An Expert Is actually By My Side - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Irresistible Mini-Game

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Perhaps it was because he had overused his brain during the day, but Cloud Hao slept like a log at night. He didn’t even hear Zhu Kening’s snores.
It was almost noon before he woke up. As he rubbed his unopened eyes, before he had time to yawn, the smell of overnight pickled vegetables assailed his nose.
“F*ck, what’s that smell… It stinks.”
He turned his face over to find out what was going on, only to see a pair of dirty socks hanging on the chair opposite his bed.
He didn’t even have to speculate to know that it belonged to a certain class president.
Under the simmering heat of the late summer, poisonous plumes seemed to be rising up from the yellowed fabric.
In the world of RPG, this would be a trap that would make people save the game beforehand.
Blech!
“Where is Zhu Kening?”
Liang Ziyuan turned over in disgust.
“Went to the student union.”
Sleeping on the bed, Zheng Xueqian grumbled in pain. “Isn’t it Saturday today… Doesn’t the student union have holidays?”
Liang Ziyuan scoffed. “Hurr.”
Cloud Hao followed Brother Ziyuan and turned over, intending to cover his head and continue sleeping.
However, the result was beyond his expectations.
He assumed that if his senses were numbed, he would probably be able to ignore the stench. However, he didn’t think that what was overnight pickled vegetables at first would become moldy, stinky tofu later on.
Oh wow, this thing can even self-ferment.
Realizing that the problem could not be avoided, the three of them turned around in unison and made eye contact.
Zheng Xueqian said with his eyes, ‘Which of you is throwing it onto the balcony?’
Liang Ziyuan replied to him with his gaze, ‘Not me.’
Cloud Hao said, ‘Don’t bank on me to do it either.’
Their eye contact lasted for about a minute. Eventually, Zheng Xueqian turned over and got out of bed.
Just when Cloud Hao innocently thought that this guy was going to sacrifice himself for the greater good, Zheng Xueqian threw on his clothes in a hurry and secured an advanced mathematics textbook under his armpit.
“I just remembered that yesterday, a junior girl invited me for self-study… I’m going to the library.”
Liang Ziyuan was speechless.
Cloud Hao was speechless.
What bullsh*t junior girl?!
This guy is so disloyal!
Cloud Hao silently looked at Liang Ziyuan, who was also staring back at him in silence.
The two were in a stalemate for about three minutes. Perhaps he felt the pressure of Cloud Hao’s gaze or he really couldn’t withstand the smell, but Liang Ziyuan got up from the bed as if he was admitting defeat.
However, before hope could ignite in Cloud Hao’s eyes, Liang Ziyuan said, “Oh dang, my buddy next door asked me to play basketball.”
Cloud Hao was rendered speechless.
F*ck!
Who the hell plays ball at noon?
Flipping over and getting out of bed in one smooth move, Liang Ziyuan held the basketball in his arms and carefreely walked away.
Cloud Hao sighed when he heard the door closing. He hid under the quilt and resisted for ten minutes before finally crawling down reluctantly.
It’s rare to be admitted to such an awesome university. Can’t you let me sleep in peace…
Cloud Hao grabbed his cup and toothbrush and went to the balcony. After washing up at lightning speed, he returned to the bedroom. He then swiftly threw on his clothes and picked up the phone.
Ten hours had passed since the game was launched online. Without a personal computer, he had to go to the computer room to check on his current sales.
Hopefully, it won’t be too pathetic…
After all, it’s the largest stand-alone game platform in China. At any rate, there’ll probably be two unlucky children who bought it by accident, right?
He unlocked this phone screen and glanced at the time. A full screen of unread messages also popped up at the same time.
Unsurprisingly, they were sent by his creditor.
[How are things? Has the emergency been resolved?]
[Hey, you owe me five thousand yuan now. When do you plan to pay me back?]
[If you can’t find a job, I can introduce you to a part-time job. Also, you’re not allowed to block me on Moments. I want to check if you made any large purchases in the past two days!]
[Ptui! You’re not replying to my messages. Scumbag! (`Δ́)]
Cloud Hao was bewildered.
Didn’t I just go to bed early? How did I become a scumbag?
Come to think of it, five thousand yuan is indeed not a small sum. It’s excusable for her to be so anxious.
Cloud Hao believed that girls’ living expenses might be higher, estimating it to be around one or two thousand yuan. He had cracked her phone screen, so she had to send it back to the shop for repairs. She probably also sent the debt collection messages in the past few days using someone else’s mobile phones.
Cloud Hao: [I will pay you back as soon as possible. It should be within these two days.]
After replying to her, Cloud Hao was about to put the phone back in his pocket. However, within two seconds, a message popped up in the chat window.
Boy, this typing speed is something.
Creditor: [Ah, two days?]
Creditor: [Are two days really okay? Are you planning to do something illegal? Σ(っ°Д°;)っ]
Creditor: [Actually, if it’s really hard, I can wait a little bit, although I will still press you… Also, hurry up and unblock your Moments. I have to monitor you to see if you’re working hard to pay off the debt!]
Cloud Hao was at a loss for words.
This kid…
Is there something wrong with her brain?
Even though he didn’t post much on Moments, he knew that there could be different groups.
[Okay.]
Type, send.
After closing the chat, Cloud Hao sighed. Without wasting any more time, he put on his shoes and rushed off.
…
In the school’s computer lab, there was a sea of black human heads.
As it was a Saturday, there were many people who had come here to freeload on the air conditioner while rushing out their work.
Cloud Hao opened the door, and after looking for a long time, he finally found an empty seat in the corner. He quietly sat down and turned on the computer.
He went onto the E-fun platform official webpage and logged in with his developer account details. He was just about to take a look at the game sales when he was stunned by the 99+ message notifications in the top-right corner.
What the f*ck?
So many people scolding me?
Or could they be asking for a refund…
Cloud Hao gulped. Then, he nervously moved the mouse and clicked on the icon.
However, this small click was nothing.
The moment the private message inbox opened up, he was stunned.
[Protect!]
[Protect our stance!]
[Brothers, type your defense in the comment section!]
[Keep it up! Developers of 2048! Don’t let people who earn dirty money pollute the environment of the gaming world!]
Cloud Hao’s mind was full of question marks.
What the hell???
He squinted his eyes and read all the private messages from the beginning to the end. He then finally figured out what was going on.
Simply put, it seemed that a well-known anchor named Brother Xiang had criticized his game on a live broadcast.
After which, under the leadership of the boss of the anti-fans, all the anti-fans of said well-known gathered in this space.
Since it happened that one yuan was not considered expensive, one vote by one vote, they pushed this mini-game onto the stand-alone game section’s daily top sales charts.
Of course, besides those anti-fans who had simply come forth to protect it, some players had genuinely played this game and wrote their honest reviews.
[This game is addictive. I don’t know what attracts me, but I just can’t help playing it… It’s four o’clock in the morning now. Based on my game time, you guys can tell what I’ve gone through.]
[One game takes about an average of 30 minutes, longer games might need an hour. The highest I scored was only about 40,000. Right now, I’m still on the road to challenge the highest score.]
[Ahhhh, I was so close. I almost made it to the edge of the leaderboard! Cries.]
[I scored the highest score. I’ll make it higher tomorrow. (Just kidding)]
Besides the players’ reviews, Cloud Hao was also surprised to find a gold tagline on the homepage of his game.
This marked the review of the game commentator invited by the platform, which usually represented the recognition of professionals.
Furthermore, this line of text typically appeared together with the recommendation feed on the platform’s homepage…
[This is a “poisonous” mini-game. Before playing it, be prepared to spend a whole day on it.]
After gulping nervously, Cloud Hao, who had a vague hunch, moved his mouse to click the data management page on the game’s backend.
He was shocked by what he saw.
The number of payments made…
91779!
Oh my God!
In just one night, more than 90,000 people had downloaded his game!
Looking at the data, Cloud Hao was dumbfounded.
“…Are the players in this world crazy?”
It wasn’t just the sales…
The rating of the game wasn’t low and actually attained a shocking 9.5!
The 10-point excellent rating even reached a shocking 65%!
In other words, on average, out of every 100 people, 65 people gave a full-mark rating of 10! Putting aside some malicious bad reviews, even for players who did not award 10 points, most of them gave high ratings close to full marks!
Even for those 3A masterpieces with outstanding high-definition graphics and mind-blowing plots, it was difficult to achieve such a shocking evaluation.
Staring at the data on the backend interface, Cloud Hao looked stupefied.
This 2048 is just a f*cking mini-game!
This world is too crazy…