Chapter 70 - 67: Boss Zhang, How Does Your Mind Work?

Chapter 70: Chapter 67: Boss Zhang, How Does Your Mind Work?

"Boss Zhang, how in the world did you come up with this?" Zhao Han stared in disbelief at the bamboo structure that had appeared before them. It had no surrounding walls, allowing the breeze to pass through, and its center was filled with bamboo tables and chairs.

It was clearly a rest area for tourists.

Most importantly, the area around the bamboo structure had been arranged into a cozy and beautiful courtyard.

Various flowers and plants had been transplanted into the courtyard, creating a lovely sight. Crucially, it blended seamlessly with the surroundings, giving it a scenic, picturesque feel.

Wei Yuan, Lin Mengyao, and the others walked inside and found chairs to sit down.

They had assumed the Bamboo Maze would be nothing but tedious paths and endless forks in the road. Who knew there would be an unexpected place like this?

They had been so pleasantly surprised when they first entered.

Zhang Lin was actually just as surprised.

He knew a place like this existed from looking at the game-like map in his mind. ’Perhaps that’s why the Bamboo Maze needs to be a thousand acres,’ he thought.

After all, the Miao Clan’s maze, the number one in the country, was less than a hundred acres.

It was because these thousand acres contained many small, pleasant surprises by design, and this rest area was one of them.

"Boss Zhang, are there other places like this inside the maze?" Wei Yuan asked curiously.

"Director Wei guessed correctly." Zhang Lin nodded and explained, "There are three more rest areas like this one. Finding each one means you’re getting closer to the exit. Besides the rest areas, there are also special spots throughout the Bamboo Maze where we can set up puzzle mini-games or challenges. We’ll have staff stationed in these areas in the future."

"Boss Zhang, what are these plaques for?" Lin Mengxi suddenly noticed a bamboo wall with rows of plaques hanging on it.

Zhang Lin smiled. "Those are for recording data. It’s like a video game. When a player successfully completes a section, their time will appear on a leaderboard. The shorter the time, the higher the rank."

"When the time comes, tourists can take on the challenge. We’ll record the time it takes for them to get from the entrance to this rest area. The fastest person will get their name and time written on one of those plaques."

"And similarly, we’ll also update these times on the Li Yuan Farm Tiao Yin account for all our followers to see."

Hearing this, Zhao Han, Wei Yuan, and the others looked at Zhang Lin with growing admiration.

’How did he even think of this?’

Video game records drive so many players to try and break them. In the same way, many tourists who come here will want to get their own names on those plaques.

If this takes off, it could become a huge online challenge.

"But I’m afraid solutions and discussions for the Bamboo Maze will start appearing online!" Zhao Han voiced a potential issue. "The entire path might be mapped out and posted on the internet before long!"

Wei Yuan nodded in agreement.

These features and the maze itself were certainly fun and made you want to explore, but with high visibility, it was bound to be solved. There were plenty of talented people on the internet.

Zhang Lin wasn’t worried about that. First, the maze had the "Dumbing Down +1" exploration attribute. It would be a challenge for tourists to even remember all the forks in the path.

Even if some expert did manage to painstakingly map out every fork and intersection, the solution was simple. After the Bamboo Maze was built, a new service option had appeared in his game market: Bamboo Maze Upgrade and Remodel Service. It cost two million yuan a pop!

He could just order an upgrade and remodel, changing all the paths. Those experts would be dumbfounded, all their effort wasted.

The farm could even wipe all the previous time records and start a new season with a clean slate.

Afterward, Zhang Lin led Zhao Han and the others to a puzzle mini-game area. The place had several questions scattered around. The answer to each question was a number, and you needed to collect all the answers and string them together to open a combination lockbox.

Inside the box would be a surprise!

As for what the surprise was, that would depend on what the farm decided to put inside it each day.

But even Zhao Han and his group couldn’t figure out all the puzzles. They had to search online for the answers before they could open the lockbox.

Zhao Han then suggested, "Boss Zhang, I think you should install signal jammers around this puzzle area to stop people from cheating by searching online! That would increase the replayability and give the tourists who solve it a greater sense of accomplishment."

"Also, I think you should install cameras in some areas. You get all sorts of tourists these days. If you run into a few twisted individuals, it could cause a lot of problems."

"Director Zhao, you’ve thought of everything!" Zhang Lin nodded, thinking Zhao Han’s suggestion was excellent. He would find someone to do it as soon as he got out.

Over the next while, Zhang Lin took Zhao Han and the others to the remaining rest areas and puzzle locations.

By the end of it, Zhao Han and Wei Yuan were completely won over, looking at Zhang Lin as if he were some kind of monster.

They had been inside the Bamboo Maze for a full two hours, and despite all the paths, Boss Zhang somehow remembered the way.

They themselves had been completely lost for a long time.

Zhao Han exclaimed with admiration, "Boss Zhang, your memory is incredible. But tourists who enter this Bamboo Maze will probably be in here for a long time. If they’re determined to find the exit, it’ll likely take them three hours or more!"

Zhang Lin understood this, of course, which was why he felt he should probably sell some things in the four rest areas.

Not long after, the group exited the Bamboo Maze.

As soon as they were out, Zhao Han asked, "Boss Zhang, how do you plan to promote this Bamboo Maze?"

"I’m still thinking about it. I have a few ideas but haven’t decided yet. After all, it was just completed!" Zhang Lin replied.

Zhao Han immediately said, "Boss Zhang, how about a suggestion? This Bamboo Maze has such high replayability and it’s so difficult, why not promote it with a prize for completing it? For example, the first batch of tourists to finish could get a 2,000 yuan cash prize. Our Tourism Bureau can put up 200,000 yuan to support it."

This was something he had thought of earlier. After all, a reward like that was the most direct and powerful attraction.

Who wouldn’t want to come play for free and walk away with some money?

There was no doubt that many people would be drawn in to give it a try.

Zhang Lin didn’t object. The logic was the same as the Miao Clan’s Bamboo Maze giving away local products as a prize. A 2,000 yuan cash prize was simply more direct. The local products from the Miao Clan’s maze were worth 100 yuan at most, if that.

’The key is, it’ll probably take a very long time before anyone claims all this prize money!’

So, he said, "That’s a great idea, Director Zhao. In that case, our farm will also put up 800,000 yuan to make it an even 1 million. We’ll use that as the promotional prize money. And what’s more, the very first person to clear the maze will get a direct reward of 200,000 yuan."

Zhao Han was visibly stunned by this. He thought 200,000 yuan from the Tourism Bureau was already a lot for a prize. Who knew Boss Zhang would act so rich and just casually round it up to a million?

Was this the same Boss Zhang who didn’t have the money to fund his projects before?

’It’s like he’s become some nouveau riche tycoon!’

He didn’t dwell on it, though, and immediately said, "Then what are we waiting for? Isn’t the Agriculture Bureau preparing for a livestream? They must have filming equipment. Let’s have them help shoot a promotional video for the Bamboo Maze. We can guarantee the one-million-yuan prize for you. There’s no way that won’t be attractive to people."

"Our Agriculture Bureau can help guarantee it too!" Wei Yuan chimed in.

He knew that a tourist attraction offering a million yuan in prize money would certainly make people suspicious. But if two official government departments vouched for it, the credibility would be 100%. It would definitely go viral and push Li Yuan Farm’s popularity even higher.

Besides, his Agriculture Bureau was planning to use Li Yuan Farm’s account for a livestream today. The more popular the farm, the better the livestream would perform.

Zhang Lin looked at the two directors, who seemed even more anxious than he was, and nodded with a smile.

’These two are offering to play a royal flush for me. Is there any reason to refuse?’

The allure of a million yuan, especially the 200,000 yuan prize for the first person to succeed, would undoubtedly attract a massive amount of traffic and boost Li Yuan Farm’s popularity to new heights.

The two directors were men of action and got started right away.

Zhang Lin also contacted people to purchase signal jammers and arrange for camera installation.

By evening, a promotional video for the Bamboo Maze was filmed and delivered to Zhang Lin.

Zhang Lin watched the video. It used a drone to capture an overview of the entire Bamboo Maze, along with some footage from inside, all edited together.

Lin Mengxi had even acted as a model in the video, and the effect was quite good.

The video also explicitly mentioned the one-million-yuan prize.

Seeing no issues with the video, Zhang Lin opened the Li Yuan Farm Tiao Yin account and began uploading it. He even came up with a special title: "The Maze Rumored to Require Average Intelligence to Solve! 1 Million Yuan Is Waiting for You to Claim!"

When Zhao Han and Wei Yuan saw the video title, they exchanged a particularly awkward glance.

’What is Boss Zhang trying to say?’

’What the hell does he mean, "passable by those with average intelligence"?!’

’Is he implying our intelligence isn’t even average?’

But complaints aside, after the promotional video was posted, they quickly discovered that, boosted by Li Yuan Farm’s popularity, it hit the trending list and caused a huge sensation online that evening.