CH 56.1

Li Qingzhou and Ge Yue met at a café for a chat.

It was a reading café that was large and spacious, with a good level of privacy and very quiet.

Ge Yue found a corner to sit in, with no one around.

After ordering two cups of coffee, he asked curiously, “Qingzhou, I heard that the Xia family sent people to your company as security guards to protect Rescue One?”

Protecting a robot?!

Naturally, Ge Yue understood the importance of the AI rescue robot for rescue work as well as the relevant departments.

He had watched the robot competition video and Rescue One was really both cute and powerful.

Unable to contain his excitement, he continued, “Do those people patrol outside your office every day carrying clubs? Stopping and checking suspicious people….”

Li Qingzhou, feeling helpless, stopped his increasingly exaggerated words, “No, it was just a simple handover, what’s more the competition is now over.”

“After the finals, there will be the international competition, which has already been confirmed by the above.”

Hearing this, Ge Yue nodded, “It’s fortunate to have you.”

“Otherwise, a good AI robots exchange competition would have been dragged down by all these shady dealings and our country wouldn’t have any talent left.”

Now, it was all good.

Those involved had received their lessons and warnings and none had escaped the consequences they deserved.

Remembering something, Ge Yue asked, “What about that Professor what’s his name Buffett and his student, Keith?”

“Weren’t they also connected to the Cui Group? Now that the Cui Group is being investigated, what about those two….?”

Li Qingzhou: “Professor Buffett wasn’t aware of the situation, and the competition’s shady dealings had nothing to do with them.”

“After finding out, he immediately resigned as their technology consultant and returned to his country with Keith for the time being.”

They would probably come back during the finals.

Ge Yue: “That, let’s not talk about them, it’s a mood killer.”

In his opinion, this Professor Buffett should have just accepted Qingzhou’s invitation in the first place, rather than being hired by the Cui Group….

Now, his reputation had been damaged because of this incident.

Although Professor Buffett didn’t know, hadn’t participated and hadn’t done anything, some netizens didn’t care.

—Once you’ve joined the thieves’ ship, you’ve become a part of them and your ‘innocence’ is long gone, so you’ll all be scolded together.

Ge Yue stopped thinking about these things.

He had invited Qingzhou out to discuss the business collaboration of adapting his comic into a game.

—The Ge family and the Li Group Corporation.

The comic that could be adapted into a game wasn’t his currently serialized new comic.

It was the previous hot-blooded comic that had become a hit— ‘Sky Juvenile’.

This was a comic set in a future interstellar era, with a grand worldview of mechas, competitions, spaceships and more.

The protagonist started from a remote and backward small planet, then rose gradually step by step to the position of the interstellar ruler….

Both in terms of the grand worldview and the small intricate details, this hot-blooded comic was undoubtedly portrayed vividly and the passionate plot was captivating. It was no wonder it became a hit.

And it was so popular that it was no surprise that game companies wanted to acquire the rights to it.

The waiter brought the two their coffees.

After taking a sip, Ge Yue asked Li Qingzhou, “Qingzhou, since you have a good relationship with Uncle Liu, then do you know about Uncle Liu’s second brother, Liu Jingyuan and his family?”

Li Qingzhou looked up, “Yes, I saw them by chance at the Xia family’s Residence when they had just returned to the country and came to visit the Xia family.”

They really didn’t look any impressive.

He wondered, “Could it be that the game company that approached the Ge family has something to do with Liu Jingyuan?”

The Ge family mainly operated an entertainment company and so wasn’t involved in game production, etc.

Recently, as ‘Sky Juvenile’ was being considered for adaptation into a game, many related companies had sent collaboration proposals to the Ge family.

Ge Yue, “Yes, it’s related to Liu Jingyuan. Liu Jingyuan’s wife, Liu Jizhen, is from the Lu family. Have you heard of World Skill Game Company? It’s an enterprise of the Lu family.”

“Although they’ve declined a bit, a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse— their game production skills are still among the top.”

“The people from the Lu family approached my father directly, saying they wanted to buy the game rights to the ‘Sky Juvenile’ comic….”

The Lu family had no idea that Ge Yue was Mars Hill. They had approached the Ge family simply because the rights to the popular comic were held by a studio under the Ge family’s banner.

However, because of Liu Bohuai, He Jianxun didn’t like the Lu family, so consequently, Ge Yue didn’t have a good impression of them either.

Therefore even though the Lu Group’s game company was the best choice, the Ge family still rejected the offer based on their son’s opinion.

Later, Ge Yue mentioned this matter to Li Qingzhou while chatting.

Then Li Qingzhou told him he could help produce the ‘Sky Juvenile’ game.

Thinking of his friend’s computer skills, Ge Yue was really moved.

He didn’t doubt Li Qingzhou’s technical expertise, which had gone from the field of intelligent cars to AI robots and now, into the gaming industry….. he wondered if it was feasible.

He had rejected the collaboration proposal from the Lu family’s game company, but wanted to grant the rights to the president of a company who specialized in the production of cars. He couldn’t help but wonder how the Ge family would feel about it.

Li Qingzhou asked, “So you just made the decision like that? Doesn’t anyone in your family have a problem with it?”

Ge Yue: “My parents listen to me and besides, it’s my comic, so I have the right to decide. And to be honest….”

He scratched his head, making his already permed curly hair messier.

He continued, “I think very few games adapted from comics become popular. Even with a fanbase, if a game isn’t fun, it’s not fun. Only a handful of them become successful….”

“Cough, Qingzhou, I’m not doubting your skills, but it’s really hard to predict the outcome of this.”

“Anyway, just do your best and don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

It wasn’t as if he was short of money. Drawing comics was just a personal hobby. He hadn’t expected it to become popular.

Now that the ‘Sky Juvenile’s’ comic had received positive feedback, many fans had began to hope for a game adaptation.

However he wasn’t optimistic about the game adaptation of ‘Sky Juvenile’.

First, the setting was in a future interstellar era and second, the interstellar weapons, spaceships, and mechas used in the comic were quite complex.

The current level of game production wasn’t sophisticated enough to fully recreate the comic’s world, and even if the adaptation wasn’t of poor quality, there would still be limitations.

All of which would make the game less enjoyable.

He had granted the game rights primarily to fulfill his fans’ wishes.

He didn’t hold much hope for its success.

Li Qingzhou, “I’m not under much pressure, don’t worry. The game will be a great success. Just look forward to it.”

……..

Translator’s question: Liu Jizhen’s family name is also pronounced ‘Liu’, but is written differently in Chinese. To prevent confusion, I want change their surname to Lu so it doesn’t clash with Liu Bohuai and his family’s umbrella. What do you guys think? Should I leave it as ‘Liu’ or change it?