Pei Qian felt that this name should be direct enough and sufficiently lacking in prestige, right?

“The Future You Chose” was actually hinting to all the players and viewers: this is what you get for giving Tenda all this money—the end result would be exactly like what’s shown in the games and movies.

This is what you chose, so don’t blame me if this future actually comes true!

So, stop sending money! Please, do Tenda a favor and let it lose some money!

This name could be seen as a warning to all players and viewers, and also because Pei Qian didn’t want to see Tenda making money too quickly.

Right now, many people had excessively high expectations and fantasies about Tenda. Pei Qian felt that this was a huge obstacle to his goal of losing money, so he had to find a way to dispel it; otherwise, the consequences would be endless.

Moreover, this name was also very unprestigious and straightforward, so the possibility of misinterpretation would be correspondingly lower.

If he had chosen a name like “Dark Empire” and described Tenda as a massive dark empire, although it would have a good metaphorical effect, it might also convey a sense of “Wow, Tenda Empire is so awesome” to everyone, which could backfire.

No one asked any further questions; they just silently made notes.

They could all speculate on their own!

Names often represented Mr. Pei’s core ideas. If they could thoroughly understand it, they would definitely be able to pinpoint the core content expressed in the story.

Pei Qian looked around and saw that everyone wore expressions of deep thought, which suddenly made him feel anxious again.

It still didn’t feel secure!

Although he had said so much, everyone present was prone to wild imagination—there was no telling what kind of stories they would conjure up!

After some consideration, Pei Qian felt that just doing this much wasn’t enough; he needed to be more specific.

He first looked at Zhu Xiaocai.

Among everyone, Pei Qian felt that Zhu Xiaocai posed the greatest threat, especially when it came to interpreting plots—he was the most capable of distorting them.

For instance, the failure of “Beautiful Tomorrow” was entirely Zhu Xiaocai’s fault!

Therefore, he was a target who needed close monitoring.

Pei Qian asked, “Director Zhu, do you have any thoughts on this subject?”

Zhu Xiaocai perked up: “Mr. Pei, this subject is excellent. After hearing your words, I’m deeply inspired!”

Pei Qian’s expression immediately turned serious: “Oh? Tell me, how do you plan to shoot this film?”

Zhu Xiaocai organized his thoughts and said, “I think this film has some commonalities with ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ but the plot definitely can’t overlap with ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ right?”

Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Right!”

If it repeated “Beautiful Tomorrow” and became a hit again, wouldn’t that be a disaster?

Zhu Xiaocai continued, “Then this time, we definitely need to take a violent resistance approach.”

“‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ had an Easter egg at the end with someone throwing down a gun, which was actually a plot hook I left for a sequel to ‘Beautiful Tomorrow.'”

“Of course, this film won’t be made as a sequel to ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ but the principle is the same.”

“My concept is like this: The protagonist is the leader of a resistance force. His mission is to lead all the lower-class people to resist Tenda Group’s tyranny and fight against numerous corporate military employees and enforcement robots.”

“Naturally, the protagonist would have powerful combat abilities, obtaining formidable fighting skills through gene serums, bionic chips, and prosthetic limb modifications. Because only this way could he defeat powerful enemies.”

“So, the portrayal of the protagonist might be like some action blockbusters—one against many, possibly creating some seemingly unreasonable but absolutely thrilling and exciting iconic scenes.”

“In this process, we can show more details of that hopeless cyberpunk world, such as: the protagonist hiding among groups of wanderers in the lower levels, describing the life details of wanderers in that world; the protagonist assassinating some corporate executives, focusing on depicting their luxury and prosperity.”

“For example, we can portray the powerful firepower of corporate military employees and enforcement robots, emphasizing the suffocating oppressive feeling of this iron flood; and the omnipresent surveillance cameras and network monitoring can highlight the terror of Tenda Group’s high-pressure rule.”

“By advancing layer by layer like this, we can achieve the effect you want.”

Pei Qian remained noncommittal and asked, “And the final outcome?”

Zhu Xiaocai said, “The final outcome is naturally as you said—the protagonist must fail!”

“However, I think this failure shouldn’t be a simple elimination or the protagonist’s death.”

“If it’s just this kind of simple failure, it might not have much effect and might not bring a strong enough sense of frustration to the audience. They might mistakenly think that Tenda Group is just too strong, even developing a sense of admiration for power, which might dilute the ideas we want to express.”

“I think this failure should be that the protagonist continuously modifies himself in one battle after another, from gene serums to mechanical arms, to various high-intensity bionic chips. With each modification, the protagonist becomes stronger, but at the same time, he moves further away from being a normal person.”

“The protagonist sacrifices his attributes as a normal person as the price to win this war against Tenda Group. After the victory, the resistance replaces Tenda Group, but people cannot truly give up the convenience brought by high technology.”

“So, the things left behind by Tenda Group still need to be utilized and inherited. The resistance naturally inherits these things and arranges appropriate people to manage them. However, possessing these resources allows them to seek benefits for themselves. In the cyberpunk world, material prosperity and the decadence of the upper class have already reached an extremely extreme state.”

“At the end of the story, the protagonist, dragging his battle-worn body, comes to the highest building to overlook the entire city. In order to overthrow Tenda Group, he sacrificed everything and became a life that could only be sustained by gene serums and mechanical arms. Yet in the end of his success, he falls into deep confusion.”

“Finally, he leaves the world with a complex expression.”

“I think this also corresponds to the title ‘The Future You Chose,’ prompting rich associations from the audience.”

Pei Qian pondered for a moment without responding.

Because he felt that Zhu Xiaocai’s idea, on the surface, seemed acceptable, but upon closer examination, there seemed to be some issues.

But if he were to say there were problems… he couldn’t quite pinpoint where the problems lay.

Zhu Xiaocai seemed to have indeed designed according to Pei Qian’s requirements, and this ending basically met Pei Qian’s expectations.

But it still felt a bit off somewhere, not entirely satisfactory.

Pei Qian looked at Yu Fei and Ye Zhizhou: “Regarding the game aspect, what are your thoughts?”

Yu Fei seemed a bit embarrassed: “I… I still need to modify the plot a bit; I don’t have any good ideas at the moment.”

Ye Zhizhou hesitated slightly before saying, “I do have some design inspiration.”

“Since it’s a game, the biggest difference from a movie is definitely in gameplay-driven aspects. This type of worldview is quite easy to develop into diverse gameplay.”

“I think the protagonist in the game could be a small figure from the bottom of society. Although this society has completely lost any channels or space for upward mobility, he still wants to climb up at all costs.”

“The entire game process could take a dozen hours. In the early stages of the game, he mingles with street gangs, doing petty thievery and street deals. His combat means are limited; when encountering powerful enemies, he can only run, accumulating his money and connections.”

“Later, the combat system is introduced. The protagonist can obtain firearms, participate in armed conflicts or street gunfights. The gameplay shifts from petty theft to violent robbery—crime escalates.”

“As the game enters the middle stage, the protagonist is involved in more and more violent events, his connections broaden, and he can act as a point of contact to issue missions or lead subordinates to complete large-scale tasks.”

“However, class restrictions mean that even though the protagonist has made a name for himself in the underground world, he still can’t become one of the elites. So he executes a dangerous plan, targeting a young wealthy person from high society.”

“The protagonist spends a long time collecting data, using bionic chips to learn this wealthy person’s behavior patterns, collecting his DNA samples, and through security company loopholes, successfully kidnaps, kills, and replaces him.”

“After obtaining the wealthy person’s identity, the protagonist works on whitewashing himself with the wealthy person’s resources, while continuing to pursue profit through legal or illegal means.”

“But in the end, his identity is exposed. Tenda Group deploys overwhelming enforcement units, capturing the protagonist’s forces in one fell swoop.”

“At the end of the story, the protagonist’s subordinates who could betray have betrayed, those who could be killed have been killed, leaving only the protagonist alone, making a last stand in a penthouse on the rooftop.”

“But facing Tenda Group’s overwhelming enforcement units, he falls into despair and leaps from the rooftop.”

“However, the enforcement units don’t let him go; they open fire intensively while he’s in free fall, turning him into a firework in mid-air.”

“I’m mainly considering from a gameplay perspective. The changes in the protagonist’s identity in the early, middle, and late stages can give players different experiences, while the protagonist’s sense of powerlessness at the end will make players feel the tragic helplessness when facing Tenda Group.”

Pei Qian fell silent for a moment.

He finally figured out what was wrong.

Both ideas had too strong a sense of déjà vu!

Zhu Xiaocai’s idea was very similar to “The Matrix,” wasn’t it? And Ye Zhizhou’s idea was somewhat like GTA.

That definitely wouldn’t work!

If they made these, wouldn’t both the movie and game be hits?

But ironically, both of their ideas fully complied with Pei Qian’s requirements, and even if Pei Qian wanted to change them, he couldn’t figure out exactly how to do so.

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment, then said, “I see now, both of you possess extraordinary skills.”

“For these two ideas, I don’t really have any good modification suggestions.”

“But I think you two should swap your ideas.”

“Director Zhu, your idea goes to Yu Fei and Ye Zhizhou for the game; Ye Zhizhou, your idea goes to Director Zhu for the film.”