Chapter 403
Chapter 403: Weibo's General of Fortune, Hu Shengming
Hu Shengming howled in anguish in the group chat twice successively.
From his resentment, it seemed probable that this fellow would immediately charge aggressively into the game with a whole bunch of people as soon as it was officially launched.
From that, Xu Tingsheng saw hope in attracting those much-needed closely knit communities to register on Weibo through this game.
Rather than 'monetary profit', Xu Tingsheng was actually more concerned about this, in truth.
Without the mutual assistance of and competitiveness in these closely knit communities, this game would never be able to grow as popular as it had been in his previous life. Additionally, as these communities coexisted on the same platform, using it often, it could truly make it essential in their lives as its longevity was hence ensured.
In other words, this enabled Weibo to ever so slightly get closer to the strongest attribute of QQ.
The future was bright. Xu Tingsheng revelled in satisfaction for a time. Suddenly, the thought struck him that Hu Shengming was wasted at Zhicheng. He should be dumped at Xingchen Technologies. The dude was literally Weibo's General of Fortune.
Back when Weibo had first been created, he had unwittingly contributed greatly to it as he became the first super-popular ordinary citizen, the first trending topic, the first brand with advertisements on Weibo. In the testing of this small game now, he demonstrated to Xu Tingsheng the 'monetary future' of Happy Farm and how it could 'draw over closely knit communities'.
The enthusiasm for the game was still persisting the very next day. It could be easily affirmed that there were quite a few of them who had stayed up late or set alarms at unearthly timings.
Still, twenty minutes before the end of this trial run, the top three ranks remained unchanged. Being better able to stay up through the night, Hu Shengming had caught up quite a bit to Lu Zhixin. Still, due to the lack of time, it was already basically impossible for him to overtake her.
Xu Tingsheng gave Hu Shengming a call.
"Tired?" Xu Tingsheng asked.
"I'm alright. I really couldn't take it anymore in the middle of the night, so I invited a chick over and got her to watch my farm for me…I took a nap for a while," Hu Shengming said, yawning.
Xu Tingsheng was rendered totally speechless by that. He imagined the chick thinking that she had been asked out on a date as she dressed herself up nicely and rushed over to his place in hopes of enjoying their time together…in the end, she had been dispatched to 'steal cabbages', all the way till dawn. Really, how terrible was this?
"Relax, she's totally happy…all jumping up and down, wanting to play too. I think inviting her out won't go so smoothly in the future. After all, she'd have to keep an eye on her computer, mouse in hand…"
"Right, why did you call me?"
Hu Shengming seemed to have read Xu Tingsheng's mind as he explained that things were not like he thought, next asking what the matter was.
"Wanna win? Do you want to overtake Lu Zhixin?" Xu Tingsheng asked.
There was a momentary silence before Hu Shengming leapt up, "Do you have a way?"
"The game has items, just that these haven't been released yet," Xu Tingsheng said, "How long more before your next batch of crops ripens?"
Glancing at the screen, Hu Shengming said rather despondently, "There's still 2h13min more to go."
"Low-grade fertiliser, each bag accelerating growth by ten minutes. Everybody will be gifted one on opening Weibo everyday. After they're used up, they can be bought directly, though there will of course be an upper limit. Mid-grade fertiliser, each bag accelerating growth by an hour. Of course, these ones must be purchased too," Xu Tingsheng said, "I'm considering releasing ultra-grade fertiliser to you now, each bag accelerating growth by two and a half hours. That is to say that your crops will ripen within mere seconds…how many plots of land do you own now?
"…Ten."
"Well, it just so happens that the upper limit for ultra-grade fertiliser is ten bags per day. So, how about it?"
"Gimme! Bro…you treat me so well…I definitely won't call you Godly Swindler behind your back again in the future…"
"Between us bros, this is nothing, really," Xu Tingsheng smiled, "Eight hundred per bag…heh."
"That's so expensive! Who would buy them?"
"It definitely won't be sold this expensive when the time comes. It's not like I'm stupid."
"So you can scam me now?"
"Why would you say that…"
"…Understood. Eight hundred per bag, eight thousand for ten…nicely evening out with the prize money for first place…that's what you want, right?" Hu Shengming asked resentfully.
"But you'll have the glory! First place-you've never gotten that before, right? It's not like you lack the money," Xu Tingsheng admitted freely to his scheme, not feeling awkward at all.
"…I'll be making a bag's loss over there…"
"It's just one bag, so what…"
"……"
"So you don't want them anymore? That's fine too. I'm hanging up."
"…Fine, fine, fine! Hurry up and give me the fodder, no, the manure…fertiliser…"
Xu Tingsheng got the technicians at the back end to send Hu Shengming ten bags of ultra-grade fertiliser through the items function.
One minute later, Hu Shengming overtook Lu Zhixin to take first place.
The prizes for the top three had been a last minute decision on Xu Tingsheng's part. Hu Chen and He Yutan had already put their foot down and refused to pay this from what little remained of Xingchen Technologies' funds. Thus, Xu Tingsheng would have to pay it from his own pocket.
Ten bags of virtual fertiliser had saved him eight thousand yuan…thinking of the meagre eighteen thousand yuan remaining inside his card, Xu Tingsheng heaved a sigh of relief.
In the end, his very exhalation was interrupted by his handphone ringing. He picked it up, discovering that it was actually Lu Zhixin who was calling.
"How did Hu Shengming suddenly overtake me? Did your people help him to cheat?" Lu Zhixin angrily demanded an explanation.
Xu Tingsheng felt defeated. He had thought that with Lu Zhixin's personality, she should not be too concerned about things like this. Yet…she sounded even more dissatisfied and severe than when he had 'acted ruffianish' towards her back then.
"No, it's not that! He bought a special item, ultra-grade fertiliser, ten bags costing eight hundred per bag. He put all his prize money into it, whereas you'll earn that full 5000 from second place. Great, isn't it?"
"No, I want to win. No matter what that is, I can never accepting persisting in something for so long yet finally seeing what belonged to me getting taken away by someone else…" Lu Zhixin said with the utmost seriousness.
Xu Tingsheng did not sense that she was trying to insinuate anything.
"And so?"
"I want ten bags too. Free, and I still get the prize money."
"…"
"If you don't give them to me, I'm going on strike. You handle all Hucheng's affairs yourself."
"…Fine, you win."
"Well, you'd better hurry up then! Time's nearly up."
A helpless Xu Tingsheng could only privately ask the technicians at the back end to send Lu Zhixin ten bags of ultra-grade fertiliser as well.
Soon, Lu Zhixin was back in first place. Finally, time was up. The top three were: Lu Zhixin, Hu Shengming, Little Sis Li.
Still on the line with Lu Zhixin, unaware of the situation, Xu Tingsheng asked rather triumphantly, "Well? This game of mine is super low-cost but vastly profitable, right? Daring to say that this old man's gonna run out of cash…hehe."
Lu Zhixin suddenly fell silent, only now realising how 'great' a thing this was. This game was virtually assured of its success. To her, it wasn't exactly all good news…Xu Tingsheng would henceforth be getting further and further away from her…
"Well, that's great. Congratulations."
Lu Zhixin said this mildly, then immediately hung up on him.
Xu Tingsheng was left bewildered.
His phone immediately rang again.
Hu Shengming hollered, "What happened? How did Lu Zhixin overtake me again?"
"She bought fertiliser too!" Xu Tingsheng answered calmly, "I didn't say that I would only sell it to you. She could also buy it if she wanted…if she were willing to pay, that is…"
"…What, you can do it like that too? …The heck! Godly Swindler Xu, you scammer!"
A despondent Hu Shengming posted an image of the final rankings on Weibo, with the attached words: The darkest moments in your life, of being scammed by someone…
The dude was an ultra VIP who was super popular on the internet…
The netizens swiftly mobilised to understand the situation.
"Bro Hu, what is it?"
"What happened, richie bro?"
"It looks like a game. But why haven't we seen it before…"
"It does seem like it. Introduce it to us, richie bro! What game is this? Where can we play it?"
"Who scammed you? Us bros will help you get your revenge."
"Us too, the richie bro babe squad…"
Hu Shengming gave a collective reply: It's a game that will be released on Weibo soon…bros who wanna play together, follow me! This bro doesn't lack money. When the time comes, our team will trample over all sinister ploys and machinations that stand in our path…
Wasn't this a little too hot-blooded for 'stealing cabbages'? After seeing this, besides wanting to laugh, Xu Tingsheng really 'liked' Hu Shengming too. Even after having been 'scammed' like this by him, he was still foolishly promoting the game for him unintentionally in his actions.
"General of Fortune indeed…Hu Shengming and Weibo…if so able, the two of you should just be together…"