"Can't speak?"
"Then I'll speak for you!"
Fei Zhiyuan was extremely resentful.
"You went to invite models, but ended up picking a fight and hitting one, and in the end, our company got blacklisted!"
"Do you think it's just Long Teng Fashion? Our reputation in the entire modeling agency industry stinks!"
"You went to recruit artists, and ended up hiring a sex offender without even knowing it!"
"Until six female artists resigned back-to-back and HR felt something was off and investigated privately, only to find out he spent three years in a Cloudrise prison!"
"Now HR is complaining to me that they're receiving fewer and fewer female resumes!"
"And on top of that, after kicking this trash out, we actually have to pay him compensation!?"
"This is your 'return' on investment!"
"This is how you, repay, me!!"
Fei Zhiyuan's chest heaved violently, growing angrier the more he spoke.
Fearing that her boss might burst a blood vessel from anger, the assistant had no choice but to put down the meeting minutes and step forward to placate him. "Boss, calm your anger. Don't ruin your health over this."
The entire office fell into a deathly silence.
Gong Feng, the general project manager for project X, had no choice but to bite the bullet and step up to explain.
There was no defending the modeling incident, and since the person who provoked the conflict was a deputy he had personally promoted, it wasn't the time to kick them while they were down.
So he could only explain the sex offender situation.
"Boss, this really was an accident."
"We heard that an h-artist who studied abroad in Cloudrise had joined Dream Builder, and they were a huge help to Dream Builder's art team."
"That's why we specifically flew to Cloudrise to visit that popular h-artist over there."
"But those artists were unwilling to leave the country; only this Qiaoben Chengw was willing to come work in Xia State."
"That's how we accidentally..."
Gong Feng's excuse was reasonably sufficient.
But Fei Zhiyuan didn't want to hear it at all—
"Bollocks!" he roared. "He's a sex offender who couldn't survive in Cloudrise anymore. Of course he's willing to come to Xia State!!"
"Did you never stop to think why everyone else was unwilling, but he was the only one who was?!"
That remark was far too accurate.
So accurate that it left Gong Feng speechless.
It was indeed his own carelessness; background checks shouldn't have been skipped just out of impatience.
"Sorry, Boss. It was our operational failure. Tomorrow we'll head to Cloudrise and definitely bring back a talented artist with a clean background," Gong Feng hastily promised the boss.
Seething with rage, Fei Zhiyuan waved a hand and said, "Forget it."
"Why bother going to Cloudrise."
"Dream Builder has ready-made ones right there. Go poach them directly!"
Gong Feng wore a troubled look. "Boss, we've already tried poaching them. But whether it's Ding Nian, who drew He Yin, or Tang Ya who recently joined, neither of them can be budged."
"Eleven headhunting companies have already failed at poaching them and dropped the commission."
Fei Zhiyuan remained unfazed. "Don't fixate on just one or two people."
"Look at how many characters are in the trailer. Is that something one or two people could finish?"
"As long as they're Dream Builder's artists, poach them all indiscriminately!"
"Offer double the salary and poach as many as you can."
"But..." Gong Feng hesitated. "What if the ones we poach aren't skilled enough?"
"Then we'll just lay them off in two months," Fei Zhiyuan said dismissively. "Judging by Dream Builder's output rate, all their employees have a strong willingness to work overtime. We won't lose much in a month or two."
Gong Feng said no more, nodding to accept the task.
Not only did he accept it, but he took it a step further and asked, "Should we poach their modeling and animation people as well?"
If they could dismantle Dream Builder's team, their biggest rival would vanish, and his subsequent work would become much easier.
However, after a brief moment of thought, Fei Zhiyuan refused.
"Dream Builder's modelers and animators are nothing more than people who can handle more overtime. Our team surely won't lose out to a new company when it comes to hard work, right?"
When a boss asks if you work hard, is there any other answer?
"Of course not!" Gong Feng decisively shook his head.
Fei Zhiyuan nodded.
Although his lingering anger had not fully faded, his mouth entered the second stage faster than his heart—
"Your work in May definitely had a lot of problems, and the new project faced even more challenges."
"But every coin has two sides. We must also recognize the major opportunities."
"Dream Builder's trailer caused a massive reaction among players, which precisely proves that the general direction of our new project is correct and that it truly possesses vast market space."
"Dream Builder is only temporarily ahead of us by a little bit."
"Running first doesn't mean winning; the one who laughs last is the winner."
After a long and lengthy setup, Fei Zhiyuan shifted his tone. "You must realize that Dream Builder has a huge weakness--"
"A shortage of funds."
"They're practically on the verge of bankruptcy right now. Even if they manage to survive this time, their finances won't be very abundant."
"Not only will this make it harder to retain outstanding employees, but when a promotional war breaks out, they will also be at an absolute disadvantage!"
"Four months have passed since the open beta of Frost Snow Project, and anyone can see how incompetent and powerless they are at marketing."
"Look at the current trailer. Their main promotional battlefield is actually on Weiguang?"
"Even a passerby knows that ACG Game users are concentrated on P Station!"
"And what did they end up doing? The video was pixelated from start to finish, and it even got blocked within minutes of posting!"
"This shows they not only have limited capability, but they also have zero connections."
At this point, he even took out his phone, opened P Station's trending list, and displayed it for everyone to see—
"They couldn't even make it onto the 24-hour trending list!"
Fei Zhiyuan locked eyes with everyone present and concluded decisively, "Just promoting themselves is already beyond their strength, and they make one blunder after another! If they really start a promotional war with us, they'll undoubtedly be paper tigers that collapse at the slightest touch!"
"So don't have any psychological pressure. Just go all out and do it."
"The ultimate winner will definitely be us."
"When the time comes, promotions, salary raises, and bonuses—not a single one of you will miss out!"
Criticism—encouragement—hype—pie in the sky.
Done in one go.
Everyone present suddenly understood, showing just the right amount of excitement and anticipation.
Yet, as soon as the boss announced the meeting was adjourned and stood up to leave the conference room, the expressions on their faces quickly faded as they dragged their feet back to their offices.
It wasn't that they didn't believe the boss's words, but rather—
If they ultimately won against Dream Builder by burning money, it meant they were completely beaten by Dream Builder in every other aspect.
The marketing money came entirely from the boss, so the credit would naturally belong to the boss.
Still want promotions, raises, and bonuses when that time comes? Keep dreaming!
Go get banished to the bench on some marginal project.
Did they really think every pie the boss drew in the sky could actually be cashed out?
The crowd dispersed from the conference room, leaving only Fei Zhiyuan behind.
He scrolled through the comment section of the Frost Snow Project trailer, falling into deep thought as he looked at the players' expectant comments.
The vast majority of what he had just said to his subordinates was genuine.
--He truly had sufficient confidence to crush Dream Builder in marketing.
It was just that once a marketing war erupted, it would require burning a substantial amount of funds. Even though Konjac Games was a first-tier ACG Game company in the industry, coughing up this sum of money would still make his heart ache.
That was why he hadn't entertained the idea until now.
But right now, the reaction stirred up by the Frost Snow Project trailer in the ACG Game circle truly exceeded expectations, and the players' feedback was sufficiently positive.
In Fei Zhiyuan's eyes, this meant the risk of the new project had drastically decreased, making it time to increase investment.
Dream Builder had been the first to eat the crab; while they seized the initiative, they had also cleared the minefields for Konjac.
And the slight initiative Dream Builder had seized was completely insufficient to make up for their shortcomings in marketing.
As long as Konjac Games' new project stepped onto the stage, relying on funds dozens of times greater than Dream Builder's, they could easily crush Dream Builder from both the marketing and team dimensions, monopolizing the market!
"Still too young. They don't understand the importance of marketing to ACG Games."
Fei Zhiyuan shook his head, exited the trailer's comment section, and prepared to stand up and leave.
Yet, just as the app jumped back to the home page, a video was suddenly pushed right before his eyes—
[I, Qi Huahua, publicly decline the promotional sponsorship for "Frost Snow Project"! ] Fei Zhiyuan stopped his movements and raised an eyebrow with a hint of amusement.
"Dream Builder's marketing team is this pathetic? Not only did they fail to secure a partnership, but they even offended the other party?"
"They've even started posting videos to denounce them. They must have really offended them..."
He cheerfully clicked on the video, wanting to see what stupid stunt Dream Builder's marketing team had pulled this time.
Writing behind closed doors every day, I subconsciously felt that my new book probably wouldn't be seen by many people, and I completely forgot to share the good news with everyone.
Now the progress of the new book is going quite smoothly, having already entered a round of recommendations and climbed onto the new book overall leaderboard. Thank you all for your support! Thanks for all the monthly passes, retention reads, recommendations, and comment support!
Thanks to Xiao Shijiu Eating Pomegranates for the 800-point tip! Thanks to This Group Has Been Disbanded by the Group Owner for the 700-point tip! Thanks to Primordial Realm for the 698-point tip! Thanks to Qi Qi Look At Me for the 601-point tip! Thanks to Black Light Flashlight for the 500-point tip! Thanks to LLP for the 500-point tip! Thanks to book friend ending in 2362 for the 500-point tip! Thanks to Dream Ant for the 300-point tip! Thanks to Fire Wood Mountain for the 100-point tip!
Before you continue