84: Chapter 84 School Registration

Chen Fan stood where he was, watching the numbers on the elevator jump from the basement level to the first floor, the second floor... and stop at the eighth floor.

Only then did he turn around and walk toward the elevator in another building.

Returning home, he took out his keys to open the door, but the house was empty—the living room coffee table was clean, the kitchen stove was cold, and the curtains were drawn tightly.

He took out his phone and called Wang Mei.

The call connected quickly.

"Hello, Xiao Fan."

"Mom, I just got back. Why is there no one at home?"

There was a second of silence on the other end, then Chen Fan's mother's voice came through with a smile:

"No one? I'm at home."

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment and poked his head into the house again—the living room was empty, and there was no movement in the kitchen.

"Mom, which home are you at?"

"You mean the house in the county, right?" Chen Fan's mother suddenly realized. "Your dad and I went back to the village for a few days. Staying in the county is just boring all day long."

"It's nice to breathe some fresh air in the village."

"By the way, how many days are you staying back?"

"I'm not staying. I have things to do and have to leave this afternoon. I just came back to pick up my admission letter."

"Alright then, take care of yourself. Your admission letter is on the desk in your room."

"Got it."

He hung up the phone.

Chen Fan went back to his room to retrieve the admission letter.

Then, after resting for a moment, he left immediately.

Two hours later, he returned to Xian again.

...

In the following time, Chen Fan focused on the company's project.

Zhang Tao led the team to rush the progress without stopping, and they basically worked overtime until after 9 p.m. every night.

Chen Fan saw this and had Qiao Linlin prepare snacks, drinks, and fruits on time every afternoon—bread, milk, bananas, apples, and occasionally, he would order a few pizzas.

When the employees worked late into the night, being able to eat something hot at least made them feel more comfortable.

These things didn't cost much, but they could make the employees feel favorable toward the company and their boss.

Just like that, by the 26th, the first version with art assets was completed.

In the conference room.

Chen Fan held an iPhone 4 in his hand.

The iPhone 4 hadn't been released in China yet, and this unit was a parallel import from Hong Kong bought from a scalper.

Originally priced at over 4,000, it had been driven up to over 9,000 by the scalper.

Chen Fan specifically went to a scalper to buy two units, one for himself and one for the company's game development team to use for testing.

He unlocked the phone and tapped on a round radish icon; it was almost no different from the original.

After the game loaded for a dozen seconds, the screen jumped to a level interface.

It was no longer the blocks and dots from last week, but real art assets: green grass as the background, a winding path paved with pebbles, and that cute, silly radish crouching at the finish line.

Chen Fan clicked start.

The first wave of monsters emerged from the starting point—round bodies, beady eyes, moving forward along the path with their short little legs. Although they looked silly and cute, they weren't slow, and they quickly approached the radish's position.

Chen Fan tapped next to the path, and the turret selection interface popped up: Bottle Turret, Fan, and Magic Ball, with the three icons lined up neatly.

He chose the Bottle Turret and tapped next to the path. A small turret rose from the ground, its muzzle aimed at the approaching monsters.

The first monster entered range, and the turret fired a bullet with a "poof" sound, hitting the monster squarely in the forehead. The monster paused for a moment, its health bar dropped a chunk, but it didn't stop and continued to inch forward.

Another bullet, and another.

After the third bullet hit, the monster let out an "ow" and vanished into a puff of smoke.

After playing for a few minutes, Chen Fan felt that there was still a slight gap compared to his previous life, but it wasn't a big problem.

He exited the game and put down the phone.

Zhang Tao and Liu Yuan, who were standing nearby, exchanged glances without speaking.

"Not bad." Chen Fan leaned back against the chair, his gaze sweeping across their faces. "Better than I expected. However—"

Zhang Tao and Liu Yuan's expressions immediately became serious.

"First, the feel needs adjustment. The attack feedback of the Bottle Turret is a bit soft. When a monster is hit, there should be a slight sense of impact, but right now it feels like hitting cotton."

Zhang Tao nodded and took notes in his notebook.

"Second, the speed at which gold coins drop is too slow. After a wave of monsters is defeated, you have to wait forever for the money to arrive, which affects the pacing. Speed it up a bit."

Chen Fan continued, "Third, move the start button on the initial interface down a bit. Right now, when holding the phone, it's a bit of a stretch for the thumb."

"That's all the problems I've found for now."

"Okay, boss. I'll go down and change it immediately."

"When do you expect it can be officially launched?"

"Boss, if the modifications go smoothly these next few days, we still need to do balance tuning, integrate the payment system, and find a group of users for small-scale testing," Zhang Tao pushed up his glasses and calculated the time seriously. "We can launch the iOS version by the end of September at the latest."

"What about the android side? When can that go up?"

"There are many models for android, so the major channels will be around the same time as iOS, but other channels might be a bit slower."

Chen Fan thought about it after listening. This timing was okay; the iPhone 4 was hitting the domestic market on September 25th, so they could release the game right after the launch.

"Alright, let's settle on that for now."

...

In the blink of an eye, four days had passed, and the time had come to August 31st.

This was the day Chen Fan was to report to school.

At over ten in the morning, Chen Fan drove to Chang'an Jiaotong University.

When he arrived near Jiao Tong University, he didn't drive straight to the school gate but turned into the nearby Xingqing Park parking lot.

Today was the day for freshman registration, so parking at the gate and inside the campus would definitely be difficult. Parking here and walking over would only take a few minutes.

He came out of the park and walked along the roadside toward Jiao Tong University. Sure enough, as expected, the cars at the school gate were parked completely full, lining up all the way to the bus stop on the side of the road.

Parents were constantly bringing their children into the campus. Occasionally, there were a few who came alone, pulling their suitcases, walking lonely in the crowd, which made them stand out even more.

Chen Fan stood at the gate for a moment and looked up.

"Chang'an Jiaotong University" six characters stood quietly on the gate tower.

In his previous life, the house he bought was only two or three stops away from here, and he often rode his bike past it.

Every time he saw these characters and the young students entering and leaving the school gate, a sense of envy would rise in his heart.

Now, there was no need to envy them; he was one of them too.

Entering the school gate, an endless sycamore-lined road appeared before his eyes. The sycamore trees on both sides were tall and dense, their crowns overlapping, covering the entire road in shade.

The coming and going freshmen and parents walked while looking around, feeling the atmosphere of this century-old institution.

Walking along the sycamore-lined road, just after turning a corner, a girl with a high ponytail blocked his path.

"Classmate, are you here to register?"

She was wearing a white T-shirt with the words "Chang'an Jiaotong University Volunteer" printed on it, and two little fangs showed when she smiled.

Chen Fan nodded.

"Which school are you in, junior? I'll take you there."

"School of Management."

"School of Management, huh? It's over there. I'll take you." The girl's voice became a bit lighter as she turned and walked in front to lead the way.

"Sorry to trouble you, senior."