The news was released, yet Gu Sheng felt nothing but calm.

A blitzkrieg is always one of the most effective tactics in the world.

Although it was three in the morning China time, with almost the entire Eastern Hemisphere enveloped in the quiet darkness of night, one must not forget that Earth is a rotating sphere.

While the Eastern Hemisphere was sleeping, the Western Hemisphere was having afternoon tea.

At three in the afternoon, inside the office of the United Business Media (UBM) Joint Development Division in the United States, Will Brown was leisurely sipping coffee, scrolling through recent posts on a social platform.

As his mouse wheel rolled, the ID "Golden Wind V" appeared at the bottom of the screen.

As one of the two main organizers of GDC, it was he who had originally proposed breaking conventions—not limiting invitations to only medium and large game studios, but also including Golden Wind, which was still a small game developer at the time.

Therefore, he followed both Golden Wind and Gu Sheng’s personal accounts.

"Oh? Is there a new game again?"

Golden Wind rarely posted unless there was a new game or a major update.

With that in mind, Brown scrolled down one more page.

The next second—

"Ward... *cough!* *cough cough cough!* *cough—cough—!!!*"

He nearly choked on his coffee!

He slammed the coffee cup down on the desk while coughing violently, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

After a long moment, wiping his mouth, Brown looked back at Golden Wind’s post.

"Ward—launched—?!"

He stood dumbfounded for a full five seconds!

Then suddenly grabbed his phone on the desk and immediately called his slack-off buddy—Jimmy Lawrence, Chief of the Public Affairs Department at the International Data Corporation (IDC).

The call was answered quickly.

Brown’s voice was filled with astonishment and excitement, as if discovering a massive scoop:

"Damn it! Lawrence! KOMINA’s executive director just joined Golden Wind! Big thanks—"

"What—what—???"

On the other end, Lawrence was unsurprisingly watching a Twitch game livestream.

Upon hearing this, he sat upright instantly, his CPU spinning at full speed for a solid two seconds:

"Are you fucking high...?"

Lawrence instinctively thought Brown was hallucinating.

What a joke!

KOMINA’s executive director! The number two figure!

Joining Golden Wind?

The enmity between these two companies, from the 'Terrifying War' to the 'Bird-Wolf Conflict,' had lasted more than a year!

Now you say KOMINA’s number two switched to Golden Wind?

That’s as ridiculous as Sam jumping ship to KOMINA and becoming head of the Big Three!

"No! Look at the tweet yourself! And it’s officially from Golden Wind! It’s fucking surreal!"

Hearing Brown, Lawrence reluctantly opened Twitter.

Since he followed only a few accounts, the Golden Wind tweet appeared right on his homepage.

"Ah—? Oh—!"

Two drawn-out exclamations escaped Lawrence’s mouth.

The 'ah' was because the news was actually real; KOMINA’s executive director for game affairs really had switched to Golden Wind.

The 'oh' was because he recognized the name Moriya Tetsuya. If he recalled correctly, he was the one involved in the accidental 'like' incident.

Unexpected, yet somehow reasonable.

For a moment, Brown and Lawrence exchanged silence, both stunned by the impact of the news.

A full ten seconds passed before Lawrence’s voice returned, tinged with a serious unease:

"Say, Brown, if I’m not mistaken... do you also hold a lot of KOMINA stock?"

"Shh—"

On the other end, Brown sucked in a breath sharply.

"You too?"

"Damn it..."

"Hurry and sell, damn it! Fast, fast!"

"Already selling! Already selling!"

"…"

Although!

This matter seemed incredibly surreal—almost magical!

No one understood how suddenly KOMINA’s number two could switch to Golden Wind.

But without a doubt, anyone with a brain knew KOMINA’s stock price was about to take a heavy hit!

An unprecedented massive shockwave rippled through the gaming industry’s stock market.

Even the related tech sector suffered some spillover effects!

The news quickly reached KOMINA’s top executives.

Though it was still the dead of night, the stock market didn’t care whether you were asleep!

At 3:30 a.m., Kamikoshi Kagemasa was jerked awake by a shareholder call.

He sat in his villa’s study clutching his chest, feeling his temples throbbing wildly.

"Huff—huff—huff—"

Kamikoshi stared blankly at the computer screen, watching the explosive flood of comments and the stock price plunging like a diver, his breathing growing rapid.

In truth, he had already suspected that Moriya Tetsuya would join Golden Wind.

Though even now, he wasn’t completely sure whether Moriya really had any commercial secrets exchanged with Golden Wind.

But without question, Moriya and Gu Sheng were on very friendly terms.

Moreover!

Once they announced Moriya’s dismissal the next morning, and with PR’s behind-the-scenes collaboration spreading rumors that Moriya had 'betrayed' them,

Then across the global game industry, no company except Golden Wind would want to accept him.

He would have no choice but to retreat to China, whether he had truly betrayed them or not, and bear the label of traitor forever.

Yet!

Kamikoshi never expected Golden Wind to be so fast!

It was seamless!

Only a few hours?

From Moriya leaving KOMINA’s building to Golden Wind officially announcing Moriya’s joining—it had taken no more than twelve hours!

Bang!

Kamikoshi slammed his hand hard on the desk!

He picked up the phone, about to call the head of PR.

Damn it! So shamelessly seamless, as if Moriya’s previous employer didn’t even exist!

If I can swallow this anger, then I’m your grandson!

Official announcement! Damn it, we’ll make one too!

You like protecting Moriya?

Then we’ll just officially announce his dismissal, hype up his leaking of secrets, and accuse Golden Wind of unfair competition!

However!

Just as Kamikoshi was about to call the publicity department,

Suddenly, another message refreshed automatically.

It was a photo, with bottles of liquor lined up on the table, below which was a personal tweet—

[Gu Sheng Sam: Drinking and chatting warmly through the night with Moriya-san @MoriyaTetsuya, truly delightful. A true soulmate in life is rare. Though my temple is small, I will treat him as an honored guest. Hereby expressing my gratitude @KOMINA Inc. No mountain turns, but water flows—may your company always meet the wise and prosper. Thanks (heart)(heart)(heart)]

Reading it three times in a row,

Kamikoshi’s hand holding the phone froze mid-air, his mind buzzing!

My “gratitude”? Your “recruitment”?

I... you... he...

Damn it!!!

Smash!

In an instant, Kamikoshi felt like he had been force-fed a cockroach, disgusted and furious, smashing his phone onto the floor!

"Fucking asshole—! Baka—!!!"

His roar echoed through the study!

He wasn’t really senile.

Although Gu Sheng’s tweet seemed friendly, it contained a strong underlying threat!

Translated roughly—

[Moriya’s transfer was a peaceful breakup on my side. You give up, I recruit. We evolve peacefully, keeping it classy.]

[And you, my friend, better not act shamelessly.]

[If you try to stir up trouble, I’ll deal with you.]

So arrogant!

Gu Sheng might as well have flown over personally and put a knife to Kamikoshi’s neck!

We are KOMINA!

Kamikoshi trembled, swallowing heart medicine, teeth grinding.

A prestigious top global game company, now being bullied by a mid-sized developer!

The worst part was:

Given the current situation, KOMINA had to silently endure this loss.

Because KOMINA was under both internal and external pressure, struggling to make up for losses from Torii, and rushing to stabilize stock fluctuations.

If they started a public relations war with Golden Wind now, even their vast resources wouldn’t be enough.

After all, KOMINA was losing money across the board, while Golden Wind was making huge profits!

Most importantly, the current public opinion favored Golden Wind!

Look at the comments under Gu Sheng’s tweet—

‘Bro, did you go shop at KOMINA?’

‘KOMINA Talent Market’

‘Hahaha, I’m dying laughing. Steel Chain Fingers is full of ex-KOMINA employees’

‘Some people are chief directors on the surface but chief HR behind the scenes (dog head)’

‘No mountain turns but water flows? Here we go again?’

‘No more talking! Let’s go!’

‘Anyone dare tag KOMINA? Want to know if it’s really a graceful farewell or a forced poach?’

‘Damn! @KOMINA Inc @KOMINA Kamikoshi Kagemasa, my big bro is asking you guys! Stop playing dead!’

‘Hahaha, the king of stoking flames...’

‘Report! KOMINA stock price is diving! Generals, post your death notices on the public board!’

‘Good death! Report again!’

‘Don’t know why, but this last good wish feels kinda weird...’

‘Mysterious power from the East’

‘Kamikoshi Kagemasa keyboard spitting milk’

‘...’

Everyone was just having fun!

At best, they were teasing Golden Wind for poaching but fully approving.

If KOMINA really wanted to fight a PR war, they’d have to close this public opinion gap first, then launch a large-scale confrontation with Golden Wind.

The cost would be enormous.

Even if Kamikoshi lost his temper, the shareholders would never approve a full war against Golden Wind over Moriya.

Endure! Endure! Endure!

Everything went exactly as Gu Sheng predicted.

The next morning, a humiliating tweet from KOMINA appeared on social media—

[KOMINA Inc: Though the mountain is high and the road far, we wish Moriya-kun @MoriyaTetsuya a brilliant path ahead, and also wish your company @Golden Wind V continued success, scaling new heights.]

As soon as this message was posted, the onlookers who had been watching the drama burst into laughter, mocking KOMINA for "gritting their teeth to tweet."

Media outlets rushed in like bees, reporting on this unprecedented high-level personnel shakeup—

“Peaceful breakup? Birds of a feather? KOMINA executive director switches to Golden Wind!”

“Explosive scoop! Golden Wind gains another heavy-hitting general!”

“KOMINA stock plunges! Supernova scores a brilliant commander!”

“Is KOMINA really under Golden Wind’s thumb? From technical to managerial talent, is this brain drain due to Golden Wind’s allure or KOMINA’s failures?”

“Stock plunge caused by unprecedented top-level personnel changes continues; how will KOMINA break the deadlock?”

“After Yamamoto Studio dissolved a year ago, the once KOMINA Big Three’s Koizumi Studio also disbands, with director Koizumi Kazuo resigning in shame. KOMINA seems to be facing its most precarious period ever...”

“...”

Thus!

From Golden Wind’s silent plot to ambush KOMINA until now, with KOMINA humiliatingly raising a white flag, more than half a year had passed.

The final outcome was clear to all—

On KOMINA’s side: Torii’s crushing defeat, becoming KOMINA’s worst 3S-level loss in history; one of its Big Three studios, Koizumi Studio, disbanded; executive director Moriya Tetsuya resigned; stock price plummeted...

On Golden Wind’s side: Sekiro averaged 9.9, second only to the public welfare-boosted To the Moon; its popularity only behind the cross-platform all-ages Plants vs. Zombies; Golden Wind firmly established itself as a mid-sized game developer, raking in 350 million dollars in a single month, surpassing 2 billion yuan; and successfully recruited former KOMINA executive director Moriya Tetsuya...

For a time, the entire gaming industry buzzed, lamenting KOMINA’s lost glory and marveling at Golden Wind’s rapid rise in just three years.

However, neither of the two companies cared much at this moment.

KOMINA was busy cleaning up a mess.

Golden Wind was busy discussing the development of Peak Kingdom.

Yes.

Just two days after announcing Moriya Tetsuya’s joining, Moriya flew from Neon to China and joined Golden Wind.

His position was directly vice director of Golden Wind Games, standing alongside Lu Bian and Da Jiang, just below CEOs Shen Miaomiao and Gu Sheng.

Moriya was very satisfied with this role, as his move to China was to join Gu Sheng.

The vice director post reported directly to Gu Sheng.

As for others, they all respected this.

Come on, this was the number two executive of a top international company, with extensive experience and connections!

From a scale perspective, Moriya joining Golden Wind was almost a demotion!

Not to mention vice director, no one would object even if he became Golden Wind’s second vice president alongside Gu Sheng!

And so!

With Moriya Tetsuya’s addition, Golden Wind officially entered the mid-sized game market development path after Sekiro’s successful opening, boldly advancing toward large studios and international levels!

And the first shot fired at international integration was Peak Kingdom!

In the meeting room, Gu Sheng gestured to Moriya—

"Now, Director Moriya, please give a detailed presentation on the Peak Kingdom project plan..."

-----------------

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com