The mid-July heatwave was completely shut out by the military-grade central air-conditioning on the top floor of Arc City Tower.
Pushing open that heavy frosted-glass door, the metal logo of "miHoYo Entertainment Co., Ltd." gleamed with a brand-new, expensive luster under the cool-toned lighting.
Eden's spending power produced immediate results — in less than a week, this place had officially become the starting point of Su Yu's dream.
Su Yu stood at the doorway, his gaze sweeping past the spacious lobby and across this domain that belonged to him.
In the independent office on the left-hand side, the blinds were half-drawn.
Kevin was sitting in that six-figure ergonomic chair, his suit jacket slung casually over the chair back.
He held a cup of iced Americano, his eyes level on the floor-to-ceiling window ahead of him, and on the desk sat a bowl of instant noodles that clashed utterly with the whole aesthetic.
With no unreasonable supervisor around, his perpetually iceberg-cold face actually betrayed a trace of the serenity that belonged to a domineering CEO.
In the open-plan art area, Nuwa was sticking her rear out, ever so carefully tucking a long-discontinued Homu figurine onto the very top shelf of the display case.
Her tight pencil skirt traced out full, rounded curves with each movement, the hem riding up slightly to reveal a length of fair thigh.
The motion-capture zone, by contrast, was all grim solemnity.
Fu Hua, wearing a gray training outfit, was crouched on the floor meticulously inspecting the seams between the high-density crash mats.
Ma Feima was frantically flexing his biceps in front of the full-length mirror covering an entire wall, as if he were about to head off to a bodybuilding competition the very next second.
Cheng Lingshuang was curled up like a cat on the beanbag sofa in the lounge area, seemingly already sunk into a deep sleep.
Lin Zhaoyu held a sheaf of reports in her hand, fiercely cross-checking the promotion budget with Su Mei; with every step Su Mei took, that figure-hugging business suit traced out a dangerous sway between her waist and hips.
Su Yu drew his gaze back and pinched the bridge of his brow.
Before his retina, the familiar semi-transparent light-screen popped up without any warning, bearing that garish red, bolded font characteristic of the System.
[System Rating: S-rank (One must admit, the power of money has exceeded this System's threshold of imagination.)]
[Reward settlement complete: a large sum of dedicated Shenzhou currency has been wired into the studio's corporate account. Note: these funds are limited solely to the studio's daily expenses and project R&D; misappropriation for personal use is strictly prohibited.]
Su Yu twitched the corner of his mouth.
A Schrödinger's tycoon.
Looking at that long string of zeros in the corporate account — enough to buy a yacht — and then thinking about how he'd most likely still be eating Shaxian Snacks for lunch, this sense of being torn in two really made his scalp tingle.
[Facility black-tech upgrade complete.]
[Bonus Status One: Energy Recovery Aura — the rate at which employees' fatigue value rises is slowed by 50%.]
[Bonus Status Two: Mood Pleasantness Aura — work environment satisfaction is locked at "Excellent."]
Good grief.
Su Yu silently flipped a middle finger in his heart.
You really are a wicked capitalist!
This was to squeeze this herd of "beasts of burden" to death, making them smile as they hammered their keyboards until they smoked.
The light-screen wasn't done yet; the last line flickered with a glaring red glow.
[Territory Privilege Unlocked: Absolute Lord Mode.]
[Description: Within the bounds of the miHoYo studio, the Host's combat power rating shall be locked at "No Upper Limit." Any physical/energy form of attack will be nullified.]
Su Yu stared at this line for a full three seconds.
Was this afraid that once I made games down the line and dealt out heartbreak too brutally, enraged players would come crawling down the network cable to PK me in the flesh?
He let out a helpless sigh.
Whether or not it would ever come in handy was up for debate, but having such an absolute safe zone did indeed put his mind considerably more at ease.
But none of this was what truly made him heave a sigh of relief.
He lifted his head, his gaze passing over the work area and landing precisely on that panoramic glass office beside the motion-capture floor, marked "CTO."
[Home base certification successful.]
[Rule change: Within the bounds of the miHoYo studio and Su Yu's residence, the distance restriction on the bond target "Kiana Kaslana" is temporarily lifted, and the Host going out will not affect Kiana's existential status.]
This meant that when Kiana was at the studio, just as at home and the Inch Heart Dojo, she could move about free from restrictions of distance and time.
Following her home and the Inch Heart Dojo, Kiana had finally conquered yet another territory — the miHoYo game studio in the heart of downtown Arc City.
How gratifying, how gratifying indeed.
"That's it?" Su Yu taunted inside his head. "I went to all this trouble to assemble such a crew, and this is all you give me? You actually think you're worthy of having me call you Godfather?"
[Shut up! Godfather's busy grilling skewers!]
[Special item dispensed: Aiyi Hyperion (Advanced Artificial Intelligence).]
[Item description: an AI capable of self-evolution, processing colossal computational data, and possessing a defined personality. She will serve as the studio's technical brain, perfectly concealing and rationalizing all of the Host's beyond-the-era black-tech methods.]
[System note: With her, you can now declare to others with a clear conscience: "This was all calculated by our in-house AI." To accommodate a Host who keeps getting caught out in his lies, this AI's origin is officially designated as "crafted by some top-tier expert in the field of artificial intelligence under the rich lady Eden's wing," so the Host can state without any burden the fact that he's living off the rich lady Eden's "soft rice."]
[Snark: Still dare to talk back, kid? Still dare to question your Godfather?]
Su Yu was now thoroughly satisfied.
A super-AI possessing extremely high computing power, able to plausibly cover up the System's whole set of black-tech game-making methods to perfection. And most crucially, it had even thoughtfully found a giant patron to account for this AI's origin.
As for this knack for borrowing a tiger's skin for a banner — one could only say this System had a vibe of having done this sort of thing plenty of times before.
Su Yu closed the light-screen and stretched lazily.
He had the System send Aiyi to Bronie, asking Bronie to help install her onto the studio's network system.
Kiana had only just entered the office a short while ago, and right now she was probably gawking around everywhere, sizing up her newly acquired space.
Su Yu waited a while, letting everyone come back to their senses from the excitement of moving into the new office, and then he stood up.
"Ahem."
Su Yu clapped his hands, the crisp sound echoing through the spacious office area.
"Everyone, Meeting Room One, get ready for a meeting."
Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and headed for the meeting room in high spirits.
Su Yu walked at the very back.
As he passed the Network Security Department, his gaze lingered for half a second on a row of enormous bookshelves set against the wall.
No one knew that behind that row of bookshelves hid a specially modified concealed door.
Inside, it was not only stuffed full of high-calorie snacks and Happy Water, but also housed a server array powerful enough to hack into half the city's traffic system.
That was the rabbit hole he'd reserved for a certain "Hack Bunny."
At this very moment Bronie was behind that door; for the sake of that pair of fools — Kiana and Su Yu — and their mutual game of "I hide it from you, you hide it from me," she still had to attend the upcoming meeting over the network under the identity of B.H.
The central meeting room.
The blinds lowered automatically, shutting the glaring sunlight outside, and the room lit up with a soft, cool glow.
At the enormous, elongated conference table, everyone took their seats one after another.
Kevin, holding that cup of not-yet-finished instant noodles, deftly sat down in the first seat to Su Yu's left.
Kiana pulled out a chair and sat down to Su Yu's right.
She clearly wasn't yet used to this kind of solemn occasion; her hands rested on her knees and her eyes drifted around with a hint of curiosity.
Fu Hua led her disciples to seats a little further off, while Su Mei habitually claimed a vantage point from which she could take in the whole situation.
Nuwa, on the other hand, didn't care in the slightest; she just grabbed a random seat and sat down, still clutching a tablet in her arms and muttering something under her breath.
At the meeting room's terminal, the enormous holographic projector lit up, and two clear light-figures congealed into shape over the seats — Miss Pink Elf Elysia making a finger-heart toward the camera, while Theresa kept her face stiffly set, trying to put on an air of dignity.
Bzzz—
Kiana looked at the two holographic projections, her eyes glittering, just like a curious cat.
Just then, the enormous screen directly ahead suddenly went dark.
There was no video footage, only a deep, pure-black background.
Immediately after, a line of fluorescent-green code cascaded down like a waterfall, finally freezing dead center on the screen, converging into two cold, hard letters.
[B.H]
The air in the meeting room stalled for a moment.
Kiana tilted her head, and the iconic ahoge atop her head wobbled along with it.
She stared at that code name on the screen, a flash of utterly defenseless puzzlement crossing her clear eyes.
This was that legendary network security expert who'd appeared before; she just hadn't expected that this expert wouldn't show up in the flesh for this meeting either.
Su Yu braced both hands on the cold surface of the conference table, his gaze sweeping over the familiar faces lining both sides of the long table.
The fluorescent-green code washed across the screen like a waterfall, finally freezing in place.
Su Yu stood at the head of the conference table, both hands braced on the tabletop, his gaze sweeping over everyone along both sides.
This was the founding crew of the miHoYo game studio.
Su Yu didn't waste words; everyone here was an old acquaintance, so there was no need for self-introductions or the like.
He got straight to the point.
"Everyone." He cleared his throat, his voice echoing through the spacious meeting room. "Welcome to the world of Honkai Impact 3rd."
As his words fell, the image on the screen switched in an instant.
It was a burning sky.
Atop the ruins, a white-haired girl gripped twin pistols, her gaze resolute as she looked toward the colossal shadow blotting out the heavens in the distance.
The narration came low and tragic — "This is a story about girls who fight for all that is beautiful in the world."
The brief teaser PV finished playing, and the meeting room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Kiana sat off to the side, looking at that familiar yet unfamiliar version of herself on screen, the ahoge atop her head trembling faintly as she unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes.
Su Yu pressed the remote, switching the image back to the dull progress chart.
"The current situation is," he said at a rapid clip, "we have already secured the world's most top-tier, and most authentic, Valkyrie motion-capture data."
He glanced at Fu Hua and Kiana.
"Thanks to the wholehearted support of the Tai Xu Sect."
Fu Hua pushed up her glasses and gave a slight nod.
"As for music and sound effects, Miss Eden has already taken it all on, producing several demos good enough to win a Grammy," Su Yu continued. "And as for the story script, the core framework of the first chapter has already been built out. As long as everything goes smoothly, we'll soon be able to put out a playable demo."
It sounded perfect.
It was practically a case of everything being ready, lacking only the east wind.
"I have a question."
Kevin's voice, cold and hard as if it had been frozen in a freezer for three days, mercilessly shattered this rosy vision.
This newly appointed CEO leaned back in his chair, his long legs crossed, his blazing gaze fixed on Su Yu.
"Su Yu."
Kevin's slender fingers rapped against the rosewood tabletop, producing a dull tok-tok sound.
"As a game studio, this blueprint of yours is grand indeed — funding's got Eden, motion-capture's got Fu Hua, promotion's got Elysia."
He paused, pointing at the empty several-hundred-square-meter open-plan space outside.
"But what about our programmers? Our architects? Our UI designers? We don't even have a single HR person. Do you intend to rely on the handful of us seated here to hammer out the code by sheer willpower?"
Right to the point.
This was Kevin's value.
He wouldn't be fooled by a painted pie; he only looked at the barest, boniest reality.
The atmosphere in the meeting room instantly turned cold.
Su Mei knitted her brows, and Nuwa stopped twirling her pen.
Su Yu, however, smiled.
The corner of his mouth curved into an arc of "it's all under control," looking exactly like the kind of mentor at a pyramid-scheme rally about to unveil the ultimate killer move.
"Kevin, your question is very professional."
Su Yu snapped his fingers.
"Security Chief, take over the main screen and open our CEO's eyes for him."
Inside the Hack Bunny's lair, Bronie, hiding behind her monitor, blew out a pink bubble of gum, popping it with a "pop."
"Roger, Boss, firewall downgraded, data stream loading."
Her fingertips became a blur across the holographic keyboard.
Bzzz—
The holographic projector in the center of the conference table emitted a high-frequency buzz.
A cluster of green light rapidly condensed and took shape in midair.
A few seconds later, a holographic image of a chibi little girl with green twin tails, wearing a strange sci-fi uniform, hovered above the center of the long table, looking for all the world like a cabbage that had become a spirit.
"Hello, Boss! Hello, all you working stiffs! This young lady is miHoYo's Chief Technology Officer and number-one idol, Aiyi Hyperion!"
The cabbage-head spun a circle in midair, then very affectedly tossed out a wink.
The meeting room once again sank into dead silence.
Ma Feima rubbed his eyes and, in a gruff voice, forced out a sentence: "President Su, this green little cabbage... is the solution you were talking about?"
"Don't judge a cabbage by its looks, Brother Ma." Su Yu rapped the table. "Aiyi, give them a demonstration."
"Hmph, foolish humans."
Aiyi folded her arms across her chest, and the next second, the lights of the entire meeting room abruptly dimmed.
Countless dense streams of code burst out from Aiyi's petite body, instantly carpeting the entire ceiling and the surrounding walls. The computation speed was so fast the naked eye couldn't possibly catch it; all one could see was a sea of green light surging wildly.
In merely under ten seconds, an extremely complex underlying physics-engine framework model for a game had been automatically generated on the screen.
"This..." B.H's shocked voice came through the speakers.
As a top-tier hacker, she understood better than anyone what this represented.
"This computing power... good God! The underlying logic of this thing completely surpasses the current technological generation! It just completed a month's worth of work from Arc City's supercomputing center in ten seconds!"
"That's right."
Su Yu watched everyone's jaws hit the floor with satisfaction.
"Aiyi Hyperion, the company's absolute core engine."
"With her assistance, all that tedious foundational code, framework construction, even later-stage debugging — she can complete it all automatically."
"She alone — or rather, one cabbage alone — can match a top-tier development team."
"Su Yu..." The corner of Kevin's eye twitched as he pointed at that cabbage-head still smugly swaying its hips in midair. "This thing... where did you get it?"
This was simply not civilian technology; even the military couldn't possibly possess artificial intelligence of this level.
Facing everyone's shocked, puzzled, even slightly wary gazes, Su Yu, without batting an eye, threw out the spiel he'd long since prepared.
"One of Miss Eden's masterstrokes — an unreleased project from her private lab, licensed to us for exclusive use as part of her investment."
Hearing the name "Eden," the tense air in the meeting room miraculously eased.
Everyone exchanged glances, and then, in unspoken unison, revealed an expression of relief that said "so that's how it is" and "as expected of her."
In this world, the name Eden itself represented boundless wealth and the miracle of turning the impossible into the possible.
Since it was something she'd produced, no matter how outrageous, it seemed to become reasonable.
Rich lady big sister, you really are so useful.
"With Aiyi, the technical barrier no longer exists." Su Yu pulled the topic back on track. "So then, let's discuss the next agenda item."
"Hold on."
Nuwa suddenly raised her hand.
This art director, who was usually always obsessed with figurines, now had a peculiar light shimmering in her eyes.
"If the technical problem is solved, then I have a proposal." Nuwa's tone turned extremely professional.
Su Yu raised an eyebrow: "Elaborate."
"Holographic equipment may be widespread, but there's still a threshold; it's limited by venue and time."
Nuwa spoke at a rapid clip, like a fanatic who'd just discovered a gold mine.
"But what about phones? Right now everyone's got a smartphone in hand! The mobile end is the truly untapped market — it's a slab of fat, oozing pork belly!"
She pointed at the Honkai Impact 3rd image on the screen.
"We can absolutely cook one fish two ways! The holographic version as the high-end experience, aimed at those hardcore players and big-spender whales."
"And the mobile end can spearhead the untapped market. Using holographic-grade art and animation to launch a dimensional-reduction strike on today's mobile games!"
Su Yu looked at Nuwa, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing thicker and thicker.
Great minds think alike.
He wanted to rapidly raise Kiana's "recognition level" and lift that damnable restriction, and the mobile end, with its far broader audience, was absolutely the top priority.
More importantly, Su Yu had also investigated this world's gaming market.
Because of the premature breakthrough of holographic technology, this world's game companies had all poured their energy into large-scale holographic single-player and console games.
The mobile market was simply barren to an appalling degree — all of it reskinned link-the-pairs and match-three games, or crudely drawn Galgames.
And large-scale 3D action mobile games were a complete blank slate in this world.
What Su Yu, a veteran player from his past life, found most unbelievable was this — the players of this world were, incredibly, still in the pure, innocent era of "buy-to-own."
They were used to spending a few hundred yuan to buy a game, and then enjoying all of its content.
They had no idea at all what "the free stuff is the most expensive" meant.
They had no idea at all what a "double first-recharge" was, what "large and small monthly passes" were, what a "ten-pull pity guarantee" was, or what "bankrupting yourself for a max-constellation waifu" was.
Su Yu looked at these pure souls in the meeting room who had yet to be beaten down by capital, and it was as if he saw a flourishing, lush green field of chives, just waiting for him to swing down that sharp sickle named the "free-to-play in-app-purchase gacha system."
"Nuwa, your proposal is excellent."
Su Yu braced both hands on the tabletop, leaned his body slightly forward, and swept his gaze across the room.
"Not only will we make a mobile version, but our mobile version will also..."
He paused, and then, word by word, spat out that demonic whisper enough to change this world's gaming history.
"Be completely free."
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉