Chapter 63: Diverting Attention

Shen Mo found it utterly unbelievable.

He, Shen Mo, Liu Yue's husband, a pretty impressive figure himself, couldn't even deal with piracy?

Xiao Zhi nodded, indicating that was all they could do.

He could only try his best to advise: "Boss, there's no way around it. Piracy in the gaming circle is just too common."

"It's not just us—every company faces this kind of problem."

"We can only tough it out, tough it out until the others can't hold on anymore and all die off."

After that, Xiao Zhi gathered a pile of information on pirated games for Shen Mo.

It couldn't really be called piracy either—it was more that the other side had copied their game template.

Shen Mo sighed; this was all he could do.

He could only follow Xiao Zhi's advice and work hard to build his company's brand, so that as many people as possible would recognize their games.

Because Subway Surfers was a game that could keep generating profits, Xiao Zhi suggested hiring people.

They needed dedicated staff to operate this one game.

For such a small matter, Shen Mo handed it over to the operations young lady to manage, completely acting as a hands-off boss himself.

Oh, not entirely a hands-off boss either.

During his evening livestream, Shen Mo brought the matter up, hoping fans would join in and let others know that he, the boss, was actually useful too.

Not completely useless, only good for handing out money.

The viewers watching the stream found it very amusing.

But the very next day, Shen Mo got scolded by the HR young lady.

The usually even-tempered HR young lady let loose a tirade at Shen Mo.

Do you have any idea how much of a hassle screening people is?

Do you know what it feels like to have several hundred resumes flood the inbox overnight?

It's not you getting harassed, is it.

The furious HR young lady nearly pummeled Shen Mo to death.

This scene was recorded by Qiang Ni, who quietly posted it on the company's account.

What's it like to have a boss who wants to help but only makes things worse?

Probably exactly this feeling—you can't hit him, you can only scold him, and then quietly clean up the mess.

Shen Mo was helpless.

Seeing the HR young lady sift through resumes one by one, call and communicate with each candidate one by one, confirm their abilities and whether they were a good fit, Shen Mo completely lost the nerve to meddle with HR matters anymore. It wasn't that he'd been scared off—it was simply too easy for things to go wrong, too easy to cause trouble for others.

Still, this round of hiring did bring in some capable people, and Baiyin Game Company's market value rose once again.

Xiao Zhi began leading people to attend various gaming industry conferences, Qiang Ni focused even more on publicity, and the operations young lady started traveling everywhere, negotiating partnerships with various platforms.

Shen Mo was willing to hand authority over to the three of them and let them do their best.

To that end, Shen Mo generously pointed out that he couldn't give them shares, but he could raise their game profit-sharing by a few more percentage points.

In other words, they'd be taking cash straight from the source.

The people in the company worked even harder.

While they were busy working hard, Shen Mo began putting his energy back on Liu Yue.

To that end, Shen Mo started working out, keeping in shape, and searching up little tricks for couples.

Liu Yue was very satisfied with Shen Mo's boundless energy.

While Shen Mo and Liu Yue were wrapped up in each other, netizens online also began raising questions—why was Shen Mo, so young and backed by such an impressive figure as Liu Yue, still unable to deal with piracy?

Especially some players of the legitimate version who had accidentally clicked into a pirated copy—they were absolutely furious.

What level are those people, to be playing the same game as me? It really cheapens the experience. Faced with this fierce wave of questions, Shen Mo found it very strange.

Qiang Ni gave a reply: someone is trying to take us down.

"What?"

"I haven't offended anyone either, so why would someone want to take us down? That doesn't make sense."

In his agitation, Shen Mo went through everyone he knew and was familiar with.

The first one he offended was Shen Jiayun, but they were now at peace—the other side had her own career.

After that came Liu Qingqing, but she had already submitted herself under Liu Yue's banner, calling him "brother-in-law" at every meeting, all warm and affectionate.

Then after that was that livestream female influencer from the Northeast—she had completely faded into obscurity.

Then after that were the influencers whose livestream sales had recently collapsed, forced to pay back taxes and fines.

Because Shen Mo and Liu Yue had risen to fame by stepping on those people, the soaring market value of Yuemo and Haya's two media companies had been built on the heat of those unfortunate influencers.

And after that, there was no one else.

After starting the game company, they hadn't offended anyone either.

Qiang Ni and the operations young lady, seeing their boss so anxious, signaled that he didn't need to be nervous.

Qiang Ni, citing his twenty years entering the PR industry at age twenty—now twenty-five years of PR experience—assured him it was no big deal; the other side just wanted to take the opportunity to smear them.

After all, the most uncomfortable thing in this world is not being afraid of not making money yourself, but being afraid of your competitors making money.

Our Baiyin Game Company just entered the industry, and two games already made nearly a hundred million. Of course they're jealous, especially given how low our costs are.

Shen Mo was on the verge of tears—the business world was just too terrifying.

Qiang Ni cheerfully said it was no big deal, then handed Shen Mo a script.

That same day, Shen Mo replied online: "Dear netizens, big shots, it's not that I don't want to crack down on piracy—it's that I genuinely don't have the ability."

"To be honest, all I can do is quietly endure, quietly bear it, like a little bottom."

"Think about it—gaming giants like a certain Teng, and a certain game company, and a certain game studio—they're all stronger than us. How could we possibly beat game piracy?"

"So, please, fellow netizens, let's call on the other major gaming platforms."

The moment the statement went live, countless netizens froze for a beat, then began roasting a certain Teng left and right—the industry's big-shot gaming tycoon, a truly rich and well-connected existence who had never once bothered to clean up the gaming scene and had even led the way in piracy. A genuine human stain.

At the same time, a group of veteran gaming-company figures also got furiously roasted by netizens.

Shen Mo said with a smile, great, really great, sincerely great.

Qiang Ni is awesome.

Qiang Ni's theory was simple: the best way to drown out the roasting aimed at us was to create an even bigger target for roasting, giving netizens somewhere else to vent their energy.

Baiyin Game Company vanished from sight perfectly.

As for a certain Teng's feelings?

They can't reach us anyway, so what is there to be scared of?

In fact, a certain Teng couldn't be bothered to deal with Shen Mo and the others. Their PR team wasn't stupid—how could they fail to see what Shen Mo and the others were up to?

But they simply didn't care. With that kind of scale, they weren't afraid of people roasting or cursing them.

In the end, a certain Teng even invited Shen Mo and the others to attend their gaming expo to discuss the future of gaming companies.

Shen Mo didn't go. He sent Xiao Zhi and the operations lady along with a group of people.

The reason Shen Mo didn't go was also very simple—he went to watch the drama unfold.

Folks, can you believe it? A big CEO in the Jinghai elite circle just had his whole image collapse.

Once in a thousand years sight.

He didn't understand games anyway, so he might as well stay and watch the drama.

(End of this chapter)