Chapter 93: Turnover Reaches a New Peak

Business had indeed picked up.

There were only twenty machines in the game room, and Xiao Jian and the others had already occupied more than ten of them, leaving just two or three empty.

Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng exchanged a look, equal parts amused and baffled. Earlier, they had worried that business would stay dead for days, so when Gu Xiaolei and Shi Hailong suggested letting their brothers stay here and play until the shop recovered, they had agreed. They had never expected the place to become short on seats instead.

It was far too strange.

What was this supposed to be?

How could a situation this absurd actually happen?

A thin, short fellow shouted, “Boss, hurry up already. We’re waiting to play.”

Zhu Xiaofeng said helplessly, “Uncle Wang, what do we do now? It looks like we don’t have enough machines. There are more than ten of them.”

“There are still three machines left. Register them first. I’ll go talk to Xiao Jian and the others,” Wang Qiang said.

At first, Xiao Jian and the others had simply been brought in to make up for the business Wang Qiang had lost. He figured that once he told them they could leave, they would be overjoyed. At least that was what he thought.

So he walked over to the nearest burly man.

He patted the man on the shoulder, but the burly fellow didn’t even turn his head. “What is it?”

Wang Qiang spoke politely. “If you have something to do, you can leave first.”

“Huh? Brother Qiang.” Only then did the burly man whip around, blinking in surprise. “I’m fine. This game is pretty fun.”

Wang Qiang: “...”

He had no choice but to go to the second machine. The two men there really weren’t all that interested in games, and when they heard they could leave, they jumped up at once and headed out.

But when he reached the third machine, Wang Qiang ran into the same problem as before. The man there had no intention of leaving at all. After Wang Qiang finished speaking, he even turned right back to the screen and resumed playing with obvious impatience.

As Wang Qiang made his way down the row on the left, five or six people stood up and left, freeing three seats.

Noticing their odd reactions, Wang Qiang gradually began to understand. These people, who had originally been forced to stay and play, had actually gotten interested after a while. Since they had paid real money, it would be wrong to drive them out now.

He had not always seen eye to eye with them, but Wang Qiang could not bring himself to do such an ungracious thing. Still, he faintly realized that the people still playing here might become regular customers.

It was simple, really: once people fell in love with games, they got hooked. Anyone who had never played them would not understand, but those who had ever become obsessed knew all too well. Wang Qiang understood this deeply. Back when he was in college, he had once been absorbed for a while by the online game Legend. Even though everyone was now playing Famicom games, the principle was the same. Games could draw people in, even become addictive.

As for whether things were really as he suspected, he could not yet be certain. Time would have to prove it.

If so, then that would be a good thing.

He walked over to Xiao Jian’s place on the right.

“Xiao Jian,” Wang Qiang called.

Xiao Jian was completely focused on the game and did not react. Perhaps he had been too absorbed to hear.

Wang Qiang had no choice but to reach out and pat his shoulder. When Xiao Jian finally turned around with a puzzled look, Wang Qiang continued, “If you’ve got something to do, you can head out first.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Xiao Jian said quickly, shaking his head.

Now they did not even want to leave when he told them to?

He glanced back at Zhu Xiaofeng, who was looking on from the side, then decided to speak plainly. “Your Brother Hailong brought you here because he messed up my business. Since people are coming in to play now, you’ve done your job.”

To his surprise, Xiao Jian looked at him plaintively. “It’s not about jobs or anything like that. I’m only halfway through this game. If you make me leave now, I’d feel so restless. Can’t I just keep playing?”

Wang Qiang let out a soft “eh.” “Fine. Keep playing.”

He asked each person in turn, all with the same polite wording: if you have something to do, you can leave first.

The answers he got were all equally exasperating.

“Really, I’m fine.”

“Don’t, I’m having a blast.”

“Brother Qiang, where can I find the water ghost? I’ve already gotten my second battle tank, but I still haven’t run into the second boss.”

Not a single one of the eight people playing the strategy cards wanted to leave. In fact, someone even asked Wang Qiang for pointers.

By the time Wang Qiang had finished asking everyone, he was no longer merely puzzled. His eyes had suddenly lit up.

The people on the ordinary game side had left when asked, but no one on the strategy-card side wanted to go. What did that mean?

It meant that if he wanted customers to stick around longer, he should definitely recommend strategy cards. After all, the stories in those games were continuous. If players did not finish them, they would find it hard to let go.

Right. Next time he went to Deep Harbor, he should bring back more strategy cards.

He felt as though he had found a way to increase customer loyalty. Loyal customers were the backbone of any shop, and strategy cards could help the game room cultivate them. He had not thought of this before, but now that he understood it, it was a pleasant surprise.

Only six machines had been freed up in total.

Back at the counter, Wang Qiang explained the situation and finally arranged for a dozen people to play first.

The five or six who had not gotten a machine yet began protesting right away.

“When will there be a spot?”

“Why are there so few machines here?”

“Exactly. Why not get a few more game machines?”

“Forget it, forget it. Let’s just watch others play for now.”

“Guess we have to. But if someone gets off, make sure I’m the first to get a turn. Don’t forget.”

Far from leaving, they ran over behind people they knew and watched them play.

Almost all of them went to the right side, where the strategy cards were, and every so often a shout or two would ring out.

At the counter, Zhu Xiaofeng asked, a little dazed, “Uncle Wang, how did this turn out so much better than before? Do you think business will still be this good tomorrow?”

Wang Qiang thought to himself, How would I know? But he said, “Maybe.”

Zhu Xiaofeng said excitedly, “If it stays this good, we’ll be rich.”

Wang Qiang chatted with him casually, though inwardly he was uncertain. Right now there were people from the Azure Dragon Gang and the Sea Dragon Circle present. Once they left, would business still be this good?

...

At five-thirty in the afternoon, some of them must have gotten hungry, because Xiao Jian and the others gradually left, and several machines became empty.

Wang Qiang felt a little regretful. It seemed the earlier rush had only been temporary.

Just then, Dong Xiaowu and Huang Mao ran in from outside. One had a plaster cast on his arm and the other had a slapdash medicinal patch stuck across his nose; they looked rather amusing.

Both of them had been forced by Gu Xiaolei to come play. Dong Xiaowu clearly had no interest in games, but Huang Mao had been obsessed with Devour the World. Fortunately, Black Cat had just gone out to eat dinner, so Huang Mao finally got his turn.

Wang Qiang opened machines for them.

Dong Xiaowu watched his younger brother play with little enthusiasm, feeling extremely annoyed. But as he watched, he realized the game his brother was playing was actually rather interesting, and little by little he started discussing it with Huang Mao, so much so that he forgot the throbbing pain in his arm.

...

Around six o’clock, noisy voices rose outside.

“Is Iron Tiger really in there?”

“He’s got a cast on his arm?”

“Go in and see... Huh? It’s true.”

“Didn’t we tell you? Now do you believe Iron Tiger really got his arm broken because he caused trouble?”

Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng stared blankly as wave after wave of people rushed in from outside. It was a little like what had happened in the afternoon. After seeing the spectacle, some of them actually insisted on getting a turn on the machines.

By this point, if Wang Qiang still did not understand what was going on, he would truly have been foolish. So that was it—so many people had come just to watch the commotion?

What he had not expected was that some of those spectators would end up becoming customers, and not in small numbers either.

What did loafers usually do?

Some ran black gambling dens and supported their underlings. Some lived off protection money. And some, who were not doing all that well, could only make a little money by doing errands for others, like filling out a crowd or scaring people.

In general, they were bored most of the time, so naturally they needed entertainment. The ones doing well could go to upscale entertainment venues, like karaoke bars.

What about the average ones?

Billiard halls and game rooms naturally became their first choice. Coincidentally, Wang Qiang’s shop was a game room.

...

At six-fifteen, Zhu Xiaofeng went out to buy food.

Then an unexpected visitor came by: Lao Yao. Seeing how lively the game room was, he was surprised and chatted with Wang Qiang for a while.

“Your business is this good?” he asked.

“Not bad. It only just picked up for a little while,” Wang Qiang replied.

“Don’t fool me. Look around—you’ve got at least twenty or thirty people waiting for a spot. And you call that not bad?”

“Then do you want to take over the machines?”

Lao Yao was cautious. He said he’d watch for a few more days.

...

Today’s business had indeed exploded.

Usually, closing time was seven in the evening, and even if Wang Qiang did not actively ask customers to leave, the elementary and middle school kids would head out early. But today, even at that hour, the game room was still packed with noise and laughter.

“Mine, mine!”

“There’s a mushroom, eat the mushroom!”

“Old Ding, let me have a turn, you’ve been playing for half an hour.”

“Hey, what game is this...?”

Seeing business this good, Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng discussed it and simply decided to extend opening hours by an hour or two.

...

Ten o’clock at night.

It was time to sleep.

They had originally planned to extend business by only an hour or two, but by now they had stretched it by a full three hours. Even so, thirteen or fourteen machines were still occupied, every player deeply engrossed and showing no intention of leaving.

Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng had gotten up at six or seven that morning, and by now they were so sleepy they could barely stand. They could only coax people one by one to come again tomorrow, though many of them were reluctant.

After much persuasion, the players finally rose with great reluctance and left.

“When do you open tomorrow?”

“At eight? A-Mu, let’s get up early tomorrow.”

“Hide Second Robot War for me. Don’t let anyone erase my record. I’m coming back tomorrow.”

“I still haven’t had enough.”

The customers playing strategy cards, in particular, repeatedly reminded them as they left, afraid their saves would be lost.

...

At last, everyone was gone.

The game room fell quiet. Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng cleaned up first, then started tallying the accounts in a weary daze.

Zhu Xiaofeng counted the cash.

Wang Qiang totaled the machine time and expenses recorded in the ledger. It was simple enough—just addition and subtraction—but when he finally finished, even he was shocked. “Today, the total machine time across twenty machines was 205 hours?”

Two hundred and five hours?

That meant an average of about ten hours per machine.

He thought back carefully and realized it was indeed about right.

In the morning there had originally been quite a few customers. Then came that unexpected incident with Dong Xiaowu and Xiao Jian, during which there was about an hour of downtime. But after noon, customers poured in continuously. Aside from meal time, when two machines were briefly empty, all the others were occupied. And with business extended to ten at night, yes, it added up.

Just as he finished speaking, Zhu Xiaofeng looked up. “I counted six hundred and five yuan. Ten yuan went to meals, so today’s revenue should be six hundred and fifteen.”

A new record.

On the third day after opening, the game room had actually reached an astonishing six hundred and fifteen yuan in revenue.

Although Wang Qiang had already roughly calculated the amount while tallying the machine hours, hearing the number for real still made him clench both fists and swing them hard through the air.

No one had expected that being chased away by customers would actually lead to even better business.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Wang Qiang never would have believed it. But reality had given him a huge surprise.

If business stayed this good for the next few days, then fulfilling the promise he had made to his mother would seem almost effortless. Only, many people today had stayed because they were here to watch the excitement, and he did not know whether tomorrow would still bring such crowds.

But no matter what.

Today’s business had made him feel wonderfully satisfied.

And the day’s revenue filled him with sheer delight.

Thinking back to the frustration he had felt that morning, Wang Qiang suddenly realized how overwhelmingly pleasant he felt now, as though every part of him, inside and out, had been washed clean by a deep sense of ease.

He was content.