Xu Fang was a little anxious, so he switched to another image to change the subject.
"Boss, take a look at this one."
Xu Meng looked up, and another question mark appeared over his head.
He saw a Star Hairpin, a collar, a Lace Bandeau, a bracelet, short shorts, a Leg Ring, and White Socks dancing.
Yes, only the clothes and accessories were dancing.
There was no one inside them.
There should have been body parts, but there was nothing but air.
Yet despite there clearly being no one there, Xu Meng's brain followed the outlines of the clothes and automatically filled in the curves of a body, imagining a girl doing high knees.
"This..."
"Ding Nian draws the body first and then adds the clothes. You did the exact opposite—you drew the clothes first, then planned to put a character inside them?"
"Who is this supposed to be?"
Having successfully changed the subject, Xu Fang let out a sigh of relief.
"I haven't decided who it is yet."
"You haven't decided?"
"That's right." Xu Fang explained, "We're short on time and the workload is heavy. Designing clothes tailored to a character's personality and setting, while making them completely different from the current style, takes too much effort."
"So I thought I'd just design outfits first that meet the boss's requirements and that players will like."
"Then I can pick suitable characters to put in them later and adjust the specific details."
"That way, there are fewer restrictions and the efficiency will be much higher."
"Mm." Xu Meng nodded.
In truth, every creative had their own habits and unique ways of rushing through deadlines. Xu Meng had no intention of interfering.
As long as they were not doing something outrageously absurd like before, no matter what they said, Xu Meng would nod and say, "Mm."
"Also, there's another benefit." Under the expectant gazes of the employees beneath him, Xu Fang spoke again.
"What is it?"
"In such an open office environment, it's a little embarrassing to draw more revealing characters. If we only draw the clothes and not the people, then there's no psychological burden in that regard."
Xu Meng's first reaction was that it was bullshit.
You art people had drawn countless bodies. You had even drawn nude models. Some of you clearly drew plenty of lewd fan art in private.
I'm talking about you, Ding Nian.
And now you were embarrassed because you had to draw sexy characters in the office? Who were you kidding? Artists online livestreamed themselves drawing, and every one of them drew lewder stuff than the last while chatting with their fans, okay?! Yet when he looked around, he actually saw several employees with awkward expressions, trying to hide their movements.
That made him think of Yang Hui once again.
During the year and a half she had led the team, not only had she failed to bring out her employees' potential, she had practically bound their feet?
They even felt psychological pressure from drawing sexy characters in front of others?
Fuck, pests! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Xu Meng clapped his hands hard, drawing everyone's attention.
"Save your files, pack up your things, and get ready to move."
"From now on, the Operations Department's territory belongs to you!"
In this world, operations were extremely important in the ACG Game industry, so their待遇 was naturally not low. They occupied three entire Private Offices.
But Dream Builder's operations staff were truly terrible, and Xu Meng was deeply dissatisfied with them.
Since they could not do their jobs properly, they could make room.
Besides, with the Frost Snow Project's disastrous launch, its original all platforms, all channels operating strategy had also been declared a failure. There was no longer any need for so many operations staff.
Starting now, their territory belonged to the art team! From this day onward, art was the Frost Snow Project's strategic daddy!
"Boss is awesome!"
The office area immediately erupted with excitement. Everyone eagerly flattered him, while several outgoing employees even started high-fiving across their desks in celebration.
Xu Meng blew across the mouth of his thermos and leisurely left to inform operations that they were moving.
The entire Zhu Meng Company was bustling with activity throughout the morning.
Under Sister Chen's arrangements, aside from the art staff who were still drawing, nearly every other department got moving.
Even the operations staff who had just swapped workstations with the art staff joined the preparations, helping carry things, lay down red carpets, set up fog machines, and busily working away.
At ten thirty, three box trucks pulled up outside Zhu Meng Company. The Photography Company's costumes had arrived.
At 1:50 in the afternoon, the first model stepped into Zhu Meng Company.
She had even taken the subway there herself.
After the receptionist led her to the large motion-capture office, Zi Lin stopped in surprise when she saw the flowers, red carpet, densely arranged lighting rigs, and rows of professional cameras.
This was completely different from what she had imagined.
She had thought she would have to stand amid a crowd while a group of photographers surrounded her and took pictures, with another crowd of unrelated people outside the photographers, leering endlessly at her sensitive areas.
This was not paranoia. A month ago, several of her friends had indeed taken similar jobs from another game company.
Afterward, many of them deeply regretted it. They said they would never take that kind of job again and urged her not to accept similar work.
But Zhu Meng Company had offered double the money.
So she came.
The friend who had said she did not want to come had come too.
"Looking won't cost us a piece of flesh," her friend had said.
Zi Lin had thought the same.
But now, it seemed this company really was different from the last one—not merely more generous.
"This is the changing room."
"This is the lounge. You can rest here first." The receptionist said apologetically, "The company doesn't have a dedicated makeup room, so please bear with it and do your makeup here."
"The makeup artist will be here soon."
This had originally been the company's "recreation room." It contained a coffee machine, vending machines, some alcohol, and quite a few gaming devices. It was also part of Zhang Yang's "legacy."
After the game consoles were temporarily moved out, more sofas were brought in, and carpet was laid down, it became a temporary lounge.
Zi Lin sat on a small sofa. Rather than touching the water and snacks in front of her, she pulled out her phone and frantically messaged her best friend.
The situation here was completely different from everything her friends had described!!!
After Zi Lin, the models began arriving one after another.
The first few had all come by themselves. Some took the subway, some took taxis, and some had even come by bus. It was obvious that they were not particularly well-off.
Little assistant Chen Mengling had originally only come over on her boss's orders to greet them and see whether they needed any help.
As a girl who had not even graduated yet, she had imagined these models as tall, long-legged beauties who wore glamorous outfits and traveled between major fashion shows every day.
Bright and dazzling, gorgeous and captivating.
Almost ethereal.
But after only a few sentences of conversation, that beautiful fantasy shattered completely.
Only then did she learn that the lives of bottom-tier models were even harder than those of office workers.
Office workers could at least eat whatever they wanted, and after work, they could lie around, zone out, or play games.
But in order to maintain their figures and care for their skin, these models not only had to live on rabbit food and keep exercising, they also had enormous skincare expenses...
Their lives were truly miserable.
After they had chatted for a while, the models began complaining about the bizarre directors, perverted audiences, and brain-dead photographers they had encountered at work.
Then one of them, with no filter on her mouth, carelessly mentioned:
"A month ago, another game company invited us over for a shoot. You have no idea how disgusting those people were..."
Little Assistant: (*￣︿￣)_?
Σ(д|||) Something was wrong!
The little assistant immediately became alert. While inwardly screaming, Boss, something's wrong!, she struggled to keep her expression under control and quietly probed for the company's name.
At 2:27 in the afternoon, only three minutes before the agreed time, an agent from one agency finally arrived in a private car with four models.
The difference in treatment was probably because three of those four were foreign models, while the remaining one stood out especially in both looks and figure, making her more valued by the agency.
At last, all twelve models had arrived.
The small fashion show being held under the guise of "reference gathering" finally began.
Before you continue