Potato chips, Coke, chicken steaks, chicken tenders... a variety of snacks filled the table, and ronin returned to his happy days.
The scene that appears the most on TV is Soldier 76, who is as high-profile as Iron Man and doesn't give an inch.
ronin, on the other hand, is light and carefree. He and Soldier 76 appear on TV together, so that everyone will no longer think that he is Soldier 76. SHIELD won't come looking for trouble with him—at most, they'll trouble Thomas.
"I'm such a fucking genius!"
Ronin couldn't help but admire himself. This tactic of substituting one thing for another (shifting flowers and grafting wood) was used brilliantly!
He could just keep slacking off like this and let Thomas handle the hero stuff.
But before that, he needed to figure out what happened yesterday. Who exactly hired those mercenaries to capture all the filmmakers, and what was their purpose?
If he didn't get to the bottom of this, similar things would definitely happen again in the future.
According to news reports, all those mercenaries had died with no survivors left, so there was no one to interrogate, and no clues were left at the scene. This was also a mystery to the police: Who was behind this horrific operation? What was the motive?
Figuring all this out would definitely take a lot of time. Until then, he should just enjoy life.
Ring ring...
Before even picking up the phone, ronin knew it was Lucy calling—and sure enough, it was.
"Hey, Lucy!"
"Mr. ronin, Blizzard Entertainment wants to talk to you about a collaboration."
"Schedule it for tomorrow."
"Their vice president has already arrived at the company."
Do people these days like showing up uninvited so much? ronin was exasperated. This wasn't fair—did they really think he had that much free time?
Hmm... Blizzard?
Well, he still had to give Blizzard Entertainment some face. After all, it was a major global game company with significant weight in the gaming industry, and the vice president had come in person. No matter what, he had to show that courtesy, even if the deal didn't go through.
Besides, the game he was playing right now belonged to Blizzard. It would be unreasonable, both emotionally and logically, not to go.
He just didn't know what connection there was between the Blizzard here and the one over there. They seemed completely unrelated, except for the similar names...
Thomas wasn't so arrogant that he would ignore his boss's call. Six minutes later, the supercar stopped at the door—his efficiency hadn't dropped.
Having fulfilled his wish of becoming a superhero in the eyes of the world while still not forgetting his duties was commendable. ronin thought he could give him a raise. After all, playing Soldier 76 and serving as a full-time driver must be quite tiring.
"Alright..."
Hearing the energetic dance music playing in the car, ronin decided to retract his previous thought.
Seeing the boss arrive, Thomas quickly switched the music to a soothing, slow-tempo instrumental.
"Sorry, boss. I got a bit too absorbed in what I was listening to earlier and didn't time your arrival right."
He was a little nervous. He'd had too much fun yesterday and hadn't adjusted his state in time.
"It's fine. Head to the company."
Thomas drove carefully, not saying a word the whole way, returning to his taciturn Black driver persona. Only when he put on the Soldier 76 uniform would the chuunib you soul inside him awaken.
Actually, this was pretty good—work and entertainment both taken care of.
However, ronin felt it necessary to remind him again: "Thomas, from now on you are Soldier 76. Appear when I need you. Normally, it's better not to wander around in the uniform—it's easy to cause trouble."
"Understood."
ronin nodded secretly to himself. Thomas was a trustworthy person, which was why he had chosen him to be the Soldier 76 replica. In fact, this decision had been correct. Thomas hadn't gotten carried away by the identity change. At most, he let himself go a bit under the Soldier 76 identity, and that was it.
Arriving at the company and entering the office, ronin saw the vice president of Blizzard Entertainment—a middle-aged man with a prominent hooked nose.
The first impression was that you could hang things on that hooked nose.
Seeing him arrive, Moulton quickly stood up, extended his right hand, leaned forward slightly, and said: "Hello, Mr. ronin. I am Andrew Moulton, vice president of Blizzard Entertainment. Nice to meet you!"
"Hello, Mr. Moulton. Please, have a seat!"
ronin invited him to sit and took his own seat in the office chair.
Respect had always been mutual. Since the other party had lowered his status to treat him this way, he would respond with the most humble attitude.
Across the desk, the two began their discussion.
His throat felt dry from talking, so he picked up the teacup on his right and took a sip. It was warm—clearly prepared in advance by Lucy. No one else would be so thoughtful.
ronin put down the teacup and continued: "Let me summarize. Your company's intention is to directly purchase the usage rights to the movie character Soldier 76, then use this character image and related settings to create a single-player game. Did I summarize that correctly?"
Moulton nodded. "That's correct, sir. In addition to the character, we will also re-plan the background settings and storyline."
"What about other aspects, such as using Soldier 76 for other purposes?"
"No, it will only be used for this one game. Soldier 76 will not appear elsewhere. We will make all of this clear when drafting the contract."
ronin thought for a moment. "Directly buying the usage rights to the Soldier 76 movie image probably won't work. Since you plan to make a single-player game, the payment model will definitely be a buyout system. So, how about we do a revenue share?"
A steady, long-term flow was the way to go. If the game became popular, he could earn more money. Moreover, he was confident that with Blizzard Entertainment's level of expertise combined with the super IP of Soldier 76, the AAA masterpiece they produced would definitely sell well.
Moulton said: "We plan to buy the usage rights to Soldier 76 for 20 million USD. Sir, would you like to reconsider?"
"No need to reconsider. I'll think about the share." ronin said firmly.
"Then what percentage would you like, sir?"
Moulton didn't like beating around the bush either. When talking business, he wanted straightforwardness—it was better for both sides to speak and act directly.
"Fifty-fifty." ronin said immediately.
"Fifty percent might not work, because the cost of making a game is very high, and it takes a long time—at least three or four years, up to seven or eight years."
In fact, what Moulton wanted to say was: You only provide the image of a movie character—don't you think asking for 50% is too greedy?
You have to understand that their game company is putting in the most—manpower, materials, financial resources, and a lot of time—while ronin only needs to provide a character prototype, then sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor, with piles of money coming in without doing anything.
"Then that's how it'll be."
ronin spread his hands. He believed Soldier 76 was worth that price; a penny less would be an insult to Soldier 76.
Soldier 76 didn't appear out of thin air. Making the movie took a lot of effort, not to mention the later promotion and operations. It went through all kinds of difficulties to create such a globally popular superhero.
The current ease was built on a foundation of sweat; every success was hard-won.
Moreover, Soldier 76 came with massive built-in traffic. Even without promotion, game companies turning it into a game would attract hordes of fans. So, a fifty-fifty split was really very conscientious.
Moulton found it hard to accept but didn't want to give up this major IP. If another game company seized the initiative first, Blizzard Entertainment would lose the gimmick of the first single-player superhero masterpiece.
After hesitating for a while, he said: "For a fifty-fifty split, I need to discuss it further with the company's senior management. Can I give you a reply in a while?"
"No problem!"
ronin wasn't in a hurry. He was playing the long game to catch the big fish!