Starting as a Manga Chapter 81: You Can Explain Poaching Like That?

Tang Yao hadn’t expected things to go this smoothly.

In her previous life, the early days of ani-style mobile gas were essentially a slow burn: hype gradually rising, the ani fanbase steadily growing, early adopters making a killing, capital rushing in… and then the bubble burst and everyone scattered.

What many people didn’t know was that during the early days of this genre—back when Million Arthur was the reigning king—mobile gas in China didn’t even require licensing approval to go online.

It was the wild frontier of mobile gaming. That sa lawless window allowed the import success of that ga to spark a gold rush. A wave of ani-style mobile gas followed, with blockbuster hits like Onmyoji, Fate/Grand Order, Honkai Impact 3rd, Girls' Frontline, and Azur Lane all debuting around 2016–2017.

Back then, just calling your ga ani-style was enough to attract investors by the truckload.

But good tis didn’t last.

In 2018, the so-called “Winter” hit—the now-infamous license freeze brought everything to a halt. Investors and developers were cut off from their slice of the ani-ga pie, and countless producers’ dreams were shattered.

Only when the freeze began to thaw did the market start recovering. During that ti, ani-style gas began shifting toward more distinct art styles and deeply imrsive story worlds. Gas like Arknights and Punishing: Gray Raven beca key examples of this evolution.

And then ca the ga that launched a thousand s—Genshin Impact.

Its unprecedented success sent the industry into overdrive. Studios everywhere scrambled to replicate it. So giants, like Tencent, even greenlit dozens of ani-style projects in one go.

But a second Genshin never ca.

Instead, the market quickly hit saturation. With one ga after another flooding in, developers started fighting over a finite user base. The era of unlimited growth was over.

Through all this, phone hardware kept improving, the ani market kept heating up, and the general audience of casual ani fans kept expanding—eventually shaping the thriving mobile ga industry she once knew.

But in this world?

They were still in the prehistoric era of mobile gaming.

Tang Yao had thought she’d need to take her ti and grow a user base.

She hadn’t expected the ani-leaning user crowd to be already this large.

And even more shockingly, not a single real ani-style mobile ga had appeared yet.

Maybe it was because Sakura Prefecture had its own semi-autonomous rules? Tang Yao didn’t know.

All she knew was—she’d arrived at just the right ti.Any later, and she might’ve been caught in the wave.

After the initial thrill wore off, Tang Yao cald down and looked thoughtfully at her monitor.

The website was doing great, but the readers still weren’t associating it with the ga.She couldn’t afford to get complacent.

As long as Fate/Zero kept its montum, the promise of a direct sequel—even readers who weren’t into gas would at least be curious. So while she continued developnt on Fate/stay night as the narrative prologue, she also had to nail the core gaplay, the monetization model, and strike a balance.

Even if it couldn’t be perfect, it had to feel fair and sustainable.

After all, this was the first true ani-style mobile ga.

And speed mattered.

Ga studios had keen senses.Now that PC gaming was an all-out battlefield, a lot of companies were shifting focus to mobile.

Sure, big companies often didn’t take blue-ocean markets seriously without proof of success. Even Onmyoji started with only nine devs.

But what if so studio had already started laying groundwork?

What if they saw Fate/Zero gaining traction and decided to launch an ani-style ga too?

Yeah… not good.

Tang Yao turned to look at Chu Yuxin.Mingyu Tech probably still had so staff out of work. Maybe she could recruit a few more? These people already had hands-on experience.

Developers and artists—both departnts were still short-handed.

Even the leftover folks in the operations team…

Thinking that, Tang Yao stood up.

“You need more people?”Chu Yuxin frowned, her thick eyebrows twitching. “What kind of roles? I didn’t work much with other departnts back at Mingyu Tech…”

“Programrs and artists. You should’ve worked with them the most, right?”Tang Yao thought for a second. “Anyone left a strong impression on you?”

Honestly, the best person to ask would’ve been Mingyu Tech’s boss, Si Jinliang. He’d know exactly which employees were strongest.

But…

Straight-up poaching like that? From the boss himself?Even Tang Yao found that a bit much.

Most importantly, how would she even say it?

"Hey, my studio’s short on people. Your company’s crashing anyway. Why not send over the folks you still owe back pay to?"

Yeah, no.

That just sounded cruel.

“There are a few… pretty solid ones,”Chu Yuxin said after thinking carefully. “I’ll reach out and ask, but no guarantees. Also, for every person who joins—if things fall through, we’re taking that many computers.”

“Alright, alright.”Tang Yao laughed. “If it fails, you can haul out as many machines as you want.”

“I’m not saying you’ll fail,”Chu Yuxin added quickly, a little embarrassed.“But they all worked under Si Jinliang. You guys were cheering earlier, right? The site launch? Mingyu Tech had monts like that too. We got excited… and then realized it was just a dream.”

“You an a pipe dream,”Tang Yao corrected her gently. “So that’s why you guys just watched us celebrate so calmly?”

“Yeah. We were worried it would happen again…”

Chu Yuxin pressed her lips together.“If it were a new place, it’d be different. But we’re still in the sa Mingyu Tech office—it feels like déjà vu. That’s why I asked you for a guarantee. I think the others feel the sa when they see your team all excited. If I’m going to ask them to join, I need to be sure they have a way out.”

“Understood. I promise.”

Tang Yao nodded. She completely got it.

“But.”

She shifted her tone.“We’re not Mingyu Tech. I’m not Si Jinliang. And you—you’re not with them anymore. You’re with Avalon now. You’re part of the Ideal Land.”

“Why’s it called that?”Chu Yuxin blinked, repeating the na aloud.

She honestly didn’t know.Back when Tang Yao pitched the na to Kang Ming and the others, she hadn’t joined yet.

“In Arthurian legend, Avalon is an island surrounded by mists and swamps—you can only reach it by boat,”Tang Yao said seriously.“It’s guarded by fae, untouched by ti, and nothing ever ages.”

“You saw our logo, right? The little boat? We’re physically located inside Mingyu Tech right now, yeah? So what’s Mingyu Tech? The swamp and mist.”

“The failures and suffering you all went through there—it was just part of the journey to bring you here. To Avalon. The Ideal Land.”

“…Huh?”

Chu Yuxin was dumbfounded.

Wait… you can explain poaching people like that?

“I’m kidding,”Tang Yao couldn’t help but laugh.“What I really an is—yeah, we’re in the sa building. Sa floor, even. But this isn’t your old company. This is Avalon.”

“I’m confident. Help

reach out to those forr Mingyu Tech employees…They’ll see the difference. Trust !”

“……”

Chu Yuxin looked at the radiant smile on Tang Yao’s face and felt the confidence flowing off her like sunlight.

She found herself nodding instinctively.“…Alright.”

…What is different, exactly?

They were still making gas.

She still couldn’t figure it out. But this new boss…

Shone so brightly.