"Hmm?" Scott looked at the four people outside the door.
Himeko?
That short one is probably Silver Wolf.
Who's this little gray-haired guy?
Never seen him before!
And behind him—
Firefly!!!
Why is she here?
Damn it!
Last time, just shaking hands with her—
She dislocated his hand!
Didn't he specifically warn the recruiters at the film and TV building?
If they see Firefly, they must reject her!
Wasn't she supposed to be job-hunting there every day?
Shouldn't she be running around doing interviews at the film building today?
Why is she here?
Wait a minute—Kafka just said they'd already solved the script problem.
There's a thick stack of papers on the table—could that be the script?
But where did it come from?
All questions point to this gray-haired guy in front of him!
Whatever!
They've got numbers. This isn't the place to stick around.
"Excuse me, buddy, mind moving aside? I need to leave."
Su Chen acted as if Scott didn't exist, completely ignoring him.
"Hey, buddy, are you deaf?"
"Huh? Did you guys hear something?" Su Chen turned to the others behind him.
Himeko and the other two froze for a few seconds, then nodded before shaking their heads.
"Ha?!" Scott put his hands on his hips, glaring at Su Chen through his sunglasses. "Are you ignoring me? You think you're funny?"
Su Chen: "Not funny. But I can do something funny for you.
I can bark like a dog!"
"Bark? Hah, let's hear it!"
Su Chen replied in a mocking, drawn-out tone: "Do~you~think~you're~funny~?"
"???!" Scott was about to roll up his sleeves—
But then he noticed Firefly behind Su Chen, smiling as she clenched her right fist.
"Fine! I came here in good faith to deliver the script, and this is how you treat a guest?
I'll make sure to report this to headquarters properly."
"Script?" Su Chen snatched Scott's "three-page script" and skimmed it. "Mahjong? Scattered across the universe? Wishes? Tsk… I couldn't write something this bad even with my feet! Did a dog write this?"
"Hah? You dare look down on something I spent all night writing? Then what the hell did you write?"
Su Chen's lips curled slightly before quickly returning to neutral.
He knew Scott had taken the bait.
He pulled out a script titled Honkai Star Rail Draft and handed it to Scott.
This was actually just a pitch document Su Chen had prepared to approach other companies for collaboration.
It contained some scattered settings and frameworks—
Definitely not enough to constitute plagiarism or any other issues.
Just incomplete snippets, but impressive enough.
Scott skeptically picked up the Draft and skimmed through it.
Unbelievable!
Such a short document, yet it had such an expansive worldbuilding?
Aeons?
Paths?
Stellarons?
The Imaginary Tree?
All the concepts were incredibly novel.
He didn't fully understand it, but he was deeply impressed.
Now he was curious—how did this gray-haired guy plan to film this?
With a worldbuilding this grand, how much budget would it take?
And with barely two and a half days left until the deadline—
They wanted to film something like this?
Even if it was just a pilot episode, was that even possible?
Never mind the filming process—locations, sets, costumes, props, editing…
Not to mention the actors' own NG takes.
It was outright impossible!
What were they thinking?
Aren't they afraid of breaching the contract?
Hmph!
He wasn't about to feel sorry for anyone. Breaching the contract would be perfect.
Maybe he could even take this script for himself!
Hahahaha!
"That's it? Just this? And you think you can film a web series like this in three days? I'm dying of laughter!"
Su Chen: "Who said three days? I'll deliver the finished episode tomorrow."
"Huh…? Oh?! Tomorrow? I can't even imagine! How capable do you have to be to pull that off? Are you the reincarnation of Nezha? Do you have three heads and six arms?
Fine then! How about this—we'll make a bet. All you have to do is deliver a video clip, even just one minute is enough!
But the condition is—the scene must take place on a space station!"
Scott wasn't saying this out of kindness. He was setting a trap.
As a corporate executive, trapping people was his specialty—
Whether it was his superiors, colleagues, family, or especially business partners.
"Hehehe!" Scott was laughing maniacally inside.
From what he'd seen, a space station setting required not only massive space but also a sci-fi backdrop, demanding extremely high standards for both location and special effects.
Forget one minute—even one second would cost at least hundreds of thousands.
And this guy had the audacity to say he'd deliver tomorrow?
Even if! Even if! Even if!
By some one-in-a-million chance, he succeeded—
Scott could still bring in industry experts to nitpick it for not meeting professional standards.
No matter what, he couldn't lose!
He wanted to see just how stubborn Su Chen's mouth was!
"What do you say? If you actually deliver, no matter how the market reacts, I'll personally secure funding for the full series. If you lose, you bark like a dog!"
Su Chen stared at Scott with "admiration."
Typical of him. Never forgetting about barking.
And he's the one who suggested just one minute was enough—
Clearly, he's never been beaten down by society.
"But we can tweak the terms. If the footage I deliver tomorrow meets your approval, all you have to do is transfer the web series license to me. That shouldn't be hard, right?
If I lose, I'll take full responsibility—whether it's barking like a dog or oinking like a pig.
If you don't trust me, we can draft a new agreement right now to ensure fairness."
"Hah?" Scott rubbed his ears.
He couldn't believe it. He'd seen people with no fear, but never someone this fearless.
Not only that, Su Chen's actions had shocked everyone else in the café too.
"Su Chen, you don't have to—"
Su Chen raised a hand to stop Himeko's protest.
His thoughts were crystal clear:
Ever since hearing about the contract with Tenghua, he'd been planning how to break free.
The terms were just too exploitative.
Right now, Su Chen didn't have the means to pay the penalty fees.
But.
Scott's appearance changed everything. Though a bully, Scott was at least a man of his word.
And this guy was so arrogant, he'd bite at the slightest provocation.
With a little taunting, he'd take the hook.
This way, Himeko's group could escape the contract—
And Su Chen would get a free web series license out of it.
Why not?
"Hesitation is defeat. Don't tell me you're scared to bet?"
"Who's scared?" Scott lowered his head in thought.
If he really thought about it, even if he lost, there was no real downside.
At worst, he'd lose one license.
With his years of seniority at the company, the most he'd get is a written warning!
If he won, this gray-haired guy would be under his thumb.
He wasn't interested in the others anyway—
This gray-haired guy was kind of amusing. He'd give him a taste of "family warmth" and make him grovel as his subordinate. Just thinking about it was exciting!
"Deal! We'll sign the agreement right now!!! And if you actually pull it off, I'll bark like a dog!"
Afraid Su Chen might back out, Scott immediately pulled out his contract essentials: ink pad, pen, blank paper, and personal seal.
Soon after.
Scott left the café in high spirits, the new agreement in hand.
Only.
Everyone else was silently staring at Su Chen.
Firefly quietly stepped behind him. "Boss… will you win?"
"Nah I'd Win!"