240: Chapter 240 Launching the Promotion

The next day, Chen Fan went out early in the morning.

He did not drive, instead hailing a taxi by the roadside.

The company had not yet hired a driver, nor had the cars been purchased; otherwise, he could have just had the driver take him, saving him the trouble of hailing a taxi.

Forty minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of the Land Rover 4S dealership.

Chen Fan paid the fare, pushed the door open, and got out. Just as he reached the entrance, he saw a woman in a black professional skirt suit coming out to greet him.

It was the salesperson surnamed Liu who had called him yesterday.

When she saw Chen Fan, a smile immediately blossomed on her face, and her pace quickened a bit.

"Mr. Chen, you are here!" she greeted him, her tone enthusiastic yet not excessive. "Was the trip smooth? Please, come inside."

Chen Fan nodded and followed her inside.

The female salesperson walked slightly ahead of Chen Fan, saying as they walked: "The car is ready and parked in the delivery area. Would you like to check the car first, or handle the paperwork?"

"Check the car first," Chen Fan said.

"Alright, this way please." Salesperson Liu gestured to the side and led him through the showroom.

Exiting through the side door to the delivery area in the back, the view suddenly opened up.

A white Range Rover was parked quietly in the delivery spot.

Chen Fan walked over and inspected it himself—the paint, gaps, tires, interior; he checked every detail.

Salesperson Liu followed beside him, and seeing that he was about done, she asked with a smile: "Mr. Chen, would you like to get in and start the engine to hear how it sounds?"

Chen Fan opened the door, sat in the driver's seat, and pressed the start button.

The engine roared to life with a deep, robust sound, like a beast that had just woken up letting out a low growl.

"No problems," Chen Fan said, killing the engine and pushing the door open to step out.

Salesperson Liu smiled and said: "That's good. Mr. Chen, shall we go handle the paperwork?" She gestured for him to follow and led Chen Fan toward the finance office in the direction of the showroom.

Chen Fan followed Salesperson Liu into the finance office, signed the final payment slip, swiped his card, and entered his PIN; the whole process took less than five minutes.

"Mr. Chen, congratulations on your new car." Salesperson Liu took the document folder and turned to hand it to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan took the folder and nodded.

From this moment on, this white Range Rover belonged entirely to him.

Salesperson Liu took a form from the drawer, handed it to Chen Fan, and explained: "Mr. Chen, we will handle the official license plates for you. You just need to leave the documents with us, and generally, they will be mailed to you in three or four days. You can drive the car away today using the temporary plates, which we have already prepared; just stick them on the front and rear windshields."

Chen Fan took the temporary plates and glanced at them—two yellow slips of paper printed with the temporary plate number and expiration date.

"Then what do I need to do now?" Chen Fan asked.

"You don't need to do anything," Salesperson Liu said with a smile. "Just sit and wait. In about an hour or two, we will finish all the delivery procedures, stick on the temporary plates, and you can drive away. If you are in a hurry, you can also go back first, and we can arrange for someone to deliver the car to you."

Chen Fan thought for a moment; an hour or two was acceptable.

"Then I'll wait for a while," Chen Fan said.

"Very well, Mr. Chen. Please rest in the VIP area, and I will pour you a glass of water." Salesperson Liu gestured for him to follow and led Chen Fan toward the VIP area.

Over an hour later, Salesperson Liu walked over quickly in her high heels, holding a set of keys and a document folder.

"Mr. Chen, the paperwork is all done. The temporary plates are attached, and they are valid for fifteen days. Once the official plates arrive, you can just swap them out yourself; I have put the screws and tools in the document folder."

Chen Fan took the keys, stood up, and followed Salesperson Liu toward the delivery area.

The white Range Rover was still parked there quietly. The angle of the sunlight had shifted, and the light falling on the car body was softer than before. Salesperson Liu opened the door, placed the document folder on the passenger seat, stepped back, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, you are ready to go."

Chen Fan sat in the driver's seat, adjusted the seat and rearview mirror, and pressed the start button.

The engine roared deeply, and the dashboard lit up. He shifted gears, lightly stepped on the accelerator, and the Range Rover smoothly glided out of the delivery spot.

The moment he drove out of the 4S dealership gate, the sunlight rushed to meet him, and the white front of the car shone dazzlingly in the sun.

Chen Fan squinted slightly, turned the steering wheel gently, and merged into the traffic on the main road.

...

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was April 20th.

Many days had passed, and the various businesses of the two companies had made great progress.

First, regarding the game company. 'archangels sword' had been set for launch—May 1st, Labor Day.

There was no closed beta, just a direct open beta. This timing was personally decided by Chen Fan; everyone would be free during the holiday, which was the perfect time for a browser game to harvest traffic.

Although the game was launching on May 1st, the promotion had fully started from today.

Unlike the two mobile games 'defend the carrot' and 'happy elimination' from before, 'archangels sword' was a browser game and could only be launched domestically.

Apart from game media outlets like Gamersky, 17173, and Duowan, the promotional channels mainly relied on Weibo and QQ advertisements.

Especially QQ, which was the main battlefield for browser game traffic.

QQ pop-ups, qq space ads, exclusive recommendations for QQ members... The traffic from Tencent was the lifeblood of browser games in 2011.

This time, Chen Fan spent a huge amount of money on the QQ end, approving 10 million in marketing expenses alone, determined to build up maximum momentum around the game's launch.

10 million, in the 2011 browser game scene, was not the most, but it was definitely in the top tier.

It wasn't that Chen Fan hadn't considered letting the game ferment naturally, relying on word-of-mouth to slowly accumulate users.

But in this day and age, even good wine fears a deep alley.

The browser game category was too competitive; new games launched every day, players would click in, play for two minutes, and then close it. Those that could retain players were few and far between.

Whether a game could become a hit, besides its quality, the most important thing was marketing.

If no one knew about your game, no matter how well-made it was, it was all for nothing.

On the evening of April 20th, the promotion officially launched.

QQ pop-ups, Weibo launch screens, and banners on the homepages of major game media were rolled out simultaneously.

The core was a 15-second video advertisement, edited from the footage shot that time—Naza and Reba wearing silver-white armor, each saying one line: "archangels sword—" "Brand new version—"

Then the scene cut, and Nick Cheung stood in the center of the screen, saying the line that took everyone by surprise with a serious expression: "Hello everyone, I am Zhajiahui."

After the video was posted on Weibo, there were only a few dozen comments in the first ten minutes, all routine ones like "Looking forward to it" or "Support."

Chen Fan leaned back against his office chair, refreshed it a few times, and seeing not much reaction, he wasn't anxious and closed the page to handle other matters.

...

Meanwhile, a young man in his twenties was sitting in front of a computer in a rented room, chatting with someone on QQ.

The room was dimly lit, with a half-eaten rice bowl dish and a few cans of Red Bull on the table. The light from the screen reflected on his face, making him look a bit tired.

Suddenly, a QQ pop-up appeared in the bottom right corner.

He instinctively wanted to click the "X"—there had been too many pop-up ads over the years, and he was long since sick of them.

But the moment his mouse moved to the close button, his finger stopped.

In the pop-up were two girls wearing silver-white armor.

The armor was in the style of a Western female warrior; the metal breastplate clung to her body, outlining the fullness and upright curve of her chest.

The neckline was cut just right, perfectly revealing a stretch of fair collarbone and the lines of her shoulders and neck.

The waist was cinched very tightly, slender enough to be held in one hand. Below that were layers of metal skirt armor, hanging from the waist to the mid-thigh, with fair, tender skin vaguely visible through the gaps between the armor plates.

Further down were two straight, slender legs, the calves wrapped in knee-high brown boots, with the thighs completely exposed. Against the cold, hard texture of the armor, the skin appeared even more delicate and fair, as if it were glowing.