Chapter Twelve: Where Is My Money?

The platform only set a cap on the maximum price for newly launched games, without restricting where the author could place paid options.

This gave Yin Jian plenty of room to maneuver.

He first checked the price cap.

“Why is it fifty?” he raised an eyebrow.

The trial promotion’s cap was twenty, but the district strong promotion had a cap of fifty.

It seemed that the permission wasn’t upgraded after getting a recommendation, but rather after advancing to the next promotional tier.

However, regardless of whether the cap was raised or not, Yin Jian had no intention of setting the item prices too high.

After all, this era had never seen such a payment mechanism. If the initial price was too steep, it might backfire.

“The price needs to be at a painless level, so that even if someone spends, it won’t feel like a big deal.”

Yin Jian’s fingers moved swiftly across the computer screen, breaking down the resource pack and entering prices for each one.

Time slipped by quickly as he worked, and before he knew it, it was midnight.

“My Little World” officially launched!

...

[Ding! The game has launched and is updating. Please enter the game after five seconds.]

Li Shang, who was exploring underground in the game, suddenly saw this message pop up before his eyes went black and he returned to reality.

He stared blankly for a moment, then snapped to attention and opened the “My Little World” game interface.

He had skipped two meals in the past few days just so he could buy the game at launch and finally see the stats of the equipment.

“If you can make a freeloader like me pay, I’ll call you the best designer ever!”

Li Shang looked at the “Play Now” button, where the price would show once the game launched.

But…

There was no price displayed on the button, only “Click to Enter Game.”

“Is it stuck?”

Li Shang frowned and exited the platform, then re-entered.

But the result was the same—no payment option.

“Could it be a system bug?” Li Shang’s eyes lit up. Did that mean he could still play for free?

Go!

He entered the game.

Li Shang saw the walls around him rapidly moving upwards.

“Damn!”

He’d been digging when the game kicked him out and hadn’t looked to see what was below—now he knew it was empty.

Staring at the rapidly expanding lava below his feet, Li Shang quickly tried to build a platform to save himself.

But—

—Achievement Unlocked—

[Swimming in Lava]

“…”

Respawning in his house and seeing his empty inventory, Li Shang was ready to curse.

His diamond set was gone!

“Luckily, I put the important stuff away at home before exploring. Otherwise, that damned designer would’ve truly screwed me over. Not even a warning before launch.”

Muttering complaints, Li Shang hurried to his storage chest—he couldn’t wait to see what attributes the Skeleton Captain’s drops had.

But just as he was about to open the chest, he noticed a small icon on the far left of his vision.

“A skin shop? What’s this?”

With a thought, he opened the shop.

The shop interface appeared, and the first thing he saw was a banner at the top.

[Launch Gratitude Gift Pack!]

[Click to claim]☚

Li Shang instinctively clicked it—who could resist?

[Ding! Congratulations, you’ve received a ten-minute All Skins Trial Card!]

[Would you like to use it?]

“Use…”

Without thinking, Li Shang clicked to use it.

The world froze for a second, and then, after a few moments, returned to normal.

And then his eyes widened.

Looking around, the pixelated textures had all vanished, replaced by a room in an old European style, full of bygone era atmosphere.

The graphics weren’t considered exquisite for the current time, but after growing used to the pixel style, the sudden switch to this high-quality look had an even greater impact.

“Damn! The designer’s a genius!”

Li Shang praised Yin Jian aloud and, unable to spare a glance for the equipment stats, turned and pushed open the door, stepping outside.

What he wanted most now was to see what the outside world looked like.

Milky, wispy clouds were painted gold by the falling glow of the setting sun.

Mountains and fields were crowded with lush trees.

The ground was covered in a thick carpet of grass.

The flowing water shimmered with a magical hue.

Li Shang turned to look at the house he’d built, feeling, for some reason, filled with a sense of satisfaction.

“My Little World is truly a god-tier game!”

But as he was lost in the awe of this transformed world, the screen froze again.

When it finally returned to normal, the graphics were back to their original style.

Textures he’d previously accepted now seemed unbearably ugly.

He felt as if his eyes were about to go blind.

Unable to bear such a sudden change, he quickly opened the shop, wanting to see how he could return to the previous graphics.

True Sky: 0.99

True Dirt: 0.99

True Water: 0.99

...

Looking at over a hundred different skins in the shop, Li Shang scratched his head—they all seemed pretty cheap.

“I’ll try buying a few first.”

He bought the Sky skin, and instantly, the sky turned into what it had looked like during the trial.

But now the ground beneath the sky looked even more jarring.

Unable to bear it, Li Shang bought a few more skins in quick succession.

Once all the skins were loaded, the visuals finally felt pleasing again.

“This is how my world should look,” Li Shang nodded in satisfaction, turning to head back inside to continue studying his equipment.

But as he turned, he saw a huge patch of mosaic behind him.

Could he endure that? Of course not! Buy, buy, buy!

In the end, Li Shang lost count of how many he bought—he only stopped when everything looked right to him.

With a satisfied heart, he began to explore the new content.

...

After defeating a boss in the underground lava, Li Shang exited the game, content.

This was truly an excellent game.

He sighed in admiration, but soon remembered the bug preventing payment, and worry crept in.

What if the designer lost heart because of this?

Without further ado, he opened the comments section to leave some encouraging words.

[If Not For Me, Keyboard Warrior]: The new content after launch is great, designer, keep up the good work! The temporary inability to pay must be a platform bug, don’t worry, you’ll definitely get compensated later.

After sending his message, Li Shang glanced at the time—it was only 2 a.m., still early.

"The money I saved for buying the game hasn’t been used. I might as well treat myself to a good meal."

Thinking this, he opened the food delivery app and placed an order, but as he tried to pay, he found that his meal allowance for the remaining five days of the month was gone.

“Where did my money go?”

Li Shang was dumbfounded.

ps: Seeking recommendations!