In the eyes of the company's employees, Shen Qinghan, the second largest shareholder, represented a mysterious existence.
This was simply because the things she wore and used, and even the car she drove, were things that ordinary people couldn't afford even after striving for several lifetimes.
A 30 million federal currency investment, she invested it just like that.
After investing, she didn't participate in the project's production at all, entrusting everything to Zhao Ming's management.
How many people dreamed of having such an investor?
It's just that such a big incident occurred....
The receptionist sighed internally, probably even Shen Qinghan couldn't do anything about it, after all, the time was too short.
The Anti-War Competition was starting in nine days.
What could possibly be made in nine days?
Match-three games?
Hearing the receptionist's words, Shen Qinghan frowned:
"I understand."
Then she looked in the direction of Zhao Ming's office. This matter had indeed come too suddenly, and Shen Qinghan also knew that this investment was likely going down the drain.
For her, 30 million federal currency was nothing, but she was afraid Zhao Ming couldn't handle it.
In this era, there was no such thing as a technological gap.
As long as there was enough money, throwing it into the Photon Supercomputing Cluster to purchase computing power, any kind of game, effect, or detail could be created.
cyber blue star: 2077, plus her investment, after deducting server rentals, only had 50 million federal currency for game production.
As for "ruin future: 2100", which the Penguin Group had copied, the basic investment alone was 500 million federal currency. Shen Qinghan compared the various details and visuals that had been revealed.
It was immeasurably better than their cyber blue star: 2077.
Launching under such circumstances was just waiting to be cursed at. A transnational corporation like Penguin Group could easily drag them down.
However....
If he couldn't even withstand this level of setback... forget it, let's see the situation first before deciding.
Shen Qinghan lifted her leg and walked towards the office where Zhao Ming was.
She knocked on the door of Zhao Ming's office, and Zhao Ming's voice came from inside:
"Come in."
He didn't sound like he was collapsing at all, but rather quite normal.
This made many employees in the office breathe a sigh of relief.
It's enough that the boss is still alive.
Only Hao Wen, the employee who designed the core plot of the game, had flickering eyes.
Listening to Zhao Ming's voice, he was filled with surprise and uncertainty.
How can he act like nothing happened?
Could it be that this game had some core or something that could turn the tide, which Zhao Ming hadn't revealed?
Shen Qinghan outside the door was also a bit surprised.
This....
He sounds fine?
Shen Qinghan pushed open the door and walked in. The employees in the other offices all looked towards the office, especially the guilty Hao Wen, who glimpsed Zhao Ming operating something on the computer.
Then the office door closed, cutting off all sight and sound.
This made Hao Wen feel inexplicably flustered.
—
Inside the office.
Zhao Ming, sitting in the boss's chair, moved his gaze from the screen and looked up at the person who entered.
What came into view was Shen Qinghan's perpetually cold face.
Memories related to Shen Qinghan were instantly brought up.
Shen Qinghan.
Zhao Ming's Student Union President during university.
She was two years ahead of Zhao Ming.
Rumor had it that her family background was mysterious, and no one knew the specifics, but she definitely wasn't short on money.
There were rumors of Shen Qinghan investing in some students while she was at school.
The amounts varied, being large or small.
The original owner wouldn't have thought of looking for Shen Qinghan for investment unless he had calculated it and found the difference was too great.
But what the original owner didn't expect was that the process went very smoothly.
After the original owner listed the design concepts and attractive points of cyber blue star: 2077 and explained them to Shen Qinghan, he easily secured the 30 million investment.
Everything had been going smoothly until yesterday....
Seeing Shen Qinghan walk in, Zhao Ming stood up and motioned for her to sit on the sofa:
"Senior."
This was the backer, couldn't be negligent.
Moreover....
Half of the money lost belonged to Shen Qinghan.
Thinking of this, Zhao Ming couldn't help but wince.
Zhao Ming walked over and sat down, pressing a lit button on the coffee table. There was a set of equipment inside the coffee table that could provide hot and cold drinks at any time.
Soon, two cups of coffee rose from inside the coffee table.
Shen Qinghan nodded, scanned the surroundings, and then looked at Zhao Ming:
"I was worried you couldn't handle the blow."
"It seems I was overthinking."
Being copied by large corporations and ultimately going bankrupt was common in this era, but there was nothing that could be done. They simply did it better than you and threw more money at it.
If you wanted to incite players to curse them, the players might not even be willing....
Countless entrepreneurs had jumped off buildings.
Now, seeing Zhao Ming's relaxed expression, Shen Qinghan finally felt relieved, and she asked with some curiosity:
"Looking at you, you don't seem affected."
"Does cyber blue star: 2077 have any hidden gameplay that the Penguin Group didn't copy?"
Other than some gameplay that could turn the tide, 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 ruined. We can't compete with Penguin Group even if we release it."
"Fortunately, we have the copyright."
"They also started out by participating in the Anti-War Competition, but after all these years, they haven't developed anything new and rely entirely on copying others to profit."
"We can't deal with them now, but when we get the chance, we must destroy them."
Shen Qinghan's mouth twitched slightly, and she rolled her beautiful eyes.
She gave Zhao Ming a big eye roll.
Many people wanted to take on the Penguin Empire, but how many had succeeded over the years?
"You should talk about what to do now."
"I invested 30 million."
"What are you planning to do?"
Zhao Ming's expression stiffened, and he lightly coughed twice:
"Senior."
"You probably don't lack those 30 million... right?"
Shen Qinghan remained expressionless, not speaking, just staring at Zhao Ming.
Under that gaze, Zhao Ming quickly conceded:
"Alright, alright, I've already thought of a way."
He originally wanted to mess around a bit, 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 can indeed attract a lot of attention and might even win some rankings."
"But games with novelty like this always pop up one or two every year."
"Players get tired of them after playing for a while."
"Ultimately, it's aesthetic fatigue. If we want to break the deadlock, we can only bring something different 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, to oppose war."
"So, how do we oppose war?"
"It's definitely by letting 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 finished speaking solemnly.
He only received a long period of silence in return. Shen Qinghan stared at Zhao Ming with a speechless expression.
....
....
After a while.
"That's it?"
Zhao Ming was a bit confused and nodded:
"That's it."
"Isn't that enough?"
Turning World War II movies into a game, letting players experience the feeling of being cannon fodder, watching their comrades next to them get headshot, blood splattering all over them, their stomachs blown open with intestines spilling out and crawling everywhere.
Under such circumstances, who would still look forward to war?
An anger mark appeared on Shen Qinghan's forehead, and she couldn't help but clench her fists:
"No one has pursued your lousy idea for two hundred years."
"Now, everyone is using computing power to create virtual worlds, like mechs, interstellar warships, or even virtual mythological worlds with investments of hundreds of millions of federal currency."
"Who would play such an old-fashioned shooting game?"
Hearing this, Zhao Ming understood and then explained:
"It's different. Mechs, warships, mythology – these, except perhaps interstellar warships, are fictional in reality. The mech design isn't suitable for combat either."
"No one would be foolish enough to make that."
"Technology in this society is developing rapidly, but maintaining order still relies on the military and firearms."
"And the game I'm making is meant to give players the most realistic experience."
"And something they've never experienced before."
Hearing this, Shen Qinghan was so angry she laughed:
"A shooting game? What kind of tricks can you pull off with that?"
"The Anti-War Competition has been held for three hundred years."
"Shooting games were played to death in the first hundred years."
"What can you give players that they haven't experienced?"
"Retro?"
Zhao Ming shook his head:
"No."
He looked directly into Shen Qinghan's eyes. For some reason, Shen Qinghan's heart trembled slightly. Zhao Ming's lips curled up:
"It's war."
War?!
These two words struck Shen Qinghan's mind like a heavy hammer.
Promoting war in the Anti-War Competition?
How dare he?!