Chapter 199 - 182: Qingfeng Company Becomes the 3rd Giant

Chapter 199: Chapter 182: Qingfeng Company Becomes the 3rd Giant

...

The Qingfeng Intelligent Assistant from Qingfeng Network Company had long become an essential app for more and more smartphone users.

On the day the game *Swordsman* was released, all users of this intelligent assistant received a notification.

Moreover, Qingfeng Company was very clever; instead of a conventional ad, the notification came directly from the assistant software.

For example, the lechers who used Teacher Youcai as their intelligent assistant’s persona would pull out their phones and hear their assistant say things like:

"Hubby, hubby, a new game called *Swordsman* launched today. Should I download it for you?"

"Darling, the new game *Swordsman* is out! I hear it’s really fun. Want me to download it for you?"

"..."

For those lechers, who could resist Teacher Youcai’s voice speaking to them like that? They wanted to try it immediately.

Of course, for female users, the wording was in a completely different style. It’s too dirty to describe here.

But with this advertising formula, download numbers for *Swordsman* exploded shortly after launch, soaring past five million in a very short time.

In this era of disposable "fast-food" games, most titles never even reach five million downloads from launch to their eventual demise.

And the number was still climbing rapidly.

Because of this, Qingfeng Entertainment Company had to urgently expand its servers. The growth was so fast that Wang Kai and Wang Xin were worried the servers would crash.

At first, these users were only downloading *Swordsman* to give it a try because of the intelligent assistant.

But once they entered the game, most of the gaming enthusiasts became completely hooked.

They found the game incredible.

The controls, the entertainment value, the open-world nature... It completely satisfied their fantasies of a Wuxia world, making them feel as if they had traveled into one themselves.

Furthermore, the game also had very interesting life-sim and business management elements, like opening a tavern or setting up a market stall... and it wasn’t the rigid, cookie-cutter template found in other games.

The key was that it wasn’t pay-to-win.

As they became more immersed, these players knew the game was destined to blow up.

Many began to spontaneously invite their friends or post about it in their gaming groups.

Gamers usually have a circle of online friends they play with regularly, and they often create group chats to shoot the breeze and talk.

Moreover, many discovered that as they were posting about it, others were doing the exact same thing.

The game was undoubtedly about to go viral.

Penguin Company, which had been keeping a close eye on Qingfeng Network Company, was naturally aware of *Swordsman*’s release.

Almost immediately, Mr. Ma summoned the relevant personnel at Penguin and issued an order: "Qingfeng Network Company has released *Swordsman*. Therefore, we will launch our *Awakening Dawn* at the same time. Similarly, roll out the events for *Honor of Kings* and our battle royale game immediately. This time, we’ll let everyone know who calls the shots in the domestic mobile game market."

"Also, have the cracking department start working on this game immediately. They couldn’t crack the Qingfeng Intelligent Assistant Software before. Don’t tell me they can’t even crack a game. After all, this is what we’re best at."

Following Mr. Ma’s orders, the relevant departments at Penguin sprang into action.

When it came to games, Mr. Ma was extremely confident.

Their *Honor of Kings* and battle royale game dominated the majority of the domestic mobile player base.

As long as they ran events for these two games, their player bases would remain stable and wouldn’t be lured away by the competitor’s game.

This was their usual tactic.

Then, they would use Penguin’s massive user base to promote their meticulously crafted game, *Awakening Dawn*, and have it go head-to-head with *Swordsman*.

Penguin’s series of moves naturally drew the attention of the entire internet and gaming industries.

Everyone knew who Penguin was targeting.

Penguin had tried to make a move on Qingfeng Network Company before, but they hadn’t succeeded.

This time, Qingfeng Network Company was expanding into the gaming business, a market controlled by Penguin. How could Penguin not teach them a lesson?

Out of curiosity, many people downloaded both *Swordsman* and *Awakening Dawn*. And then, they were all stunned to discover that the two games weren’t even in the same league.

Although the file size for *Swordsman* was smaller than *Honor of Kings*, the actual amount of data it contained was easily dozens of times larger.

This didn’t seem like gaming technology that should even exist in this era.

And in terms of gameplay, appeal, and entertainment value alone, Penguin’s *Awakening Dawn* was completely crushed.

As time went on, this point was quickly proven.

The world of *Swordsman* was soon packed with a sea of players, while *Awakening Dawn* remained sparsely populated.

...

「One day passed quickly!」

Penguin Headquarters.

Mr. Ma had just finished a meeting on the Penguin Music side of things and returned to headquarters in a good mood. His "Penguin Music New Power" initiative was proceeding smoothly.

He wanted to use this to get a foothold in the Chinese-language music scene and bring it under his control as well.

Originally, the plan was to promote virtual idols, and they had almost succeeded on the variety show *Tomorrow*, but it was unfortunately thwarted by a star with the surname Xue.

Back at the company, he summoned all the leaders from the gaming division.

He wanted to know the results of their move against Qingfeng Company as soon as possible.

’There must be good news.’

His three-pronged approach had never failed before.

But when the gaming division leaders assembled, he noticed something was wrong.

None of them looked happy.

"What’s wrong? Why the long faces?" Mr. Ma sensed trouble.

One of the leaders reported with a frown, "Mr. Ma, the situation is rather grim. Our *Awakening Dawn* has only just broken 150,000 concurrent active users."

"That few?" Mr. Ma frowned.

Although that was better than most companies’ games on day one, it didn’t meet Penguin’s own standards.

He immediately asked, "What about Qingfeng Company’s *Swordsman*?"

The leader’s expression soured even more as he reported, "According to their latest announcement, their average concurrent active players has already surpassed one million!"

"What?" Mr. Ma exclaimed. As a professional in the gaming industry, he naturally understood what this meant. In the coming days, the daily increase in numbers would likely double.

Once a game blew up, it would spread like a virus.

But what kind of game could reach one million concurrent active players on its first day?

"The events for *Honor of Kings* and the battle royale didn’t work?" Mr. Ma asked in disbelief.

The leader nodded. "After the events went live, very few players returned. In fact, it seems both games have been negatively impacted by *Swordsman*!"

"How could that be?" Mr. Ma shook his head and quickly pulled out his phone to download *Swordsman*. He had to try this game for himself.

But as soon as he entered the game, his first exclamation was, "Why is it a monthly subscription? Why isn’t it a pay-to-win game?"

Deep in his bones, he felt that games were supposed to be about microtransactions. If there were no microtransactions, what was the point of making a game?

They were still using the 30-yuan-a-month subscription model from ten years ago?

’Isn’t that a joke? Who would still use something so ancient and outdated?’

But now, *Swordsman* was actually using this very model.

As he got further into the game, Mr. Ma’s expression slowly turned grim, his face growing darker and darker.

After playing it himself, he finally understood just how terrifying this game was.

After an unknown amount of time, Mr. Ma dejectedly put down his phone and asked the people around him, "What’s the situation online?"

Another manager sighed. "Mr. Ma, the situation online is very bad. It’s almost all people making fun of us..."

Mr. Ma silently took out his phone and started browsing the web:

"Haha, Penguin’s *Awakening Dawn* going up against *Swordsman* is so fucking awkward. They’re not in the same league."

"Finally, a game that can put Penguin in its place..."

"Penguin always thought it was the overlord of the internet, wanting a piece of everything. This time, they really took a beating."

"I’m just worried Penguin will resort to its usual dirty tricks, crack *Swordsman*, and release a pirated version. Then they’ll think they’re hot stuff in the gaming industry again."

The mockery was indeed thick.

But this also reminded Mr. Ma of something. He immediately asked someone, "What’s the status on cracking *Swordsman*?"

Penguin was never afraid of being unable to beat other games, because if they couldn’t win, they could crack them. A cracked, pirated version became their own property, which they could then use to defeat the original.

This time, they could do the same.

But the person Mr. Ma asked looked terrible. "Mr. Ma, I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to crack this game. Its encryption uses the same new code as the Qingfeng Intelligent Assistant Software."

"..." Mr. Ma suddenly felt as if all his strength had drained away, leaving him feeling completely powerless.

’What in the world is going on with this Qingfeng Company?’

Naturally, someone online exposed this fact in a post.

*"The encryption on the game ’Swordsman’ is the same as the intelligent assistant software—it’s brand new code! Anyone unfamiliar with this new code can forget about cracking it, including Penguin Company. In other words, besides Penguin and Douyin, another internet giant has risen!"*

The post instantly went viral.

Following that, the entire internet erupted.

For some reason, netizens just loved to see someone give Penguin a good thrashing.

Perhaps Penguin had just been too tyrannical in some respects.

It was just like when Penguin had tried to snipe Douyin. During that battle, many users had downloaded Douyin and registered accounts out of sheer spite to show their support.

When Douyin actually defeated Penguin, broke through its blockade, and became the second internet giant, many people cheered.

And right at this moment, Qingfeng Network Company released another announcement:

*"Qingfeng Intelligent Assistant Software Officially Surpasses the 300 Million User Mark..."*

As soon as this news broke, the internet erupted again. The 300 million user mark was a major watershed.

This undoubtedly meant that the Qingfeng Intelligent Assistant was now unstoppable. Its user base was growing at an incredible speed and would soon be able to challenge Penguin and Douyin.

Now, Qingfeng Company was expanding into the gaming business with a smash-hit game that even Penguin couldn’t stop. What did this mean?

It meant that the third internet giant had truly appeared!

A new emperor was ascending the throne.

From now on, it would be a struggle of the Three Kingdoms.

Who could have imagined that a network company that had only become famous a short while ago could reach such heights in such a brief period?

It really proved the saying: the internet is a place where myths are born, where legends are always being forged.

And now, the new legend was Qingfeng Network Company.

Mr. Ma naturally knew this, which frustrated him to no end. Before 2016, the entire internet era had been his to command. He was the undisputed emperor. Even "the fox," due to being in a different line of business, posed no threat to him.

It wasn’t until 2016 that the appearance of Douyin shattered his empire, causing his crown to fall and even turning him into a laughingstock for a time.

Even then, he had remained the undisputed king of the internet.

But he had never expected that in the short span of seven years, another company, Qingfeng Network Company, would emerge. No matter how he swung his sharp sword, it was completely useless against them.

He felt a profound sense of powerlessness. He hadn’t even felt this powerless when facing Douyin.

Suddenly, he felt like a hero at the end of his era.

"Mobilize all our media resources and help promote this Qingfeng Company," Mr. Ma suddenly ordered someone, a cold sneer on his face. "Say that they’ve completely surpassed both us, Penguin, and Douyin. Also, help me contact some old friends. I’m sure they’d also like a piece of this very sweet cake."

No matter how unstoppable Qingfeng Company seemed, it still had one limitation: it was based in this country.

This country had its own system, its own restrictions.

Besides, no outside parties had gotten their hands on Qingfeng Company’s shares yet.

This would be their path to ruin.

Some of the things that Penguin and Douyin had encountered, Qingfeng Company would now face, but far more intensely.

Perhaps, with the right maneuvers, Penguin might even get a chance to acquire shares in Qingfeng Company.

If that happened, what would it matter how powerful Qingfeng Network Company became?