Mobius walked straight up to Hessian with a tablet in hand.
"Look at this!"
Hessian glanced at the tablet. It showed market attention surveys, and Honkai Impact 3rd's anticipation rating had now reached the very top.
"Isn't this good news?"
Mobius said: "Keep scrolling down."
Hessian continued downward.
There were viewer comments and messages:
"Where's the second episode? I'm just asking—where the hell is the damn second episode? It's been a whole week—why hasn't it been released yet?"
"Damn it! When exactly is the second episode coming out? Are you trying to kill us?"
"If you don't release the second episode soon, I'm heading to your company today!"
"You can't even produce a second episode in a week? What the hell do you people do?"
"Do you have to wait until the whole thing is finished before releasing? Why not release one episode at a time?"
"..."
Looking at these messages one after another, Hessian could only describe the mood with four words: public outrage boiling over.
Mobius said: "I thought everyone would just be eagerly anticipating the broadcast or something, but look at this..."
Hessian smiled and said: "Don't worry. They're just venting online—this proves our advance release was extremely successful."
"Sigh..."
Mobius let out a sigh: "I wish it were just venting."
"What do you mean?"
"Hessian, why don't you go downstairs and see for yourself? The viewers have already blocked the main entrance."
"Huh?"
Hessian was stunned: "Are the audiences here really this agitated?"
This was completely different from the world he knew before.
In his previous world, people would at most vent online and play keyboard warrior. In this world, they actually showed up in person offline?
Mobius nodded: "You'd better figure out a way to handle this quickly."
Kevin, who was eating noodles nearby, asked: "Director He, do you need me to step in?"
Hessian patted his shoulder: "Not yet. I'll take care of it. You hurry and finish the remaining special effects."
"No problem!"
Kevin set down his noodles and immediately started working frantically.
Hessian then headed downstairs to the company entrance.
Sure enough!
Just as Mobius had said.
Outside stood a massive, densely packed crowd. Some were local viewers who lived nearby, some had come to watch the excitement, and some were reporters from TV stations...
At that moment, Elysia was also coming down from upstairs, just about to step outside.
Hessian quickly pulled her back.
"Husband?"
Elysia looked at him in confusion.
Hessian said: "It's not time for you to appear yet. Leave this matter to me."
Whether for Elysia's own sake or for the subsequent plot of the drama, he couldn't let Elysia be exposed to the audience for the time being.
He walked out of the company alone.
The crowd immediately surrounded him.
"Hello, everyone. I am the overall person in charge of Honkai Impact 3rd, as well as the chief director and screenwriter. If you have any requests, just tell me directly."
Hearing his words, the crowd's emotions stabilized a bit.
One person shouted: "I don't have any demands—I just want to see the rest soon. Tell us when it'll air."
Hessian replied: "My company is currently discussing two options. One is to film and release one episode at a time, on a weekly schedule. The other is the traditional TV drama approach—film everything first, then broadcast all at once."
"How long would we have to wait for everything to be filmed?"
Someone immediately asked.
Hessian answered: "We've only just finished filming the second episode. Following normal TV drama production timelines on the market, it would still take about half a year."
Hearing this, everyone grew anxious.
"No way!"
"Too long!"
"We can't wait—we absolutely can't wait. After that opening, who could wait half a year?!"
"Exactly—release it right now, immediately!"
"Can't you film faster? Why drag it out like this?"
Hessian spread his hands: "My friends, it's not that I don't want to go faster. But you know the quality of this drama. Our company has limited funds and staff—this is already the fastest speed possible."
"Then film while releasing! So many anime do it that way now—TV dramas can learn from that too!" someone shouted from farther away.
The others all echoed in agreement.
"Yeah, yeah! We can wait for one episode a week."
"It's just money, right? We'll donate—film faster for us!"
"As long as you don't pull any disgusting membership-exclusive viewing nonsense, I'll donate money directly for you to film!"
Amid these voices of agreement,
the crowd had somehow unified around hoping for weekly episodes.
Hessian spoke at the right moment: "Then we'll go with your suggestion. From now on, Honkai Impact 3rd will adopt a weekly release schedule. The second episode will air tonight—please look forward to it."
"That's more like it! If you'd done this earlier, we wouldn't have blocked the door."
"This director's not bad—he knows how to adapt. Nice, nice!"
"You know what? I suddenly feel like I quite like this director."
"Hey! Director, do you appear in Honkai Impact 3rd yourself?"
A young girl standing closest to him asked.
Hessian gave a warm smile: "Of course—and very soon, I'll meet all of you on screen."
The girl pressed further: "Director, what's the name of the character you play?"
Hessian replied: "Otto, Otto Apocalypse! I hope you'll like him."