After the Nerd Marked the Top Omega - Chapter 27.1

On the gaming platform, the number of players for each game is displayed.

A week after Fang Xu’s game was approved for review, the number of players exceeded ten thousand.

This number was far from a viral hit. But for a game that had never bought any promotions, it was already considered very good.

Even on social media platforms, you could see personal shares and recommendations for Managing a Snack Stall.

“If you’re bored recently, you can try Managing a Snack Stall. I think it’s really fun!”

“I can’t believe I’m seeing a fellow fan of such an niche game, I’ll recommend it too.”

“The name suggests it’s a management game? I’ve played several management games, and I’ve really lost interest.”

“But Managing a Snack Stall is different. I think it’s unlike other management games and worth a try.”

“To be honest, what innovation can a management game offer? Besides, it’s not a game company’s main project, so shoddy production is probably unavoidable.”

“I agree. Could it be a paid promotion?”

“I don’t think so, because I played it too, and it really is different from other management games.”

“…”

Some who scrolled through this post thought it was an ad and casually swiped past. Others saw the screenshots shared by players, found them interesting, and went to play the game.

The story begins with a princess and her secret guard being hunted. While fleeing, they unexpectedly transmigrate from ancient times to the modern era.

The player takes on the role of the secret guard.

They fled in too much of a hurry and had no money on them. The only valuable item was the hairpin the princess wore.

After pawning the hairpin, the princess and the secret guard had their first bit of capital. After much deliberation, they faced three choices.

First is to set up a snack stall near a school. Second is to set up a snack stall near an office building. Third is to set up a snack stall near a residential community.

After selecting the location, they can unlock their business type: First is to choose to make kao leng mian (grilled cold noodles). Second is to choose to make skewers. Third is to choose to make jian bing (Chinese crepes).

Upon entering the game, each player can only choose one location and one stall type. If they want to change the location and stall type, they need to reach a corresponding level.

This content is not very different from other management games. Fang Xu considered this when making the game and added a few extra settings.

When the player is running the stall, the NPCs who come to buy food don’t just have two or three preset lines. Instead, their dialogue is more relevant to their identity. Players can not only manage their snack stall but also listen to customers gossiping.

For example, the NPCs around the office building will complain about their boss and colleagues, often with witty remarks. In the school area, you can hear students complaining about teachers, and teachers who come to buy snacks will complain about some parents. Some NPC stories are quite long and are told in two or three parts.

The ancient protagonists in the game can learn about the modern world through this content, which also triggers corresponding short cutscenes.

Fang Xu collected some stories online, but they were a bit sparse, and after playing for two weeks, the complaints started to repeat. So, she added a submission area to the game.

If players have someone they want to complain about, they can write it in the submission area. The system will randomly display it over an NPC’s head, and other players can also see the story, enhancing the sense of participation.

The three operating locations cover all age groups.

“Xuxu, how are you so amazing?” Tang Xingxing shared the post she saw with her: “It attracted more players for you.”

Fang Xu looked at it and logged into her backend: “Quite a few bugs have also been discovered.”

When making a game, there are always some areas that are not checked thoroughly. As the number of players increased and all the options were tested, these bugs were found and compiled into her backend through the feedback settings.

Tang Xingxing gasped at the long list of red dots.

She patted Fang Xu’s shoulder: “I can’t help with this! I can only continue playing the game and help you find if there are any other bugs.”

Fang Xu: “…”

The number of players was slowly increasing, mostly through spontaneous recommendations on other platforms.

“Managing a Snack Stall is quite fun, but why do city inspectors suddenly appear? I worked hard all day making grilled cold noodles, and my income ended up being -10 [Crying] [Crying].”

“Besides the city inspectors, if you encounter an NPC mentioning the lottery that day, the system will pop up an option, saying you have a chance to get rich overnight, and ask if you want to try.”

“So, did the person above try?”

“Replying to the person above: I tried. Thank you for your patronage, please come again next time.”

“I also tried and won ten thousand yuan! I bought the stove and grill I wanted, and expanded with two more seats. I’ll try again next time. [Content] [Content].”

“Where did this European Emperor* come from? Out with you!” (*T/N: “European Emperor” is a slang term for a lucky player.)

“What game is this? It looks so fun.”

“Managing a Snack Stall. Go play it, you won’t lose! The content inside is all free, just quit if it’s not fun.”

“A heads-up: If you make too many snacks that day, you can feed them to the princess. This unlocks favorability voice lines. Later, as the favorability increases, she seems to become a helper.”

“I tried it too. The princess is actually a tsundere! She said, ‘Can the food made by the secret guard even be delicious?’ but ate my skewers in three seconds, and a dialogue box popped up above her head saying she wanted more.”

“Wait? You can even romance a tsundere? I must check this out.”

“…”

Fang Xu didn’t pay too much attention to the player count. She just logged into the backend at a fixed time every day after her internship to fix the bugs in the game.

In the meantime, counting the time, it was almost a month. After contacting Pei Yunci, the two arranged a time to meet.

Before she got off work, Fang Xu received a message from the other party.

【Pei Yunci: Not sure when I can return. It might be a little later than the agreed time.】

The two companies were negotiating a partnership, and neither side wanted to concede, so the negotiations were stalled.

Pei Yunci couldn’t leave for the time being and managed to send a message.

【Fang Xu: No rush.】

Therefore, after work, Fang Xu ate dinner outside first.

She walked from the subway station towards the apartment.

The apartment was in the city center, and the price was frighteningly high, so there weren’t many people on this road.

“Boss, he told us to take a picture of that person. We’ve been staking out for two days, and we haven’t seen them come back.”

“How am I supposed to know? He gave us three addresses at once, so we can only take turns staking out. Why else would he give so much money?”

“Boss, why don’t we stake out each place for a week? That way, we can get more photos.”

The other man hit him on the head: “Do you think Pei… that person is stupid and has no vigilance? If we don’t get the photo, we’ll be the ones discovered first.”

“That’s true, that’s true. Then we’ll stick to the original plan,” the man said, not forgetting to compliment, “The boss is still the clever one.”

“Do you need to tell me that?” The man adjusted his clothes and, as he turned his head, he saw a student squatting on the opposite side of the road, not far away, tying her shoelaces.

She wore black-rimmed glasses and ordinary clothes, really inconspicuous. No one knew when she had appeared there.

“Someone’s coming, shut up,” the man whispered.

Then the two picked up their tools nearby and began trimming the roadside bushes.

Fang Xu withdrew her gaze, neatly retied the shoelace she had just undone, stood up, and walked forward, as if she hadn’t noticed the men at all.

After she left, one of the men was still a little vigilant: “Boss, did she hear what we said?”

The man snorted: “So what if she heard? She looks like a student. Does she have the guts to provoke us? Besides, we didn’t mention Pei Yunci’s name just now. How would she know the person we’re looking for?”

“I think so too,” the other man recalled the person he had just seen: “Does she live in this apartment too?”

“Probably a tutor. I’m a good judge of people. Her clothes aren’t any big brand. It’s impossible for her to live here.”

After entering the apartment, Fang Xu first tried to look out from the living room’s floor-to-ceiling window. But the direction was wrong; she couldn’t see the two men.

On the road, she instinctively felt the two were acting suspiciously, so she deliberately stopped to listen to their conversation.

Fearing that she would alert them, she didn’t take any photos. Now she could only take out a piece of paper and try to sketch the two men’s features.

After finishing the sketch, Fang Xu looked at the people on the paper and slightly furrowed her brow.

She was far away, and the conversation was intermittent, but she still remembered the two men mentioning words like “photo,” “that person,” and “three addresses.”

Pei Yunci?

Fang Xu couldn’t be certain. She temporarily put the paper aside and waited for the other party to return before discussing it.

She logged into the game backend as usual and found that the bugs were much fewer today, with only two needing fixing, and the game had made it onto the Newcomer’s Chart.

Fang Xu returned to the game platform’s homepage and searched back and forth three or four times before finding her game in an inconspicuous corner.

Although the placement wasn’t great, and the effect was unknown, she was very satisfied.

After all, when she made the game, she hadn’t expected it to attract so many players.

At this moment, Yi Yi also called her: “Sis, are you still busy?”

“I’m off work,” Fang Xu said: “If I don’t answer the phone sometimes, just send me a message.”

“Mhm,” Yi Yi ate outside that evening to make the call and even sent a photo: “Sis, I recommended your game to my friends. They all say it’s super fun!”

“Help me thank your friends,” Fang Xu chuckled.

Yi Yi agreed, and then brought up the main topic for the day: “Our teacher asked us to fill out the form for choosing between humanities and sciences, and it requires signatures from both a parent and the student.”

Fang Xu: “If you’ve already decided, just fill in my name in the parent column.”

“Okay,” Yi Yi recalled: “The parent signature on your high school form was me helping you sign it back then.”

At that time, Fang Xu was the oldest in the family and could make her own decisions. But the child accidentally saw it and, puffing out her cheeks, said seriously: “Sister, I’ll sign for you. I’m your family too.”

Fang Xu felt a blend of softness and sorrow in her heart, but she didn’t correct the child’s distinction between “parent” and “family.” She just handed over the pen.

The child squatted at the table and wrote her name crookedly but earnestly in the parent column.

Fang Xu also joked with her: “There’s nothing for you to sign now.”

“Just let me know if you need anything,” Yi Yi said: “After we divide into humanities and sciences this week, we’ll have a class division exam, and the teachers for each subject should also change.”

Fang Xu hummed: “Did your friends choose humanities or sciences?”

“Two chose sciences, and one chose humanities,” Yi Yi explained the situation of each friend.

Fang Xu: “Maybe the ones who chose sciences will be assigned to the same class.”

She would be slightly worried if there were no former friends in the new class and the environment was unfamiliar.

“I hope so too!”

Many people chose sciences, resulting in twelve classes. The probability of being assigned to the same class as her friends wasn’t high, but Yi Yi still prayed devoutly: “Bless us, bless us! We must be assigned together.”

Fang Xu heard her mumbling and a faint smile flashed in her eyes: “Don’t be too sad if you’re not together. You’ll still have a chance to make new friends.”

“That’s true,” Yi Yi said: “I’m starting to feel a little nervous just talking about it.”

“Don’t be nervous…”

Fang Xu wanted to comfort the child, but before she finished speaking, a sound came from the apartment door.

She looked over. Pei Yunci was back.

Their eyes met. Fang Xu pointed to the lit screen. Pei Yunci understood, didn’t make a sound, took off her coat, and sat down not far from her.

After not hearing a sound for a while, Yi Yi called out on the phone: “Sis?”

“Mhm,” Fang Xu came back to herself: “I just went to pour a glass of water.”

Hearing this, Pei Yunci looked up at her again.

Lying in front of the other person made Fang Xu feel a bit uneasy, and her body straightened even more: “Yi Yi, remember to send me a message when the class division is over.”

“I know!”

Support