Chapter 3: Shen Qinghan, whose heart was shaken

To the company employees, Shen Qinghan, the second-largest shareholder, represented a mysterious existence.

Simply because the clothes she wore, the accessories she had, and even the car she drove were things ordinary people couldn't afford even after struggling for several lifetimes.

An investment of 30 million Federation Credits, she invested it just like that.

After investing, she didn't participate in the project's production at all, handing it over entirely to Zhao Ming to manage.

This was the kind of investor many people dreamed of.

But with such a big thing happening...

The receptionist sighed inwardly, fearing that General Manager Shen had no way either, as the time was too short.

The "Anti-War Competition" was starting in nine days.

What could be made in nine days?

Match-three?

Shen Qinghan heard the receptionist's words, her brows furrowed:

"I see."

She then looked toward Zhao Ming's office. This matter had indeed come too suddenly, and Shen Qinghan also knew that this investment was 80% likely to be down the drain.

To her, these 30 million Federation Credits were nothing, but she was afraid Zhao Ming wouldn't be able to handle it.

In this era, there was no such thing as a technical gap.

As long as you had enough money, you could dump it into the photonic supercomputing cluster to buy computing power, and any kind of game, effect, or detail could be made.

"Cyber Blue Star: 2077," plus her investment, excluding the server rental, only had 50 million Federation Credits used for game production.

And the "Ruined Future: 2100" plagiarized by the Emperor Penguin Group had a basic investment of 500 million Federation Credits. Shen Qinghan compared the various details and visuals that had been leaked.

It was much better than their "Cyber Blue Star: 2077."

In this situation, launching it was just waiting to be scolded. A cross-federation group like Emperor Penguin could drag them to death easily.

However...

If he couldn't even withstand this little blow... forget it, let's see the situation first.

Shen Qinghan walked toward the office where Zhao Ming was.

She knocked on Zhao Ming's office door, and Zhao Ming's voice came from inside:

"Come in."

It didn't sound like he was having a breakdown; on the contrary, it sounded quite normal.

This made many employees in the office breathe a sigh of relief.

As long as the boss was still alive.

Only Hao Wen, the employee who designed the game's core plot, had flickering eyes.

He listened to Zhao Ming's voice, feeling suspicious and uncertain.

How could he be like nothing had happened?

Could it be that this game still had some core, or something that could turn the tables, that Zhao Ming hadn't revealed?

Shen Qinghan outside the door was also a bit surprised.

This...

It sounded like he was fine?

Shen Qinghan pushed open the door and walked in. The other employees in the office looked toward the office, especially the guilty Hao Wen, who caught a glimpse of Zhao Ming operating something on the computer.

Then the office door closed, cutting off all sight and sound.

This made Hao Wen feel inexplicably panicked.

——

Inside the office.

Zhao Ming, sitting in the boss's chair, moved his gaze away from the screen and looked up at the person who had entered.

What came into view was Shen Qinghan's perpetually cold face.

Memories related to Shen Qinghan were immediately flipped through.

Shen Qinghan.

President of the student council when Zhao Ming was in college.

Two years ahead of Zhao Ming.

Rumor had it that her family background was mysterious; no one knew exactly what it was, but she definitely wasn't short of money.

In school, there were rumors of Shen Qinghan investing in some students.

It was just that the amounts varied.

If the original owner hadn't calculated that the gap was too large, he wouldn't have thought of asking Shen Qinghan for investment.

But what the original owner didn't expect was that the process was very smooth.

The original owner listed the design concept and attractive points of "Cyber Blue Star: 2077," and after explaining it to Shen Qinghan, he easily obtained the 30 million investment.

Until yesterday, everything had been very smooth...

Seeing Shen Qinghan walk in, Zhao Ming stood up and gestured for her to sit on the sofa:

"Senior."

This was a financier, so he couldn't be negligent.

Moreover...

Half of the lost money was Shen Qinghan's.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ming couldn't help but feel a toothache.

Zhao Ming walked over and sat down, pressing a button on the coffee table. There was a set of equipment inside the coffee table that could provide hot or cold drinks at any time.

Soon, two cups of coffee rose from inside the coffee table.

Shen Qinghan nodded, scanned the room, and then looked at Zhao Ming:

"I was worried you wouldn't be able to withstand the blow."

"It seems I was overthinking it."

This kind of being plagiarized by a large group and eventually going bankrupt was common in this era, but there was no way around it; they were just better than you and spent more money than you.

If you wanted to incite players to criticize them, the players might not even be willing...

Who knew how many entrepreneurs had jumped off buildings.

Now, seeing Zhao Ming's relaxed expression, Shen Qinghan felt relieved and asked curiously:

"Looking at you, you don't seem to have been hit hard."

"Does 'Cyber Blue Star: 2077' have any hidden gameplay that the Emperor Penguin Group didn't plagiarize?"

Except for some gameplay that could turn the tables, Shen Qinghan really couldn't figure out why Zhao Ming was so calm.

However.

Zhao Ming shook his head and shrugged indifferently:

"No."

"'Cyber Blue Star: 2077' is definitely finished; taking it out won't beat Emperor Penguin."

"Fortunately, the copyright is in hand."

"They clearly made their fortune by participating in the 'Anti-War Competition,' yet after all these years, they haven't developed anything new, relying entirely on plagiarizing others' things for profit."

"I can't deal with them now, but when I have the chance, I must destroy them."

Shen Qinghan's mouth twitched slightly, and her beautiful eyes rolled.

She gave Zhao Ming a big eye-roll.

Many people wanted to deal with Emperor Penguin, but after all these years, none had succeeded.

"You'd better talk about what to do now."

"I invested 30 million."

"What do you plan to do?"

Zhao Ming's face stiffened, and he coughed twice:

"Senior."

"You shouldn't be short of that 30 million... right?"

Shen Qinghan was also expressionless, not speaking, just staring at Zhao Ming.

Under this gaze, Zhao Ming quickly conceded:

"Alright, alright, I've already thought of a way."

He had wanted to be cheeky, but this person was too cold.

Who could stand marrying her?

Tsk...

Then Zhao Ming explained to Shen Qinghan:

"I thought about 'Cyber Blue Star: 2077' carefully; it could indeed attract a lot of attention, and maybe even get a ranking."

"But this kind of innovative game always has a couple popping up every year."

"Players get bored after playing for a while."

"In the end, it's aesthetic fatigue. If we want to break the deadlock, we can only bring a different kind of game to this world."

"The 'Anti-War Competition' has been organized for so many years, they've long forgotten the original intention."

"The purpose of the 'Anti-War Competition' is, of course, anti-war."

"Then how to be anti-war?"

"It must be to let players participate and experience the cruelty of war."

"So I decided to start from this direction."

"Develop a multiplayer online competitive shooting game."

Zhao Ming said solemnly.

It only earned a long silence; Shen Qinghan stared at Zhao Ming speechlessly.

After a while.

"That's it?"

Zhao Ming was a bit confused and nodded:

"That's it."

"Isn't this enough?"

Turn a WWII film into a game, let players feel like cannon fodder, watching the comrade next to them get shot in the head, blood splattering all over them, their stomach blown open with a huge hole and intestines spilling out while they crawl around.

In this situation, who would still look forward to war?

Shen Qinghan's forehead throbbed, and she couldn't help but clench her fists:

"With this crappy idea of yours, no one has done it for two hundred years."

"Now everyone uses computing power to create virtual worlds, mechs, interstellar warships, or even virtual myth worlds with investments of tens of billions of Federation Credits."

"Who would play this kind of old-fashioned shooting game?"

Hearing this, Zhao Ming understood, and then explained:

"It's different. Mechs, warships, myths—these are fictional in reality, except for interstellar warships which are slightly possible; even the mech mode isn't suitable for combat."

"No one is stupid enough to make that stuff."

"Technology in this society is developing rapidly, but maintaining public order still relies on the military and firearms."

"And the game I'm making is to bring players the most realistic experience."

"And things they have never experienced before."

Hearing this, Shen Qinghan was so angry she laughed:

"A shooting game, and you think you can do something fancy?"

"The 'Anti-War Competition' has been held for three hundred years."

"Shooting games were played out in the first hundred years."

"What can you bring to players that they haven't experienced?"

"Retro?"

Zhao Ming shook his head:

"No."

Looking directly into Shen Qinghan's eyes, Shen Qinghan felt a tremor in her heart for no reason, and Zhao Ming's mouth curled up:

"It's war."

War?!

These two words hit Shen Qinghan's mind like a heavy hammer.

Promoting war in the "Anti-War Competition"?

How dare he?! ===== CHAPTER 4 =====