It's over, back to square one?

"My beloved is an unparalleled hero. One day, he'll come to marry me on a rainbow cloud. I might have guessed the beginning, but I can't fathom the ending."

"Once, I had one true love in front of me, and I didn't cherish it. It was only when I lost it that I deeply regretted it. The most painful thing in this world is this. If God granted me a second chance, I'd say three simple words to that girl: 'I love you.' If my love for her has to have a limit, let it be... 10,000 years."

"Hey, he looks like a dog."

In later years, people would ponder why "A Chinese Odyssey" fell flat.

Many said the plot was too intricate.

But more would argue that "A Chinese Odyssey" was simply ahead of its time.

So, let's revisit this movie from 2001.

It has become a classic in countless hearts.

Without this post, perhaps many would have forgotten this film.

However, after this article emerged, "A Chinese Odyssey" ignited the internet.

"When you don the golden hoop, you can't love, but when you remove it, you can't be saved. When I'm Sun Wukong, I can protect you, but I can't love you. To save Zixia, I must defeat the Bull Demon King. To defeat the Bull Demon King, I must become Sun Wukong. To become Sun Wukong, I must sever my emotions and don the golden hoop. Perhaps this is the saddest part of life."

"I rewatched 'A Chinese Odyssey', and I cried."

"I crew too."

In the ears of countless viewers, at this moment, there resounded only the ending song of "A Chinese Odyssey".

[

The past-present what came before, never to come again

Crimson fallen leaves long buried within the dust and earth

The beginning ending, always remaining unchanged

You are at the edge of the sky, floating beyond the white clouds

The ocean of suffering foments with waves of love

In this world impossible to escape fate

Entwined with love and tenderness, yet unable to embrace and hold each other close

Perhaps I ought to believe this is destiny…

]

...

"Xu Bo, you're right. For the sake of Westward Journey's future, I agree to reforge it."

After a week of contemplation, Ding Lei finally made up his mind to start over with WJO.

However, when Ding Lei called Xu Bo into his office to announce this decision, Xu Bo's expression was somewhat peculiar.

"Xu Bo, do you have something to say?"

"Well..."

"Don't beat around the bush. Just say it."

"Boss Ding, I'm not sure if we should go back to the drawing board this time."

Inside, Xu Bo felt a sense of crumbling, and he weakly said, "I'm not sure..."

"What do you mean?" Ding Lei looked at Xu Bo. "Are you suggesting we persevere a little longer?"

"Well..."

"Spit it out."

Ding Lei was growing frustrated. "You were the one who initially insisted, then later talked about redoing the game, and now you're saying to persevere again..."

He felt that Xu Bo was becoming rather unreliable. Regardless of his competence, he was far too hesitant when it came to making concrete decisions. While it might not be a problem for a technical role, entrusting him with the complete operation of a project could spell trouble if he continued with this indecisiveness.

"Boss Ding, you've misunderstood me."

Perhaps sensing that Ding Lei was currently questioning his abilities, Xu Bo hurriedly explained, "Boss Ding, it's mainly because the concurrent player count for Westward Journey has reached new heights recently."

"Oh?" Ding Lei was taken aback. "It's reached new heights again?"

Wasn't it recently at a bottleneck?

Weren't there numerous bugs in the game?

Wasn't there an issue with class balance?

"How many players are we talking about?"

"40,000?"

"No."

"Could it be pushing 50,000?"

"No."

"Then how many?"

"100,000."

Upon uttering this number, Xu Bo couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled. After all, these past few days had kept him on edge. Almost every hour, even every minute, WJO had been consistently setting new records. Initially, he thought it was a bug or data error, but subsequent checks confirmed that the data was accurate—these were real players.

"100,000?" Ding Lei was equally shocked by the number of concurrent players.

100,000! What did that even mean?

Even the most popular online game, The Legend of Mir 2, had around 150,000 concurrent players.

Of course, that would have been fine if it were just about the numbers. WJO operated on a pay-per-hour system, charging 4 points per hour, with each point costing 1 cent. In other words, playing WJO for an hour required 4 cents.

With 100,000 players online at once, that equated to roughly 10,000 yuan per day and a monthly revenue of 30 million yuan. Over a year, it amounted to over 300 million yuan.

The reason for the game's impressive profitability becomes evident with a quick calculation.

"Are you joking?" Ding Lei asked incredulously.

"Boss Ding, I'm not joking; these are the real numbers," Xu Bo replied.

He handed the backend monitoring data for concurrent players to Ding Lei.

"I need to take a look at the backend," Ding Lei said.

"Boss Ding, please follow me."

Although the figures in the document were accurate, Ding Lei found it hard to believe. If WJO truly had over 100,000 concurrent players, NetEase was about to hit the jackpot.

"Boss Ding, this is our backend database," Xu Bo explained while showing Ding Lei the data. "We recently surpassed 100,000 concurrent players. However, many of them are below level 7, and some haven't made any payments yet. So, the actual paying players may be slightly below 100,000."

"Even so, we anticipate that most of them will continue playing after reaching level 7."

Players didn't have to pay to play WJO until they reached level 7, Xu Bo added while looking at the backend database.

"Great, well done, Xu Bo," Ding Lei exclaimed, rubbing his fists together. Even Ding Lei, who was no stranger to big money, couldn't contain his excitement. It seemed that venturing into the gaming industry was the right decision.

"If we continue at this scale, taking into account development, operational, and promotional costs, this single game can earn us billions in a year."

"Thank you for the praise, Boss Ding, but this isn't solely my achievement."

"Oh?"

"This success is thanks to a game website company we've partnered with."

Xu Bo explained the recent online buzz surrounding "A Chinese Odyssey: Love You for Ten Thousand Years", which had been promoted by the website 5173.

Upon hearing this, Ding Lei was full of admiration for 5173.

"Well done, Xu Bo. While 5173 played a major role in the game's promotion, you're still responsible for its operation, so you played a significant part."

"Thank you, Boss Ding. So, should we proceed with the game, or should we return to the drawing board?"

Ding Lei pondered for a moment. He had initially decided to go back to the drawing board for the sake of the game's future, but now, with over 100,000 concurrent players, it would be a public relations disaster to start over.

"Let's continue to operate. I'll allocate a substantial team of technicians to address most of the game's bugs."

"As for the class balance issue you mentioned, although it can't be solved immediately, with a sufficient number of technicians, we can operate and improve the game simultaneously."

"As for the revamp, we'll prepare for it and release a new version of Westward Journey. Once the latest version is ready, we'll migrate the existing players."

"Migrate... Boss Ding, that's a great idea," Xu Bo praised.

This approach would not only address various bugs in WJO but also maintain its current popularity. However, it was easier said than done, and it would come at a considerable cost. Still, Xu Bo sensed that Ding Lei was ready to focus on WJO.

"By the way, 5173 is a fantastic partner. Although they're just a game website, their promotional experience is impressive. Ask them if they're interested in joining NetEase."

"Are you suggesting a takeover?"

"If they're willing. Of course, if not, it's fine. But we must maintain a good relationship with them."

"Don't worry, Boss Ding. The person in charge at 5173 is very interesting, and I appreciate them. We've had a pleasant cooperation for some time. Additionally, we still owe them 800,000 yuan in promotion fees."

"You've only spent 800,000 yuan on promotion?"

"We initially advanced 200,000 yuan, so the total is 1 million yuan."

"1 million yuan is not much. We'll give them an additional 2 million yuan later."

Ding Lei, who had seen significant sums of money, didn't consider 1 million yuan a large amount and generously promised to double it.

"What about the financial side?"

"Just tell them what I said."

"Understood."

Xu Bo nodded excitedly.