Mom and Dad, I Made Money

The meeting ended.

Though it started off a bit rough, it quickly became Meng Shu's one-man show.

After Manager Liang from Infinite Network Entertainment voiced his support, the others had nothing more to say, and Deputy Director Li never spoke up again.

Once every aspect of "Visage" had been clearly explained, the meeting came to a perfect close.

Xu Hong and the other two had filled three full pages of notes with information about the game.

Xia Nianzhen, in particular, as a scene designer, understood how crucial the Mansion was to the game, so she roughly sketched the floor plan from the meeting to aid future reference work.

Qiu Yuan felt the pressure even more. After seeing the game's content, he knew his workload was about to skyrocket. Since he was the company's only modeler and the game scenes were clearly asset-heavy, he would undoubtedly be the busiest.

Although Xia Nianzhen could also use modeling software and help share the load, the bulk of the work would still fall on him.

Not to mention, there was one thing he found extremely unsettling that he needed to complete.

That was modeling Lucy's torn-off lower jaw from the game.

It was a challenge for him.

Though President Meng had said it didn't need to be too gory—just a little blood would suffice—he still left that task for last.

As for Xu Hong, being the animator, his job was to direct character movements and correct them in the software.

For his work, Meng Shu, as the boss, planned to temporarily hire a few part-timers to act as performers.

Since the employees were already loaded with work, pulling them away to dress up and record motion capture would obviously delay development progress.

So hiring temporary workers was the best option.

"Visage" also had a large number of character movements.

For example, Lucy's parents crying and worrying about their daughter's condition, Dolores taking care of her child, Lacan eating, drinking, and searching for monitors—all of these required motion capture assistance.

So this step was indispensable.

In the office, Meng Shu sat in front of his computer, beginning to formulate a series of plans.

First, modifying the game was now unavoidable, since it had to be ported to VR.

After all, the VR experience was completely different from playing on a computer screen.

The former was far more immersive, and combined with the game's already intense sense of presence, the two together would feel almost like entering the game world in person.

So if he didn't make appropriate adjustments, scaring players to tears would be a loss.

Although scaring them might bring in more Fear Points, what if players simply stopped playing?

So modifications had to be added to the plan.

Another issue was the protagonist model.

In "Visage," the protagonist was a "triple-zero" entity—no hands, no feet, no head, and no body.

Players merely controlled the camera perspective as it moved, objects were grabbed by telekinesis, and wading through water left no ripples.

But in VR, that couldn't work the same way.

Players could freely turn their heads and would inevitably see their own body, so a headless model for the protagonist was necessary.

Arm models, compatible with VR controller movement, also had to be included.

These were all elements absent from the original game, essentially original creations for the VR version.

Fortunately, with his program value at 60+8, it wasn't too difficult for him.

After finalizing the plan, he stood up and walked out to give further instructions to his only employees.

A week later, Sister Mei from finance reported that a sum of 38 million had been deposited into the company account.

Upon hearing the news, Meng Shu laughed out loud in his office.

The money came a few days later than the expected three, but it had finally arrived.

Although Infinite Network Entertainment would inevitably take this money back from sales, in the early stages, it was a huge help.

He could now hire programmers to port the game to consoles!

He could also open up MOD support for "Dark Forest"!

And he could move to a new office!

Plus buy a house.

And a car.

In short, the funds he could allocate had suddenly increased significantly.

This way, he wouldn't have to touch the money from "Dark Forest" sales.

After all, that money, strictly speaking, was his personal property, not company funds.

Only the 38 million from Infinite Network Entertainment counted as company capital.

He didn't want to transfer personal money into the company account, so even though "Dark Forest"'s 2.1 million sales had brought him nearly a hundred million in wealth, the company remained a small one.

But for now, it was time to focus on developing the game.

But before that, he had to come clean with his family.

At 7 p.m. that evening, Meng Shu took the bus home.

In his hand, he carried the ingredients for tonight's meal.

After walking through several dark, dirty alleys littered with trash, he arrived at the door of their old family house.

He fished out his key and unlocked the door.

But before he could even step inside, Meng Girl's voice rang out from the room.

"Bro! Is that you, bro! Are you back!"

Hearing this, Meng Shu shrugged and casually replied, only to see Meng Girl hobbling out on crutches, limping along.

When she spotted the groceries in his hand, her eyes lit up with a sharp gleam.

The sight of her like this made Meng Shu's forehead line with exasperation.

Embarrassing!

"Bro, you bought so much—what are we making tonight?"

"Hotpot."

"Really!? Did you get tripe then?"

"Of course I did, I know you love it."

Meng Xiaoran immediately cheered and bounced, her eyes curving into crescent moons.

"Brother is the best! You really get me, knowing your little sis loves tripe!"

The corner of Meng Shu's mouth lifted slightly. He carried the groceries into the kitchen, started prepping the ingredients, and began laying them out on the table one by one.

About an hour later, their parents came home from overtime.

Exhaustion written all over their faces, they smelled the rich aroma before they even stepped through the door.

Pulling the door open, they saw the living room table piled high with dishes—meat and vegetables alike, laid out like a feast.

In the center sat an iron pot, red oil roiling inside, making their appetites stir.

Just then, Meng Shu walked out carrying a plate of sliced beef. Seeing his parents at the doorway, he smiled.

"You're back? We're having hotpot tonight—it's been about two or three years since we last ate it at home."

With that, he set down the beef and called for Meng Girl to come out and eat.

His parents exchanged glances, a little puzzled.

Why the sudden urge for hotpot?

But Meng Dad couldn't care less. After hauling water deliveries all day under the sun and wind, his stomach had long been empty.

He went straight to the bathroom, washed his face, then came back, sat down, and started blanching ingredients.

Meng Mom took off her sun-protective headscarf, pulled out a chair, and looked at the spread of meat and vegetables before her. A warmth filled her heart, taking it entirely as a sign of her son's first paycheck after starting work.

She didn't even stop to consider whether he'd actually gotten paid yet after just over a month on the job.

Meng Girl, for her part, didn't hold back. She grabbed five slices of beef with her chopsticks in one go, plunged them into the pot, then swirled them through the dipping sauce in her bowl. One bite in, and she was panting from the heat.

"Eat slowly, no one's fighting you."

Meng Shu pulled out two bottles of cold beer and handed one to Meng Dad, whose eyes lit up with surprise.

He then brought out pumpkin porridge and pickled sour vegetables, setting them in front of Meng Mom.

Finally, he gave the orange juice to Meng Girl before pulling out a chair and sitting down beside her.

"Bro, hurry up and eat! Come on, or I'll eat all the meat!"

Meng Girl urged him between mouthfuls, shoveling food in.

She looked nothing like the graceful college girl she was supposed to be—more like a silly, wild country lass. Meng Shu smiled and watched her for a moment.

"Son, is today your payday or something, that you're treating us to hotpot?"

Meng Mom took small sips of her pumpkin porridge, the joy showing plainly on her face—but what it revealed were the marks of time, her hands covered in cracked wounds from labor.

"Just eat and enjoy it, will you? The kid's making good, earning big money. Why you gotta ask so much, woman?" Meng Dad raised his beer bottle and chugged straight from it, letting out a satisfied belch of alcohol before grabbing some duck intestines from his bowl and wolfing them down.

"I'm happy, that's all. My son's working at a company now, living better than us, eating better than us. How could a mother not be happy? There are three of us bringing in money now in this house. Let's try to save some this year, no wasting, and things will slowly get better."

Hearing this, Meng Dad nodded, glad that his son was helping lighten the family's burden.

"Old lady, after we eat, count the money, then take a day off and bring Ran Girl to the hospital to check her leg. See how it's doing."

Meng Xiaoran, who had been stuffing her face, suddenly trembled slightly at these words, her expression dimming.

Her mother's job was a special one—basically no days off.

Even if she rested, it was a shift swap, and she had to see if someone else could cover. There was no such thing as a real day off.

So, to rest, she usually had to ask for leave.

Now, because of her, the family was being dragged down, burdening her parents.

But she was still a student, knowing nothing, unable to help share the load.

This thought made Meng Xiaoran's eating movements stiffen.

"We'll do it tomorrow or the day after."

Meng Mom set down the pumpkin porridge and started blanching vegetables, seemingly not noticing her daughter's expression.

But Meng Shu, sitting nearby, saw it all. He shook his head, patted his sister's head, and gave her an encouraging smile despite her pout.

Then he looked at his parents and cleared his throat.

"Dad, Mom, you're both at retirement age. Why not just quit your jobs? Go resign tomorrow."

The moment he spoke, his parents' hands blanching vegetables froze, and they looked at him with confusion.

The little Meng girl beside him was also full of question marks, not understanding what her brother meant by that.

Could it be...

Was her brother planning to support the family all by himself?

Under the three puzzled gazes, Meng Shu pulled out his phone, opened the bank transfer notification, and handed it to Meng Mom.

On it was the sales figure for "Dark Forest"—around 2.1 million copies. After deductions and taxes, about 76 million yuan had been deposited.

Meng Mom took the phone and looked, stunned. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, confirming she wasn't mistaken, then wore an expression of utter disbelief.

"Son... this... this is...?"

Meng Dad frowned, taking the phone from Meng Mom. He looked, and nearly dropped his liquor bottle onto the table!

"Kid!? You didn't do something illegal, did you!?"

The little Meng girl was full of question marks, not knowing what her parents had seen.

But her brother's next sentence made her eyes go wide.

"I started a company and earned tens of millions. From now on, you don't have to work so hard. Just quit and stay home to rest and spend time with Xiaoran."

The family matters were all settled, so there won't be much ink spent on them later.

Here, a special thanks to 'Little Troll Fake' for the 10,000-point tip! Thank you for your continued support, thank you!

And to 'Can't Think of a Nickname' for the 500-point tip, thank you.

Thanks to 'Little Troll Fake' for the 6 monthly tickets, and thanks to 'Clear Moon Return' for the monthly ticket support!