"Boss, players are mentioning us like crazy," Durandal reported, half-smiling. "They say we should 'celebrate with the people'—maybe toss out a free ten-pull?"
Everyone knew it was mostly banter. A ten-pull still cost real money. But the primetime shout-out had the whole studio giddy; Durandal asked anyway, just in case Mo Li felt generous.
"A bonus ten-pull, huh…" Mo Li tapped the table, thought for a heartbeat, then shook his head. "Nope."
No one protested. Sensible. Then he grinned.
"Let's give them a 5-star selector instead."
The girls stared. They'd wanted to share the joy, yes—but not bankrupt the company.
"Th-that generous?"
"Boss, maybe… reconsider?"
"Even for lucky players, a 5-star can take sixty pulls…"
Mo Li waved it off. "Not the limited pool. Standard-banner only."
Ah. Shoulders dropped. Breathing resumed. A standard 5-star pick—still huge, but survivable. For most, that meant Mona was S-tier value; some free-to-play students might pick Diluc; die-hard cat-ear devotees would lock in Keqing just to pamper their queen.
"…wait." Rita raised a finger. "If we hand out a standard 5-star, won't it undercut Keqing's rate-up?"
Mo Li shrugged. "I never planned to milk Keqing's banner. She's getting a new outfit; the rate-up is just a party favour for fans."
Rita laughed softly. "Boss, you really aren't like the other capitalists, are you?"
Mo Li arched a brow. "Translation: I have some conscience, just not too much?"
"That's what you said." She smiled.
Durandal: "When do we announce this?"
"I'll post it," Mo Li said. "And… we'll make it fun."
—
Even past midnight, congratulations still poured into the official account. Then the channel pinged with a new upload:
[The First Pyro A of Teyvat]
[C0 R1 Hu Tao — 1,000,000+ Nuke]
The video opened on a Primo Geovishap den. Party: Hu Tao / Mona / Sucrose / Bennett. The music hit, and even Hu Tao's walk animation felt stylish.
Combat started. Mo Li swapped to Bennett—E to tag Pyro, intentionally ate the Geo lizard's hit to drop a Pyro Crystalize shard. Another E to reapply Pyro, baited the ice breath to self-inflict Cryo. Swap to Sucrose—E to Swirl Pyro off the boss, proccing VV shred and Sucrose's EM share, then Q to seed the field. Back to Bennett—Q for the ATK buff, pick up the Pyro shard for Archaic Petra fire-damage bonus. Mona Q to Omen and team buff via Noblesse/Instructor shenanigans. Finally Hu Tao—eat Mona's omen window, E, then Q.
The footage juddered into slow-mo.
[Melt]
[1,581,000]
Seven digits bloomed over the boss.
Chat collectively screamed.
[This is C0 R1 Hu Tao… hitting that?!]
[Okay but show the builds]
Mo Li cut to character sheets. C0, R1, nothing outrageous; Sucrose on halfway decent VV, Bennett with a 5-star sword. Mona and Bennett's artifacts? Purple junk at +0. It only made the number more absurd.
Nuke clips had trended before—none over a million. This shattered the ceiling.
[Dog-priest Otto delivers again]
[Oppression from beyond the patch notes]
[So… "First Pyro A" stands for… Apprentice Undertaker? (snrk)]
[Boss: eat well tonight, Hu Tao: I'll cook.]
[Do I pull Staff of Homa now or later…]
[I'm staring at my Dragon's Bane. My Hu Tao deserves better.]
Just as the clip seemed over, Hu Tao's voice cut in—newly recorded.
"Hehe~ Impressive, right? Boss said if this hit seven digits, he'd give everyone a 5-star selector.
"Yup—standard pool only!
"Mission accomplished. I'm off to make him keep his promise.
"Don't thank me; or, if you must—come book a Wangsheng package. I'll give you 30% off~"
Fade to black.
Boom.
Why a sudden free 5-star? The pre-stream didn't mention it. Anyone with a brain could connect the dots: the Evening News segment had just aired. Players had joked about a celebratory ten-pull; MiHuYou went bigger and cleaner.
If another big company got name-checked, they'd probably run wall-to-wall ads and sell a "Gratitude Pack." (Read: Grudge Pack.) MiHuYou? They just gave a selector—no fanfare, only a cheeky Hu Tao skit.
The announcement ricocheted through social feeds. Every player who saw it howled. It was that generous.
Next morning, some logged in to find an in-game mail:
From: Hu Tao
"Boss promised, this Hall Master delivered—don't forget to thank me (#^.^#)"
Attached: a 5-Star Selector (Standard) and a Primo Geovishap drop for flavour. People whooped like they'd won the lottery. Turns out, free tastes better than bought.
Side effect: Hu Tao's banner—already strong—spiked again in its final days, especially the weapon revenue. (Hello, Homa.)
—
Time blurred into celebration and countdowns. Mid-First Month on the calendar: many companies kicked off the New Year break. MiHuYou would too—after pushing the update live today. With the system and the studio's tooling, Mo Li wasn't worried about operations. He suspected most girls wouldn't travel anyway—many were orphans; their family was here now.
Ayaka and Yae Miko might fly back to Sakura Country. As for Eden and Elysia… surprise: the pair had already lit up a live room.
"Special holiday stream?" Mo Li mused, watching the viewer count rocket.
Eden's velvet voice hummed over the intro stinger. Elysia's pink silhouette twirled into frame with a wink.
"Good evening, Travelers. Two little gifts to celebrate the patch," Eden purred.
"And a third if you can guess what we prepared~" Elysia chimed. "Clue: it shines brighter than fireworks and sounds sweeter than Liyue's flutes."
Mo Li blinked, then smiled despite himself. "Those two… what are you planning this time?"
The countdown ticked—3… 2… 1… The Lantern Rite patch flipped green.
And on Eden & Elysia's stream, the "third gift" banner slid into view—just long enough for chat to explode—before the screen cut to black.
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