However, Qin Yi did not look happy at all. After a moment of silence, he said, “Continue.”
AEEIS’s image appeared again after some time. “Commander, we will be entering the ‘random battle’ training mode.”
“The battles that we face next include battles that have happened before but had a change in their initial configurations; fictional battles that were randomly generated by intelligent systems according to algorithms; even battles where there is a huge difference in strength, harsh conditions, and no possibility of victory.”
“There will be no mission targets in random battles. You will decide the battle strategy. There will no longer be a time limit for each battle. You will be the one to judge the situation on the battlefield. Battle or retreat, annihilate or stop losses will depend on your judgment.”
“Commander, good luck.”
Qin Yi did not say much but continued to command the next battle expressionlessly.
Without a clear target and a clear time limit, Qin Yi had to decide what he wanted to do. Whether it was a frontal attack or to leave a small portion of the troops behind to create an opportunity for the main force to retreat was up to him.
The battlefield could have happened anywhere on the planet. The timeline seemed to have become very chaotic. Some teams that had already been completely sacrificed in the previous battle appeared in the new battle once again. As for the wholesome teams that Qin An remembered from the beginning were now incomplete.
Qin An did not ask further because he vaguely understood the intention behind this move. He wanted to cultivate himself to be able to quickly develop the best combat strategy based on the strength ratio and objective situations of humans and Zergs on the battlefield.
Qin Yi controlled the troops calmly and carried out various tasks. The data that AEEIS had gathered had become an important basis for his decision-making. Human fear, hot-bloodedness, ignorance, and other complex emotions had all become a part of the decision-making reference under the analysis of the big data. Lies and sacrifices had become figures with a higher success rate.
The scene around Qin Yi kept changing. One random battle after another ended.
Precious time passed as he slept for three hours a day.
Another mid-scale regional battle had begun.
As usual, Qin Yi calmly analyzed the situation on the battlefield, considered possible unexpected situations, and fully considered the uncertainties of each team.
Everything was going smoothly.
A few Skylark Battle Teams followed Qin Yi’s instructions to explore the unknown Zerg’s nest. After collecting intelligence, they could use this as a basis to form a battle plan for the main force.
On the main battlefield, they had to be on guard against any sudden attacks from the Zergs. Therefore, Qin Yi did not pay too much attention to these few squads.
However, very soon, multiple communication messages after another was sent from a team.
Qin Yi could choose to ignore this information, but he still took time out of his busy schedule to take a look.
In the Zerg nest, a certain Skylark team that was carrying out a mission had already lost three members. The team leader was already dead. Of the two remaining members, one of them had his entire right leg blown off. The other member was protecting him, repelling the approaching Zergs.
The two of them might be safe for now but the stronger Zerg warriors would soon discover them. Staying here would only lead to death.
Qin Yi took a look. The task of collecting information was basically completed. The chances of the injured team members surviving were very low. There was no need to send another team in.
Thus, Qin Yi ordered a retreat and turned his attention to other areas of the battlefield.
However, a few minutes later, when Qin Yi looked at the team again, he only saw the image of the mini reactor exploding.
Qin Yi was stunned for a moment. He opened the information on the two team members and realized that they were a couple from the European Fleet.
AEEIS’ voice sounded. “The intelligent system’s analysis data is more than 87% accurate, but there are also unpredictable behaviors or phenomena sometimes. This is to better simulate unexpected situations in the real battlefield.”
Qin Yi did not speak. Instead, he continued to command the battle until the end of the regional battle.
After the battle ended, Qin Yi leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, remaining silent for a few minutes.
“Did that battle just now really happen?”
“Or did you start doing this even earlier?”
“Did you mix the real battles into the ‘random battle’ mode?”
AEEIS did not answer immediately. Instead, it only answered after a while. “It started in the sixth battle after adding the ‘simulated elements’.”
“Commander, so far, you have conducted 17 real battles of various sizes. You have done well.”
Qin Yi was stunned. “Why from the sixth battle?”
AEEIS: “The Supreme Executive Committee of the United Fleet must be responsible for all the soldiers on the front line. They cannot put their lives in the hands of a new commander.”
“Since the sixth battle, AEEIS and the Supreme Executive Committee have recognized that you have the ability to command small-scale battles.”
Qin Yi was silent for a long time. “In other words, in these 17 battles, every soldier who was sacrificed was a living person, including the couple just now.”
AEEIS: “Yes.”
Chapter 746 - Sloth Apartments’ New Building
Director Zhu Xiaoce’s latest script had ended there. Lu Zhiyao was not sure how far into the movie was the script, but based on the estimated time taken to film, they had probably not even covered half of the movie.
The current plot was not enough to infer the entire story even if there were many big scenes with special effects in the later stages.
However, this was exactly the effect that Director Zhu Xiaoce wanted.
Obviously, many stages in the movie had been twisted in the plot. The protagonist Qin Yi’s mentality was also changing subtly or drastically.
If Lu Zhiyao knew the final ending from the beginning, he would definitely be affected when he acted in the previous plot.
Thus, the scripts were given one after another. The main purpose was to allow Lu Zhiyao to completely immerse himself in the role and escape the influence of the spoiler.
However, there was still a problem with ‘substitution’.
Lu Zhiyao had taken quite a number of scenes up until now. Some of the shots were satisfactory, while others were not.
However, he still felt a little lost whether he was satisfied or not.
He did not have a very clear direction for the performance and did not know the entire story’s plot. He did not know if he had an accurate grasp of Qin Yi’s character, so Lu Zhiyao would feel confused and not confident enough.
Now, looking at the scripts, Qin Yi’s emotions had actually undergone changes several times.
At the beginning, Qin Yi felt lucky to be alive and angry that he had been deceived.
After witnessing the defeat of the Zergs and learning that the previous commander sacrificed himself, Qin Yi had mixed feelings. While he understood in his heart that there was no other choice, he did not completely let it go;
In the subsequent commanding process, with the addition of the ‘realistic elements’, Qin Yi’s thinking and mentality constantly changed to the former commander. When he was personally commanding the review of the battle, Qin Yi had already completely understood the former commander’s mentality after sending the ‘reinforcements are on their way’ command to the AS-371-45 team.
When he unexpectedly discovered that part of the battle he was commanding was a real battle, Qin Yi’s mentality fluctuated again.
To Lu Zhiyao, it was very difficult to show these emotional changes.
That was because Qin Yi’s character design was that
he was a very rational and calm soldier. A soldier’s duty was to obey orders. He knew very well in his heart that the little grievance he had suffered, and even his own life, was insignificant compared to humanity’s victory in the war against the Zergs and the survival of the race.
Therefore, on the one hand, Qin Yi kept suppressing his emotions as a human, making himself colder and more rational. He tried his best to win every battle and minimize casualties. On the other hand, he had doubts about the future of himself and mankind.
These intricate and complicated feelings would have subtle differences in every stage of the plot. For Lu Zhiyao, the most difficult part was how to act out these differences while ensuring that the character of Qin Yi would not collapse.
Lu Zhiyao stood up and took a small mirror from the side. Then, he made various expressions in front of the mirror.
Suddenly, he thought of something and got up to find Zhu Xiaoce.
“Director Zhu, from now on, apart from filming, I have been staying in the hotel room and not gone anywhere. Let me use the laptop that contained Starcraft the last time. I want to use it to continue figuring out my character.”
“Also, please give me a set of DV. I want to record my expressions when I play games and watch it afterwards.”
“Also, can you help me find a similar smart speaker for AEEIS? It would be best if you could input all of AEEIS’ lines into it so that it can act for me. I suddenly realized that Qin Yi’s act is not a one-man show but acting against AEEIS. I have always been taking it as a one-man show so I feel that there is something lacking.”
“It might be more effective if I could have a system voice chat with me.”
Zhu Xiaoce was slightly surprised, but he quickly nodded happily. “Sure, no problem.”
“I’ll send the DV and computer to you tonight. As for AEEIS… I heard that the sample from Otto Technologies is about to be released. I will get you an OTTO cell phone to make do with it. There’s an AEEIS intelligent voice on it. Once the sample of AEEIS’ sound system is out, I’ll get one to send to your hotel room immediately.”
…
…
November 17th, Thursday…
Jingzhou City’s Guangming District’s Golden Residence, Huating District.
This was a brand new building. Liang Qingfan had selected one of the buildings to make Sloth Apartments 2.0.
Since Pei Qian had nothing else to do so he decided to come over and see how things were going.
Liang Qingfan was already waiting downstairs. After receiving Boss Pei, the two of them went to the model room on the third floor.
“Boss Pei, this building has two floors with three units with an area of 120 square meters, 130 square meters, and 150 square meters. It has a large area of south-facing windows and balconies. The apartment layout is not bad. Considering the location of the building, it can basically satisfy most people’s mainstream needs.”
“However, because the house itself is exquisitely renovated, the developer priced it at a higher price, which is two to three thousand yuan higher than the surrounding buildings. Thus, it is not selling very well for now.”
“I thought about it. In a few months, we might be able to sell it at a lower price. However, if that happens, it would be more troublesome for us to buy an entire building. Thus, we decided to buy it at the current price.”
Liang Qingfan explained the basic situation of the building to Pei Qian.
Pei Qian nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, you did the right thing!”
Pei Qian had said before that he would give Liang Qingfan fifty million yuan to buy a place with little potential for appreciation.
This was mainly because Pei Qian had been cheated by the Sloth Apartments’ version 1.0 model. He had deliberately chosen a remote location that no one wanted to buy. In the end, the price he had bought was too low. After the renovation, the property prices had skyrocketed.
If not for the special mission, he would have failed the previous settlement cycle.
However, this place did not seem to have much potential for appreciation in the short term.
The location of the Golden Residence’s Huating District was not bad. The developer of this house, the style of the house, and so on were all quite satisfactory. However, it was precisely because there was nothing to nitpick on in all aspects that the developer grew complacent. He set a price that was two to three thousand yuan higher than the surrounding houses because of the high-end location, high-end renovation.
A house that was about 150 square meters was immediately more expensive by three to four hundred thousand yuan. It was a painful price to pay in this day and age.
Obviously, the developer’s pricing strategy had its own tricks. The prices of houses could only be higher, not lower.
If the price was high enough, it could highlight the ‘noble attribute’ of their own building. First, they would cheat a group of rich people. When they could not sell it, they would secretly reduce the price. For example, they would give customers a discount so that they customers would feel like they were taking advantage of the situation and use the method of discrimination to the extreme.
However, if they set the price low and raised the price in the future, they would be scolded to death.
Thus, the developer’s price was a little too high. Buyers felt that this house was ridiculously expensive and many people were watching. Liang Qingfan took the opportunity to buy the entire building.
If the price was lowered in the future, even 200 yuan per square meter difference would cost Tengda a loss of 600,000 to 700,000 yuan. The more they reduced, the more losses they would incur.
However, that was exactly what Pei Qian wanted. It was a good thing that he could spend more money. He had to praise him!
Liang Qingfan brought Pei Qian to look at the apartments on the third and fourth floors.
“Boss Pei, these three apartments on the third floor were originally the developer’s model rooms. Since they were all set up, it would be a pity to tear them down and redo them. That’s why we kept them. That way, we can also show customers the difference in taste between our Sloth Apartments and the developer’s renovations.”
“The three apartments on the fourth floor are the model rooms of Sloth Apartments 2.0. They are completely renovated according to our usual minimalistic style.”
“As for the other floors, the renovations are still ongoing. Considering the entrance of furniture, appliances, and other supporting facilities, it might only be completed by the end of December. However, they would be ready for people to move in by the beginning of January, which is consistent with our previous estimates.”
Pei Qian first went to the third floor to look at the developer’s demo room, and then went to the fourth floor to look at Sloth Apartments 2.0’s demo room.
The difference was obvious.
The developer’s demo room could not be said to be ugly. Wallpapers, carpet, huge murals on the television walls, dark mahogany furniture, and so on were basically the current mainstream style.
It was still the same problem that he had mentioned before. At the moment, the main group of buyers were still middle-aged people. The model rooms were mainly meant to satisfy their needs. Sometimes, even the designers’ aesthetic standards had to compromise for their customers’ needs.
However, the entire space of the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model room on the fourth floor felt different!
The Sloth Apartments 2.0 model was the same as 1.0. The only difference was that there was more storage space in the room, which made it more practical.
Pei Qian observed for a while and realized that Liang Qingfan was still very restrained despite the restrictions of the storage space being released in Version 2.0. The cabinets were not filled up everywhere, especially in the living room area. This maximized the empty style.
However, the study, the bedroom, next to the door, and the living room near the balcony were still filled with cabinets that matched the renovation style so th
at they would not stand out.
Compared to the developer’s demo room, the Sloth Apartments’ style was obviously more suited to the taste of young people. Whether it was the utilization of space, practicality, lifestyle habits, cultural atmosphere, and so on, there were obvious improvements.
Liang Qingfan asked, “Boss Pei, how do you feel?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Hm, not bad.”
Such Sloth Apartments 2.0 units should be snatched up immediately after its launch?
In fact, Pei Qian had decided to make Sloth Apartments 2.0 in order to help those young people who were troubled by renting apartments. At first, the only flaw of Sloth Apartments was that there was too little storage space. Now, this flaw had been made up for. It had become a rental space that completely suited the needs of young people.
That way, it would be difficult to rent Sloth Apartments 1.0 out if he were to make more of them.
However, Pei Qian did not care about that. In any case, he would open as many as he could. He would lose money no matter which one he opened.
Pei Qian walked around the room and felt that the furniture, including the sofa, coffee table, television cabinet, and the like were slightly different from before.
Pei Qian did not notice it when he first entered because the apartment was different.
“These furniture look different from before?” Pei Qian asked.
Liang Qingfan nodded. “That’s right. At the moment, most of the furniture in the room has been changed. The reason why it looks not much different from before is because a large part of it was specially custom-made by the furniture factory that we worked with.”
Chapter 747 - : Upgraded Tengda Spirit?
Liang Qingfan introduced, “The more famous furniture manufacturers who wanted to work with us before basically rejected our terms of cooperation.”
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 487