Chapter 17: The Desperate Meeting
Meanwhile, in the early morning of the next day...
Chen Yize woke up from a bed like any other day without knowing what had happened.
He only knew that it had been around ten days since the Xinyi company had released [XINT] to the public.
For him, there would be no accidents, and the Xinyi company would become more and more stable over time.
Since the Xinyi company had released [XINT] to the public, more and more people began to notice their company.
For his remarkable achievement, Li Xinyi had also paid him a bonus.
She had also encouraged him, cheering him to continue to work hard.
However, what he had always hated the most was working hard.
The only time Chen Yize could remember was when he became desperate with the publicity matter of [Choice of Robots].
At that time, he was simply desperate.
Desperate because of the system's task.
And also desperate because if he hadn't received his salary last month, he wouldn't be able to pay the rent and could only live on the street.
He hoped he wouldn't need to work so hard like that again.
Recalling what he had gone through, Chen Yize found that he had been working hard since he had joined the Xinyi company. Or, should he say, since his graduation?
At first, it took him a month after graduation before he eventually got a job at the Xinyi company.
The next day, he decided to develop his first video game in this world, [Choice of Robots]. And the reason was nothing else at that time. It was because there were no video games for him to play. So, with nothing to do, he just felt bored and decided to develop it with the help of the system.
Next, it took him half a month to finish the development alone. And another half a month to finally complete the system's task.
Then, it took him two more days from developing [XINT] to releasing it.
Now, another ten days had passed.
In the past ten days, he and Li Xinyi, together with Zhou Wei and others, took the time to develop their official website together.
Yes, that's right. There were also 'others'.
As the Xinyi company became more famous, it was only a matter of time before more people applied for a job and joined the company.
And in the past ten days, their company had also welcomed three more people, including two programmers and one artist.
With more colleagues assisting him, he wouldn't need to work so hard all by himself anymore, Chen Yize thought.
And so, it was time for him to go to work and meet his new colleagues again.
-----
Inside the Xinyi company's building...
Chen Yize entered the company as usual.
He thought today would still be no different from any other day.
They would still discuss the same question over and over again. Is there anything else someone wants to include on the official website? Just to make sure that nothing had been missed.
Of course, while continuing to discuss, they had also started the development and included everything they were sure to include.
For the official website matter, Chen Yize couldn't provide many suggestions. He was simply ignorant about this. So, most of the time, he only acted as a listener or sometimes as a supporter in these meetings.
The only suggestion Chen Yize could provide so far. It was to add something like a [Store].
The [Store] was supposed to be a place for people to buy their company's products on the official website.
For the time being, they only considered selling apps and nothing else.
In the future, when their company becomes more powerful, they will consider selling something else, such as merchandise, etc.
Currently, they could only include some categories in the [Store]. And the categories they could think of now were [Recommendations], [Available now], [New releases], [Coming soon], and [Pre-order].
On the other hand, Li Xinyi had given many suggestions during the meetings. And most of them had also been agreed upon by everyone.
For example, how to design their homepage? Li Xinyi hoped that the homepage of this website could make it clear to people who they are.
Li Xinyi hoped to make it short and precise by putting [Our purpose] on the homepage, and it would be the first thing people would see after entering their official website.
As for the purpose itself, Li Xinyi thought for a while before telling everyone the one she found suitable for the Xinyi company.
[To develop digital products and provide our clients with a brand-new experience.]
When saying this, Li Xinyi thought of her childhood dream that she had forgotten. She didn't expect much. She just hoped to give her employees some motivation through this purpose.
At the same time, Chen Yize thought it sounded pretty good and didn't think much about it either.
And he also thought about many video games he might develop in the future. At that time, it was just a simple matter for him to provide users with a 'brand-new' experience.
On the other hand, when others heard this purpose from Li Xinyi's mouth, there were only two words in their minds.
So arrogant?
There were also those buttons that would link people to several other pages. Li Xinyi hoped to put them on the top of the homepage like [Choice of Robots]. Of course, she would also put them on the top of the other pages.
The pages that Li Xinyi and others had suggested included [About Xinyi company], [News & Announcements], and [Customer service]. And of course, there was also the [Store] that Chen Yize had come up.
In the future, there will surely be something more on their official website. Something that wasn't necessary currently. Or something that everyone couldn't come up with for the time being.
Chen Yize thought today would be the same, and everyone else thought so. Everyone thought they would have another meeting today.
But it seemed that today, Li Xinyi was the one who was late. Because until now, she hadn't entered the company yet.
With the privilege of the boss, if Li Xinyi enters the company late, no one will dare to complain and will only remain silent.
Chen Yize was the same. But the reason for not complaining was different. For him, the boss being late was a good thing.
He could lie down in the company without doing anything, and no one could force him to work.
He could also plan many things before the boss arrived.
Chen Yize asked himself various questions in his mind at a shockingly fast speed. How to greet Li Xinyi after she entered the company? How to serve her? What should he say during the meeting today?
All of the questions Chen Yize asked himself were only for one purpose. And that was to make Li Xinyi feel satisfied with him and raise his salary.
Yes, that's right. For now, Chen Yize only wanted more salary from Li Xinyi and nothing else.
Chen Yize once felt desperate because he might have no money to pay the rent. This experience made him realize something. Something he had never thought of before.
Without money, his dream of financial freedom and early retirement would only remain a dream. It would never become a reality.
So, he must continue to work hard, work hard and receive more salary, get enough money and retire early, Chen Yize thought.
While Chen Yize was planning many things in his mind, Li Xinyi entered the company.
Li Xinyi smiled and clapped her hands, signaling everyone to pay attention before she spoke.
"Sorry for being late, everyone. I have no excuse. No excuse at all." Li Xinyi smiled more warmly before continuing. "I know today we have another meeting. So, let's not delay. Let's go and meet in the conference room, everyone."
Although no one else had noticed, Chen Yize had noticed that there was something, something that wasn't right.
After being together for so long, Chen Yize could notice that Li Xinyi's smile looked more like a fake one. The fake one to hide something. Or, should he say, her smile was somewhat... Self-deprecating.
Yes, that's right. It wasn't a warm smile but a self-deprecating smile. The kind of smile that Li Xinyi, a wealthy young lady, had never shown him before.
Chen Yize frowned, and the various plans he had thought of before disappeared instantly at this moment.
Something wasn't right. Something was wrong, Chen Yize thought while following others to the conference room.
After entering the conference room and everyone sitting in their seats, Li Xinyi was the one who spoke first.
Yet, what she spoke made everyone feel shocked, and no one was prepared for this.
"Today, I have one thing to announce. I plan to sell some of our company's shares to the Shuowen platform."
In the end, Li Xinyi chose to make this matter short with a smile on her face, facing everyone.
And everyone else except Chen Yize, after hearing what Li Xinyi had spoken, all wanted to say something, but there was a loud BANG from the other side of the table.
Chen Yize literally hit the table with a slap of his hand and stared at Li Xinyi straight in the eyes before asking her a short and precise question.
"Are you willing?"
Chen Yize didn't understand why he would feel so angry after hearing Li Xinyi say that.
Maybe, it was because he felt that Li Xinyi's smile only contained the word 'unwillingness' hidden under that 'warm' smile.
Or maybe, it was because he heard something hidden deep when Li Xinyi had mentioned the 'purpose' of their company before. Something that Li Xinyi, without any ambition herself, wouldn't be able to say, that kind of arrogant purpose.
Everyone turned to look at Chen Yize and understood what he meant before all turning their heads and facing Li Xinyi again, all waiting.
For the first time, Li Xinyi dodged his eyes slightly for a short moment, but Chen Yize still noticed it. And when she looked at him again, she only gave him a nod before replying with only one word.
"Willing."
"Why?"
Chen Yize continued to ask while still staring at Li Xinyi.
Li Xinyi didn't dodge Chen Yize's eyes this time. On the other hand, she chose to be frank. And she just told everyone about what had happened, including her analysis of why they couldn't refuse.
"So, simply put, you are afraid of the Shuowen platform. Afraid that they will do as they said. Afraid that we will never have a chance. The chance to enter the interactive novel or even the novel industry again. And by that time, we will have nothing left."
Chen Yize calmed down some of his emotions, enough for him to conclude the currently 'bad' situation.
And when others heard it, they only felt panic inside.
They knew what the current situation meant to them. The Shuowen platform had an intent to force everyone here to choose.
The first choice was to obey their words and sell them some of their company's shares.
The second choice was to fight to the end with no hope of winning.
And the third choice... was to withdraw from this industry, abandon the previous achievements accumulated so far, and start again without knowing the future.
Most people, including them, wouldn't choose the second choice. Without any strategy, it was merely a dream for them to win.
The third choice, they could choose it but...
They all turned their head to look at Chen Yize. They knew that this guy was the one who had come up with the idea of writing an interactive novel like [Choice of Robots] before.
It was because they had noticed the Xinyi company's achievement in the interactive novel industry that they decided to join this company in the end.
Later, after they had joined the company, they finally learned that every achievement they had noticed could be said to be Chen Yize's rather than Li Xinyi's.
Eventually, they all subconsciously regarded Chen Yize as the 'chief designer' of the company, although Li Xinyi had never promoted him to that position.
But when they looked at Chen Yize again at this moment, they all turned their eyes away in the end.
They turned their eyes to Chen Yize because they expected him to say something.
And they turned their eyes away because they found that they couldn't expect Chen Yize to come up with something new and shocking again, at least not in a short time.
For them, the idea of interactive novels was shocking enough. And there wouldn't be anything that could make them feel shocked again.
At least, they knew that Chen Yize might have a 'talent'. The talent to come up with another kind of 'novel'. But even if he did have another one, the Shuowen platform would still have various means to stop their company from growing.
"So now, you should probably understand why I have decided to sell some of the company's shares, right?"
Li Xinyi glanced around and looked at everyone's eyes. She knew what they were thinking at this moment because she also once thought the same.
The current situation was just hopeless.
Everyone also nodded in response, even though their hearts felt very heavy.
They knew how difficult it was for Li Xinyi to make this choice, although they didn't know the specific reason why they couldn't risk making the third choice.
Maybe, because it was too risky?
And Li Xinyi was also thinking about her reason at this moment.
She... Was just unwilling.
Unwilling to abandon the first achievement of her company, the success of [Choice of Robots].
And maybe, unwilling to be unable to face Chen Yize after that.
She knew that her company had succeeded so far only because Chen Yize had joined her company.
Without Chen Yize, her company wouldn't be able to rise so fast.
So, she was unwilling. Unwilling to make everything Chen Yize had done for her company became worthless.
At this moment, Li Xinyi didn't notice that she thought she was inferior. Inferior to Chen Yize.
And she even thought of herself as being useless.
Just when everyone became more and more pessimistic, Chen Yize's voice entered everyone's ears.
"You know? It's actually not wrong to call [Choice of Robots] another kind of novel. And maybe, someone may call it another kind of app as well. But, I still prefer to call it... a kind of video game."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
polarfox369
polarfox369 Author: I dare to say that this chapter ended up being the longest one since I started writing this novel.
Chen Yize: And yes, the next chapter will reveal what kind of games I will develop next.
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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