Pei Qian browsed through the posts, falling into deep thought.

The players were all so impressive…

Even as a copycat, he might not be able to beat these players.

Although Pei Qian could recall many heroes from memory, every hero in a MOBA game was closely related to the characteristics of the game itself. For example, if heroes from DOTA, LOL, and Heroes of the Storm were swapped, many hero mechanisms would conflict with the game mechanics.

After repeated modifications, GOG had become a game different from all MOBA games in Pei Qian’s memory, and bringing over heroes from other games might not be suitable.

Moreover, Pei Qian only remembered the hero names, settings, and general skill mechanisms.

The solutions provided by players each had their advantages.

Some came with beautiful original artwork, impressive in appearance; some were designed using Tenda employees or existing IP prototypes, more popular in settings; and even those pure skill mechanism designs didn’t seem worse than the heroes Pei Qian wanted to copy.

Pei Qian thought about it and decided to just copy one.

The players were so enthusiastic and active, surely spending a lot of time creating these heroes. Although 99% of the designs wouldn’t be adopted, they still enjoyed doing it.

Since GOG had already become a crowdfunded game, it would be best to leave its design to the players, rather than turning it into a second LOL, which would be quite boring.

If Pei Qian directly copied dozens of heroes over, there would be only two possible outcomes.

The first outcome: Pei Qian would take all the rewards, leaving nothing for the players, which seemed a bit unfair to the players who so enthusiastically supported him. Although these players were constantly giving him money was quite annoying, Pei Qian couldn’t bear to see their efforts wasted.

The second outcome: Pei Qian copied many heroes, but because of a lack of original artwork or incompatibility with game mechanics, they couldn’t compete with other players’ designs. That would be even more awkward, and it seemed a bit unfair to the original designers of these heroes.

After much consideration, Pei Qian felt that his current life was worry-free, and he could earn hundreds of thousands through losses, which was already much better than other players. He wasn’t starving, so there was no need to be so greedy as to pocket all 5% of the skin profits.

Moreover, the competition between GOG and IOI would be affected by this. One wrong move, and Lin Wan might not come back, which would be very awkward.

Therefore, Pei Qian decided to stick to his original idea and copy just one.

As for which one to copy?

Of course, the Happy Wind Man!

The 5% skin benefit wasn’t important at all; he simply wanted the players to experience what pure joy was.

Talon’s skills were so familiar that Pei Qian could recite them without effort.

However, after typing a few lines, Pei Qian thought about it and deleted them.

Talon’s ronin image was too popular. What if this hero came out and directly crushed IOI? Would Lin Wan be able to come home then?

After careful consideration, Pei Qian felt that the 5% skin benefit wouldn’t be much in the early stages.

Because GOG’s skins were already cheap, and the first few skins were being discounted by 90% or 70%, and the number of GOG players wouldn’t be too large before it truly captured the market, so the initial 5% wouldn’t be much money.

But in the early stages, a good hero’s boost to GOG’s game image would be enormous, easily causing real damage to IOI.

So, Pei Qian thought about it and decided to very cunningly just copy the hero mechanism first.

If the design team adopted it, they could design the appearance themselves. If the design team didn’t adopt it, then he would consider bringing over the hero’s appearance as well.

With this in mind, Pei Qian began to type again, leaving out the hero’s name and characteristics, just writing down all the skill mechanisms.

“Alright, that’s done!”

“I wonder if the production team will adopt it… We’ll see.”

Pei Qian had a GOG account linked to his ID card, but unless the GOG project team deliberately checked, they wouldn’t know this account belonged to Mr. Pei.

…

…

May 9th, Monday.

Pei Qian woke up as usual and went to Slackin’ Internet Café for food.

Opening his phone to check, he saw that the post he had sent hadn’t been adopted, nor had any other hero design proposals been adopted.

Pei Qian was satisfied because this indicated that the GOG project team hadn’t worked overtime yesterday.

After they officially started work today, they should see this post.

Anyway, there was no need to rush this matter; patience was key.

After eating, Pei Qian ordered a cup of coffee, enjoying the midday sunshine while sipping it leisurely.

Life was truly comfortable.

If only my employees could work hard to make me lose more money, it would be even more comfortable.

While drinking coffee, Ruan Guangjian walked in.

It was time for the routine coffee purchase.

Seeing Mr. Pei there, Ruan Guangjian was slightly surprised, but quickly smiled and sat down opposite Mr. Pei.

“Mr. Pei, what a rare visitor.”

He carefully observed Pei Qian’s expression: “Mr. Pei doesn’t seem to be too affected by that matter?”

Pei Qian was completely confused: “Which matter are you referring to?”

Ruan Guangjian confirmed that Mr. Pei’s expression was indeed puzzled, not fake.

“That’s right, Mr. Pei is busy with work and probably doesn’t have much time to pay attention to these things.”

“I’m talking about ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ being screened in overseas theaters last weekend.”

Pei Qian’s hand holding the coffee trembled.

It’s over.

What was bound to come has finally arrived!

Early in the morning, no, at noon, to hear such bad news!

This matter had been delayed for quite some time, after all, a movie wanting to be screened overseas required a rather complex process.

It had been so long that Pei Qian had almost subconsciously forgotten about it.

However, now, this one sentence from Ruan Guangjian directly awakened Pei Qian’s fear of being dominated by “Beautiful Tomorrow.”

He still remembered the night he went to see the movie premiere, that large bucket of popcorn practically leaving him speechless.

After a brief moment of shock, Pei Qian was angry.

Ruan Guangjian, every time I meet you, something bad happens!

And what does this movie being screened overseas have to do with you? If anyone should backstab me, it should be Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai. How dare you steal their backstab?

You should stick to your drawings; why are you meddling in this?

Pei Qian forced himself to remain calm: “You like this movie too?”

Ruan Guangjian nodded vigorously: “Of course, I’m a loyal fan of this movie! I’ve watched it several times! Besides, aren’t many of the actors in ‘Struggle’ extras in this movie? For better research, I even subscribed to the movie on the website, to watch it anytime.”

Pei Qian: “…”

Watching it several times in the theater, and buying it again on the website—are you afraid I’m not dead enough?

Pei Qian was speechless, not wanting to talk to this guy anymore.

Seeing Mr. Pei’s gloomy expression and lack of interest, Ruan Guangjian was puzzled: “Hey, Mr. Pei, didn’t you say you didn’t know about ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ being screened overseas?”

“Then, looking at your reaction… how did you know that ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ had poor opening box office results overseas?”

“Could it be… You guessed it? You had anticipated it?”

Pei Qian’s previously dim eyes instantly regained their luster.

“Hmm?”

Poor opening box office?

Is he saying foreigners don’t like this movie?

Great, this is an unexpected pleasure!

Pei Qian had been worrying all along, thinking what if this movie earned tens of millions more overseas? What then?

But hearing what Ruan Guangjian said, it seemed he had worried unnecessarily!

It appeared that Ruan Guangjian had been following the overseas box office of this movie, knew the box office performance was poor, and brought up this topic today to comfort him.

I misjudged him!

Pei Qian was very happy and directly called the waiter: “A cocktail! No, two cocktails!”

Such good news must be celebrated!

The two drinks were quickly served, and Pei Qian handed one to Ruan Guangjian.

Ruan Guangjian waved his hand: “Uh, Mr. Pei, I still have work this afternoon, I can’t drink alcohol.”

“No problem, I’ll drink by myself.” Pei Qian was unconcerned, placing both glasses in front of himself.

Ruan Guangjian hesitated for a moment, but still took one glass: “Alright, I’ll make an exception today and have a drink with Mr. Pei.”

Looking at Mr. Pei’s forced smile, Ruan Guangjian suddenly felt a sense of empathy.

Because he understood this feeling very well, the sadness of creating a work with all your heart and soul, only to have it misunderstood by others.

How good was “Beautiful Tomorrow,” how profound its connotations! It even had full English voice acting, specifically to allow foreigners to enjoy a smooth viewing experience without needing subtitles.

But the result was that the movie wasn’t very popular, instantly giving Ruan Guangjian a feeling that pearls had been cast before swine.

After clinking glasses, both took a sip and set their glasses down.

Ruan Guangjian thought for a moment, then spoke to comfort him: “Mr. Pei, I think you shouldn’t take this too much to heart.”

“Domestic films naturally have low screenings overseas, especially in recent years when the influence of domestic films in overseas markets has been declining year by year, and it’s difficult to conduct extensive promotion overseas, so low box office is normal.”

“At least as far as I know, ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ has a good reputation among overseas audiences, which indicates that it’s not an issue with the film itself, but perhaps just due to some other objective reasons…”

Pei Qian was secretly delighted.

I don’t care what the reason is!

As long as it doesn’t make money, everything is fine.

Unexpectedly, today, Ruan Guangjian had brought him such great news.

Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai were still in shock therapy, and who knew how “shocked” they were feeling.

They most likely already knew about this news, right?

But they hadn’t reported it to him.

Well, that made sense, after all, it wasn’t something worth boasting about.

Ruan Guangjian finished his cocktail, took the coffee prepared by the waiter, and got up to leave.

“Mr. Pei, I’m busy with work, so I’ll leave first.”

Pei Qian nodded: “Ah, alright.”

“You’ve only just moved here and are already ‘busy with work’? It seems that moving the studio hasn’t had much impact on your work.”

Pei Qian was in a good mood, so he casually replied.

Ruan Guangjian revealed a knowing smile: “Moving the studio has indeed had a big impact. Several companies in Magic City with which we used to do business have already cut ties due to poor communication.”

“But it doesn’t matter, since your projects, Mr. Pei, are already enough to support our entire studio.”

Pei Qian: “?”

Ruan Guangjian continued with a smile: “The complete set of character artwork for ‘Struggle,’ plus two new heroes and many new skins for GOG every month—our studio is now operating at full speed.”

“Thanks to Mr. Pei, our rent and various expenses have decreased, but the workload hasn’t changed much, and they’re all high-quality orders from Tenda… our studio’s income has increased significantly!”

“Moving the studio to Jingzhou was the most correct decision I’ve ever made!”