On screen, the drone skimmed rapidly across the lake's surface.
Bridges in the distance and towering skyscrapers slid by, while white Honkai beasts occasionally flashed past.
Kiana had just finished her call with Himeko.
Zhang Ming realized—this was where the gameplay began.
Suddenly, several scythe-wielding girls appeared on the drone's deck.
Kiana drew her twin pistols and launched into a fluid display of gun-kata.
From the impact effects to the combat smoothness, everything looked perfect.
"This… is really a mobile game?"
"Even the monsters are cute girls? The devs really get what the two-dimensional crowd wants!"
Watching, Zhang Ming felt almost as if he were there—standing atop a speeding drone, sea wind in his face, warm sunlight spilling over him, and a bright, energetic girl's voice ringing in his ears.
Kiana: "Aunt Himeko, I've cleared all the Honkai beasts!"
Himeko: "How many times have I told you—call me Teacher Himeko!"
The video ended there.
Zhang Ming took a deep breath, tamping down his excitement, and played it again.
By the second viewing, his thrill only grew stronger.
When he reopened the group chat, sure enough, everyone was talking about this game.
"Holy crap! You sure this isn't from some new anime?"
"Seriously, this art style is beautiful. It's hitting me right in the feels…"
"I'm hyped too, but… could this just be clever marketing? You know—polished trailer, garbage game?"
"Didn't you see the big text? [Actual In-Game Footage]."
"Penguin's Civilization Clash also claimed that, but the final product was trash."
"Ahem—Penguin called theirs 'Game Recording', not 'In-Game Footage'."
"That's a Penguin-invented term meaning 'what you see is not what you get.' This Honkai Impact 3 actually says 'in-game footage.'"
"Damn, I'm sold. Pre-ordered!"
"I looked up this studio—they've only made one game before, and it flopped."
"Not gonna lie, I played it—called Save the Girl. Gameplay was meh, but it was super earnest. You could tell the devs cared."
"Yeah, reviews were great, but the gameplay was weak."
"This new one is on a whole different level though. I'm excited."
"Excitement +1."
Meanwhile, the promotional blitz for Honkai Impact 3rd on Douyin and Bilibili hadn't slowed down.
Of those who watched the trailer, 90% said they were hyped, and many were captivated by the 3D anime-style rendering.
It had to be said—Mo Li's choice of these two main promo channels was explosively effective.
At the studio, the girls were buzzing over the reservation numbers on the official site.
"Insane! It's only been three days and we've already hit one million pre-orders!"
Bronya nodded slightly, just as shocked inside.
"At this rate, when the game launches, we could be looking at tens of millions of players."
Everyone instinctively turned toward the recording booth.
Inside, Mo Li was directing Mei's voice acting session.
"What I really want to know is—how did the boss get Kiana's voice?"
Durandal's comment drew a round of curious glances toward Mo Li.
"That's easy…" Rita smiled. "When he comes out, we can just ask him."
"Oh? He's coming out now!"
Right then, Mei's recording wrapped up.
Seeing all the strange looks, Mo Li shifted uncomfortably.
"What? Why are you all staring at me like that?"
Durandal thought for a moment before speaking slowly:
"Boss, my sister's still in school. How exactly did you get Kiana's voice?"
"Oh, that? Didn't I say before—everything in this game was done by me, alone?"
He took a sip of water before continuing:
"Same goes for the voices. I just adjusted my own voice to match each character's personality."
"But now that you're all here, the role-specific voices will be yours."
The group clearly didn't buy it.
Mo Li just smiled and didn't bother proving it.
Glancing at the pre-order counter, he quickly changed the subject:
"Whoa—already at a million reservations."
That got everyone's excitement flowing again.
"Can't believe we hit seven figures in just three days…"
"And our TapTap rating is sitting at 9.8…" Bronya's gaze toward Mo Li carried a hint of admiration.
Despite her usual cool, expressionless demeanor, Bronya was a hardcore gamer.
From gameplay to visuals to story, she loved Honkai Impact 3rd.
Naturally, she had immense respect for Mo Li, the one-man force behind it.
She knew she could never make something this polished herself.
If she'd been skeptical of Mo Li at first, now she was fully on board.
And over these past days, Mo Li had never once looked at them with any hint of impropriety—he treated them as normal friends.
Because of that, they now followed his work arrangements without question.
"Boss, is version 1.2 finished?"
"Yep," Mo Li nodded. "Just waiting for launch in half a month."
"Then… how are we pricing the game?"
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