New Century Anime Warrior

Chapter 94 Where did the little thief go?

"Gentlemen, haven't you noticed how quiet things have been lately?"

"You call a group with 99+ new users after an hour of inactivity 'quiet'?"

Kuang Qiang had just finished his major courses and returned to his dormitory. Without even replying to messages from his junior's girlfriend, he eagerly opened all social media platforms and group chats.

He'll be a senior next semester, and then he'll have to spend more time on various trivial matters such as internships, retaking exams, choosing courses to earn credits, writing papers to graduate, taking postgraduate entrance exams, or looking for jobs.

In other words, the second semester of his junior year is basically the last time he can seriously study his major courses.

So I had to suppress my internet addiction and wait until I got back to my dorm before opening all sorts of social media apps.

As soon as I opened the interface of a group called "Beijing No Limits Gay Friends Group", I saw group members complaining.

This group is an offline gay friendship group organized by Kuang Qiang. It was initially just a group to facilitate meeting up at comic conventions.

After all, when Si Hua officially announced his participation in the Shencai Yiyi Comic Con, many fans in Beijing said they would go to watch. Over time, they actually gathered a lot of friends from different groups and platforms.

So I simply created a separate group chat, bringing together a bunch of anime and manga enthusiasts who had met in person, making us naturally the closest of friends.

So now it can be considered the most proactive fan group.

"I mean, I haven't seen any news about the thief lately. Even Lin Bao still occasionally appears in promotional photos of him attending events."

"He's completely silent."

"Masaka! The little thief was finally killed by Linbao's extreme fans?"

"Can't you be a little more considerate?"

"Now that you mention it, it seems like the last time we were in the news was when he officially announced his collaboration with Higurashi Studio to produce two anime series."

"So when will these two anime series be released? Is there any news?"

"It's still a long way off. It was only officially announced last month, and I don't think they've even created a new folder yet this month."

"Ugh! I'm going to die if I can't watch the thief anime!"

Seeing this, Kuang Qiang didn't comment, but instead opened a private chat interface labeled as "informant".

"Boss A, any inside information about that scoundrel Si Hua lately?"

"Boss, your alt account A has a fan leader messaging you privately."

Zhao Yue interrupted Si Hua, who was trying to cheat by breaking his defense. He had just lost his thirteenth game of King of Fighters to Zhang Yuan, the back-end guy.

"Old Zhang, you wait and see, I definitely won't lose the next round!"

He then took the laptop from which the rumors were being spread.

Zhang Yuan was truly speechless. His boss was not only bad at the game but also loved to play. He would even cheat when he lost. This was just too outrageous.

What kind of information are you looking for?

After a brief mental preparation, Si Hua began to play the role of a gossip informant known as "Alias ​​A".

"He can still be elected? Has he been involved in a lot of gossip lately? I haven't seen him in the news at all?"

Who is this person? Kuang Qiang was a little surprised.

So I tentatively asked, "You can even gossip about going to the toilet?"

He had diarrhea today.

Who the hell are you?!

"I just wanted to know about the new work."

"Games? Music? Anime? Which one are you asking about?"

Kuang Qiang was a little confused for a moment. So, Si Hua had recently started three separate operations?

"The game is still in the planning stage, the music is a big business opportunity, and we are directly involved in three animations and indirectly involved in one."

After saying that, account A logged off.

To retract my previous statement, this person is actually at 60%.

Kuang Qiang knew his informant's personality well and didn't care about his sudden departure. He turned around and wrote down what he had just learned on his Weibo account.

According to an anonymous source, Si Hua has been very busy lately—games, music, and animation are all...?

There's a new work out, and they're doing six projects simultaneously; expect big news.

"Also, the little thief had diarrhea today."

In no time, likes and shares took off.

Lujiazui, Shanghai.

Disney CEO Iger has just returned to his hotel and is preparing for a short rest.

He spent the morning accompanying the main leaders of Shanghai on an on-site inspection of potential theme park sites, and he was somewhat tired.

There are so many great places, I want to visit them all.

Moreover, I haven't been to the capital yet, so I don't know what the conditions are like there.

At that moment, his tall and capable secretary handed him a document.

"Mr. Egger, here is the report you requested."

This is the background check material about Si Hua that Iger had his assistants compile.

"Is this young man very popular in China?"

When they first started preliminary research and negotiations with the National Development and Reform Commission, Aiger discovered that China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. did not seem particularly enthusiastic about the large-scale resort model of theme parks.

It's also possible that the hook isn't attractive enough.

Later, at the suggestion of the head of the group's China affairs, Iger proposed that this project would be carried out in conjunction with Disney's localization strategy for young talent.

In order to prove that what he said was true, he even gave a name that was unfamiliar and a bit hard to pronounce.

The other party immediately showed interest, and the project had to proceed, eventually being listed as a national-level cultural project.

We've now entered the site selection phase.

The leaders in Shanghai were the most enthusiastic, directly inviting Aiger and his entire group over.

"He's not as popular as these Asian celebrities, but this young man is a creator with a reputation for genius, so they can't be simply compared—and he has a lot of influence in the subculture."

"Subculture?"

Images of gothic, punk, retro culture, and tattoos flashed through Aiger's mind.

"It refers to ACG content related to anime, comics, and games (ACG) or otaku culture. This is the core of subculture in East Asia—it's quite different from what we in America call subculture."

"Anime and games? Marvel? Star Wars? Gamers?"

"Yes, Mr. Egger." As one of the secretaries of the president of a multinational corporation, the secretary had also done her homework.

"Aren't these all pretty normal popular culture?"

"But in Asia, these are things that are not considered proper business."

"—" Aiger began to wonder if the reason why the leaders of the National Development and Reform Commission were so calm when he met them before was because his company was originally an animation company.

"Then why did they become interested as soon as I mentioned the child's name?"

The secretary thought for a moment and offered a suggestion: "Perhaps China previously proposed policies to strengthen the animation and gaming industry?"

"The East Asia Tri-Nation Cultural Exchange Forum was held in Jiangsu Province last month, and the first joint concert was also held in Tokyo. I heard that one of the main topics was the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) industry."

"By the way, this young man stole the show at that concert."

After hearing what the secretary said, Iger was even more puzzled. So, does China value animation companies like Disney or not?

What are they trying to do?

"Of course, I'm thinking about how to portray them."

Zheng Yansheng directly pointed out what Zhou Zhenguo was hiding.

Today is the day Si Hua goes to the dean's office every week to receive instruction from his teacher, Zheng Yansheng.

"Based on our understanding, Disney's cultural output has been unstable in recent years. Although it still has a huge cash flow, it is generally operating at a loss."

"Why is this happening?" Si Hua asked perceptively.

"Several projects have failed miserably; the old team can no longer keep up with the times," Zheng Yansheng said, taking a sip of tea.

"Moreover, the US domestic market is saturated, Europe has been losing money for a long time, and Japan is mature but unlikely to see another boom. Disney's global market is still sluggish and weak."

"It would be strange if old Iger wasn't anxious."

"You have a few senior classmates in the United States. They told me that Disney has invested more than 100 million US dollars in the animated film 'The Snow Queen'. It has been almost three years, and the first cut has already been released."

"As a result, from the leadership to the test audience, everyone criticized the film, and the production team was driven to despair by the criticism."

"In the end, the music team disbanded, the directing team underwent a major overhaul, and the screenwriting team was ordered to rewrite the script."

"Is the script terrible?"

Although Si Hua had obtained a discarded script from Chen Kaiwen, it was only a plot outline, which only showed the direction of the plot.

It's not a very detailed or complete script, so it's hard to tell whether it's good or bad.

"It's pretty cliché. The princess revenge trope has been repeated so many times that hardly anyone watches it anymore. Besides, the character is supposedly quite unlikable."

Could there be anyone as unlikable as a black mermaid?

Oh, it's not the Rainbow Era yet, so it's alright.

"Disney is currently experiencing its biggest downturn since the beginning of the new century, and the Chinese market has become their last hope."

Si Hua enjoys listening to gossip about outsiders getting their comeuppance, especially from animation giants like Disney. The pleasure she gets is no less than seeing her incompetent husband after being in Huang Mao's shoes.

"So, pleasing Chinese audiences and introducing Chinese influence has become the only inevitable option?"

Zheng Yansheng snorted.

"Faced with a new market of over a billion people, if you, as the CEO of Disney, hesitate even for a moment, you'll be hanged by those shareholders on a street lamp."