He adjusted his voice to what he believed was its most pleasant state.
"Miss Youlan, could you pass the phone to your new boss? I'd like to discuss investment with him."
Durandal's voice on the other end was slightly cold. "I just asked the boss. He said he doesn't need investment. Sorry."
Zhao Yi: "..."
"Can I meet your new boss?"
After a while, Durandal slowly replied, "Sorry, our Studio's new game is about to launch, and the boss doesn't have time."
"I'm right outside your Studio. I won't take up much of his time." Zhao Yi was still somewhat unwilling to give up. He wanted to find out whether the new boss was male or female.
"Sorry, the boss is outside discussing advertising deals and isn't at the Studio either... I'm really sorry, Mr. Zhao, but I have something to do, so I'll hang up now."
Seeing that Durandal was about to hang up, Zhao Yi finally grew anxious. "Wait, Miss Youlan. Is your new boss a man or a woman...?"
The moment he asked that, he regretted it somewhat.
But the words were already out, so he could only force an explanation. "If your new boss has time, I'd like to invite him out for a meal. I think very highly of your Studio's prospects."
"Our new boss is a man. As for dinner... if the boss has time, I'll let him know. That's all."
Immediately afterward, a busy signal came from the other end of the call.
"Damn it!"
Zhao Yi slammed his fist against the steering wheel, inwardly seething. "A bunch of pretentious women. They'd still grovel if someone had enough money."
"Damn... a new game, huh? I'd like to see what kind of garbage you can make."
After Durandal hung up, Mo Li finally could not help complaining, "Is that guy sick? Why was he asking about my gender for no reason...?"
"Pfft..."
Rita and Himeko exchanged glances and laughed at the same time.
Naturally, they knew what Zhao Yi was after and could guess why he cared about Mo Li's gender.
But the girls had no intention of explaining it to Mo Li.
They simply gave Mo Li a brief account of Zhao Yi's situation.
"I see..."
Mo Li did not have any particular opinion about Zhao Yi's actions.
After all, when pursuing girls, wasn't it normal to be a little thick-skinned?
But he had never met Zhao Yi, so the man's character still remained to be seen.
The reason he had refused to meet Zhao Yi was simply because he could tell that the girls did not want to let that guy through the door.
"Alright, I'll be leaving now. Next, everyone, prepare to welcome a revolution in the gaming industry!"
Fu Hua's Luck Was Still This Bad
The "Honkai Impact 3rd" provided by the system's beginner gift pack was already absolutely perfect.
Therefore, Mo Li had no plans to release any closed beta slots.
However, Bronya was still somewhat worried, since she did not know about the system.
So over the past few days, she had been trying to persuade Mo Li to release some closed beta slots so they could check for bugs and test things such as character damage values.
After all, the game had already surpassed one million pre-registrations. There would definitely be even more players when the open beta launched.
If something went wrong as soon as the servers opened, it would be troublesome.
With no other choice, Mo Li could only set aside his work and let Bronya and the others experience the Version 1.1 game content.
Under the noble excuse of: testing was still testing, right?
And so, the Studio was now filled with an exceptionally lively scene.
"Boss, isn't your gacha rate a little too low? I've already pulled ninety times, but Thunder Queen's Demon Armor still hasn't appeared..."
When that somewhat unfamiliar voice rang out, Mo Li did not immediately remember who it was.
Only after looking up did he realize it was Shenzhou Ping... no, Immortal Fu Hua.
"Did you pull from the wrong banner?" Mo Li slowly stood and walked behind Fu Hua.
When he saw the game screen on her computer, he was surprised to discover that Immortal Fu Hua's luck really was terrible...
Himeko leaned her head over as well. After taking just one look at the screen, he could not help bursting into laughter.
"Fu Hua's luck is still this bad, hahaha..."
Rita nodded and smiled in agreement. "I only pulled sixty times. Not only did I get Demon Armor, I even got Moonlight Armor. The rate feels pretty high to me."
Honkai Impact 3rd's character banner also had a guarantee system.
However, there was no distinction between soft and hard pity. A limited character was guaranteed within one hundred pulls.
But judging from Mo Li's experience, with the rates he had set, failing to get a character within sixty pulls was already quite unlucky.
Not getting one after ninety pulls was truly absurd.
He smiled and shook his head. "You're already at ninety pulls. Just do another ten-pull and it'll come out."
Fu Hua could only miserably tap the ten-pull button again.
Thunder Queen's Demon Armor
The moment the currently strongest S-rank armor appeared, Fu Hua's lips curled slightly upward, and she felt immensely pleased.
"So this is the charm of gacha... It really does encourage spending a little."
At that moment, Bronya's emotionless, somewhat cool voice slowly rang out. "Boss, I think the gacha rate can be lowered a little more."
"In the current version, the crystals earned from the main story alone are enough for twenty pulls. There will also be launch rewards after the open beta. At this rate, these two S-rank armors may become common everywhere."
"Oh, right!" Rita also came to her senses then. "That would make them seem a little unworthy of the S-rank armor designation..."
Good grief, Fu Hua had just been happy about getting Thunder Queen's Demon Armor in one hundred pulls.
Was it really okay to crush her spirits like that the very next second?
After silently complaining in his heart, Mo Li explained, "Actually, Demon Armor and Moonlight aren't that strong. They'll become outdated soon enough."
"And those two S-rank characters are only permanent characters..." At this point, Mo Li suddenly thought of something and asked, "How far have you progressed in the main story?"
Rita: "I'm on Chapter 4."
Himeko: "Chapter 6."
Bronya: "I'm only on Chapter 2. I was just testing the Abyss and the Battlefield, so I haven't experienced much of the main story."
"Then how difficult do you think the Abyss and the Battlefield are?"
After thinking briefly, Bronya gave a very fair assessment. "I think they're too easy, but for ordinary players, they should be just right."
Mo Li nodded. He had not forgotten that Bronya was supposed to be a gaming expert, so he was not surprised by her assessment.
"Huh? This..." Suddenly, Durandal's startled voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention.
"What is it, Dorky Goose?"
"Did you find a bug?"
The girls hurriedly gathered around her.
After all, Durandal rarely showed such a startled expression.
"It's not a bug..." Durandal shook her head and pointed at the computer screen. "My little sister became a villain..."
On the computer screen, Kiana wore a gorgeous dress, her long snow-white hair cascading down her back. Her gaze was icy and merciless, and when she looked at Mei, it was as though she were looking at trash.
Under everyone's astonished gazes, Kiana seized Mei by the throat with one hand. Her cold aura made it seem as though she intended to crush the insignificant creature in her grasp to death.
Seeing this, the girls all looked up at Mo Li, their gazes seeming to say, "You made Kiana the villain?"
"Ahem..."
Mo Li coughed lightly. "You may have misunderstood. Kiana isn't a villain. She's only being controlled by a Herrscher."
"Ah... just experience the story yourselves. I think the biggest highlight of this game is its story."
The girls exchanged looks and did not dwell on the matter any further, instead lowering their heads to look at the computer screens again.
"This animation... It's completely anime-quality."
The girls watched in utter amazement, already fully immersed in the Queen's Descent animated short.
Pink Miss Fairy?
After the girls finished watching the animated short, Mo Li slowly spoke. "What did you think?"
Durandal was the first to speak. "I have to say, it was incredibly well made..."
"Boss, which Studio did you hire to make this short? If domestic studios had this level of quality, domestic animation wouldn't be this bad."
Bronya nodded in strong agreement. "I also think the soundtrack was extremely stunning. The music deserves at least thirty percent of the credit for the video's impact!"
After immersively experiencing the Version 1.1 content, the girls admired Mo Li even more.
When Bronya looked at Mo Li, she still wore her expressionless face, but upon closer inspection, her eyes seemed to be sparkling.
Rita also sighed in a charming tone, "Boss, I'm really starting to admire you more and more~"
Mo Li: "..."
Being stared at by so many beautiful girls made even Mo Li feel a little uncomfortable.
"Alright, alright, stop flattering me."
"After testing for so long, you should believe me now, right? This game absolutely won't have any bugs, so don't bring up closed beta again."
"Also, the soundtrack for this short isn't actually complete yet."
"Hm? It still isn't complete?"
Mo Li nodded lightly. "I have another song here. If it's paired with the Queen's Descent animated short, it can make the visuals even more impactful."
"So... which of you has vocal skills? The kind with at least some singing ability."
In truth, the system had already given Mo Li the game's voice acting, soundtrack, animated shorts, and systems.
The reason he still wanted to teach the girls voice acting was not only to give them something to do, but also to give them a sense of participation.
If they only handled promotion and maintenance, their feelings toward the game probably would not be very deep.
But if they personally took part in the voice acting, they would care more about the game.
To Mo Li's surprise, the girls were not only capable voice actors, but were also quite skilled singers.
Their voices were already on the level of professional voice actors. Compared to professional singers, they only lacked some technical refinement.
But that was no problem. After just two days of training, Himeko perfectly mastered the song "Befall."
And so, without any closed beta, "Honkai Impact 3rd" finally launched its open beta amid the anticipation of thirty million players.
Zhang Ming had also been counting down the days, finally reaching the day of the game's open beta.
He had even specifically taken a day off just to experience Honkai Impact 3rd as soon as possible.
Messages constantly refreshed in his gaming group chat.
From the words of the group members, it was obvious that everyone was extremely excited.
"Preload complete, account created. Why hasn't MiHoYo opened the doors yet?!"
"MiHoYo: Stop rushing us, stop rushing us. One minute left."
"I hope this game doesn't disappoint me."
"Kiana... slurp, slurp..."
"Didn't Tencent also release a mobile game? Aren't you guys going to try it?"
Before you continue