Chapter Fifty-Two: The Adventures of Zhang Gouzi, Part Three

Chapter Fifty-Two: The Adventures of Dog Zhang, Part Three

For every forward-thinking suggestion from the staff, Shi Bai gave full affirmation and assured them that once this project was completed, their ideas would be implemented. The employees were delighted; Shi Bai could see genuine agreement shining in their enthusiastic faces.

The most important thing in a company is not the project itself, but the team. With the right people, the sum becomes greater than its parts—one plus one equals three. With the wrong team, you might only get one, or sometimes even zero.

Shi Bai was pleased to have found a group of like-minded companions.

Enough talk—let’s get right to the matter at hand.

First up: a meeting to discuss what kind of game to make.

According to Shi Bai’s memory, the hottest games of this era were massive 3D online games like World of Warcraft, where everyone could immerse themselves in the world of magic and adventure. At the time, they truly took the world by storm.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to turn The Adventures of Dog Zhang into such a game—not only was the story too simple to hold up a sprawling narrative, but the current technical capabilities of the country couldn’t support such a project. Even if it were possible, the result would likely be disappointing.

So, the idea of a 3D online game was dismissed.

Another genre at the top of the charts was the first-person shooter, represented by games like CrossFire. To be honest, using this concept as a parody could be amusing, but creating a serious, high-quality game out of it was simply not feasible. You couldn’t have a set of dog punches fire bullets, could you? And what about yellow dogs urinating? Playing dead and rolling around?

The shooter genre was passed over.

That left only one option: the currently popular dungeon game. This type of game had a straightforward storyline and wasn’t overly complex to produce. A 2D side-scrolling fighting online game—just a good engine, and the rest would follow.

With Shi Bai’s abundant experience in gaming, designing a game like this was practically second nature.

By this point in the meeting, Shi Bai had made his decision. “Alright! Let’s make a dungeon game version of The Adventures of Li Dog Zi!”

The staff burst into applause, celebrating the birth of their first project.

“So, what’s the first step?” Shi Bai asked. “Is it getting a game engine?”

The most seasoned member of the engineering department, Old Zhang, replied, “You could say that, but the problem is that none of the domestic game engines are up to par. I doubt they could deliver the smoothness and impact of a dungeon game.”

Shi Bai thought for a moment. “Can’t we just buy their engine?”

Old Zhang looked troubled. “Well… They probably wouldn’t agree. So far, they haven’t disclosed what their engine actually is; outsiders can only guess. Besides, their company, NNN, isn’t from our country—it’s from Gaosen.”

“Gaosen?” Shi Bai mused. “No problem! Leave it to me.”

Old Zhang smiled awkwardly, clearly expecting Shi Bai to hit a wall.

Shi Bai curled his lips slightly—he was joking. With the system in hand, why would he fear refusal? He got to his feet and declared:

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“Alright, that’s all for today’s meeting. The story and gameplay are up to you. Give me a preliminary result in one week.”

“Understood!” the staff responded in unison.

With those matters settled, Shi Bai returned to the chairman’s office and, using the system, found NNN’s contact number.

“Abuseyo!” came a voice in an unfamiliar language from the other end.

Shi Bai paused—he’d forgotten about the language barrier. He quickly initiated a task to have the other party speak in Chinese.

Now, communication was no issue.

“Hello, I’d like to purchase your game engine.”

“Game engine? Dungeon, you mean?”

“That’s right.”

“May I ask which company you represent?”

“We… uh, Happy Enough Company.”

“Happy Enough? Never heard of it.”

“We’re a company from the Celestial Empire, not from Gaosen.”

“Celestial Empire?” The voice on the other end was clearly taken aback. “You people make games? Ha.”

“Why shouldn’t we make games?”

The other party chuckled, “Do you even have the skills? Even if we sold you the engine, you’d probably just produce garbage.”

“Hey! What did you say? Are you looking down on us?”

A cold laugh echoed from the other side. “It’s not about looking down—I’m just being honest. Your games are rubbish. Look around—has any globally popular game ever come from your country? Selling our engine to you would only embarrass us.”

Shi Bai gritted his teeth. “Enough nonsense! Bring your chairman over; I want to discuss the price with him!”

“Sorry, our chairman isn’t available. If you have something to say, say it to me.”

Shi Bai frowned. “I’ll offer a high price—one million! Will you sell?”

“Hohoho…” came a mocking laugh. “I think you must be mistaken. One million? Is that a tip? Ah, really!”

Shi Bai was taken aback. “One million isn’t enough?”

The other party sneered, “One million is less than our daily earnings. You might as well go home and play mahjong—what business do you have making games?”

“Hey!” Shi Bai retorted, “Then tell me, how much do you want?”

“How much?” The other party snorted. “To be honest, we sell our engine to anyone, except you.”

Shi Bai was about to speak when the call abruptly ended, the dial tone echoing in his ear.

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“Fat Aunt!” Shi Bai cursed in anger. “So you won’t negotiate properly? Don’t blame me for being ruthless then.”

“Custom task: Make the other company go bankrupt and let us acquire them!”

“Custom task accepted. Task initiated.”

Shi Bai leaned back in the boss’s chair. To bankrupt the other company meant supporting their game. With this in mind, he quickly opened his computer and spent a dollar in the dungeon game.

“Heh… Let’s see how you like being arrogant and rude.”

The system’s tasks didn’t take effect instantly, especially something like bankruptcy—it would take at least a day. So Shi Bai went out for lunch, bringing back a meal for the staff, which moved them deeply.

With nothing else to do after lunch, Shi Bai headed to the presidential suite to check on the progress of The Adventures of Dog Zhang, Part Three.

As he stepped through the door, he was greeted by the sound of heated debate, with Liu Xiaoyan’s voice dominating.

“I still don’t think Zhang Dog’s resurrection works. Usually, people are mistakenly thought dead, put in a coffin, and then suddenly move. That kind of resurrection makes more sense.”

“Nonsense!” Wang Xiaodong’s voice rang out. “Don’t you understand President Shi’s intention? He doesn’t want reason—he wants absurdity! So mine is better.”

“Yours is too outrageous! Who could survive being burned to ashes, then scattered in the earth and sprout like a radish? Are you joking?”

“That’s exactly it! Why not?”

Shi Bai laughed heartily and strode into the conference room.

“Excellent! Excellent!” He clapped his hands. “Looks like Xiaodong has grasped my true intent. Let’s go with Xiaodong’s idea.”

Wang Xiaodong beamed. “Alright! Perfect!”

“President Shi!” Liu Dafuku spoke up, “You haven’t heard mine yet!”

Shi Bai paused. “Yours? Let’s hear it.”

Liu Dafuku hurriedly stood, picking up a sheet of manuscript paper. “My idea is, after Zhang Dog dies, he’s burned to ashes, scattered in the earth, and grows into a radish. Then a dog eats the radish, gets diarrhea, and Zhang Dog comes out.”

“!”

“!”

“!”

“!”

……

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