Dangerous Signal

On the way to find Ding Nian, Xu Meng passed by the Animation Department and the Modeling Department.

Thinking that he was already here, he went in and wandered around for a bit.

He rarely came to these two departments.

Because whether it was animation or modeling, he didn't have anything to guide them on.

What these people needed wasn't guidance, but liver protection pills—or more manpower to crunch together.

Every character had to be remodeled, and every model had to have tens of thousands of faces rendered on the chest and buttocks.

The most exaggerated was the red-haired big sister, Tong Que.

Because Ding Nian had increased her cup size several times, resulting in an overly explosive figure, and the redesigned clothing further emphasized her figure, the end result was—

They had forced the number of modeling faces to 130,000!

Directly creating a new record for two-dimensional game characters.

These efforts were certainly not in vain, and the final visual effect was explosive! Everyone who saw the actual effect, without exception, male or female, had their eyes glued to it.

Animators and modelers felt an unspeakable impulse in their hearts.

Then, they crunched even harder! The rendering accuracy of each character assigned to them far exceeded the mission target.

The three main characters, Tong Que, He Yin, and Xiao Ningxi, all exceeded 100,000 faces.

Other characters were also between 50,000 and 70,000 faces.

This was a number that would shock many two-dimensional game peers, almost twice the industry standard! Not to mention those two-dimensional games where the characters only had a few dynamic images and no physical models.

It wasn't even on the same level.

Now, they were the most confident group in the entire company about the Frost Snow Project.

After Xu Meng offered a few words of comfort, he realized that he was a bit redundant.

These people had already entered a state of autonomous, self-motivated, and confident crunching, and didn't need his comfort at all.

They even felt that the boss was wasting their time by coming here to talk nonsense, delaying their work.

So Xu Meng slipped away in disgrace and went to find Ding Nian.

Ding Nian was much more normal and didn't mind him being a nuisance at all.

The only problem was—she always wanted to pull him into discussions about creative concepts.

He had already witnessed the scene of the Art Department discussing creative concepts the last time he came, and it was like wolves and tigers.

It was really difficult for him to interject.

But in order to connect with his employees and give them a "home-like warmth," he had to bite the bullet and listen to Ding Nian talk about the experience she had summarized, and occasionally nod and smile to show his approval.

When he left the Art Department again, Xu Meng felt that his face was stiff from smiling.

The good news was that Ding Nian had a very enjoyable conversation, and even sparked new inspiration—

Xu Meng asked for battle damage designs, but some characters had too few clothes to reduce further?

Then they could be replaced!

For example, the Octopus Monster that was just planned could use the ink sprayed by the Octopus Monster to replace the character's original clothing! As Xu Meng delved deeper into her ideas, he didn't even need to see the finished product to feel that it was incredibly lewd!

Worthy of being my great general.

Girl, you really are a genius at doing erotic things!

Ding Nian went to work with enthusiasm, and Xu Meng also felt that he had solved a hidden danger and left with satisfaction.

Until that night.

After turning off the lights, getting into bed, closing his eyes, and planning to sleep, Xu Meng suddenly sat up abruptly—

"That's not right!"

He suddenly realized that he had overlooked a very important thing.

Konjac Games' attempt to poach Ding Nian failed. As the boss of Zhu Meng, he shouldn't breathe a sigh of relief, but should be fully vigilant! This was a very dangerous signal.

Ding Nian's work has been smooth sailing recently. She's valued by her boss and on track for a promotion, so of course, she's hard to poach.

But Konjac Games is clearly not a gentleman. What if one day they brazenly launch an indiscriminate high-salary poaching campaign targeting Zhu Meng's employees?

Not everyone can be as steadfast as Ding Nian.

If the company keeps losing employees and can't keep up with production, it will quickly return to the brink of collapse.

And Konjac Games would not only eliminate a competitor but also replenish their ranks with artists Zhu Meng has trained well, who know how to draw lewd characters.

As for the employees they don't need, they can keep them around for a month or two until Zhu Meng goes bankrupt, then use cold violence to force them to resign.

It's a ridiculously profitable scheme! The boss of Konjac Games probably hasn't done it just because he hasn't thought of it.

He can't gamble that they won't do it.

Realizing this, Xu Meng immediately took action—

He didn't even sleep, and started converting the 2 million in cryptocurrency the system gave him.

—This was more troublesome than he imagined. Although Xia Country hasn't completely banned cryptocurrency, it has set up quite a few obstacles.

He waited two days just for the overseas transfer, and another two days to schedule the withdrawal.

By the time he finally arrived at the company with the nearly 50-pound box of money, it was already the fifth day.

The box was half a meter long and nearly 40 centimeters wide. Xu Meng, a weakling with occupational diseases who still drinks supplements every day, couldn't carry the thing more than a few steps.

Little assistant Chen Mengling came running to help.

But what could a female college student do? The two of them were panting from exhaustion carrying the box, and had to put it down to rest every few dozen steps.

Xu Fang, who was coming to work, happened to see this scene.

He strode over, rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing his muscular arms.

With a lift of both hands, he picked up the 50-pound box and carried it effortlessly all the way into the conference room on the 3rd floor.

He wasn't red in the face or out of breath when he put it down.

Xu Meng immediately gave Xu Fang a thumbs up, praising his muscles.

Then, in front of them, he opened the box, revealing a whole box of cash and a thick stack of empty red envelopes.

"???"

"!!!"

Chen Mengling and Xu Fang stared in surprise.

Ordinary people rarely see large amounts of cash stacked together in their lives—even if they really need money, it's usually an electronic transfer; cash is too inconvenient.

So the visual impact of seeing so much money at once is very strong.

While the two were stunned, Xu Meng had already started taking out stacks of money, piling them all on the hard, solid wood conference table.

"Boss... what are you doing with so much money?" the little assistant couldn't help but ask.

"Giving out bonuses," Xu Meng said as he took out more money. "Don't just stand there, come and help."

"Oh, okay."

Xu Fang and Chen Mengling joined in.

In the end, the entire 2 million in cash was piled up on the desk, forming a small mountain.

"Okay," Xu Meng wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead. "Meng Ling, go get all the department heads to come and distribute the money."

"Oh, oh!" The little assistant turned and ran.

It has to be said that the allure of money is powerful. In less than 5 minutes, all the department heads were present.

Xu Meng didn't waste any words and started distributing the money stack by stack on the spot.

While distributing the money, he also explained, "The company's financial situation is indeed a bit tight right now."

—This wasn't a secret; after being exposed by Game Observer, it was already public knowledge.

"But we've found the right direction. After the big update to the Frost Snow Project, all the problems will be solved."

——This statement was half true.

"Thanks to everyone's efforts, the most dangerous period has passed."

——This sentence was entirely false.

"To thank everyone for their hard work, we'll be distributing a portion of the bonuses today to boost morale."

"Of course, when you get back, remember to explain to your department members—"

"This bonus is just a small part."

"Once the game is updated, there will be bonuses far exceeding this amount."

Xu Meng was a bit verbose.

But at this time, no one would complain.

Even the head of the Administration Department, who received less bonus money than other departments due to having the fewest staff and workload, was all smiles.

After all, it was unexpected money, and who wouldn't like that?

These leaders, with empty red envelopes in their pockets and stacks of banknotes in their arms, left the office with glowing faces to distribute the money to their departments.

Xu Meng sat alone in the conference room, staring blankly at the empty money box.

To stabilize the team, he had used up the last of the reserve funds.

"In case the company goes bankrupt, use this anonymous money to find a new place to live."

He had blocked this escape route himself.

Although it was an escape route that was never really considered from the start, having it and not having it were, after all, different.

The urgency of the game update seemed even heavier.

This day was May 21st.

There were only 10 days left until the Frost Snow Project update.