Li Mu slept until noon but managed barely six fitful hours, his mind churning with Stone Age Overlord.
He awoke to an empty house—parents already at work. Grabbing his phone, he dialed Zhao Kang. Both had tossed restlessly, itching to check their cheat tool's overnight impact.
As Li Mu reached the living room, the phone rang.
"Let's go!" Zhao's voice crackled with adrenaline. "The forums are exploding!"
At Big Spider Internet Cafe, the numbers stunned them.
Original Post:
Views: 80,000
Downloads: 54,301
Replies: 9,791
Across multiple forums, total downloads surpassed 120,000 in twelve hours. Free, superior, viral—Stone Age Overlord had detonated a digital tsunami.
"It's like…" Li Mu muttered, recalling Legend of Mir's candle-free hack that swept China overnight. "Plant a seed in this era, and it becomes redwoods."
Beijing, Zhongguancun
In a cramped apartment, seven young men dripped panic-sweat.
This was Team Abei—merged remnants of two former rivals. Their June revenue had hit 200,000 yuan, with July poised for 300,000. Now, their empire crumbled.
A junior developer had stumbled onto Zhao Kang's forum post hours earlier. One trial of Stone Age Overlord later, he'd sounded the alarm.
Team leader Sun Peng—ex-leader of the defeated Qianyu faction—fielded nonstop calls. Provincial distributors demanded refunds. Cybercafé owners, besieged by angry gamers, threatened to halt payments.
"Refund them!" a Henan distributor barked. "Fifteen yuan monthly fee? Refund fifty cents per unused day!"
Sun's profit margins already bled dry:
Cybercafés kept 4 yuan per 15-yuan code
Distributors skimmed 3 yuan
Team Abei scraped 8 yuan—before salaries, servers, rent
July's projected 100,000 yuan profit? Gone.
"Block every refunded account!" Sun snarled uselessly. Distributors, smelling blood, ghosted him.
A programmer refreshed the rival's download counter. "200,000… and climbing."
Sun's phone clattered to the floor.
Back in Haizhou
Li Mu's new QQ buzzed—a contact request: Abei-SunPeng.
He smirked. Phase One: complete.