My son is a reincarnated soul; I overheard his inner thoughts and became the richest man.

"Mr. Chen, there's something I need to report to you."

Su Qing held a thick data report in his hand, his expression solemn. "According to the backend's tracking and analysis of login IPs, our player base is no longer limited to the developed coastal areas."

"Many provincial capitals in Central China, Northeast China, Northwest China, and even Southwest China have a large number of active IPs, but..."

Su Qing pointed to the map on the wall, her brows furrowing slightly. "Our ground sales team currently only covers the entire East China region, as well as major cities in South and North China. In the inland areas, our prepaid card distribution rate is almost zero."

"The game will start charging in less than two weeks. If players in these areas can't buy game cards, the loss of these users will be very serious once the servers are shut down."

"Shouldn't we take advantage of these last ten days or so to launch a surprise attack? At least capture the provincial capitals and transportation hubs?"

Chen Feng looked at the large blank areas on the map, pondered for a moment, and then nodded heavily.

"It must be paved over there."

"Su Qing, keep recruiting. Don't be afraid to spend money, even temporary workers are fine. For the next two weeks, I want you to plant your flag in every city with an internet cafe."

"Okay, Mr. Chen," Su Qing replied readily.

In fact, Chen Feng had a very clear understanding of the situation.

In this era, labor costs were extremely low.

Hiring a field salesperson, with a base salary plus commission, would at most bring in a thousand or so yuan.

Even if you hire two or three hundred people, the monthly expenses will only be a few hundred thousand.

But it was totally worth the money.

If you go through traditional provincial distributors, with each layer of distributors taking their cut, at least 40% to 50% of your profits will be lost.

Moreover, since the distribution channels are controlled by others, we'll have to rely on their approval if we want to launch new games or organize events in the future.

Only by building its own distribution channels and delivering game cards directly to internet cafe owners and newsstands can this massive cash flow be maximized and pocketed by the company.

Moreover, this isn't just about selling game cards.

This ground sales force can not only distribute products in every city they visit, but also install "Storm Network Management Master" on local computers.

This is a deal that kills three birds with one stone.

"With only ten days or so, full coverage is definitely not possible," Chen Feng added. "Strategic choices must be made. We should focus on provincial capitals and prefecture-level cities first, and put county towns and townships on hold for now."

"Once the fires start in the big cities, the smaller towns will naturally find ways to source the goods."

"clear!"

Su Qing's execution ability is beyond doubt. The very next day, job postings were plastered all over the job market.

More than 100 new employees quickly took up their posts.

Su Qing selected over a dozen experienced veterans from her existing team, appointing them as regional managers. Leading these greenhorns, she dispatched them like beans scattered into an army, to Central China, Southwest China, and Northeast China...

......

Time flies by in the midst of busyness.

In late November, a cold wave swept across the country, but the popularity of "Legend of Mir" continued to rise.

With online viewership repeatedly hitting new highs, Chen Feng watched the curves on the big screen with the same excitement as watching an electrocardiogram.

Meanwhile, the ground promotion personnel that Su Qing had dispatched also sent back good news.

One by one, unfamiliar cities were lit up, and boxes upon boxes of game cards were delivered to local internet cafe counters and newsstand windows via the logistics network.

Finally, December 1st.

This is a day destined to be recorded in the history of the Chinese Internet.

By 6 PM, the highest number of concurrent online users in the game had exceeded an astonishing 700,000!

The total number of registered users is approaching nine million!

What does this mean? It means that at this very moment, almost half of China's internet users are playing or have played this game.

7 PM.

The atmosphere at the headquarters of Legendary Network Technology Company was extremely tense.

Chen Feng didn't go home; he ordered takeout and stayed at the company with all the employees.

Tonight at 8 PM, the game will end its free-to-play public beta and officially begin its paid operation.

This is the real touchstone.

The previous popularity was due to its free-to-play nature, but now that it's taking money from players' pockets, how many people will actually stay?

This battle will determine whether Chen Feng's net worth doubles or shrinks.

Not only was Chen Feng nervous, but Su Qing, Lin Wan, and even Zhao Kai, who was in charge of the technology, all had their palms sweating.

At 7:50, the server was temporarily shut down for maintenance to import the billing module.

It's exactly eight o'clock.

"Server launch!"

With Zhao Kai's command, the server was reopened to the public.

This time, after clicking login, players will no longer directly enter the game, but will instead see a pop-up window confirming the deduction of points.

Chen Feng couldn't sit still any longer. He went straight to the operations monitoring console and stared intently at the data flashing on the screen.

8:03.

"Mr. Chen! The number of logged-in users has exceeded 10,000!"

The monitor's voice was slightly off-key due to excitement.

8:05.

"It's broken 30,000! And the growth rate is accelerating!"

Chen Feng's tense face finally relaxed slightly. Thirty thousand paying users, in just five minutes!

8:15.

"Mr. Chen! 100,000! The number of online users has exceeded 100,000!"

A suppressed cheer erupted in the office.

8:30.

Holding the newly printed report, Su Qing strode quickly to Chen Feng in her high heels, her voice trembling slightly: "Mr. Chen, two hundred thousand! The number of paying online users has exceeded two hundred thousand!"

"Furthermore, the recharge system shows that most players are choosing the 35 yuan standard card and the 50 yuan monthly card! The cash flow... is terrifying!"

But it's far from over.

The clock on the wall pointed to 10 p.m.

The red curve on the monitoring screen finally stopped fluctuating wildly and began to level off.

"Three hundred and sixty thousand."

Su Qing looked at the final number, let out a long sigh of relief, and finally relaxed her tense shoulders.

Although this number is half of the peak of 700,000 during the public beta, these are real paying users!

Moreover, considering that the current ground promotion team only covers major cities, many players in remote counties and towns simply cannot buy game cards.

The loss of these users was not due to any fault of the company itself, but rather because the distribution channels were not yet in place.

Chen Feng looked at the screen and quickly calculated a sum of money in his mind.

Even if each of the 360,000 people only buys the cheapest 10-yuan trial card, the turnover tonight would still reach 3.6 million yuan.

Moreover, according to backend data, most players choose the 35 yuan standard card or the 50 yuan monthly card for better value.

The actual revenue will only be higher than this figure.

"Mr. Chen, hold on."

Su Qing turned around, her face beaming with undisguised joy.

She wore a well-tailored beige business suit today. Although her eyes looked a little tired from working overtime, she was extremely energetic.

The soft light shone on her delicate profile, adding a touch of intellectual beauty to her face.

"Yes, it's stable."

Chen Feng stood up, looked around at the expectant employees in the office area, and a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Everyone, we succeeded."

Chen Feng's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to every corner: "To celebrate the first victory of 'Legend of Mir,' everyone's bonus this month will be tripled!"

"General Manager Chen is awesome!"

"Long live the boss!"

The cheers instantly lifted the roof off.

Looking at the group of excited young people whose faces were red and necks bulging, Chen Feng felt very calm.

Compared to the tens of millions of yuan in profits that will be in hand every month, this bonus is just a drop in the ocean.

......

The next day, a piece of news exploded like a deep-sea torpedo throughout the gaming industry.

On the first day of the official charging of "Legend of Mir", the peak number of concurrent online players exceeded 360,000!

This was, of course, a rumor that Chen Feng had instructed Su Qing to spread.

In this era where traffic equals justice, such terrifying data is the best form of censorship.

The media rushed to report on this internet miracle.

Making a fortune every day! Is the era of exorbitant profits arriving in the online gaming industry?

"A Frenzy of 360,000 People: Chen Feng Makes a Fortune on the Internet!"

Industry insiders can easily calculate a surprising figure with just a few clicks on a calculator:

Conservative estimates suggest that as long as this number of online users is maintained, Legend Network Technology's monthly sales of game cards will easily exceed 30 million.

After deducting operating costs and channel revenue sharing, the net profit is at least in the tens of millions!

Ten million monthly profits in 2000!

This isn't making games, it's printing money!

In an instant, countless internet companies became envious.

Those bigwigs who previously looked down on "electronic heroin" have begun to turn their attention overseas, especially to South Korea.

If Chen Feng could find gold in South Korea, why can't they?

A battle for online game distribution rights has quietly begun.

But Chen Feng didn't care about any of that.

The first-mover advantage has been established, and the moat has been dug. It will be extremely difficult for latecomers to catch up.