Chapter 758: The debut of Plants vs. Zombies!
Translator: Legge Editor: - -
Later that afternoon.
An internal email was circulated within Central TV Department 1.
Having just read it, Ha Qiqi said, "The management has just informed all departments and program teams to send someone to the head office to collect the admission passes for tomorrow's National C-G Gaming Expo."
Zhang Zuo said, "Oh, it's part of the employee benefits?"
Little Wang asked, "Is the Gaming Expo any interesting?"
A youth beside her replied excitedly, "Of course it's interesting!"
"It's a good place to be. Every year, there are always countless beautiful girls!" Wu Yi remarked with a chuckle.
Another youth also appeared to be very excited. "Those admission passes are really difficult to get. You can't buy them off the market anymore now, and because they're all digital admission passes, you can't find them in the black market anymore either. There's basically no more supply available. I bet Central TV Department 1 had an arrangement with the organizer and was allocated a portion of the admission passes, otherwise we wouldn't be getting them. You guys might not know this, but the price of a single admission pass to the National C-G Gaming Expo has been speculated to be in the high hundreds, but even at that price, you might not be able to get one!"
"I've always wanted to go as well!"
"I was planning to book my admission pass last week, but I missed out!"
"It's being held in Beijing this year! This is an incredibly rare opportunity!"
"That place is like heaven for gamers!"
"AD Ha, help us get a few passes!"
"Yeah! AD Ha, we're all depending on you!"
There were several video game fans in the program team, but several guys who weren't video game hobbyists also shouted in excitement when they heard this. They'd all long since heard about this gaming expo!
Ha Qiqi looked at them. "Alright, I'll go enquire about it." With that, she proceeded upstairs.
After about half an hour.
Ha Qiqi came back seething in anger.
Little Wang hurriedly asked, "Sister Ha, what happened?"
Everyone looked over as well.
Ha Qiqi said with annoyance, "The management is taking this too far! All the departments of Central TV Department 1 were allocated a few admission passes—some even had close to ten passes—but only our program team did not get any!"
Little Wang exclaimed, "Damn!"
Wu Yi was also furious. "Isn't this supposed to be part of our benefits? We're also official employees, and since everyone else got them, why aren't we given our share as well? Aren't they totally targeting us!?"
The door opened behind them.
Zhang Ye came out from his office. "Whoa, what's the matter here?"
Ha Qiqi immediately complained, "Director Zhang, not only has the management abandoned us this time, they're even taking away our employee benefits!"
Zhang Ye laughed amused. "What are you saying?"
Once again, Ha Qiqi related the entire situation.
After hearing it from her, Zhang Ye could more or less understand the whole situation. This was still within his expectations. "Don't worry, it's just a few admission passes right? They don't want to give us our share? Then we'll just go there on our own!"
Little Wang seemed a little startled. "How can we go?"
Zhang Ye gave a smile and said, "Who wants to go?"
"Me!"
"Me too!"
"Director Zhang, I want to go as well!"
"Me too, me too!"
More than half of the staff raised their hands.
Zhang Ye did a count and then nodded. "Alright, let's meet at the convention center tomorrow. I'll arrange for your tickets."
Little Wang said with amazement, "Director Zhang, you even know people in the video game industry?"
Zhang Ye smiled in satisfaction. "I know a few."
Little Wang said, "It's still Director Zhang who can get things done with his reputation!"
"That's great!"
"Thank you, Director Zhang!"
...
The next day.
Saturday morning.
September's Beijing weather was getting unpredictable. A large amount of rain had fallen on the first two days of the month and it became cold just like that. The weather was moody.
Zhang Ye changed into a long sleeve shirt and pants, ate some breakfast, then headed straight to the convention center.
The National Convention Center was located in the north, and the name of this place sounded very grand as well. But this wasn't where the country's leaders held their meetings; it was just a place that was rented out. It was basically no different in concept from the National Agriculture Exhibition Center, just that the name of the place was more glorified and the area it covered was several times larger.
When he got there, he was stuck outside the parking lot as there were too many cars. Zhang Ye waited in a line for a full twenty minutes before he could enter. After he found a spot and parked his car, he hurriedly called Ha Qiqi and the others.
"Hello, where are you guys?"
"Director Zhang, we're waiting at the main entrance."
"Where they check your admission tickets?"
"No, the place where we enter the convention center."
"Oh OK, I see you guys. See you in a bit."
After hanging up, Zhang Ye waved to them from afar.
In their group, Ha Qiqi, Little Wang, and the rest all saw Zhang Ye. They slowly pushed and squeezed forward against the stream of the crowd and walked towards Zhang Ye.
Little Wang exclaimed, "There's too many people!"
Ha Qiqi gave a wry smile. "I'm about to fall apart. Why are there so many people?"
Zhang Ye, who also underestimated the turnout by a lot, said, "Yeah, I spent almost half an hour trying to park my car. No wonder they limited the amount of admission passes sold. If they didn't, the halls inside would probably be fully packed to the brim. Then there wouldn't be any need to hold a gaming expo. Other than people's heads, we wouldn't be able to see anything." Saying that, he walked up to the front of the group and led them. "Let's go and get our passes verified first. We'll go inside and see what to do next."
...
Elsewhere.
Outside the main entrance, Jiang Yuan also arrived at the convention center. He seemed to have brought his child with him, a teenager who looked to be 15 or 16 years old. He was sticking close to Jiang Yuan.
A few employees of Central TV Department 1 who had arranged to meet up saw Jiang Yuan.
"Director Jiang!"
"Director Jiang."
"You came too?"
Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "I brought my son to have a look."
Those several lawsuits in recent days had nearly driven him crazy. Now that he got the rare day off, he decided to come out and take a breather. Since his son kept asking for permission to come to the Gaming Expo, Jiang Yuan, who would be a little worried if his son went alone, decided to accompany him.
They were lining up to verify their admission passes.
At the same time, more and more people from Central TV also gradually started showing up around them.
"Yo, Old Xu!"
"Little Zhou, you managed to get an admission pass as well?"
"Yeah, many of my program team colleagues needed to work overtime, so I managed to get one."
"Director Sun."
"Hey, Teacher Chen Ye?"
"Teacher Chen also came to visit the Gaming Expo?"
Chen Ye had also arrived. He laughed and said, "I am here for work. I will be shooting some footage here to prepare for an interview program a few days later. " Having said that, he ran over next to Jiang Yuan and greeted him. "Director Jiang."
Jiang Yuan nodded. "You're here?"
Jiang Yuan's son greeted, "Uncle Chen."
Chen Ye smiled and said, "Hey, Little Qi. School starting again?"
Chen Ye's appearance suddenly brought on a number of bystanders. As a famous host who had hosted the Spring Festival Gala, almost everyone could recognize him easily.
"Oh! Chen Ye!"
"Teacher Chen also came to take a look around the Gaming Expo?"
"I think he came because of his job."
"Yeah, just look at the staff members and camera equipment behind Chen Ye."
"I spotted a celebrity! How exciting!"
"Yeah, I've finally gotten to see him in person!"
Comparatively, Zhang Ye was keeping a much lower profile. He was wearing a face mask and sunglasses again, so unless it was someone who was familiar with him, it wasn't likely that anyone could recognize him.
People were being admitted one by one after having their admission passes verified.
But Zhang Ye had still been recognized by people from Central TV Department 1!
"Ha Qiqi?"
"Old Wu?"
"Isn't that The Voice's program team staff?"
"That person wearing sunglasses walking right in front of the group is…Zhang Ye?"
Those people from Central TV Department 1 felt a little shocked.
"How could it be?"
"I thought they didn't get admission passes?"
"Yeah, I heard about it yesterday too. They weren't issued any admission passes!"
"How did they get in?"
"Did they buy them themselves?"
"The admission passes were no longer for sale! Where would they get them?"
Jiang Yuan frowned.
Chen Ye also stared at Zhang Ye.
When it was time for Zhang Ye's group to enter, he took out his cell phone and scanned it about ten times. When everything was done, he led the group and walked casually into Hall 1.
Once they were inside, Ha Qiqi whispered, "Director Zhang, behind us are…"
Zhang Ye chuckled, "I know, I saw them too."
Ha Qiqi made a noise in acknowledgment, but did not say anything else.
Little Wang, Wu Yi, and the others saw this and understood as well. They also pretended to not have noticed the Central TV Department 1 executives and colleagues. In any case, they had come here on their own, so it had nothing to do with Central TV Department 1.
Right now, Zhang Ye was not interested in that bunch of people. The only thing he cared about was whether the game he suggested to develop could be catapulted to fame in this largest gaming expo in the country. He knew that the Plants vs. Zombies booth was located somewhere in Hall 2. However, Zhang Ye did not plan to head there directly. Instead, he wanted to take a look at how the other video game companies handled this event first, as well as assessing the games they were showcasing. This would help Zhang Ye understand how developed the game market of this world was and its circumstances.
This exhibition hall mainly held the video game companies that published online games and xianxia-type RPGs.
When Zhang Ye's group came to the first game's booth, they were stunned by the scene over here!
Booth babes dressed in ancient costumes!
These booth babes were all dressed in similar outfits as they gracefully danced in unison!
This was for a game called The Immortals Descend!
Other than their group, there was a also a group of nerds watching as they surrounded the booth. All of them looked very excited.
"Ahhh!"
"This is too exciting!"
"They're really, really beautiful. And those legs are so long!"
"This game is great! This game must be fun to play!"
"F**k, you haven't even tried it out, bro!"
"I don't need to try it out! It'll definitely be fun!"
Ha Qiqi, Wu Yi, and the others were also here for the first time. They were taken aback by what they were seeing. They might not know what the game was like, but the booth babes this exhibit employed were of exceptionally high quality and could make anyone's eyes shine. Their waists rotated sensuously as they dance. Even the female visitors couldn't help but watch them for a bit.
Little Wang remarked in a stunned manner, "Is this what a gaming expo is like?!"
The youth beside her sniffed and said loudly, "We really made the right choice to come here today! This place is just like heaven! Thank you, Director Zhang! Thank you for organizing this!" He immediately went up, wanting to give the game a try, but the entire floor was quickly filled up by eager fans and a line was formed for the dozen or so consoles with demos. Regretfully, he came back to join the group.
After that, they went to the next booth.
This was the booth for an MMORPG with 3D graphics called Spiritual Realms: The First War.
A group of people were all staring straight into the booth. It was yet another group of beautiful girls, this time dressed like fairies. Some of them even wore cat or bunny ears, wagging their tails and smiling to the visiting gamers. It left them wanting for more, especially when a few booth babes revealed a great portion of their long, slender legs. The geeks were all extremely excited by the sight of this.
"I like that girl!"
"I like the one who has the bunny ears on. She's so pretty!"
"I want to try this game out!"
Suddenly, another large group of passersby were attracted and ran over to take a look!
Compared to the first two booths, it seemed a little quiet over at the third booth. Although the game consoles with the demos were all taken up, there was not much of a line there. The visitor flow was much more normal. When he looked at their booth babes, Zhang Ye understood immediately. There were only two booth babes employed by this game exhibit. One stood on the left and the other on the right of the booth, making them seem like greeter girls. Their costumes were not too outstanding either, but the important point was that they were wearing too much. As a result, the atmosphere at this booth was less exciting.
Having looked at all this, Zhang Ye couldn't bear the heaviness in his heart. He felt that he had taken the Gaming Expo too lightly this time. Would a game become famous just because it was good? That might not necessarily be true. Look at this, just look at this! This is what reality looks like. It was the first time Zhang Ye had doubt about the debut of Plants vs. Zombies. How could a tower defense game like theirs ever compare to the booth babes these MMORPGs invited?!
Slutty!
Too slutty!
Zhang Ye felt a sense of anger from within. This kind of an atmosphere was too disgusting, and was too unworthy of being promoted. It was little wonder that action had been taken against those gaming expo exhibits back in his previous world, where they had been issued with "dress code restrictions"! It was clearly for a good reason that they did something like that!
Ha Qiqi glanced at him. "Director Zhang, what's the matter?"
Zhang Ye did not even lay his eyes on the group of beautiful girls and just said, "Let's go on ahead and see what there is."
"Uh, OK." Wu Yi and a few other guys from the program team looked at Zhang Ye in a curious manner, wondering to themselves why Director Zhang did not even look at all these beautiful girls.
They went on ahead.
The fourth booth farthest on the left side was also bursting with popularity. This was the booth of a famous game development company's single player RPG. The booth babes they showed off numbered a total of 17! Although, among them, there were some who were beautiful and some just average-looking, the main attraction here was their short skirts. All dressed the same, the gorgeous girls made those nerdy gamers who had gathered around this booth scream. With a loss of judgment, they urgently rushed up to line up to try out the game!
Many of the reporters who were there also came running over and surrounded this booth, busily snapping photos. Attracting the attention of the media would be a great help to the marketing of the game!
Zhang Ye was despising this!
Shameless!
Too shameless!
Continuing on, they saw even more of such scenes. Zhang Ye's heart was getting heavier and he became even more pessimistic. Were they comparing to see which game's quality was better or was it a competition of whose booth babes wore less!? Why aren't you all putting the focus on the games instead! Can you all not be so vulgar! You all are going to judge the game based on the beautiful girls and their long, slender legs? Where are your principles, people!
Dirty!
Too dirty!
The more Zhang Ye saw, the angrier he became. It seemed like the debut of Plants vs. Zombies was going to just be a failure now, so he prepared himself for this worse possible scenario.
It was now 9 AM.
After making a round in the large Hall 1, Zhang Ye said to his fellow colleagues, "Let's roam around freely now. It's OK if we're separated, so feel free to line up and try out the games you like."
Ha Qiqi asked, "What will you be doing?"
Zhang Ye said, "I'm heading to Hall 2 to take a look there."
Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Then me too. I'll go along with you."
Little Wang said, "I'll follow Director Zhang too. I want to have a look at the puzzle games there. I think Fishing Master 2 has come out!"
Zhang Ye, with a heavy heart, brought the two of them along with him to Hall 2. As they headed to the booth of Plants vs. Zombies, he looked at the surroundings filled with booth babes in all kinds of costumes. He could only denounce this vulgar atmosphere in his head, wondering if Old Wu had any say in regulating these things. He wanted to give her some feedback about this, knowing that such an unhealthy atmosphere could not go on any further. He decided that it had to be firmly boycotted and resolutely eradicated from the scene!
Otherwise, the consequences would be terrible!
Over time, the nation would be in peril!!
Finally, they arrived at the exhibit of Plants vs. Zombies!
When they had just arrived, before Ha Qiqi could make out the title of this game or learn what genre it belonged in, what she saw left her utterly shocked!
Also surprised, Little Wang exclaimed, "Aiyo!"
There were gamers everywhere!
A sea of gamers!
A group of media reporters had also gathered around here, busily snapping away with their cameras!
Then, they saw that there were 20 booth babes standing around the exhibition zone of the Plants vs. Zombies booth, divided into two groups. In one of the groups, they were dressed in bright colors of red and green, with floral patterns printed on their dresses. Some of these booth babes were also wearing hats with plants decorations on them and were in low-cut dresses. Among them, there were even two booth babes who did not even wear dresses and just stood there in their bikinis. They were basically showing everything! At the other side, the other group of booth babes were dressed like zombies. Some of their faces were stained with "blood," some had rotting "wounds" on them. And their dresses were also rather torn and tattered, some so tattered that it was unable to cover much on the skirt end, while some of the others had blood stains on their tattered dresses. It was almost no different from not wearing anything, as their legs and bikinis were in full view. It was an image that would give people a nosebleed!
Sexy!
Revealing!
With a tinge of gore!
This was likely this year's National C-G Gaming Expo's exhibition booth that most pushed at the limits!
The gamers were dumbfounded!
The media was dumbfounded!
Zhang Ye was also dumbfounded!
F**k!
What is going on with you all!
Why are the booth babes you employed also wearing so little clothing! And they're even wearing less than the others? Even more revealing than the others?
F**k that!
You all have simply…
Executed it beautifully!!
Executed it way too beautifully!!!
Hi readers,
Thank you for your support and love for IRAS :)
PvsZ is beginning.