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"So, what are you planning to do with this?"
After sitting down at his own desk, the studio's tech advisor, Li Ziwen, once again placed the acquisition contract in front of Xu Shuo.
Unlike the ragtag group of half-trained ruffians that they were, Li Ziwen lived up to his refined name, looking every bit the dissipated scholar and also being the only college graduate in the studio.
Xu Shuo took another look at the contract, quickly scanning over the price, and then said, "Sell it to them."
As his words fell, the gazes of the other four immediately turned towards him, and Pei Sheng clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"The lifespan of this game is almost over anyway, let's switch to a different operating model and make a new game of a different type," Xu Shuo thought out loud.
"Switch operating model?" Li Ziwen looked at him.
"Do you guys know what a Scripted Murder Game is?" Xu Shuo asked.
"I know."
"I've played it."
"I've heard of it."
The five of them raised their hands and spoke up in turn.
Pei Sheng, as a wealthy heir who never had to worry about entertainment, had played it a few times and then said, "However, the development of this kind of offline game isn't actually that great. Nowadays, most people live in the online world, and everyone seems to have social anxiety."
Some people boast impressive social credentials online but instantly develop communication difficulties offline. It goes without saying, nowadays the former is more common.
Drumming his fingertips on the desk, Xu Shuo pondered and said, "What I mean is, we develop both offline and online, making a game software for Scripted Murder Games, the kind even people with social anxiety can play."
"We can give it a try," Li Ziwen nodded, "There aren't many games of this new type, we can take advantage of it not yet being popular and seize the market."
"If that's decided, then let's get started on development," the others said with a shrug, concluding the meeting simply and swiftly establishing a new project amidst their sarcastic remarks.
"Right, let's hurry up and get the money from Ms. Wang," Xu Shuo said, tossing the contract to Pei Sheng.
As their studio gradually gained traction, Boss Wang had always been scheming to buy out the whole studio. The reason behind this was that the Pei Family wanted Pei Sheng, the heir, to come home sooner rather than later to take over the family fortune, but they felt awkward about suppressing him openly.
The practice of cutting off funds and credit is no longer fashionable among the wealthy, after all, the Pei Family also wanted Pei Sheng to make his own way, which just happened to coincide with Xu Shuo being short of money.
After establishing the new game project, the others returned to their stations and began working, while Xu Shuo slumped in his office chair and rubbed his temples.
After all, he had not slept at all last night.
He had already been up all night dealing with matters in the real world, and then in the afternoon, he was forced to stay up half the night in the virtual world—although it wasn't real, he still felt a bit tired mentally.
Xu Shuo felt like he had received an underwhelming skill. When he first drew this Character Card, he had thought it would come with some amazing enhancement.
After checking the Character Card, Xu Shuo turned his attention to the performance value, but no matter how he clicked, there was no change.
But this thing couldn't just be for scoring purposes, there must be functionalities that haven't been unlocked yet. Earlier, when the game started, the system seemed to have mentioned that they were in a tutorial theater for beginners.
Xu Shuo continued to tap the book, turning pages. After "Rainy Night Villa," the next page was blank, save for a few lines of text:
[Resting, the next theater will open its passage after 22:03.]
The time continued to count down.
Seeing this, Xu Shuo didn't give it further attention and, after casually inspecting the transparent book, tried to close the panel.
Feeling still somewhat under the weather, he hung his head and rubbed his temples, then suddenly looked up to see Pei Sheng walking over and saying, "So, did you stay up all night again?"
"No, staying up harms the body, so I pulled an all-nighter instead," Xu Shuo said.
In the real world, it was the middle of the night, and coupled with the game's night-time, it roughly added up to a whole night.
Pei Sheng: "...I hope you don't die suddenly. Also, I just looked for a location for the store. The geography of Heiyu District is pretty suitable. There's a popular street nearby that young people and tourists frequently visit for fun and photos."
Xu Shuo looked at him, "It's you who goes there often, right?"
"That's not important. I have a friend who found out that a few shops can't continue operating and are looking for someone to take over their leases. Wanna check them out?" said Pei Sheng, gesturing with his phone.
"Let's go," Xu Shuo acquiesced, rising from his seat.
...
The two drove to Heiyu District, and Xu Shuo bought a cup of coffee on the way to perk up.
The recently popular Scripted Murder Game could also be considered an internet sensation. If well executed, it can enjoy long-term success; but if not, it flares up for a moment, much like the fleeting fame of the shops on the internet-famous commercial street that frequently change hands.
Xu Shuo visited three shops in a row, and ultimately chose a beverage shop located at the end of the street. The deserted second floor above was also rented, intending to partition it into several small rooms later on.
This shop likely couldn't continue because there were too many competing internet-famous milk tea shops on this street, and it was stuck in a sorry corner.
Xu Shuo was surveying the surrounding street when suddenly, he saw two girls queuing up at a milk tea shop not far away.
"What are you looking at? A beauty?" Pei Sheng popped up beside him.
"Xu Xi."
"Oh, your sister?" Pei Sheng thought for a moment, his eyes lit up: "Then I'll go ask her... to get her friend's WeChat for me!"
Xu Shuo grabbed him at once.