"Yeah, you can tell. Back when World of Warcraft was all the rage, internet cafes were packed from morning till night. I even bought a dozen extra computers for it. And then suddenly the servers shut down. You can imagine what a mess that was."
Lin Chen took out a lighter and lit Chen Dihao's cigarette, then continued, "I have an idea, I wonder if my cousin would be willing to give it a try?"
"Oh? What method?"
"I'm an agent for a VPN software that allows you to play World of Warcraft on the US server. I'll install it on all the computers in your internet cafe, and then other internet cafes won't be able to play WoW, only yours will. Wouldn't that bring in a constant stream of customers?"
"Is it true? Is it reliable?"
"You'll know once you try."
"Okay, let's try it out on a machine then."
So the three of them randomly picked a computer. Lin Chen took out the USB drive he had brought, plugged it into the computer, and started installing circumvention software and the US version of World of Warcraft. The computer in the internet cafe was quite powerful, and the installation was completed quickly.
Next, Lin Chen opened a notepad on the USB drive, which contained an activation code. He entered it into his VPN software, and it showed that the activation was successful. Then he opened the World of Warcraft US server client, registered an account at random, and logged in successfully.
Chen Dihao's eyes lit up: "It really works! I'll give it a try."
Lin Chen moved aside, and Chen Dihao tried it out. He found that it didn't lag at all, and the gameplay was almost identical to the Chinese version. In fact, some of the content was even newer than what the Chinese version had updated.
"Sure, bro, how much does the circumvention software you're distributing cost?"
"An activation code costs 50 yuan, one-time activation, permanent use. I get a 20 yuan commission for every activation code I sell, but since you're Fatty's cousin, I'll give you half of that commission back."
After thinking it over, Chen Dihao realized that this was a feasible plan. Moreover, with his cousin around, the person couldn't run away. As long as customers came to use the internet, the daily income from one computer would be more than 50 yuan.
"Okay, I have two hundred computers in my internet cafe, install it on all of them for me."
"Alright, cousin, you're so generous. Fatty, get to work." Lin Chen handed Fatty a USB drive.
Next, the two of them installed the software on one computer after another, from morning until night, until they had finished installing all the computers.
Chen Dihao handed over two bottles of cola, smiling and saying, "Thank you for your hard work."
Lin Chen took the Coke and took a sip: "It's okay. Making money is never easy. Cousin, I suggest you put up a banner at the door tomorrow that says 'World of Warcraft is available at this internet cafe.' I guarantee people will come right away."
Chen Dihao slapped his forehead: "That's right, how come I didn't think of that? I'll find someone to make a banner right away. Thanks, brother."
Then he pulled out a wad of red bills: "Brother, this is the money for the software, 8000 in total, you can count it."
Lin Chen stuffed the money directly into his pocket: "Why count it? How could I not trust my cousin? Fatty and I are brothers, so Fatty's cousin is my cousin too. Cousin, you go ahead and do your work. It's getting late, so we'll head back now."
"Alright, take care, and come visit again anytime."
After leaving the internet cafe, Lin Chen took out a red bill, counted out 4,000, and handed it to the fat man: "Here, this is your reward for today's hard work."
"With so much, Brother Chen, just give me a thousand or two as a token."
"Take it. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to get off to a good start so easily. Your cousin is only doing this because of you."
"Okay, I'll take it. Shall we continue tomorrow?"
"No rush, let things play out for a while. I left a notepad with my QQ number in the installation directory of the circumvention software. After my cousin's internet cafe is fully booked in a few days, other internet cafe owners will definitely come to investigate. Just wait for them to contact me then."
The next day, a banner was hung at the entrance of Dihao Internet Cafe that read "World of Warcraft can be played in this internet cafe." Such a simple and straightforward advertisement attracted a large number of customers. The morning should have been the quietest time for an internet cafe, but before noon, Dihao Internet Cafe was already full of available computers, and Chen Dihao was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.
Three days later, Lin Chen received his first friend request on QQ from an internet cafe owner.
Lin Chen chatted with the internet cafe owner. The price was still 50 yuan per activation code, but there was no more commission or cashback. The internet cafe owner naturally knew that he had no room to bargain with the other party at this point. Moreover, with the "showroom" of Dihao Internet Cafe right there, who would care about such a small amount of commission or cashback?
Lin Chen then called Fatty to go to the other party's internet cafe to install the software. When they arrived, they found that the other party's internet cafe was only a few hundred meters away from Dihao Internet Cafe, which explained why they got the news so quickly.
This internet cafe was much larger, with two floors and three hundred computers. With the experience from last time, Lin Chen and Fatty Wang were able to install the computers much faster, often operating several computers at the same time.
After a busy day, Lin Chen earned 15,000 yuan. He counted out half of it and handed it to the fat man, but the fat man refused to accept it. In the end, the fat man had no choice but to accept 2,000 yuan as a token gesture.
For the next month, the two of them would go to a certain internet cafe every few days to install software. As the official announcement of the server launch date by NetEase drew closer, fewer and fewer internet cafes came to Lin Chen to install circumvention software.
On the afternoon of June 20th, after Lin Chen and Fatty finished installing the computers at a small internet cafe with only twenty computers, the internet cafe owner actually started haggling over the price.
"Hey bro, look, the Chinese server is about to launch, and this software will be useless in a few days. It's not right for me to price it the same as other companies, is it? How about you give me a discount and charge me 20 per unit?"
Lin Chen was so angry he laughed: "Forget about 20, I'll just give it to you for free."
Unexpectedly, the internet cafe owner was also shameless: "That's great! I'll give you free access next time you come."
"Let's go, Fatty."
Lin Chen and Fatty walked out of the small internet cafe, Fatty still indignant.
"Brother Chen, are we just going to let this go like this?"
"Heh, just you wait and see."
Lin Chen and Fatty Wang rode their bicycles to the Dihao Internet Cafe.
"Cousin, are there any seats left?"
"Let me see, there are two seats left in the private room, you two can go up."
"Thanks." Lin Chen handed over a cigarette, then went over with Fatty Wang.
At that time, League of Legends had not yet entered China, and Lin Chen didn't have any games he liked to play, so he played Dota with the fat guy for a while.
It wasn't until after dinner, when the internet cafe was busiest, that Lin Chen took out his USB drive, opened the activation code registration machine, and invalidated all the activation codes he had used at the small internet cafe that afternoon. Then he nudged Fatty.
"Fatty, let's go watch the show."
The fat man took off his headphones and, not understanding why, followed Lin Chen out of the Emperor Internet Cafe.
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