Inviting the Governor to Play Contra

As someone familiar with the advanced film industry of modern times, Lin Lixin found it difficult to judge the merits of the fantasy action film Conan the Destroyer objectively.

He did, however, have some recollection of this IP.

In the future, there seemed to have been a developer called Funcom that had made a multiplayer online survival game based on the original Conan the Barbarian books.

Unfortunately, the development team had not put much care into it, so the game's reviews had not been particularly good.

Sam, beside him, was watching with relish. This sort of subject matter was right up his alley.

When Conan wielded his sword and defeated every last one of the charging cavalry as easily as chopping melons and slicing vegetables, Sam even unconsciously pumped his fist, silently cheering.

Lin Lixin's attention, meanwhile, had been entirely drawn to the youthful future governor on the screen, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs.

The end credits began to roll.

Sam abruptly rose to his feet before anyone else, clapping repeatedly in excitement.

His conspicuous display naturally drew the attention of everyone around him in an instant, including Schwarzenegger himself, who was seated in the front row.

The man, who had just completed his transition from bodybuilding champion to movie star, was surrounded by reporters, producers, and admirers.

Lin Lixin barely managed to squeeze up to the edge of the crowd. The invitation he had paid for was not enough to give him a chance to actually speak with Schwarzenegger one-on-one.

Only after a long wait did he and Sam finally manage to squeeze into the inner circle.

Taking advantage of a pause in the conversation, Lin Lixin cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger, congratulations on the film's release! Your performance was even better than in Conan the Barbarian!"

"Thank you."

Schwarzenegger glanced at Lin Lixin and Sam and returned a polite smile.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger, I'm a game developer, and we're looking for an outstanding 'tough guy' spokesperson for our project. Would you be interested in hearing about it?"

At Lin Lixin's words, Schwarzenegger, who had been turning his gaze away, paused and raised an eyebrow slightly, showing a measure of interest.

"A game? What kind of game?"

Lin Lixin quickly opened his briefcase and pulled out several pieces of concept art depicting two tough-looking soldiers fighting side by side.

But before he could begin introducing anything, a middle-aged man with meticulously combed hair suddenly stepped between them like a wall.

The badge on his chest identified him.

Dave, his agent.

"Sorry, young man." His voice was mild, but carried a note that brooked no argument. "Arnold is at an important stage in his rise, and every commercial engagement must be considered with the utmost care."

Dave looked Lin Lixin up and down a few times. Although he said nothing, Lin Lixin could clearly sense a measure of distrust stemming from his youth and race.

"Video games? With all due respect, if you've watched any news lately, you should know what state video games are in."

"Atari buried millions of cartridges in a landfill in New Mexico."

"You want Arnold's name associated with those soon-to-be-obsolete plastic boxes? That would do his career no good whatsoever."

"Does anyone else have a question?"

His words were harsh, but fair.

From the perspective of someone living in an era when the prevailing view was that "video games are dead," endorsing a video game was naturally courting death.

It was a last meal before the execution, a path chosen only by washed-up stars whose popularity had faded and who were about to leave the industry.

The atmosphere instantly chilled, and the onlookers around them wore expressions of either surprise or mockery.

Before Lin Lixin could say anything, Sam was the first to object.

He did not care what industry someone was a big shot in. If they dared bad-mouth video games in front of him, he would argue his case even without a leg to stand on.

"We're not Atari! Tetris has sold to major arcades all over California. Are you saying all those players are fake?!"

"Sorry, we..."

The agent was about to say more when a powerful hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder blade.

Schwarzenegger's gaze rested on Lin Lixin. He had keenly picked up on the key point in what Lin Lixin had said earlier.

"A tough-guy game protagonist? What kind of game is it?"

"A soldier saving the world, Mr. Schwarzenegger." Lin Lixin smiled. "Like Rambo, played by Mr. Stallone."

"Rambo..." Schwarzenegger repeated the name.

As a fellow movie star, he naturally knew of Stallone, that remarkable senior in the business.

It was no exaggeration to say that Stallone embodied the action films of the eighties.

He was also what Schwarzenegger, who was only just beginning to make his mark, wanted to become.

The agent frowned. He sensed that Schwarzenegger's stance seemed to be softening, and that was not a good sign.

As his agent, he did not want Schwarzenegger getting involved with video games, which had only one breath left in them, at such a crucial time.

"Young man, video games aren't movies. With visuals that crude, they simply can't compare to cinematic effects."

He bluntly exposed video games' greatest weakness at present.

"You call him a tough guy, but once he's in the game, won't he just be a bunch of moving pixels?"

At that, Lin Lixin and Sam exchanged a glance, each seeing the barely suppressed amusement in the other's eyes.

Sam had, of course, already tried the game demo that Lin Lixin had spent so much time developing, and knew exactly what kind of "monster" it was.

Lin Lixin reached into the bag he carried with him and pulled out an odd-looking circuit board covered in soldered components of every kind.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger, if we can find a monitor, you can try it for yourself right now."

Schwarzenegger was somewhat surprised by Lin Lixin's confidence.

For some reason, his intuition told him this might be a good opportunity.

After a moment's thought, he simply pointed at the screen behind him.

"A monitor? This screen should be big enough, shouldn't it?"

The professional movie theater they were in was already equipped with a large-format video projector. Besides simply screening film, it naturally also supported standard composite video input.

The others present exchanged looks, not having expected Mr. Schwarzenegger to actually be interested in the proposal.

"Arnold, later you still have that with Fox..."

The agent was clearly getting anxious, even inadvertently letting slip Schwarzenegger's schedule for the day.

"Dave, just give me ten minutes." His tone brooked no argument, and he tipped his chin toward Lin Lixin. "Let's do it right here."

He could still spare ten minutes or so.

More importantly, when it came to something he did not understand, trying to learn about it was no bad thing, even if they did not end up working together.

Lin Lixin handed Schwarzenegger the prototype's control panel and connected the video cable to the projector.

The image flickered a few times, and a line of stylized lettering appeared in the center.

CONTRA