This Is the Capitalist Market!

"Have you really decided to do this?"

Tang Wenjie asked again.

Hell sighed. "You're so annoying, Mr. Tang. You've asked me that three times."

"I've made up my mind. That's the general direction for the publicity campaign. You can handle the details. I trust you."

At that moment, Tang Wenjie might have been the most desperate magical girl agent in the world.

What other magical girl didn't want her company to promote her as cute and kind, hoping as many people as possible would like her?

Many magical girls who had debuted even took extra care with what they said and did, all to avoid criticism and please their fans.

Yet this unconventional young lady before him actually wanted to court the most inflammatory kind of negative attention.

But there was nothing he could do. Hell owned fifty-one percent of the company, so even Colossus Company had no right to interfere with his decisions. Tang Wenjie could only cooperate.

Tang Wenjie nodded. "All right, I understand. Give me a day. I'll send you the first draft of the publicity plan once it's ready."

The girl in front of him nodded and said, looking cute yet wicked, "Don't look so miserable. You must know how much this will pay off for you if it succeeds."

Assuming I'm alive to collect.

Tang Wenjie grumbled inwardly. He rubbed the dark circles under his eyes, put his glasses back on, and opened WeChat. "Let's add each other. I'll keep you updated on the progress."

Hell took out her phone.

After adding him, he saved his contact as "Desperate corporate drone."

Hee-hee.

Seeing her laugh so carefree, Tang Wenjie sighed inwardly once again.

He was the one who had signed her. It was too late for regrets now.

His professionalism as an agent prompted him to speak up. "I'll register accounts for you on each platform first. You can upload some everyday photos to build anticipation."

"For example, afternoon tea with other magical girls. Take pictures of cakes and coffee and things like that, but don't rush to show your face yet."

"A new magical girl's first appearance draws a huge wave of traffic. Wait for my word."

Hell nodded repeatedly. "Okay."

An agent from a major company really is a professional.

Tang Wenjie checked his watch. It was two thirty in the morning. "Want to grab a late-night snack?"

Hell shook her head. "No, I'm going home to sleep."

Tang Wenjie picked up the coat beside him. "Do you need me to take you home?"

"No need."

After saying goodbye, Tang Wenjie stood at the entrance and watched the girl get into a taxi and disappear down the street.

Come to think of it... why doesn't Hell use Meteor Magic?

Tang Wenjie gathered up the contract and left the teahouse.

By the time he got home, his daughter, Tang Xiaoyu, was fast asleep on the couch. She was about the same age as Bai Xiaoxiao from Mo Zhen's family.

Tang Wenjie picked her up, carried her to the bedroom, and tucked her in. His gaze passed over the portrait of his late wife nearby, and he quietly apologized to her in his heart.

He could give Xiaoyu plenty of money, but the one thing he couldn't give her was more love and companionship.

Fortunately, his daughter was sensible, which kept him from being torn between the two.

It wasn't that he had never considered finding an easier job, but now that Tang Wenjie had reached his position, he could no longer extricate himself.

He knew far too many secrets, about superheroes, about Colossus Company...

Once he stepped down, countless people would want him dead to ensure those secrets never came to light.

So Tang Wenjie could only keep climbing.

The reason he had been so frequently scouting superheroes and magical girls, even becoming desperate enough to work with a rotten-at-heart fellow like Ripper, was that he was running out of time.

The current head of the superhero division was about to be transferred, and Tang Wenjie would compete with an archrival of equal rank for the vacant position.

Whoever had the better results at the end of the year would get the job.

Tang Wenjie could not afford to lose this power struggle. If he did, he would be doomed beyond redemption, and might even drag his child down with him.

At Mo Zhen's home.

After undoing his transformation, Mo Zhen returned home from the backyard. He had planned to take a shower and go to bed.

To his surprise, neither Mo Xiaochuan nor Bai Xiaoxiao had gone to sleep. The two were in the kitchen, tinkering with something, while Mo Chou watched helplessly from the side.

A commotion came from the kitchen.

"Ah! Bai Xiaoxiao, you splashed oil on me!"

"You were the one who didn't dry the water off the fish!"

Five minutes later.

Mo Zhen sat at the dining table, staring at the bowl of pitch-black fish soup before him, with a bizarre fish head floating in it. A question mark slowly appeared over his head.

A strange light glimmered in the fish's eyes.

Mo Zhen said, "Are you brewing a magic potion?"

Bai Xiaoxiao and Mo Xiaochuan immediately lowered their heads in embarrassment.

When Bai Xiaoxiao had come back, Mo Xiaochuan happened to be awake, busying himself with the fish Mo Chou had taken him fishing to catch.

The two of them had put their heads together and decided to make Mo Zhen a bowl of fish soup. They had followed a recipe, but somehow, the longer they cooked it, the blacker it became.

Mo Chou walked over just then. Seeing the soup, he shrugged. "Maybe it's edible?"

Mo Zhen pushed the bowl in front of him. "Dad, you first."

Filial piety came before all other virtues!

Filial piety made one strong!

Mo Xiaochuan and Bai Xiaoxiao also looked at Mo Chou expectantly.

Mo Chou stared at the bowl of fish soup and hesitated. In the end, he didn't want to upset the children, so he picked up a spoon and took a taste.

In an instant, the Super Factor inside Mo Chou sprang to life and classified that mouthful of fish soup as poison.

Click!

Mo Zhen seemed to see Mahoraga's wheel make one turn above his father's head.

With a complicated expression, Mo Chou put down the spoon. "Um... Xiaoxiao, Xiaochuan, from now on... perhaps you two should stay out of the kitchen."

Dad, why do you sound so much like Lu Xun?

Mo Zhen was glad he hadn't taken that taste himself. Without Superman's constitution, he would probably have been in the ICU by now.

With no other choice, Mo Zhen cooked a large pot of noodles, and the family of four finally had their late-night snack.

After washing up, they each returned to their rooms to sleep.

Early the next morning, Mo Zhen first went to the bank and cashed the check Tang Wenjie had given him. He then transferred the entire 25w ten thousand US dollars to Hell Kingdom's company account.

Tang Wenjie soon sent her a message. "The transfer has arrived. I just got the surveillance footage from the fight with Ripper. It's still being edited, and I expect to have the first draft of the plan to you tonight."

Mo Zhen replied, "No problem. I'll leave it to you."

Meanwhile, in an office, Tang Wenjie was personally leading his trusted team in building anticipation for Magical Girl Hell's debut.

His secretary was a little surprised. "Boss, you're putting this much effort into this girl? Is she special?"

He had never seen Tang Wenjie pay so much attention to a magical girl before, because their marketing plans were all very simple.

They were consistent but formulaic: focus on the magical girl's looks and add a little sympathy bait, such as a tragic background or a broken family, and she was almost guaranteed to attract fans.

The two-dimensional crowd ate that stuff up and was especially willing to spend money. A single gacha banner could get them to drop several 648-yuan top-ups.

So Tang Wenjie usually handed this kind of work to his second-string and rookie teams. The results were much the same anyway.

But this time was different.

Tang Wenjie stared at the battle footage on the screen, paused on the frame where Hell crossed paths with Edward and sliced him in half at the waist.

He called the team into his office.

Then he sent them the video to review, one by one.

Soon, Secretary Richard cried out in shock. He stared at the bloody scene of Edward being sliced in half, covered his mouth, and exclaimed, "OM...G!"

The others in the office likewise sucked in a breath.

Although they all knew the boss was paying special attention to this new magical girl, they had never expected the content to be this explosive.

A magical girl had sliced her opponent in half on the street, then followed up with two more cuts that chopped his head to pieces...

If news like this, practically R18-rated, hit the headlines, it could blow up Taiping Prefecture's social media ten times over. The whole of social media would be in an uproar.

Richard swallowed and looked at Tang Wenjie. "Boss, you're not thinking of..."

Those who served as Tang Wenjie's trusted subordinates were naturally the elite among elites, and they immediately understood what he had in mind.

Infamy was still fame...

It was an extremely common marketing tactic in the entertainment industry.

But wasn't this a little too explosive?

For a magical girl, this was practically nuclear-level marketing. One mistake and they would all be fired, or even sent to the Pacific Ocean to catch jellyfish with SpongeBob SquarePants.

Richard continued, "Boss, even though it isn't against any law for a magical girl to kill someone, I'm afraid this would thoroughly offend the Ministry of Magic, wouldn't it?"

The others nodded and turned to Tang Wenjie.

Tang Wenjie had clearly already considered the question.

He took a financial report out of his drawer and slapped it down on the table.

"As of last quarter, Colossus Company's financial results in the magical girl sector have fallen short of expectations for three consecutive years. That's also why the division head is being transferred."

He lit a cigarette. "My point is simple."

"In a free capitalist market, it's not up to the likes of the Ministry of Magic to tell us what to do."

"If we want to climb to the top, we have to use them as stepping stones, or even crush them outright in the court of public opinion."

As far as Colossus Company was concerned, as long as they could carve out a new path in the magical girl sector and turn the market's disappointing performance around,

Colossus Company would show the Ministry of Magic the iron fist of capitalism and the great hands of Adam Smith and Hayek.

After all, Taiping Prefecture's underlying color had always been blue.

"So..."

Tang Wenjie looked at everyone. "I'll only ask you once. Do you dare do it?"

The people in the office looked at one another, all realizing that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime wave.

If Tang Wenjie failed to win the division head's position, they, as his trusted subordinates, would undoubtedly be pushed out and driven away by the incoming team. More than a decade of hard work would go down the drain.

Finding jobs at another company would be impossible too, because Colossus led the superhero market and held a genuine monopoly. Other companies couldn't even muster a single B-rank superhero.

But if Tang Wenjie succeeded, it would be their own Xuanwu Gate Incident—they would have the merit of following the dragon to the throne!

So...

"Fuck it, I'm in!" Richard tugged at his tie.

"Boss, I'll buy a personal safety insurance policy tomorrow and name my parents as the beneficiaries."

The others raised their hands too, having made up their minds. "We'll follow your lead too, boss!"

"Those bastards next door have gone too far. It was one thing when they stole credit for our team's work last time, but the day before yesterday they poached a magical girl from us. I can't swallow that insult."

"Right! If we don't take a gamble, how will we know whether it'll work?"