Chapter 79: Slaying a God for You?

A few years ago…

Back when the internet was not yet so developed.

The major online forums were the primary gathering places for netizens.

A selfie of a college-aged girl with a petite, youthful look suddenly went viral across every major forum and Tieba.

In the photo…

She looked like a girl of only fourteen or fifteen.

She wore glasses, and her skin was so fair and supple it looked like it could be bruised by a touch. She sat seriously in a classroom reading a book, exuding an elegant and pure aura that captivated anyone who saw her, making them feel inexplicably inferior. In the sunlight, the girl’s beautiful eyes were lively and full of innocence, as if one were looking at an angel from a fairy tale. However, looking

“…”

Liu Ruohan, a genius girl who had lived a life of luxury since childhood, scoffed at such words. Instead, she stared at the knight from the fairy tale, her eyes crinkling into a smile.

Even though…

She knew she was being very silly and naive.

…………………………

In the afternoon.

Qian Liang returned to BMW¹ and prepared a report for headquarters detailing his conversation with Zhang Yang.

By evening, he received a reply.

Headquarters wanted him to reach out to other game companies, specifically Dadi Company, the developers of War of Warcraft.

The higher-ups believed the operation was viable, but only on the condition that the game was developed by a company with a solid foundation.

Regarding Zhang Yang’s Universe Technology.

BMW headquarters felt he still couldn’t be their first choice.

Large corporations preferred working with other large corporations. While they valued potential, they placed more importance on a company’s heritage and depth.

Over the years, many game companies in Huaxia had started with incredible momentum, only to shut down or go bankrupt quickly due to a lack of foundation or various other reasons.

Dadi Technology had been in Huaxia for over ten years.

They had started by localizing foreign single-player games and had enjoyed smooth sailing ever since, building their way up with steady, reliable steps…

The headquarters believed this game company possessed the necessary depth.

As for Zhang Yang?

By any generous estimate…

How long had Zhang Yang’s Universe Technology even existed?

It hadn’t even been six months!

A company like that would naturally make anyone cautious.

When Qian Liang received this news from headquarters, he fell into a long, heavy silence…

He could understand the headquarters’ perspective.

However…

He did not agree with their decision.

The headquarters essentially wanted him to give up on Universe Technology and negotiate a proposal and partnership with Dadi Company instead.

As evening fell…

And the sky turned dark…

He sent another email from his office to headquarters. He very earnestly articulated his views, explaining his perspective on Universe Technology once more, and even used his own position to guarantee that Universe Technology was completely reliable.

It wasn’t until late at night…

That headquarters finally gave him a response.

The gist of the reply was simple.

They still had to contact Dadi Technology. The other party’s 3D concepts were very advanced and far superior to any other company in Huaxia!

The marketing budget would be split into two parts.

One portion would go to Universe Technology, while the other would go to Dadi Technology…

Qian Liang would handle the contact for Universe Technology, while Smith, another appointed agent in Huaxia, would handle Dadi Technology…

“In the end, they still don’t trust Universe Technology…”

“Or…”

“Is it me they don’t trust?”

“…”

After reading the reply from headquarters, Qian Liang finally fell silent.

Not long after…

The company sent over the operating budget for the project.

He looked at the figure for advertising and marketing.

His face instantly turned livid!

One million dollars!

This was an unprecedented low…

When BMW Technology truly decided to invest in an advertising campaign, it was usually at least ten million dollars, with five million being the absolute minimum…

One million dollars!

Who were they trying to insult?

He took a deep breath and called Smith, the other person in charge in Huaxia.

Afterward…

His expression became even more ashen. A surge of frustration was trapped in his chest, and he couldn’t seem to let it out.

Smith had received ten million dollars!

Ten times more than him!

What kind of blatant discrimination was this?

At this moment, he even hesitated to call Zhang Yang.

A young man like Zhang Yang was likely very proud and high-spirited…

He probably wouldn’t be able to stomach this kind of differential treatment.

When the night grew deep and still.

He finally picked up his phone and dialed Zhang Yang’s number.

……………………….

The night was late.

Zhang Yang was busy.

He was still buried in the finances.

He felt that if he kept going like this, he might actually drop dead from overwork.

His head was filled with various taxes, frustrating financial expenditures, and revenues…

For some reason, his luck had been terrible lately. He had been trying to hire an accountant for nearly ten days, but he hadn’t managed to find a single one.

Wasn’t that infuriating?

What was going on with Song Qingqing?

Didn’t she have upperclassmen working in finance?

Why was there no news?

Even if they weren’t graduates from Yanjing, he would settle for an ordinary person who knew a little bit…

Anything to save him from this overwhelming mess.

Was there something wrong with the job posting?

He instinctively logged onto the recruitment site and looked at it for a long time…

Finally, he realized something!

He hadn’t listed a salary in the compensation column; he had just written “negotiable.” Furthermore, because his company was a startup, he hadn’t paid for a membership or any promotion, so his listing was buried at the very end of the rankings.

Hardly anyone was clicking on it!

What a disaster!

No wonder he couldn’t find anyone.

Once Zhang Yang topped up his account and paid the fee to become a member, he finally saw his ranking soar, jumping from the last few pages straight to the front.

After setting the salary standard to “over 10,000 per month,” he saw his ranking hit the front page, and the clicks began to skyrocket.

Then…

“I’m such an idiot. Why did I spend money? There are so many talented people on Tieba, why didn’t I just post a recruitment thread there?”

“Has my brain short-circuited?”

“Damn it!”

“I just wasted five bucks for nothing!”

“…”

Zhang Yang suddenly felt like slapping himself.

However, despite his immense frustration, Zhang Yang’s landline finally rang. Someone was finally calling to apply for the accounting position.

After taking a few calls, Zhang Yang was quite satisfied and told them to come in for an interview tomorrow.

But then, the recruitment calls started coming in one after another without stopping…

By 11:30 PM, his phone rang again.

“Hello! The monthly salary is over 10,000, plus various year-end benefits. We are currently expanding our partnerships, so there will be plenty of perks later on. As for the specifics, bring your resume tomorrow and we can discuss it in detail…”

“…”

“Why is it so quiet?”

“…”

“President Zhang, I’m not here for a job interview, I’m Qian Liang!” On the other end of the line, Qian Liang was completely bewildered.

What was going on?

“Ah, President Qian! Hello, hello. I’ve been getting so many recruitment calls lately that I was a bit dazed for a moment…”

“President Zhang, I don’t know if the news I have for you is good or bad…”

“What is it?” Zhang Yang felt a wave of confusion when he heard the hesitation in the other man’s voice.

“The good news is that headquarters has agreed to the partnership.”

“And the bad news?” Zhang Yang nodded.

“Headquarters is only giving me a signing fee of one million dollars…”

“One million dollars? Compared to a major corporation like BMW, that is indeed a bit low…” Zhang Yang said the words, but his expression was one of pure excitement.

One million dollars! At the current exchange rate, that was eight million RMB!

Eight million RMB – that was incredible!

“Furthermore, according to the agreement, only five hundred thousand will be paid upfront. The rest will be evaluated based on the game’s influence and sales volume…”

“Huh?” Five hundred thousand?

That was four million RMB. While it was a bit less than he’d hoped, it was still acceptable. Even so, Zhang Yang made sure his voice sounded disappointed over the phone.

“President Zhang, I know this is difficult, but you need to be mentally prepared. There’s something even tougher.”

“What?”

“The company headquarters is also quite optimistic about Dadi Technology. They’re looking at an investment of about ten million dollars…”

“What!” It wasn’t the small amount that bothered him, but the inequality. When Zhang Yang heard this, the deal he had just found acceptable suddenly felt much less so.

However, he quickly began calculating the gains and losses in his head. Considering the current state of his company, the disparity actually seemed quite logical.

His company’s current strength was nowhere near that of Dadi Technology.

Their revenue over just a few days was probably equivalent to what he made in a month.

Ten million? It made sense.

“President Zhang, I’m very sorry…” Qian Liang sighed on the other end.

“President Qian, could you do me a favor and speak to headquarters about something?”

“What is it?”

“Our company can accept the five hundred thousand. However, we want to sign a Valuation Adjustment Mechanism (VAM)² with your headquarters based on sales volume. I also want Dadi Company to sign a VAM…”

“What do you mean?”

“If our sales don’t exceed Dadi Technology’s, our company won’t take a single cent of that remaining five hundred thousand. But if we do surpass them, I want our other five hundred thousand dollars, and I also want the other five million dollars meant for Dadi Technology!” Holding the phone, Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes and spoke calmly.

“President Zhang, you… you’re crazy! You want to compete with Dadi Technology? And on sales volume? I think it would be safer to just stick to the sales targets we’ve already set…”

“No, I want to compete. President Qian, please convey this to headquarters!”

“President Zhang, Dadi Company’s foundation is terrifying. To your company, they are like gods…”

“Then how about I show you how to slay a god³?”

“???”

…

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes