Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

April 14th, Saturday…

0 AM.

Lu Xiaoping, Vice-President of Vinci Media, brought the person-in-charge of the announcement of the Greyhound to the cinema near the company on time.

This cinema was considered a large-scale cinema even in Beijing. Lu Xiaoping had specially bought two tickets to the IMAX cinema this time. The entire cinema was two stories high. The huge screen and the sound of the panoramic view guaranteed the best viewing effect.

"Boss Lu, popcorn."

The person-in-charge of the announcement of the Greyhound carried two huge buckets of popcorn and handed one of them to Lu Xiaoping.

He was smiling on the surface, but he was cursing in his heart.

This person-in-charge was wronged. It was originally a happy thing to be able to watch a midnight movie, but that depended on who he was with.

It felt wrong to watch a movie with his boss.

What's more, he had worked overtime until midnight before coming over from the office.

He had already worked overtime for four to five hours. Strictly speaking, this movie should be considered official business. Thus, this person-in-charge was very unhappy. He was not in the mood to watch movies. He only wanted to go home and have a good sleep.

However, he had no choice. He was just a high-class society animal. He could act like a tyrant in front of his subordinates, but he could only be a grandson when he met Lu Xiaoping.

As for why this happened, that was a long story.

Lu Xiaoping felt that Tengda had backed down after hearing that Mission and Choice had been released. He further deduced that the quality of the movie was not good, so he deliberately hired fake reviewers to scam it.

Everything had been going quite smoothly at first. Tengda had not counterattacked immediately either. This made Lu Xiaoping feel like he had squeezed a soft persimmon. This scam was too comfortable. He could not stop himself.

However, he did not expect the situation to change two days before the movie was released!

The posts about 'Mission and Choice' on the internet suddenly exploded. The netizens were discussing it crazily as if they had been possessed. They did not even have a basic announcement, but they obtained a lot of attention!

On the other hand, GOG has updated a new version. The new hero, Skylark, had officially appeared. Her appearance and story background strongly hinted at Mission and Choice, causing another wave of discussion!

It had to be said that GOG's influence in the country was huge. Once this new hero appeared, it added fuel to the fire, causing the initial popularity of Mission and Choice to burn up instantly!

Of course, this was only relative. It was more popular than ordinary movies. It could not be compared to a blockbuster that had invested a huge amount of publicity funds.

Even so, it was enough to make the movie tickets for the first day of Mission and Choice sold out.

The screening rate for Mission and Choice was not high but it was enough to show the audience's enthusiasm.

The series of events previously had made Lu Xiaoping rather arrogant, but now he was a little flustered.

Therefore, Lu Xiaoping ordered the person-in-charge of the announcement of the Greyhound to work overtime with him until midnight before coming to watch the midnight show of Mission and Choice.

He wanted to know how the movie would turn out and whether it would pose a serious threat to the Greyhound.

Even though Lu Xiaoping felt that the possibility of this happening was very low since the timing was already wrong. He did not dare to let his guard down and definitely wanted to take a look.

The tickets might be more difficult for ordinary people to get but it was definitely not a problem for Lu Xiaoping.

Lu Xiaoping's expression was serious as he waited for the movie to start.

He saw the discussions online. Some people said that 'Mission and Choice' was not because they were afraid of the Greyhound, but because of the 'Fantasy Battle Remake'.

Lu Xiaoping did not agree with this theory but he had to admit that it was possible.

He began to vaguely realize that Tengda had not given up on resisting. Instead, something terrifying was brewing…

As for the person-in-charge of the announcement of the Greyhound, he had just worked overtime for the entire night. He was yawning non-stop and could not muster any energy at all. He only wanted to go home and sleep.

Why wasn't Lu Xiaoping sleeping?

He had a car to pick him up when he went out as the Vice-President of the company. He also had a special lounge in his office so he could sleep anytime.

Many bosses would boast that they worked more than ten hours a day and only slept for four or five hours. They would use this opportunity to motivate their employees and paint a good picture. They would try to prove that they became bosses because they worked hard. Even if they worked hard, they could still become bosses. That was pure nonsense. Whoever believed it would be an idiot.

In short, the two of them fell into silence for different reasons. Occasionally, they would eat two mouthfuls of popcorn and watch the warm-up advertisement on the big screen.

The audience had already entered the venue. IMAX was already filled to the brim.

'Mission and Choice' did not have a premiere or a pre-screening. Tengda's confidentiality was ridiculously good, so there was no spoiler on the internet.

The audience in the cinema were discussing in low voices. Lu Xiaoping did not deliberately listen, but he roughly determined the source of these people from the conversations of the audience around him.

Some were hardcore fans who came especially for Lu Zhiyao.

Some were die-hard fans of Tengda Games and loyal supporters of domestically-produced games. They had specially come to see how Tengda had filmed the 'Mission and Choice' because it was' a disgrace to the domestic games industry'.

Some couples wanted to randomly pick a movie to watch and spend the night outside. However, the schedule today was rubbish. There were no good movies. They heard that this movie was shot by the original crew of Tomorrow is Beautiful. The quality should be guaranteed, so they decided to book tickets to watch it…

All in all, there were various sources of viewers.

Lu Xiaoping had a bad feeling because this situation meant that the audience for Mission and Choice was more diverse.

If the audience was more singular, for example, most of them were Lu Zhiyao's fans, the movie might not have enough momentum. There were only so many hardcore fans after all. If they could not break out of the circle after watching it, the box office would definitely plummet.

On the other hand, the audience was diverse, which meant that the chances of this film breaking out of the circle would be higher!

Of course, the key was still the quality of the movie itself.

Soon, the lights in the theater dimmed.

The movie officially began after a huge pile of logos on the big screen. The cinema quickly fell silent.

Once the movie started, it was the scene of Qin Yi waking up in the hibernation chamber, talking to AEEIS and becoming the new commander.

For gamers who had played Ocean Stronghold's downloadable content before, this opening was very easy to understand. That was because it was connected to the downloadable content.

It did not affect the audience who had not played before. That was because Qin Yi's memory fragments were inserted into the opening scene. It was mainly the scene of the decapitation operation in the nest and the deaths of his teammates.

Even though these images were fragmented and short, it was enough for the audience to understand the priorities and not be confused.

What's more, as the movie plot progressed, there would be memories of the 'decapitation strike' at certain key points, such as the 'realistic training'. It might not take long but it was enough to ensure the integrity of the entire story.

At the same time that Qin Yi took over the control panel and familiarized himself with the operation, the audience also saw the simulation of the first encounter with the Zergs with him. They also understood the background of this story through AEEIS's explanation.

…

Lu Xiaoping stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth. The light from the big screen shone on his face. The bright and dark light quickly changed, reflecting his slightly dazed expression.

He was shocked by how cool the movie was!

In the past, domestically-produced sci-fi movies were often perfunctory and not particular. For example, the clothing of the characters, the furnishings in the space capsule, the electronic equipment, and so on would obviously show signs of being cheap and pieced together. They were very insincere.

On one hand, it was because of funding. On the other hand, it was because of ability. However, it was more of an attitude problem.

That was because the directors of many domestically-produced sci-fi movies did not pay much attention to these details. They only wanted a "sci-fi feel" setting. The focus was on other aspects. For example, how to change the script according to the sponsors' requirements.

If their attitude was not good enough, these details could not be done well.

However, Mission and Choice were completely different.

There was no need to take a closer look at the differences in these details. One could tell with a slight scan!

The IMAX screen displayed all sorts of details in front of the audience, including Qin Yi's space suit, sleeping capsule, the commander's control panel, and so on. It looked like it was indeed a product of future technology and it had a strong sense of authenticity!

Of course, one of the most important reasons for this was that there was only one realistic scene in the movie.

Zhu Xiaoce would naturally spend a lot of money on these things. He could modify them repeatedly, design them repeatedly, and perfect them.

However, the gamers did not know this. They had seen a space cabin scene that was much more realistic than other domestically-produced sci-fi movies at the beginning of the movie. Everything in it left a deep impression on them. Such a shock was incomparable to other movies. It could allow the audience to enter the zone quickly!

What was even cooler was the image displayed on the surrounding cabin walls when Qin Yi used the controller.

According to the plot setting, the moment Qin Yi sat down, the surrounding cabin walls would be covered by holographic image technology. It was as if he was in the endless starry sky. Looking from all directions, he seemed to see the real scene in the universe.

What's more, Qin Yi could use the controller to constantly change the perspective. Be it moving, shrinking, or jumping, the surrounding scene would change in real time.

The commander and the actual scene of the battlefield were separated in traditional movies. They could only be displayed by cutting the camera. There would be a slight feeling of dislocation.

In Mission and Choice, the commander's actions and the actual scene of the battlefield were fused together. Qin Yi was like a ghost shuttling through the endless starry sky, commanding the battle. Not only did it make the entire scene smoother and more coherent, but it was also richer in visual impact.

In fact, there were green screens all around when they were filming. The intense battles in space were all made with special effects.

However, they had invested a lot of money into the special effects after all. What's more, compared to using special effects to make a spaceship, using special effects to make a spaceship would seem more realistic. Therefore, the special effects and exquisite setting were perfectly combined, making the audience feel like they were really in it!

For sci-fi movies, the scariest adjective was' fake '.

Once the scene or details made the audience feel fake, no matter how good the story was, the audience would not be able to continue watching it.

On the other hand, Mission and Choice was extremely realistic whether it was in real life or special effects. That was why it had a preemptive effect from the beginning, shocking all the audience!

Lu Xiaoping realized that the situation was not looking good. His indifferent expression had turned stiff.

On the other hand, the person-in-charge of Greyhound, who was originally drowsy, became awake immediately after seeing this opening!