Miss 2B?

Li Chen sat in his office, holding a small manga booklet.

It contained the manga for "Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World" and "Pirate King."

He had to admit, Hollywood really did have plenty of talent in every field.

In such a short time, they had already put together the opening chapters.

Although there were only a few chapters so far, Li Chen read them with great interest and immediately made his decision. "Contact DC Comics and have them add our manga to their serializations."

DC published individual comic books, as well as magazines like "Zhi Yin Man Ke" that serialized multiple comics together.

With only a few installments ready, they naturally couldn't publish them separately.

No one really understood why their boss was in such a hurry, but as his subordinates, all they had to do was work hard.

The boss was the one who had to brainstorm.

Of course Li Chen couldn't wait. "Man of Steel" had become a massive hit, and he had already accumulated over 5,000 reputation points.

Enough for five ten-pulls!

All he wanted now was to fill out the prize pool and keep drawing.

The contents of the Superman movie alone weren't nearly enough for him to draw from.

"Yes!"

Catherine immediately went to contact DC Comics.

Since DC Comics had a contract with them, they naturally agreed without hesitation.

The two manga from Starlight Pictures would be published in the next issue.

Li Chen was a little impatient, but there was no use rushing something like this.

Even so, he didn't stop moving forward.

He invited someone from PlatinumGames over for a discussion.

Making games was actually just like making movies: you shouldn't use your own money, but the shareholders'...

That was why so many games were rushed out and served up to players in a sorry state before they were even finished.

It was because the financial reports looked bad, and the shareholders were anxious to fleece the customers first.

But the result was that the game studio's reputation was ruined.

"Cyberpunk 2077," for example.

There was no denying that, after several years of updates, Cyberpunk really was a good game.

But when it first launched, it was an absolute disaster. Some people even thought the bugs were a feature...

Hideki Kamiya, a representative of PlatinumGames, arrived at the company.

He had attended the celebration with the people from Sony and met Li Chen, a potential backer, as a result.

PlatinumGames had only been founded the year before, but its veterans were no ordinary people. They had left Capcom, the "action game master," to make games of their own.

But clearly, the most important thing needed to make games was money.

"Mr. Li."

Hideki Kamiya bowed to Li Chen as soon as he entered.

This was the Japanese spirit of bowing and stubbornness: when they made a mistake, they bowed, then stubbornly stuck to their position.

After all, they had already bowed and apologized. Surely no one could really make them commit seppuku, right?

Li Chen had no fondness for the Japanese. They looked humble, but behind the scenes, they were like ungrateful wolves.

But making money was nothing to be ashamed of.

Li Chen tried his best not to show his disgust.

Hideki Kamiya presented his proposal with both hands.

"Li-san, we at PlatinumGames have several game concepts, and they're all action games. Once they're made, they'll definitely be hits."

He did his best to persuade Li Chen, but Li Chen waved a hand and began reading for himself.

He opened the proposal and raised an eyebrow slightly at the first game on the list.

It was called "Bayonetta."

The famous Bayonetta, the mature and sexy beauty herself. If he could summon her...

Tsk, tsk. Li Chen only wanted to spar with an "opponent" on his own level.

Someone like Scarlett was far too weak.

Bayonetta, on the other hand, was a legendary witch. Given her background, her physical abilities certainly couldn't be lacking.

This was a good project. He, Wang Duoyu... No, Li Chen was investing!

His interest piqued, he immediately turned to the second game, which excited him even more.

The "NieR" series!

The most famous entry in the NieR series was probably "NieR:Automata." Its heroine, 2B, in particular, was a well-known character whose popularity had endured over time.

In the famous 3D scene, her cosplay could be seen quite often.

She was definitely the "wife" of countless people.

And Li Chen's, of course.

So he immediately put down the proposal and asked, "If I invest, how long will it take to make these two games?"

"Um, at least three years."

Hideki Kamiya didn't dare lie to him, though he was still being somewhat ambitious.

But he hadn't expected Li Chen to think it was too slow.

"Three years is too long. I want to see them released in one year."

Li Chen's words made Hideki Kamiya's eyes widen. "That's... almost impossible."

"Nothing is impossible. Keep hiring and expand your operation. Money isn't a problem."

Li Chen spoke with great confidence.

Caught up in his confidence, Hideki Kamiya grew excited too. "Yes, Li-san. As long as we have enough people, none of that will be a problem."

At worst, they would just have to work themselves to the bone.

Li Chen didn't care about Japanese lives anyway.

He didn't even care what happened to the games. He only needed them to be released. At worst, they could be full of bugs like "Cyberpunk 2077" and be fixed afterward.

As long as the games were released, their contents could enter the prize pool. That was what mattered most.

In a certain sense, Li Chen really did have a capitalist's ruthlessness.

Making them perfect? That would certainly be responsible to the players, but not to him.

What he cared about wasn't the player experience, but his own draws.

Besides, it didn't matter if PlatinumGames' reputation suffered. At worst, he could simply work with another studio...

Li Chen was in an invincible position.

So he said, "Second, I have an idea for a game. Make that one too."

Hideki Kamiya immediately assumed an attentive expression, looking very serious.

"This game of mine is called 'Stellar Blade.'"

"The setting is a little like NieR," Li Chen said. "Both heroines are robots, but the heroine of Stellar Blade needs to be able to change outfits as much as she wants, and she needs to have a great figure too..."

As a game known as a man's wardrobe, Stellar Blade might have had many flaws, but Li Chen liked it a lot for its heroine alone.

The one thing NieR probably couldn't match was that 2B's clothes could only be blown off; she couldn't change outfits.

When Li Chen drew a fragment of his lieutenant Faora, and learned that he could summon these characters, he had already been itching to act.

Only a heroine with that kind of setup as his opponent could leave him satisfied.

Although Hideki Kamiya thought the game was average, he was quite interested in the lewd elements and assured him, "No problem. This game is very simple. We can develop it at the same time."

"Then I look forward to working with you."

Li Chen smiled as he spoke.

His eyes shone with excitement, as though he could already see the aloof Bayonetta, 2B with her human emotions, and Eve all standing before him, ready for him to pluck.