166: Tension arrives

"Sister Lei?" Zhang Li froze for a moment, various "Sister Leis" flashing through his mind, but he couldn't recall any of them. He scratched his hair, his fingertips touching greasy strands.

He had been too busy these past few days to even wash his hair.

"Which Sister Lei? I don't know her."

"Did you forget the business cards you handed out yourself?" Qin Yu's voice sounded a bit impatient. "At the last Modu International Auction, you gave a business card to a Miss Lei, hoping she would invest in your game."

"The auction, Miss Lei!" Zhang Li's head buzzed, and he became instantly sober.

He stood up abruptly.

He remembered that silver-haired girl standing in the auction hall, draped in shimmering jewelry, with a cold and elegant temperament.

She was also extremely capable.

"I know now, I know, it's Miss Lei!"

"Sister Lei and we are very interested in your company," Qin Yu's voice calmed down. "Have you secured any investment yet? If not, come to Modu, and we'll talk about the investment."

"No, I haven't secured any!" Zhang Li said hurriedly.

The company was saved!

star universe era was saved!

"I'll head to Modu right away, I'm booking the flight now!"

"Alright, once you've booked the ticket, send me the flight information, and we'll pick you up."

Qin Yu hung up the phone.

Zhang Li held his phone, his hands still trembling.

Looking at the closed beta data on the computer screen, he suddenly burst into laughter, laughing until tears almost came out.

He quickly pulled out his phone, opened the booking app, and his fingers operated it rapidly.

The next flight to Modu was at 8 PM.

He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair and ran out, even forgetting to turn off the office lights.

Hearing the commotion, the company employees poked their heads out of their offices. Seeing Zhang Li's frantic appearance, they looked at each other in confusion.

"What's wrong with President Zhang?" a programmer scratched his head.

"I don't know, he just became like this after taking a call," another artist shrugged.

Zhang Li ran all the way to the airport and exchanged his boarding pass while panting for breath.

Sitting in the waiting hall, his heart was still pounding. He gripped his phone tightly, the screen displaying the flight information he had sent to Qin Yu.

He recalled Miss Lei's appearance in the auction hall—cold and noble—and felt secretly lucky.

Fortunately, he had been thick-skinned enough to hand out his business card, and fortunately, he hadn't given up on following her to Tomson Riviera. Though he hadn't seen her then, at least she remembered him.

When Qin Yu received Zhang Li's flight information, he was discussing the investment amount with Wu Tian and Guo Hao.

"Damn, this Zhang Li is quite in a hurry!" Qin Yu looked at his phone screen, a bit surprised.

He had originally thought Zhang Li would come tomorrow; he didn't expect him to be so fast.

Guo Hao: "When we go to the airport to pick him up, should we make a big show of it?"

He was a bit excited, wanting to put on airs in front of Zhang Li.

"Don't!" Qin Yu shook his head. "Sister Lei didn't say anything about putting on a show. We'll just pick him up normally."

He remembered Sister Lei's temper; if she knew they were doing these empty formalities, she would definitely be unhappy.

"Let's book a restaurant first. We'll talk while we eat and see if this Zhang Li is actually reliable."

9:30 PM, arrival gate of Modu Pudong Airport.

Zhang Li dragged a small suitcase and walked out quickly.

He was still wearing the same gray suit from earlier, now a bit wrinkled, and his hair was messy, but his eyes were startlingly bright.

As soon as he stepped out of the arrival gate, he saw three men standing not far away.

"President Zhang, over here!" Qin Yu waved, a polite smile on his face.

He sized Zhang Li up and saw that although he was exhausted, he was in high spirits.

Zhang Li hurried over and extended his hand: "Mr. Qin, thank you so much for coming specifically to pick me up!"

His hand was a bit cold, carrying the chill of the airport air conditioning.

"You're welcome!" Qin Yu shook hands with him. "We've booked a private kitchen; let's talk while we eat."

He pointed to the car nearby, the same Maybach from earlier... When the Maybach stopped at the entrance of the private kitchen restaurant, Zhang Li smelled the scent of sandalwood mixed with braised pork wafting through the air, and his stomach growled with hunger.

Since noon, he had only gnawed on half a piece of dry bread.

Entering the private room, the warm yellow lights hit the mahogany table, and the tableware was polished to a shine, reflecting their shadows.

As they drank...

Zhang Li was very conflicted.

If he drank too much, he was afraid of messing up the important business.

If he didn't drink, it would be seen as not giving face.

Fortunately, Qin Yu and the others didn't make things difficult for Zhang Li; they also knew the importance and urgency of the matter.

Knowing the investment was important, everyone kept the drinking moderate.

Guo Hao shoveled rice into his mouth and said indistinctly, "President Zhang, I played the closed beta of your star universe era. The custom planet part is quite interesting, it's just that the server lags occasionally."

Zhang Li's eyes lit up, and he even forgot to swallow his food: "Yes, yes, we need money to expand the server capacity, and there are also promotion costs for the open beta. If those can keep up, it will definitely be a hit!"

Qin Yu nodded and then called Lei Jun.

"Sister Lei, Zhang Li has arrived. We're at the private kitchen restaurant. When would it be convenient for you to come over?"

...On the other side in the dormitory, Lei Jun hung up the phone.

Lin Xiaoya leaned over and asked, "Sister Lei, are you going out?"

Lei Jun gave an 'un' in response and grabbed her coat.

She walked to the end of the hallway to call Lei Ying. Lei Ying's steady voice came through the receiver: "Miss, at your service."

"Bring Lei Yue and pick me up at the gate of Shanghai University. We're going to the private kitchen restaurant in the south of the city."

A short while later, Lei Jun, Lei Ying, and the others arrived at the private kitchen restaurant.

Zhang Li looked up, first smelling a faint scent of gardenia, then seeing the silver-haired girl walk in. The hem of her cream-white trench coat swept over the threshold, her skin as white as moonlight.

Lei Ying and Lei Yue followed behind her; one had a posture as upright as a pine tree, and the other wore rimless glasses, with an aura so cold that people didn't dare to speak casually.

Lei Jun walked to the head seat and sat down.

She got straight to the point.

"President Zhang, tell me about the current funding gap of the company. It needs to be specific to every item."

Zhang Li hurriedly began his introduction.

"Miss Lei, server expansion requires twenty million, open beta promotion requires eighteen million, plus employee quarterly bonuses and copyright fees, the total is about forty-eight million."

As he spoke, he pulled a folder out of his suitcase. The papers were a bit wrinkled from the journey, with various expense details marked in red pen.

"These are the details, please take a look."

Lei Yue took the folder, the paper making a 'rustling' sound as she turned the pages. Her finger stopped on a certain page: "President Zhang, the R&D team has thirty people with an average monthly salary of fifty thousand. This salary is on the high side for the industry."

Zhang Li's palms were sweating: "Yes, they are all core members I poached from NetEase. Their skills are top-notch, and they created the core gameplay of star universe era."

Lei Jun looked at his clenched fists, his knuckles turning white from tension, and she had an idea... This man wasn't inflating the numbers. Daring to lay out details like salaries showed that the project was truly being done with heart.