Thomas then stayed in the Chinese server and refused to leave.
This meant he couldn't participate in PvP matches, but PvE was completely fine. The game only required a network verification when entering, and then the client would automatically verify the network every ten minutes. As long as he wasn't completely disconnected, it wouldn't affect his single-player experience at all.
The skins purchased with redemption codes could also be used in the post-apocalyptic PvE mode.
Speaking of redemption codes, Thomas was extremely envious. After much effort, he finally figured out that skins for the Chinese server required redemption codes, which were given out with the purchase of some sort of box.
Thomas initially tried to find such boxes in America but couldn't. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't find any stores selling them, nor could he find them on Amazon.
Finally, Thomas unexpectedly obtained a redemption code from one of his Chinese classmates.
It turned out his classmate had brought it from China before studying abroad. It came with four small figurines, three of which were unique. The classmate had already used the redemption code himself.
The duplicate figurine was all that was left.
Thomas talked so much that he finally persuaded his classmate to give him the duplicate figurine. The price was a hefty $50.
Even then, Thomas considered it a great deal, as he estimated he was the first American player to own a skin in the entire United States.
After that, news about the Chinese server began appearing on various Warcraft forums. Initially, it was Chinese players showing off, and then it was people like Thomas who had found a way to access the Chinese server flaunting their achievements.
While these skins weren't incredibly flashy, the fact that they were different from most players' skins was enough. Many American players began asking for tutorials and help on the forums, seeking ways to access the Chinese server.
Eventually, a dedicated forum for American Warcraft Chinese server guides was spontaneously created to provide strategies for players wanting to access the Chinese server.
In just about a month, the forum had 7,000 registered members, implying at least 7,000 American players were logging into the Chinese server.
With such a large player base, the demand for redemption codes increased. After all, people had traveled all the way to play on the Chinese server specifically for the unique skins.
However, finding a Chinese international student classmate to obtain a brand-new redemption code, like Thomas did, was extremely difficult.
Therefore, posts seeking to purchase redemption codes on these forums began to skyrocket. At their peak, redemption codes were fetching an astonishing $100 each, and that was for the cheapest, most common ones.
Even then, the supply was very limited, as the only way to get them was through a small number of Chinese students bringing them to America.
Of course, people would soon spot the business opportunity and start engaging in speculative trading. Thomas, for example, recognized the potential here.
Conveniently, he had a long holiday approaching, and having participated in a summer camp in China a year prior, he possessed a Chinese visa. He immediately booked a flight to China, bringing all his belongings, to purchase redemption codes.
This was Thomas's story. He told Huang He everything and then asked with some concern, "Huang, after hearing my story, are you going to America to sell blind boxes right away?"
"Don't worry, I won't!" Huang He laughed. "I have an agreement with Blizzard that all products related to Warcraft can only be sold in China and cannot be transferred to any other country's market. So, you can rest assured with your business; I won't interfere with you!"
"That's fantastic!" Thomas's face lit up with a blissful smile. He could already envision those 2,500 redemption codes turning into a beautiful scene of $250,000.
"By the way, there's one more thing I need to tell you!" Huang He said.
"What is it?" Thomas asked, slightly taken aback.
"Tomorrow is the Shanghai stop of our Chinese Warcraft Championship. After the competition, the group stage for the national championship will begin. If you're interested, you can come and watch!" Huang He smiled.
"Yes, I will definitely come!" Thomas's eyes lit up at the news. He then got into a taxi and took his carload of blind boxes back to the hotel.
Upon returning to his hotel, without even washing up, Thomas immediately took out his laptop. After connecting to the hotel's wired internet, he promptly posted on the forum, stating he was traveling in China, had bought some blind boxes, and had a few redemption codes left. He offered them for $100 each and directed interested parties to purchase them from his eBay personal shop.
He then provided the URL to his eBay personal online store, which he had prepared in advance, and listed 100 redemption codes for the common figurines.
Next, he posted another thread, showcasing the few rare items he had drawn, pricing each redemption code at $1000.
Finally, for the deluxe gift box, he set the price at a whopping $100,000.
This might sound absurd, but Thomas had no intention of actually selling the deluxe gift box. He planned to keep it for himself, hence the exorbitant price that no one would likely pay.
As for why he included it if he didn't want to sell it, it was purely for showing off and boasting.
After completing these tasks, Thomas prepared to go out.
His outing wasn't to buy more blind boxes, but to find an internet cafe to play games.
Some might wonder why Thomas, who had brought a laptop, would specifically go to an internet cafe to play games.
This was because his laptop struggled to run Warcraft smoothly. In 2002, while Warcraft wasn't a hardware killer, it was still too demanding for laptops.
Before coming to China, Thomas had inquired with his Chinese friends and learned that internet cafes were prevalent in China.
This would allow Thomas to experience playing in PvP mode on the Chinese server. Back in America, while he could enter PvP rooms, the latency was so extreme that it offered no gaming experience whatsoever, forcing him to play only PvE.
But in China, he was on home turf, and Thomas was determined to experience the PvP mode he usually couldn't, and compete with Chinese Warcraft players.
"I'm a top 500 player on the Battle.net ladder; it will be incredibly easy to dominate these Chinese players!" Thomas thought gleefully before heading out.
To find an internet cafe smoothly, Thomas had diligently studied Chinese characters with his classmates before coming to China, particularly the characters for "internet cafe," which he remembered very well. Therefore, he easily found one.
However, when he was about to go online, he encountered a problem.
"ID card, you must show your ID card to use the internet!" the internet cafe attendant said in Chinese when Thomas requested to go online.
The problem was that Thomas couldn't understand a word. After a prolonged communication attempt, Thomas had to give up and try another internet cafe.
As a result, he visited seven or eight internet cafes that morning, all with the same communication barrier, which made Thomas regret not choosing to minor in Chinese during college, as it would have at least allowed him to understand what people were saying.
Fortunately, when Thomas found the tenth internet cafe, he finally met an attendant who spoke English, as this was a student from a foreign language institute working part-time.
He finally understood why he had been rejected.
"I don't have an ID card, but I have my passport. Can this be used?" Thomas asked anxiously. If his passport wasn't accepted, he would have to return to his hotel.
"Of course, a passport can be used. We just need to confirm your date of birth on your passport to ensure you are over 18!" the attendant said with a smile. He then took out paper and a pen, recorded the information from Thomas's passport, and began processing his registration.
"China is so strange. You need an ID card to go online, and they even check your age, requiring you to be over 18 to access the internet. Why is that?" Thomas asked, finding it difficult to comprehend.
"There were some incidents a while ago. Although no one was injured, to ensure the safety of minors, our government implemented regulations requiring ID card registration and age verification before accessing the internet," the attendant explained.
"So, don't you have to work very hard every day?" Thomas asked curiously. "Do you have to manually register ID card information like me every time?"
"You're a foreigner, so it's a bit different," the attendant replied. "You're using a passport, which cannot be linked to our online system. Therefore, manual registration is necessary."
"But if you use a Chinese ID card, it's different. We have a dedicated internet cafe management system. You just need to place the front of your ID card in front of the scanner, and the information from the ID card will be automatically recorded in our database, completing the ID registration process very conveniently!" the attendant said with a smile. "Not only that, but this internet cafe management system can also manage all the computers in the entire internet cafe, automatically update games, perform auto-farming, handle billing, allow for self-service top-ups, and even automatically distribute game test accounts, making it extremely convenient."
"Is this system that convenient?" Thomas asked, surprised.
"Yes. Do you not have such an internet cafe management system in America?" the attendant asked, equally surprised.
"I don't think so. Our internet cafes are managed by individual owners; there's no unified system... By the way, did you purchase this system from abroad?"
"No, our Jiangnan Group developed it in response to a call from the relevant authorities and then distributed it free of charge to all internet cafes for use. With the support of government departments, almost all internet cafes have been using this system for over a month," the attendant said plainly. Thomas's expression changed slightly.
"Your Jiangnan Group... must have struck it rich!" Thomas exclaimed.