‘Thriller’ implied ‘being frightened without cause or reason’ or ‘a heart suddenly racing’. In other words, the fear might not come from jumpscares or a horrifying atmosphere. Instead, it would arise out of an unknown ominous feeling invoked by an ordinary-looking environment!
Qiao Liang was elated. He was a few steps away from cracking this code!
He quickly entered the Mandarin words for Thriller Hostel into the search bar. Indeed, the webpage changed at once!
All of the information that had been on TPDb’s website disappeared. Black circles appeared one by one… until the entire website was dyed black.
After that, two input fields appeared in the center of the screen, at eye-level.
There were no hints around the input fieldsjust two empty rectangles.
Qiao Liang typed both answers to the codes into the fields and then clicked ‘enter’. However, there was no reaction.
After some thought, he typed his Tengda account username and password and clicked ‘enter’ again.
Still no reaction!
Qiao Liang, “…”
He tried many other things such as the two earliest series of alphabets, the two double pinyin, the Mandarin words, and the like. Yet, nothing happened.
Thinking that he should not have clicked ‘enter’, he tried the spacebar, CTRL, Tab, Shift, and other keys… but to no avail!
He typed his account’s username and password in reverse, but that didn’t work either!
eve
After half an hour of trying, Qiao Liang felt lightheaded.
He had tried so many combinations, but the two input fields remained on the website. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get past them!
Qiao Liang calmed down and read through his fan’s chat group. Indeed, no one else could find the right answers as well. Everyone was stuck at the two input fields.
Nobody knew what to type there!
Qiao Liang stopped trying and pondered hard instead.
Obviously, until now, everyone was on the right track.
However, they were stuck at this point because they were still missing some critical information. As for what exactly they should enter, no one had any clear direction. Qiao Liang frowned, thinking about all of the possibilities.
“Are there more clues hidden in other games? Are there clear instructions for what we should type into the input fields?
“Or am I missing something?
“Until now, not a single gamer has passed this step. Obviously, this is another puzzle for everyone to solve…”
At that moment, Pei Qian sat in his office, reading forums about how far the gamers had gone in solving the riddle.
“…What the f*ck? They’ve found the clue in Game Designer so quickly?” It was a huge blow for him.
He had thought that he had hidden the clue in Game Designer well enough. He had thought it would take a long time for the gamers to find it.
That was because there were many endings in Game Designer. Few people ended up losing everything. Most would only have to make a few right choices to avoid it altogether.
Coincidentally, that was the ending that Pei Qian liked and looked forward to the most. That was why he hid the second series of codes in the corner of the second last scene of that ending.
Yet, not long after the first series of codes had been solved, the second had been found and cracked at the speed of light!
Of course, that was mainly because Pei Qian had not used other encryption methods. There was only one additional step that was relatively simpler to solve—the Morse code.
Gamers who cracked the first code would just have to apply what they had learned to the second code.
Pei Qian had wanted to make it more complicated at first, but time had been too tight and Pei Qian had not had enough knowledge. Since he refused to ask for help, he had decided to slack off, in the hopes that people would not find the second series of codes so quickly.
However, he had ended up slapping himself in the face. The gamers were too crazy!
On the bright side, there was still one-third of the riddle left. That was the last line of defense.
“It has to hang on!”
Pei Qian glanced at the calendar. There were still three weeks to settlement. It would be impossible to stop all gamers from buying Be Quiet, but as long as the riddle could prevent some gamers from purchasing the game before settlement, Pei Qian’s work would not be wasted!
After that, Pei Qian went online to see what the public had to say about Otto E1.
Two days had passed since the news conference. The first batch of reviewers’ videos and reports had been published, and the news conference’s popularity hit its peak yesterday.
The long script that Chang You had recited had become a hot topic of discussion. Many netizens were challenging themselves to recite the same script, and a good number had also recorded themselves and uploaded their videos on Aili Island. They had many views.
The original video of the news conference had also been uploaded on Aili Island. Now, it was already among the top three videos in the digital channel and had also risen through the homepage.
Ordinarily, news conferences by tech brands would not make it to the top of the charts.
That was because the content of other brands’ news conferences normally had low information density, regardless of whether they were releasing computers, cell phones, or other digital products. Most of what was said in the news conference was part of marketing and could be summarized in just a couple of sentences.
What’s more, huge manufacturers would livestream their news conferences. Those who were interested would already have watched it live and would not need to watch the video again.
Thus, videos of news conferences normally had very few views.
On the other hand, diss-type videos that could summarize the content in news conferences in three to five minutes were more popular.
Yet, the situation was entirely different for Otto Technologies’ news conference.
Firstly, the news conference had been very brief. Everything had been condensed into an hour. What’s more, it was funny and entertaining and had high-information density.
On top of that, many people online had not even paid attention to the news conference. They had only found out about it after Chang You’s recitation became a hot search. Then, they watched the video to find out what the fuss was all about.
Thus, the news conference’s video gained many views. The problems of low interest during the livestream and low visibility online had been solved!
Additionally, none of the huge manufacturers had held news conferences lately. UP Masters in the digital products channel could create videos reviewing Otto E1. Thus, the cell phone became the center of attention of a lot of lovers of digital products!
Pei Qian carefully watched all the reviews of Otto E1. He had mixed feelings about it. The downside was that the reviewers had said a lot of good things about the cell phone!
While recommending the cell phone, many reviewers explained its merits in full detail. They said that the cell phone had ‘solid hardware’ and then went on to explain all the advantages mentioned.
Those were probably withdrawal symptoms of Tengda providing them with food, lodging, and gifts during the news conference.
The upside was that the cell phone’s popularity was inducing effects of reverse psychology on netizens!
Although reviewers had good things to say about the cell phone, its bad points had also surfaced: it was expensive, heavy, and difficult to snatch!
Its price and weight went without saying. The cell phone was undoubtedly worthy of being called ‘a 250-gram machine’. At the same time, it was being referred to as a ‘cell phone for the rich’ and a ‘product with an IQ tax’. Although it was a misunderstanding, it still confused some bystanders.
However, Chang You had already fully and comprehensively explained both of those problems during the news conference. Thus, the dissing ta
king place online was insignificant now.
Neither of those points caused much of a reaction. Instead, it led to Otto E1 being labeled as a ‘very valuable[1] product’.
The most important flaw was that it was hard to snatch. Many netizens took this as a sign that the sales event had an ulterior motive!
[1] The word ‘valuable’ combines the words ‘expensive’ and ‘heavy’ in Mandarin.
Chapter 444 - He Desheng, the Expert at Bargaining
Chapter 444 He Desheng, the Expert at Bargaining
Most people online were debating about how only a thousand cell phones were available for sale. There were many complaints.
“I’ve seen many resort to hunger marketing, but this is the first time I’m witnessing a company be so open about it!”
“That’s right. Others prepare tens or hundreds of thousands of cell phones even if they’re employing hunger marketing. Yet, this company is only preparing a thousand cell phones. It even gave the impression that their cell phones were ‘extremely popular’ during the news conference. It’s a trap for sure!”
“Even the audience at the news conference was probably hired, right?”
“I don’t think it’s just the live audience. The reviewers were probably paid as well!”
“The manufacturers could have allowed scalpers to order the cell phones in advance, so that they can act like the cell phones ‘sold out on the spot’. The scalpers would then raise the prices of the cell phones. That’ll be the perfect plan! They’re colluding to cheat fools; the manufacturer and the scalpers would profit!” “They’re engaging the help of scalpers!” “Forget it, forget it. The cell phone’s obviously not really for sale. Please, don’t tell me news about it anymore!”
“Let’s watch and see. The company will continue to employ hunger marketing for the cell phones for sure. Each time, they would only sell a thousand cell phones and act like they ran out of stocks. That would create the illusion that everyone’s fighting for the cell phones, so that its high price can be justified.
“Once they prepare adequate stocks, people would quickly realize that the cell phones weren’t worth the price after all. Then, the company would collapse at once!” “Many people must be coming to their senses now, right?” “Don’t say that. I can trust Tengda’s reputation. What’s more, Vice President Chang has already said this… they’re trying to manufacture more stocks as quickly as they can. They’ll sell two thousand cell phones tomorrow.”
“Haha, two thousand? They’re manufacturing two thousand cell phones as quickly as they can? Are you kidding me? And you dare to deny that this is hunger marketing?”.
Pei Qian’s heart filled with warmth as he read those comments.
Indeed, consumers were bright. They understood what was going on!
Remain this way. You have to remain this way! As long as your precious suspicions remain until the end of the month, I will take you as my benefactors!
Buzz… Buzz…
Just as Pei Qian was thinking, his phone started vibrating. Pei Qian picked it up and saw that it was He Desheng.
“Eh? Is this about the ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ app?”
Pei Qian quickly accepted the call. He had already instructed He Desheng to spend all the money that he had earned earlier! Had He Desheng completed his task?
“Boss Pei, we’ve bought the ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ project back! We have all the shares!” He Desheng sounded excited. “That’s right. We’ve also hired the man who was in charge of the project at Xude Education. We didn’t even have to poach him. He was fired!” Pei Qian was stunned. Did everything really go that smoothly?
They got the shares just like that?
If his memory served him right, Xude Education had only bought the ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ project less than a month ago.
Yet, He Desheng had gotten it back so quickly. He must have spent a great deal, right?
Pei Qian could not curb his excitement. “How much did you spend?”.
He Desheng answered, “Boss Pei, we spent more than five million yuan!”
Pei Qian, “?”
Just five million yuan?!
They had earned fifteen million yuan from the sale of their shares before. They even kept the last twenty percent.
Now, they had gotten everything back for less than one-third of that sum?
Was Xude Education sick in the head? They had spent over forty million yuan on the shares before, and they were only selling them for five million yuan now?!
Couldn’t you have asked for more?! Huh?!
Hearing no response from Boss Pei, He Desheng thought that the former was unsatisfied with the price. He quickly tried to explain himself.
“Boss Pei, this price is already very low.
“When Xude Education bought the project, it spent a lot of money organizing events. For instance, it forced its own students to register and sell lessons on the application. However, the company soon went under fire, and the project collapsed!
“What’s more, the project could not generate profits. Its value was falling by the day!
“Many members of Xude Education’s higher management became very unhappy with this investment. Conflicts arose, and a few members of the higher management took the opportunity to revolt. They forced those who had decided to acquire this project out of the company and abandoned the project altogether…
“After they abandoned it, the project could no longer draw on Xude Education’s resources. Thus, it steadily deteriorated until it became an unsalvageable mess. “To avoid incurring more losses, Xude Education decided to cut it off completely. It was just as well that we had 20% shares in the project, and we had the right of first refusal. That was why Xude Education approached me first.
“Of course, they proposed a high price at first, in an attempt to cheat me.
“Yet, how could I be cheated? I had been in charge of the project the entire time. I know it inside-out. With just a couple of sentences, I shut them up!
“At that moment, they thought about selling the shares to others. That was why I hinted that I knew the project too well. I only had to leak a bit of information to make sure that nobody would buy their shares for a high price! “Thus, after several negotiations, they lost their patience. I slaughtered the price and offered five million yuan!
“I made it very clear. The project is only worth that much now. If they wanted to delay it any longer, they would not even have gotten five million yuan!
“If we waited longer, we may have gotten a lower price. However, I thought that you were in a bit of a rush, Boss Pei. I didn’t want to hold you back. I guessed that the price was good enough, and so I finished the deal.
“Oh, that’s right. The man who was in charge of this project at Xude Education took the blame for the entire situation, together with the other members of higher management. That was why he was fired. Boss Pei, I remember you saying you wanted to poach him. That’s why I contacted him and invited him over.
“If you want to meet him, you can do so at any time!
“That’s about it. What do you think, Boss Pei? I dealt with it all quite decisively, right?”
Pei Qian had no idea what to say.
“You did… really well,” said Pei Qian sorrowfully and through gritted teeth. At the other end of the line, He Desheng smiled, embarrassed. “Don’t mention it, Boss Pei. You had clear directions. I was just doing as you told me. That’s how I achieved those results!
“If you didn’t keep some shares on hand and instruct me to buy all the shares back, I would not have thought about doing this!”
Pei Qian, “…”
Alright, it’s my fault again. We’ve already bought them back. What else can I say?
Pei Qian grieved for a while and then said, “Tell the man in charge to meet me at Dream Realization Ventures at 2 PM. I want to see him.”
He Desheng replied, “Alright, no problem, Boss Pei!”
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt worri
ed. He could not tell that He Desheng was that good at bargaining
However, that was the most useless skill in Tengda Corporation!
Still, since they had already obtained Top Student, Come Quick’—the mess of a project that could keep incurring losses-back, he now had a bottomless pit. He could probably lose the ten million yuan again sooner or later.
Yes, that was still better than failing to get the shares back!
At 2 PM in the afternoon, Pei Qian arrived at Dream Realization Ventures. He Desheng and the man in charge were already waiting there.
“Hello, Boss Pei!
“Boss Pei, this is the man who was in charge of the ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ project in Xude Education. His name is Yu Pingan. “This is Tengda’s Boss Pei.”
He Desheng introduced the two men.
Pei Qian grabbed Yu Pingan’s hand and shook it. “Hello! Thank you for coming.”
Pei Qian looked very honored to meet Yu Pingan. Xu Pingan felt overwhelmed by Pei Qian’s favor. “Boss Pei… I… Don’t mention it.”
Pei Qian sized him up. He looked honest and obedient. He was probably the type to mess things up silently.
“Come, have a seat.
“Let’s be upfront with each other. I want you to keep working on ‘Top Student, Come Quick’. We will pay you according to Tengda Corporation’s standards, and you’ll enjoy various benefits as well. How does it sound?” Pei Qian asked expectantly.
Yu Pingan looked even more overwhelmed. “Boss Pei… I… I won’t let you down for sure!”
Pei Qian nodded, satisfied. “Hmm, what are you planning to do?”.
After some thought, Yu Pingan said, “Xude Education’s higher management is stupid! They were blindly working on the project! They insisted on forcing people to register and even added advertisements for various classes on the application. The entire application became foul!
“Once I take over, I’ll get rid of all of those stupid things once and for all!
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