Chapter 110: Big Pineapple 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Buddy, this Gigabyte brand is too expensive; its cost‑performance isn't high. I recommend another brand to you—it's over a hundred cheaper.

Also, the power supply—no need for a 300W one; I'll swap you a 250W, which can also save quite a bit of money.

The big brother kept talking while holding the list, and Ye Cheng didn't interject; after he finished speaking, Ye Cheng then said lightly,

"Brother, I've assembled hundreds of computers—how could I not understand what you're telling me?"

The two looked at each other, each reading the information they wanted from the other's eyes.

The big brother gave up. "Damn, I've run into someone who actually knows his stuff—I can't fool him now."

But at least the chosen specs are decent, so we can still make a profit.

The big brother gave an embarrassed laugh, pointed at the list, and said, "Since you understand all this, why not go for a Pentium 4?"

"No need—I just surf the net and play single‑player games; with that money I'd rather add RAM."

The big brother fell silent. "As for CPUs, except for a few specialized industries that need a bit more, most households don't need such high‑end ones."

"Well, since it's a Celeron, why not pair it with a Turing? It has high level‑2 cache and can be overclocked."

"What's the point of overclocking a bit? In a couple years it'll be obsolete and need replacement."

Ye Cheng used to be enthusiastic about overclocking, but now he thinks it's pure boredom—raising the CPU frequency only gives higher numbers and higher temperature, which is really unnecessary.

Can't wait two years for a full upgrade; just buy it later.

Rich people never have to choose.

Since he couldn't sway Ye Cheng, the big brother gave up: "Alright, I'll give you a quote—take a look:"

"Celeron 1.7 GHz: 700; Gigabyte 845D motherboard: 600; Samsung 256 MB RAM two sticks: 800; Western Digital 80 GB hard drive: 900; Gainward GeForce4 440 graphics card: 700; Antec 300W power supply plus case: 350; Samsung 17‑inch monitor: 1800; mouse and keyboard included; total: 5800."

"How much? Fifty‑eight hundred?" Xiao Hu winced at the price—he knew computers were expensive, but not this expensive.

Ye Cheng could actually accept this price; he recalled his first college computer, which cost about 5000, half a year's parental income.

However, the boss was a bit shady—several transparent items had no price, but he'd added at least 500 to the hard drive, power supply, and graphics card.

Other items might have been marked up a little, but Ye Cheng couldn't be bothered to check; he simply crossed out the 5800 at the bottom and wrote 5300 instead,

"At this price I'll take it; if not, I'll forget it."

When the big brother saw the price, his face darkened—it wiped out the profit; he'd expected to make six or seven hundred per unit, now only about two hundred remained.

"Kid, we can't do this price without losing money—don't believe me? Let me show you today's computer‑city quote sheet; I'm quoting honestly."

To win Ye Cheng's trust, the big brother sneaked out a sheet from the back office, today's date at the top, densely packed with component prices.

"Look—this CPU, this motherboard, plus the graphics card and power supply—we have the computer‑city guide prices; we're absolutely not cheating you."

Ye Cheng didn't respond, but Xiao Hu leaned in eagerly, scrutinized the sheet, compared carefully, and after a moment whispered to Ye Cheng, "Brother, it looks like this is indeed the price."

Ye Cheng chuckled lightly and said to the boss, "Boss, your price is correct for today, but you buy in bulk at low cost; this sheet is just to fool newcomers. See if you can meet it—if you can, do it; if not, I'll go elsewhere."

Two hours later, Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu each came out carrying a large box—Ye Cheng took the case, Xiao Hu the monitor.

Ostensibly the monitor is more important, so it should be carried by the capable person.

At the time it was a CRT bulky monitor—holding it was a real pain.

In the end the boss still agreed to the 5300 price, but he didn't throw in a mouse pad—just gave us a hard time.

Ye Cheng didn't mind; after the boss finished assembling the machine and started installing the system, he went up to the fourth floor to buy discs.

Back in 2002, genuine copies were scarce and nowhere to buy; most people played games and watched movies by buying discs.

Ye Cheng picked a few discs: one was a system disk—nowadays the system crashes for no reason, so without a system disk you'd be lost; the second was a big essential‑install collection, containing all sorts of small utilities and compressed videos.

In fact, Ye Cheng still hasn't figured out where those people got those back‑then software.

Then he bought a few games: Big Pineapple 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 3—games that can truly be played for decades; even twenty years later many still play them.

Now it's set—later at night he can farm gear in Big Pineapple.

Carrying such an expensive computer, Ye Cheng didn't want to squeeze onto a bus; he took a taxi, spending a few dozen dollars to bring it home.

Soon after, Xiao Hu refused to leave, insisting Ye Cheng power on and install the games.

This gaming compulsion is a common male affliction—Ye Cheng did the same as a kid.

A relative's family had bought an Famicom; to play, he'd hop on his bike at 6 a. m., ride off without a word, go ten‑plus kilometers, just for a gaming session.

So never underestimate the effort a man will exert to play games.

So...

While installing the games, Ye Cheng had Xiao Hu mop the floor of his room; this guy, usually all push‑three‑block‑four, was panting and nearly sparked the cement floor.

Ye Cheng installed Heroes of Might and Magic 3 first; it's a bit hard to get into, and after half an hour Xiao Hu felt dazed, his interest waning.

"Brother, I don't get this at all—I've died several times already."

"Nonsense—you send a few skeletons to fight a bull; of course you'd die. You need to read the numbers." As a veteran, Ye Cheng gave Xiao Hu a thorough lesson, and the guy nodded repeatedly.

The phone line wasn't hooked up yet, so there was no internet; after letting Xiao Hu play a while, Ye Cheng shut it down and urged him to go eat dinner.

We haven't gone out to gather seafood today—this Luck Value mustn't be wasted.

Tomorrow we have a competition; bait is bought with points, so if we don't earn more points now we won't be able to afford bait later.

Besides, we spent six or seven thousand today, leaving only twelve thousand in savings—we need to hustle.

After dinner, Ye Cheng dragged Xiao Hu out to go gathering.

"Brother, why aren't we fishing tonight? I feel fishing would be fun, it has that skillful feel."

"I want to keep my feel; tomorrow I have to compete."

Actually Ye Cheng is reluctant to spend those points; if he uses too many tonight, tomorrow he'll have no points left to exchange for bait—that would be ridiculous.