I'm Really a Superstar

"Is that real?"

"Oh my god!"

"These statistics are too exaggerated!"

"Aren't, aren't we defying all logic with this?"

"I have a hunch that our company is going to create a shockwave both domestically and overseas this time!"

Everyone sucked in a breath as some stood still, while others were clutching their thumping chests, and some were so excited that their hands were trembling. They didn't know how to express themselves at this point anymore. At this moment, they felt that even if they screamed or cheered, nothing would come out, because these statistics were so unbelievable that this group of people couldn't regain their senses to cheer due to the shock!

The Deputy CEO shivered and said, "Fat Sis."

Another deputy CEO was sweating profusely from his forehead as he sought for instructions. "Should we publicly announce these statistics? Announce it now?"

Fat Sis had at least twice the mental fortitude they had, yet at this moment, her forehead was also sweating profusely. She wiped away her sweat and said, "Don't announce it yet. No one will believe it even if we announce it now. Let's just keep a low profile for now and finish all the promotions and work scheduled for today. We can announce the overall statistics after 24 hours instead!"

"OK!"

"I-I understand!"

Fat Sis suddenly remembered. "Oh yes, inform Teacher Little Zhang about this. He's the biggest contributor and has a share in this game, so there's no need to hide it from him."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Fat Sis gave a wave of her hand. "Hurry up and get back to work!"

Her voice trembled slightly and sounded a bit weak—this was clearly because her heart was beating too fast which caused her blood flow to increase too quickly which resulted in this adverse effect.

...

Caishikou.

At Zhang Ye's parents' house.

Zhang Ye immediately received a call from Fat Sis's company and was informed about the number of downloads for Plants vs. Zombies in the past four hours. After hearing this figure, Zhang Ye took a deep breath as he knew that it was a foregone conclusion from here. No one could stop the rise of Plants vs. Zombies anymore! However, he did not gasp in shock like the group of people at Fat Sis's company. First, Zhang Ye had experienced more things in the past, none of which were less impactful than this event. As a result, his mental fortitude was naturally quite good. Second, Zhang Ye was likely the only person in this world who knew about the background of Plants vs. Zombies. Back in his previous world, be it however much money this game had earned or the amount of downloads, he knew it all quite well!

...

Online.

The heated discussions kept increasing!

"Hurry up and download Plants vs Zombies! It's so fun! I guarantee this on my honor!"

"I'm numb. Who were the ones who trash-talked this game two days ago? That person kept saying how this game was garbage, but when I downloaded the game to try it out, I ended up getting hooked after playing! Previously, playing such puzzle games were just for leisure and to relax ourselves. But Plants vs. Zombies is no longer simply for relaxation. You'll get addicted to it! It's comparable to playing a real-time strategy game! How satisfying!"

"How many downloads has it gotten?"

"I don't know!"

"Who has any idea? Please reveal it to us!"

"They haven't even announced it yet, so who would know what the exact numbers are?!"

"I feel that the number of downloads of this game definitely won't be lower than Fishing Master 2. The worst outcome is that they will be on par! Otherwise, I could never justify that!"

Many of the netizens downloaded the game and had an enjoyable time playing it. On seeing the overwhelming discussion about Plants vs. Zombies online, everyone knew that there were a lot of people playing this game as well. However, they did not know exactly how many and could only wait for the statistics to be released, which would be the most reliable information.

Many people were waiting to see the results of Plants vs. Zombies!

At around 3 PM.

A staff member at a game download website suddenly updated with a post on Weibo: "Everyone should prepare themselves mentally for the number of downloads for Plants vs. Zombies, as it has probably exceeded everyone's expectations. I don't have the overall statistics for the number of downloads of this title with me, but using the number of downloads and traffic flow to our website, we can make a rather accurate estimate. Don't blame me for not warning everyone, so everyone better be mentally prepared for it!"

When the netizens saw this, they pounced onto it right away!

"Just how many is it?"

"Dammit, don't keep us guessing!"

"Are you trying to cliffhanger us? What are the number of downloads of the game on your website?"

"Your sister, hurry up and tell us!"

"Why must we be mentally prepared? Could it be that Plants vs Zombies might exceed 200,000 downloads on launch day? Aren't you thinking too much? The downloads for Fishing Master 2 on the first day were only about 90,000, but Plants vs Zombies might be double that? It can't be that much, right? I know that Plants vs Zombies is very fun, but Fishing Master 2 is a classic sequel from the Americans and is also inheriting the success of Fishing Master 1. It's not just some pushover!"

"Why are you only telling us half the story!? You're really cliffhanging us!"

"Could it really reach 200,000 downloads on the first day of launch?"

"Fuck, if it's really like that, then wouldn't Plants vs. Zombies be defying all logic?"

"Or it might only reach 150,000 downloads?"

"Even 150,000 downloads would be considered very high!"

Everyone was left guessing at what would happen next!

A few gaming industry insiders appeared as well and joined in the guessing and analysis together with everyone.

However, those people who had the information stayed silent at this moment and did not say a word. A reporter at a video game magazine called up a website operator to make an inquiry, but the reply they got was to be mentally prepared, without getting any exact figures!

This was too suspenseful!

But the more they felt this way, the more curious they became!

One hour…

Two hours…

There were some things that could be hidden from gamers but not industry insiders. As professionals in the same circle, each of them had their own network of contacts. Very quickly, many industry insiders obtained the information on the number of downloads for Plants vs. Zombies through various channels!

At this moment, the gaming industry suddenly went quiet!

It was as though the mute button had been pressed and everyone immediately fell silent!

Under this very odd atmosphere, the critical time period of the first 24 hours of launch was ushered in for Plants vs. Zombies!

The next day.

At 8.20 AM.

Under the focus of the entire country, the video game company that produced and published Plants vs. Zombies officially announced the figures of the total downloads across all the game download websites. The download figures for the 23 websites were listed one by one, with the total downloads of Plants vs. Zombies after 24 hours tallying:

1,580,000!

"Ha, it's released!"

"The results have finally been released! I nearly died from the waiting!"

"How much is this?"

"Eh, why are there so many zeros?"

"Wait, let me count the number of zeros!"

"Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand…one, one million!?"

With the initial glance, everyone still could not grasp the big picture, but when they started to count the zeros one by one, everyone got a fright from the numbers in front of them!

"What?"

"Holy fuck!"

"1.58 million?!"

"The-these numbers…"

"G-go to hell!"

"Why is it so fucking high?!"

"What kinds of numbers are those?"

The gamers were dumbfounded!

The media reporters were dumbfounded!

Even those industry insiders who were already mentally prepared were also dumbfounded!

This was obviously not an amount of downloads that a small-scale puzzle game should have received. Let alone puzzle games, even those famous RPG, action, and FPS games—their first day sales couldn't achieve such a volume either! Much less a casual puzzle game for niche audiences!

More than a million downloads?

If the statistics weren't wrong, then it must be the gamers who had gone crazy!

Wasn't Fishing Master 2 a great game? It was the most popular puzzle game nowadays, and the number of downloads for it on release in the domestic market was only about 100,000! Moreover, the game could only set that kind of heaven-defying record because it had accumulated a high amount of popularity from the prequel! But Plants vs. Zombies? It was a brand new game made by a video game company that no one had heard of before, and it was even a domestically made game? The number of downloads on release day had even surpassed Fishing Master 2's downloads by a factor of ten??

The video game industry was in an uproar!

The gamers exclaimed in disbelief!

In recent days, the reputation of Plants vs. Zombies was very well-known and widespread; the feedback after trying out the game was also great. A lot of people commended endlessly about it and the industry's appraisal of it was very high. But even so, after these results were published, the people were still stunned, and nearly even fainted from shock one after another!

More than 1.5 million downloads on launch day!

Ignoring all the puzzle video games published in the world this year, just from looking at the launch day statistics of all the puzzle games in the history of this world, there had never been a result like this either!

This had broken all records in the history of puzzle video games!

And it had broken the old record by several times over!

The closest result to this record by Plants vs. Zombies was set five years ago by a game called My Orchard! It was released in America and the number of downloads on launch day locally was 420,000! It was the bestselling casual puzzle video game in the history of the entire world! But Plants vs. Zombies was between three and four times more downloaded than this long-standing, number one puzzle game in history!

"Oh my god!"

"Oh my god!"

The Internet blew up with countless shocked comments!

Their domestically made games had actually scored a victory over a foreign-made game? And it wasn't simply just a victory, they were fucking steamrolled!

According to calculations from the downloads on launch day, could it be that Plants vs. Zombies might have a chance to head toward 100 million downloads within six months or a year??

Thinking of this, everyone was stunned again!

100 million downloads?

Is this even a fucking puzzle game anymore?

Is this still a puzzle game meant for an extremely niche audience!?