The scarier thing was that the game's influence was far more than that. Many people had completed the game on live streaming websites or video-streaming websites. Not downloading it didn't mean that they didn't know about the game. In other words, the influence of excavating the earth for Ascension was immeasurable.
Many gaming platforms and distributors were panicking because many players who weren't even users of Thunderbolt gaming platform before had downloaded the game after it was released.
It was only then that the distributors realized that Chen Mo's completely free version of excavating the earth for Ascension wasn't a malicious April Fool's joke, but a well-planned one.
It was completely free because he wanted to attract more players for Thunderbolt gaming platform.
Chen Zhao had clearly achieved his goal.