A New "Dusk Witnesses the Devotion" Illustration! / After Chapters 1 and 2 of the Ninth Prologue, the story split into two routes.

Besides, Tencent Games wasn't without its loyal fans.

In any case, the explosive popularity of "Maiden Voyage" was already set in stone.

With that in mind, Zhao Wenbo struck while the iron was hot and released another announcement, adding more fuel to the already heated gaming scene.

"Celebrating over 30 million pre-registrations for 'Maiden Voyage'"

"To thank all players for their support, TiMi Studio hereby promises that the game will officially launch at 2 PM on the 21st."

"The game is free to play. Log in to receive an S-Rank War Goddess, while players who pre-register can also claim 66,000 Crystals (66 pulls total). Pre-registration link."

As soon as Tencent released this news, many loyal Honkai Impact 3rd players found themselves tempted.

An S-Rank War Goddess just for logging in, plus 66,000 Crystals?! Wasn't that way too enticing?

Since when had Tencent become so generous?

Wait...

A flash of inspiration struck many clever players. They quickly opened MiHoYo's official account and left comments below.

"'Maiden Voyage' smells amazing~ MiHoYo, aren't you panicking?"

"Give us an S-Rank Valkyrie selector, or I'm going to play 'Maiden Voyage' instead (5"

"Himeko is dead, but I found a Himeko substitute! Zela from Maiden Voyage is so beautiful... Honkai Impact 3rd has been uninstalled."

"I'm not asking for an S-Rank Valkyrie selector. Just give us a normal 20,000 Crystals, that's not too much to ask, right? (smirk)"

"Down with Honkai, long live the voyage! (5 yuan"

"Folks upstairs, take me along when you're making money."

"What incompetent paid shills. At least delete the brackets properly. (smirk)"

Although Tencent had a massive group of loyal fans as well.

Over the years, however, there had naturally been countless people who had become thoroughly disappointed in Tencent.

Now that Tencent was blatantly pulling this plagiarism stunt again, those players who had already lost all faith in Tencent found it even more disgusting.

So, one after another, they all went to leave comments under MiHoYo's official account.

Some offered encouragement.

Some cracked jokes.

Some wailed and demanded a Himeko side story...

In any case, they were all boosting MiHoYo's popularity.

Compared to two days ago, the comments beneath MiHoYo's official account had completely turned around once more.

Most of them were praise and encouragement. The insults had nearly vanished.

The girls at the Studio were naturally in excellent spirits when they saw this.

They were gathered together now, scrolling through the comments while whispering among themselves.

They had never dared to dream that Honkai Impact 3rd could become this popular.

Although Mo Li had made the game entirely by himself, they had provided the voice acting, event planning, and some side-story stages.

They might not have been the game's birth mothers, but surely they counted as stepmothers?

Besides, the characters in the game were themselves.

Those so-called Himeko fans and Mei fans were fans of them, weren't they?

Though they usually disliked showing their faces, seeing so many people like them naturally made them very happy.

Girls, after all—even the low-key ones—had a certain amount of vanity.

"Bronya, hasn't the boss come up with a plan yet?" Durandal suddenly put down her phone and looked worriedly toward Mo Li's office.

Bronya gently shook her head. "I asked him. He said not to worry, that Tencent can't steal Honkai Impact 3rd's players, and that we just need to wait."

"I think... he'll come up with something soon."

At that moment, Ganyu spoke timidly. "But... it's almost time to get off work... I remember the boss never works overtime."

Himeko also shook her head helplessly. "Honestly, such a popular game, yet he's so unconcerned about it... We want to work overtime, but he stops us..."

Mei covered her mouth and chuckled instead. "At other companies, bosses would probably force their employees to work overtime. Thinking about it that way... our boss is actually pretty good."

"Tch... I never said he wasn't good. I'm just worried about Tencent..."

Just then, Mo Li happened to walk out of his office.

Seeing the girls gathered around together, Mo Li could not help asking curiously, "What are you talking about?"

Bronya rolled her eyes at him. "Where's the plan you mentioned? Tencent is already attacking us head-on. Aren't you going to respond?"

"Oh, that..." Mo Li smiled. "That's easy. We'll just release the new story and the new event ahead of schedule."

"As long as there's a new story and new events, players who truly like our game won't leave."

"So what I'm more concerned about right now is whether there's been any progress with the overseas distributors."

"Yes!" Durandal hurriedly stood up, looking delighted. "Someone from Sakura Country is very interested. They even took the initiative to send two people over to discuss things with us."

"They seem to be arriving... tomorrow."

Image: Kamisato Ayaka

Twilight Bears Witness to Sincere Followers!

"Tomorrow, huh... Then Bronya and Rita will be responsible for receiving them."

Mo Li trusted Bronya and Rita greatly.

Rita might look harmless and gentle normally, but if anyone truly provoked her, she could scheme them into tears.

Mo Li clearly knew her very well, yet he still found himself suffering losses at Rita's hands from time to time.

Rita was quite surprised by Mo Li's arrangement. "Boss, aren't you going personally?"

Mo Li waved his hand. "I still need to prepare for Tencent. Although I don't think Tencent's new game will pose any threat to us..."

"But..." As he said this, Mo Li's expression turned cold. "Plagiarizing Honkai Impact 3rd will be the biggest mistake they ever made!"

It was the first time the girls had seen Mo Li like this.

Normally, he was always easygoing, without the slightest air of a boss.

Rita and Himeko could even pick on him occasionally.

Of course, the girls did not pick on Mo Li because they thought he was easy to bully.

Calling it bullying was really just ordinary playful banter.

Like friends who had gotten close enough, once people became familiar with each other, they naturally joked around often to liven up the atmosphere.

Mo Li naturally did not mind those jokes either.

Occasionally fooling around and trading barbs with beautiful girls—what was not to like?

While the girls exchanged glances, Mo Li quickly put away that cold expression. Then he smiled and patted Rita on the shoulder, like an old cadre making grand promises to a young employee.

"Rita~ Go negotiate as boldly as you like. I believe in you, and I believe in your abilities. You can do it!!"

Even after Mo Li had completely left the Studio, Rita and Bronya still found it hard to believe.

This job had really been dumped on them?

After hurriedly returning home, Mo Li immediately opened the system panel.

Popularity Points: 27 million

Mo Li had no idea how these Popularity Points were calculated.

In any case, even when he asked the system, it could not give him a precise answer.

So Mo Li simply could not be bothered to care.

The next game he naturally intended to exchange for was Genshin Impact.

But... Genshin Impact versions 1.0 through 1.6 alone required a full 70 million Popularity Points.

In other words, each minor version required 10 million Popularity Points.

His current Popularity Points were only enough to exchange for Genshin Impact versions 1.0 and 1.2.

"Let's wait a little longer. Honkai Impact 3rd has only been publicly released for half a month. Its money-making power is only just beginning..."

If it updated all the way to version 7.0, the Popularity Points would probably reach a truly terrifying number...

It might even overflow.

All he could say was that games in this world were truly too underdeveloped.

One Honkai Impact 3rd had nearly driven the players crazy.

"I wonder whether the system will offer other exchangeable items by then, like... God Keys or something..."

Thinking of that, Mo Li could not help feeling a little expectant.

Of course, he was only fantasizing.

After all, what man did not want to become light?

Casting aside those stray thoughts, Mo Li began preparing the game update content for three days later.

Though he was not worried about Tencent's game, he still felt that he ought to make some sort of response.

Besides, the story after Honkai Impact 3rd's "The Last Lesson" did not have any major climaxes, so he planned to speed up the update schedule a little and accumulate Popularity Points as quickly as possible.

After "The Last Lesson," Kiana had parted ways with everyone.

The story of Honkai Impact 3rd had also split into several perspectives.

After Chapter 9 EX-1 and EX-2, the storyline divided into two routes.

Bronya, Theresa, and the others headed to Sea of Quanta, entering the Quantum Sea to search for the Gem of Desire.

On this route, Bronya successfully got her driver's license, which counted as a small climax.

Meanwhile, Kiana remained in Sky Dome City, learning Taixu Sword Qi from Fu Hua while saving Sky Dome City along the way.

This part of the story depicted Kiana's growth. It had passionate moments as well as tearjerkers, making it easy for players to resonate with.

This chapter absolutely counted as a major climax.

Only after organizing everything did Mo Li realize that Honkai Impact 3rd had been online for less than a month, yet he had already updated its story to Chapter 14.

Starting from "The Last Lesson"... nearly all the following storylines were knives...

And they were not ordinary knives.

They were the kind of knives that made readers' hearts ache while still feeling perfectly logical. There were even knives hidden in sweetness, sweet knives wrapped around blades...

All he could say was, it was a little ruthless...

Compared to Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact's story before version 3.0 did not count as knives at all. At most, it was minor skirmishing...

Fortunately, Honkai Impact 3rd's planners still had some conscience. They did not keep stabbing players forever, giving them some sweetness during the Herrscher of Sentience chapter so they would not go insane.

"Sigh... You won't be getting away from the knives I suffered through either... Hehehe..."

After sorting everything out, Mo Li logged into MiHoYo's official account and posted an announcement overnight.

The peak breeds false supporters; twilight bears witness to sincere followers...

Thank you all for your continued trust and support. In response, the Studio has decided to accelerate the update pace of the game's main story, repaying everyone for their continued support.

Bronya's new S-Rank battlesuit—"Herrscher of Reason"

Rita's S-Rank battlesuit—"Luna Kindred"

Brand-new Valkyries—Liliya/Rosalia