Chapter 485: Current Project Summary, System Upgrading

Once this idea was born, Xiao He decisively decided to go for it.

After finishing his training, he returned to the company to discuss the matter with Liu Rulan.

Upon hearing Xiao He's idea, Liu Rulan had no objections. Instead, she said, "Sure, you can go find Lin Cheng for this. Have him take you to meet Ling Hui's person in charge of public welfare."

After Linghui Entertainment got on track, various projects also began to progress steadily. Naturally, public welfare projects also needed to be distributed and handled by dedicated personnel. After all, both the company and its artists needed to possess a certain level of social responsibility, establish a good charitable image in front of the public, and also respond to relevant policies and tax requirements.

Although Xiao He didn't usually attend related public welfare events much and hadn't paid much attention to this matter, asking about it now made him realize the company had already arranged things quite comprehensively for him. There were even dedicated charity projects. Coordinating with the fan-organized "Little Box Public Welfare Association," they would occasionally carry out related operations and activities. Not long ago, they even participated in some green public welfare award ceremonies and received several certificates.

Listening to the person in charge talk endlessly about the current development status of the public welfare projects, Xiao He belatedly sighed with feeling, "So it has already developed to this scale."

The student aid and poverty alleviation projects had been established for over a year. Although they couldn't currently compare to those large-scale public welfare projects and the invested funds weren't particularly huge, within this year, they had genuinely helped over thirty families, resolving their immediate living difficulties.

As for the fans' side, the numbers were even greater. However, the company was too embarrassed to claim credit for these achievements, and more detailed situations needed to be verified and confirmed to truly know, so these weren't included in the current report.

Of course, no matter what, this situation and scale had already exceeded Xiao He's imagination.

Since he had already given the money, he naturally hoped his subordinates' work would be done properly.

Xiao He roughly skimmed through the accounts again, confirmed there were no issues, and then continued discussing his next idea with the person in charge.

It seemed the person in charge hadn't expected his own boss to have such a sudden brainstorm. He didn't reject Xiao He's words but instead inquired further, "Teacher Xiao, your proposal is naturally very good. Regarding the public service short film, we can outsource a team for production. But as for the funding—"

"I'll cover it," Xiao He waved his hand with an air of financial might. "Don't use funds from the company accounts."

"Alright, I understand."

Having a dedicated person in charge really made a difference. Xiao He's idea was just a flash of inspiration, but the person in charge quickly turned his rough and vague thoughts into a concrete and actionable plan, even providing estimated amounts and the required preparation time. This undoubtedly made Xiao He, the one spending the money, feel very comfortable.

"Alright, then I'll leave this matter to you."

Xiao He patted the other person's shoulder. Before leaving, he didn't forget to learn from the essence of other bosses, saying to this person in charge, "Your name is Zhang Bu, right? I'll remember you. Keep up the good work."

"Sure thing, thank you, Teacher Xiao!"

Zhang Bu immediately looked overjoyed, seemingly very receptive to the big picture Xiao He painted.

Hmm, not bad, not bad.

Xiao He finally felt some of the joy of being a boss. Confidently, he put his hands behind his back and left with coolness.

However, the next day, looking at the pre-approved amount, Xiao He still felt a bit of a sting.

Running such a large company really meant spending money on everything.

He had been working so hard to earn money, so why did it always feel like there wasn't enough whenever he needed to use it?

Xiao He quickly inspected the several important projects currently primarily handled by Linghui Entertainment—

"Cangyue Calamity," one of the co-produced projects, was still airing hotly. The capital recovery speed was quite fast, and it was already in a profitable state.

"Record of Chasing the Wind," also a co-production, was scheduled to be released during the summer vacation. They were currently negotiating with advertisers. As long as it didn't crash and burn, it would definitely make money.

"Public Enemy Number One," this variety show just finished recording not long ago and was expected to be released this month. The situation was unknown, good or bad. The probability of recovering the invested funds was uncertain, but there was a guaranteed minimum.

"Super Spacetime Confrontation," the biggest production sci-fi film, was currently burning through money intensely. Every day, it was either burning big money or small money. It could burn money when there was money, and it could still burn when there wasn't. In short, one word: "Painful!"

Xiao He clutched his chest.

Some things just aren't meant for you to touch!

What a painful realization~~~~~

But then, Xiao He remembered the System he had forgotten in some corner.

"Almost forgot I have my retirement fund over here too."

Xiao He patted his forehead and opened his System interface.

However, this time when he opened it, the long-unseen System interface surprisingly entered a loading screen.

—To be honest, this was only the second time Xiao He had seen the System's loading screen.

The first time was when the System bound to him. Back then, Xiao He had just woken up and gotten off his dormitory bed, only to see a strange progress bar floating before his eyes. He thought he had ruined his eyes from staying up all night gaming and had developed floaters.

Of course, it was later proven his eyes were fine. His vision hadn't deteriorated to nearsightedness despite years of exposure to electronic products.

But Xiao He found it a bit strange.

The last time the System upgraded, this initial interface didn't appear. Why was it showing up this time?

He hadn't done much recently, had he? At most, his recent point growth had indeed been too fast.

A while ago, the domestic box office for "No Bait" had basically stabilized. Based on current projections, its total box office upon ending its theatrical run would probably be around 3.8 billion, directly breaking the May Day season box office historical record of the past five years. The only question was whether, with an extended release, it would eventually have a chance to break the 4 billion mark.

The only slight regret now might be that the current overall movie market ultimately isn't as strong as it was in the past. A large portion of this box office came from contributions by Xiao He's fans, and there was also a group of repeat viewers willing to pay for "No Bait's" plot, watching it twice, three times... Ultimately, the audience willing to spend money on this genre of film was basically all here. For the rest, it's currently very hard to persuade them to spend money to enter a cinema and pay for a movie ticket.

After all, it's a fact that it's hard to cater to all tastes.

So Xiao He was already very satisfied with this.

As for the overseas market box office, it was even more explosive than the domestic one.

Xiao He truly made a powerful appearance in front of global movie fans this time. His points had been rising at an extremely exaggerated rate since "No Bait's" release. Now, they were actually about to reach another million-point threshold.

You have to understand, the last threshold took him over a year, nearly two years.

And this current threshold, he spent less than half a year! Just a few months!

What terrifying influence!

Xiao He even boldly fantasized, if he became a world superstar in the future, wouldn't he be able to draw from the High-level Prize Pool twice a year?

—Of course, just thinking about it, that's probably impossible.

This time, Xiao He expanded his global fame through "No Bait," so many movie fans, after learning his name, went looking for his many previous works.

Therefore, these points Xiao He has now, rather than being brought to him all at once by "No Bait," are better described as his past works, every step he seriously accumulated in the past, all becoming the foundation for people from various countries to know him now and create points for him.

Every step he took in the past counted.