"You... can you hear our mental communication?"
"But aren't you of the Bear tribe?"
Dina and Dian were surprised that Ding Yun possessed the ability to hear their mental exchanges, and only then did they react to her suggestion of selling merchandise for investment.
Their eyes lit up as they exchanged glances.
They quickly began to discuss the matter.
Ding Yun soon joined the discussion, and also proposed her own ideas, essentially presenting her project plan to attract investors.
Ding Yun was quite knowledgeable in this regard and quickly suggested a plethora of merchandise related to herself.
For example, panda avatars, panda plush toys, panda comics, and even a panda holographic raising game, among others.
In short, there were so many things that could be developed.
Both physical and virtual products could be created.
Copyrights would also be easy to secure, as she could simply register the corresponding copyrights using herself as the model. Apart from the immigrant planet where they cohabitated, which had not yet established stable order and might pose some copyright issues, copyrights on the other three planets could be easily resolved.
This was because the primary copyright belonged to Ding Yun.
It belonged to Ding Yun herself.
Thus, the contract eventually agreed upon stipulated that Ding Yun would invest all copyrights and her own person, holding a fifty-one percent share. Dina and Dian would invest capital and be responsible for distribution, promotion, and marketing, jointly holding a forty-nine percent share.
After confirmation, the next steps involved registering the company, copyrights, brand name, brand logo, and so forth.
Once all these procedures were completed, Ding Yun would be off work.
Or, to be precise, she would be resigning.
However, this did not affect her collaboration with Dina and Dian. They had already added each other to their contact lists and created a small group chat for convenient communication.
...
After officially resigning and walking out of the martial arts hall, Ding Yun did not, as she had before, find a cave to rest. Instead, she picked some food from her portable gourmet planet.
Then, she carried the food home.
The original owner used to go home once a month on payday. But now that Ding Yun had completely resigned and had other avenues for earning money, there was no need to follow the old routine. She didn't even need to walk home like before. Instead, she specifically spent money on a taxi and arrived home in a short while.
This was another area where the infrastructure of the Beastmen Planet far surpassed that of the Imperial Star. Public transportation on the Imperial Star was almost all-encompassing and extremely cheap. With a regional monthly pass, one could travel anywhere within the region for a month.
With a global annual pass, one could travel anywhere in the world for a year.
Unlike the Beastmen Planet, which had virtually no public transportation facilities, taxi fares were quite expensive. Higher-end spatial portals were virtually nonexistent.
As it was late, around one or two in the morning, Ding Yun did not want to cause too much noise and wake her family. So, she quietly unlocked the door with her key and slipped inside.
She was incredibly cautious throughout the process.
It couldn't be helped. Their house was not large, and there were many people. Among the one hundred and ninety-eight children, although more than a dozen were under one year old and still resembled hamsters, the rest were now like underage children.
A house of about one hundred square meters.
Housing over a hundred children.
It was easy to imagine how crowded it would be. The bedrooms were full of children, the living room was full of children, and even the entranceway had children lying down to sleep. A large portion of those who had died were under a year old, still in their hamster-like forms, running or sleeping around. They were accidentally crushed or stepped on by other children.
Some were also accidentally crushed by the original owner's foster parents.
If Ding Yun were not careful, even if she didn't crush a few, she might injure several. After walking carefully for a long time, Ding Yun found a spot in the kitchen where no one was sleeping and began to take out various foods, storing them in the empty spaces.
Then, she realized she had miscalculated.
The food she had previously stored in oilcloth bundles was somewhat concealed, masking most of the aroma. Now that she had opened the bundles and taken out the delicacies one by one, the scent of the food immediately permeated from the kitchen.
It was no exaggeration to say that the original owner's siblings had rarely eaten their fill.
Because of this, they were extremely sensitive to the smell of food. As soon as the aroma spread, some people were startled awake from their sleep. Others, without even opening their eyes, ran towards the kitchen upon smelling the food. As more and more people woke up, saw Ding Yun and the food she had brought out, and began to snatch it up, Ding Yun's plan to return quietly was ruined.
The family quickly woke up.
And joined the scramble for food.
At this point, one could not blame them for their poor table manners, or for snatching food. After all, there were too many children, making it difficult to attend to each one individually. Coupled with the relative scarcity of food, if they were to be polite and yield to each other, they would go hungry.
It was even possible that they would starve to death.
Among the children who had died, some had succumbed to hunger because the original owner's parents could not adequately supervise them, and they often couldn't compete with other children for food.
However, with so many children and such low income, no matter how tragic, Ding Yun found it normal.
At this moment, she naturally would not criticize them. She could only bring out more food. Even using the darkness as cover, after emptying the food from the bundles, she continued to fetch food from her portable gourmet planet.
Only when she estimated that most of the family members should have eaten their fill, at least eighty to ninety percent full, and that eating more might strain their stomachs, did she stop and show them the empty bundles, sending the siblings away.
Afterward, she had the opportunity to inform her foster parents about her resignation. Ding Yun noticed that when she mentioned that she had quit all her jobs, her foster parents' expressions visibly soured and became quite worried.
Fortunately, Ding Yun quickly followed up by mentioning that a client had taken a liking to her image and intended to collaborate with her to develop various merchandise featuring her. She explained that the promotion and marketing would begin soon, and if successful, their family would no longer have to struggle financially.
Her foster parents' expressions improved slightly. However, the couple soon became worried about whether the merchandise sales would succeed. If it failed, and she had quit all her jobs, their family's income would be reduced by more than half. How would they manage?
For a time, they were deeply troubled.
However, Ding Yun did not indulge them. She was not like the original owner who always thought perfectly for them. After explaining the general situation, she turned and found a place to sleep.
The original owner had repaid her debt of gratitude with her life.
Ding Yun owed their family nothing!
Taking care of them was a matter of sentiment. Even if she didn't, she would feel no guilt, and certainly not feel like she owed them anything.