For the rest of Thursday, Lin Feng spent his time working on the Fool's Gambit codebase.
In the evening, after finishing his daily teaching session, he noticed something.
Their developer accounts had been approved.
The one for Game Store had just come through. The one for App Store had been approved the day before.
He forwarded the information to Zhang Wei so he could work on their official app release.
As for Game Store...
He decided to publish their game.
Although it was technically still in development - specifically the testing phase - it didn't make much difference. Uploading it now would streamline their release process. The game would be reviewed while they continued working, and by the time they were ready to go public, everything would be in place.
They could control when it went live so this really wasn't that much of an issue. They could also keep pushing updates and working on the code no problem.
He submitted the build.
…
Friday, November 13th.
Lin Feng kept working on the game alongside Li Jun.
This was the last day of their week-long promotion. Fans of the game had enjoyed it so much that they were actually sad the event was ending. The game might be gone for who knows how long.
Surprisingly, the game had managed to escape the campus circle.
People had been posting gameplay footage online. Others had gained interest. So much so that people outside the supported regions had used certain methods to acquire it.
Well, it doesn't matter much.
This sort of thing was bound to happen.
Later that day, Xu Cheng's team contacted him.
Since they were in this line of work, they were part of some online groups that shared information about repairs and components. They had managed to get into contact with someone who could supply schematics and other things they needed.
Lin Feng forwarded the information to Attorney Qian for verification before proceeding.
…
Saturday, November 14th.
Their deadline was close.
Lin Feng and Li Jun kept working hard on the final touches to the game.
On Su Yue's end, she had finished filming everything on Friday. The MV was now in its post-production phase.
He also kept in touch with Mengqi, inquiring about how the physical album production was going.
She told him everything was in order. She had made all the necessary arrangements.
She's quite competent.
I need to get a secretary like her who just gets the job done.
…
Sunday, November 15th.
Everything was done on Mengqi's end. The album files had been submitted for production.
On Lin Feng's side, everything was finished too. They had added some promotional artwork, and that was all.
Lin Feng knew the game might not perform like the original at launch - even though it was arguably better than the original at release.
The reason the original had been so successful wasn't as straightforward as just the game being good. There was also timing. Market conditions. Other uncontrollable factors.
Well, I won't think too much about it.
He just needed to earn a few thousand yuan to increase his system balance. And get their name out there.
He talked with Li Jun, and they decided to allocate 50,000 yuan from their company account for marketing. They would sponsor some small streamers here and there to get the word out.
Later that day, Lin Feng received word from Attorney Qian.
The supplier Xu Cheng had found was verified. Legitimate - or at least as legitimate as these gray market sources could be.
GPU schematics weren't publicly available. Companies like Nadia kept them proprietary. But in the repair community, leaked and reverse-engineered schematics circulated through certain channels. It was technically a legal gray area, but it was common practice in the industry.
Lin Feng agreed to the purchase.
Schematics for all Nadia GPUs - from the X1000 series all the way to the latest X3000 series. Three generations of graphics cards, covering everything from the old workhorses to the newest flagships.
The schematics came as a package deal: 25,000 yuan.
On top of that, he purchased thirty second-hand GPUs for the team to practice on. Burned-out mining cards, mostly. Cheap, but perfect for learning.
That added another 15,000 yuan.
Then he added 5 partially working on top of that for 10,000 yuan.
Total: 50,000 yuan.
A small investment for what he had planned.
Lin Feng leaned back in his chair.
Everything was set in stone.
He was quite looking forward to Monday.
…
Monday, November 16th.
Lin Feng sat on the couch, positioned between Su Yue and Mengqi.
His mind was elsewhere.
The game had released this morning. He wondered how it was going. Were the downloads picking up? Had the sponsored streamers started their broadcasts yet?
"Are you listening?"
Mengqi's voice cut through his thoughts.
He blinked.
"Yes, I'm listening."
He straightened up.
"You were saying?"
Mengqi gave him a look but continued.
"Everything is in order. We also have some images and videos we took during the filming period for promotional material."
She paused.
"That being said, almost all our money is gone after we finished the MV production."
Lin Feng waved his hand dismissively.
"It's not a matter. You can forward any and all invoices to me."
Mengqi sighed.
"This really isn't sustainable."
She crossed her arms.
"We have no idea how deep your pockets are. They might be as deep as infinite, or they might just run out tomorrow."
Her gaze sharpened.
"For security and reassurance, we need the business to generate money. Do you understand what I mean?"
Lin Feng nodded slowly.
"I understand."
It seems I've been too careless.
He had money now, so he could act like this. But to others, it didn't exactly inspire confidence. Their success depended on the business succeeding - not on him coughing up cash every now and then.
This was what could reassure them. Sustainable revenue. Not his personal wallet.
"It's okay though," he said. "I'm just injecting capital at the start of the company. I still have yet to inject my subscribed ten million yuan."
He glanced at Su Yue.
"Besides, our Su Yue is working really hard. I'm sure she's going to fund this whole thing in one go."
He smiled.
"Isn't that right?"
Su Yue's cheeks flushed pink.
She nodded.
"I'll do my best."
Lin Feng turned back to Mengqi.
"See?"
Mengqi sighed again.
"Speaking of..."
She shifted the topic.
"There are quite a few sponsors interested in working with her. Most are just other agencies trying to poach her, though."
She pulled out her phone and scrolled through something.
"As for the legitimate sponsorships - what do you two think? We could have the Saturday stream be sponsored."
She looked up.
"At the moment, any sponsorship deal for her can't be below 500,000 yuan. It's a way to make some cash on top."
Lin Feng froze.
500,000?