<h4>Chapter 396 - An Emperor And A Lord </h4>


    The news only showed a few snippets of the actual interview. CEO Hou Liang mostly talked about the game Supreme Ascension, while CFO Wu Chen talked about theirpany, Monkey.


    "There are several rumours about the identity of Monkey’s owner and president. Some say that the owner is a rich young master, while there are hearsays iming that the owner is a beautiful youngdy. Can you tell us which of these rumours is true? Or better yet, tell us his or her real identity," the interviewer asked.


    Wu Chen chuckled mysteriously. "We’re not going to reveal our President-Owner’s real identity yet, but I’ll say this to all of you now. Make sure to record it. Our owner is a beautiful youngdy who is also filthy rich. How else can we establish apany like Monkey so quickly and so sessfully?"


    The interview snippets finally ended, and then the morning news went on amercial break immediately after.


    Inside the café, Zhou Mei’er and Ming Li looked at each other in disbelief. They knew that theirrades, iEatSlippers and Monkeyface, were busy running their newpany. However, they thought that what they were working on was just a small business, perhaps an online store or something.


    They never expected that thepany of those two was actually the developer of thetest hit game Supreme Ascension. The most impressive thing was that they were the CEO and CFO!


    Zhou Mei’er and Ming Li both reached for their phones at the same time. They immediately logged in to the ck Stars home page. The other ck Stars already started discussing about Hou Liang and Wu Chen after watching them in the morning news.


    "Holy shit! My mighty slippers are shook! Did I just watch our troll leader iEatSlippers and strategist Monkeyface on TV?"


    "They’re the CEO and CFO of Monkey!!! They’re the ones who created Supreme Ascension!!! Damn!!! I kowtow to their awesomeness!!!"


    "Those of you who haven’t yed Supreme Ascension yet, what are you waiting for? Go start ying now and let’s all support our tworades!"


    "Uwah! This is so amazing! If I ask the two of them for game cheats, do you think they’ll give me some?"


    For the first time ever in the history of the fan club, the ck Stars enthusiastically discussed in length something that was unrted to their Boss Iris. (They still had no idea that Iris Long was actually the President-Owner of Monkey and the direct boss of both Hou Liang and Wu Chen in the truest sense of the word.)


    Everyone cheered for their fellowrades, iEatSlippers and Monkeyface. They all felt proud of the two for their incredible aplishment.


    CaptainckStar: "Congrattions to our brothers iEatSlippers and Monkeyface! All of us ck Stars are extremely proud of the two of you! We wish you more sess! Reach the top of the gaming industry! You can do it! But please don’t forget about us. We’ll always berades forever and ever!


    LittlePhoenix: "Calling all the members of the Slippers Army! Assemble! Let’s all log into Supreme Ascension and wave our mighty slippers in support of our brothers iEatSlippers and Monkeyface! We’re gonna take over the game with our Slippers Army under the ck Stars banner! Let’s go!!!"


    Within half an hour, a horde of ck Stars, specifically members of the Slippers Army, flooded the game’s global chat. They congratted theirrades who were also the CEO and CFO of Monkey.


    Emperor Monkey: "Thank you. Enjoy the game."


    I Am Slipperlord: "Yes! All of the ck Stars, especially my beloved Slippers Army, are always wee here! Let me see you wave those mighty slippers!"


    These two replies caused an uproar, not only among the Slippers Army and ck Stars, but also among all the yers of the game. The usernames of these two were different among the rest of the yers. They were written in sparkling gold and were decorated with special badges, indicating that they worked at Monkey.


    These two characters, Emperor Monkey and I Am Slipperlord, were known among the yers. They frequently yed with the regr yers, personally testing the game experience themselves.


    The yers thought that these two were just regr staff members of Monkey. They never expected that they were actually ying with the CEO and CFO. Many yers suddenly felt star-struck, especially at Emperor Monkey, who they now knew as the one who originally created the game Supreme Ascension.


    Commander ck Star: "I’m not used to ying this game, so I don’t really know how things work here. I just want to say congrattions to Emperor Monkey and I Am Slipperlord for making the ck Stars proud."


    Lady Phoenix: "An emperor and a lord! Wow! You’re so cool, big brothers! We proudly wave our mighty slippers for the two of you!"


    "All hail the emperor of monkeys!"


    "All hail the lord of slippers!"


    Lady Phoenix: "Big Bros @Emperor Monkey & @I Am Slipperlord, I humbly request that you grant our wish to make it possible for our characters to literally wave our slippers in the game."


    Other yersughed at her request. However...


    Emperor Monkey: "Sure. Will work on it asap."


    I Am Slipperlord: "For the sake of my Slipper Army and the ck Stars, thy wish shall be granted!"


    Huh.


    The other yers couldn’t believe how easily the game developers epted such a trivial request. Was it because they were members of the ck Stars/Slippers Army?


    What was the point of allowing characters to wave their footwear in the air? Would it help them level up? Could it be a fighting move?


    Slipper p! Slipper kick! Boomerang slippers! Slipper cannon! Or something?


    "Uhm...I think I’m gonna join the ck Stars...Maybe my requests will be granted easily too."


    "Me too..."


    And with that, the ck Stars had grown in number once again. Likewise, the game Supreme Ascension weed a new wave of yers in a short period of time, boosting its poprity even further in the industry rankings.


    The ck Stars all created game ounts in droves and began ying just for the sake of supporting their fellowrades.


    Unbeknown to them, they were also supporting their Boss Iris this way. It was a win-win situation, connecting them to each other and even to their Boss Iris without their knowledge.


    ###


    In a dressing room, Iris sat on a make-up chair getting her hair and make-up done. She was getting ready for a magazine photoshoot and interview.


    At the moment, she was talking with an excited Wu Chen on the phone. He was reporting to her about what happened with the ck Stars, how they reacted after learning that he and Hou Liang were the top executives of Monkey.


    "The ck Stars are the best," shemented, extremely pleased at what happened.


    Afterwards, the two finally discussed the main purpose of the call.


    As the CFO, Wu Chen called to update her of Monkey’s current finances. They had invested a great deal of their funds to acquire thetest technologies to boost their game development.


    Iris connected with her fellow Cross Academy student, the taciturn Michael Exlorsson who was also a genius mechatronics engineer.


    Although she wasn’t close to himpared to her friendship with thedies and even with Amanpio Kileksky, she didn’t hesitate to contact Michael for some advice regarding her gamingpany.


    In the end, Michael Exlorsson agreed to customize and licence some of histest technologies to herpany for a fee. After an intense negotiation via video chat, he agreed to give her a 40% discount from his original asking price for their connection as fellow Cross Academy students. But even then, the fee that she had to pay was still extremely expensive.


    Despite this, she still willingly paid because she was confident in the quality of his work, not to mention that herpany, Monkey, would be the first in the world tomercially apply thesetest technologies.


    This head start would allow Monkey to develop more quicklypared to itspetitors.


    At the moment, Hou Liang and his colleagues were gradually starting to use these technologies in their game development and apply it on Supreme Ascension.


    In the process, Hou Liang’s team was also able to develop their own technology which they nned on patenting under Monkey’s name. It wasn’t as advanced as Michael’s, but it suited their own needs.


    The results of using all of these advanced technologies were so impressive that an inquiry wasunched by industry experts and the other gamingpanies. They wanted to know Monkey’s secret as to how Supreme Ascension could improve so much in such a short period of time. For now, Monkey had no intentions of revealing their secrets.


    After the phone call with Wu Chen, Iris sat back in her make-up chair. Wu Chen shared great news. Although their technology investments hurt their funds, they were now starting to really profit. Their profits increased significantly after they broke through the top ten most poprputer games in the country.


    Iris was very pleased at Monkey’s progress so far. As a matter of fact, it exceed all of her initial expectations.


    "If our international release of Supreme Ascension is sessfulter this year, I think I can finally apply for Monkey to be a member of the academy’s exclusive businesswork," she murmured.