Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 243 - 242: Coming to the Experience Store to Demand an Explanation!

Chapter 243: Chapter 242: Coming to the Experience Store to Demand an Explanation!

June 28th.

Saturday.

At 8 AM, Sui Tao walked up to the experiential store with a youtiao clenched in his mouth and a soy milk in his hand, fished out the keys from his pocket, and began to unlock the store’s large entrance door.

But just as he inserted the key into the keyhole, before he could even turn it, a noise erupted from behind him.

"Morning, Brother Sui."

Turning his head, Sui Tao saw that it was Hou Ji and Zhuge Jun, along with a group of regulars.

"You guys are way too early, even more punctual than me clocking in for work!" Sui Tao could not help but muse, as he pushed open the store’s large entrance door and entered.

"Of course, we all love to ’pay’ for work!" Zhuge Jun declared, then promptly headed straight for the store’s coffee machine, and began expertly brewing coffee for everyone.

The others busied themselves too; some tidied up the chairs that hadn’t been neatly arrayed the night before, some went to the front desk to get their own keys, while others pulled out their payment codes and willingly scanned them to pay.

As for the employee, Sui Tao didn’t do a thing, the customers had already served themselves very well.

"Really don’t need me to do anything!

"No wonder the manager didn’t plan on hiring more staff from the start, could he possibly be at the fifth tier?"

Sui Tao clicked his tongue in amazement. It seemed Nitiandang’s company experiential store was indeed different from other physical stores.

So far, the total number of employees in the whole store was only five, and these five even worked in shifts—about 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The working hours were incredibly standard.

But Sui Tao also knew that this manpower was far from enough. Using the standards of other shops, a three-story store like this one would need at least four or five staff on the premises at all times, right? Even if they had the employees work overtime, they would need at least two to three times the current number.

Unexpectedly, the manager had only hired these few people then entered a state of ’lying flat’.

Initially, Sui Tao worried he would be worked to death, but now it seemed his worries were unnecessary. The current customers had a very strong sense of self-management and didn’t require any service from the staff.

Even when unfamiliar customers visited, they were willing to lend a hand, creating a quite harmonious atmosphere inside the experiential store; it was essentially like paying to work.

However, the experience store did have worrying aspects, namely that there simply weren’t enough customers!

Up to now, though Sui Tao and the other students frequented the store, they were few in number, at best filling some of the equipment on the first floor and boosting the atmosphere a bit. But the second and third floors were mostly empty; furthermore, as students, their financial capacity was limited.

When it came to charging, Gu Fan, the manager, was quite lenient. He didn’t just give the students an exclusive discount through Sui Tao but even allowed them to work in-store to offset the day’s expenditure.

So, the current situation wasn’t helping the experiential store’s revenues at all.

At best, they were barely making enough to cover the utilities, but profit was still a distant dream.

Sui Tao didn’t know how to make the experiential store take off. Firstly, he couldn’t think of a good strategy, and secondly, why should he worry if the manager wasn’t? So, he just sat at the counter, patiently waiting for customers to come.

But what he didn’t expect was how quickly the customers would arrive.

"Hurry, hurry, it looks like it’s this place!"

Just as Sui Tao pulled out his phone to sneak in a little break, the noise outside the boarding store got louder. Looking up, he saw quite a few customers heading their way!

"Is this really Nitiandang’s official experiential store? You’re not just putting up a façade, are you?" The leader of the group was a relatively young office worker.

Sui Tao nodded, "Of course, we’re the official experiential store directly operated by Nitiandang games, I’m 90% sure!"

Actually, he felt a bit unsure as he said this since Sui Tao himself hadn’t fully grasped the relationship between the experiential store and Nitiandang games.

Even though the manager had emphasized repeatedly that the experiential store was directly invested in by Nitiandang and that the manager was the CEO of Nitiandang, such claims were just too fantastical, and Sui Tao dared only believe half of it at most.

The leading office worker nodded, "Good! Since you’ve admitted it, we have someone to hold responsible. It’s not unjust for me to come to you to settle accounts!"

Sui Tao couldn’t help but feel his heart sink, sensing that something was off.

As expected, the office worker spoke with an air of indignation, "Since you’re the official representatives of Nitiandang games, let me ask you, what the hell is this all about?

"I need an explanation!

"It’s absolutely ridiculous, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep for three days because of this damn achievement, and your so-called mystery gift turns out to be just a crappy piece of metal!"

The office workers, fuming, slammed the things in their hands down on the counter.

The people following behind them were also brimming with anger, similarly slamming the items they were holding onto the counter, demanding an explanation from Sui Tao.

Sui Tao was completely bewildered. What were these people talking about?

But when he saw the item on the desk, Sui Tao instantly had some inkling.

Wasn’t this the little gift the store manager had custom-made that day?

Previously, when the store manager asked him for a suggestion for a distinctive little gadget that cost a few tens of dollars, he casually gave an idea, and afterwards, the store manager must have arranged for someone to make it, and Sui Tao didn’t ask any further.

Now, these little gadgets had indeed become the official rewards for Nitiandang games and were in the players’ hands!

That’s outrageous!

Initially, Sui Tao was only 90% sure that the experience store was indeed part of Nitiandang’s industry. Now, it turned into 100%.

But the problem at hand was, good news stays within the walls, bad news spread far and wide; the players had angrily come to seek justice!

Sui Tao cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, please calm down. I think there might be some kind of misunderstanding here. Although we are indeed Nitiandang’s offline gaming experience store, if everyone is unsatisfied with this little gift, shouldn’t you complain to the customer service staff of Nitiandang Games? It doesn’t have anything to do with us, the physical store, right?"

The leading office worker was not having any of it, "Don’t even try it!

Do you not know if Nitiandang has customer service? We did want to contact customer service for our rights, but we couldn’t find anyone!

Shouting on the official platform and forums also gets no response.

After much digging, we found out that there’s even a physical experience store for Nitiandang? So we in our group agreed to come here for our rights!

Look, we don’t just have people from Capital City, we have folks from neighboring provinces coming over on high-speed trains to demand an explanation too!

Today, you Nitiandang must give us a clear answer!"

Sui Tao couldn’t help but grimace, suddenly understanding why these people were so aggressive. Obviously, they were fed up!

After going through great pains, they finally got their hands on this mysterious gift, only to find it was just a worthless piece of metal worth a few tens of dollars. Who could hold back their frustration?

But their fury had nowhere to vent because Nitiandang had no customer service staff, and there was no place to lodge a complaint. This thing wasn’t even a product, just a freebie, so there was no way to assert one’s rights.

Leave an angry message online?

That’s workable but ultimately ineffective. Given how Nitiandang is playing dead, who knows if their management is even paying attention to the online public opinion.

It’s like punching cotton, incredibly frustrating.

But now, as the only physical store of Nitiandang, the existence of the experience store provided these people with an outlet for their anger.

Originally, these people wouldn’t be interested in the experience store; if it were just for trying out games, they wouldn’t bother coming. But what if they were coming to demand justice? That’s a whole different motivation!

Good news, the experience store seemed to be popular.

Bad news, it was popular in a way Sui Tao did not want to see!

As an employee, Sui Tao also felt at a loss and, after thinking for a moment, could only say, "Everyone, please be patient. After all, I am just a regular employee and do not have the authority to handle this matter.

"How about I call our leader and report this?

"You can come back this afternoon or tomorrow, and I will try my best to get a satisfactory response for all of you."

However, the crowd was relentless, "That won’t do! Don’t think we can’t see this is just your way of buying time. We are staying right here, so call your leader now!"

Sui Tao, feeling helpless, began searching for his phone while silently seeking help from Zhuge Jun and the others.

Help!

Aren’t you the honorary employees who are working off the clock? Come up with a way to help me out!

Zhuge Jun then stood up, striding forward confidently in front of the lead office worker.

Sui Tao couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of anticipation. If Zhuge Jun could somehow convince these people to leave, that would be more than welcome!