On the first day of work after the holiday, Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang drove to the Nanyang Tech Park together. After parking the car in their assigned spots, they parted ways, walking into the A and B office buildings, respectively.

Upstairs, employees who had arrived early were chatting by the floor-to-ceiling windows and happened to witness the two of them arriving together—it had to be said, the two handsome bosses walking side-by-side were quite a sight.

The employees gossiped in low voices: “The two bosses arrived together? Could they be announcing a proposal for a new game today?”

“Maybe they just bumped into each other by chance?”

“I heard President Luo’s negotiations abroad went very smoothly. Our Holographic Script Sessions will soon be released globally. With so much work to process, I don’t think the next game will be coming out that quickly.”

“That’s true. Plus, we still have to adapt the winning works from the scriptwriting competition. We’re going to be busy.”

Xie Yunfan took the elevator up. The employees he encountered on the way greeted him enthusiastically: “Good morning, Boss!” Xie Yunfan would politely smile back: “Morning.”

In the blink of an eye, he had been in this world for three years, and Yangfan Studio had been established for nearly three. The company was developing steadily, churning out one to two hit titles every year. Revenue was growing, and the scale was expanding. But there was still a long way to go before reaching the “Yangfan Group” of his dreams.

There were still too few impressive games in their portfolio; he had to keep working hard.

In the past, he would gather employees for a meeting to announce new development plans right after the Spring Festival. This time, he wasn’t in a rush—he wanted to finish the wrapping-up work for the script sessions first.

After returning to his office, Xie Yunfan summoned the project managers for The Cases of Di Renjie and Holographic Script Sessions to report on their progress.

The Spring Festival limited-edition scripts had received rave reviews. Centered on mechanisms and puzzle-solving, they were welcomed by a large number of players, making them perfect for teaming up with friends and family during the holidays.

The Spring Festival script for The Cases of Di Renjie featured an ancient lantern festival, running from the start of the holiday through the Lantern Festival, fitting the atmosphere perfectly. Players collected riddles at the lantern festival to earn points and in-game red envelope rewards.

Meanwhile, Holographic Script Sessions featured a Spring Festival level-clearing script set in a modern city, where all the mechanisms were related to elements like couplets, firecrackers, and fireworks, making it very lively and festive.

Both of these scripts had been completed under the leadership of the two project managers based on Xie Yunfan’s suggestions. Having empowered them to execute the tasks, Xie Yunfan hadn’t needed to worry too much. After acting as a “Master” for several months, the two project managers he had trained were quite capable.

Zhang Su reported excitedly: “Boss, the final sales for the The Cases of Di Renjie Spring Festival script reached 10 million plays. The revenue for that single script alone is 150 million yuan!”

Xu Jianshan added: “The sales for the Holographic Script Sessions limited-edition script also reached 10 million plays, with revenue likewise breaking 100 million.”

With Qihang’s current market share at 20 million game pods, this meant that during the Spring Festival, over 50% of active game pods purchased these limited-edition scripts.

Getting half of all players to pay was a highly successful campaign. After all, during the Spring Festival, many players were busy visiting relatives, traveling, or relaxing and didn’t have much time for gaming. With a week left before the activities ended, sales were still climbing.

Xie Yunfan smiled, satisfied: “Excellent. In the future, we can release such themed scripts for holidays. For example, for Children’s Day on June 1st, we can release scripts suitable for children, with separate verification allowing minors under 18 to register.”

“For Valentine’s Day, we can create emotional scripts suitable for couples.”

“Don’t make event scripts too frequent; a few major holidays are enough. For long-term operations, reputation is the most important thing. Once a reputation collapses, a large number of players will abandon the game.”

Xie Yunfan looked at the two of them and cautioned: “What you need to do next is maintain the quality of the scripts. You must repeatedly experience every script you release yourselves and ensure there are no issues before bringing them to market.”

“Adapt the top three scripts from the competition and launch them as soon as possible. The Copyright Department will continue to acquire more good scripts for you. As project managers, you must act as the gatekeepers.”

Xie Yunfan paused and added: “If problems arise, you two are the first ones I will hold accountable.”

Both nodded: “Understood.”

Zhang Su said earnestly: “Boss, I will do my best.”

Xu Jianshan added: “The template for the programming team is now very mature. For new scripts, we only need to fill in the content and make appropriate modifications.”

Xie Yunfan offered a prompt: “The art style for The Cases of Di Renjie is already fixed—use traditional costumes. For the modern version of Holographic Script Sessions, you can adapt the art according to different time settings. Don’t be afraid to be bold with backgrounds like cyberpunk or post-apocalyptic wastelands.”

Xu Jianshan nodded immediately: “Good, I will have the art team try some new things.”

Xie Yunfan added: “Additionally, aside from project commissions, there are year-end bonuses. Go back and tell your team members not to worry about bonuses; whatever work they are assigned, they should complete it well.”

This served as a reassurance for the employees of the two groups. Everyone preferred working directly under the boss, feeling that those teams were closer to him and received more bonuses, while those split off felt like “stepchildren.” But with Xie Yunfan’s words, everyone stopped worrying. Splitting into projects was normal. In other companies, some projects were money losers where you couldn’t get a cent in bonuses. At Yangfan Studio, no matter which group you were in, you wouldn’t be losing money, right?

After the two managers relayed Xie Yunfan’s message, the employees who had been assigned to the new groups felt much better.

In the following days, everyone was busy working on new scripts. Among them, the three winning works from the scriptwriting competition were given the highest priority.

The author, Ye Xuan, had been busy writing new scripts during this time. While writing, he waited eagerly for his work to officially launch. As a small, unknown author, he didn’t dare reach out to the Copyright Manager at Yangfan Studio, so he could only silently refresh the official website. He checked several times a day, hoping to see his name in the “Updated Scripts” list.

Of course, he knew game adaptation wouldn’t happen that fast. But creating a piece of work was like raising a child with his own hands; he hoped to see his “child” come to life as soon as possible.

Amidst his day-and-night anticipation, he finished his second script. This time, the story was about a serial murder case in a psychiatric hospital. To write it, he had pored over extensive research and even interviewed some medical student classmates. The killer he wrote was an anti-social personality—smart and perverted. He felt extremely excited while writing it, but friends who read it privately said it gave them nightmares for several days…

Ye Xuan submitted the script via the player platform with trepidation. He had just been testing the waters, but to his surprise, three days later he received a WeChat message from the Copyright Manager, Yi Yang. She was very direct: “Hello, Teacher Ye Xuan. We have seen your new script. The internal rating is A+. I reported it to the boss, and we would like to follow the previous contract terms. Does that work for you?”

Ye Xuan was thrilled: “Yes!”

The reason he got such good terms last time was because his script had won the championship. To get sales commission on a privately written script? This company was the industry model for respecting original authors!

Ye Xuan immediately added: “May I ask, has the work on my previous script begun?”

Yi Yang: “I’m not entirely sure about the specific progress of the Planning Group, but I know the three award-winning scripts from the competition were prioritized for production after the Spring Festival. You can look forward to it~”

Ye Xuan: “Okay, thank you!”

In early March, Holographic Script Sessions updated its content. The official announcement stated: “The three award-winning works from the first Scriptwriting Competition will officially launch this session. These scripts all come from the creativity of players; everyone is welcome to experience them! At the same time, we welcome more talented authors to join our creative team.”

How good could a player’s work be? If it could win an award, it couldn’t be that bad, right? After the update package officially launched, many people went to experience the championship work, Wild Village in a Blizzard, out of curiosity. Ye Xuan also used a burner account to play it himself.

Text and games are truly two different things. The “blizzard” he had glossed over in his script was made into a three-dimensional holographic scene, with incredibly realistic modeling. The desolate mountain village in the game was filled with flying snow and biting cold. Even though the players were wearing thick down jackets, they couldn’t help but feel anxious and terrified while playing the mystery game in such an environment.

In front of a house, they discovered a corpse that had been fashioned into a snowman. The heavy snow covered many traces, creating difficulty for the deduction.

As the author, Ye Xuan knew the ending, so he felt embarrassed to speak and just spent his time idling on the sidelines listening to everyone talk… Sure enough, everyone guessed wrong. Until the truth was revealed at the very end, everyone was stunned. Ye Xuan watched the players’ reactions and felt a sense of accomplishment—great, he had fooled them!

…

That evening, the hashtag #TheWinningScriptIsSuperFun trended on Weibo. Many players who had played the new scripts gave them high praise.

“Holy crap, that Wild Village made my spine chill. Playing deduction in a blizzard—the double debuff of physical and psychological stress is freezing. The twist at the end is insane!”

“The author of Wild Village is pretty sharp. The logic is a closed loop. I didn’t guess it, but once all the clues were connected, it felt very reasonable. A master!”

“The runner-up’s ballroom script is so perverted. The victim was buried in roses; I only realized the symbolism at the end. It gave me goosebumps.”

“I can’t look at roses the same way anymore, holy crap, it’s terrifying when you think about it!”

“The escape room script is also fun, the mechanism design is very interesting. The award-winning works this time are really good.”

“You can tell the production team checked them carefully, not just fooling players with trash. I played the top three, and they deserve the praise.”

“I’m curious, do these authors get paid?”

“What are you thinking? 100,000 yuan prize money should be a buyout, right? The game company is going to make a fortune!”

Ye Xuan looked at the comments online and said silently in his heart: There are still conscientious bosses in this world. Getting a sales commission means it’s not a pitfall buyout for 100,000!

Over the next few days, public opinion fermented. Countless spontaneous recommendations began for these player-created works, especially Wild Village in a Blizzard, which soared in popularity and hit the top ten of the monthly script rankings!

The corridors of Yangfan Studio featured a poster display area, replaced weekly based on script rankings, showcasing only the top 20. On Monday, while walking past the corridor, Xie Yunfan saw the poster for Wild Village in a Blizzard at the 10th position. He casually asked: “It seems this player’s script is selling quite well?”

President Xu reported: “Yes, because the deduction process is quite brain-burning, it has received many positive reviews, and the popularity has exploded recently. Just one week after launch, the revenue is nearly 10 million.”

Xie Yunfan smiled: “It can be considered a good start for the player creation channel.”

If the quality of the first batch of player works was terrible, no one might play the works released later. Fortunately, the quality of the first batch was high and the reviews were good, so the sales of all three scripts were excellent.

Giving authors a portion of the sales commission seems a bit foolish in the short term. But in the long run, generous royalties can attract more good authors, forming a virtuous cycle.

Of course, the sales of scripts produced by Yangfan Studio were also excellent. Not everyone likes deduction scripts; there are many players who enjoy supernatural tasks, doomsday escapes, and emotional scripts. A single script’s revenue breaking 10 million is already considered a super hit. But the most impressive were the Spring Festival limited-edition scripts, with 150 million for a single script. Official events were something player works could never compare to.

Xie Yunfan’s strategy was to have official works act as the trunk and branches, and let player works act as the leaves. The whole tree would become stronger and stronger, absorbing more nutrients to thrive. The competition had a good start, and he believed the quality of subsequent works would follow.

At the same time, Ye Xuan looked at his work on the leaderboard, his excitement beyond words. He wondered how much commission he would get this time? Signing fee 100,000—could he get 100,000 in commissions?

He used to write web novels and couldn’t earn 100,000 in a year. He didn’t expect that after opening a new track, he would make a comeback so quickly. Perhaps he had truly found the genre that suited him best?

At the end of March, Ye Xuan received a call from Copyright Manager Yi Yang. She said the company settled finance quarterly, and the financial report for the first quarter of the script sessions was out; he should receive his royalties for the quarter within a week.

Ye Xuan waited expectantly for the bank SMS. Three days later, on a Tuesday, his phone finally chimed.

“Your card ending in 8383 has received a transfer…”

Ye Xuan looked at the number and rubbed his eyes hard. Oh my god! Writing a blockbuster script can lead to getting rich overnight?

Ye Xuan excitedly took a screenshot and sent it to his parents: “Mom and Dad, I finally made something of myself. Sob, sob, sob. I’m going to move into a bigger place; I won’t have to deal with the landlord’s attitude anymore!”

The twenty-something-year-old boy couldn’t help but have teary eyes at that moment. For the past few years, he had lived in rented apartments, sticking to his so-called creative dreams, but unfortunately, the money he earned from novels could barely make ends meet. He hadn’t expected the player creation platform of Holographic Script Sessions to give him an opportunity to shine.

He had racked his brains, carefully polished, and revised his script countless times… If it had been another game company, they might have bought out his creativity for 100,000, and turned around to make tens of millions that would have had nothing to do with him.

Yangfan Studio was willing to give authors a commission, letting the author share in the success while the company earned its own share. A company like this deserves to make a fortune!

Ye Xuan posted on Weibo: “@YangfanStudio @HolographicScriptSessions, today I received my royalty commission for the first quarter of the script sessions. Thanks @LittleSailboat for your respect for original authors! Thanks to everyone for liking my work. I will strive to create more good works for everyone in the future~”

He was the championship author of the competition, and when the official list was announced, they had tagged him on Weibo. Combined with the later popularity of the script, he now had over 10,000 followers. Seeing this news, many fans left comments: “Holy crap, there’s commission?”

“I thought it was a 100,000 buyout and you lost out! Looks like you didn’t?”

“This script hit the top ten of the March sales chart, I estimate the revenue for a single script is around 20 million. Curious how much the commission is? Brother Ye, you’re about to be rich!”

“I’m going to try writing scripts too, maybe I’ll be selected?”

“If there really is commission, do you think professional scriptwriting studios will appear in the future to make this money?”

“Maybe we will have full-time script authors!”

The news of authors getting commissions quickly spread through the gaming circle. Executives at other companies thought Xie Yunfan was brain-dead to split money with authors—what a waste of cash! But players and authors were very excited.

A company’s attitude toward authors determines the authors’ creative enthusiasm and attitude. More and more authors joined the scriptwriting process. Of course, to avoid bad scripts disrupting the market, Xie Yunfan specifically told the Copyright Department to control the quantity of scripts, picking the best to ensure every single one was a masterpiece.

Thus, a large number of scripts were “rejected.”

Only those that could be signed were carefully selected. Works that stood out from countless excellent manuscripts naturally had strong potential for adaptation. High commissions attracted more authors, their enthusiasm was high, and the quality of works improved, gradually forming a “vicious cycle of competition” among script authors.

The Copyright Department continued to “select the best” at a rate of 3–5 works per month. People just trying to get easy money were eliminated. Those who remained were truly talented and capable original creators. And they deserved compensation that matched their talent.

…

Some time later, his peers finally understood the significance of what Xie Yunfan had done.

The game Holographic Script Sessions had an endless supply of good scripts, and every update resulted in a blockbuster hit, saving the operator the cost of advertising. It was said that many authors made money by writing scripts. Especially Ye Xuan, who won the first championship—his later two scripts were also very popular, and he even bought a house in a big city, achieving financial freedom.

The scripts were fun enough that players were interested in playing forever. For a long time after launch, the online player count remained very stable, and many times, there was even “reverse growth” when scripts updated.

How scary is that? Anyone who has made games knows. 99% of games reach their peak online count at launch or during a specific event, then start to go downhill, with fewer players and lower revenue. But the number of players for Holographic Script Sessions didn’t decrease; it actually increased?!

The neighboring game, The Cases of Di Renjie, also had a very stable player base.

The monthly revenue for both games could easily break 100 million. During events, it was hundreds of millions; during major festival events, breaking a billion was no problem…

How long would this game stay popular? No one could predict. It was a hit upon release, and it had stayed popular ever since, with a trend to continue.

Xie Yunfan was lying back and making money, earning a fortune. At the same time, because of his respect for original authors, those excellent script authors were making a lot of money, too. Players felt the company had a great attitude, the script quality was there, and the reviews for the game were excellent. They would actively recommend it to people around them and even pull friends and family in to play.

This wave was truly a win in both reputation and profit!

Many planners were envious and jealous of Xie Yunfan. But thinking about it carefully, the success of every one of Xie Yunfan’s games relied on his respect for players and sincerity in game production.

When many game companies make games, they are all doing market research, wanting to know what players like and what games are more profitable? But in fact, you cannot investigate player preferences clearly.

What Yangfan Studio did wasn’t just dividing the market; it was—leading the market. If you went to investigate, would players tell you, “I like playing script sessions”? No. But the Holographic Script Sessions created by Yangfan Studio went viral globally.

Even the name “Di Renjie” became a household name. Everyone knew the divine detective, Di-daren, and some children were even playing “catching the killer” as Di-daren in their daily games. This is the influence of a “hit game.”

What game would he make next? Not only were players looking forward to it, but many of his peers were also keeping a close eye on Yangfan Studio.

This time, Xie Yunfan wasn’t in a hurry to initiate a project. Recently, Yangfan Studio suddenly posted a recruitment notice, hiring a large number of art and copywriting staff. The job requirements stated—Gender Restriction: Female.

The applicants were all confused. Companies that prefer men over women are common in the job market, but one that prefers women over men is truly a rare sight. Does Yangfan Studio have too few female employees and want to hire some to balance it out? That doesn’t seem right; game companies don’t have rigid gender ratio requirements.

Why only hire girls? The outside world was guessing. The Human Resources Director, Liu Muyao, didn’t ask much, just conducted a small-scale recruitment according to the boss’s request. She was quite happy to hire more girls!

The company itself didn’t quite understand the boss’s strategy. Could it be related to the new game?

…

The outside world had various opinions. At this moment, in the office on the 21st floor of Qihang Block B, Luo Hang looked at Xie Yunfan with suspicion: “Otome game? What does that mean?”

Xie Yunfan said earnestly: “A dating game mainly for female players. Simply put, it’s a game where the player controls a character who dates the handsome guys in the game. The main character has a high sense of immersion; players playing this kind of game feel like they are dating paper-people, and can experience the joy of love.”

Luo Hang looked at him with a complex expression: “…Dating?”

Xie Yunfan hurriedly explained: “I don’t want to date myself; I’m talking about the game.”

Luo Hang smiled slightly and shifted his gaze: “I know you’re talking about the game. But I don’t quite understand… would anyone be willing to play this kind of dating game?”

Xie Yunfan asserted: “Of course. The market for Otome games is currently a blank slate. I discovered that other companies don’t value female players at all; game settings are mostly about catering to men. In fact, female players are also very important; don’t underestimate the power of girls.”

Seeing his serious attitude, Luo Hang became grave, nodded, and said: “When feeling upset or bored in reality, dating in a game does sound quite interesting. How exactly should we do it?”

Xie Yunfan said: “I want to make the first game where data is interoperable between mobile and holographic platforms. I don’t know if Qihang’s technology can break this dimensional barrier and let the paper-people on mobile phones ‘come to life’?”

Vol 6: Love Over a Millennium