Lu Mingliang also sighed with emotion, “Indeed, who could have thought that a casual remark by Boss Pei could actually have so much meaning!”
Ma Yiqun raised his thumb, “Devising a strategy for a victory far away; this indeed refers to Boss Pei!”
Pei Qian was being praised by everyone as his mind drew a blank.
What were they talking about? Why didn’t I understand anything?
Pei Qian tried hard to maintain his composure. “What has happened?”
Bao Xu came in front of Pei Qian. The normally calm and steady Bao Xu’s face was also now filled with admiration. “Boss Pei, you had said before to not allow us to divulge your true identity as well as Tengda’s employee benefits and salaries. Initially, I had only realized the first layer of your intention behind this.
“I thought that you didn’t want Tengda’s extremely high benefits to negatively impact the entire domestic games industry. Now, I finally know that there was another layer to this!
“Boss Pei, look at this article!”
Bao Xu handed over his phone as a news article read: ‘Getting a closer look at the mysterious Tengda Games: the domestic games industry Utopia!’
Pei Qian’s brows were raised high instinctively.
What the f*ck?! Who did this?!
As he scanned through the article, Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief.
Okay, not much damage had been done!
In this article, it had not mentioned his real name and nothing regarding Tengda’s benefits. The entire article didn’t even mention who the interviewee had been; it was not very reliable. However, what was it about this article, then?
Why was everyone so happy?
Seeing that Pei Qian had finished reading, Bao Xu couldn’t contain himself anymore as he carried on. He wasn’t someone who liked to boast. However, today, he really wanted to brag! On one hand, he hoped that he could gain Boss Pei’s recognition. On the other hand, he hoped that he could share with everyone such an elaborate plan!
“Boss Pei, you have purposely hidden your true identity as well as Tengda’s benefits; this strategy of misleading the enemy is really brilliant! Game Designer had relied on its high quality and exceptional ‘performance art-style marketing’ to create such a reputation for itself domestically.
“While Boss Pei’s Daily Life had also accrued much interest in the short video industry, resulting in much debate on it. However, I never would have thought that they were both parts of your strategy!
“Game Designer and Boss Pei’s Daily Life are like two burning flames. All Boss Pei had to do was lightly toss a spark, and the two had immolated and formed an even bigger flame that is now burning brighter and brighter!”
“This spark… was your misleading strategy!
“After this article came out, players and short videos viewers suddenly have grown much more interested in our company! If it was a real article, perhaps they might not be able to sustain their excitement.”
“However, this article’s misleading reporting has instantly triggered a huge amount of revelations, with the real and fake news mixed together. This topic has instantly become hot!
“Tengda Games’ as a topic has become a hot topic on Weibo, with a huge group of netizens being redirected. Some have been redirected to our current games while others have been diverted to the short video series! These two days, the popularity of all our games has increased; even The Lonely Desert Road as well!
“The short videos have done even better. Everyone episode’s average viewership has increased by three to four hundred thousand. Many are also curious: is Tengda’s boss like the Boss Pei in the short videos?
“I believe that the day Boss Pei’s real identity is made known, it will spark an even bigger wave! I’m just not sure when Boss Pei is preparing to toss this grenade; perhaps when we release our next game?
“I’m really looking forward to it!” Facing this surge of bootlicking, Pei Qian was really stunned to the core.
What was the meaning of this? I have already been buried in the ground. I thought that things couldn’t get any worse. Yet, you guys have even excavated my body?
Chapter 134 - To Bring Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s Success to Greater Heights!
Pei Qian did not fully understand Bao Xu’s words. However, he was certain of something. Something bad had happened again!
Originally, Pei Qian thought that he was suffering enough. Boss Pei’s Daily Life was making money; Game Designer was as well. He couldn’t seem to finish spending the System Funds.
Could anything else be worse?
The answer was… yes!
Due to an article, passers-by suddenly became very interested in Tengda. That led to a renewed wave of popularity for its games!
Pei Qian was even more dejected now.
What was this? This was the ups and downs of life…
However, thinking from another perspective, this wasn’t exactly bad news. He already couldn’t finish spending the System Funds! As he had no hopes left of making a loss—the more money he made, the more could be converted to his Personal Wealth. From this perspective, it seemed…
Not bad?
Pei Qian started to doubt his life.
“Today is a very joyous day. I suggest that we can take a group photo?” Zhu Xiaoce raised his DSLR as he shouted.
“Good idea!”
“Right, right! Let’s take a family portrait!”
“Come, everyone, stand properly!”
“Boss Pei, Boss Pei needs to be in the middle!”
Everyone started to shout over each other as they pushed Pei Qian to the middle.
Zhu Xiaoce half-squatted as he adroitly adjusted his DSLR. “Come, everyone, smile. One, two, three! Everyone, shout— ‘Congrats to our huge sales!’”
“Congrats to our huge sales!”
Everyone shouted in unison as broad smiles appeared on their faces.
Pei Qian stood among his employees as he heard everyone’s genuine ‘congratulations’ as he felt very conflicted. He was very sad that no matter how he tried, he was not going to be able to incur a loss this settlement. However, he actually somehow managed to convert a huge sum of money to his Personal Wealth, and that was a silver lining for him.
Hence, whether he should be happy or otherwise…
Pei Qian’s dejected expression was a little uncertain as he suddenly let out a slight grin.
Ka-cha!
Zhu Xiaoce pressed the shutter as a light flashed, and this scene was perfectly captured by the DSLR.
Pei Qian sighed slightly as he headed straight for his office. He just wanted to take the time to really calm down now and then seriously think about what was going on with this
world.
Zhu Xiaoce sent the photograph to his computer as everyone crowded around.
“Quick, send it to me.”
“Director Zhu’s photography skills are really good; he is indeed a professional.”
“Aye? What’s up with Boss Pei’s smile?”
“Enlarge it.”
“Enlarge it again.”
Everyone took a closer look at the computer screen. In the photo, Pei Qian had already been enlarged many times. Thanks to the DSLR’s high resolution, Pei Qian’s expression was crystal clear.
His eyes seemed to carry a faint melancholic feeling. However, his lips were curled upwards; he wasn’t forcing his smile, and it was a genuine one.
Zhu Xiaoce looked at Huang Sibo, and then at Bao Xu, and the others.
“Boss Pei’s smile…
“What does it mean?”
In the office…
Pei Qian was casually scrolling through the internet. Bao Xu’s words rang true! “Tengda Games’ had become a hot keyword search on Weibo, and netizens were passionately discussing this matter; some people had started to shoot out their ideas.
As this article was not substantiated, no one knew how much of it was true and how much was fake. Some people were actually providing some ex
plosive revelations. However, with the real and fake being mixed together, no one could actually distinguish between the two in a short time!
Pei Qian had managed to keep all this information a secret so well; that was mainly due to his reputation and presence in the company. Every Tengda employee felt indebted to Pei Qian and worshipped him. As Pei Qian had already clearly requested for no one to divulge his identity or the company benefits, everyone strictly abided by this.
Even if people like Ma Yiqun had secretly helped to publicize Tengda and had accepted an interview, he had kept in accordance with Pei Qian’s wishes. He was also never going to publicly state he was a Tengda employee!
Hence, the rumors flying now had both the real and the fake altogether; no one could confirm the information source.
This exclusive interview had stated it wanted to lift the veil off the mysterious Tengda. In the end, the veil had only been half-lifted; and no one could see behind it clearly! However, this feeling of guessing and uncertainty had made people even more curious!
Game Designer and Boss Pei’s Daily Life had joined together to form a blurry image of Tengda. As these two talking points merged, it had generated a perfect second wave of publicity!
Pei Qian opened a platform to take a look at the game statistics for the various games. Although the increase in players was not that fast, the increase was being seen across all four games! Even The Lonely Desert Road had welcomed a small high in downloads.
As for Boss Pei’s Daily Life and Aili Island’s exclusive agreement, every click on the former would be generated into actual earnings.
Pei Qian closed the platform. He was starting to doubt himself like never before. Was he really too gifted and whatever he did struck gold, and even if he meddled in things casually they could become successes?
That wasn’t possible.
Pei Qian knew his limits very well. Recalling his past successes, had they all been based on luck?
No, that wasn’t right.
Luck had indeed played a part. For example, if Teacher Qiao had not coincidentally found The Lonely Desert Road, this game would have flunked. However, to say it was all about luck; that wasn’t right. Besides that, there seemed to be deeper reasons; things that had been neglected by Pei Qian.
Pei Qian took his time to think deeply.
The Lonely Desert Road’s success had been its uniqueness. As for Ghost General, Ocean Stronghold, and Game Designer…
It was the same for these games! Although there was an element of chance to their success, there was a certain degree of assurance that they would have done well. On one hand, Pei Qian had wanted to go against the market flow and gamer’s tastes; he had pulled a stunt and done things a little more unique.
On the other hand-in order to make more money, Pei Qian had spent a huge amount of money on exquisite art resources, given out many bonuses and benefits while his employees’ motivation and eagerness had been raised to the highest level.
As such, a good quality new game had been born!
Pei Qian slapped his head.
“…so this is the reason; I had gone on the wrong track! I can’t do things this way! I’m really stupid! I actually should go with the flow while making games?”
“No, wait; that’s not right either…”
Pei Qian immediately rejected this notion.
Cases, where some companies had modeled their games on existing games and achieved resounding success, were plenty. Pei Qian’s company name had the word ‘Teng'[1] in it; this was not a joking matter.
“I need more time to think about this. Before I figure this out, all research and development of new games will stop. I can’t take any more risks. I have three money-making trees now. If I grow another one, I will be doomed.”
Pei Qian immediately decided to put a halt to any development of new games. Just nice, he had previously promised gamers to update and release new editions of previous games.
I’ll let Lu Mingliang and the others busy themselves with the existing games next week.
As per usual, he should be having a ‘first place elimination system’ next month.
However, Pei Qian didn’t want to eliminate Lu Mingliang. From the current situation, Lu Mingliang was someone who would be loyal to Pei Qian’s instructions; he wouldn’t add things here and there like Huang Sibo or Bao Xu.
Pei Qian was rather pleased with this.
Game Designer’s failure this time had more been Pei Qian’s fault. It wasn’t logical for him to push the blame to Lu Mingliang. Although the dubbing Lu Mingliang had done had made the game a success as well—as long as Pei Qian didn’t let him continue doing that for the next game, that would be fine.
As Pei Qian still had faith in Lu Mingliang, he wasn’t going to eliminate him easily. Most importantly, he was worried that if he changed Lu Mingliang for a second Huang Sibo, he would be doomed!
Hence, after consideration, Pei Qian decided to continue letting Lu Mingliang be the chief planner to just create some new editions for the current games. He would then fix a low price for the new editions. Although he would still make money, he’d try his best to make as little as possible.
If he wanted to incur losses, he had to find other ways to do so.
“I need to rectify my thinking. In that case, it’s clear what I should do to incur losses now. I need to bring Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s success to greater heights.
“I will open branches of it in Jingzhou City!”
One more week was left before this cycle ended, and it was time for settlement again. However, Pei Qian was already thinking ahead for the next settlement cycle.
Just like some BO5 competition-if one was already losing so badly, everyone could start to think about the next match already…
To date, Pei Qian’s most successful endeavor was Fish-Catching Internet Cafe! He had not been able to recoup the three million in initial capital while he was losing another three hundred thousand monthly; it was Pei Qian’s most successful experiment!
Hence, if he could use this experience and open more branches…
Wouldn’t he be able to make as much loss as he wanted?!
[1] ‘Teng’ in Chinese means to leap and jump higher.
Chapter 135 - Releasing New Editions!
April 30th, day of settlement…
The system screen automatically appeared in Pei Qian’s vision.
“I did not expect that just based on profits, almost forty thousand had been converted into my money…”
Pei Qian felt as if he couldn’t get a grip on this world.
A week before this settlement, that article regarding Tengda had made its games even more popular. With netizens discussing it avidly online, Tengda Games had attracted a huge group of new fans.
As a result, all the games under Tengda had experienced a huge influx in sales; even Boss Pei’s Daily Life’s viewership had increased rapidly!
The final amount in the System Funds had been more than two million one hundred thousand more than Pei Qian had estimated!
Pei Qian’s Personal Wealth had also reached more than eighty thousand yuan; it was at a record high.
The system screen continued to flash.
Pei Qian was still waiting; however, the screen actually stopped here. After a few seconds, it automatically grew dim.
“There isn’t a Special Task this time while the cycle has been shortened…”
“Isn’t that increasing the pressure on me?!”
Pei Qian had been waiting for the next Special Task. However, the Special Task seemed to be issued at random, and it wasn’t ordered this time. The settlement cycle had also been changed from three months to two months now.
The initial System Funds had been increased from one million to five million. As Pei Qian already had profit of four million nine hundred and ten thousand, the actual top-up had only been eighty thousand. This made Pei Qian a little vexed.
If he had successfully managed to incur losses of one million the previous cycle, not only could he have converted one million into his Personal Wealth, the system would also have automatically topped up to five million in System Funds.
Rounding it off, he had actually made a personal loss of one million!
Pei Qian was a little dejected. However, he soon recovered himself. He had already done his best in the previous cycle and had left everything else to fate. By the time he had discovered profits were coming in too quickly, it was already too late.
When it was not even a month left till settlement, Pei Qian could no longer pump in more money for new products. He couldn’t have any unreleased products before each settlement. If not, the settlement would be delayed; and Pei Qian would lose even more money.
From the results this time, to actually be able to convert forty thousand into Personal Wealth was actually still acceptable.
The very least, Pei Qian was now around the level of a white-collar worker that had an average income of thirteen thousand a month.
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