茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

At the airport terminal, Zhang Qian sat next to Xiang Kun, asking, “Were you serious about the game development thing you talked about?”

Days prior, while they were guests at Liu Caifu’s house in Chongyun Village, Xiang Kun had once discussed his previous construction plans for Chongyun Village and the so-called Artificial Intelligence and Internet Breeding Research Institute, as well as a rabbit breeding base.

Of course, the discussion this time was more down-to-earth, detailed, and likely to be implemented in practice.

Liu Caifu even brought out a map and explained in detail the conditions of each piece of land, acquainting Xiang Kun with what sort of policies they could obtain from Tongshi Town, Jianzhou City, and even the province, and what kinds of linkage developments they could implement.

Regardless of other matters, the poor road outside Chongyun Village definitely needed to be repaired.

During these discussions, Tang Baona, Zhang Qian, Zi Cheng, Xia Libing, and others were also present as observers.

While others thought that the discussions between Xiang Kun and Liu Caifu sounded like pipe dreams, Zhang Qian thought more about it; she knew Xiang Kun was a man of action and she could vaguely see his planning for this venture.

So when Xiang Kun casually mentioned later that he wanted to invite Zhang Qian, Zi Cheng, and Liu Caifu to invest in a company, she had a “just as I thought” feeling, but she was surprised by the project that Xiang Kun proposed for cooperation. Xiang Kun wanted to involve them not in the projects and plans he had discussed with Liu Caifu in Chongyun Village, but in online gaming.

Zhang Qian was very familiar with Xiang Kun’s background and the projects he had been involved with in the past. When she first collaborated with Xiang Kun, she had asked Director Lin to investigate Xiang Kun’s detailed information. After confirming the successful internal testing of the project, she did a fresh round of research through other means. So she knew clearly that Xiang Kun had never taken part in the production of any game, not even during college.

Why did he suddenly propose that they make an online game?

Not only her, but Deputy Director Liu, who spent the afternoon discussing the Chongyun village construction plan with Xiang Kun, was also baffled. Only Liu Chuang expressed strong interest and repeatedly asked what kind of game he planned to make.

However, Xiang Kun only said that they would know once it was completed. He then told Deputy Director Liu that their collaboration to create a game was merely a money-making venture, and for resource integration, in order to facilitate their next steps. The plans discussed earlier for Chongyun Village and other places in Tongshi Town will still proceed. But it’ll have to wait till their company starts making money, after which he will invest his personal funds.

Zhang Qian was not worried about Xiang Kun tricking her into losing investment money. According to Xiang Kun, it was clear that their investment will commence only after the completion of the game. But isn’t one of the biggest costs for a game project the human resources during development? If they decide to join only after everything is developed, wouldn’t that mean almost no risk? But in this scenario, how would Xiang Kun solve the problem of development costs? He can’t intend to do it alone again, right?

As soon as she brought up this topic, Zi Cheng, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen’er and others also showed interest. Even Yang Zhuo and Yang Jie also came over curiously.

Xiang Kun laughed and said, “Of course I’m serious. In the future, I will have to rely on the money earned from making games to support my rabbit farming and restaurant.”

“Brother Xiang, could you reveal what type of game you want to make? Is it a MOBA game like League of Legends, Dota 2, or an MMORPG like World of Warcraft, Sword Net, Final Fantasy, or a card game like Hearthstone?” Yang Zhuo curiously asked.

His girlfriend Xiao Min softly said, “Computer games are not popular anymore. If you want to make money, it should be a mobile game.”

Zi Cheng also said, “It’s impossible to try making a large-scale game, the investment is too huge. I speculate…Since Xiang Kun said that it would be revealed only after it’s made, it’s probably going to be a simple, small-scale mobile game.”

“For a small mobile game, unless it’s promoted by a major platform, it’s difficult to gain popularity. Even if it’s fun, it’s easy for large factories to copy and reproduce it,” said Yang Zhuo, frowning.

Xiang Kun laughed and said, “Don’t worry, the game I want to make is something nobody has ever done before. It’s absolutely unique and almost impossible to imitate. When the time comes, you guys will be the first ones to test it, and you’ll understand once you play.”

After boarding the plane, the one who sat next to Xiang Kun was Tang Baona. She whispered to him, “We are also interested in your gaming company. Can we join?”

Xiang Kun laughed and said, “Of course.” Just like what he said to Zhang Qian earlier, they will first develop the game and invite everyone else to join only if they are sure that it’s promising. After all, he himself had no money to invest. Instead of seeking venture capitalists or other investors, it was better to look for rich friends around him.

Yang Zhen’er also leaned over, and said to him across Tang Baona, “Boss Xiang, remember to tell us if you are short of money. I can help you get investors, I know a lot of bosses.”

“The title ‘Boss Xiang’ sounds good. Let’s use this title from now on, don’t call me ‘Chef Xiang’ anymore!” Xiang Kun laughed.

“Keep dreaming! At most, we’ll call you Master Xiang!” Yang Zhen’er stuck her chin out.

Tang Baona quietly asked, “Does the new game mode you mentioned have anything to do with the voice system we made before?”

Xiang Kun secretly gave her a thumbs up, “Smart!”

Tang Baona softly laughed, “This new game won’t include my voice, will it?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t. I won’t let your voice be casually used.” Xiang Kun promised.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter, I have made videos with voiceovers for many films and TV shows before.” Tang Baona said, “Hey, because of your words, I am suddenly looking forward to the game you want to make. Hurry up and work on it. If you need help, don’t forget to tell us. Although we can’t make games, we know people who can! For example, Linlin’s husband works in a gaming company.”

“Alright, I might really need your help later.” Xiang Kun laughed.

The idea to create a game wasn’t something Xiang Kun simply made up on the spot.

Regarding the issue of how to make money, he had thought about it many times.

At present, he doesn’t aspire to establish a large-scale business like “Divine Technology”, with a vast reach and a “secret department” that can feed a large number of research centers, researchers who have signed confidentiality agreements, field professionals and high-tech equipment.

Nevertheless, establishing a lab that is equipped with basic experimental equipment and has basic analytical and research capabilities, as well as a private sanctuary that provides some privacy and protection, and a safehouse for secure food and sleep, is essential.

As for ways to make money, given his current capabilities, there are naturally many schemes.

However, after weighing and considering, combined with the current situation, Xiang Kun decided to use Alice’s capabilities to help him accumulate capital.

Of course, for now, he can’t issue Alice directly, he feels that in the future Alice might become one of his most important trump cards. Moreover, Alice isn’t complete at present.

However, some functional modules completed by Alice can be completely stripped out, reintegrated, and monetized.

As for the specific implementation, he already has a lot of ideas, but whether they can be implemented or not still needs to be “discussed” with Alice, and they have to put theory to practice.

After the plane took off, Xiang Kun did the same as when he came, asking the stewardess for a blanket to put on and pretending to catch up on sleep.

He wasn’t truly intending to sleep, but rather, he planned on using this opportunity to sense various connected items and, when necessary, enter a “super sensory state”.

First, he sensed the 3x3cm piece of paper tucked in Mijoe’s soft leather book, perceiving its location at the villa area near the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area he had peered into before.

Then, he entered the “super sensory state” and arrived near the “black circle graffiti”. He confirmed that Mijoe and Dr. Fang Pingfang were indeed inside the villa. It seemed that they hadn’t continued further into the mountain to track the “mutated big bird”, or perhaps tracking was someone else’s responsibility?

Xiang Kun focused on observing Mijoe’s cognitive information, attempting to “translate” the various perceptual information in her surroundings by analysing her cognitive information.

He could “see” that besides Fang Pingfang, there were four other people around Mijoe, all in the same room, either standing or sitting. Fang Pingfang was talking while the others listened quietly. Unfortunately, the information he could “translate” through Mijoe was still limited, so he couldn’t understand the content of Fang’s speech.

Xiang Kun didn’t observe much more and exited his “super sensory state”. After a brief rest, he re-entered it and arrived near the rabbit wood carving.

Honestly, he didn’t hold much hope, only performing the “check” as a routine, also using it as training to perceive accurately in his “super sensory state”. He didn’t expect any important figure to appear around the rabbit wood carving—at least no one had appeared in the past few days, and it was clearly isolated.

But this time, he immediately sensed a particular cognitive information as soon as he arrived near the rabbit wood carving.

In a hi-tech park in An Tie Town, Bao Wang City, there was a building belonging to Divine Technology. Although there was no company logo, everyone working in the building had already left, including security personnel with clearance like Zhang Yaozu, who were reassigned to another building in the park owned by Divine Technology.

The experimental area on the second floor below ground, sealed since the early morning of the 18th and unentered since, was devoid of people. Only a few small drones were slowly flying through the hallway.

Using some sort of technology that made them nearly silent, the drones maintained a quiet environment where faint footsteps could be heard.

The steps seemed to stop outside “Laboratory No.9”.

A second later, a tall figure quickly appeared in front of the lab’s entrance.

It was a “human” whose entire body was covered with web-patterned skin that had a metallic sheen.

This was undoubtedly “Mr. Liang”.

While positioned before “Laboratory No.9”, a drone placed a tablet computer in his extended hand.

He quickly reviewed the surveillance videos recorded in “Laboratory No.9”, “Laboratory No.6” and the hallway shot in the early morning of the 18th. He had already seen these videos before, but in order to make a comparison and confirm, he was now re-watching them on site.

After observing the lamp in the video, where light and shadow interchanged, he shifted his gaze towards the hallway where the lights remained steadily lit. His giant, black pupils changed colour.

Using his authority, he opened the door to “Laboratory No.9” directly. He didn’t find anything unusual inside. After operating on the huge metal control panel inside the lab, a transparent “box” rose from the platform. The strange rabbit wood carving that Dr. Fang Pingfang, Li Shibao and others had brought back from a cave in the Qinling Uninhabited Area, stood silently inside it, grinning at him.

“Mr. Liang” opened the box but didn’t immediately remove the rabbit carving. Instead, he kept rotating the box automatically, observing it from different angles. His gigantic eye orbs, which appeared to be embedded in his face and had no eyelids, seemed to keep changing colour.

After a few minutes of observation, “Mr. Liang” slowly reached out and grabbed the rabbit wood carving, bringing it closer to him.

His fingers, like the rest of his body, were covered with a metallic skin with spiderweb-like patterns, devoid of fingerprints or palm lines.

His fingers, squeezing the wood carving, applied a little force, which made him distinctly feel a sinking sensation along with the sound of compressed wood. Then he stuck out his tongue, densely covered with tiny fuzz, and gave the wood carving a lick.

After “sensing” it for a while, he looked at the carved rabbit in his hand, somewhat surprised.

According to his judgment, the material for the rabbit wood carving was indeed as normal as Dr. Fang and others’ experiments and test results suggested. There wasn’t anything unusual about it—it was just ordinary wood.

He also didn’t sense from the carving itself any significant magnetic field changes, and radiation was also within the normal limit.

How does it interfere with electrical currents, lead people into hallucinations, and affect their dreams?

After thinking for a while, he put the carving on the metal platform and pinched his right index finger with his left hand. After a while, the finger was turned into a shape of a scalpel.

“Mr. Liang” used the “index finger knife” to lightly make a cut on the rabbit wood carving. The blade was so sharp that it seemed even better than a real scalpel, effortlessly leaving a clear scratch on the surface of the carving.

No reaction at all?

“Mr. Liang” then cut off a small piece from the toe of the rabbit wood carving.

Still no reaction?

“Mr. Liang” brought the wood carving to “Laboratory No.6” and started experimenting with some corrosive liquids in the lab, subjecting the carving to various “tortures”.

Others could also conduct such tests, but apart from him, nobody had the authority to carry out destructive tests on such important experimental objects.

However, regardless of how much he tried, there were no abnormal responses.

At this point, a drone that had been hovering nearby came closer. An alarm sounded on the tablet it was carrying.

Mr. Liang knocked his ear lightly without reaching for the tablet, and he heard Dr. Fang’s voice.

“Mr. Liang”, it seems our drone has lost track of that giant raptor.”

Mr. Liang’s characteristic, grating voice rang out: “We have already recorded the data of that creature, so finding it again won’t be difficult. Don’t worry about it. Let’s talk about your findings. What do you think about this giant bird, and the ‘invisible’ creature it captured?”