novelODS Chapter 272 Turbulent Undercurrents
Chapter 272 Turbulent Undercurrents
As the pen fell to the ground, Jiang Feng closed his notebook and looked out the window.
The winter sun was pale and tasteless, the wind was bleak, and the trees were desolate.
A sentence suddenly popped into his mind.
Only the Spring and Autumn Annals can truly judge me.
Seeing the overwhelming condemnation of Yi Feng across the internet, Jiang Feng ultimately remained silent.
It's not that I don't want to stand up, it's that I can't.
Yifeng has made a huge mess this time, so big that even state media have reported on it, expanding from the case of a player's hard drive being damaged to industry-wide issues such as game programs unauthorized access to computer privileges and user information security.
The uproar sparked by a world-class FPS game has already spread from the gaming community to every corner of public opinion.
Some celebrities, such as Chen He and Peter Ho, have posted on Weibo one after another, complaining that their accounts, which were used normally, were banned for ten years without cause.
Even when their accounts were banned yesterday, Chen Dexing, who is usually very easygoing, and Chen Yulin, who is usually very loud and boisterous, couldn't help but curse a few times.
Not to mention the other banned players.
One sentence left a particularly deep impression on Jiang Feng. Yesterday, Jiang Feng advised everyone to be rational and wait for the official response. A comment that appeared in the live stream read:
"Of course you don't feel like it's a big deal since you're on the whitelist. It's easy for you to say that when you're not in the situation."
Yes.
He cannot step forward at this moment.
Rashly defending Yifeng will only invite the raging anger of the players to see you as one of them. Not only will it fail to clear Yifeng's name, but it will also put you on the opposite side of the players.
He has to wait.
Waiting for the perfect, decisive moment.
The official efficiency was astonishing. Less than half an hour after the announcement, a general amnesty was declared, and all bans were lifted within three days.
Chen Dexing and Chen Yulin's accounts have been unblocked.
Even some accounts that had been blocked were unblocked, and the results of the "Clean Up the Internet" campaign were instantly wiped out.
Jiang Feng quietly started a live stream and invited Chen Dexing and Chen Yulin to join him.
"Come on, Juehang, withdraw your money."
In order to farm the Lord's Points most efficiently, Jiang Feng no longer used the single-target attack.
Bring two people along to help eat the buns; this maximizes efficiency.
There are 12 days left until the end of the season, and 8 days until the preview live broadcast on the 10th.
He had to race against time.
Meanwhile, in a building in Shenzhen, the door to the project team's meeting room had just opened.
The morning's meetings were non-stop, finalizing the player compensation plan, subsequent public opinion response, and version update plan. As the attendees gradually dispersed, Ziying, holding the finalized agreement, nodded slightly to Su Ming:
"President Su, now that it's all settled, I'll submit this compensation and follow-up agreement to President Ma for approval."
Su Ming nodded, his face grave and his tone extremely serious:
"We must learn from this vulnerability and take heed of the lessons."
"We moved too fast before; the most important thing now is to stabilize the situation."
Ziying responded and watched Su Ming turn and enter the office before turning her gaze away.
A dozen minutes later, smoke filled half of Su Ming's office. A soft knock sounded, Su Ming stubbed out his cigarette, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."
Ziying pushed open the door and locked it behind her with a "click".
The moment the door closed, the businesslike composure on their faces vanished, and they both revealed knowing smiles.
"The money... has it been transferred over there?" Su Ming spoke first, taking out another cigarette and lighting it, his tone filled with impatience.
Ziying was taken aback at first, then Su Ming raised his chin:
"Don't worry, there are no cameras in my office."
"It's in." Ziying breathed a sigh of relief, stepped forward, and lowered her voice, saying, "It's Bitcoin. As usual, it was washed three times with a coin mixer before being sent to my cold wallet. As promised, it would be sent as soon as the account was unblocked, and not a penny less."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and made a "five" gesture.
"After all that, it's roughly this amount, and I've already secured the money."
"Is the public opinion out there being suppressed?" Su Ming asked slowly, exhaling a smoke ring.
"It's perfectly stable." Ziying's smile deepened.
"Speaking of which, we really have to thank Yifeng for this. If it weren't for the rampant anti-cheating bans that scared the players, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to unban them now. There are still quite a few players who really see us as their saviors."
The two looked at each other and laughed.
After laughing, Su Ming suddenly changed the subject:
"By the way, the profit-sharing ratio we agreed on before needs to be changed. I want 80% of this portion."
Su Ming suddenly said.
Ziying's smile froze instantly: "Didn't we agree on 46?"
Su Ming snorted coldly, raised his eyes to look at him, his eyes full of shrewd calculation:
"You little brat, you profited and gained fame by putting out this fire. And me? I got dragged into it and have to cover for you in front of the board, bearing the risks for you. Forty percent? Do you think that's reasonable?"
Su Ming paused, then raised his finger and pointed up and down:
"And is the extra 20% I asked for just for myself? I have to bribe everyone above and below me, and make arrangements with everyone involved. We're all in the same boat; the more grasshoppers there are, the safer we are."
You have to give up something to gain something.
This is the "experience" of a veteran with over 10 years of experience in the industry.
Ziying's expression changed several times, but in the end she gritted her teeth:
"Okay, Erba, I want absolute safety."
"Don't worry, I've read the analysis of Chun Doo-hwan's rise to power more than once."
Su Ming then smiled again, nodded, and gestured for him to continue.
"I've already started contacting the whitelist and DMA team for the follow-up."
"These people are already frantic after Yifeng pulled this trick on them, so the price can be raised even higher."
"You handle this as you see fit, but don't forget the important matter."
Su Ming flicked his cigarette ash and instructed, "We have to put on a good show and make the performance figures look good. We have to satisfy the group and the board of directors, otherwise we won't be able to stay in this position."
"Don't worry, Mr. Su, I know exactly what the higher-ups want." Ziying scoffed, her tone full of disdain. "Isn't it just that they want higher turnover and faster returns?"
"Speaking of which, a large part of the reason Yifeng got kicked out was because he was so stubborn about giving players freebies, completely disregarding revenue. He held back a bunch of well-designed skins from being released, with the ridiculous excuse of 'poor quality'?"
The more he talked, the more absurd it seemed. He shook his head and said, "What does it matter to him whether the quality is good or not? As long as it's released, there will always be people who like it and people who will buy it."
"I've seen the M14 skin that the design department submitted before. The modeling and special effects are top-notch, and it's much better than the brick skins for the M4 and Victor."
"Such a good skin, it's such a waste not to make it a limited edition brick skin and sell it out."
"I'm a professional when it comes to squeezing revenue. I'll make back twice as much money as Yifeng did for the group."
Upon hearing this, Su Ming nodded in satisfaction and offered Zi Ying a cigarette.
In the smoke-filled office, the two exchanged a smile.
Meanwhile, Jiang Feng, driving Red Heart and Mind in perfect harmony, was so engrossed in his game that he had lost all sense of time and place.