Not confident? Isn't that just perfect!

"Time is money, and progress is life! We need to go big for our next project!"

Pei Duoduo’s eyes blazed with a fierce fire.

So you’re good at making money, huh? What if I choose to go all-in on you?

A box office of three billion must be the limit of the Great Xia market, right?

"Going big!"

Qian Lang murmured, unable to suppress a heavy sigh in his heart.

Well, it made sense. No capitalist lacked ambition, and no boss ever complained about having too much money.

Since this film earned three billion, the next one would at least have to double that to six billion. After all, as many corporate annual meetings loved to boast: in business, performance is dignity, and profit is life! Anything else was just empty talk. If revenue didn't double, you might as well not play at all! After all, if rising administrative costs couldn't be covered, the company might as well just pack up and go bankrupt.

"Director Qian, I think those small-scale experiments from before were just too boring! I can offer an investment of one billion for the next film!"

Pei Duoduo lifted her chin with an air of proud arrogance.

In this life, if nothing else, one had to fight for a sense of pride. This was no longer just about money anymore. As a proud daughter of heaven holding a system in her hands, why was it so damn hard to lose money?

They say everything happens in threes! She refused to believe that she wouldn't fail on this third try!

An investment cost of one billion! The box office would need to reach over three billion just to break even.

However, she wouldn't let Qian Lang meticulously refine his work this time. The filming of *Little Soldier* had indeed been a misstep on her part, but one learns from their mistakes. No one succeeds easily!

Yet Pei Duoduo refused to yield to convention; she had plenty of time and money. Besides, the system had upgraded once again this time. The cash-back multiplier for a one-billion investment had reached five times!

In other words, no matter what kind of blockbuster Qian Lang managed to film this time, she would receive a cash-back of five billion. After all, the absolute limit of the Great Xia film market was three billion anyway!

Hahaha!

No wonder she hadn't been able to lose money before. So the system was planning to hit her with a massive payout right here!

Still, it took three films just to clear five billion. If she had lost money on every single project as intended previously, who knows how long she'd have to wait.

Not bad, not bad. Big Brother System really knew how to pamper her!

Pei Duoduo's mood brightened instantly. It wasn't that she wasn't allowed to lose money; the optimal timing just hadn't arrived yet. However, this next film was bound to fail completely!

"Fine then!"

Hearing that there was an investment of one billion, Qian Lang also grew ambitious.

Though capitalists were cold-blooded creatures, he had to admit that this was also an opportunity being handed to him!

Let's do this!

Even if he had to smash his rice bowl, he was going to do it!

Qian Lang suddenly surged with heroic spirit. "President Pei, the script will be ready in three hours. Just you wait and see!"

Heh, he wasn't just bragging. With the complete and utter success of *Little Soldier*, the treasury within his mind had been entirely unlocked. To put it simply, whatever movie he wanted to shoot, he could find the corresponding masterpiece with a single thought in his mind.

Didn't President Pei want to go big? Fine, he could play along!

He had already filmed ancient and modern settings; for the next project, he'd go with the future.

Haha!

This movie was guaranteed to blow your minds! A true sci-fi epic!

"So arrogant, huh? Why don't you perform live-writing the script right now? Who has the patience to wait three hours—why not finish it in one hour?"

Feeling pretty capable, are we?

Pei Duoduo felt it was time to turn up the heat. Perhaps the creative environment she had provided Qian Lang previously had been too relaxed, leading to his abnormal performance. Weren't people supposed to become foolish when being closely watched?

Heh, she would use this exact trick on Director Qian!

"Ah?"

Not expecting President Pei's behavior to become increasingly eccentric, Qian Lang was momentarily dumbfounded. However, even this couldn't stump him.

*Clack, clack, clack...*

The sound of rhythmic keyboard tapping echoed through the conference room. Qian Lang concentrated wholeheartedly, copying the script from his mind word for word.

However, because Pei Duoduo had only given him an hour, he had to pick up his typing speed, which inevitably led to quite a few typos. But none of that mattered; he would be the director when it came time to shoot. It wasn't like he didn't know what the script was truly trying to express.

The most important thing right now was to fulfill President Pei's request. After all, the boss had just invested one billion in him. Shouldn't he take the opportunity to demonstrate his ability to improvise on the spot?

This was nothing!

Qian Lang typed away diligently.

Meanwhile, Pei Duoduo's attention was completely captured by him. She leaned in closer to stare at the computer screen.

Heh, Director Qian actually looked the part right now. If she hadn't known he was a box-office flop of a director, she almost would have been bluffed by him.

But did he know who he was dealing with? Pei Duoduo's ability to "see through phenomena to the essence" was top-notch; nothing could hide its true form in front of her.

Qian Lang's first two movies had indeed achieved decent box office numbers, but that wasn't actually because his personal skill level was high. To put it bluntly, his luck was simply extraordinary.

For instance, *Crazy Stone* had picked up scraps because *Tai Chi* had slipped up, and *Little Soldier*? Well, that had also been because it picked up scraps left behind by *Tai Chi*!

Perhaps you thought this reasoning was far-fetched? But that was only because you didn't know the reason behind it.

There were only three movies released during the Spring Festival slot!

Why? Because the directors of Great Xia were timid!

Wasn't that just handing Qian Lang's movie a chance to pick up the leftovers? If there had been any other domestic film competing in the same window, it would have siphoned away a massive chunk of the box office.

After all, the Spring Festival was a traditional holiday in Great Xia. Could they possibly let foreign blockbuster movies take advantage during this time?

Definitely not!

Therefore, having seen through the essence of the matter, Pei Duoduo wasn't nervous in the least.

Just look at what kind of plot he was writing!

What is this about the sun nearing destruction? What is this about humanity trying to take the Earth away from the solar system?

Sci-fi movies! The most important thing for them is logic.

Yet what kind of nonsense is this? There is not a single shred of scientific basis!

Heh, if a story like this were put on the big screen, it probably wouldn't even fool a three-year-old!

Fantastic!

This movie is guaranteed to bomb!

That five billion is safely in the bag!

Hoh, hoh, hoh.

Pei Duoduo's mouth curved upward into a smile that was harder to suppress than an assault rifle.

*Clack, clack, clack...*

Qian Lang typed the very last character, and Pei Duoduo finished reading through the script at the same time.

"So, what do you think the market prospects for this film are?"

She pressed down the corners of her mouth, putting on a cautious expression as she asked, as if she genuinely cared about that one-billion-dollar investment.

"For sci-fi films, market prospects are hard to depict with raw data. I can only say that if it's good, it'll be exceptionally good, but if it's bad, it'll be disastrously bad!"

Qian Lang gave a noncommittal answer.

How should he put it? Great Xia was different from the Blue Star of his past life. Here, sci-fi was still an uncultivated virgin field. To be honest, he didn't know how receptive Great Xia's moviegoers would be either. However, although *The Wandering Earth* had a sci-fi exterior, at its core, it was still an engaging story.

Actually, the outward appearance didn't matter all that much; what mattered was the engaging core of the story. If Pei Duoduo hadn't invested one billion, and if he hadn't already filmed ancient and modern settings and wanted to try something different this time, sticking with any other genre would have been fine.

But no other movie could burn through an investment cost of one billion, so he had no choice but to select *The Wandering Earth*. After all, this movie had been verified by the market, pulling in a box office of over five billion—it could be called a milestone in Chinese sci-fi cinema!

In this world, hadn't foreign films always been suppressing the movies of Great Xia?

Well, this film could definitely deliver the ultimate counterattack against them.

Three films would reveal the truth. Qian Lang also harbored his own little secrets. With this move, he was fully branching out in his filmmaking career.

"Oh, so you're not confident?"

Pei Duoduo raised an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth twitching upward involuntarily once again.

Wasn't that just perfect?!

It seemed Qian Lang had been blinded by excitement. He actually dared to adapt such an uncertain script into a movie?

Still, this reckless attitude of his was precisely what she wanted!

Wasn't that five billion basically gift-wrapped and handed to her this time?

Hahahaha.

It was an absolute certainty!