Many post-2000s individuals might not recall this fire at all, but for those born in the 80s and 90s, it fundamentally altered their lifestyles. For the entire Chinese gaming industry, it was an explosion akin to a nuclear blast.
Historically, this fire resulted in a tragic accident claiming 25 lives and injuring 12 to varying degrees.
Of course, when compared to the death toll of a single shooting incident in the United States, this number is insignificant and hardly worth mentioning.
However, this tragedy shocked the entire nation. All media outlets reported extensively, and terms like "internet cafe" and "gaming" appeared with high frequency in every related report.
The direct consequence was a nationwide shutdown and rectification of all internet cafes for three months. Simultaneously, all illegal internet cafes were shut down, and no new internet cafe operating licenses were issued in China for a year.
At the time, someone had spent two to three million yuan to purchase computers and was preparing to apply for an operating license when this incident occurred. They were then unable to obtain it for a year. The computers bought with borrowed money were all piled up, depreciating daily, and eventually, the owner jumped to his death.
Later, it was said that about 30% of internet cafe owners suffered devastating losses, losing all their capital and making a painful exit.
Ironically, after licenses were permitted again, obtaining an operating license, which was once a straightforward process, became exceedingly difficult. It was rare for even one out of ten applicants to succeed.
However, once obtained, an operating license in that era was equivalent to owning a money tree. This made those who already held a legitimate operating license even more sought after.
For instance, at that time, a transfer of an internet cafe operating license in Beijing.
It was just a certificate, with nothing else, yet it was sold for a staggering 3 million yuan.
In provincial capitals across the country, the price peaked around 500,000 yuan, and later consistently hovered around 200,000 yuan per license. This illustrates the preciousness of internet cafe operating licenses.
It also led to the emergence of more unlicensed, illegal internet cafes, as the saying goes, "the more you block, the more there is."
The impact on internet cafes was actually a very minor aspect of this event. After all, as long as the Chinese people's passion for gaming remained, internet cafes would not disappear.
The true significant impact of this incident was on the domestic gaming industry.
Following this event, the initial public and media outrage was directed at internet cafes. However, this anger soon shifted towards gaming itself, as parents had long suffered from the prevalence of games.
In 2000, a report titled "Computer Games: Targeting Children's 'Electronic Heroin'" was published.
At the time, this report caused a tremendous reaction across the country, leading to a tightening of previously lenient game approval policies. This is why "Warcraft III" required a review period of a full three months.
The subsequent impact of this report was quite remarkable. Even now, on August 11, 2021, if you search for the report's title online, you can still find the article published on May 9, 2000, on the official website of Guangming Daily.
Not only can this report still be found, but its lingering influence persists. Even in July 2021, there was a resurgence of discussions labeling video games as heroin and calls for a nationwide ban on all computer games.
Quite amusing, isn't it? This is the public discourse in 2021.
As a witty saying on the internet goes, parents in the 1960s saw floods and beasts as terrifying. Parents in the 1970s saw martial arts novels as terrifying. Parents in the 1980s saw arcade game consoles as terrifying. Parents in the 1990s saw teenage romance as terrifying. Parents in the 2000s saw computer games as terrifying. Parents in the 2010s saw mobile phones as terrifying. By the 2020s, who knows what has become the new terrifying threat.
In any case, every generation of parents has their own "floods and beasts," and by the time these parents' children grow up, these "floods and beasts" become legitimate forms of entertainment, while new "floods and beasts" emerge.
To get back to the point, this report had already branded video games as a terrifying threat. Coupled with the fire incident and the reality of children skipping school to go to internet cafes, a wave of opposition to games and calls to ban computer games from corrupting children's futures immediately swept across China.
This voice was extremely loud at the time, several decibels higher than the sound of the Olympics. Our country is particularly adept at listening to the voice of the people, truly taking the people's demands to heart.
Therefore, not only were game approval policies tightened, preventing many foreign games from entering the country, but more importantly, a console ban was directly issued, prohibiting the sale of any game consoles in China.
This order directly destroyed the entire domestic PC game market.
Why is it called the PC game market?
Because at that time, there were only two platforms for PC games: either the PC platform or the console platform.
However, for the PC platform, any PC game would eventually be pirated, sooner or later. The only way for developers to profit from PC games was to release them exclusively on console platforms. While piracy existed on consoles, it was difficult, so for PC games to truly generate revenue, they had to be released on consoles.
Before the ban, due to economic factors, although game consoles were sold in the domestic market, the number of players who could afford them was not high. After all, most children relied on their parents for sustenance, and parents would absolutely not spend money to buy game consoles for their children.
Finally, by 2002, with the development of the domestic economy, more people could afford consoles, and the console market was on the verge of developing in China. Then, the ban was enacted, and the entire console market instantly collapsed.
Along with it, the entire domestic single-player game development studios also collapsed.
At that time, there were not many domestic companies willing to develop single-player games. With the console ban, the games they developed had no market, and they could only lose money. Therefore, single-player game development companies either transformed or simply disbanded, and the entire market was instantly destroyed.
Conversely, online games, to some extent, could still operate under policy implementations, and thus began to flourish. Coupled with the popularity of online games like Legend and World of Warcraft, and their tremendous appeal, all domestic gaming talent was drawn into the online gaming craze, and no one paid any attention to single-player games anymore.
It wasn't until after 2016, with the improvement of player quality, that the domestic single-player game market began a slow recovery. However, currently, aside from "Black Myth," which only exists in demonstration videos, there are still no AAA-level single-player game masterpieces in China. This is the immense impact of this fire on the domestic gaming market.
Having experienced all of this, Huang He was naturally unwilling to accept it. To prevent past events from repeating themselves, Huang He had to stop this fire, hence this meticulously planned rescue operation.
Of course, some might say Huang He's actions were hypocritical. If Huang He genuinely intended to prevent it, he could have driven away those children before they started the fire, without needing to let it escalate to burning.
Huang He initially thought the same, but he later realized he couldn't do that.
Because at most, he could predict the disaster at this one internet cafe and prevent it.
But what about the future? Given the nature of these illegal internet cafes and various safety hazards, similar accidents would eventually occur, possibly causing even greater losses.
Therefore, a large-scale cleanup and rectification, similar to what happened in his previous life, was necessary. In fact, after that rectification, such serious incidents rarely occurred in internet cafes, and their fire safety equipment was very comprehensive.
Thus, allowing the incident to happen, but without causing dire consequences or loss of life, became Huang He's goal, and he then meticulously prepared for this operation.
Based on reports he had read in his previous life, Huang He formulated this plan. Of course, the plan was extremely risky, and Huang He was truly gambling with his own life.
However, it's worth noting that the fire extinguisher in the trunk existed before Huang He transmigrated. The fire axe was added a month after Huang He transmigrated. Therefore, Huang He's explanation is flawless, with no loopholes. This also underscores how unforgettable the experience of that car accident was for the real Huang He.
Fortunately, this time was a complete victory for Huang He, with all objectives perfectly achieved. With the death toll at zero, the public's anger should now be directed solely at internet cafes and not extend to gaming.
This is what Huang He anticipated before going to sleep.
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Who was this mysterious hero? The next day, this question continued to puzzle the people of the entire country.
If this incident had been minor, perhaps Huang He's identity would not have been discovered.
But when Huang He became a national sensation, and given that Huang He was already a semi-public figure, once his face was revealed, identifying him was only a matter of time.
Soon, Hunan TV took the lead. Their special correspondent found Huang He's damaged car at the traffic police parking lot, along with its license plate.
Then, through connections, the reporter found the owner of the license plate, which was registered to a company vehicle under Jiangnan Group.
Concurrently, they had a reporter in Wenzhou. They initially tried to interview the headquarters of Jiangnan Group directly but were refused by company security, who had issued a directive to keep a low profile.
However, some employees were unwilling to remain low-key. Under the journalists' questioning, some employees eventually divulged information, breaking a sensational story.
This hero was Huang He, the chairman of Jiangnan Group, the owner of the Jiangnan Blind Box stores that suddenly appeared all over the country, and a wealthy businessman worth hundreds of millions.