Investment Cashback, Billionaire God [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 31: What's Wrong With Being a Bit Stronger

Chapter 31: What’s Wrong With Being a Bit Stronger

The Federation Central Plaza is located in the commercial core area of the entire Primary Star, with a daily pedestrian flow exceeding five hundred thousand people.

The plaza area contains over one hundred and twenty screens of various sizes. The large screen frequently mentioned by fans refers to the giant curved screen at the corner of the central crossroads.

This location is renowned as the “Crossroads of the World.” The screen almost completely wraps around two facades of the uniquely shaped building, with the main screen measuring forty-two meters in length and twenty-nine meters in height.

On the building directly opposite, two smaller screens of equal height but only half the length are installed. The intersection continuously plays synchronized holographic projections twenty-four hours a day, creating an illusory sensation for pedestrians as if they’re surrounded from all directions.

For a long time, appearing on the Federation Central Plaza’s large screen has been considered a milestone for artists’ career breakthroughs.

Besides the prestige, the cost is astonishingly high.

Even as other plaza screens downgraded to offer budget advertising packages, the Federation Central Plaza maintained its premium pricing and strict content review mechanisms.

Three hours after the Q&A thread climbed to the top of trending searches, Giant Entertainment’s official account finally posted an announcement, declaring that Jian Yujing’s exclusive promotional video would premiere on the plaza’s large screen starting at 9 PM.

Having attended a dinner gathering until 3 AM the previous night, Jian Yujing had rushed out of bed at noon. After a quick preparation, he hurried to the company for makeup and styling for the video shoot.

While Sister Lan was doing his makeup, he finally found time to check his Light Brain and was instantly infuriated by the Q&A thread impersonating Mega-Entertainment staff.

He immediately forwarded the Q&A link to Director Fang, receiving a calm and nonchalant reply:

Yes, I’ve already seen it. If you want to post a clarification, wait until after midnight. Have your assistant review the content first. I’ll send you their contact details – you can reach out to them for any matters going forward

As expected, everything was under Director Fang’s control. Jian Yujing’s mind finally settled.

The photographer assigned for the exclusive video remained the same slender young girl. Standing less than 160cm tall, she effortlessly operated the gimbal equipment while single-handedly supporting the massive camera, her right arm noticeably more developed than the left.

After the shoot concluded, Qin Yi efficiently edited the footage on her physical Light Brain right on site.

Reviewing the final cut repeatedly, she felt immensely satisfied, quietly patting her chest while murmuring:

“Never imagined I’d someday edit content for the Central Plaza’s large screen. Mom, Dad, your daughter has really made it.”

Jian Yujing was drafting his midnight clarification post and couldn’t help but chuckle at her remark.

Most artists at Mega-Entertainment had struggled before being recruited by Director Fang. Like the photographer, Jian Yujing himself often felt this smooth progression seemed unreal.

By 9 PM when the promotional video finally appeared on the plaza screen, the trending topic had circulated throughout the day, climbing one position higher. Audience reactions in the comments remained largely skeptical.

According to that highly-upvoted answer earlier, will the content be taken down by 11 PM?

Shh, the fans are absolutely doting. The entire central square offline is filled with Jian Yujing’s fans checking in, since there won’t be any more shots later how could the past two hours not count as part of it?

…The central square’s large screen currently rotates four times every fifteen seconds, and a bundled package costs over 3,000, right? And that’s during non-peak hours. Has anyone in the comments joined the fan club? Would it be cheaper if booked by the hour?

Insider here: Only full-day bookings come with a discount. A full day package is 2.95 million, which works out to just over 2,000 per minute. That’s actually much cheaper than the usual 10+ second rotation slots.

How much??? I think I’ve forgotten what money looks like.

“Much cheaper” = a 5-yuan coupon for a Maybach.

No wonder Mega-Entertainment is so stingy then. If not booking by the day, one minute would burn over 3,000 yuan. Haha, who’s spending my monthly salary in a minute? I’m so jealous I’m losing my mind.

Is this about being stingy or not? This is about the promised reward not being fulfilled! They promised a month on the big screen I’m really dizzy now.

The discussions on StarNet kept buzzing until past 10 p.m., with even curious passersby starting a live stream at the central square to document when Mega-Entertainment would actually stop the broadcast.

Time ticked by, and even as the clock struck 11 p.m., the promotional short showed no signs of stopping.

Public opinion finally began to shift slightly. A few started questioning the authenticity of the original answer on MiHu, while other so-called insiders claimed that Mega-Entertainment, seeing the unfavorable public opinion, had decided last-minute to extend the broadcast to a full day.

Jian Yujing had been monitoring the comments on StarNet ever since he finished filming the short.

He had already drafted that clarification post, but the boss hadn’t given the signal to publish it yet. He was growing increasingly anxious.

By midnight, the topic had gradually climbed to third place on the trending list. Suddenly, the official operations account of the Federal Central Square posted an internal schedule screenshot along with a lengthy post:

We have noted the recent widespread attention regarding the scheduling of Screen No. 1 at the Central Crossroads. We hereby clarify that the promotional short by Giant Entertainment Group will be looped on Screen 001 for one full month.

The broadcast period runs from 9:00 p.m. on August 10th to 9:00 p.m. on September 10th.

Less than three minutes after this post went live, Jian Yujing’s personal account followed up with an image-heavy update.

He shared over ten pictures not only photos from last night’s gathering but also a 12m*8m spatial blueprint of a lounge:

The boss sent me a digital copy of the lounge blueprint and told me to discuss any preferred decor styles directly with the designer.

I really don’t know much about this can you all help me decide on the soft furnishings?

The moment the post went up, his comments section exploded.

Sob sob, our competition champion deserves to flaunt like this!

A lounge over 90 square meters? QAQ Are you saying your lounge is the same size as my three-bedroom apartment? That’s just envy-inducing.

Ahhhh! Mega-Entertainment actually bought a whole month on the Federal Central Square’s big screen!! Let the haters try to deny it now I refuse to believe all those skeptical comments today were from genuine bystanders.

I’m out of ideas. To this day, no one has figured out just how wealthy Brother Fang really is.

??? Wait, for real? A company actually booked the entire month? Has anyone calculated which celebrity held the big screen for the longest time?

Reporting in, it was probably Sang Shangting before… Ever since he became a top star, his fans have booked the central square big screen for a week every year for his birthday. Over four years, that adds up to more than twenty days total.

Can anyone point me to the recording of Mega-Entertainment’s previous Group Broadcast? Kinda want to invest in Jian Yujing owo

With this no-expense-spared, money-throwing promotion method, I feel like he’ll definitely make it big someday.

Feels like Brother Fang poured all the earnings from the Group Broadcast into the big screen and stadium venue. It’s been over a month of digging, and still no one has uncovered Brother Fang’s family background? You’re the worst batch of netizens I’ve ever seen.

Pointing to the forum the restaurant where they had their group meal has been uncovered. It’s a fusion cuisine place in Central City, costing over 4,000 per person excluding drinks. From the photos posted, there were at least seventy or eighty people on site. Mega-Entertainment casually spent what my stingy company’s event budget would be for ten years in just one meal…

Is no one praising this promotional short? Really want to know which styling studio Mega-Entertainment uses. This level completely crushes Star Entertainment’s slacking stylists.@Fang Zhuang FANG @Fang Zhuang FANG, Bro! Please reveal the stylist!! I’m begging for my faves to get this treatment too

Fang Zhuo never responded to these online mentions. At the moment, he was editing the terrain on the small planet the system had gifted him yesterday.

First, he placed residential, office, and commercial buildings on a plain near the docking port. Then, he positioned the photography studio modules in the hilly area with the most superior natural scenery.

This area had low mountains and lakes, allowing the team to easily shoot outdoor scenes after finishing indoor studio shots.

After completing the building placement and terrain planning for Planet 399, he returned to his office, summoned Deng Jiaqiang, and clicked on the file named Short Drama Script in his Light Brain. In the “suitable artists” column, he selected the names of the top six performers from the recent Group Broadcast competition.

Short drama script matching in progress…

Suitable script found for you

“I’ve Been Crafting Cards for Years, What’s Wrong With Being a Bit Strong?”

This script sounded much more normal. Judging by the title, it seemed like a growth adventure story about a resilient female lead and a gentle, devoted male lead.

Fang Zhuo first sent a copy of the script to Deng Jiaqiang, then briefly skimmed the first few chapters himself.

Objectively, this script would be very difficult to produce.

Its setting was Card Competition, filled with extensive interactions between the main characters and their summoned card creatures. Even with the most realistic virtual effects, it could easily come off as cheap. It would be best to use physical Props for all the summoned creature parts.

The plot was even more questionable than the setting. Completely different from what Fang Zhuo had imagined, the new script’s storyline was even more exaggerated than Great-Grandmother.

Would anyone actually watch this if it were filmed?

Deng Jiaqiang quickly read the first three chapters and the ending, then slapped his thigh excitedly:

“This plot and pacing are absolutely killer! The male lead’s mindset keeps twisting and turning. This kind of painful love is exactly what draws people in. If we film it normally, we’re guaranteed to attract a huge wave of fans!”

“But… the problem is still the budget. Should we hire an outsourced screenwriter to change the card setting to historical or modern? That could save us a lot of money.”

Fang Zhuo waved his hand: “That’s not a problem.”

The Star Federation indeed had quite a few anime or novels with card-based backgrounds, but due to production costs, no production company had ever released a TV series in this genre. They happened to be in a position to become the first to take the plunge.

After discussing the filming plan with Deng Jiaqiang, Fang Zhuo sent a message to Jiang Yu, asking him to compile a list of third-party props teams from Star Entertainment.

Under normal circumstances, the props team for an A-grade TV series crew usually consists of about five to six people. They are included within the entire art department, and generally, no company would specifically hire a separate props team. As a result, teams specializing in this field are quite rare, and those with exceptional skills are even scarcer.

Fang Zhuo skimmed through the list and reviewed the existing works of these teams, his gaze finally settling on one account name.

The account Universe Props Master had accumulated over a million followers on the Star Federation’s largest long-form video platform. As creators in a niche field, they gained widespread recognition due to their astonishingly superb technical skills.

Their representative video recreated the handheld weapon of the protagonist from the popular novel “Dragon King.” The original work described that umbrella in over a thousand words, designing a total of five basic forms for it. Universe Props Master perfectly replicated the weapon in just three days, instantly skyrocketing to fame on the platform.

Most of their team members are still university students, with ample time and a passion for creative projects. Since then, they have produced hundreds of videos recreating props from novels and anime, each garnering at least several hundred thousand views.

At 2:30 PM, Cao Mao, who had stayed up all night playing games, woke from his sleep. He opened his account backend to check the performance of the video he had posted just the day before.

Suddenly spotting a familiar ID in his private messages, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, wondering if he was still dreaming.

Hello, I am Fang Zhuo, Executive Director of Giant Entertainment. I would like to inquire if you have time at 9 AM to discuss a potential collaboration?

Perhaps due to the lack of response, the sender politely followed up two hours later:

Apologies for taking up your time. I can first pay you a consultation fee of 10,000 yuan for the meeting.

Cao Mao was so shocked that he let out a yelp and jumped out of bed, immediately sharing a screenshot in the team’s daily operations group chat.

His buddies instantly lost their composure, bombarding him with frantic messages as if struck by a stone

@CaoCaoCaoCao, I order you to reply to Director Fang right now, or I’ll execute you on the spot.

The first idiot in history to miss a fortune because he overslept. Son, I’ve been spoiling you too much.

@CaoCaoCaoCao, hurry up and reply, whether we can make money depends entirely on you. Which bastard dragged you into gaming last night? Come out and apologize immediately.

I confess, I shouldn’t have pulled Cao Mao into gaming at 10 PM on August 10th. Please forgive me, folks.

Cao Mao didn’t dare waste a single second and eagerly replied to Director Fang:

Hello, boss! Should I come directly to your company? I’m at the Second Male Dormitory of Federal Polytechnic University. If it’s convenient for you, you could also come find me here.

Worried that his tone might sound too stiff, he deliberately added a little cat spinning emoji at the end.

Director Fang’s reply was concise: I’ll pick you up at the East Gate of your university in ten minutes.

Cao Mao sprang up from his bed like a carp leaping, swiftly pulled on a T-shirt, then decided it wasn’t formal enough and specifically borrowed a crumpled shirt from his roommate.

Rushing all the way to the east gate of the campus, he indeed saw a pure white spaceship waiting for him there.

The moment he stepped into the spaceship, he still felt his outfit was too shabby to be presentable.

With a somewhat furtive demeanor, he glanced around and noticed Director Fang effortlessly maneuvering the spaceship to hover in an unobserved spot in the sky, even personally grinding coffee beans for him.

Director Fang handed him a long list of Props requirements. Cao Mao studied it for a while but remained utterly confused after staring at it for a long time.

“Director Fang, sorry, but this list is a bit too brief. Are you looking to custom-make film-grade Props? If there’s a script, could I take a look at it?”

It was still in the initial pricing stage, and the other party had only sent over the script for the first ten episodes.

Cao Mao skimmed through it roughly for twenty minutes, diligently noting down the Props requirements against the original text.

Aside from the Props sections, he inevitably read the plot. His reading pace gradually slowed, and his expression became increasingly engrossed.

His fists clenched hard.

Although the script was titled “I’ve Been Crafting Cards for Years, What’s Wrong with Being a Bit Strong?” and the female lead was indeed powerful, the early plot felt inexplicably frustrating.

As a genius Card Crafting master from the largest Card Crafting family in the galaxy, Xu Ci’s birth had always drawn attention. However, she accidentally fell under a curse from an opponent’s card during a duel.

According to the curse, she had to conceal her identity and alter her appearance, completing one hundred tasks for her most despised rival, Yi Xingjue, before she could regain her original identity and summoning abilities.

During this period, Xu Ci used her own blood to craft cards for her rival, served him grudgingly through gritted teeth, and even peeled shrimp and drank on his behalf at family banquets.

A minor female antagonist whom she had once overshadowed sneered at her servility with crossed arms, while the female lead silently endured it all.

She fawned over the male lead, Yi Xingjue, for a full six months. Everyone thought she was hopelessly in love with him, a complete love fool.

Until one day, the female antagonist demanded that Xu Ci place her hand into a card summoning furnace, using the agony of scorched flesh to help upgrade the furnace card.

“You don’t get to decide,” Xu Ci retorted coldly to the female antagonist before turning to stare fixedly at Yi Xingjue. “Is this what you want me to do?”

Yi Xingjue’s expression wavered, his eyes filled with pained restraint, turmoil swirling beneath the surface.

After a long pause, he still managed to utter the word with difficulty: “Yes.”

“Fine, Yi Xingjue, remember this is the last thing I’ll ever do for you.”

Before the male lead could ask why, Xu Ci thrust her hand into the furnace. Watching the final mark vanish from her consciousness, she turned and walked away without a shred of mercy.

Xu Ci went alone to the top floor of the Arena, waiting for the curse to break. As layers of golden light enveloped her entire being

Cao Mao was utterly captivated, quickly flipping to the next page.

It ended? How could it end here?

Was this all the content for the first ten episodes? Why so abrupt? He hadn’t even seen the female lead regain her identity and abilities to exact fierce revenge. Who allowed the script to stop here?

Only then did Cao Mao snap out of the plot, noticing Director Fang across from him watching with folded arms and a smile.

He scratched his head awkwardly and quoted a price based on the recent record in the Light Brain:

“Director Fang, the number of props you need is a bit excessive. I’m not trying to overcharge you, but just the first ten chapters alone require seven or eight highly complex props.”

“Our rate for complex props is 60,000 each, while simpler small props only cost two to three thousand each.”

He pulled up Fang Zhuo’s lengthy list: “Based on this list, the preliminary labor cost would be 3.8 million. Our team can complete it in about four days.”

“Material costs can be settled after the project is completed. If we use the modeling and printing workflow throughout, materials would cost at least over 1 million.”

After quoting this staggering price, even he felt somewhat embarrassed.

Cao Mao calculated and recalculated the list, finding it impossible to reduce the costs any further. He could only sit anxiously on the spaceship’s sofa, wringing his fingers.

His team consisted entirely of underpaid university students, and their labor rates were already very cheap. The high cost was genuinely due to the extensive list of requirements from the client.

After some thought, Cao Mao came up with a cost-saving suggestion for the client:

“Boss, perhaps you could slightly lower your requirements and simplify all the props.”

“We have artists on our team. If we skip modeling and just create drawings and textures, we should be able to keep all costs under 2 million.”