My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 211 Improving the Green Bar
Zhou Kuang first used his points to redeem the [3D Projection Consciousness Converter], and then continued searching for another item.

He quickly found the props he had previously selected...

[Visual Emotion Enhancer (Limited Time Version)]

[Description: This item can be used on any object. Once activated, any visual emotion the user wishes to express in their visual art will receive random enhancements through visual symbols, personal style, and other means. Limited to 120 hours.]

[Exchange price: 4999 points]

Looking at the items in front of him in the system, Zhou Kuang's lips unconsciously curled up slightly.

With these two tools combined, he was confident that Chu Hong had at least a 70% chance of persuading Heying Visual with the storyboard, if not 100%!
After exchanging both items, Zhou Kuang logged out of the system and returned to the real world.

He squinted and opened his eyes slightly, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the two people in the car had not noticed anything unusual.

So Zhou Kuang closed his eyes again.

He was a little tired, and the swaying sensation from the moving car made him fall asleep quickly.

After an unknown amount of time, a sound suddenly came to my ears.

"Brother Kuang? Brother Kuang..."

"Ah."

Zhou Kuang opened his eyes, rubbed them, and found it was Wang Fu.

"I've arrived at the company."

"Oh well."

After Zhou Kuang got out of the car, he looked around and found that Chu Hong was not around.

Where is Chu Hong?

He turned to ask Wang Fu.

"Brother Kuang, you told me to take him back first."

Wang Fu lowered his head slightly in response.

"Oh, right! Yes, right."

Zhou Kuang then remembered that he had indeed said those words before getting on the bus.

I glanced at my watch and realized it was past closing time.

"Let's go back to the office first."

"Ok."

The two took the elevator to the floor of the game store.

Zhou Kuang went to Qingyan Studio first, only to find that they had all left work.

All the workstations were empty.

This is not surprising at all. Among the three major studios, Qingyan Studio is the only one that almost never works overtime.

Unless it's the game's first release or the final push before release, they don't usually work overtime.

This is related to how the company positions them and how they perceive themselves.

Before the release of "The Netherworld Mountains and Seas", Qingyan Studio was somewhat complacent.

At the time, they earned a considerable amount of prize money thanks to the huge success of "Vampire Survivor".

Compared to the headquarters of Kuangshi Games, where there are almost no bonuses and people can only bury themselves in hard work, they earn more and do less, so they naturally have a sense of superiority.

However, after the release of "The Lost Tomb," it also sold millions of copies, and its sales quickly surpassed those of "Vampire Survivor," which had been on the market for quite some time.

The smugness that had been building within Qingyan Studio vanished instantly.

At this point, they simply thought: both games sold a million copies, so the prize money should be about the same, right?
But they forgot that the price of "The Netherworld Mountains and Seas" is the top price of a AAA game today—sixty US dollars!

Even among indie games, Vampire Survivor isn't among the most expensive.

The price of "Vampire Survivor" is about one-sixth that of "The Lost Tomb," but after deducting the various costs of the game itself, the profit is even lower than that.

So when the employees of Qingyan Studio learned about the amount of bonus their headquarters staff received for "Youming Shanhai", they immediately became dejected.

This is human nature.

That is, to some extent, "getting something for nothing".

Wanting to work less but earn more money is only natural.

When the employees of Qingyan Studio thought of the employees at headquarters, who were working overtime as if undergoing arduous training and had been working continuously for two years without a break, their desire to earn more money instantly vanished.

In addition, Ma Tu is a very self-aware person who never indulges in wishful thinking like others, and he quickly suppressed the restless mentality of his employees.

Now, thanks to Ma Tu's long-term "tutelage," Qingyan Studio has developed the mindset of working hard when it's time to work, then leaving get off work on time and returning on time, and earning whatever they can.

Zhou Kuang wasn't in a hurry for the games being developed by Qingyan Studio.

They were responsible for all small-scale independent games that had already proven themselves in Zhou Kuang's memory.

There is no risk involved; you can make money as long as you make it.

For Zhou Kuang, they were a lifeline that allowed the company to continuously generate passive income.

As long as the game can be produced normally, Zhou Kuang will not complain even if the pace is a bit slow.

Therefore, it's not surprising that Qingyan Studio is the "laziest" of the three studios.

Zhou Kuang turned around and led Wang Fu to their workstations at the Red Dragon Studio.

They haven't left yet, but they've already started packing their things.

When Hong Nianlong saw Zhou Kuang, he quickly came over to greet him.

"Brother Kuang!"

"Hong..." Zhou Kuang patted him on the shoulder with a smile, "How are you?"

"It's great, the project is going smoothly." Hong Nianlong spoke with great confidence, then scratched his head. "It's just that you haven't been around lately, Brother Kuang, and I'm feeling a little uneasy."

Zhou Kuang was taken aback.

Indeed, recently, in order to complete the tasks issued by the system, I have been busy outside with the film adaptation of "The Lost Tomb" and have somewhat neglected the company's main business of games.

It really shouldn't be.

Zhou Kuang silently reflected on his actions.

Even though he didn't need to supervise the company's development work much lately, Zhou Kuang was still considered to be neglecting his duties.

The good news is that, if all goes well, once Chu Hong submits the storyboard, Kuangshi Games expects to reach an agreement with Heying Visuals very soon.

The production of the film was not something Zhou Kuang needed to worry about.

After all, his purpose in going to great lengths to find a partner in the industry was to become a hands-off manager.

"What are you panicking about?" Zhou Kuang laughed. "I've been traveling a lot for business lately, so I haven't had time to come here."

“Wang Fu is quite tired following me around every day, so I didn’t let him come over to ask you about the situation.”

Seeing his expression gradually relax, Zhou Kuang said earnestly, "Just follow the old approach."

“Take your time with the project, there’s no rush,” Zhou Kuang reassured him. “I have complete confidence in your abilities.”

After hearing this, Hong Nianlong felt reassured.

Zhou Kuang used to come to Honglong Studio almost every day to inquire about the progress of his project.

Although each session is short, ranging from ten minutes to a maximum of half an hour.

But in the past week, Zhou Kuang hasn't come over much, and even his assistant Wang Fu hasn't come over much.

In addition, Hong Nianlong was still apprehensive about Zhou Kuang's previous harsh reprimands, and was afraid that he had offended his boss again for some reason, so he felt inexplicably uneasy.

Now that he knew his boss was delayed by other things, not for the reason he thought, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Are you guys about to leave work?

Zhou Kuang turned around and looked at the employees who were packing up their things.

"Yes, all the work for today has been completed."

Hong Nianlong nodded.

"Okay, then you should go home early. I'll go take a look over there."

"Well... goodbye, Brother Kuang!"

Zhou Kuang didn't say anything, but smiled and waved to him before walking towards his workstation at the headquarters of Kuangshi Games.

As Zhou Kuang approached, he noticed that all the computers at the workstations were lit up.

Almost every workstation had someone sitting in front of it.

Zhou Kuang glanced at his watch again to confirm the time before continuing forward.

Sure enough, Feng Qi was sitting in his planning team's seat.

"Old Feng!"

Zhou Kuang patted him on the shoulder, and the other man immediately flinched.

Feng Qi took off his headphones. "Brother Kuang, you're so sneaky, you'll give me a heart attack sooner or later."

Where's Lao Yang?

Feng Qi looked behind Zhou Kuang and found that only his assistant Wang Fu was there.

"Oh, I told him to go straight home." Zhou Kuang saw Wang Fu standing to the side and said to him, "Xiao Wang, you can go home now."

"Okay, Brother Kuang."

Wang Fu thought Zhou Kuang wanted to get rid of him so he could talk to Feng Qi, so he nodded and agreed very quickly.

Zhou Kuang didn't think too much about it; he just felt that the other person should be leaving get off work.

After Wang Fu walked away, he turned to Feng Qi and said, "Let everyone go home."

"There's still half an hour left, why don't we talk after I finish my work?"

Feng Qi probed.

"After get off work, I'll treat you to dinner."

Upon hearing this, Feng Qi didn't hesitate. He immediately turned around, clapped his hands, and attracted everyone's attention.

"Time to get off work!"

As soon as Feng Qi finished speaking, several people jumped up from their seats.

"Great!"

"Long live Brother Feng!"

"Long live the team leader!"

"Long live Brother Kuang!"

The employees jumped up and shouted excitedly.

Some people collapsed in their workstations in an instant, while others quickly grabbed their bags and sprinted out at top speed.

Zhou Kuang quickly pulled Feng Qi downstairs, and they even ran into a few employees who were faster in the elevator.

"Kuang-ge, where are you two going?!"

One of the bolder ones asked.

"I'm inviting your brother Feng to dinner, are you guys coming?"

Zhou Kuang replied with a smile.

"No, no, no!" the employee quickly shook his head. "I can't afford to pay!"

"Will Brother Kuang let you pay the bill?"

Feng Qi glared and puffed out his cheeks.

"Last time, Brother Feng said he was treating, so he didn't pay the bill. Team Leader Yang paid it!" someone revealed.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

"Nonsense! How can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air..." Feng Qi's eyes widened. "Yang Ji paid the bill for me, how can that be the same!"

Then came a string of incomprehensible words, such as "Yang Ji owes me money" and "It doesn't matter who invites me," which made everyone burst into laughter, filling the elevator with a joyful atmosphere.

The elevator was filled with laughter, while passersby who weren't employees of Kuangshi Games stared at them with expressions of utter disbelief, as if they were crazy.

……

……

……

Zhou Kuang drove Feng Qi to a nearby Sichuan restaurant with a decent reputation and parked the car.

After Wang Fu came along, Zhou Kuang rarely drove himself anymore, and his driving skills became rusty.

"The chef at this restaurant is supposedly a genuine Sichuan chef, but I don't know if that's true," Zhou Kuang said as he pressed the handbrake. "You can try it for me later."

"okay!"

Feng Qi jumped out of the car, and the two walked into the restaurant. Led by a waiter, they found a corner where they could talk.

Wow, it's so expensive!

Feng Qi opened the menu and was shocked to find that each dish cost three digits.

Aside from the main dishes, soup, and drinks, almost every item costs over one hundred.

Most importantly, these dishes are not made with any expensive ingredients; they are just ordinary home-style dishes.

"It is indeed a bit expensive." Zhou Kuang nodded as he looked at the numbers on the menu, then looked up at the other person and joked with a smile, "You have tens of millions in assets, this amount of money is nothing to you."

"Besides, I'm treating today."

Feng Qi shook his head.

"The main reason is that it's not this expensive elsewhere."

"Let's try it and see if it tastes good."

The two of them casually ordered a few meat dishes and a vegetarian cold dish.

The cold dishes were brought over immediately, and the two of them, who were starving, quickly grabbed the food with their chopsticks.

While waiting for the hot dishes to be served, Feng Qi asked, "Have you finalized the deal for the movie?"

Zhou Kuang nodded.

"We've made some progress, but it's too early to say for sure."

Few people in the company knew that "The Mysterious Mountains and Seas" was being adapted into a movie, but Feng Qi was one of the insiders.

After all, Yang Ji had already been borrowed by him, so Zhou Kuang had to give a reason for being the producer of the Feng Qi project.

Besides, even if this hadn't happened, Zhou Kuang would most likely have told the other party anyway.

The relationship has progressed to this point.

"Code Name: Shadow is almost ready, just waiting for the copywriting team."

Feng Qi said, picking up a plate of peanuts.

Zhou Kuang was slightly taken aback, then nodded without saying anything.

As the two were talking, hot dishes were served one after another.

Spicy blood curd bubbling in red oil, spicy chicken covered in dried chilies... they look so appetizing.

Both of them are the type who can handle spicy food, so they simply picked up a piece with their chopsticks.

The moment the chicken touches your teeth, the juices locked inside the shell burst forth, combined with the fresh spiciness of the dried chili peppers, creating a sensation that is both gentle and stimulating on your taste buds.

Zhou Kuang squinted his eyes slightly in happiness, while Feng Qi's eyes lit up as well.

"Brother Kuang, this place is expensive, but the food is absolutely superb!"

"good to eat!"

The two of them didn't have time to speak as they devoured the food on their plates, one bite after another.

Both of them were sweating profusely as they ate, and they kept gulping down cold drinks from their cups to cool down from the spiciness.

This level of spiciness was already at the limit of what they could tolerate.

After a while, when they were half full, they slowed down their eating and started chatting again.

"How is Fu Anle doing?"

Zhou Kuang asked.

The copywriting team has been taking turns resting as instructed by him, but it's unclear how effective the rest will be.

"He's much better now, and he's in good spirits."

"That's good." Zhou Kuang nodded. "They've worked so hard lately; there's just so much to revise!"

I've been explaining the work to him, so he's aware of that.

"Of course, you've worked very hard too."

Upon hearing Zhou Kuang's words, Feng Qi sighed.

"It's tough as it is, but I'm afraid that if I change direction, there will be even more difficulties later on."

Zhou Kuang noticed a hint of worry in the other person's eyes and silently took a sip of his drink.

However, Feng Qi quickly cheered up and stared at Zhou Kuang as he slowly spoke.

"Every hurdle is difficult, but every hurdle will be overcome..."

"...Night after night is unbearable, night after night is agonizing."

Before him was a confident smile.

(End of this chapter)