Chapter 8. End of Production
"Truly a fairy..."
His phone nearly slipped from his hand.
He slumped into the chair, his whole body suddenly weak, and slowly calmed his pounding heart.
But the jumble of thoughts in his head made him subconsciously open the photo album again, tap the picture from moments ago, and stare at the pink "fairy" with a charming, smiling face—as if she were sitting beside him, smiling at him.
Xander didn't look in a mirror, but he was sure his expression was downright embarrassing.
In his previous life, he was a youth who had just stepped out of the ivory tower, untempered by society, before everything ended.
In this life, he had only just passed a little over ten years of youth.
With that much experience, he could at best tease Seele a little.
If it were Bronya, he might not be able to handle her, let alone Elysia.
He hurriedly locked the photo, saved it, put down the phone, and stood up.
He should splash his face with cold water and calm down.
Otherwise, in this state, he probably wouldn't be able to get any work done.
The restroom was right next door.
Xander splashed cool water on his face a few times, took several steadying breaths, and indeed felt much better.
He wiped his face with a towel and sat back down at the computer in the studio.
Not long after he settled in, he suddenly remembered that Elysia could play the piano.
There had been a piano at the orphanage where Elysia had lived, and she had studied since she was little.
If possible, having Elysia perform the most important piano piece in the game seemed pretty nice.
But that should wait until he finished the game's main content.
The soundtrack could come later and wasn't urgent.
With that, he plunged into work again.
Even when Seele called him for dinner twice, he didn't notice.
...
"Hum-hum~"
Lying on a large circular sofa, Elysia tapped quickly on her phone while happily humming a brisk tune.
Her outfit matched the one in the photo: just a simple white dress.
Her hair, not yet tidied after getting up, was loosely tied behind her head, then spilled down along her back to her rounded, perky hips, making the curves beneath the thin white dress half-hidden and half-revealed.
Lower down, two slender, fair legs extended from the hem.
Her rosy, soft soles lifted and fell; the jade-like insteps gleamed with a captivating luster.
Meanwhile, her delicate toes wriggled playfully—cute and enticing.
"Is this the person you mention so often?"
A gentle voice drifted over from not far away, and the smiling Elysia lifted her head.
"That's right~"
Too lazy to get up, she rolled over on the sofa, inched along like a big caterpillar to Eden's side, and then lay on Eden's full, soft thighs.
Feeling the soft springiness behind her head, Elysia's eyes were full of contentment.
Eden was used to this sight.
She gave Elysia a helpless glance, then raised her hand and gently stroked Elysia's hair.
"That guy hasn't messaged me for more than a week.
My dear Eden, tell me—isn't this excessive?
To make a beautiful girl wait in loneliness for so long—what could be sadder than that?"
"So the Elysia who could no longer endure took the initiative to reach out?"
Sensing a hint of teasing in her friend's tone, Elysia squirmed in her arms with faint displeasure.
"What do you mean, 'could no longer endure'?
I just saw some beautiful scenery and thought of sharing it with my friends.
If I alone didn't send it to him, wouldn't that be too pitiful?"
Eden only smiled and said nothing.
She had noticed the chat window on Elysia's phone had never changed.
Half an hour passed.
Eden finished cup after cup of tea; her hand had almost petted Elysia's pink hair bald before she finally saw Elysia put away her phone in satisfaction and sit up to stretch.
"My dear Eden, I'm so hungry.
Come on—let's go have breakfast~"
Her face carried a faint flush as she coaxed Eden.
But Eden just sat there, unmoving, and looked at her with a rather resentful gaze.
"What's wrong, Eden~?"
After a brief silence, Eden pointed beneath herself and said calmly, "My leg's numb. I can't stand up."
"..."
The fairy finally felt shy.
....
With a little over two months to go before the Mini Game Festival, time flowed by amid busyness.
In the latter half of development, an onslaught of tedious problems left Xander with far less time to spend with Seele.
After learning that her brother wasn't making that kind of game, Seele moved a table into his studio.
When her brother worked, she helped with small tasks within her ability.
When she had nothing to do, she made little crafts she liked or pushed a small stool over to sit behind him.
She couldn't really understand the complex operations on the computer, but she liked watching her brother's earnest, focused look.
Propping her chin, cheeks flushed, she would daydream, who knows about what.
From time to time, Seele sliced some fruit and fed it to her brother, who didn't have time to eat.
After a little more than a month like this, the game's development finally approached its end.
"OK, the final check is complete.
No bugs occurred during the process."
Of course, Xander was only comforting himself by saying that.
Bugs are mysterious.
With players' boundless creativity, they can pop up in any strange place.
Basically no game designer dares to say their game has no bugs.
After so many rounds of testing, Xander only hoped there wouldn't be bugs that affect gameplay.
If that ended up disrupting the continuity of the story, that would be bad.
Leaning back in the chair, Xander stretched long and hard.
After keeping himself tense for so long for the sake of the game, he could finally relax a little.
He had already handed most of the music to a professional team, and he expected to receive the finished tracks soon.
As for the most important piece, his choice still hadn't changed.
It looked like he needed to talk to Elysia about it in the next couple of days.
There was one month left until the opening of the Mini Game Festival, and his project with Bronya had already been submitted through a newly established company.
As for the company, Xander asked Cocolia to help set it up, affiliating it under the vast Anti-Entropy Entertainment.
Although fifty percent of the profits had to be handed over, the saying "it's pleasant to rest in the shade of a big tree" was something Xander and Bronya understood.
With this backing, they could basically prevent any unfair competition.
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