"Lock the phone?" An Tianfeng and Manager Ruan exchanged glances, shaking their heads.
Locking the phone is a metaphor; software that can truly lock phones doesn't pass app store reviews.
So, the so-called "lock" simply serves to remind you when you switch to another app.
"Someone has proposed this idea, and there is an app called 'The Little Black Room' in the market, but it's a failed app with hardly any profit," Manager Ruan said.
"That's because they only made the locking function, and if interrupted in the middle, users don't feel any guilt," Xia Yu had already researched his app's competition.
"Guilt?" Manager Ruan asked curiously.
"Guilt, or a sense of frustration. Similarly, after successfully completing, the app doesn't give users a sense of accomplishment," Xia Yu explained, stretching out his hand and clicking on the locking button, setting it to 30 minutes.
On the screen, a tender sprout appeared.
Xia Yu exited the app, and the tender sprout turned into a small, dead twig.
"As soon as you exit, a dead twig appears on the screen, symbolizing failure," Xia Yu explained. "When successful, a flower will bloom on the screen, and on the personal interface, all recent flowers and dead twigs will be displayed."
Growing a flower feels pleasant, while growing a dead twig feels repulsive; so the users would strive to complete the time to avoid turning the flowers into dead twigs.
Manager Ruan nodded, "It seems feasible."
"Moreover, there are leaderboard features, team and friend features..." Xia Yu introduced one by one.
"Yes, we can profit from in-app purchases," Manager Ruan began to estimate the prospects. "The userbase shouldn't be a problem; when 'The Little Black Room' came out, it had 100,000 users in just a few days. But it went downhill later."
"Besides in-app purchases, there are also skins," Xia Yu added.
"Skins?"
In this world, the concept of strong monetization hasn't appeared yet.
Xia Yu didn't explain further; instead, he introduced them to different types: "This is an ordinary flower, this is a chrysanthemum, this is a lotus, this is a rose... To unlock the flowers behind, you need coins, which can be acquired by growing flowers or recharging."
Xia Yu changed trees to flowers because there were more flower types compared to trees in the Forest; tree types were too limited.
Moreover, growing flowers is more romantic than growing trees.
"Can I give it a try?" Manager Ruan asked.
"Of course." With An Tianfeng's support, Xia Yu wasn't worried about any accidents. "I haven't tested the compatibility with other models yet, so for now, only this model is bug-free."
"No problem, I can handle this little issue." Taking the phone, Manager Ruan couldn't wait to leave the office.
There was nothing extraordinary about the app itself, and although it had potential, it wasn't huge. However, the ideas behind the design were something he had never seen before.
Seeing his subordinate's excitement, An Tianfeng knew this was a successful app.
He looked at Xia Yu with admiration in his eyes.
Not only did he have special abilities, but he was also capable of creating a product.
"Let's go, I'll help you register a company," An Tianfeng said, leading Xia Yu downstairs.
Setting up a company required a lot of procedures and documents, and it was quite troublesome to rent an office and open a bank account. Even with An Tianfeng's help, Xia Yu still spent an entire afternoon getting everything done.
The only thing left to do was to wait for the certificate to arrive, which An Tianfeng estimated would take two to three days. That evening, after returning home, Xia Yu finally had some free time to catch up on sleep.
The next morning, as usual, he went to An Siyao's villa to practice music. In the front yard, he met Xu Youxiang. After asking Liu Manman to return first, Xia Yu pushed Xu Youxiang's wheelchair and took her for a stroll in the surroundings.
Over the past few days, Xia Yu had become quite familiar with Xu Youxiang. They discussed various aspects of the games they had played, such as the storylines, difficulty, and graphics. Xia Yu had played most of the games that Xu Youxiang had, but they had already discussed them once before, when he was using Xu Youxiang's body.
"Do you want to see Little Black?" Xu Youxiang asked.
"No need." Little Black, the cat, was in the villa, which was a female-only space. Although Xia Yu could enter without any problems due to his relationship with An Tianfeng, it was still better to avoid any misunderstandings. Xu Youxiang understood Xia Yu's concerns and offered to have a maid bring the cat down instead.
Soon, a maid brought Little Black to Xu Youxiang. The cat, now truly black, jumped onto Xu Youxiang's shoulder and reached out to play with her hairclip. Quickly losing interest in the lifeless object, Little Black settled down on Xu Youxiang's lap.
However, Xu Youxiang's hair had been messed up by the cat. Xia Yu reached out, removed her hairclip, and retied her hair for her. He did it casually, but only realized afterwards that it might have been inappropriate. If he had been in Xu Youxiang's body, he might have been scolded by her. But this time, Xu Youxiang only blushed slightly without any intention of rebuking him.
Feeling relieved and a little regretful, Xia Yu said goodbye to Xu Youxiang and returned to his villa. Once home, he logged into An Siyao's body and knocked on Xu Youxiang's door. He hadn't checked on her psychological state for a few days, and it was time to do so.
Under Xia Yu's comforting, Xu Youxiang quickly entered a state of tranquility. "Lost lamb, what troubles you?" Xia Yu asked.
"There's a boy I can't help but be concerned about," Xu Youxiang replied.
Xia Yu calmly pondered the situation, carefully analyzed it, and reached a conclusion – it seemed like she was talking about him. How should he respond to this? He decided not to bother with it. Instead of offering any advice, Xia Yu simply guided Xu Youxiang to sleep.
Learning about this rather alarming matter left Xia Yu feeling quite complicated. Xu Youxiang's feelings were also mixed; it was only after voicing her thoughts that she realized the true nature of her feelings.
After waking up, she recalled the scene where Xia Yu helped her drive away An Feixiong, and chatted and walked with her.
It still feels a bit similar.
Were the two of them the same kind?
It was quite normal for the two of them to give people a similar feeling, so Xu Youxiang didn't think much about it.
She opened her notebook, searched for Xia Yu's information, and clicked on the video of the musical instrument competition.
It was dazzling.
She looked down at her legs again and sighed.
After exiting the video, she wanted to close the notebook, but she saw a link that caught her attention.
Secret shooting - the part-time video of Sanjue Shou
Sanjue Shou was a nickname given to Xia Yu by someone with a good sense of humor, meaning he was proficient in the piano, violin, and guzheng.
Opening the link, Xu Youxiang saw a secretly filmed angle of Xia Yu playing the piano.
The café where Xia Yu was located prohibited taking photos and videos of the staff, so this was secretly filmed, with mediocre video and sound quality.
After watching for five seconds, Xu Youxiang lost interest, closed the video, and lay on the bed feeling restless.
She seemed to be missing some information.
Opening the notebook, she looked at the sneak shot video again.
A doubt arose in her heart.
Was Xia Yu's piano playing really that bad? When was this video taken?
At this time, Xia Yu, who was with An Siyao, realized through his mental perception that something was wrong.
He quickly reviewed his actions over the past few days. There were no issues with An Siyao, and Xue also would not have any issues. The only one who might have a problem was Xu Youxiang.
However, there was no need to panic if it were Xu Youxiang. Xia Yu's trust in Xu Youxiang was even stronger than his trust in An Siyao.
On one hand, it was because Xu Youxiang was a cautious and intelligent person, and on the other hand, it was because Xia Yu still needed to treat Xu Youxiang's legs.
Exiting the game and returning to his body, Xia Yu called Xu Youxiang.
"Who are you now?" Xu Youxiang's voice came through.
Xia Yu paused for a moment, and then realized that she seemed to have misunderstood.
Did she treat me as another body account as well?