nucmednet Chapter 49 Instant Refinement
Chapter 49 Instant Refinement
The office was brightly lit. Xia He stood upright in front of her desk, holding her work notebook, giving her daily report on public opinion. But when she looked at Yang Yi, there was a hint of tenderness in her eyes that was hard to detect.
"Mr. Yang, the latest public opinion data is out."
"Since you publicly rebuked XunTeng, a large number of mainstream media and industry self-media that had never cooperated with us before have been affected."
Everyone is actively praising the quality of Overwatch, and many people are even specifically endorsing it, saying that our company's vision far surpasses that of XunTeng.
At this point, she frowned slightly, offering a cautious reminder with the air of a working professional:
"But this happened so suddenly, and the hype is rising so fast. I'm worried... could it be a deliberate praising tactic by our competitors, putting us on a pedestal first, and then finding an opportunity to bring us down later?"
Yang Yi leaned back in his chair, his eyes slightly narrowed, pondering the possibility of using excessive praise to his detriment.
While Xia He spoke of serious work, her thoughts unconsciously drifted elsewhere.
Since switching jobs from her old company to Hive, her life has been incredibly smooth sailing.
Higher wages, better benefits, more vacation time, and even my period is on time now.
If there's any "flaw," it's that Shen Xiao is too watchful, and President Yang is clueless about romance.
She wasn't single-mindedly focused on climbing the social ladder or scheming for any position or money.
At his age, Yang Yi possesses such vision, perspective, ability, and composure. He is calm, decisive, and unflappable in the face of adversity. He is a top-tier man, one in a million, in the entire industry.
To put it bluntly, she secretly hoped to have some extra involvement with Yang Yi, and even felt that even if there were any so-called "unspoken rules," she would not be the one to suffer.
With these thoughts swirling in her mind, she stood there, her cheeks slightly flushed. She quickly composed herself, regained her professional demeanor, and quietly awaited Yang Yi's instructions.
Yang Yi was incredibly perceptive. He caught a glimpse of the subtle emotions that Xia He couldn't hide in her eyes, and instantly guessed what she was thinking.
He is all too aware of his charm. To be honest, there are very few billionaires in the world at the age of 26. Calling him a national husband wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But from beginning to end, he had no feelings for Xia He whatsoever.
As an entrepreneur and the head of a company, he knows better than anyone an ironclad rule—one must never have a personal relationship with a subordinate in the workplace.
Once a relationship between a man and a woman is mixed into a superior-subordinate or cooperative relationship, it becomes the deepest landmine buried in one's life.
He may seem gentle and harmless on ordinary days, but when it comes to critical decisions, power struggles, or crisis choices, personal feelings will inevitably interfere with reason and influence judgment, leading to misjudgments and indecisiveness. This is a major taboo in entrepreneurship and the biggest weakness of those in power.
In addition, decades of exposure to the internet and the realities of life in his previous life had instilled in him a deep-seated fear of marriage.
Beehive Technology is his wholly-owned private enterprise, currently experiencing a golden period of rapid growth and aggressive expansion. Every bit of market value and every inch of its size is the result of his painstaking efforts. (System: Didn't see it; XunTeng: I don't think so)
He would never do a prenuptial agreement or divide his assets, which means he would never get married.
This is never about being stingy.
Looking at the entire industry, Beehive's salary, benefits, holidays, and employee treatment far surpass 99% of internet companies. He has always been generous and kind to his employees and core subordinates, and never cheats or exploits them.
He simply could not accept that his business empire, built with his life's blood and sweat, would be so easily divided and split in half simply because of a marriage and a post-marital crisis.
If it really comes to that, his rise and his legend will become the biggest joke in the entire industry and the world.
It was precisely this clear-headed and extremely self-protective logic that made him deliberately distance himself from and politely refuse Shen Xiao's advances.
You can't see into someone's heart; you can know their face but not their heart.
He was terrified, terrified that Shen Xiao was sincere, terrified that sleeping with her and then not taking responsibility would drive them further apart.
If Shen Xiao knew that it was her sincere companionship that made Yang Yi adhere to his bottom line, I wonder how she would react.
After a brief moment of distraction, Yang Yi regained his composure, looked at Xia He standing upright in front of him, and gave his work answer in a clear voice.
"I've read all the promotional content from those self-media outlets. The wording is just right, and the attitude is very restrained. There is absolutely no intention to praise or overhype it."
"This move seems more like XunTeng is proactively extending a goodwill gesture to us. Going forward, we just need to keep a regular eye on public opinion trends and don't need to be overly on guard."
Xia He was a little surprised and puzzled. Weren't they mortal enemies with penguins? They were fighting to the death just yesterday.
"A gesture of goodwill?"
"Boss, didn't you just refute XunTeng's propaganda?"
Yang Yi smiled slightly and said, "Step aside, I'm about to start showing off."
"There are very few companies in China that can mobilize this kind of public opinion, and this matter was most likely personally instructed by Mr. Ma."
"As a veteran in the business world, he must have seen through the root cause of this turmoil."
"It's better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester; let's each look back at what's behind us."
"As long as there is no complete overlap or conflict in the main businesses of the two parties, they cannot be considered mortal enemies."
"Moreover, both sides currently have concerns about the future, and they will not take action if they can let it go quietly."
Seeing Xia He's adoring expression, Yang Yi felt extremely comfortable. He had managed to show off in front of the beautiful woman—success!
"Make the arrangements, coordinate with the publicity department to match their promotional strategy. Also, contact a few game streamers with outstanding production quality and have them top up their accounts."
"I instructed them to produce and release gameplay videos before the official release of Stardew Valley and Vampire Survivors."
"We don't need to keep paying attention to those demons and monsters anymore. Their actions are a slap in the face to Tencent and CEO Ma. Tencent will take action when the time comes."
After receiving the instructions, Xia He quietly left the office, closing the door behind her.
Yang Yi rubbed his temples and continued working on the project proposal for the new game. The company would be developing a new game in about a month.
Could it be that all those marketing accounts that sold books in my past life were lying?
Do they really run at 5 a.m. and go to bed at midnight?
I've been working according to their schedule.
And they've already poached so many managers, how come they're still so busy?
It's nighttime on the other side, but daytime in China, so it's 12 AM to 5 PM, which makes perfect sense, not a minute different.
I told you marketing accounts are unreliable, so let's change our work hours to 10 AM tomorrow. We need to be more diligent than foreign tycoons and crush them!
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Inside the office, the building's property manager stood before me with a troubled expression, his tone full of helplessness.
"Mr. Yang, at most we can vacate one floor of office space. The self-media company upstairs refuses to move even if we offer a higher price."
Yang Yi looked surprised upon hearing this. He had specially offered an extra 20% relocation subsidy, yet such sincerity still couldn't get the other party to give up the site.
He took the chilled fruit tea from Shen Xiao beside him, took a sip to soothe his thoughts, and casually asked in confusion:
"I remember there was a self-media agency upstairs that did custom graphic design. Relocation shouldn't be too difficult, so why is it so challenging?"
The property manager sighed and explained the reason:
"It shouldn't have been difficult to coordinate originally, but this company received a large order more than a month ago, and the customer who placed the order was a minor."
The child secretly embezzled over 300,000 yuan of his parents' savings to commission custom-made cartoons to show off to his peers.
"Now that the parents have discovered this, they have formally submitted a refund application for the minor's purchase. This huge sum of money has been forced back, directly draining their company's cash flow, and their business is currently in dire straits."
"The relocation premium you offered is simply not enough to cover their costs of relocating and leasing a new site."
Furthermore, with the lease agreement still expiring in about six months, the other party was naturally determined not to budge.
After hearing this inside story, Yang Yi's brows slowly furrowed.
It would be feasible to simply exclude this company and roughly divide the office area, but I would still feel awkward about it.
The swarm is now steadily expanding in size, possessing a large number of game design proposals, core technical documents, and confidential business documents, with countless classified contents.
The office floor is filled with people from external companies, and the flow of people is chaotic, which not only makes daily management inconvenient, but also poses a significant security risk to the company's internal documents and project secrets.
If information is inadvertently leaked or unauthorized personnel spy on it, it can pose unpredictable risks to the company's development.
Thinking about it that way, it's even less likely that I'll bypass this small company.
Yang Yi pressed the call button, summoned Xia He, and gave her instructions with a frown.
"Go to the company upstairs and ask them if they would be willing to let me see their work."
Xia He accepted the order and returned a moment later with a stack of paper drawings, neatly arranging the paintings on the table.
Yang Yi bent down to examine the paintings. The overall style was neat and conventional, and the figures were drawn in a standard manner, not particularly stunning or outstanding. However, the various strange beasts and monsters depicted were exceptionally well done.
The lines are sharp and bold, the forms are full of tension, and the composition and lighting are just right. It has a strong sense of fierce oppression and a strong visual impact, which shows that the creator has excellent painting skills.
Shen Xiao walked over at this moment, carrying a large deer in his mouth. He leaned over to examine the spread-out drawing and casually offered a professional critique:
"The character design is just average, but the skill in creating monsters is truly outstanding. The atmosphere is very well done, and the level is in no way inferior to our company's art team."
After she said that, Yang Yi suddenly remembered that this girl herself was an art director, so her professional vision was naturally unique.
However, with food still in her mouth, her voice was muffled and soft, which sounded particularly strange.
When I raised my hand to wipe my mouth, the cream on my fingertips inadvertently smeared onto the lines of the paper, leaving a small, faint mark.
"Swallow it first, it's awkward to keep it in your mouth," Yang Yi said helplessly.
Xia He stood to the side, her thoughts racing: "Why does that sound so strange?"
Having advantages makes things easier. Yang Yi began to consider how to properly resolve the thorny issue of sharing the same space.
Yang Yi casually straightened the drawing with a few cream stains and gave instructions directly to Xia He beside him.
"Xia He, go upstairs and talk to their manager. I'll give them two options to choose from."
He spoke at a steady pace, offered extremely generous terms, yet subtly grasped the other party's current predicament.
"The first option is for us to acquire their company outright for just one yuan."
"After the acquisition, all the artists on the job will retain their positions and be incorporated into the Hive organization, with a fixed monthly salary starting at 20,000 yuan, and other benefits equivalent to those of the company's regular employees."
Before Xia He could finish recording, Yang Yi continued to state the second alternative plan.
"The second option is to retain their company as an independent entity, without acquisition or merger. From today onwards, they will become Hive's exclusive long-term art outsourcing team, specializing in monster modeling, mythical beast concept art, and atmospheric scene painting."
"All moving costs, new office building selection, rent difference, and relocation labor costs will be fully handled and borne by our Beehive team, so they don't have to spend a penny and we can completely solve their relocation problems."
Two solutions were offered: one to ensure the company's future and the other to address its immediate crisis, precisely pinpointing the biggest predicament facing this drafting company.
Shen Xiao, who had just finished chewing her dessert and wiped her fingers clean, raised an eyebrow slightly and instantly understood Yang Yi's thoughts.
What appears to be generous assistance is actually a precise attempt to poach talent.
The most valuable thing about this company is not the shell company on the verge of bankruptcy, but the team of artists with extremely strong skills in drawing monsters and top-notch sense of atmosphere.
Just as Yang Yi had predicted, they chose the first option. The small company owner was also out of options; it seemed like there were choices, but in reality, there was only one path.
When Xia He announced her terms, the entire company's artists were thrown into disarray. What if they didn't agree and their subordinates jumped ship? If they all left, how would they repay the debts?
And just like that, Yang Yi seized this small company, which hadn't even registered its name yet, and transformed it in an instant.
With the expansion of office space gradually finalized, the company will next launch a new round of recruitment.
Currently, there is still no dedicated operations team for Overwatch, which is an inherent weakness of online games.
Unlike small single-player or pixel games, which can be easily maintained after development and launch, this approach is different.
Online games have long lifecycles, and the various tasks involved, such as daily event planning, player community maintenance, server operation and maintenance, tournament coordination, public opinion management, and version iteration and optimization, are complex and tedious, requiring sufficient manpower to support each aspect.
To build a complete operational system, it will be necessary to draw some personnel from the existing R&D team to participate in the work.
The development staff who were originally focused on new project development and content refinement have been split up, which will temporarily divert development efforts and slow down the progress of other game projects to some extent.
However, these were not problems for Yang Yi at all, because he had money!
During this period, Yang Yi needs to squeeze in a completely new game project – Subnautica (also known as Subnautica).
Looking at the imposing monster sketches on the table, Yang Yi instantly finalized the layout for the next phase of his masterpiece.
It's unlikely that Hive will develop any new FPS online games in the short term, as this would affect the commercial value of Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch.
You can compete internally, but you can't compete with yourself.
The FPS market is saturated and can't be touched anymore, but Hive is in a period of expansion and needs to have some decent big titles to fill the gap and maintain the company's position as a first-tier emerging manufacturer. Yang Yi believes that Subnautica is qualified.
All we need to do is expand the map a bit, enrich some of the ecosystems, and add some new Leviathans based on the previous version.
Moreover, the semi-free sandbox building will not affect Yang Yi's previous game production plans.
Currently, open-world games on the market haven't quite grasped the essence; they're either too small or too large and empty.
Subnautica can serve as a model for its peers.
The game features a unique deep-sea alien theme, abandoning gunfights and violence, and focusing on the unknown fears of the deep sea, the stunning underwater ecology, survival building, and suspenseful puzzle-solving.
These are enough to keep players engaged and also refute the rumors that Hive only makes FPS masterpieces.
For the next few days, Yang Yi went to work at ten o'clock every day, working hard to expand the game content of "Subnautica", which exhausted him.
Fortunately, there has been a lot of good news from the Beehive platform. Thanks to its low-price strategy similar to that of the Beehive Engine, many new games developed by independent studios have chosen to be listed on the Beehive gaming platform.
There's no way around it, the zero commission on the first million dollars is just too tempting.
What's even more enticing is that everyone knows that just over half a month later, Overwatch will officially launch its open beta, which will undoubtedly ignite a frenzy across the entire internet, bringing massive player traffic, platform exposure, and user growth – a truly massive traffic boon.
For small game studios that lack resources, traffic, funding, and exposure channels, this is an absolute windfall.
The Qunfeng platform is still in its early stages, with a small number of third-party games on the platform. The platform has ample resources and traffic recommendations, and there is no fierce competition.
Studios that join early can seize the platform's first-launch support label, receive regular homepage recommendations and preferential traffic for new products, and easily reap the first wave of platform development dividends.
Moreover, the exclusivity period is only six months. If all else fails, they can use up their traffic and switch to Steam, which is better than directly launching on Steam platforms and fighting those monsters to the death.