We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

Ten minutes later.

"Damn it! This damn pipe definitely moves! It definitely shrank down a bit just now!" Zhao Peng slammed his hand on the table, his face turning bright red.

"Does this bird have a missing brain stem?! It's falling down way too fast!"

"I refuse to believe it! Let's do it again! I, the number one Sword Master in the Chinese server, can be easily defeated by a mere pixelated bird?"

Ye Chen crossed his arms and watched Zhao Peng frantically grappling with the screen, his smile growing wider.

Stable.

The essence of this game lies in its extremely low barrier to entry, coupled with its extreme difficulty.

The more you die, the more addicted you get; the main character is someone who's bad at the game but loves to play.

"Alright, give it back to me. You're too clumsy to play this game." Ye Chen deliberately reached for the phone.

"Don't move! I'm about to break five points! Who's clumsy?!" Zhao Peng twisted his body, tightly protecting his phone, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

Ye Chen smiled and withdrew his hand, letting him continue to suffer.

Zhao Peng worked tirelessly for a full hour, achieving a record of twelve points.

When he finally put down his phone, he slumped in his chair as if he were dehydrated, his thumb trembling uncontrollably.

"Chenzi, this game is insane, it's practically anti-human!" Zhao Peng gasped for breath, looking at Ye Chen as if he'd seen a ghost. "Did you really make this?"

"Genuine or genuine."

"No way, Chenzi, what's wrong with your brain? When did you learn to do this?"

Zhao Peng scratched his head, his face full of disbelief.

"When you used to come to internet cafes, you either watched movies or played games; I've never seen you write any code."

Ye Chen took back his phone and exited the game.

"I usually learn by searching for information online. You get the hang of it after reading a lot." Ye Chen casually lied, smiling innocently. "It's like the final math problem; once you understand the underlying logic, you can just apply the formula."

Zhao Peng's mouth was open, and he couldn't close it for a long time.

"Using formulas?" Zhao Peng pointed to the dense code on the computer screen. "You call this using formulas? Just looking at it makes my brain stem shrink! You're like a completely different person now!"

Ye Chen ignored his shouting and fixed the two collision volume bugs that had just been tested.

Zhao Peng leaned over, picked up the can of Red Bull, and took a big gulp.

"But to be honest, this game is addictive, but the graphics are too rough."

"All the online games in China are flashy and overly complicated. Who would play yours?"

"Besides, how are you going to make money? Sell game cards? Or sell equipment? This bird doesn't even have a feather, how are you going to sell skins?"

Ye Chen pressed the save button and turned to look at his best friend who was still thinking in the traditional way of online games.

"Who told you I was going to launch in China?"

Zhao Peng was stunned.

"Not studying in China? Where will you study?"

Ye Chen picked up the black iPhone 4, twirled it in his hand, and his eyes became incredibly deep.

"This phone uses the latest Apple system and has a built-in App Store."

Ye Chen switched the computer screen to the developer backend and pointed to the all-English interface.

"Foreigners have completely different consumption habits than us; they are used to paying for legitimate software. I plan to list it on overseas markets and make money through paid downloads."

Zhao Peng leaned closer to look at the screen, completely bewildered.

"Paid download? How much will it cost?"

"$0.99"

"Less than a dollar?" Zhao Peng scratched his head, calculating the exchange rate. "Are you doing charity here? How much money can you possibly make from this?"

Ye Chen smiled.

"Fatty, it's US dollars."

Zhao Peng realized what was happening and did some mental calculations.

"0.99 US dollars, which is about six yuan. Even if 10,000 people download it, it would only cost 60,000 yuan."

"After deducting the platform's commission, how much do you actually save? It's probably not even enough to buy this phone and computer."

Ye Chen packaged the code, used an overseas developer account obtained through a third-party proxy, and directly clicked to upload it for review.

"Ten thousand people? You underestimate foreigners' curiosity and masochistic tendencies."

Ye Chen leaned back in his chair, his gaze seemingly piercing through the ceiling of the internet cafe, witnessing the magnificent mobile internet revolution of the future.

"This phone will soon be rolled out globally. Once a game makes it onto the charts, it will get at least 100,000 downloads a day."

The can of Red Bull in Zhao Peng's hand fell directly onto the table.

"One hundred thousand? A day?!"

His mind was racing with calculations.

One hundred thousand multiplied by 0.99 US dollars.

Nearly $100,000.

That translates to earning 600,000 to 700,000 RMB a day?!

Zhao Peng swallowed hard, looking at Ye Chen as if he were a monster from outer space.

"Chenzi, tell me honestly, have you been possessed?"

"Six or seven hundred thousand a day? Even if the printing press were smoking, you couldn't make money faster than that!"

The sound of keyboard typing finally stopped in the internet cafe's private room.

Ye Chen leaned back in his chair.

The computer screen was filled with densely packed low-level code.

The future mobile internet boom could bring in well over 600,000 to 700,000 RMB a day.

He had countless small games that generated millions of dollars in revenue every day.

But this pixelated bird was merely a stepping stone for him to test overseas funding channels.

Ye Chen closed his eyes.

He perfectly replicated the lightweight physics engine architecture that only matured in 2015.

Incidentally, he skillfully used an offshore company shell.

The linked receiving account is a secret fund he set up in the Cayman Islands.

All operations were performed flawlessly and without any omissions.

"Alright, stop calculating."

Ye Chen pressed the Enter key and submitted the game installation package to Apple's App Store for review.

"Once the US dollars arrive, I'll take you to the best restaurant in Shanghai for a nice meal."

Zhao Peng was dazzled by what he saw.

He couldn't understand the complicated English and code on the screen at all.

At this moment, Ye Chen exuded a profound and unfathomable aura.

"I'll remember that."

Zhao Peng pointed to the black cell phone on the table.

"If you don't make any money, I'll have to borrow your knock-off phone for a few days."

Ye Chen ignored him.

He picked up the iPhone 4 and casually put it in his pocket.

"All-nighter over, time for bed."

7:30 in the morning.

The early summer sun was already quite dazzling.

The two men, sporting dark circles under their eyes, left the internet cafe and each devoured two baskets of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) at a roadside stall.

Then we went directly to Shunda Driving School.

The ground temperature began to rise, and the air felt slightly hot and dry.

Coach Li was wearing a tank top today and carrying a tattered palm-leaf fan.

Seeing Ye Chen and Zhao Peng walking over, he shook his head with a smile.

"Did you two go thieving last night?"

My eye bags are practically falling off the floor.