Pei Qian smiled slightly and explained: “Because of the relationship between our game and movie, if they were released at different times, it would definitely cause spoilers in advance. So they must be on the same day.”

“I also feel it’s a pity to miss the May Day golden week slot, but we have to make choices.”

“Besides, releasing on April 14th can still ride the May Day golden week schedule.”

The corner of Hu Xianbin’s mouth twitched slightly as he thought, Mr. Pei, your words are so obviously meant to be comforting!

Even people unfamiliar with the film industry should know that a movie released on May 1st would be on its opening day, while if released on April 30th, by May 1st it would already be on its second day—the difference is huge!

Let alone moving it all the way up to April 14th?

For movies, box office revenues are typically highest in the first few days after release. Some poor-quality films even see opening day revenue account for more than half of their total box office.

Because they can only fool this first batch of “leeks,” once the ratings come out, they can’t fool anyone else.

Of course, “Mission and Choice” wasn’t a bad movie, but this rule still applied universally.

The first day’s data was crucial—riding the May Day schedule versus actually being in the May Day schedule were completely different concepts!

However, Hu Xianbin didn’t say much more, after all, since Mr. Pei had decided to arrange it this way, he must have his reasons.

The film was being handled by Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai, who had already succeeded with one movie, so there shouldn’t be too many problems.

Pei Qian continued: “By the way, this matter should be kept confidential. Don’t mention it to anyone.”

“Even people in our own department.”

“You don’t need to tell them that the game will be released on the 14th, just tell them to complete the final testing and packaging by the 13th.”

Pei Qian’s thinking was to keep it secret for as long as possible. If the game’s release date and the movie’s schedule leaked out, it would definitely trigger a series of chain reactions, and might inadvertently generate hype before release.

So only a few core staff members knew about this.

Hu Xianbin hurriedly nodded: “I understand!”

“Then… Mr. Pei, what should I do?”

Pei Qian chuckled, gently patting his shoulder: “You don’t need to do anything. The game is already complete, there are no problems at all. I’ve already arranged for the advertising department to handle the promotional work. Now we just need to wait for the game’s release, and everything will be perfect!”

Having reassured Hu Xianbin not to make any unnecessary changes, all that remained was to wait for the game to be released, crash headlong into “Fantasy Warfare Remake,” and fail spectacularly—plan accomplished!

The doubt on Hu Xianbin’s face indeed disappeared, replaced by a genuine trust and ease.

But suddenly he thought of something else, and the worried expression returned to his face: “Wait, Mr. Pei, there’s one more issue!”

“When you and Mr. He came to inspect previously, Mr. He said that with the current AI technology, even if the game’s AI was completed, it wouldn’t significantly improve the game’s combat experience.”

“I didn’t really believe it at the time, because the game’s AI was still in a very rudimentary state and not fully developed.”

“But now that the game is completely developed, I’ve found that the situation is exactly as Mr. He said—the game’s AI experience does seem to be lacking something.”

“Especially in the later ‘Realistic Campaign’ section, where the AI needs to simulate the feeling of a real battlefield. Whether it’s soldiers fleeing uncontrollably or them performing other actions, it all depends on the AI’s intelligence level, but I feel the current experience is still lacking…”

“However, given the current level of artificial intelligence technology, this is really the best we can do. I think this is a moderate defect. If there wasn’t ‘Fantasy Warfare Remake,’ it probably wouldn’t be a big problem, but now that we’re going up against this masterpiece, any small detail could determine our success or failure, so…”

Hu Xianbin’s face once again showed signs of worry.

After hearing Hu Xianbin’s words, Pei Qian became even happier.

Was there such good news?

This was an unexpected joy!

Pei Qian suppressed his smile and said seriously: “Don’t worry, this issue is completely insignificant!”

Although this was just a small flaw, it would directly affect players’ gaming experience and the impact of the storyline. It might not be enough to determine the game’s success or failure, but reducing its reputation and sales was definitely a sure thing!

With perfect timing, location, and conditions all coming together, how could this grand plan not succeed?

At this moment, Pei Qian almost wanted to tilt his head toward the sky and laugh loudly three times—everything was under control!

Just then, the system screen suddenly appeared before Pei Qian’s eyes, and a line of text appeared in his vision without warning.

[Random technological breakthrough has been completed.]

The text stayed for five or six seconds before gradually disappearing, as if to ensure that Pei Qian could see it clearly, preventing any information from being missed.

Pei Qian’s smile instantly froze on his face.

What was going on?!

He almost thought he was seeing things or had misread.

What random technological breakthrough? Wasn’t that only for the previous cycle? This cycle didn’t have this special task at all!

Besides, hadn’t Xun Ke Technology already achieved a breakthrough in the previous cycle? Wasn’t AEEIS born because of Xun Ke Technology’s technological innovation?

Pei Qian was extremely confused, but the system screen wasn’t fake. That line of text was incredibly clear, and it had deliberately lingered for a few extra seconds, as if afraid Pei Qian might not notice it.

What was this all about?

Hu Xianbin noticed the strange silence and was about to find a topic to discuss when his phone on the table rang.

With Mr. Pei present, he originally didn’t feel comfortable answering, but unexpectedly, Mr. Pei nodded at him: “Go ahead and answer it.”

Only then did Hu Xianbin pick up the phone.

Pei Qian had calmed down a bit. Fortunately, this call came at a good time; otherwise, if he had suddenly froze like a dumbfounded goose, it would have been too strange and might have raised unnecessary suspicions.

While Hu Xianbin was on the phone, Pei Qian took the opportunity to figure out what was going on.

The system screen allowed him to browse historical information, so Pei Qian immediately found the information from the settlement two cycles ago and the previous settlement.

The settlement two cycles ago was on September 30th, when he received a mysterious reward: a random technological breakthrough would occur within the next 6 months.

The previous settlement was on January 31st, and there was no mention of any “technological breakthrough” in the settlement interface.

Pei Qian still couldn’t believe it, so he read through the information from the previous settlement again, word by word, and indeed, there was nothing!

Pei Qian suddenly felt his hands and feet turn cold as he realized something was wrong.

This was bad—something serious had happened!

The appearance of this line from the system today clearly indicated that there would be very clear prompt information related to system reward technological breakthroughs.

But there had been no prompt whatsoever before the previous settlement, which meant that the artificial intelligence technology from Xun Ke Technology wasn’t the system reward’s technological breakthrough at all—it was just the normal technology tree and accumulated technology of this world!

And what appeared this time was the real system reward.

Pei Qian silently calculated in his mind. The special reward was issued on September 30th, with the timeframe being “within the next 6 months”—October, November, December, January, February, March…

Today was March 29th, which meant that until the day after tomorrow, March 31st, would still be within the “next 6 months” range!

“Oh no, I’ve been tricked!”

Pei Qian suddenly understood.

Previously, he had instinctively assumed that the system’s so-called technological breakthrough would definitely be completed within the current cycle. Plus, Xun Ke Technology’s artificial intelligence technology had indeed appeared rather abruptly, so he had taken it for granted that this was the technological breakthrough from the system reward.

But thinking back now, the system’s technological breakthrough didn’t necessarily have to be completed within one cycle!

The system had said “6 months,” and now it was still within that 6-month timeframe!

Pei Qian froze instantly, unable to accept this fact!

At the same time, Hu Xianbin had finished his call.

The excitement on his face was unmistakable: “So that’s why you said the AI problem in ‘Mission and Choice’ was completely insignificant, Mr. Pei—you had already arranged everything!”

“Jiang Yuan just called me and said that the Numa Artificial Intelligence Laboratory had only chosen the gaming field as their research direction last week according to your instructions. They’ve been researching for less than a week, but suddenly they’ve discovered several new algorithms based on their previous research content!”