Zhang Mingzhi.
He was a mysterious figure, absent from both Baidu Baike and Wikipedia.
Of course, Zhang Mingzhi was no ordinary person.
Kobayashi Tetsu might not have recognized anyone else, but this man was special.
In 1988, Capcom in the original timeline had released an adult game under a shell company called Mahjong School.
At the time, Capcom was broke from pouring money into the CPS1 motherboard and needed to make adult games to recoup their losses. Mahjong School was one of those games.
When Mahjong School reached Taiwan, local companies also began learning from it, producing their own adult games.
Softstar was founded that very year.
Both Soft-World and Softstar released numerous adult games that year, though they were developed for PC.
Unlike the newly formed Softstar, Soft-World was not yet a game company. To get into game development, they launched an event called the Golden Disk Competition.
Many people began creating games and submitting them to Soft-World as a result.
Among the submissions was a clone game also titled Mahjong School, which completely copied Capcom's original. The author of this game was Zhang Mingzhi.
If it had ended there, Kobayashi Tetsu would never have remembered Zhang Mingzhi's name. But the key was what Soft-World did next—something completely absurd.
After graduating from college, Zhang Mingzhi submitted his resume to Soft-World, hoping to join the company.
By all accounts, he should have been hired without a hitch. He was a graduate of NTU's Information Engineering Department, had won a place in Soft-World's first Golden Disk Award, and had even released a game. His internal evaluation at Soft-World was extremely high.
Soft-World was impressed, but they rejected Zhang Mingzhi.
Their reason was that his qualifications were too high. They were looking for associate degree holders, but Zhang Mingzhi had a bachelor's degree, and Soft-World was unwilling to spend extra funds on recruitment at that time.
Ultimately, Zhang Mingzhi never joined Soft-World. Instead, he went to another company. After a few years of drifting, he joined IEI Integration Corp, which had a subsidiary called QNAP. QNAP didn't make games but provided hardware services, and it was a formidable player in Taiwan.
Zhang Mingzhi had worked his way up to become the general manager of QNAP. With just a small five-person team, he had developed the very first NAS array on the entire island of Taiwan.
It truly went to show how knowledge could change one's destiny. If Zhang Mingzhi had gone to a vocational college instead of NTU, he probably would have ended up at Soft-World.
But if he had gone to a vocational college, he wouldn't have had the skills to create a clone of Strip Mahjong, and he wouldn't have had the chance to send his resume to Soft-World in the first place.
Kobayashi Tetsu could only say, What a cruel twist of fate!
He didn't know much about Zhang Mingzhi's life story, only a bit about his history with Soft-World. Seeing Zhang Mingzhi in person now, Kobayashi Tetsu felt a wave of emotion.
"Making games is great, but it's no easy feat."
Kobayashi Tetsu said casually, "Can I see the game you're working on?"
Zhang Mingzhi suddenly looked embarrassed.
"Um, it's not finished yet—"
"That's fine. I'll just take a look."
"Uh—"
Zhang Mingzhi became even more awkward.
It wasn't that he didn't want to show Kobayashi Tetsu; it was just that he couldn't!
Kobayashi Tetsu turned to the school officials and bowed politely.
The dinner arrangements could wait; he was much more interested in Zhang Mingzhi right now.
After saying his goodbyes to the school officials, Kobayashi Tetsu went to Zhang Mingzhi's place. The moment he saw the game, he understood why Zhang Mingzhi had been so reluctant to let him see it.
It was truly unwatchable.
Originally, Zhang Mingzhi had been copying Capcom. But now that Kobayashi Tetsu had acquired Capcom, the company was flush with cash and would never produce such pornographic games. So, Zhang Mingzhi had turned to copying the game Tetsu himself had made, Kobayashi Blocks. However, it was a pornographic version: every time a line was cleared, the character on the screen would reveal a suggestive image.
Zhang Mingzhi tilted his head, trying his best not to look at Kobayashi Tetsu's face.
Kobayashi Tetsu was completely speechless.
"Actually, adding adult content isn't out of the question. It's an understandable tactic to attract players," he said, avoiding the topic of the game itself. Instead, he casually examined the equipment Zhang Mingzhi was using to develop the game.
This was the only game Zhang Mingzhi had ever made. His programming skills were mediocre at best; his true talent lay in hardware.
As luck would have it—or rather, as a remarkable coincidence—Atlas was bound to enter the hardware industry sooner or later.
Kobayashi Tetsu studied the setup for a moment before turning back to Zhang Mingzhi.
"This game actually has some interesting ideas," Kobayashi Tetsu said casually, "but I think instead of submitting it to Soft-World, you should try a different approach. Occasionally, Atlas takes on outsourcing work. You could try taking on some of those projects. While Atlas won't publish a game like this, it's still a better way to build your reputation than making an erotic game."
He offered a word of encouragement: "To be able to do all this on your own... I believe you have talent. You're just not quite there yet. You can continue to hone your skills at school and maintain a good reputation. After you graduate, you're welcome to apply to Atlas."
Zhang Mingzhi gasped, sucking in a mouthful of air.
Something like this could actually happen?
He hadn't even started school yet, and he was already being scouted?
But Kobayashi Tetsu's expression was so certain: "Judging by the small, I can see the big picture. I believe your future will be even more brilliant."
Zhang Mingzhi was on the verge of tears.
He didn't even believe he had this kind of potential himself!
He immediately bowed deeply.
"Mr. Kobayashi, thank you so much for your encouragement! I won't continue working on this game. If it's within my power, I will do my best to complete any outsourcing work you give me."
At this moment, he looked at Kobayashi Tetsu as if he were seeing his dream lover.
Having settled an unexpected matter, Kobayashi Tetsu was in a good mood.
Of course, this was a long-term play, as he wouldn't have any use for Zhang Mingzhi for at least four years.
However, considering Zhang Mingzhi's future achievements, Kobayashi Tetsu was still willing to make this investment.
After all, hardware work was much more difficult than software work!
And it wasn't just a little bit harder!
Kobayashi Tetsu felt that four years was a worthwhile investment to secure a crucial future ally. After all, he would still be under thirty in four years anyway!
Inside the room, the landline rang, and Kobayashi Tetsu answered it casually.
"President!"
On the other end of the line, Naka Yuji spoke concisely.
"The Sega MD pre-announcement is out. The MD will officially launch in October! It will be released in the North American market first, followed by Japan two weeks later!"
Kobayashi Tetsu's expression instantly turned serious.
"I'm almost ready to head back myself. How's the progress over at Atlus?"
"The game development is complete. It's ready to go live at any time!"
Kobayashi Tetsu nodded inwardly.
So, we can finally start working in North America.
"I have to go to North America sooner or later," Kobayashi Tetsu said. "Get your things together, pick a few people, get your visas sorted as quickly as possible, and meet me in San Francisco!"
Although they didn't have cell phones, as long as they could contact the Atlus Company headquarters or the Sega US branch, there was no chance of getting lost.
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