Chapter Forty-Six: Rights Sold!

Shadow of a Thousand Wounds: You're being pretentious again!

Chuang Hong: Goodness, I came here intending to give some guidance to a newbie, but... it turns out I’m the little brother myself.

Rocky the Meal Seeker: I'm going to beat you, you show-off!

...

After reading through the replies to his own post, Yin Jian finally went to bed, satisfied.

Life is short; it is these little pleasures that add flavor to it.

In the days that followed, although daily sales of "Spore Evolution" didn’t climb steadily like "My Little World," they still maintained a rather decent figure, hovering around seven hundred thousand.

Yin Jian was quite pleased with this. After all, the game only had so much paid content; the fact that the numbers weren’t dropping meant that paying users were still growing.

Soon, the fifth day after the game’s launch arrived.

That day, as usual, the first thing Yin Jian did after getting up was check the game assistant’s backend to see yesterday’s sales.

But just as he opened the console, he saw that Stone had tagged him.

“What’s this guy looking for me for?” Yin Jian frowned and clicked into the group chat.

You Guys Push Me: @Stone_ What’s up?

After a few seconds, Stone replied.

Stone: Add me to the whitelist, there’s something I can’t say openly in the group.

You Guys Push Me: What’s so secret, just say it. Don’t be so wishy-washy like an old lady.

Sitting in front of the computer, Yu Jia’s face darkened at Yin Jian’s reply. Who are you calling an old lady!

“Hmph!”

She exhaled in annoyance and typed:

Stone: Someone wants to buy your copyright. If you’re interested in selling, I’ll send your contact info to the buyer so you can discuss the details yourselves.

You Guys Push Me: Copyright? What copyright?

Stone: The rights to use the setting of "Spore Evolution."

Egghead: Whoa! A copyright big shot! Please mentor Egghead!

Swordrise Sect Leader: Whoa! A copyright big shot! Please mentor Swordrise!

Happy Afro: Whoa! A copyright big shot! Please mentor Afro!

(Administrator Stone muted ‘Egghead’ for ten minutes)

(Administrator Stone muted ‘Happy Afro’ for ten minutes)

Swordrise Sect Leader: Stone, you’re awesome!

You Guys Push Me: Stone, you’re awesome!

You Guys Push Me: Stone, just send my contact to the buyer. By the way, what’s a reasonable price for my game?

Stone: You might be able to push for five hundred thousand, but your game is only at the new release on the district’s front page. For a setting usage right at this level, the usual price is around three hundred thousand; you can use that as a reference.

You Guys Push Me: Thanks, Stone.

...

“This guy is just too...”

Looking at Yin Jian’s reply, Yu Jia was at a loss for words.

She could only say that she didn’t really understand this Yin Jian.

Still, being praised by him felt pretty good.

At that thought, a smile appeared on Yu Jia’s round, delicate face.

Beside her, Lin Xiaoxiao saw Yu Jia smiling and assumed she was happy about selling the game’s copyright.

She extended her porcelain-like finger and gently tapped Yu Jia’s shoulder, giving her a thumbs up.

“Thank you, Senior Lin.” Seeing this, Yu Jia’s smile grew even brighter.

She really enjoyed spending time with Lin Xiaoxiao, because the latter lacked that air of worldliness. Simply by being near her, it felt as if all worries faded away.

“Here.”

Hearing Yu Jia’s thanks, Lin Xiaoxiao withdrew her hand and took out a card from her pocket.

“Let’s go together after work.”

[Astral Creatures Dessert Shop Double Discount Card]

...

(Prompt: Li Jianghe has applied to be your friend.)

Yin Jian accepted the request right away.

(Li Jianghe is initiating a call with you.)

Yin Jian thought for a moment, then chose to answer.

On the screen appeared a slender young man with round, black-rimmed glasses.

“Hello, I’m Li Jianghe from the Xiahua Education Division. You’re Mr. Yin, the designer of ‘Spore Evolution,’ correct?”

As soon as the video connected, Li Jianghe introduced himself.

“Hello, hello.”

Yin Jian was a bit taken aback. No matter how he’d guessed, he never would have expected someone from the education department would be looking to buy his copyright.

Seeing that Yin Jian didn’t seem eager to chat, Li Jianghe skipped the small talk and got straight to the point:

“Your operations manager should have already told you. Our education department wants to use some of the settings from ‘Spore Evolution’ and incorporate them into our new educational model.”

“Though it’s just for reference, rest assured, we won’t mess around when it comes to credit. Your name as designer will be displayed in the most prominent spot.”

“If I recall correctly, your handle is ‘You Guys Push Me,’ right?”

Still in a daze, Yin Jian jolted when he heard Li Jianghe call out his designer name.

“No! Please don’t put my name there!”

That would be a one-way ticket to total social demise.

He felt he’d never show his face in public again.

“Damn! Why did I ever pick such a dumb name?”

“Uh… well…”

Li Jianghe was baffled by Yin Jian’s reaction.

After all, this was a nationally recognized honor, not some private little award.

Most people would be desperate to have their name shown everywhere…

But seeing Yin Jian’s embarrassment, Li Jianghe suddenly understood.

He got it!

“All right, then we won’t include it,” Li Jianghe nodded solemnly, then continued, “By the way, what’s your expected price for this kind of copyright?”

“I’m not too familiar with this area, but my cousin said the setting usage rights for your game are about one million. Does that sound all right?”

Hearing that his name wouldn’t be used, Yin Jian felt relieved. But when he heard the offer, his heart leapt again. “How much did you say?”

“One million. Is that not enough? I’ll add another two hundred thousand,” Li Jianghe said, frowning in thought.

Because of his family background, in his eyes this was no different from a couple hundred bucks.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Choked by surprise at the extra two hundred thousand, Yin Jian hurriedly said, “That’s enough, more than enough.”

He was afraid that if the price went any higher, it wouldn’t be selling copyright, but instead he’d be arrested for market manipulation.

So this is what it’s like dealing with the bigwigs at the education department? Tossing out hundreds of thousands without a second thought—terrifying.

Seeing Yin Jian agree, Li Jianghe said simply, “I’ll send the payment to you through Qiyou. The new version of the game should be out in about a month. When it’s ready, you can try it and let me know if you have any suggestions.”

The video call ended.

It took Yin Jian quite a while to process what had just happened.

“The price just multiplied several times in an instant?”

He felt as if he was living in a fantasy.

But…

“One million and eighty thousand in one go—may there be more good fortune like this in the future.”

Though Qiyou would take a ten percent cut since the game was released there first, unearned money is still money not to be refused.

In high spirits, Yin Jian opened the forum with practiced ease.

He felt that such good news had to be shared, so everyone could be happy with him.