Inside the coffee shop.
Everyone had gathered in the store.
Su Chen's breathing fluctuated with the flickering red numbers on the screen.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, hundred-thousands, millions…
Huh! Huh! Huh!
…Ten million!!!!"
He tightly shut his eyes, took a few deep breaths,
and the next moment,
he suddenly opened them again.
"Ones, tens, hundreds… millions, ten million!"
Su Chen's breathing grew increasingly rapid before he collapsed backward onto the sofa with a loud "thud."
Voices called out to him from all around, "Boss! Boss! Boss!"
...
Before long.
Su Chen slowly opened his eyes, and Firefly's face came into view.
At that moment, his head was resting on Firefly's lap.
"Idrila?? Is this a dream?!"
"Boss, what's wrong? I'm Firefly!"
"Wait! You're Firefly, I'm Su Chen! Not a dream, not a dream!"
Su Chen immediately sprang up and took a few steps back, staring at the earnings from his web series.
After several waves of emotion, he finally calmed down. "Great, just great!
We've finally earned our first pot of gold,
the hard days are over,
you all don't have to cram into the coffee shop anymore,
March 7th doesn't have to hand out flyers on the streets anymore,
Silver Wolf's gaming wishlist can be cleared out,
Kafka can buy the coat she likes,
Himeko can place an order for those premium coffee beans she's been eyeing,
and Firefly, you won't have to squeeze onto the bus everywhere you go anymore!"
Finally, Su Chen walked up to Dan Heng and his good buddy Yingxing,
"You can finally take off that designated driver uniform of yours.
Alright! Today, we're handing out paychecks!"
However.
Not a single person joined Su Chen in celebration.
"What's wrong? Not even excited about payday? What else could possibly interest you?"
Firefly looked at Su Chen gently. "Boss, you've given so much. Even if the earnings are high, they probably still can't cover the cost of the space station venue you renovated, right? You should keep the money!"
"Yeah! The web series was released all at once, and the numbers only surged in the first few days. Ten million is probably the limit." Dan Heng crossed his arms over his chest.
March 7th blinked at Su Chen. "That's right, Boss! We're counting on you to keep leading us in filming more series!
Sure, there's a 42-day gap, but it'll pass soon enough!"
"So that's what you're worried about?" Su Chen clicked his tongue. "Tch, don't worry about the venue I've got ways to recoup the costs.
You've all been working with me for free this past month, just humoring my antics.
The paychecks are happening, and not even Jesus can stop me I said what I said!"
However, Su Chen then shifted his tone.
"As for the filming schedule…"
After the web series went live, the Doomsday Beast boss fight, the introductions of all the female characters, Dan Heng's spear,
and finally, the song On the Road,
countless explosive moments and highlights gripped the audience's emotions.
With the points Su Chen now had, building a complete Belobog shouldn't be too far off.
Su Chen frowned:
But.
Stelle still missing!
The PV for Space Comedy couldn't be skipped!
Jumping straight into Season 2 would weigh too heavily on his conscience!
And without the Landau siblings, Bronya, and Seele, how could the story even progress?
This was a case of the hardware being ready, but the software was nowhere to be found!
Suddenly, a suona blared through the quiet room.
Yingxing pulled a brick-like Nokia out of his pocket. "Sorry!"
He was about to hang up when Su Chen stopped him.
"Wait! Who is it?"
Yingxing glanced at the caller ID. Could he not read? But even if he couldn't read, how did he write scripts?
"Gepard. Regular customer. Calling. For a designated driver."
"Your way with words is truly concise!
Answer it, and tell him we're coming! Definitely coming!"
——
Near a restaurant in the bustling market district, a blonde woman with blue streaks in her hair
was slightly drunk, supported by her younger brother and sister on either side.
"Big Sis, I told you if you can't hold your liquor, don't drink so much!"
"Yeah, yeah! Sis, every time you go out for business talks, you drink like there's no tomorrow!" The younger sister on the left pouted.
"You… you don't get it… the company's on the verge of collapse. Debt collectors are already at our door! If, if…
Ugh… ugh!!!" The blonde woman pushed her siblings away and rushed to a nearby tree to vomit.
"Ugh…" Her brother sighed deeply, gently patting her back.
"I know, Sis. You and CEO Cocolia are close, but you can't keep drinking like this!
Lynx, ask Yingxing how much longer. What time is it already?"
Just then.
A voice rang out from one side of the street.
"There are five people, three of them are designated drivers!"
Lynx looked toward the source of the voice and saw five men slowly approaching.
She immediately retreated behind her brother. "G-Gepard, there are weirdos!"
Gepard quickly took off his glasses and scrutinized the newcomers.
As the five stepped under the streetlight, their faces finally became clear.
They were Su Chen, Yingxing, Dan Heng, Welt Yang, and Arlan who had been out walking his dog but was dragged along to make up the numbers.
"'Five-Three Designated Drivers' at your service!"
"Phew!" Gepard let out a relieved sigh. "Why do you always show up spouting that 'five people, three drivers' nonsense?"
Su Chen jumped forward. "Brother Gepard, you just don't get it.
Our designated driving company's motto is out of five people, at least three are drivers. That's how you know we're professionals!"
"Tsk…" Gepard looked Su Chen up and down, his gaze gradually clearing.
Then he scrutinized the other four aside from Yingxing. "Welt Yang? Arlan? Dan Heng? And you're Caelus?!"
"Aren't you actors from the web series Honkai: Star Rail? What are you doing here?
I guess it's not just the real estate industry that's struggling even the stars of a hit web series have to moonlight as drivers to make ends meet."
"Hold on! Hold on!" Su Chen quickly raised a hand to stop Gepard from spiraling further.
"My purpose here is simple I can help you out of your predicament.
All you have to do is become my actors!"