At eight in the morning, the employees of Yggdrasil Corporation shuffled sleepily up to the front desk to clock in. Most of them returned to their stations, ready to slack off.
Just then, the doors burst open with a bang. Everyone looked over, even those who hadn't fully woken up yet.
Mu Fengyu walked in, looking haggard and clutching a stack of documents. His whole body radiated I'm in a terrible mood. His gloomy gaze swept over everyone, giving the impression that he might randomly pick a lucky employee, cut them down to size, and toss them out.
Anyone who met his eyes felt a chill, as if a cold winter wind had swept over them. They all shivered.
They wondered to themselves: He'd been cheerful when he left yesterday. How had he ended up like this overnight? Had someone angered the shareholder?
Mu Fengyu strode toward the department responsible for designing items. Each step seemed to carry a heavy weight, filling everyone present with an unprecedented sense of oppression.
The design department's team leader watched him nervously and asked, "Team Leader Mu, what's going on...?"
Mu Fengyu didn't answer. He pulled a sheet from the documents in his hand, slapped it hard onto the desk in front of him, and said sternly,
"Get the items on this list into the next version."
The team leader hurriedly picked up the sheet and scanned it. It listed teleportation items that returned players to their bases from anywhere on the map, special items for hiding bases, and plans to strengthen base defenses.
Every one of them would make bases safer. It was clear just how resentful Mu Fengyu was about having his own base raided.
The team leader swallowed and ventured, "Team Leader Mu, the new version is about to go live. I'm afraid there isn't enough time. And if these items go live, they'll make it very difficult for guild players to fight each other."
"These changes would make the guild wars in future versions unfair. Would the other shareholders even approve?"
Mu Fengyu shot her a cold glance, his eyes seeming to pierce straight through her. In a low voice, he said:
"This is an order, not a discussion. Just do as I say. I've already talked it over with the other shareholders."
"Those money-grubbing fools don't know the first thing about games. They can just add a few items to detect hidden bases in a later version. That'll let them rake in another round of cash, which is exactly what they want, isn't it?"
The team leader was taken aback. She knew how much influence Mu Fengyu wielded at the company and that his word carried unquestionable authority. Still, she couldn't help voicing her concern.
"But these changes will seriously affect the game's balance. We can't ignore how the players feel."
A flash of anger crossed Mu Fengyu's eyes. He slammed his hand on the desk and snapped,
"My base got blown up. Isn't that the biggest imbalance of all? I'm doing this so players can enjoy the game more, not to cater to other people's unreasonable demands!"
His voice rang through the office, firm and unyielding. Intimidated by his presence, the team leader didn't dare say anything else. She could only nod silently to show she'd follow his instructions.
Mu Fengyu turned and saw that everyone had their heads down, afraid to meet his gaze. Only then did he realize he'd let his emotions get the better of him. He called out to the team leader as she prepared to leave.
After calming his restless emotions, he bowed deeply in front of everyone and said sincerely,
"I'm sorry, Team Leader Tengzhai. I got too worked up just now. Please forgive me."
Tengzhai was caught off guard by Mu Fengyu's sudden apology. She froze for a moment, then hurriedly waved her hands and said,
"It's all right, Team Leader Mu. We're all working for the company's benefit. We just have different opinions."
Mu Fengyu nodded. He knew that losing his temper had troubled Team Leader Tengzhai and the other employees. He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself.
"I'm really sorry. But please, Team Leader Tengzhai, I'd appreciate it if you could make these items for me. I don't want the base my companions and I worked so hard to build to be destroyed again."
As he spoke, he bowed to the other employees in the design department as well.
"I'm counting on you all."
Tengzhai hurried forward to help him back up. Looking into his earnest eyes, she knew Mu Fengyu was determined to see this through. She nodded and said,
"Of course, Team Leader Mu. We'll do our best to finish designing and launching the items as soon as possible, while ensuring the game stays balanced and players have a good experience."
The other employees behind her chimed in too. Mu Fengyu had always treated them well, so they were willing to put in extra hours to help with this small, if rather unreasonable, request. Even if they had to stay up all night, they'd get it done.
Mu Fengyu thanked everyone one by one, then immediately handed out three months' worth of bonuses as a token of his gratitude.
After giving them the details, Mu Fengyu went to the finance and data departments in turn. He withdrew some of his dividends from Finance, then asked Data for the roster of Tears of Angels.
At first, the staff there refused to release the data, citing the need to prevent player information from leaking. They gave in after he threatened, "If you can do the job, do it. If you can't, get out. Plenty of people would love to take your place."
Everyone could create only one account in World Tree, and each account was linked to its user's personal information. This effectively stopped people from mass-creating accounts to cheat at rankings, scores, or gold farming.
However, it also made player information highly sensitive. Ordinary employees had no authority to access it. But Mu Fengyu was a company shareholder with a legitimate reason to request the data, so he was able to obtain what he needed.
He studied the Tears of Angels roster in detail, carefully memorizing each member's information and sorting them into two groups: those who might be bought off and those loyal to the guild.
Over the next two days, he used the classic domineering-CEO approach: money opened doors, and he turned his recruits into loyal dogs. Those who agreed were promised high positions and generous benefits; those who resisted were threatened with having their families torn apart.
Though Mu Fengyu's methods were heavy-handed, they were effective.
Under his money-fueled assault, quite a few members of Tears of Angels began to waver, willing to betray their old guild for better positions and more generous rewards.
Of course, some firmly rejected his offer and chose to remain loyal to their guild.
Mu Fengyu didn't force those loyal members to change sides. Instead, he respected their choice and simply wished them quick promotions and doubled bonuses.
As for these unpredictable factors, Mu Fengyu naturally called in favors to make sure they couldn't log in when he made his move.
Through his efforts, he turned sixty-one members of the hundred-person guild against it. Only eleven of them were high-level players, but the others, who felt they weren't valuable enough to earn his favor, still provided Mu Fengyu with inside information and updates on Tears of Angels.
That information was of little importance to Mu Fengyu. Honestly, as the game's GM, there wasn't much he couldn't handle. If he hadn't been worried that frequently using unreleased items would damage the game's reputation, he could've taken on the top ten guilds all by himself.
After settling on the exact timing with his inside contacts, Mu Fengyu went alone to his office and put on his beloved little helmet. Now he was ready to scout the place and prepare to take on Tears of Angels solo.
Before you continue