26: Chapter 26 Anime Debut

The article exposing the black-market food workshops online was, in fact, a killer move Chen Mo had prepared long in advance. He waited for his competitors to pile on subsidies and scramble for market share before throwing it out to stir up chaos.

Sure enough, as soon as the article was published, Meituan, Ele.me, and Baidu Waimai were thrown into disarray. The National Medical Products Administration immediately stepped in, strictly inspecting food safety and forcing the three platforms to conduct self-examinations and rectifications.

Chen Mo understood very well that this tactic alone couldn't bring them down. It was merely a way to make them spend more money and sink deeper into the food delivery pit. Just like the ride-hailing industry, the more money they burned, the more reluctant they would be to let go.

As for how to accurately identify black-market workshops?

To put it bluntly, he had quietly accessed the backend of the industrial and commercial system, allowing him to verify the qualifications of every merchant with pinpoint accuracy. This little trick wasn't worth keeping under wraps.

With the food delivery battlefield stabilized, Chen Mo drove his 30-million-yuan bugatti veyron and leisurely arrived at the entrance of a high-end apartment in Shanghai.

Soon after, a graceful young woman wearing a sun hat walked out with her head down. She glanced around, quickly pulled open the car door, and got in. It was none other than Xiao Xue, whom Chen Mo had previously met on the set of *diamond lover*.

Xiao Xue, who had just turned twenty, enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy last year and signed with Tangren Media. She played the third female lead in the recently aired *The Legend of the Sword and Fairy*. With her stunning looks, she had gained quite a fanbase, forcing her to go out in disguise.

"Mr. Chen, I'm sorry for making you wait."

Xiao Xue took off her hat, revealing her breathtaking features, her tone tinged with a hint of nervous apology.

Chen Mo smiled, his tone neither warm nor cold:

"It's fine. I just got here too. Where would you like to go?"

After all, Xiao Xue was the one who had taken the initiative to ask him out. He didn't need to be overly enthusiastic.

He remembered that in his previous life, Xiao Xue didn't have her first boyfriend until her second year of university. Now, just in her first year, she was still an inexperienced young girl, which was one of the reasons he agreed to meet her.

"Let's go get something to eat."

Xiao Xue's voice was soft, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, her heart filled with both nervousness and anticipation.

This was the first time she had taken the initiative to ask a boy out, and it was someone like Chen Mo—young, wealthy, and influential—the perfect prince in her mind. Just thinking about his status made her heart race uncontrollably.

"Alright."

Chen Mo nodded, stepped on the gas, and the Bugatti shot forward instantly, the roar of the engine carrying an extreme sense of speed.

Xiao Xue chose a Sakura Garden Japanese restaurant. Chen Mo thought to himself that girls seemed to love this kind of food—sashimi with rice, small portions and expensive. He really couldn't understand what was so great about it.

But he had to admit, Xiao Xue's looks were truly top-tier. In his opinion, even among influencers and the entertainment industry, she was at the ceiling level. Even compared to Bai Fengjiu, each had their own merits.

Bai Fengjiu had a stunning blend of Eastern and Western features, with the three-dimensionality of a Westerner and the delicacy of an Asian.

Xiao Xue, on the other hand, embodied pure Eastern beauty, with gentle eyes and brows that grew more captivating the longer one looked.

In his previous life, Xiao Xue maintained her peak looks well into her thirties, but unfortunately, she lacked any standout works, which prevented her from breaking into the top tier. Thinking about it, it was quite a pity.

During the meal, Xiao Xue didn't talk much, occasionally glancing up at Chen Mo with a hint of shyness in her eyes.

After eating, Chen Mo took her to the nearby high-end mall, browsing through luxury stores like Chanel and Hermès. Whatever bags, jewelry, or clothes Xiao Xue liked, Chen Mo didn't even check the prices. He simply told the Shop assistant to wrap them up and bought everything in one go.

Xiao Xue didn't refuse. Since she had taken the initiative to ask Chen Mo out, she knew what she wanted. If she missed this opportunity, there might not be another. She had to seize the chance to win this man over. Being coy would only seem fake.

Chen Mo was quite satisfied with her attitude. He never expected the women around him to be blindly devoted to him, nor did he care whether their feelings were genuine. As long as they didn't betray him, he wouldn't stop them if they wanted to leave, and he would ensure they were well-compensated.

Girls like Xiao Xue were the smartest. They knew what they wanted and what they had to give, making everything simpler for everyone involved.

After shopping, Chen Mo took Xiao Xue back to another high-end villa he owned in Shanghai. What followed, naturally, proceeded as expected.

He didn't wait for her to become a big star like he had with Bai Fengjiu before taking things further. Instead, he made their relationship clear right away.

After all, in his previous life, Bai Fengjiu had no solid rumors of scandals, while Xiao Xue had several boyfriends. Naturally, the treatment would differ.

In the days that followed, Chen Mo lived quite leisurely. He spent time with Xiao Xue, occasionally met with Bai Fengjiu and Yang Mi, and sometimes accompanied Wu Xue and Wu Dongju. His days were comfortable and pleasant.

Meanwhile, on the food delivery battlefield, the three platforms expended immense effort and spent huge sums to clean up all the black-market workshops. But by the time they caught their breath, Tianxing Takeout's market share had quietly rebounded to over 55%.

No one knew that while Tianxing Takeout seemed to burn 80 million yuan daily on subsidies, it actually earned 30 million yuan each day thanks to precise merchant management and delivery efficiency. Coupled with the daily profits of 40 to 50 million yuan from Fetion and *League of Heroes*, Tianxing Technology managed to achieve a balance between income and expenses while burning cash!

Chen Mo still had 20 billion yuan in cash on hand. Even if he burned an extra 20 million yuan daily, it would last him two or three years. He wasn't worried at all.

However, during this period, Tianxing Technology wasn't entirely without issues. To be precise, there was a "minor situation" with the recently acquired A Certain Point.

A Certain Point's founding team had been poached by Tencent.

This had been foreshadowed for a while. After Chen Mo acquired A Certain Point, he didn't raise the founding team's treatment, nor did he grant them the shares they wanted. Everything remained as it was.

Additionally, AI monitoring uncovered several illegal operation on their part, and Chen Mo instructed Zhang Feng to handle it according to the rules.

These people were already dissatisfied, and Tencent was actively trying to lure them away.

Their departure was expected, though it happened six months earlier than in his previous life.

What was worse, these people tried to stir up trouble on their way out, poaching A Certain Point's top authors daily in an attempt to take the platform's core creative force with them.

But when Chen Mo found out, instead of getting angry, he was amused.

His experience from his previous life told him that the online literature circle was never short of talented authors. So-called "top authors" were never irreplaceable. Even the best among them—without them, A Certain Point would still function, and it would save a huge amount in author royalties. Why not let it happen?

So, he didn't intervene at all. He watched as the founding team poached over a hundred top authors and even had Zhang Feng issue an announcement, directly Canceling all the exclusive privileges for top authors.

This move caused the remaining top authors to flee as well, all following the founding team to Tencent. Each of them thought they had scored a great deal, busy preparing a new Novel website with Tencent.

Just as they were working feverishly, thinking they could completely cripple A Certain Point, the platform's official website suddenly releaseed a brief announcement that instantly ignited the entire online literature circle and the internet:

"battle through the heavens" anime is about to officially launch on Tianxing Live!

Meanwhile, Nalan Ruoshui sat across from Chen Mo, her heart in turmoil.

It had been almost a month since she last saw Chen Mo. She had been Burying in drawinging the anime concept art he had assigned her.

She was more than halfway done and could finish it all in another two weeks, but she kept worrying that her drawings wouldn't meet Chen Mo's expectations.

After all, this was the first time she had taken on such an important task, especially for a big boss like Chen Mo.

What she didn't know was that Chen Mo had already seen her drawings and was very satisfied.

The only minor issue was that after the anime was produced, someone needed to review the plot to ensure the AI didn't misinterpret anything and deviate from the original work.

"battle through the heavens" had over a hundred episodes in total. Reviewing them all would take several days, and Chen Mo didn't have that kind of time. Moreover, he planned to turn more of A Certain Point's classic novels into anime in the future. He couldn't review them all himself every time.

So, he needed someone he could trust—not only to review the plots but also to help manage anime production matters. He could even authorize this person to use some functions of the AI program. Nalan Ruoshui was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.

She was steady, meticulous, understood drawing, and had her own insights into anime visuals and plots.

Chen Mo looked at her nervous expression and asked seriously:

"Ruoshui, can I trust you?"

Nalan Ruoshui bit her lower lip, looked up at him, a hint of determination in her eyes, and rhetorical questioned:

"Brother Chen Mo, is there something you want me to do? Just tell me. If I can do it, I'll definitely help you."

She guessed it must be something significant, otherwise Chen Mo wouldn't be so serious.

But she wasn't afraid. Chen Mo was her family's benefactor. Without the high salary he provided, her mother's illness couldn't have been controlled so well.

Let alone just helping him with tasks—even if it were difficult, she was willing to try.

Chen Mo smiled, seeing how frightened she was, and quickly reassured her:

"Don't worry. It's not difficult, dangerous, or illegal. It's just time-consuming. But this involves a little secret of mine. If you can't keep it confidential, I'll have to find someone else."

In truth, even if the AI's anime-making Function leaked, it wouldn't be a big deal. With his programming skills, creating such a program would at most make others think he was sharp, without suspecting anything deeper.

"I can keep it secret! I definitely won't tell anyone!"

Nalan Ruoshui immediately nodded, her tone resolute.

Chen Mo nodded, said nothing more, scanned her concept art into the computer one by one, then sat in front of the computer and gently clicked the mouse.

A few seconds later, the "battle through the heavens" anime playback interface appeared on the screen, complete with opening credits, the main episodes, and ending credits. Dozens of episodes were neatly arrangemented, with exquisite visuals. The character designs were identical to Nalan Ruoshui's concept art, and even the plot details matched the original work perfectly.

Nalan Ruoshui stared at everything on the screen, her eyes wide, mouth slightly agape, He froze on the spot., utterly stunned.

She couldn't believe it. The concept art she had spent nearly a month drawing—with just a click of Chen Mo's mouse—had turned into a complete anime. It was simply unbelievable!