South City CBD, miHoYo Studio.
Right now, the studio was completely empty, and unusually quiet.
At the girls' desks, scripts for Honkai Impact 3rd, half-finished illustrations, and some planning documents were neatly stacked. There were also a few decorations with a girlish flair.
Ring—ring—
The moment Hokuto stepped into miHoYo Studio, his phone, which had been constantly busy lately, rang once again.
"Hello? Mr. Li, it's you again."
Since Li Yue was always polite and courteous, Hokuto hadn't blacklisted him.
"I may be disturbing you too often lately." Li Yue also seemed a bit apologetic. "But this time, I just wanted to remind you of something very important."
Hokuto's curiosity was piqued. He paused at miHoYo's entrance and asked aloud, "What is it?"
"You need to be careful of Penguin Games. Protect Honkai Impact 3rd's source code," Li Yue said bluntly.
"Uh… are you saying Penguin Games is planning to plagiarize Honkai Impact 3rd?" Hokuto asked, somewhat hesitantly.
"..."
Li Yue was silent for a moment, then responded briefly, "That's right."
"...Mr. Li, can I ask a question?" Hokuto's brows furrowed slightly, confusion in his voice. "If I remember right, you're the head of Penguin Games, aren't you?"
"Then why are you coming to me about this? Are you trying to provoke me or something?"
Honestly, Hokuto couldn't understand Li Yue's behavior.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Li Yue immediately denied it. After a moment's thought, he added, "While I may be the person in charge of Penguin Games… I'm just another senior employee."
"There's not much I can do. I certainly can't influence upper management's decisions. Besides…"
He might not be Penguin Games' head for much longer.
"In any case, that's the situation. It's not guaranteed that Penguin Games will plagiarize Honkai Impact 3rd, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
"You've brought an excellent game to the market. I don't want something like this to be what ruins it."
After listening, Hokuto replied, "I appreciate your warning, Mr. Li."
As for plagiarism, he wasn't too concerned. It wasn't so easy to copy Honkai Impact 3rd.
He paused briefly, then couldn't help but add, "Honestly, what surprises me most is that you, Mr. Li, are… this kind of person."
Compared to the threat of plagiarism, Li Yue's actions were more unexpected to Hokuto.
With how hot Honkai Impact 3rd was, it was only natural Penguin would try to copy it. He had already mentally prepared for that.
As for Li Yue… in a way, he reminded Hokuto of those Honkai characters around him.
Too sincere.
"Huh?"
Li Yue paused, then chuckled as he responded, "Maybe it's because I know a few people who've influenced me. Hmm… I have a lawyer friend named Welt who once said that personality is shaped by—"
"..."
The moment Hokuto heard the name Welt, he stopped listening entirely.
Wait, Li Yue knows Welt?
Although, come to think of it, it's not that strange.
It's not like Honkai characters are only allowed to know other Honkai characters, or that they can only be friends with each other.
That doesn't make sense.
If anything, the real miracle was how Kiana and the others were able to come together by chance to create miHoYo.
"A lawyer? Actually, miHoYo could really use a professional lawyer for consultation right now. Mr. Li, would you be willing to introduce your friend, Mr. Welt, to me?"
For future Honkai main story developments, Hokuto certainly wouldn't pass up this opportunity.
Besides, miHoYo truly needed a trustworthy, competent legal consultant right now.
"This…"
"There's no need to overthink it, Mr. Li. I simply want to cooperate with Mr. Welt," Hokuto said sincerely.
"Well… alright then. I'll ask Welt what he thinks."
With that, the conversation ended.
Hokuto put away his phone in thought and was about to enter miHoYo Studio—
"Wait."
A voice he vaguely recognized but couldn't quite place echoed near his ear.
"Wait!"
The voice came even closer.
Hokuto instinctively turned around—What entered his view was a red twin-tail and a pale-haired girl with sky-colored curls.
"Einstein and Tesla?!"
"You know us?" Tesla stopped in her tracks, slightly breathless, her eyes sharp as she scrutinized him.
"You both look exactly like the Einstein and Tesla I designed for Honkai Impact 3rd… don't you?" Hokuto quickly came up with a plausible excuse.
"No, the way you reacted just now doesn't seem like—mmph!"
Tesla folded her arms and raised her chin confidently, about to speak, when Einstein suddenly reached out and covered her mouth.
Einstein stepped forward and said calmly, "Discovering that the game characters you created actually exist in reality… it's certainly shocking."
Hokuto: "..."
"Chicken-nest head, what are you doing?" Tesla swatted Einstein's hand away in irritation.
"Call me Einstein when we're outside."
Facing Tesla's gaze, Einstein calmly explained, "We're here only to voice Einstein and Tesla from Honkai Impact 3rd."
"According to rational analysis, if we continue your earlier line of conversation, it may hinder our intended objective."
Hokuto: "..."
Can you… maybe not say all that out loud?
At this point, Hokuto had no idea what kind of expression he was supposed to make.
"Ahem, so you two came here to voice Einstein and Tesla—also known in the game as 'chicken-nest head' and 'lobster doctor'?"
"Chicken-nest head? Lobster doctor?" Tesla was momentarily distracted.
"That's how the players refer to you in Honkai Impact 3rd."
"I can understand 'chicken-nest head'... but why am I called lobster doctor?!"
Before Hokuto could explain, Einstein had already pulled out her phone and began reading aloud with a flat tone—
Like a Pokédex analyzing a scanned Pokémon.
"The tsundere lobster doctor of Anti-Entropy. In addition to her hairstyle resembling a lobster, her personality is also aggressive like one. However, this usually arrogant doctor forgets one important fact—only cooked lobsters turn the same bright red as her hair."
Tesla: ???#!
Her red twin-tails almost sprang up on their own.
"Einstein, we're leaving. Forget this! I'm not doing the voice lines!"
"Hmm…"
Einstein instead stepped forward, moving to Hokuto's side and saying to Tesla,"Then just wait for me here."
She turned to Hokuto and added, "With Tesla's temperament, if she refuses, you'd best delete the in-game version of Tesla. But it's alright…"
She reached up and pushed her nonexistent glasses.
"Her dialogue—leave it to me."
Tesla: ???