Chapter 462

"Stay calm and tell me slowly. What happened?" Hannah instantly abandoned the task at hand,her demeanor shifting into seriousness.

"Aurora Court Studio just unveiled the first batch of character CGs along with a trailer for their new game,Dustfall Era. The main heroes, environment structures, even the special attacks and effect animations mirror our Celestial Voyage! It's basically a duplicate!" Judie rattled it all out in one breath.

"And because they were ahead, now the entire web claims we copied them! With Celestial Voyage about to debut, I only noticed this now... It was my negligence!" Judie's voice was thick with self-reproach.

Seated behind her broad desk, Hannah tapped her fingertips against the wood, unshaken. "Being copied only proves our strength-strong enough to provoke envy. Since we're the ones being plagiarized, there's nothing to fear."

A fraction of Judie's panic eased, though unease lingered. "But Ms. Scott, the online voices are against us.Aurora Court Studio struck first-how should we respond?"

Hannah leaned into her chair, her gaze unwavering as she resolved her course."Issue the lawyér's notice.Simultaneously, set up a press briefing to reveal our authentic drafts and production records. Let the evidence speak for us."

Seeing Hannah's composed demeanor, Judie felt steadier and nodded quickly. "Yes, Ms. Scott! I'll take care of it right away!"

Judie brushed away perspiration from her brow and hurried out of Hannah's office.

Hannah dug into Aurora Court Studio's background and uncovered that the studio was actually a branch beneath the Jones Group. She pondered-Vincent was never the type to tolerate plagiarism among his subordinates. The real question was-who had leaked the core design drafts of Luminara Group's Celestial Voyage project?

Over at Aurora Court Studio-under the Jones Group yet operating independently in another office tower-the mood was celebratory.

Erica sat within her office, watching skyrocketing views and downloads of the Dustfall Era trailer on her computer screen, along with the tidal wave of online accusations that "Luminara Group plagiarized."

A frigid, victorious grin curved her mouth. She raised her coffee and drank with poise.

The last time at the Jones family estate, she had changed her mind. Instead of choosing to be an overlooked designer at the Jones Group's headquarters, she used one remark from Sharon to grab the role of head at an independent studio under the Jones umbrella. Only in this position could she claim a grander platform to flaunt her"brilliance."

Most of all, she knew Hannah was driven and relentless, a woman of ambition. To win Vincent's recognition,she had to mirror Hannah perfectly and accumulate victories. Getting too close to Vincent would simply expose her flaws and stir Vincent's suspicion and annoyance.

She understood that she needed to clash in the corporate arena as Hannah would-by proving herself through outcomes. Yet, she lacked interest in truly developing a game. She sought shortcuts-something to hook Vincent's attention fast. Thus, she chose the simplest path-plagiarism.

Since Celestial Voyage already commanded industry praise, she had paid heavily to have the project's core design drafts stolen from Luminara Group-then instructed her crew to duplicate them outright.

To seize momentum, she'd driven her team into nonstop work, forced an early preview, and immediately hired online agitators to reverse the story-accusing Luminara Group of theft.

"Ma'am!" Her assistant rushed in, brimming with excitement. "Public opinion is fully on our side-everyone's hammering Luminara Group for copying us! But they've just released their design draft timeline, so we must counter quickly."

Erica's grin wavered and then settled as her eyes glinted with scorn and cruelty. "Keep funding the trolls-let them shred Luminara Group apart. Claim the draft record is forged to deceive. We released first, so we own the narrative. Stick to our claims and make them convincing.Got it?" Overwhelmed by her harsh aura, the assistant nodded vigorously."Got it!"

After the assistant left, Erica's smug smile crept back onto her face. She lifted her phone, hunger and ambition flashing as she observed the soaring download numbers. Downloads had already broken the ten-million mark. Perfect. Soon, Vincent would witness her achievement.

Just then, his call appeared on her screen.