As expected.
Five minutes later, Tartaglia's phone rang.
The caller ID showed it was Pantalone.
Tartaglia instantly flashed a brilliant smile.
He answered the call!
"D!"
Tartaglia's voice was brimming with enthusiasm.
"How much?"
Pantalone's voice on the other end was low and deep.
Though they weren't face-to-face, Tartaglia could imagine Pantalone's expression—smiling with squinted eyes, yet exuding an unsettling chill.
But no matter!
"Bro, got a hundred billion?" Tartaglia asked excitedly.
"I think you're worth a hundred billion," Pantalone replied, a hint of anger in his tone.
You really dare to ask for that much!
"I'll transfer ten billion from Snezhnaya to you, and that's it," Pantalone said before hanging up.
Ten billion—was that a lot for Pantalone?
Of course not!
But would the Fatui's resources be concentrated solely on Tartaglia?
Obviously, that was impossible.
Even if the Tsaritsa trusted Tartaglia deeply, it would never happen.
Though ten billion wasn't much, Tartaglia was thrilled.
After all, he still had plenty of funds left from the Liyue branch!
With this additional ten billion, it was a massive sum!
Awesome!
Feeling refreshed, Tartaglia said, "Go reserve a spot at Xinyue Pavilion. We ate at Wanmin Restaurant yesterday, so let's see what Xinyue Pavilion's all about today at noon!"
"Yes, sir!" Andre replied respectfully.
Tartaglia casually washed his face, chuckling as he headed out.
In this foreign land, he had to stick close to his big bro.
Without a doubt, Lu Heng was Tartaglia's great benefactor!
After breakfast, the lively and energetic Klee started making bombs.
Meanwhile, Lu Heng, Venti, and Zhongli sat by the counter, chatting idly.
Lu Heng's phone pinged.
"Yo, at this hour? Just woke up, huh?" Venti teased with a grin.
Zhongli also gave a knowing look.
Lu Heng glanced at his phone.
It wasn't a message from Furina.
It was from the Civilization Core!
The Civilization Core, capable of creating artificial intelligence, was itself an AI, so it could send messages to Lu Heng.
The message was brief:
"Genshin Impact" has been developed up to Inazuma!
For the Civilization Core, making Genshin Impact wasn't difficult!
It could even churn out the entire game in minutes!
However, the Civilization Core's task list was packed.
Moreover, Lu Heng had specific requirements for this version of Genshin Impact.
The underlying code had to be a breakthrough, right?
Thus, the Civilization Core's version of Genshin Impact would have better effects, a larger open-world map, and greater detail!
Aside from characters appearing in the story as 2D models, it was practically a 1:1 replica of Teyvat!
This workload was massive, even for the Civilization Core.
Lu Heng downloaded the game package and installed it.
It was only a hundred megabytes?
Lu Heng pondered briefly and understood—such advanced technology likely used some incredible compression or optimization technique.
He was quite excited about this new Genshin Impact.
Notably, Lu Heng had instructed the Civilization Core to make the female characters' outfits more conservative.
Additionally, in this new version, players couldn't draw characters, only skill modules for characters.
In other words:
The game only had one playable character—the protagonist.
The protagonist wasn't Aether or Lumine but a custom character created through a face捏脸 system, with the player's chosen appearance. They could freely equip four skill modules.
Take Raiden Shogun, Bennett, Kazuha, and Kujou Sara as an example:
The player could use Raiden's E, Bennett's Q, Kazuha's Q, and Kujou Sara's Q, then pull out a sword from their chest and start slashing.
These four skill modules essentially replicated the team-building system of the original Genshin Impact.
This was a significant change, but it also resolved many issues.
Lu Heng browsed through the character data sent by the Civilization Core.
"This message is that long?" Venti asked, surprised.
What did Furina send him?
"I'm looking at the data," Lu Heng said, shaking his head.
"Can I take a peek?" Venti asked curiously.
"I'll send you a copy."
Lu Heng forwarded the data to him.
It wasn't a secret, and they'd find out eventually, so there was no need to be coy.
Venti picked up his phone and glanced at his own profile.
He froze after skimming it. "Good grief, Boss Lu, you've got me all figured out, huh? You don't even know what color my undergarments are today, do you?"
Oh, don't say that!
Lu Heng's expression mirrored the "old man on the subway looking at his phone" meme.
He actually could know that!
The [Future Computer], which Lu Heng called the "Cyber Fortune-Telling Method," was a card.
Its power was directly linked to all of Teyvat!
Every action was recorded and processed by its computational core.
With big data calculations, it could even predict the future. Knowing something as trivial as the color of Venti's undergarments was child's play.
"You actually know?" Venti caught Lu Heng's expression and immediately understood.
"Before you act, I don't know! And I don't want to know!" Lu Heng shook his head.
"Your power is terrifying, Boss Lu," Venti said, clicking his tongue.
But he wasn't too bothered by it.
After realizing someone was unfathomably powerful, it seemed normal for them to see through everything.
Thankfully, Lu Heng was principled and uninterested in such trivial matters.
Zhongli was also reviewing the data.
It included cutscenes and more.
He saw an animation of Osial being released.
Zhongli mused, "This aligns with my previous thoughts. Is this the future?"
"Yes," Lu Heng nodded. "The future trajectory of a Teyvat without the card shop."
"So… you can't hide anymore?" Venti glanced at Zhongli.
"And you can?" Zhongli chuckled lightly, opening a cutscene related to Venti—a group lying on the back of the Anemo Dragon, flying toward Mondstadt.
"Uh…"
Venti scratched his head.
"Fine!"
He bounced back quickly.
He wasn't the only one exposed!
Let it go!
Still, Venti was amazed by Lu Heng's ability to foresee the future.
"Speaking of which, Boss Lu, can you calculate when I'll get a gold card?" Venti grinned, rubbing his hands eagerly.
Lu Heng shook his head. "Can't do that."
For the Cyber Fortune-Telling Method, the closer to the present, the more accurate the predictions.
For example, predictions for the next year were 95% accurate!
Beyond that, accuracy dropped significantly the further out you went.
People change, and a shift in personality could introduce variables.
As for calculating card drops, the card itself was only Tier 5!
Even with Lu Heng's Tier 9 equipment boosting it to Tier 6, it couldn't calculate a thing!
This was a limitation of the rules—no matter how powerful, it couldn't be done unless those rules were broken.
Even if Lu Heng could do it, he wouldn't set that precedent. Besides, he couldn't.
"Alright," Venti said, not holding out much hope.
After all, Lu Heng was a businessman.
It was like selling lottery tickets—would the seller tell you which one's a winner?
Well, maybe… but no, Lu Heng wouldn't spill the beans.
"When are you planning to release it?" Zhongli asked.
"It's already done up to Inazuma, so it's about time to release it," Lu Heng replied.
This Genshin Impact release had plenty of uses.
Selling character skill sets could rake in a lot!
Heh! The [Money is Power] card was shining brightly!
--------
T/N:
You'll also get 5 extra chapters just for being a free member!
Access 50 chapters in advance on my Patreon : p@treon.com/furinaimpact