50: Chapter 50 New Plot: The Battle of Baoshan
Japanese bombers dropped bombs on the blocks occupied by the 57th Division.
Explosions rang out continuously in those blocks.
Wang Ye heard the sound and immediately stood up.
"Go quickly, spread out, find a place to hide."
Wang Ye looked at his men and shouted urgently.
Facing the Japanese bombers, they had no way to fight back.
The only thing they could do was hide and leave the rest to fate.
If they got hit, there was nothing they could do; it was just bad luck.
This sense of helplessness was the most agonizing.
"Company Commander, I'm coming with you," Zhao Sheng hurriedly followed.
Wang Ye did not refuse.
Soon, he found a hiding spot next to some ruins.
The collapsed building formed a triangle, with enough space underneath for several people to hide.
The sound of bombers overhead whistled by continuously.
The sounds of explosions drew closer and closer to them.
It wasn't just aerial bombing; there was also naval gunfire and artillery barrages.
This time, the Japanese seemed to have been driven to desperation.
The intensity and duration of the bombing were ridiculously long.
Wang Ye and Zhao Sheng hid under the triangle, not daring to venture out.
Explosions continued to ring out around them, but the shells did not hit them directly.
Faced with such indiscriminate bombing, Wang Ye could only pray in his heart that the unit's casualties would be minimal.
The sound of dense artillery fire resounded throughout the blocks.
A shell hit right next to the building where the two were.
The shockwave from the explosion knocked Wang Ye unconscious.
In the livestream room, the audience looked at the pitch-black screen in confusion.
"Wait, what's going on? Why did the livestream go black?"
"Where is he? Did Brother Wang disconnect?"
"What's the situation? Could something have happened to Brother Wang?"
"Was that shell just now that powerful? It took the streamer out completely."
The audience in the livestream room was dumbfounded as they stared at the dark screen.
Fortunately, before long, the image reappeared.
Only this time, the scene was a bit different.
Wang Ye opened his eyes and realized he didn't seem to be in Luodian anymore.
"You're awake?" A gentle female voice sounded in his ear.
Then, Wang Ye saw a female nurse walking over.
"Where am I?" Wang Ye felt a slight headache and asked in confusion.
"This is Baoshan Hospital. Why?" The nurse looked at Wang Ye suspiciously.
"Baoshan Hospital?"
Just then, a panel suddenly popped up in front of him.
[Congratulations, player, you have triggered a new plot: Battle of Baoshan.]
[Plot Introduction: Battle of Baoshan (September 1, 1937 – September 7, 1937)]
[The Battle of Baoshan was one of the most tragic battles in the Battle of Shanghai. The 3rd Battalion of the 583rd Regiment, 98th Division of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army (led by Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing), was ordered to defend Baoshan County in Shanghai to the death.]
[Facing the absolute superiority of the Japanese Army in manpower and firepower, they fought bloodily for seven days and nights. Ultimately, all 500-plus officers and soldiers of the battalion died heroically in battle.]
[Five hundred warriors defended the isolated city to the death; the entire battalion sacrificed themselves for the nation.]
After reading the plot introduction, Wang Ye was a bit stunned.
Had he entered a new plot?
Wasn't he still fighting for Luodian?
When the audience in the livestream room saw that Wang Ye had triggered another new plot, they all went wild.
"That's amazing! Brother Wang triggered another new plot."
"The last new dungeon was also triggered by the streamer, and here he goes again."
"Looking at the description of the new plot, this battle seems very brutal. Can Brother Wang handle it?"
"They're really targeting Brother Wang. After the previous tragedy, now comes an even harsher one."
"This plot seems to have some depth; it should be a battle that happened during the same period as the Battle of Luodian."
...
Wang Ye saw the audience's comments; they didn't know what had just happened to him either.
They only knew the livestream screen went black, and then he arrived here.
"Wait, after this new plot ends, can I go back to the Luodian game?" Wang Ye spoke to the audience.
But the audience couldn't give him an answer.
Wang Ye only hoped to return to the Battle of Luodian; after all, he still had one thing unfinished.
Wang Ye wanted to stand up, but found his body was a bit weak.
"Hey, don't move around. Your body hasn't recovered yet," the nurse shouted quickly.
"It's fine, I know my own body's condition."
Wang Ye struggled to get up and sat on the edge of the bed.
Then he realized he seemed to be injured; his abdomen was aching slightly.
He lifted his clothes and saw a long wound on his abdomen.
"Look, your wound hasn't fully healed yet. It'll take at least a few days to scab over completely," the nurse advised.
Wang Ye fell silent upon hearing this.
He was still thinking about the Luodian battlefield and had little enthusiasm for this new plot.
Well, this is fine too; he'd just lie low for this plot.
...
In a villa in the Imperial Capital.
Zhou Yang emerged from the virtual pod.
He had just added a DLC to the game.
This DLC was about the Battle of Nanjing; it would unlock once players reached the later stages of the Battle of Shanghai.
Players could choose whether or not to purchase it.
In the future, he might update more DLCs depending on the situation.
Leaving the bedroom, Zhou Yang went to the living room.
He opened the game's backend to check the sales.
Despite the high number of downloads, downloads didn't necessarily mean the game was popular.
Without sales, no matter how high the hype was, it was empty.
Only when people were willing to spend money on the game did it count as something real.
Although Zhou Yang cared more about emotion points than making money.
Still, having money and not having money were two different things.
It was best to have money; after all, in this world, one still needed money.
He glanced at the download count; it had only been a few hours.
The download count had already reached fifty million.
It seemed the value of being number one on the Anti-War Competition leaderboard was showing.
This leaderboard was visible to everyone; as long as they searched for the Anti-War Competition, they would see [wwii: eastern meat grinder] at first glance.
Zhou Yang didn't dwell on that data; he looked at the game's sales.
Number of players who purchased the game: 23,485,008.
Seeing this number, even Zhou Yang couldn't help but gasp.
This meant that at least half of all the people who downloaded it had purchased the game.
His game's pricing was mid-range, selling for 288 per copy.
In this world, game pricing was divided into three tiers: under two hundred was the first tier, two hundred to five hundred was the second tier, and over five hundred was the third tier.
Most of the games on the list were in the first tier, with quite a few in the second; only big-name studio games dared to set prices in the third tier.
For example, Yiteng Group's games were basically all in the third tier.
Even though it was just at the threshold of the third tier at 588, it still wasn't cheap.
However, the minimum monthly wage for ordinary Chinese citizens in this world was over five thousand; while this pricing wasn't cheap, they could still afford it if they gritted their teeth.
Zhou Yang looked at these sales, his mind in a daze.
This was dozens of "small goals"!
Isn't this becoming rich overnight?
With this much money, he could completely "lie flat" for the rest of his life.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Zhou Yang calmed himself down; this was just the beginning.
This money was certainly a lot for an ordinary person like him.
But for truly wealthy people, it wasn't that much.
They could easily invest more than this amount.
So he had to keep working hard.
Just then, a phone call came in.
Zhou Yang looked at the caller ID; it was an unknown call.
Looking at the calling number, it only had four digits.
Zhou Yang was puzzled and instinctively answered the call.