Chapter 312: Bidding War

“Well… President Chen already made it pretty clear. It’s not hard to guess.”

Wei Yan spoke with confidence after hearing Fang Chang’s explanation.

“Clear? How come I don’t see it? What exactly is President Chen trying to say?”

Fang Chang looked puzzled.

Wei Yan nodded, full of certainty.

“President Chen said it himself—Extreme Survival’s licensing can’t be too cheap. Rarity drives value.”

“It’s obvious. President Chen doesn’t want to license Extreme Survival to too many live streaming platforms. He’s thinking ahead.”

Thinking ahead?

Fang Chang still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. What did that mean, thinking ahead?

Seeing Fang Chang’s confused expression, Wei Yan shook his head and chuckled.

“Of course he’s planning for when Extreme Survival becomes a massive hit. Think about it—once it explodes in popularity, how high do you think the licensing fee could go?”

He looked up at Fang Chang, eyes full of curiosity.

“When Extreme Survival becomes a hit, the price will definitely skyrocket.”

Fang Chang replied as if it were only natural.

“And how high, exactly?”

Wei Yan pressed further. When Fang Chang couldn’t give an answer, he continued.

“That’s where President Chen’s strategy really shines. At that point, we’ll still only license to four live streaming platforms. I’ll set a base price, and then we’ll auction it off.”

“Only the four highest bidders will get the rights to stream Extreme Survival. Now tell me, when that time comes, won’t those platforms fight tooth and nail to outbid each other?”

Wei Yan’s eyes gleamed with admiration as he spoke.

President Chen was truly something else.

If he hadn’t heard it from Fang Chang, he never would’ve thought of this angle.

Fang Chang also looked thoughtful.

If Extreme Survival really did blow up, those live streaming platforms would definitely compete for the rights.

After all, only four platforms would be allowed to stream Extreme Survival. That meant all the players and viewers would be concentrated on those four platforms.

A hit game like that could drive an enormous amount of traffic.

For a big platform, securing the streaming rights would help solidify its user base.

For a smaller platform, getting the rights to Extreme Survival could mean capturing a portion of that traffic. If they played their cards right, they might even rise to become one of the top-tier platforms.

So once Extreme Survival took off, those platforms would do everything they could to win the bidding war.

Who knows how high the licensing fee could go at that point?

So that’s what President Chen was planning all along.

Good thing he came to ask Wei Yan. Otherwise, he never would’ve figured it out on his own.

…

CEO’s Office.

Chen Mo slumped lifelessly in his chair, then suddenly sneezed twice in a row.

He sat up and grabbed a tissue to wipe his nose.

That unexpected one hundred million licensing fee had completely thrown him off. The special mission deadline was at the end of May, and he needed to reduce his System Funds from thirty million to under fifteen million to complete it.

According to his original plan, he was going to invest most of the funds into building the Clothing Factory. That would’ve been enough to finish the mission.

But this extra one hundred million had completely derailed everything.

Damn that Fang Chang!

He’d trusted him so much, and not only did the guy stab him in the back, he twisted the knife for good measure.

The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he felt.

He pulled out a little notebook and drew a heavy line under Fang Chang’s name.

But now, what was he supposed to do with this extra hundred million?

All his planned spending avenues were already set.

If he wanted to burn more money, he’d have to find new industries to invest in.

But the recent proposals from the Investment Company had all been duds. It looked like he’d have to push them to gather more project ideas.

Cast a wide net.

He believed that one day, he’d stumble upon a truly “reliable” investment opportunity.

…

Beijing.

Film Studio.

On one of the sets.

“Cut!”

Luo Xiao frowned slightly as he watched the playback on the monitor.

“This won’t do. Your expression needs to be more natural. Yes, you’re scared of the monster, but just widening your eyes isn’t enough. It has to feel real. Let’s go again.”

“Got it, Director Luo.”

Wang Bin wasn’t upset by Luo Xiao’s words. He simply nodded seriously and threw himself back into filming.

This scene he was shooting depicted the moment he left the village and encountered a monster for the first time.

Although he was the male lead, he had previously only worked as an extra. Now that he was actually getting screen time, he often made mistakes and still lagged far behind the students from formal acting academies.

Soon, the crew adjusted the camera angles and resumed shooting.

Luo Xiao watched Wang Bin’s movements and expressions through the camera lens.

Wang Bin’s acting was still far from polished. To capture the perfect shot, they had to reshoot repeatedly.

The once carefree and joking Wang Bin had undergone a complete change since joining the crew. He took filming very seriously. Whether it was Luo Xiao pointing out flaws or asking for retakes, he never complained.

His acting progress had also exceeded Luo Xiao’s expectations.

At first, Wang Bin had been clueless, needing dozens of retakes for a single shot. But now, for simpler scenes, he could usually pass after just two reminders.

Of course, more complex scenes still required over ten takes.

But this rate of improvement was impressive enough. Luo Xiao believed that if Wang Bin kept it up, he would absolutely become a competent actor.

“Cut!”

“Your expression still isn’t quite there. Let’s do it again.”

Luo Xiao shook his head as he looked at the footage and called out.

“Cut!”

“Cut!”

“…”

After more than a dozen retakes,

Luo Xiao finally reviewed the footage and nodded in satisfaction.

“Alright, that’s a wrap for this shot. Take a ten-minute break, then we’ll move on to the next one.”

At his words, the entire crew let out a collective sigh of relief. Finally, it was over.

“Brother Xiao, let me take a look at how it turned out.”

Wang Bin jogged over eagerly, eyes fixed on the camera monitor as he watched the footage.

“What, you don’t trust me now?”

Luo Xiao said with mock annoyance as he watched Wang Bin’s actions.

Wang Bin scratched his head sheepishly.

“Of course I trust you. I just wanted to see how I looked on camera.”

Off to the side,

Jiang Xue and Su Tang sat together.

“Su Tang, that Director Luo doesn’t look very old, but he’s really strict with filming,” Jiang Xue said, watching Luo Xiao talking with Wang Bin up ahead, a note of admiration in her voice.

It was only after getting involved in the shoot that she found out Wang Bin and Luo Xiao were actually classmates. If he was this strict with his own friend, then it was clear he wouldn’t go easy on anyone else.

Throughout the filming so far, even the tiniest flaw in a scene meant they had to reshoot the entire thing.