Chapter 5: I'm Truly Ashamed to Scam an Idiot's Money
Kiana's words were the definition of "speaking to astonish."
As soon as she finished her sentence, Su Mu was dumbfounded, and Bronya nearly fainted on the spot.
Just yesterday, after persistent pestering from Kiana, Bronya had reluctantly agreed to try and publish Su Mu's game. In fact, she had planned to ask Su Mu about the relevant details today.
But the moment Kiana showed her face today, her words nearly made Bronya cough up blood.
What on earth?
Su Mu felt as if his ears were playing tricks on him. What did the "Tuna" just say? Not enough money? We have to add more?
He nearly fell into character as a "Money-Adding Layman," automatically imagining the classic meme scene: *"He's my dearest friend and relative... so you've got to add more money!"*
But he snapped out of it quickly. The "adding money" Kiana referred to... was the production budget for the game!
Except, twenty-two million... the jump in the amount was simply too large, wasn't it?
It was no wonder Su Mu thought his ears had failed him. Two million was by no means a small sum! At the very least, for the game currently in Su Mu's hands, such a budget was an astronomical figure! It felt like trying to sell a cheap knock-off at the price of a priceless antique.
Seeing the shocked expressions on Su Mu and Bronya's faces, Kiana became even more smug. That was two million! As long as Su Mu lost this sum, she would get twenty million back! Wuhu! With twenty million, her journey to becoming the richest person would truly take its first real step!
She began to fantasize about using her "brilliant wit" to successfully lose her way to wealth, imagining the glorious moment she would show off in front of her "stinky old man."
But obviously, the "Tuna" was overthinking it.
"Kiana..."
Bronya looked at Kiana with an utterly speechless expression, her face morphing directly into the familiar (ᗜ˰ᗜ) look. Clearly, she was completely helpless against Kiana's antics.
"Are you here to cause trouble?"
Kiana was stunned. "Eh? Why?"
Bronya's mouth twitched. Please, that's two million! Two million! Didn't Kiana know what two million meant for the current miHoYo? Even though Bronya had her own small "vault" saved up over the years, spending two million on a game of this quality... she could only conclude that Kiana was truly lightheaded!
Su Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry; he could tell Kiana was serious. As a veteran Captain of many years, he was naturally well-acquainted with Kiana's reckless and impulsive personality. It was precisely because of this that he had been so surprised to learn Kiana was the President of miHoYo.
Not to belittle her, but Kiana's most suitable job was really being a "white-haired mascot." With her reckless nature, there was no telling how much trouble she might cause. Looking at Bronya, it was clear she had been rendered speechless by Kiana many times before.
Two million—that was two million! For an ordinary person, having two million meant they could put it in the bank, find a small place to "lie flat," and live comfortably for the rest of their lives. But in the mouth of this "Tuna," it sounded like two hundred bucks.
"Uh..."
Su Mu couldn't understand Kiana's logic for a moment. He had heard of bosses suppressing budgets, but never of a boss claiming the budget wasn't high enough and insisting on adding more.
But the problem was, where would he even add to the budget? There was nowhere to put it. Su Mu had already finished the game; it was only one step away from being listed on the market. Was he supposed to remake the entire game from scratch?
As for taking the two million from Kiana and embezzling a portion through some scheme... sorry, he had absolutely no interest in that.
Because he was truly ashamed to scam an idiot's money.
*"She's a complete 'more money than brains' sucker who glows like a beacon as she walks down the street."*
Su Mu couldn't help but criticize her internally as he looked at her. At the same time, he felt like a true "model youth" raised under the red flag; facing such a sucker and not being tempted proved he really had a conscience.
Su Mu shrugged. "Boss, this game is basically finished. That two thousand yuan was just to pay for some copyright fees related to the models..."
Kiana scratched her head. "Uh... what do you mean?"
Bronya explained, "It means the production cost is low, and there's no need for such a high budget."
Su Mu nodded. "Yeah, even if you want to add money, there's no place to spend it, Boss."
Bronya looked at Su Mu with some surprise. She hadn't expected him to be so honest. She had known for a long time that Kiana was a fool, and Su Mu clearly realized it too, yet he showed self-awareness. This improved Bronya's impression of Su Mu. His abilities aside, at least in terms of character, Su Mu was decent.
"Eh? Really? Is that true!?"
It was as if Kiana had been struck by lightning. She slumped down on the spot like a salted fish. She felt as though she was watching a mountain of gold sprout wings and fly away.
"But... but I checked yesterday. Doesn't game production require a lot of staff and capital? Isn't it normal for art and music to cost hundreds of thousands or even millions? miHoYo doesn't have the technology for that, so we should be spending money on outsourcing, right?"
Kiana was still unwilling to give up.
Su Mu felt a bit awkward. Kiana's words weren't wrong, but the problem was... he was only making *Getting Over It* right now! Since he had come to this world, Su Mu naturally intended to create that beautiful girl game, *Honkai Impact 3rd*. Otherwise, he would truly be letting down his ten years as a veteran Captain!
He was already writing the planning proposal, but one must eat one bite at a time, and trust must be built step by step. If he tried to make a large-scale 3D action "waifu" game right off the bat, any sane person would think he was out of his mind.
Besides, could the current miHoYo really withstand that kind of "money burning"? Wouldn't it be better to make a small game first and earn some capital?
But as for Kiana's mention of outsourcing... For the art team, he had done all the work himself! What would he outsource? Paying someone else for a high-definition remake of a man in a cauldron? Even with money, you don't waste it like that.
Seeing the "white-haired Tuna" deflate, Su Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Bronya. Clearly, in the game industry, Bronya knew much more than Kiana.
Actually, it was normal. Su Mu had heard of Bronya's name even in this world. It was said she was once a member of Anti-Entropy Entertainment and was the successor favored by Welt Yang himself to be the next Chairman.
But more than game production, Bronya's greatest talent lay in Artificial Intelligence. She had once developed Project Bunny 19C, which possessed extremely powerful functions. Anti-Entropy had once invested heavily in it, but for unknown reasons, the team disbanded.
Bronya then announced her departure from Anti-Entropy and founded miHoYo Studio. Although she quickly gathered a following based on her reputation, in a city as large as Arc City, miHoYo was truly just an obscure little studio.
Su Mu had also tried *HOMU Matching*. To be fair, while it was indeed boring, for the game industry of this world, it was actually a high-quality game. However, Arc City was a place where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, and a normal person couldn't afford it. The investment for the studio had come entirely out of Bronya's own pocket. She had accumulated a considerable amount of savings at Anti-Entropy, but she still couldn't withstand this kind of constant spending.
END OF CHAPTER