Hearing this, Xiang Tianming was a little confused.
"What do you mean, add ten thousand? Add what?"
"Add money, obviously. What else? Heh."
Pang Wen shook his head and sneered.
"It doesn't matter if I tell you the truth. You know Platinum Studio, right? The one you're trying to take down—Wu Wei."
"He offered me forty thousand to expose you for abusing public resources for private gain and passing yourselves off as someone else."
"Considering our usual working relationship, I'm not asking for much. Just another ten thousand. That's not expensive..."
Pang Wen rambled on, his face full of smug pride.
But Xiang Dahai could no longer hear what came after that.
His mind was buzzing!
So this had all been Wu Wei's retaliation!
That was right!
The one who had incited Pang Wen was Wu Wei!
Infighting was always the most entertaining thing to watch.
If he could help it, Wu Wei would never choose to confront his enemies head-on.
Killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of his own was always the worst possible option.
After fanning the players' anger into flames, Wu Wei knew Zhiyou would never let Xiang Dahai off.
The external threat was now in place.
Next came internal strife.
When it came to tormenting people, no one did it better than Wu Wei.
After looking into things, Wu Wei easily found the project team under Xiang Dahai's command.
Then he picked Pang Wen, who had the worst reputation in the game design circle, as his target.
That bastard was a seasoned traitor.
He had once set a record by changing jobs at three game companies within a single year.
According to rumors, the reason he could jump ship so often and still get hired was because every time he left, he took the core of his previous company's project with him.
People like that were the easiest to get at.
So Wu Wei contacted Pang Wen right away.
The first thing he said was, "You still have the source code for Xiang Tianming's game, don't you?"
There was no doubt that, without a shred of evidence,
Wu Wei's certainty and his almost terrifying sensitivity to games thoroughly scared Pang Wen.
Then Wu Wei stopped wasting time. He explained the current situation, had Pang Wen judge Mingye Game's predicament for himself, and laid out his terms.
Forty thousand!
In exchange for source-code evidence to expose Xiang Dahai!
Wu Wei bet that even if Xiang Tianming had development materials, he definitely would not have the game's source-code files.
After all, the source code was the foundation of a game designer's livelihood. No game designer would hand it over lightly.
Especially not at an ordinary game company like Mingye Game, and especially not to someone like Pang Wen.
One was an ordinary game company with no ability to create a star designer.
The other was a designer who had jumped ship countless times and was a habitual traitor.
Naturally, Pang Wen would not hand over something as vital as the source code.
Because if the game became a huge hit, then as long as he held the source-code files, Mingye Game could not abandon him.
Because a game could not be updated without its source code.
It could be said that the source code was the designer, and the designer was the source code.
Could a traitor like Pang Wen keep jumping jobs without a few tricks up his sleeve?
Sure enough!
Wu Wei had guessed right.
After weighing the pros and cons, Pang Wen realized Mingye Game was now a lone boat adrift.
Once a behemoth like Zhiyou came knocking for accountability, even if Mingye Game was not crushed to death, it would probably only be able to limp along afterward.
He could not stay here any longer.
He might as well accept Wu Wei's offer, make a quick score, and run.
But!
On second thought,
on one side was Platinum Studio, eager for revenge and ready to bite back. On the other was Xiang Dahai, with a weakness in Pang Wen's hands.
Since he was going to make money and run anyway, why not extort both sides?
So the crafty Pang Wen went to Xiang Dahai and tried to raise his price on the spot.
When Pang Wen left Xiang Dahai's office, he was beaming!
Fifty thousand in hand!
With no other choice, Xiang Dahai could only swallow his anger to keep this matter from being exposed!
After all, if this were really made public,
not only would Xiang Dahai become a pariah in the game industry,
even his son, Xiang Tianming, would be shunned by game companies.
After all, every game company hated this kind of impersonation most of all!
If this came out, the father and son would never again have a place in the game industry!
On the road, Pang Wen hummed a tune as he called Wu Wei.
"Hello, Boss Wu. I need to tell you something."
Having secured Xiang Dahai's price, Pang Wen wanted to push Wu Wei's offer up further.
After all, human greed was endless.
But before he could speak, Wu Wei said from the other end,
"I'll add another twenty thousand. Sixty thousand total. Added to what you extorted from Xiang Dahai, that's enough capital for you this time."
"This matter ends here."
Pang Wen jolted!
Wu Wei was too smart!
With a single sentence, he had exposed exactly what Pang Wen had done!
Clearly, Pang Wen using Wu Wei's offer to extort Xiang Dahai had been entirely within Wu Wei's expectations!
For a moment, even Pang Wen felt dazed!
Could the mind of someone so close to a demon or god really be possessed by a rookie game designer who had not even graduated college?
"Boss... Boss Wu, I didn't..."
"You know perfectly well whether you did or not."
Wu Wei did not argue with him. There was no need. He merely said earnestly,
"Pang Wen, the valuable thing in life is knowing when enough is enough. You understand what I mean, right?"
"At eight tonight, I want to see you handle this properly with the source-code evidence."
"Otherwise, if I can make Zhiyou hit limit down, I can make you hit limit down too."
"Goodbye."
Click.
The call ended.