In other words, eight of the top ten trending searches on Weibo had been pushed up by Eden.
Eden was just that popular in this world.
Tencent's Copycat Verdict
Inside Zhao Yi's Studio, Tencent's game division.
Ever since Zhao Yi had been turned away at MiHoYo's door half a month ago, he had been accelerating the development of his game.
As for the game made by MiHoYo's new boss, he had not cared about it in the slightest.
In his eyes, a tiny workshop like MiHoYo could never achieve anything worthwhile.
What difference did changing the boss make?
In the domestic gaming industry, only Tencent and NetEase mattered. Every other game studio was trash, fit only to sip the leftovers.
So when Durandal rejected him, he had been both furious and contemptuous.
After returning, he had stewed over it for more than half a month and sworn to himself that once his game launched, he would make Durandal and the others regret it.
Once MiHoYo's new boss went bankrupt, he would take over MiHoYo, save it from disaster, and finally win the beauty's heart.
Heh heh heh... What a perfect plot.
Even if something unexpected happened—if Honkai Impact 3rd was not a complete flop—he could still use Tencent's backing to crush Honkai Impact 3rd completely.
In any case, according to his calculations, MiHoYo's new game could never make any waves, and its new boss going bankrupt was inevitable.
However...
What he had never expected was that MiHoYo's Honkai Impact 3rd would happen to release on the very same day as his game!
Not only that, MiHoYo's new game had utterly overwhelmed his, crushing its popularity to rock bottom.
An entire day had passed, yet there was not even a single piece of news about Tencent's new game.
The trending searches had been completely dominated by Eden and Honkai Impact 3rd.
On Tap's new game rankings, Honkai Impact 3rd had surged far ahead, leaving every other new game in the dust.
In its first twenty-four hours, it had amassed a full fifty million downloads...
The game in second place had barely reached ten million downloads, while the game Zhao Yi had been responsible for... had fallen all the way to eighth place.
With numbers like that, it could not even compare to the second-place game, let alone compete with Honkai Impact 3rd for first.
And this result had directly attracted the higher-ups' attention.
After all, ever since Tencent entered the gaming industry, it had never suffered such a disastrous defeat.
Even if they lost, they could not lose this badly, could they? Especially not to some unknown little workshop.
Still, considering that Eden had taken away most of the traffic, and that his uncle had helped cover for him, Zhao Yi had not received any punishment from Tencent's upper management.
He had merely gotten a scolding from his uncle.
"Damn it... lucky you," Zhao Yi gritted out, his mood utterly foul.
"But I won't give up just because of this..."
Although he had an uncle above him, he had not gotten his position simply because of that uncle. To hold it securely, he had to possess at least some real ability.
Zhao Yi was capable, and he was not stupid.
Seeing Honkai Impact 3rd achieve such results on its first day, he naturally analyzed it.
After spending an entire day playing and dissecting it, Zhao Yi had no choice but to admit that MiHoYo's new boss was clever, and absolutely deserved to be called an operations genius.
Honkai Impact 3rd's success was not entirely Eden's doing.
First of all, the game had a very clear target audience.
That was, "anime-style games."
Coincidentally, none of the games released by Tencent or NetEase had even the slightest anime-style flavor.
MiHoYo's new boss had accurately seized that opening and struck swiftly, tearing a huge chunk of meat from Tencent and NetEase's mouths... From that alone, the other party deserved the gaming industry's attention.
"Anime-style games... Why hadn't I thought of that before..."
As that thought occurred to him, Zhao Yi suddenly felt a flash of inspiration.
Besides its anime-style aesthetic, Honkai Impact 3rd's greatest strengths were... its story, beautiful girls, and art style.
He did not need to worry about the art style. With Tencent's capabilities, if they wanted to do it well, it definitely would not turn out badly.
That left the "story" and the beautiful girls...
"What if we directly partnered with a famous anime series and adapted it into a game..."
Zhao Yi abruptly rose to his feet, ecstasy spreading across his face.
He hurriedly grabbed his phone and called his uncle.
"Xiao Yi, what is it?"
"Uncle, I came up with a good idea..."
Zhao Yi then carefully explained his idea.
On the other end of the call, a middle-aged man nodded to himself. "It seems you do have some ability, but that approach isn't suitable for Tencent."
"Huh? Why?" Zhao Yi did not quite understand.
"Over the past few years, the higher-ups have known about the criticism Tencent has received online, and they have considered changing..." The middle-aged man's tone paused here.
"The game you made was a test arranged by the higher-ups, and the result is obvious: the original route still cannot compare to imitation."
"We have enormous traffic. There is no need to risk making something original. Besides, your idea would require paying for anime adaptation rights, making the initial investment too large."
"The higher-ups have already assigned a task. Keep your eyes on Honkai Impact 3rd and just copy it."
"There is no need to think too hard, and MiHoYo has already scouted the path for us. All we need to do now is make Honkai Impact 4 as quickly as possible. Understand?"
Zhao Yi slapped his thigh. "Right! How hadn't I thought of that..."
"I understand, Uncle. Then what should I do next..."
"Next, everyone in your studio will come help me. Hand the game you're currently responsible for over to someone else to operate."
After hanging up, Zhao Yi's lips curled crookedly. "MiHoYo... Your good days are about to end!"
MiHoYo might have successfully torn a huge chunk of meat from Tencent and NetEase's mouths by targeting anime-style game players.
But what was Tencent known for?
The famous copycat judge. Give it half a month, and it could rely on its powerful team to successfully "copy" a "similar" game.
Then, with Tencent's enormous traffic, would taking down a small workshop not be easy?
"Looks like the higher-ups must have contacted MiHoYo's boss."
"Heh~ What an ungrateful fool. Buying you out was doing you a favor. Since you refuse to play along, don't blame us."
Healthy, Sunny, and Positive~
Honkai Impact 3rd had been in open beta for three days already.
In just three days, its net profit had reached ten million!
But eighty percent of that ten million had been earned on the day open beta began.
Clearly, it had ridden Eden's coattails.
Without Eden's popularity, profits had begun plummeting over the next two days.
"Tsk tsk, as expected of Eden... She only played for one afternoon, yet she brought in such enormous returns for the game..."
"Looks like I need to contact her as soon as possible."
They definitely had to collaborate. After all, Eden still needed to play a role among the Flame-Chasing Thirteen later on.
It would be fine if she were an ordinary person; they could brush it off as a coincidence.
But for public figures like Eden and Elysia, the word "coincidence" definitely would not work.
Mo Li was not worried that she would refuse.
She was a musician, after all... Tempting her with music would do the trick~
If she still refused, Mo Li could only replace one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers.
Still, Mo Li would do his best to win her over. After all, if he replaced the character, Honkai Impact 3rd would no longer be perfect.
"Boss, it's already two in the afternoon. Can we release the Herrscher of the Void banner preview now?"
The moment Mo Li raised his head, two plump peaks filled his vision...
"Ahem... Since it's time, upload it to Bilibili and Douyin at the same time."
"In the future, you don't need to ask for my opinion on matters that have already been decided..."
"Hehe~ But I want to spend a little more time with you, Boss~" Rita, dressed in office attire, was elegant and alluring. The seductive smile on her face, paired with her teasingly intimate tone, was almost too much to bear.
"Rita... How did you get corrupted by Himeko too? Too much trash talk can become a habit..."
"Huh? Are you worried I'll trash-talk other men, Boss?" Rita tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said shyly, "Don't worry. Rita will only trash-talk you, Boss~"
Mo Li did not believe a word of it. He rolled his eyes at her and said irritably, "All right, all right. I know you're all anxious for money to take care of your Saving Girl."
"But I've invested all my money into Honkai Impact 3rd. I can't spare much right now. Though Honkai Impact 3rd has made over ten million in profit, the accounts haven't been settled yet."
"How could we possibly be the kind of people who only care about money~? Is your misunderstanding of us really that deep, Boss..."
Unlike before, Rita's expression was incomparably serious when she said this.
For a moment, Mo Li could not tell whether she was telling the truth.
He had always believed that he understood the girls in the Studio very well, but at that moment, he suddenly began doubting himself.
Seeing Mo Li fall silent, Rita smiled softly instead. "All right, Boss, I won't tease you this time."
"This is the coffee I made for you. I'll get back to work first."
After saying that, Rita left Mo Li's office in her high heels.
Watching the girl's retreating figure, Mo Li seemed to understand something.
"Right, this isn't a game world. There is no Honkai, no Celestial Mandate... Maybe it is only natural for the girls' personalities to be a little different..."
He shook his head. "Time to check on Himeko's voice recording."
"This chapter is going to hurt..."
When Mo Li arrived outside the recording room, he found all the girls gathered in a circle.
At the center was Himeko, whose eyes were red around the rims.
"Himeko, what happened? Did the boss bully you?" Bronya asked with an extremely stern expression, her arms crossed over her chest.
Although Mo Li had been polite and gentlemanly throughout the past half month, causing Bronya to lower much of her guard around him.
If Mo Li had truly bullied one of the girls in the Studio, Bronya would never let him off.
Rita shook her head. "Probably not... I just went to see the boss, and he seemed to be checking the game data..."
"So who exactly made Himeko cry?"
Everyone looked toward Himeko, hoping she would quickly name the culprit.
But Himeko was still immersed in sorrow. Her nose kept twitching, and she could not speak at all. Besides, she was a little too embarrassed to say it...
After all... crying because she had been stabbed in the heart by a game's plot... was just too embarrassing.
At that moment, Mo Li finally walked over. Looking at the girls gathered together, he asked curiously, "What are you all doing gathered here?"
When Rita saw Mo Li arrive, she took the initiative to make an opening for him.
Before you continue