Si Jinliang looked at Tang Yao and realized she wasn’t joking at all. He fell silent.
He was conflicted.
To be honest, he didn’t really believe what Tang Yao had just said. Not because he looked down on her abilities—far from it. He respected them deeply… After all, the success of Fate/Grand Order had already proven that. Under controlled variables, the traitor turned out to be himself...
But Dou Pai was his passion project. When it ca to the gaming industry, he felt like he was grasping at straws—at best, he could only offer Tang Yao so shallow advice based on limited experience.
But card gas? That was different.
He had absolute confidence.
There was no way Tang Yao understood this genre better than he did. So when she casually said “just change it,” his first reaction was that she was just like his younger self entering the industry—na??ve, oversimplifying things, taking the rules and chanics (the core of card gas) for granted, and ignoring the complicated balance between “fun” and “simplicity.”
Having depth, being simple, and also fun—it was damn near impossible.
“If you want to turn it down, that’s fine too.”
Tang Yao saw the conflict on Si Jinliang’s face and didn’t push him. Instead, she said honestly, “I didn’t invite you to embarrass you, or to make a show for the people already working at Avalon Studio by bringing their old boss in. It’s purely for the ga. You have great insights when it cos to card gas.
In fact, if the investors gave you a bit more ti, I think you could’ve turned Dou Pai around… Bottom line is, I value your ability.
But it has to be mutual. Let’s set aside the fact that you were once the boss of Mingyu Tech. Now that you’re joining a small studio, with forr employees still around, it’s understandable if things feel awkward. If you don’t trust my ability, it’s totally fine to say no. Don’t force yourself just to save face. If this ends badly, nobody wins.”
“……”
Hearing her honest words and seeing the complete sincerity in her expression, Si Jinliang thought about Fate/Grand Order’s success, and all those design choices that had wowed him…
…Maybe he should just see how she plans to change things?
At that mont—
Even though he was still worried, the words just slipped out of his mouth: “If you really don’t mind a failure like , then honestly, I’d like to give it a try…”
Tang Yao gave a small smile.
“But.”
Si Jinliang added, “Let’s not talk about how the ga itself is going to be changed for now. Even though I’m confident in card gas, I’m still a failure... But there’s one thing I really have to bring up.”
He paused, hesitating.
“Dou Pai didn’t just leave
with a bad impression. It gave a lot of people at Mingyu Tech so painful mories. When this gets greenlit, there might be doubts internally… I an, it already flopped once. And now Avalon Studio is doing so well… If anything goes wrong…”
He trailed off.
But Tang Yao knew exactly what he was getting at. She cut in, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that. Dou Pai is Dou Pai. It has nothing to do with Avalon Studio’s new project.”
“Then I’m good. When do I start?”
Si Jinliang stopped hesitating.
Instead, he visibly relaxed.
Because now he didn’t have to worry about that stuff. He could focus purely on making the ga. Heck, he didn’t even need to think about losing money—Fate/Grand Order looked like it was raking in cash...
Maybe… he really wasn’t cut out to be a manager?
As a wave of relief hit him deep inside, Si Jinliang suddenly understood sothing. He chuckled at himself.
“There’s no rush on that. But—will you feel awkward?”
Tang Yao blinked, thought for a second, and asked, “You’re going to be working with forr Mingyu Tech employees now. Isn’t it going to be weird, facing your old subordinates...?”
“Why would that be awkward?”
Si Jinliang let out a bitter laugh. “What’s really awkward is not being able to pay them. We all know each other too well. Everyone already knows what happened to Mingyu Tech… Even if I don’t stick around here, they’ll still know what I’m up to. And I really wasn’t a good boss. I ran the whole company into the ground…
Even if they throw
dirty looks, I’d get it.”
“As long as you’re cool with it.”
Tang Yao didn’t press further. She’d mainly asked out of concern for his pride. He may be down now, but he’d once been on top. That kind of fall hits hard. As long as he understood, that was good enough for her. “Then let’s talk about the ownership of the ga?”
Right then—
Before Si Jinliang could speak, Li Xue asked, “Mr. Si, are you certain the ga rights are in your hands? There aren’t any hidden clauses from the investors or anything?”
Now it was Tang Yao’s turn to shut up.
Because when it ca to this stuff, Li Xue had more experience.
Si Jinliang glanced curiously at the two of them, who clearly had defined roles, but didn’t say anything. He just started explaining to Li Xue directly.
After going over everything and confirming the old contracts from Mingyu Tech, the matter was settled.
“Just transfer the whole office lease to .”
With the ga side of things wrapped up, Tang Yao moved on. “You guys can keep working from outside. Most of the team from Avalon Studio will move out too. Basically, that space can go back to being the finance room...”
“Sure.”
Si Jinliang nodded, already expecting this—though he couldn’t help but laugh.
Well damn.
Full circle.
That place used to be the finance room.
Tang Yao had picked that location because it was cheap and small. And now? It was about to beco the finance room again.
Back to square one.
Sa staff, sa place—just a different boss, and a new company na...
What a twist of fate.
“Also, go ahead and sell the equipnt to Avalon Studio too.”
Tang Yao added, “And about the ops team over there…”
She looked over at the few remaining mbers of the operations team.
Tang Yao hadn’t forgotten what mattered most right now: making a second ga wasn’t urgent.
The real urgency was finding proper ops staff for Fate/Grand Order, and turning Avalon Studio from a ragtag crew into a legit team.
“They’re not technically Mingyu Tech employees.”
Si Jinliang knew what Tang Yao was about to ask and sighed. “Their salaries ca from the investors. Now that Dou Pai is shutting down, they’re about to leave too.”
Tang Yao asked curiously, “How good are they?”
“Very good.”
Si Jinliang said without hesitation. “They’re all extrely capable.”
“Then could I trouble you to ask if they’d be interested in joining Avalon Studio?”
Tang Yao’s eyes lit up.
Soone else might’ve been skeptical hearing that, considering how badly the company flopped. How good could they really be?
But Tang Yao genuinely believed him. After all, Avalon Studio had a bunch of ex-Mingyu Tech people, and every single one of them was talented. Sure, they didn’t sugarcoat things and nagged her constantly—but they were all capable and full of energy.
If nothing else, Si Jinliang was good at spotting talent. That was sothing she could count on.
“Alright… I’ll do my best to invite them.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Tang Yao nodded, then paused to think before saying, “Once this is settled, you’ll be in charge of the second ga project at Avalon Studio. But since Fate/Grand Order just launched, I can’t pull too many people from that team. I’ll only be able to assign you a few for now. You can decide who you want, and we’ll work it out internally.
Also, even though we’ve decided to make a second ga, we won’t have a lot of resources available for you right away… I’ll start by giving you a proposal on how the ga’s core chanics should change. You guys will need to modify the ga frawork on your own first.”
“No problem.”
Si Jinliang completely understood. Fate/Grand Order was clearly a golden goose.
Of course they had to protect it first. He’d do the sa in her shoes.
But…
“How exactly are you changing it? Can you give
a sneak peek?”
He asked curiously.
There was still a trace of doubt in his voice.
He had agreed mostly because of Fate/Grand Order’s success, and so strange gut feeling he couldn’t quite explain.
Sohow, he felt like this beautiful young woman in front of him would surprise him.
Even though, logically, that didn’t make any sense.
Tang Yao didn’t answer right away. She just smiled and said, “I’ll send you the proposal as soon as I can. You’ll know then.”
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