Chapter 152 The Sensation Caused by Stygian Nymph! Preparation for Valkyries' Dinner Party!
After the plot of Chapter 12 ended, Pardo's livestream was exceptionally lively.
[? This ending feels quite good?]
[Indeed, it feels like the best chapter ending in the main story so far. Bronya and Seele reunite, resolving their long-standing knots and reconciling with Cocolia. Welt survived, and the Arinyeva sisters are safely together...]
[Seeing the four girls holding hands, I'm actually tearing up! This is the healthy, sunny, and positive game I wanted to see!]
[True, the Old Thief rarely writes such a wholesome plot, doesn't he?]
[Although there were parts where he wasn't human in the middle, at least the ending was humane. I won't flame the Old Thief this time.]
[Wait, just because he did one good thing doesn't mean we stop the crusade? No way, the continuous roasting must go on, you know?]
[Can't stop the roast, the Old Thief must be roasted!]
It was predictable that the response to Chapter 12 would be positive. After being numbed by the usual Honkai Impact 3rd angst, the return of Seele and the safety of the Vodka Girls made everyone feel "healed." This effect was exactly what Su Mu had anticipated. To be honest, aside from the tragedy of Sakura and Rin in the middle, the overall atmosphere wasn't as heavy as usual. The final CG of the four girls holding hands on the beach was indeed sunny and healing.
It wasn't that previous plots were poorly reviewed, but Su Mu's personal reputation was always "in the pits." Anyone who played the game and could resist cursing him for even a second was a true saint. This time, the plot was rare in its "positivity," resulting in a significant decrease in the outcry against him. At least now, on various forums, people were discussing the lore itself.
They were curious about what happened in the Previous Era, why Kevin was sealed in the Sea of Quanta, and what he would do after leaving. They were also eagerly waiting to learn more about Welt Yang and Anti-Entropy's past. Furthermore, Bronya's growth arc was complete, meaning that side of the story had reached a temporary conclusion.
Would the next part of the plot shift back to the Tuna and Mei? What exactly would Kiana encounter in Arc City? Would Mei be able to find her and bring her back to the Hyperion? Despite their many questions, seeing the "To Be Continued" text left Pardo slumped in her chair.
"I want to see what happens next so badly.... It's only the first day of the update, but after finishing the main story, my whole body feels restless..."
Seeing Pardo's "salted fish" posture, Kevin shook his head helplessly. "I understand why this game maintains such high heat... Although I don't make games, this episodic update model, where every version creates hype and generates traffic, is indeed effective at maintaining a high level of discussion."
In fact, Honkai 3rd wasn't the world's first gacha mobile game, but its technical prowess and visual expression were so revolutionary, combined with pretty girls and high-stakes plots, that it was hard not to be captivated. To be blunt, no one hates beautiful girls; appreciating beauty is human nature.
"High technical capability, high-quality plot and animation, plus the free-to-play live-service model... It's understandable why this game is performing a 'dimensionality reduction strike' on the industry." Kevin's sharp business sense immediately identified the reasons for the game's success.
"Right. Though many studios have tried to imitate it since launch, their results haven't been good," Pardo shrugged. "Their games are either too crudely made or the technology can't keep up... You have to know, the engine for Honkai 3rd was optimized by Brother Su Mu himself. His level is way too far ahead. Without his engine, it's too difficult for others to make a game of the same quality."
Bronya nodded. She knew how vital an engine was; it was the "heart" of a game. If the heart is weak, how can the game be good? It wasn't that there weren't engines on the market, but using them out of the box wasn't realistic; they required various optimizations based on specific needs to achieve perfect results. Su Mu's engine was a heavily modified version of Unity, but this "magic mod" was vastly more powerful than the original, leading the world by a significant margin.
"If nothing else, someone who can optimize an engine to that degree would be a technical expert with a seven-figure starting salary at any major developer..." Pardo shrugged. "The gap between people is just too big. Sometimes I feel like a total waste, sigh..."
Kevin looked noticeably disappointed. "It seems poaching him is truly impossible. His talent is beyond imagination."
Pardo looked at him helplessly. "Boss Kevin, you're something else, saying that right in front of Sister Bronya... Brother Su Mu is MiHoYo's gold standard. If you actually poached him, MiHoYo might stop spinning."
Kevin froze, then scratched his head awkwardly. "I was indeed inconsiderate."
Pardo suggested another way: "But Boss Kevin, you don't have to poach him. Why not just collaborate? Like this instant noodle collab..."
With that, Pardo and Kevin turned to look at Bronya. Bronya appeared quite open-minded. "While company rules say he shouldn't take private work... if he agrees, Kiana and I would turn a blind eye." After all, such things were purely beneficial to the company as well. It wasn't like he was being poached.
One might ask: aren't they afraid Su Mu will take too much private work and suddenly decide to jump ship? Given his importance as MiHoYo's brand, countless people were eyeing him and trying to figure out how to snatch him away. Bronya felt that was worrying over nothing. Knowing Su Mu's personality, it was hard to imagine him jumping to another industry. More importantly, Su Mu was the one who built MiHoYo into its current scale. He saved the company from the brink of bankruptcy. If he really didn't want to do it anymore, Bronya wouldn't complain, because he had earned that right. Nominally, Kiana was the CEO, but even Peppy—who frequently visited the studio—knew the real boss was Su Mu.
Kiana? Just a mascot.
"Oh right, collaboration! I got so into the game I almost forgot!" Pardo slapped her forehead. "Boss Kevin, Sister Bronya, we have an important mission today! Promoting the Honkai 3rd collab noodles!"
Reminded by Pardo, Kevin and Bronya began a somewhat frantic promotion of the noodles in the stream. The method was simple: the three of them started slurping noodles on camera, acting as mukbang streamers.
[Whoa! That spicy seafood flavor looks good!]
[Haha! Pardo is quite versatile, isn't she? From shop-reviewing to gaming, and now to live commerce?]
[Oh man, seeing them eat so heartily makes me want some too!]
[? There are Honkai 3rd codes in the collab noodles? I have to buy them now!]
[Hehe! I'll buy the noodles but I won't eat them. I'll display them and look at them!]
[I want the Duck flavor!]
[Can't resist, I'm buying them all right now!!]
...
A similar scene was happening in the livestreams of Senti and Guinaifen. Su Mu had given Senti the task and negotiated a commission for every sale. Once Senti heard there were free noodles and money to be made, she happily agreed to show Su Mu her "sales power."
As for Guinaifen, it was a coincidence. At the previous BW convention, she had gone for three days straight. She ended up becoming friends with Carole, and they hit it off. Guinaifen invited Carole to join a Ghost-Hunting Squad stream next time, but Carole, being a bit afraid of ghosts, politely declined. This collab was an opportunity Carole helped secure for Guinaifen. Later, when Su Mu and Guinaifen met, she finally realized that the man she saw several times at BW was the writer of Honkai 3rd!
"You've got some guts, brother. Weren't you afraid all those players at BW would tear you apart?!" Guinaifen gave him a thumbs-up, calling him a "hardcore" guy.
"Don't reveal my real identity, okay? You wouldn't want to see me dead on the street and become a murderer's accomplice, would you, Miss Guinaifen?" "I-I-I-I'll be careful!" Guinaifen was startled by Su Mu's words and immediately covered her mouth, promising to keep her lips sealed.
Looking at her terrified expression, Su Mu found it funny. He really felt Guinaifen and Senti would get along well. Maybe one day they'd team up for a street performance stream. Regardless, he trusted Guinaifen's character. Hearing there was money to be made, she agreed without hesitation. Life wasn't easy, and as a street performer, she had to earn when she could!
The various promotional pushes worked. By the next day, Kevin received a call from his company: orders had exploded. The pre-sales for the noodles on major online stores were backed up for half a month. The factory machines were practically smoking from printing the collab packaging. The older ladies at the factory were grumbling: "Oh dear, does adding a cartoon character really make it sell this much? Young people today are so strange."
In an era where food delivery was ubiquitous, the instant noodle market share had been significantly compressed. They never expected this collab to put all the idle machines back to work. The scale of it even shocked Kevin. Word reached other industry peers. Hearing that Kevin's noodles were selling out, they thought the market was having a second spring... but upon seeing that the buyers were all Honkai 3rd players, they collectively cursed: "Holy crap, is the purchasing power of these 2D fans that strong?"
This led to a noticeable increase in other food manufacturers wanting to collaborate with Honkai 3rd. Even though MiHoYo was just a game studio, they had somehow become a hit in the food industry. This left MiHoYo's own employees stunned, further admiring Su Mu's wise decisions.
Kiana opened the recent company revenue reports with a sliver of hope, only to be completely numbed by the terrifying numbers. Not only was the game making a fortune, but the commissions from the Kevin collab were massive, and many other manufacturers were queuing up for their turn. The more she looked, the more she felt a "myocardial infarction" coming on. She simply shut down the computer.
Looking at the system that still hadn't given her a single "rebate," Kiana felt miserable. And seeing her father, Siegfried, counting the money coming in every month with a grin that reached his ears... Kiana felt even angrier!
Even her older sister, Bianca, called to highly praise Kiana's recent company profits, claiming Kiana had finally grown up. For the strict Bianca to praise her "useless" younger sister showed just how much revenue MiHoYo was bringing to the Kaslana family. This wealth caused the numbers in Siegfried's account to skyrocket. Her "bastard dad," who used to sigh and moan, now wanted to go out and brag every day. He was practically walking on air, telling anyone he met, "Hey, do you know my daughter Kiana is the boss of MiHoYo? She earned a bit of pocket change for our family, just a little, hahaha!!"
Although her dad wasn't completely "inhuman" and would share some money with Kiana, the thought of that money flowing through his hands before reaching her "secret stash" made her blood boil.
"Currently, I can only hope for Firefly's Glamoth Studio... but I need to make several preparations." Kiana truly felt that losing money through games was becoming a high-difficulty task.
She was boredly scrolling through Bilibili and, after seeing several animated shorts on the official Honkai 3rd account, she suddenly had an epiphany. "Right! We can make animation! They say crossing industries is hard. For a game studio to make animation, the difficulty must skyrocket! And we can't just collaborate with those studios we used for the shorts... Why not just start our own animation company!"
There was a saying in the animation industry: "Making animation is a dead end." That alone proved that animation wasn't something just anyone could do well. In other words, starting an animation wing was an easy way to lose a fortune and finally let her accumulate "secret stash" wealth through the system!
Kiana was always someone who acted without thinking... no, she had "high initiative"—only for things she was interested in. She immediately called Bronya: "Bronya, let's make animation together!"
After several seconds of silence on the other end, Bronya asked: "Did you know Su Mu and I were already discussing that?"
Kiana immediately tilted her chin up like a proud rooster: "That's why I'm the boss!"
Bronya was confused: "Mhm, with your IQ, shouldn't you be thinking about the sustainable development of the IP?" "IP? IP?" "The Honkai 3rd IP. You know about our recent collabs, right? It's to catalyze the IP so it remains in the public eye, letting more people learn about the series." "Oh... totally don't get it!" "Anyway, just know that making an anime is a way to catalyze the IP." "I don't care about that. Can we do it? Is it easy to lose money?" "Mhm, to be honest, there's a certain risk. Serialized animation is very different from shorts, and our company has no experience. From a risk perspective, outsourcing while sending supervisors would be safer."
Kiana was overjoyed hearing this. Wait, isn't that exactly what I want? If it's not risky and doesn't lose money, why would she want it? Avoid risk? The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish! She wanted to double down! Triple down! "Bronya, outsourcing isn't a long-term solution! We need our own animation company!"
"Is that so? Mhm... if you think so, Kiana." "Of course! If we're going to do it, we do it big! That fits my style, doesn't it?" "Alright, let's talk about the details later. By the way, Su Mu handed me a script for an anime. Do you want me to send it over for you to see?" "Yes!"
After hanging up, Bronya sent the document. Kiana looked at the title. The animation was called Cooking with Valkyries.
END OF CHAPTER
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