Chapter 51 What on Earth Is This Power?

Chapter 51: What on Earth Is This Force?

Life in South Korea was extremely frustrating.

The negotiations had completely stalled.

To Liu Ruohan, the executives at the official Legend headquarters seemed utterly insane!

Various cheats and hacks for Legend were gradually running rampant in China, and private servers were popping up everywhere in the market. Although the South Korean side kept making pleasant promises, they took no actual action whatsoever. Instead, they demanded that the Wrangler team increase the agency fees—and when they increased them, they based it on a tenfold hike!

And this was still during the active contractual agency period.

The previous contract was crystal clear: ten years, with an annual agency fee of seven million!

When they signed it, they had been all smiles, treating the Chinese side like honored ancestors—or perhaps even like complete fools.

After all, Legend was treated like a stepchild in South Korea, unable to turn a profit at all. Now that a sucker had stepped up to take it off their hands, how could they not be thrilled?

And now...

Seeing Wrangler making hundreds of millions of yuan a year in China thanks to Legend while they only received a few million in annual agency fees...

Were their eyes turning green with envy, prompting them to back out?

They ignored the chaotic mess of private servers and cheats, yet now they wanted to tear up the contract and raise the agency fees?

Of course...

Liu Ruohan herself could have made the decision to appropriately raise the agency fees to some extent.

However, they demanded a tenfold increase right out of the gate!

Who could possibly stomach that?

Liu Ruohan had already made concessions!

As long as they first resolved issues like private servers and cheats and provided technical support, she promised to speak with Liu Chongshan about moderately increasing the agency fees.

Yet those people refused!

They insisted on signing the new contract first, or else they would walk away!

When this was reported back to President Liu Chongshan, he flew into a rage, slamming his fist on the table...

He even declared an uncompromising stance: not a single penny more, take it or leave it, play if you want, drop it if you don't.

And so, the situation reached a complete deadlock.

Liu Ruohan knew her father’s stubborn temperament all too well; he was a man of his word. No matter the negotiation, he had to maintain absolute autonomy—he hated nothing more than being blackmailed!

"Ahhhhh! I feel like I'm just a translator, nothing more than a glorified megaphone stuck in the middle!"

"Ahhhhh! Despicable! So utterly despicable, ahhhhh!"

"..."

Liu Ruohan lay on her bed, staring out at the dazzling lights of a foreign city, her mind replaying all this messy drama.

She was so furious that she kept tugging at her hair, grinding her teeth in frustration, wishing she could just bite those people to death and be done with it.

After a bout of anger...

She finally calmed down, opened her laptop, and started listening to music.

Actually, she rather preferred pop music.

She was quite fond of rising stars like Pan Weirong and Zhou Yang...

Not only were they handsome, but they also sang wonderfully.

After listening for a while...

She felt her irritation melt away significantly.

Afterward, she earnestly refocused her mind on tomorrow's work agenda.

Right at that moment...

She suddenly noticed a pop-up notification from the Baidu Tieba forum.

"Shocking: Zhou Yang inspects Universe Technology, joins hands with Zhang Yang to enter..."

She instinctively wanted to click the close button, but once she clearly read the content of the news...

Her pupils constricted!

What was going on?

***

Everyone at Universe Technology was in a state of shock.

It felt like a dream...

Many rubbed their eyes, then pinched their own thighs, staring in disbelief at the door that had just been pushed open.

Their heads buzzed with a dull roar, their mouths hanging open, utterly clueless about how to close them.

Sun Lili felt like she was going crazy!

She saw a handsome young man smiling, wearing a duckbill cap and dark sunglasses, walking in with an aura of cool confidence.

Behind him walked a few entourage members...

And leading the way right in front of him was Zhang Yang, smiling as he escorted him inside.

The visitor seemed to be curiously looking around the entire company, looking almost as incredulous as everyone else.

The entire company (rented apartment) fell into a dead silence, save for the buzzing hum of an electric fan, as if reminding everyone that they were still living in reality...

Who was that!

That was...

That was!

That was Zhou Yang!

That was really Zhou Yang!

In the flesh—she wasn't dreaming, he was flesh and blood, he had actually come to their company?

How could he come to their company!

Why would he come to their company!

A flurry of question marks filled her mind...

The real Zhou Yang looked exactly like he did on TV and in posters!

"Z-Z-Z-Zhou..." Ge Yumiao’s mouth was wide open. Like Zhong Chongwen, he stuttered, struggling for a long time without managing to get the name out.

"Hello."

"This is Ge Yumiao, our Universe Technology S1 Desert Cycling champion, God Ge, currently the head of our Game Planning Department..."

"I've heard of you. Hello, God Ge..."

Ge Yumiao felt his brain detonate.

He never expected Zhang Yang to introduce him like that in front of a major celebrity like Zhou Yang...

Champion, Department Head...

The introduction was thoroughly appropriate, and carried a genuine sense of prestige!

And yet, he used to be nothing more than a lowly netizen!

"This is Zhao Hang, Manager Zhao, our head of the Art Department..."

"Hello, Manager Zhao..."

"This is Manager Zhong, our head of the Technical Department..."

"This is Manager Wu, head of our Marketing and Operations Department..."

"..."

"..."

Zhang Yang introduced them to Zhou Yang one by one.

Zhou Yang smiled and nodded at each of them.

The somewhat dim, cramped, and cluttered room, the hall crowded with all sorts of computers...

Even the bathroom had been utilized to house various pieces of equipment and servers.

This was the scene unfolding before Zhou Yang’s eyes.

After Zhou Yang and his entourage entered, they couldn't even find a place to sit for a moment.

"Mr. Zhou, this way please..."

Although Zhang Yang felt extremely awkward inwardly, he still welcomed Zhou Yang and the others into his office.

Well...

It was a room measuring roughly seven square meters.

There were just a few old wooden stools inside.

"Mr. Zhou, Ms. Chen, Ms. Li, this is... well, this is where we used to work. We've rented a new office space now, but it's currently under renovation..."

Zhang Yang introduced his new company to everyone.

Zhou Yang’s manager, Li Ziwen, frowned; she was entirely unaccustomed to such a place.

Chen Weiwei likewise wore an indescribable expression.

However...

She seemed to deeply understand how difficult things had been for Zhang Yang.

They quickly went upstairs.

Once upstairs, Zhou Yang looked at Zhang Yang with a somewhat complex gaze.

"Mr. Zhang, you all have been working here all this time?"

"Yeah, that's right. Don't let our small space fool you—'A mountain needn't be high if immortals dwell in it; a body of water needn't be deep if dragons abide there'..." Zhang Yang maintained his smile as he invited Zhou Yang to sit down.

Zhou Yang’s expression seemed somewhat touched.

"What brought all of you together in the first place?"

"Was it a dream?"

"Is your dream to make games?"

"As for that, I couldn't really say..." Zhang Yang hesitated for a moment, glanced at the people downstairs, and shook his head.

"Oh, I see." Zhou Yang nodded, casting his gaze around the surroundings.

In his wildest dreams, he would never have imagined this to be a technology company.

He glanced once more out the window at the young people—some peering over nervously, filled with excitement and curiosity, while others diligently sat working at their computers...

The computers were of the oldest, bulky-headed variety, and the brands didn't even match.

"Are these second-hand computers?"

"Cough, cough, well... many of them were brought by the staff themselves... basically..." Zhang Yang felt another tiny wave of awkwardness.

"Huh?"

Zhou Yang was dumbfounded.

Chen Weiwei was equally dumbfounded.

The computers were brought by themselves?

This...

She suddenly recalled when Zhang Yang had told her that he hoped she could provide computers for free.

This was a company poor down to its very bones!

"What on Earth is this force that has managed to unite them around you like this..." Zhou Yang looked downstairs, deeply moved.

He suddenly realized that making this trip was entirely worth it.

"We just walked this path step by step, without thinking too much about anything else..." Zhang Yang smiled, neither humble nor pushy.

"Mr. Zhang, those bound manuscripts in your hands..."

"Oh, these are all lyrics."

"What? There are this many?"

"I suppose you could say that."

"May I take a look?"

"Uh, I can only show you two pages... The others were just finished and haven't had time to be copyrighted yet, hope you understand..."

"Understood..."

Zhou Yang watched as the young man detached two sheets of paper and handed them over.

Curiously, he accepted the manuscript.

When he saw the lyrics beneath the title *Celadon*...

His entire body trembled!