Increasing in price

"Boss Chen, I'm truly grateful."

"Grateful for what? Oh, congratulations on achieving a new record for concurrent players in Westward Journey."

"Hehe, that's certainly worth celebrating. But the greatest gratitude is for you helping us keep Westward Journey afloat."

Upon seeing that WJO had set a record with over 19,000 concurrent players, Ding Lei changed his mind.

Although over 19,000 concurrent players wasn't a massive number, it was enough to continue the service. Particularly considering that the concurrent player count had been just over 1,000 previously, this was an increase of several dozen times.

As a result, Ding Lei not only withdrew the decision to shut down the service but also dispatched a few technicians to resolve the game's bugs.

Furthermore, due to Xu Bo's unwavering dedication to WJO, he was placed in full charge of the game's operations.

"Keeping Westward Journey, what's the story behind that?"

"It's a long story."

Xu Bo briefly explained the situation to Chen Yu.

When Chen Yu read Xu Bo's message on QQ saying that WJO was almost shut down, he couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Damn, that was close.

If WJO had really been shut down, wouldn't all the promotions they had done have been in vain?

Fortunately, WJO narrowly escaped shutdown.

But doesn't this prove that their promotions on their end had an effect?

If not, WJO would undoubtedly have met its end.

"So, what are your plans now?"

"On one hand, we'll address the current bugs, and on the other, we'll upgrade Westward Journey."

"What about promotion?"

"Hehe, don't worry; I'm still waiting for your second wave of promotion."

"That's good."

Chen Yu nodded in relief. "In that case, um, can you provide some funding in advance?"

"Boss Chen, didn't we agree to promote first and then discuss payment?"

"Yes, but haven't we already done one round of promotion?"

"Come on, not until after all the promotion is done."

"Boss Xu, you guys are being a bit stingy. What if, after all the promotion, you accidentally reach a million concurrent players? Then if you don't pay up, who will I cry to?"

"A million concurrent players, my goodness, you're really dreaming."

"It's good to have dreams; what if it comes true?"

"You're right; we should have dreams. Well, how about this? I'll transfer 200,000 yuan to you first."

"Okay."

Chen Yu nodded. "It seems Boss Xu is getting a promotion; you're handing over the money quite willingly."

"Hehe, it's not about promotion or not. Mainly, the higher-ups have shown a bit more interest, so they've allocated some funds."

"Alright, then let's prepare for the second wave of promotion."

"We're looking forward to your promotion. By the way, what's the plan for the second wave?"

"The Marriage Plan."

Chen Yu spoke.

"The Marriage Plan. Wasn't there the Beauty Ranking Plan before?"

"The Beauty Ranking is one thing, but the Marriage Plan involves in-game players getting married."

"So, it's about the in-game marriage system?"

"You could put it that way, but we need to make these weddings grand. And, most importantly, it's not just in the game; we want them to get married in real life."

"Are you saying that players from the game will actually get married in real life?"

"Yes."

"Wow, that's amazing."

In-game weddings were already attractive, let alone the idea of turning them into real-life marriages. When this new promotion and publicity wave rolled out, it was likely to create another explosion of interest.

"I'll go check if there are players who got married in real life."

"Yes, rest assured, there definitely are."

In the modern age, it was common for gaming couples to transition from the virtual world to real-life matrimony. However, given that online gaming was still in its infancy, if news of this came out, it would undoubtedly cause a significant stir.

Fortune favors the determined.

Due to the turn-based nature of WJO, players had plenty of time for romance and affection while playing. Consequently, some couples who had fallen for each other in the game had taken their love into the real world. And it wasn't just one couple; there were several.

Upon learning about the situation, Chen Yu immediately organized a team to arrange weddings for these couples.

"Grand Wedding in Westward Journey"

"Server-Wide Parade for a Thousand Westward Journey In-Game Couples"

"Officially Welcoming the Dragon Palace Princess in the Tang Dynasty: The Start of the In-Game Marriage System."

Many players in Westward Journey were genuinely interested in this wedding event. Under the official arrangement, over a thousand players came together online to bless these real-life couples.

On the other side, 5173 was also covering the event in full.

Pictures of the event.

Thousands of blessings.

The screen filled with celebration.

This wedding atmosphere ignited the players' enthusiasm and left countless onlookers itching to participate.

Of course, this was just the warm-up.

The true climax would be the real-life weddings.

After the couples from WJO took their love into real-life marriages, the audience couldn't hold back any longer.

"I can't resist anymore; I'm going to play Westward Journey."

"Yeah, I want to play too."

"Before, Westward Journey had a Beauty Ranking, and I always thought they were all fake. I mean, how could there be so many beauties? But now, it seems it's true."

"It's absolutely true. Look at this scene; they even got married in real life."

"Damn, I've been single for so long. No matter what, I need to play Westward Journey and charm a girl to bring home."

"I'm going too."

"Together, together..."

Where there are girls, there's popularity.

Where there's popularity, there's a market.

Westward Journey, which had only had around a thousand concurrent players, suddenly saw a massive surge. In just two waves of events, it had grown to over 30,000 concurrent players, catching the attention of major gaming companies.

...

"Chen Yu, Chen Yu, great news, great news."

"What's the good news?"

"Legend just contacted us."

"Legend?"

"Yes."

After answering the phone call, Zhang Jianming excitedly told Chen Yu, "We contacted Legend before, but they thought our promotional fees were too high, so they didn't want to cooperate."

"And now?"

"Now they've agreed."

"What have they agreed to?"

"They've agreed to cooperate with us, for 1 million, 1 million yuan."

Although the first two waves of events had immediately boosted the number of concurrent players in WJO to over 30,000, Chen Yu had only received a little over 200,000 yuan from the game. Even though the third wave of promotions was yet to start, and he hadn't yet recouped the final funds, the wealthy Shanda had decided to invest a straight 1 million yuan. This got Zhang Jianming so excited that he jumped up.

"1 million, I've never seen so much money."

"Chen Yu, Chen Yu, say something. You haven't been stunned, have you?"

"You're the one who's been stunned."

Chen Yu chuckled and said, "I thought Shanda never wanted to cooperate with us."

"Hah, these days, we've been promoting Westward Journey so successfully. They're not blind; they must have seen the potential."

"That's true. But our cooperation fee has gone up, not just 1 million."

"How much is it?"

"2 million."

"Wow..."