Chapter 245

Chapter 245: The Opening of the Sophomore Year Arc (Additional Update for Silver萌明前晓 Great 5/10)

In the era when the popular Q&A community Baidu Zhidao in 2012 was not yet fully open for registration, the C Station development team members definitely had a question they wanted to ask:

“What would it be like to discover that your boss is still a high school student?”

Mei Fang made his first appearance at the first offline gathering of C Station, stunning all the employees under him on the spot.

If it weren’t for his fluent responses about the various businesses of C Station, no one would have believed that this young kid with barely any facial hair could be the boss of C Station.

“Mei, Mei General must come from a very wealthy family, right?”

“Don’t call me Mei General, it sounds strange. We’re all friends here; let’s work together harmoniously.”

Mei Fang, approachable and without much of a boss demeanor, was actually quite dangerous if only he were the easy-going one. However, Lin You Xi and Mei Yue were willing to play the role of the strict boss, so everything was fine.

“Then should we continue calling her Miss? I can’t bring myself to say it…”

“You dare to look down on our Fangbao? Fangbao! This person looks like he should be fired!”

“Fangbao won’t do… It’s too cheesy.”

Mei Fang had been playing as Lin You Xi’s account, pretending to be Miss, chatting with everyone, but now he needed a new name and hadn’t thought of anything yet.

Lin You Xi chimed in, “Since there’s no good name, then let’s call him Station Master Fang for now. It suits him better.”

“If Mei is the Station Master, then who is the Station Master’s wife between Fangbao and Miss?”

The young people laughed heartily, while Xia Yuan blushed and tried to calm them down.

“We’re still high school students! We can’t date now, no can do.”

“I understand! This is what they call ‘my tragic love triangle with my childhood friend,’ right?”

The bond between Mei Fang, Xia Yuan, and Lin You Xi seemed like something out of a light novel, and these C Station users were all seasoned otaku, picking up the references effortlessly.

After enjoying a sumptuous meal together, they gathered at the office building where C Station was located. Here, Mei Fang reintroduced the company structure.

C Station was actually run by two companies: Lin Xi Technology was the core of C Station, while Ximilu Games was an independent game studio that used C Station’s traffic to release games. The globally popular “Early Bird” and the well-known “Monarchy” and “Life Reboot Simulator” were both developed by Ximilu Games.

Initially, everyone thought Mei Fang was just a rich kid with money to burn, and there was a slight disdain in their admiration.

But after learning that such a large C Station was entirely sustained by Mei Fang’s own investments in game development, and his family was merely a “normal household” (at least economically), everyone felt a newfound respect for him.

“I started learning code in elementary school, and I was already thinking about making games and websites in my teens. I was just playing in the mud back then.”

“It’s over. A coding god with ten years of experience and under 20 years old has appeared.”

Programmers bond through code. As long as you write good code, clear comments, fix bugs quickly, and never hold your team back, you are a god among coders.

Lin You Xi and Mei Fang both possessed these traits, which is why everyone followed their lead.

Most of the artists at C Station were UI planners, drawing graphics for the C Station interface, with only a few, like the cute girl Kele, responsible for drawing some Q-version original art. After seeing the fitness model Guo Yun’s portfolio, the artists were deeply impressed and surrounded her to learn painting techniques.

As enthusiasm for exchange continued, under Mei Yue’s guidance, everyone found their seats according to the seating chart.

Currently, there were around 50 workstations in the main office hall, with the left half occupied by current employees and the right half mostly empty, reserved for future expansion of Ximilu Studio.

In addition, there were five rooms in the office: a large meeting room, a small meeting room, a server room, a storage room, and Mei Fang’s personal office, which had a soft, comfortable sofa for him to rest on when tired.

Although Lin Xi Technology was now on track, Ximilu Games was still more of an independent development studio. To truly gain influence, promoting and operating this game was crucial.

This was also a challenge for the Lin Xi Technology team. Previously, Mei Fang’s development strategy focused on sharing niche indie games on C Station, apart from the well-known “To the Moon.” They had also distributed many domestic and international games, but these were just listed and recommended.

To prepare for the launch of their first-party game “Cloud Journey,” Mei Fang aimed to build a new C Station empire.

Now, C Station served dual roles, similar to the old Bilibili and Taptap. When the indie game section grew sufficiently, Mei Fang planned to separate it into an independent game platform brand, essentially creating a new Taptap.

The new Taptap would no longer focus solely on the domestic mobile market. Mei Fang hoped it could try to carve out a piece of the pie from Steam, which hadn’t yet expanded its influence across the industry.

At present, C Station’s indie game section was on par with Steam, and even without relying on indie games for profit, Mei Fang could maintain its reputation.

The first full staff meeting left a deep impression on everyone.

Especially the precious friendship between Xia Yuan, Mei Fang, and Lin You Xi.

The three of them worked together toward a common goal, recruiting more companions along the way. The feeling of sticking together through thick and thin, something they once dreamed of, owned, and even lost, was unforgettable.

Who doesn’t have a childhood friend?

It’s just that in the process of growing up, they lost each other or themselves.

With the end of summer, Mei Fang’s companions were about to leave Jiangcheng and return to Baimei County.

During this period, Zhang Ming became even more determined to go further with Mei Fang. Encouraged by Mei Fang, he confessed to Lu Xueqing.

Mei Fang didn’t ask about the outcome of the confession. The night before leaving, Zhang Ming took the initiative to find Mei Fang and suggested they get skewers.

The two ate skewers and drank Sprite (high school students couldn’t drink alcohol) at a barbecue shop next to the hotel, silently ending this rare gathering.

All the emotions were in the Sprite.

Actually, later on, Mei Fang also reflected that the Zhang Ming he met in his previous life was someone who lacked ambition, just getting by, and showed no interest in girls. He had assumed Zhang Ming was always like that, but now he realized he might have been wrong.

How could a boy be born with only games on his mind?

Even in his previous life, Mei Fang had once been moved by Liu Xiaoyu.

Thus, with the end of summer and the start of a new semester, the sophomore year arc, filled with all sorts of changes, officially began.

I will continue writing until I’m done.

(End of Chapter)