While Pei Qian was still considering matters, someone knocked on his office door.

Looking up, he saw it was Lü Mingliang.

“Mr. Pei, a few concept art pieces are ready. Would you like to take a look?”

Previously, Lü Mingliang had assigned all the concept designs for “Returning is the Shore” to Ruan Guangjian, including scenes, characters, monsters, equipment, weapons, and so on.

Ruan Guangjian certainly couldn’t complete all these tasks alone, but he now had his studio.

After graduation, Ruan Guangjian opened a small studio in Shanghai, right next to the financial university where he had studied, capitalizing on the reputation and connections he had built up.

The studio was called “Halo Studio,” and thanks to his work on “The Ghost General,” “Game Developer,” and other concept design projects, it had already gained quite a reputation in the industry.

Several of Ruan Guangjian’s former roommates had joined his studio, and recently, as business was doing well, he had recruited some new staff. Initially, they could only take on small projects, but gradually they were able to handle larger ones.

As their reputation grew, more and more game companies came looking for them through the resource platform, often requiring scheduling in advance.

Especially for those who wanted Ruan Guangjian’s work, not only was the price increasing, but it was also becoming more difficult to schedule.

However, Ruan Guangjian had always been very accommodating toward Tenda Games.

Whenever they had any needs, he would prioritize them as long as it didn’t affect existing schedules!

After the plot, world-building framework, and various art requirements for “Returning is the Shore” were developed, Lü Mingliang immediately contacted Halo Studio and entrusted the important task of concept design to Ruan Guangjian.

Now, the first batch of concept art was ready.

Pei Qian, accompanied by Lü Mingliang, looked through these concept images.

First were several scene concept paintings.

The strategically positioned Ghost Gate, set among stretching mountain ranges, with extraordinary peaks on both sides and a bottomless abyss filled with lingering grieving souls ahead.

A tall, grayish-blue archway was surrounded by blue mist, with ancient characters carved on it that were so eerily fierce they sent chills down one’s spine.

Beyond the Ghost Gate stretched the Yellow Springs Road, extending to the far horizon. Countless grieving souls wandered on this road, moving forward in a daze, never tiring.

On both sides of the Yellow Springs Road rolled blue-green clouds and mist. From time to time, dry, waxy yellow hands would reach out from the mist, desperately trying to grab and drag down those on the road.

After crossing the Bridge of Helplessness over the River of Forgetfulness, there was a grim netherworld. Several soul-summoning lanterns hung in the air, with wandering spirits passing by in confusion, either disappearing into the distant mist or falling directly from the bridge into the River of Forgetfulness, never to be seen again.

Besides these, there were also several drawings of miscellaneous objects and concept designs for monsters.

For example, dilapidated temples, Buddha statues, earth god shrines, earth god statues, ordinary vengeful ghosts, broken weapons, soul-calling banners, and so on.

The monsters included Meng Po at the Bridge of Helplessness, the four great judges of the underworld, and so on.

Although many games had used images of these monsters before, Ruan Guangjian would design them completely anew in his distinctive style. This dark style was particularly striking and left a deep impression.

After viewing the concept art, Pei Qian couldn’t help but sigh.

“Ruan Guangjian’s performance is consistent, huh?”

The implication was: couldn’t you just perform poorly for once?!

The key point was that from “The Ghost General” to “Game Developer” to “Returning is the Shore,” this man’s artistic skills seemed to be continuously improving, which was devastating!

It was noticeable that the concept designs for “Returning is the Shore” were being produced faster, and certain stylistic elements had become more refined.

Compared to “Game Developer,” the content of “Returning is the Shore” was more suitable for Ruan Guangjian’s epic ink and oil painting style, which was probably also an important reason why his work was getting better and better.

Lü Mingliang strongly agreed with Pei Qian’s assessment, nodding in approval: “Indeed, what can I say, a master is always a master, consistently reliable! Entrusting the concept art to him gives us complete peace of mind!”

Pei Qian: “…”

He very much wanted to completely blacklist Ruan Guangjian and never collaborate with him again.

But there was no justification!

The man’s artwork was so good, he even offered discounts, and his style was suitable—what reason could there be to terminate the collaboration?

However, it was fortunate that “Returning is the Shore” wasn’t a game that primarily relied on visuals to succeed; it would mainly discourage players through gameplay. Considering that hiring Ruan Guangjian did indeed cost more money, Pei Qian decided to tolerate it.

“Very good, just continue with this approach.”

Pei Qian looked for a long time but couldn’t find any flaws. These concept images were drawn too well; it would be inappropriate to modify anything.

He truly didn’t understand much about concept art and could only submit to the situation.

Hearing Pei Qian’s words, Lü Mingliang couldn’t help but sigh: “Mr. Pei and Master Ruan truly understand each other and appreciate each other’s talents.”

“Master Ruan mentioned that once this project is completed, he might take a few days off and come to Jingzhou to visit our company and pay a visit to you, Mr. Pei.”

“After all, you two have been spiritually connected online for so long without meeting in person, which is a bit of a pity. You probably feel the same way, don’t you, Mr. Pei?”

Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly.

Like hell I do!

I don’t want to meet him at all!

On my blacklist notebook, Qiao Laoshi is number one, and this guy is number two!

The key point was that since their collaboration on “The Ghost General,” Ruan Guangjian and Pei Qian were no longer in a purely business relationship.

Ruan Guangjian vaguely regarded Pei Qian as a kindred spirit. Although the two were in different industries—one in games and one in concept art—this sense of mutual appreciation had already crossed industry barriers.

Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly: “Hehe, when he comes, I’ll definitely ‘entertain’ him well.”

……

……

The progress of the two games was now clear to him.

At present, there didn’t seem to be any particularly serious issues that needed correction.

Pei Qian thought about it and realized there were still several things to be busy with next.

July was about to end, and there were three urgent matters.

First, according to the rules set by Pei Qian, the selection of outstanding employees would begin on August 1st.

Pei Qian felt quite uncertain about this selection.

Because the selection would be done through voting, Pei Qian didn’t plan to manipulate the process behind the scenes, as he no longer trusted his judgment.

The masses had a clear vision; those they voted as outstanding employees would be individuals who had played important roles and were recognized by everyone. Pei Qian had no intention of protecting or tolerating anyone.

Even if it was his trusted aide, they would have to be eliminated!

The second matter concerned the high-end restaurant and Headwind Logistics.

The preliminary preparations were still underway, but the person in charge needed to be determined.

Pei Qian remembered that there was a chef who was a store manager at Slackin’ Internet Café; he could let him manage the high-end restaurant.

After all, this chef hadn’t accomplished much as an internet café manager, which suggested he probably wasn’t very capable. Putting him in charge of the high-end restaurant would appear professionally appropriate on the surface, but would be setting him up to drag the place down.

As for Headwind Logistics…

Pei Qian considered asking this round’s outstanding employee if they wanted to be responsible for Headwind Logistics.

If they didn’t want to, he would give them 1 million yuan from the Dream Fund and let them mess around on their own; if they did want to, he would arrange for them to be in charge of Headwind Logistics.

Finally, since Pei Qian had taken Lin Chang’s money, it was about time he prepared to produce some results.