Okay." Kong Feng nodded.

He suddenly realized that overseas games and domestic games operate in completely different ways.

Domestic games are actually just simple online games, without all those messy and complicated elements.

But overseas games are not so simple. Just a few days ago, Chen Zhi strongly requested that a money exchange dice-rolling function be added to the game, allowing players to use in-game currency to gamble on big or small for fun.
As the bookmakers in this game, they really have no reason to lose.

However, Cheng Yi also declined the offer.

When Kong Feng came out of Cheng Yi's office, he felt like he was carrying a hot, scalding treasure bowl, both hot to the touch and incredibly exciting.

Back in the game department, he immediately locked the core planners and technical backbone in a small dark room.

A few days later, on an ordinary afternoon.

In the overseas version of Honghuang Chronicles, a paid map, Molten Core, has been officially launched in 81 servers.

A warrior with the ID "Melancholy Little Prince" was grinding away at an elite boss in a corner of Molten Core.

At this moment, Kong Feng personally activated his GM account and stood stealthily next to the character of the melancholy little prince.

He stared at the elite BOSS on the screen, which was about to be killed, and said quickly: "When the health bar is reduced to 5%, trigger a forced displacement on the account of the Melancholy Prince, coordinates X347, Y891. At the moment the displacement is completed, apply an ultra-high priority attack judgment to the BOSS's toe model."

"The drop rate will be changed to 100%. The special effects will remain the same as before: a seven-colored beam of light that penetrates the map rendering layer, and the entire server will announce it three times."

A group of young people in the technical team were typing furiously, barely daring to breathe.

They knew that the soon-to-be-born "Paralysis Ring" would become the most expensive string of code in gaming history.

"Awooo!!!" With the BOSS's unwilling roar, its huge body crashed to the ground.

Whoosh! A beam of unprecedented seven-colored light shot into the sky from the BOSS's corpse.

Immediately afterwards: The entire server displayed a spectacular rainbow dragon effect: earth-shattering! Player [Melancholy Little Prince] defeated the Flame Demon General in Molten Core and obtained the ultimate artifact of the Primordial Continent, the [Paralysis Ring]!!!
The announcement was displayed three times!

Attached is a glittering gold ring icon and a screenshot of its attributes:
[Paralysis Ring]

Attack: 10000 - 10000
Unique effect: When attacking, there is a very high chance to paralyze the target, making them unable to move, attack, or use skills for 3 seconds!
The wearer enjoys exclusive privileges: the freedom to switch regions and receive the unique and exclusive title [Primordial Controller]!
"..."

"A divine artifact???"

"10000 attack power isn't high, my weapon has 10,000 attack power."

"Can't you read? Didn't you see 'paralyzed for three seconds'? And a 30% chance? Who could beat him in a one-on-one fight?"

"No matter how high his martial arts skills are, he can only knock one person down with a brick. If all 20 of us attack together, we can still kill him."

"The main thing is that the free server transfer feature is the best. You can switch servers everywhere to show off. It's like buying a Rolls-Royce and traveling the world."

The world chat channel was silent for a second, then it erupted in excitement.

Amazement, doubt, and envy in various languages ​​instantly flooded the screen.

In less than three days, Friendster was flooded with posts about this legendary artifact from the Primordial Era.

Screenshots, videos, and analytical posts spread like wildfire.

More importantly, the analysis focuses on how much this piece of equipment is worth.

Some people guessed $100,000, while others guessed $300,000.

Amidst the various opinions, [Melancholy Little Prince] clearly became the brightest star in the entire server. His private chat channel was almost overwhelmed, friend requests piled up like mountains, and he was surrounded by onlookers wherever he went.

His server, the 12th District, became the most popular server in the entire region. Many players were willing to queue for an hour just to enter the 12th District and see the true appearance of this equipment. Among them were also some players who spent money to bid for the [Melancholy Little Prince].

Since they can transfer servers infinitely once they have the ring, they can simply buy it with a secondary account and transfer it to their own server.

The hype surrounding the artifact intensified until November 14th, when the Honghuang Baoge team announced that, commissioned by the "Melancholy Little Prince," they would be holding a global auction for the "Paralysis Ring."

The time is set for prime time three days from now.

Before the auction started, Kong Feng had already discussed the details with Chen Zhi. The auction would be held in the Honghuang Treasure Pavilion, and the auction interface for the [Paralysis Ring] would appear in all Honghuang Treasure Pavilions across all servers.

Pay a deposit of 100000 gold coins to participate in the auction immediately.

The auction's dedicated page was exquisitely designed, resembling a luxury goods launch event. It featured a 3D rotating model of the ring, detailed attribute explanations, demonstrations of wearing effects, and even an interview with the Little Prince.

On the day of the auction, as soon as the exclusive auction page of Honghuang Treasure Pavilion was opened, the number of visits caused the server to explode.

In the center of the page, the antique-looking ring floats silently, with its breathtaking attribute description below it.

Next to it is a constantly scrolling auction information area.

Starting bid: US$10000, minimum increment: US$1000.

As soon as the auction countdown ended, the bidding numbers began to jump wildly at a dizzying speed!

[Bidder: YN-Hu Shao bid: $13000]

[Bidder: XJ-Akun bids: $50,000]

[Bidder: YL-Oil King Prince bids: $60,000]

……

As soon as the auction started, the price skyrocketed, breaking through $200,000 in just a few minutes.

The world chat channels in each server region also turned into a scene of screaming onlookers.

"They're insane! They're all fucking insane!"

Two hundred thousand US dollars for a gaming ring?!

"What do you know? This is about status!"

The competition is mainly among the top players in each server.

The price hovered around $300,000 for a moment, seemingly reaching a psychological threshold.

Suddenly, a player named RB-Fujiyama raised the price to 500000.

"Are these the people we arranged?" Chen Zhi couldn't help but ask when he saw the offer in the Prince Group's operations office.

“Mr. Chen, right now it’s all the players making bids,” a young man said.

Chen Zhi laughed and said, "Then let's raise the price for him."

As soon as Chen Zhigang finished speaking, several more bids appeared on the Honghuang Treasure Pavilion.

[Bidder: HG-Samsung, Bid: $600000]

[Bidder: XG-Dongxing bids: $750000]

……

This bidding is getting more and more unbelievable.

At first, Chen Zhi could understand, but when [RB-Mount Fuji] raised the price to 1000000, Chen Zhi was a little confused.

A million dollars for a ring? That seems a bit outrageous.

Chen Zhi is already considered wealthy, with his online spending reaching tens of millions, but he would never spend a million US dollars to buy a ring that, although it seems very impressive.

The paralysis ring is very powerful, almost invincible in one-on-one battles, but in group battles, it's no different from an ordinary person.

As for free region transfer.

We can always pay to apply; even if it's $10,000 per application, it's still more cost-effective than this.

Just then, Chen Zhi's phone rang.

It was his father who called.

Chen Hongwen has rarely called Chen Zhi in the past few months, partly because he thinks Chen Zhi is hopeless and partly because he is too busy with the affairs of Tianqin Group.

"Chen Zhi, we also want that ring from the Primordial Era." Chen Hongwen didn't stand on ceremony and said it directly.

"Dad, you don't play games..." Chen Zhi hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly realized something.

By combining the investments from Japanese, Korean, and Hong Kong players, Chen Zhi realized the core of the matter.

He muttered in surprise: "Damn, Cheng Yi didn't actually have this in mind all along, did he?"
Seeing Chen Zhi remain silent, Chen Hongwen said, "Did you hear what I said? Find a way to help me get it down."

"I can't take it," Chen Zhi refused decisively. "Fairness is what I value most."

(End of this chapter)