Chapter 13: I’m Buying Your Copyright

It had to be said.

Wang Yuting genuinely sang well.

With those looks, that figure, and such a great singing voice on top of it.

It was a Jay Chou song too, hitting Su Cheng right in his sweet spot.

Once the song ended,

Wang Yuting sat back down next to Shi Xiaoqiang.

Her glass was empty, so she naturally picked up Shi Xiaoqiang’s and took a couple of sips.

Shen Manman could only force a smile, pretending she hadn’t seen a thing.

This only strengthened Su Cheng’s resolve to make an obscene amount of money.

With money, girls of Wang Yuting’s caliber would throw themselves at him.

After sitting down,

Shi Xiaoqiang explained his purpose.

He wanted to know if the copyright to 《King of Fighters》 was clean.

If it was unencumbered, he was willing to buy all the rights to King of Fighters and fund a game studio for Su Cheng and Li Lei to develop the King of Fighters series.

Li Lei felt a surge of excitement.

He had assumed Shi Xiaoqiang was here to cause trouble after losing Supernova.

Who would have thought he was here to buy them out?

Chaoren Network was an industry giant in the country.

Leaving aside the quality of their games,

when it came to capital, almost nobody could match them.

Their financial strength was formidable.

Li Lei was genuinely thrilled for Su Cheng.

“How much are you offering?” Su Cheng asked.

“Two million.”

The moment Li Lei heard that number, his face dropped.

Two million?

Li Lei had checked the sales on the Steam platform.

In just the past two days, they had already brought in hundreds of thousands in revenue.

And you’re only offering a fucking two million?

Fuck right off.

Who are you trying to brush off like a beggar?

Before Su Cheng could even react, Li Lei spoke up.

“That’s all you’re offering? Are you joking?”

The great young master of Chaoren Network, opening with a measly two million.

He had vastly overestimated Shi Xiaoqiang.

Shi Xiaoqiang smiled and explained.

“Don’t be so quick to scoff at the price.”

“The sudden popularity of King of Fighters is just a fluke.”

“Building a business on this game is out of the question.”

“Besides, you were naive enough to make it a buy-to-play title. Isn’t that just practically handing money to pirates?”

“You don’t have in-game item purchases either. Couldn’t you have made skins or costume changes for the characters?”

“Of course, you developed the game, so do what you like. I’m just using that as an example.”

“I’m merely analyzing the situation and breaking down the game from my perspective.”

“What I mean is, King of Fighters is just a flash in the pan. It won’t stay hot for long.”

“At the very least, relying on this to build your foundation is impossible.”

“On top of that, King of Fighters 2 will need ongoing maintenance. If you take it online, server upkeep costs money too. Those expenses add up.”

Su Cheng wanted to make money too.

But skins and cosmetics? Forget it.

There was no way he would sell.

First, the price was too low.

Second, their philosophies did not align.

Shi Xiaoqiang did not make games.

He was more like a product manufacturer, selling goods to players.

Third, and this was the most important, critical point.

Su Cheng felt that Shi Xiaoqiang’s attempt to buy the rights and fund a studio was not about developing the King of Fighters series at all.

If anything, he wanted to ruin King of Fighters and block any future development, purely to spite them.

It was all just to blow off steam.

“The price is negotiable.”

“Also, let me introduce you. This is Chaoren Network’s lawyer.”

Shi Xiaoqiang pointed to the bespectacled man in a suit beside him.

“If we reach an agreement, he can have us sign the contract right here and now.”

In Li Lei’s view, though.

Selling was fine.

But the price had to be reasonable at least.

Two million? Are you kidding me?

Su Cheng, however, was dead set against selling.

Not for any amount of money.

Shi Xiaoqiang could not be bothered to waste time haggling with Su Cheng either.

“Ten million!”

“If that works, we sign the contract right now.”

Su Cheng still shook his head.

“Then name your price. If it’s too high, I’ll have to get my people to evaluate it.”

“Honestly, this game really can’t make that much money anyway.”

Shi Xiaoqiang was hell-bent on buying it.

As for his motive?

It was exactly what Su Cheng had guessed.

Purely to screw with him.

What was a little money to him anyway?

Shi Xiaoqiang did not actually care who competed in Supernova.

Nor did he think much of those awards.

The real problem was that he had already bragged to everyone, promising that after winning the national championship, he would take the whole team horse riding in Toronto.

In the end, they hadn’t even participated.

That left Shi Xiaoqiang furious.

He chose this method specifically to get back at Su Cheng.

Even after Shi Xiaoqiang made an offer of ten million, Su Cheng firmly turned him down.

Seeing that Su Cheng refused to take the bait and showed no sign of wavering, Shi Xiaoqiang grew even more frustrated.

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Shen Manman tried to smooth things over.

She handed Shi Xiaoqiang a drink.

“Brother Shi, the liquor’s chilled.”

Wang Yuting seized the opportunity to snap at Shen Manman, “Shen Manman, can’t you see Brother Shi is discussing serious business? Why are you butting in?”

Shi Xiaoqiang glared coldly at Shen Manman.

Terrified by that look, Shen Manman hastily apologized.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“My fault, my fault.”

“I’ll take a penalty drink^[1].”

Shen Manman poured herself a glass of hard liquor and downed it in one gulp.

At that moment, the look in Shi Xiaoqiang’s eyes said he wanted to murder Su Cheng.

But he could not openly blow up at Su Cheng just yet.

So he took out his anger on the punching bag who had conveniently served herself up.

At the same time, he wanted to intimidate Su Cheng.

“Three glasses.”

Two cold words dropped from Shi Xiaoqiang’s lips.

Shen Manman didn’t catch them clearly and froze, bewildered.

“I told you to drink three penalty glasses. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Oh, right.”

Shen Manman hurriedly moved to pour herself a second glass.

Right then,

Su Cheng pressed his hand down on the bottle.

???

What was he doing?

How could Su Cheng not see through it?

Shi Xiaoqiang was venting his frustration on Shen Manman.

He wanted to beat the mountain to scare the tiger^[2], putting on a display of dominance to intimidate him.

An ordinary person might have actually been cowed by Shi Xiaoqiang.

Even if they didn’t come to terms today, they might have caved to his offer a few days later.

Su Cheng had spent plenty of time in the gaming industry before this.

He hadn’t risen to department manager on programming skills alone.

Grasping Shen Manman’s wrist, Su Cheng looked straight into her eyes and told her,

“You don’t need to drink.”

Li Lei: ???

What was going on?

What was Su Cheng doing?

Whatever was between Shi Xiaoqiang and Shen Manman was none of their business!

It had nothing to do with them.

Let them drink however much they wanted.

Sticking his neck out for Shen Manman?

There was no need for that.

Li Lei still hadn’t figured it out.

Shi Xiaoqiang forcing Shen Manman to drink wasn’t aimed at her; it was aimed at Su Cheng.

And Su Cheng telling Shen Manman not to drink wasn’t just to stand up for her; he was confronting Shi Xiaoqiang.

By now, the displeasure on Shi Xiaoqiang’s face was unmistakable.

The friendly demeanor he had worn during the negotiation vanished, replaced by a glint of malice.

“What, you want to drink for her?”

“Drinking is fine, but there has to be a reason, doesn’t there?”

“Young Master Shi flaps his lips, and someone’s supposed to drink just like that?”

Holy shit.

The people nearby were stunned.

Su Cheng… was he really that brazen?

He was actually turning on Shi Xiaoqiang to his face?

It was fine not to be friends with Shi Xiaoqiang.

But whatever you did, you shouldn’t make him your enemy!

Didn’t Su Cheng even understand that much?