Everyone filed out of the meeting room.

Huang Sibo stopped Bao Xu.

“Brother Bao, please try to come up with a plan as soon as possible. I need at least five days to prepare the design draft, so it would be best if we could have a general direction by tomorrow and communicate early.”

Huang Sibo was being very polite.

This was because Huang Sibo wasn’t sure about Bao Xu’s background, and his judgment was based only on the following points:

He looked much older than he was, with a visibly receding hairline.

He was a hardcore gamer with overtime privileges and deeply trusted by Boss Pei.

He was quiet and always seemed to be deep in thought.

Based on these points, Huang Sibo assumed Bao Xu was likely a senior colleague.

Bao Xu nodded: “Sure, Brother Huang.”

Bao Xu was also unclear about Huang Sibo’s background, but he knew that he was just a freshman in college, while Huang Sibo must have entered the industry after graduation, as a senior colleague.

Both of them thought the other’s use of “Brother” was just some kind of courtesy and flattery between new colleagues, and didn’t take it too seriously.

Who could have imagined they were both being sincere?

Huang Sibo returned to his workstation, feeling both happy and anxious.

He was happy because he discovered that in this place, the boss and colleagues were all so friendly and polite, completely different from the strict hierarchy and oppressive environment of his previous company.

He was anxious because he feared his abilities might be insufficient and that he might hold everyone back.

Huang Sibo hurriedly pulled out many design documents he had previously collected to review, cramming at the last minute.

This way, after Bao Xu came up with a basic concept in two days, he would be ready to write the design documents.

Meanwhile, Bao Xu had already quickly entered the conceptualization stage.

Memories of various FPS games surged like a tide, inspiring him.

Making the game feel friendly to new players wasn’t difficult; it could be achieved through some simple adjustments.

For example, enlarging character hitboxes, especially the head, could significantly increase the headshot rate for new players.

Or increasing the speed of scoping and weapon switching for sniper rifles would allow beginners to quickly master quick-scoping after brief practice.

Bao Xu wouldn’t claim to be an absolute expert in FPS games—he wasn’t at the level of professional players, but he was skilled among casual players.

As long as he made some adjustments based on his feel for the game, this point wouldn’t be difficult to achieve.

As for pay-to-win weapons, it was simply a matter of raising prices, which wasn’t a problem either.

For Bao Xu, the only difficulty lay in Pei Qian’s first requirement: the storyline!

Bao Xu fell into deep thought.

To be honest, he didn’t understand this point.

Most popular domestic FPS games didn’t have storylines at all. “Counter-Plan” had no storyline either—it was just about shooting each other in matches, and that was it.

Some foreign single-player FPS blockbusters did have storylines, but what kind of companies made those, and what scale was Tenda at?

Thirty people trying to create storyline content comparable to foreign FPS single-player blockbusters—this could only be described as overestimating their capabilities.

Although Bao Xu had just entered the gaming industry, he still had a good sense of reality.

Bao Xu couldn’t help but think in reverse.

The company only had thirty people and couldn’t match the storyline capacity of foreign FPS blockbusters—that was obvious.

If even an outsider like himself knew this, wouldn’t the brilliant Boss Pei know it too?

Boss Pei knew!

Since he knew, why would he set such a strict requirement?

This was a test, and also a hint!

Boss Pei was testing their abilities while also hinting that they couldn’t follow the approach of foreign big studios making single-player FPS games!

So, how should they proceed…

Bao Xu sank into contemplation.

…

5:00 PM.

Pei Qian happily slipped away.

The feeling of leaving work right on time was fantastic!

Of course, as the boss, Pei Qian could choose not to come to work at all.

But then he wouldn’t experience the joyful anticipation of waiting for the end of the workday, or the excitement at the moment of leaving.

It was like what a certain rich second-generation who owned more than thirty houses but still went out every day to collect rent once said: “People can’t allow themselves to be idle; once idle, they’re finished.”

Pei Qian thought the same way. Although the system had given him a golden finger that would ensure he’d never worry about food or shelter as long as he kept losing money, he couldn’t indulge in pleasure and waste his life away because of it.

Going to classes depending on his mood and working fixed hours every day allows him to experience the feeling of striving, preventing him from becoming lazy and useless.

The previous week, Pei Qian had chased everyone out at the end of each workday, driving away all employees who habitually stayed for overtime, especially people like Huang Sibo.

He wanted to correct these employees’ bad habits!

Of course, Bao Xu was an exception. Pei Qian tacitly approved of him playing games in the office, which would also consume more electricity.

After a week of effort, Pei Qian felt that most employees should have corrected their bad habits.

After all, who would want to work overtime at the company for no reason?

Everyone had developed the habit of leaving work on time, just like Pei Qian, which made him very gratified.

…

Huang Sibo had been tidying up the things on his desk.

After seeing Pei Qian leave, he immediately sat back down.

He decided to take a risk.

He would ignore Boss Pei’s warning about deducting wages and stay to work overtime!

This overtime was completely voluntary.

Huang Sibo was anxious because he felt he wasn’t qualified enough for the role of lead game designer, so he wanted to stay and study a bit more, making adequate preparations to avoid becoming the one who held everyone back!

Most of the other employees still left work on time.

After all, they didn’t have much to do now; everyone was eagerly waiting for Bao Xu to produce the game’s concept draft.

Huang Sibo was still wondering how he would explain himself if Boss Pei suddenly made a surprise return.

But he soon found his worries were unnecessary—Boss Pei wasn’t that idle; he wouldn’t come back to the company for no reason to check who was working overtime.

In the spacious office area, soon only Huang Sibo and Bao Xu remained.

Bao Xu, already familiar with the routine, grabbed a large bag of chips from the snack area and got a cup of coffee from the coffee machine in the pantry.

These were all provided by the company, with unlimited supply.

At first, Bao Xu thought it was amazing and drank coffee and beverages like water, but after having too much, he felt it wasn’t that special anymore, so now he only took what he needed.

Seeing that Huang Sibo hadn’t left either, Bao Xu was slightly surprised but didn’t say much. He just returned to his seat and started writing and drawing on a blank piece of printer paper.

…

After 8:00 PM.

Bao Xu got up and walked over to Huang Sibo, holding a piece of printer paper covered with indecipherable drawings, densely filled with various diagrams and text.

“Brother Huang, I’ve thought it through,” Bao Xu said.

Huang Sibo nodded quickly: “Please go ahead, Brother Bao.”

Bao Xu pulled over a chair from nearby and began explaining his general concept to Huang Sibo.

“Boss Pei’s last two requirements are easy to handle. The key is the first one—the story mode.”

“I believe we definitely can’t create storyline content on the scale of foreign FPS blockbusters, whether in terms of character models, animations, scene resources, etc.—we fall far short in all areas.”

Huang Sibo nodded: “Yes, I think so too.”