Chapter 59: Intelligent Game NPC?

As the early morning light pierced the darkness, a brilliant fish-belly white bloomed across the horizon.

Li Ya felt like a little sparrow imbued with infinite vitality, needing no reminder from Li Pingan at all.

Before the sky was fully bright, she sprang out of bed.

Glancing at her older brother who kept yawning, Li Ya urged him incessantly:

"Hurry up, Old Bro! I need to go grab a good bed!"

"I really don't want the top bunk."

"Ideally, a bottom bunk by the window."

"And there's military training too... I heard from the other students that military training is super fun."

Li Pingan looked helplessly at his wildly excited younger sister, pondering inwardly:

This silly girl is looking forward to military training with such joy right now, but once she actually experiences the scorching sun, the tedious and repetitive drills, and the stringent disciplinary constraints,

and tastes the boredom and exhaustion of military training, she will probably regret it.

He simply couldn't understand what on earth she had to look forward to.

Did she not know that even if she slathered her face in sunscreen, it wouldn't change the outcome of turning totally tanned within a week?

It was an hour's drive from their hometown to the county seat.

When Li Pingan drove up to the gates of County No. 1 High School, he found that the entrance was already blocked to the point of impenetrability.

County No. 1 High School had never allowed external vehicles onto the campus.

Even on a special day like the start of the school year, unauthorized cars were still barred from entering.

Because of this, looking around, both sides of the road were already lined with private cars, parked bumper-to-bumper in a long dragon.

After a great deal of effort, Li Pingan managed to find a vacant spot a little further away to park, and then accompanied his sister through the bustling crowd to complete her enrollment procedures.

...

"Your head teacher said there's a self-study session tonight, so once you're at school, don't run around—get to know your roommates."

"If anything comes up, remember to call me right away."

By this time, the girls' dormitory was almost fully occupied.

Parents were busy making up the beds for their children.

Having arrived relatively early, Li Ya successfully secured her desired bottom bunk by the window.

Once everything was settled, Li Pingan left his sister one thousand yuan in cash.

"I still have matters at the company, so I'll head out first."

"Okay!" Li Ya replied, nodding as she sat on the bed.

Leaving the school, Li Pingan drove directly back to the company.

On the way, a trace of worry welled up in Li Pingan's heart:

This girl was starting her military training tomorrow, and he truly feared that when it ended and she was tanned dark, she would call him in tears to pour out her grievances.

During the return trip, just as Li Pingan was immersed in the enthusiastic atmosphere created by the upbeat DJ music, a crisp cell phone ringtone suddenly shattered the rhythm.

He glanced sideways at the center console screen; it was a call from Old Wu.

Li Pingan raised a hand to press the quick-answer button on the steering wheel and said in a steady voice:

"Hello? Old Wu, I'm already on my way back to the company. What is it? Go ahead, I'm driving."

In Luzhou, Wu Wenbin stood by the office window, his expression slightly excited as he spoke:

"Boss, just a moment ago, I received a call from the Editor-in-Chief of Qidian Chinese Network, the undisputed heavyweight leader in web literature.

The other party is extremely interested in the degree of intelligence of the cyber-pets developed by our Wisdom Cube Technology Co., Ltd. They believe the core of the cyber-pets is ideally suited to serve as free NPCs in games.

They possess abundant IP resources, while we have the technology and can take charge of game development.

Boss, what do you think? Should we move forward with this cooperation?"

Cyber-pets were inherently products of artificial intelligence; although not in a complete version, Li Pingan had long foreseen their potential as game NPCs.

He simply hadn't expected that the first to proactively seek cooperation wouldn't be gaming companies, but rather Qidian Chinese Network, which held a massive trove of novel IPs.

The profits a breakout hit game could generate were practically equivalent to a money-printing machine!

This went to show just how lucrative gaming was.

Compared to that, the revenue from selling skins for the cyber-pets was simply negligible.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Li Pingan replied in a calm tone:

"We can do it. I am entrusting this matter entirely to you to handle the business negotiations.

Since they are only providing the IP and we are undertaking all the development work, think carefully about the game revenue distribution after development is complete before discussing it with them.

Don't forget to factor in both development and subsequent operation and maintenance costs.

Oh... I originally planned to recruit a batch of backend developers after some time.

Now it seems... you should have HR start the recruitment process immediately, preferably poaching talent directly from other companies."

Empowered by the boss's words to "handle it entirely," Wu Wenbin instantly felt a surge of confidence and firm footing!

"Understood, Boss. I'll thoroughly review the relevant materials for this kind of cooperation before launching in-depth discussions with them."

"I said, this matter is entirely up to you."

That afternoon, when Li Pingan drove back to the company, it was already past one o'clock.

The moment he returned, his first order of business was to place a food delivery order.

While ordering, Li Pingan pushed open the door to Old Wu's office.

Only to find the room completely empty.

Seeing this, Li Pingan walked over to the front desk and noticed the receptionist curled up fast asleep in a reclining chair tucked beneath the counter.

Far from being angry, Li Pingan nodded with satisfaction.

The receptionist brought her own reclining chair and even had a blanket—what did that signify?

It meant she had already made up her mind to develop a long-term career with the company!

An employee who was this dedicated and conscientious was naturally exactly what Li Pingan wanted, and his heart was filled with joy.

Besides, it was currently the lunch break, so what harm was there in letting her rest for a moment?

Li Pingan lightly tapped the front desk, cleared his throat, and asked softly, "Do you know where President Wu went?"

The receptionist, deeply immersed in dreamland, was jolted awake by the sudden commotion and instinctively tried to sit up.

Who would have guessed that in her panic, with a dull thud, her forehead accidentally struck the edge of the desk. She clutched her forehead, tears welling in her eyes, nearly spilling over.

"President Wu went out at noon and didn't tell me where he was going."

Enduring the pain, the receptionist looked at Li Pingan with a trace of grievance and innocence.

Seeing her expression, Li Pingan realized he was the culprit.

He gave a light cough, uttered an "hm," and then turned around and slipped away quietly, chanting inwardly:

"My sin, my sin."

Back in his own office, Li Pingan sent a message to Old Wu.

"Off to negotiate a cooperation?"

No matter how old Old Wu was, he always managed to reply instantly.

"Boss, I'm already on the bullet train heading to S City."

"Good. Waiting for your good news."

"Nailed it!"

He hadn't expected that Old Wu, despite his advanced age, still communicated just like a young person and wasn't outdated at all.

Li Pingan looked at the guide dog on his desk, which had been redesigned and improved multiple times based on continuous feedback from several testers.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to send the latest version of the guide dog over to them.

Let them continue testing its effectiveness.

If the feedback proved favorable, it would be time to make it public.