"Little kitty? Wow! So cute!"
The female colleague next to Leon String looked at his doodle, unable to take her eyes off it.
"Leon, why don't you submit such a good design to Ms. Merry?"
Huh???
Whoosh—
In an instant!
All eyes in the meeting room turned toward them.
Especially the colleagues from the design department, who looked at Leon with desperate expressions!
"What? Let me see!"
Thud, thud, thud!
Julia Lee quickly walked over.
Right now, she was just putting on a brave face, trying to cover up her anxiety with anger.
But deep down, she was more nervous than anyone else!
Although Olivia Zhao was sitting silently in her chair, everyone could tell that she was very dissatisfied! Very angry!
Smack.
Julia Lee quickly grabbed Leon's sketch paper.
Gradually...
Her breathing steadied, the fire in her eyes seemed to extinguish.
"You... you this..."
Julia scratched her head, smacked her lips, and said:
"This... I think it's pretty good!"
Julia placed the draft in front of Olivia Zhao:
"Mr. John... please take a look. This is the image Leon String designed for our new brand."
After the paper was placed down, everyone got up from their chairs, craning their necks to look.
On the white A4 paper, there was nothing extra.
Just a few strokes outlining an animated cat mask.
Simple.
Refreshing.
Extreme lines.
But every inch of expression and detail was captured perfectly.
Even though it was just a simple black ink drawing... the cat's cuteness and energy seemed to leap off the paper as if it were alive!
For a moment, everyone was talking:
"Wow... this cat head that Leon drew is amazing! It has an indescribable charm and delicacy."
"This, this looks even cuter than Hello Kitty. Kitty is too ladylike, and it doesn't have a mouth. But Leon's cat gives off a more youthful, vibrant vibe!"
"Young, girly, youthful, vibrant... Leon's cat perfectly matches the keywords of our new brand! Amazing, Leon, why didn't you show this design earlier?"
"A good brand image needs to be simple enough to have strong recognition and be easy to spread. In this regard... Leon's cat has the same brilliance as Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse, and Doraemon."
...
This cute and simple animated cat mask received unanimous praise from the design department!
Julia Lee, who had been holding her breath, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She looked timidly at Mr. John...
Waiting for her to speak.
Olivia Zhao.
She was the founder and current chairman of MX Corporation.
After returning from studying abroad, she founded MX Beauty Company. In less than two years, it had gained some fame among young people.
Beautiful, charismatic, capable, and talented—she was like a protagonist straight out of a modern novel!
At this moment, she was staring intently at the sketch paper in front of her, lost in thought.
Everyone was waiting for her to speak!
Finally...
Olivia Zhao's eyebrows relaxed:
"Not bad."
"Right... right, Mr. John! Hahaha, you see, our design team has some real talent!"
Seeing her crisis resolved, Julia Lee began praising Leon String wildly:
"Leon is the secret weapon of our team! The anchor! The rock! Ahem... for such artistic talent, I always give them absolute creative freedom, never interfering or asking too much."
"Leon, please tell Mr. John how you came up with this cat image? What inspired you?"
Olivia Zhao also lifted her head, looking at Leon with some expectation.
"I dreamed it."
Leon spoke the truth.
"Leon, you! Sigh..."
Julia Lee sighed helplessly.
This was... such a good opportunity to showcase your talent! This silly kid doesn't appreciate it at all!
Several colleagues were amused by Leon's words—how daring!
Olivia Zhao, however, smiled and nodded:
"Daydreaming leads to dreams at night. Many great inventions in history were completed in dreams."
"Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, after three days and nights of exhaustion, dreamed of arranging the Periodic Table of Elements."
"Einstein was also inspired by a dream of skiing, which led him to think about the effects of light speed and thus proposed the Special Theory of Relativity."
"But it can't be denied that without prior effort and accumulation, dreaming alone wouldn't lead to success. I believe Leon... must have put in a lot of effort for this project."
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!!!
Someone started it, and soon the entire meeting room erupted in applause for Leon.
Leon felt a bit embarrassed.
He didn't quite deserve it.
"But..."
After the applause died down, Olivia Zhao picked up the sketch paper again, looking at the cute cat head and said:
"A cat head alone is definitely not enough. Whether it's for printing packaging, making posters, or doing brand collaborations... we need a full-body image."
"Including limbs, clothes, shoes... Although these can be changed later, we need an original design to refer to."
Olivia Zhao put down the sketch paper and looked at Leon:
"Leon, could you also draw the body and attire for this cat?"
After hearing Olivia Zhao's words, everyone realized they had celebrated too early.
Indeed.
A head alone isn't enough!
What would this cartoon cat's body look like? What proportions? What pose? What clothes? What shoes?
Everyone looked expectantly at Leon.
At this moment, Leon... was strategically sipping water.
This...
He took a sip of tea.
The mask of Chubby Cat only had a cat head; who knows what the cat's body looks like!
But this didn't stump Leon.
The one who ties the bell must untie it.
He just needed to go back into the dream and ask Chubby Cat again about the origin of the mask.
"No problem."
Leon put down his teacup:
"The design drafts are at home; I'll bring them tomorrow."
...
Night.
After washing up.
Leon glanced at the clock by his bed—it was 21:01.
Through yesterday's dream, Leon had pieced together the whole story—
It all started with Chubby Cat and that female codebreaker agreeing to rob a bank together.
They didn't know each other, so they agreed on a **code word**.
The one wearing the animated cat mask was Chubby Cat.
The one wearing the Ultraman mask was the codebreaker.
Yesterday, it was because Leon had casually picked up an Ultraman mask and put it on that Chubby Cat mistook him for the codebreaker and took him to rob the bank.
"Therefore, all I need to do today is to wear the Ultraman mask just like yesterday... Chubby Cat will definitely appear again."
Leon closed the window.
Having experienced yesterday's winter chill, he made sure to add an extra layer of blankets today.
He set his alarm, placed his phone on the bedside table, and turned off the light.
"Time to sleep."
...
...
Whoosh!
A warm summer breeze brushed by, and Leon smelled the fresh scent of tender green leaves.
He opened his eyes.
On the brightly lit square, children were chasing each other.
"Hee hee hee! Catch me! Catch me!"
"Take this! Ultraman Slide!"
"I want Fruit Pops! Wah wah wah, boo hoo hoo!"
"I don't want to go home! I still want to play!"
"Mom! I want to ride my bike!"
Leon looked up at the electronic billboard standing in the center of the square. The time was displayed in the upper right corner—
[August 28, 2624]
[21:37:17]
...
[21:37:18]
...
[21:37:19]
...
[21:37:20]
...
