Meng Chang refused to give up. He wanted to say something more to try and change Boss Pei’s mind. However, seeing Boss Pei’s resolute attitude, he hesitated again and again before giving up.
That was because he knew that he would be on the losing end if he was concerned. If he lost his composure now because of his anxiety, he would easily expose himself in front of Boss Pei. Boss Pei would only be more determined to retreat.
Retreat for now. Things might take a turn for the better in two days once Boss Pei’s emotions settle down.
There was no other way.
At that thought, Meng Chang could only nod reluctantly. “Alright, Boss Pei. Take your time to think about it.”
He Desheng sent Meng Chang off and returned to the guest room.
“Boss Pei, are you sure you want to sell all of Cold-Faced Lady’s shares? Are you not going to reconsider?” He Desheng asked.
Pei Qian’s attitude was firm. “Sell! Sell them immediately!”
“Are we going to make a lot of money if we sell them now?”
Pei Qian was prepared for the worst.
He Desheng shook his head. “Boss Pei, that’s hard to say. Cold-Faced Lady is not listed yet, and their valuation is very low. How much these shares are worth would depend on the negotiation between the two parties. We’ll see how much the buyer is willing to spend.”
“However, don’t worry, Boss Pei. I’ll do my best to negotiate and fight for the highest price.”
“Moreover, Meng Chang would not allow your shares to be sold at a low price. After all, this would affect Cold-Faced Lady’s valuation and the confidence of other investors. He would definitely work hard to facilitate a high transaction. If the two of us go together, we should have a 90% chance of success. However, it would be difficult to guarantee a specific number.”
The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched.
Work hard to sell them for a high price?
No way!
Pei Qian had invested a total of eight million yuan into Cold-Faced Lady. Wouldn’t he vomit blood on the spot if he managed to earn twenty to thirty million yuan?
He had to sell it cheaply. He had to sell them at a lower price than eight million yuan!
Pei Qian pondered for a moment and said, “Can we… sell them at a lower price?”
He Desheng was stunned.
What did he mean by selling them at a lower price? Did Boss Pei think that it was too expensive?
However, he quickly reacted. “Oh, Boss Pei, are you saying that we should not negotiate repeatedly just to sell the shares at a high price but to sell them off as soon as possible? In order to sell them off as soon as possible, we can sell them at a lower price?”
Pei Qian: “…More or less.”
He could not tell He Desheng that he was selling it cheaply, so he could only hint to him. However, it was not a big mistake for He Desheng to understand it this way. The outcome should be the same.
He Desheng nodded. “I understand, Boss Pei. I will handle this matter properly!”
…
…
December 14th, Wednesday…
At the filming location of Mission and Choice.
“Cut!”
“Alright, this part is not bad. We’ll continue another part and then call it a day.”
“Not bad, the situation has been getting better recently. The filming is progressing faster than I thought. I knew that we had the right person for the main lead!”
Zhu Xiaoce was not stingy with his praise for Lu Zhiyao.
Lu Zhiyao smiled embarrassedly. “Sigh, this is all thanks to Boss Pei’s good guidance and the script. I’m just adding flowers to the brocade.”
Zhu Xiaoce patted him on the shoulder. “Why are you being humble? Here, this is the next part of the script. Take a look at the time and feel it.”
Lu Zhiyao reached out to receive it.
According to Director Zhu Xiaoce’s plan, the film for “Mission and Choice” had to be completed by March or so. That was because there was still a lot of time needed for post-production and special effects.
Almost all of the scenes in “Mission and Choice” had special effects. It would be very time-consuming to create them. One had to reserve enough time for that area of work to ensure that it would be released in June according to the original plan.
There was a lot of pressure on the filming portion as well.
The current filming progress had not completely followed the script. Many scenes in the first part of the plot had not been filmed to their most satisfactory state. However, Zhu Xiaoce felt that Lu Zhiyao’s acting skills and state of mind had more or less been adjusted. Basically, he could perfectly take on the role of Qin Yi from the previous stage. He could almost give him the next stage of the script so that he could figure out the next stage of Qin Yi in advance.
The filming was progressing smoothly. He had to thank Boss Pei.
On one hand, Boss Pei had given Lu Zhiyao confidence and stimulated his potential. He had allowed him to figure out his own character, train his acting skills, and improve his acting skills without anyone guiding him. On the other hand, the Fully-Automated Intelligent Bickering Machine that Boss Pei had arranged for someone to create allowed Lu Zhiyao to act with AEEIS whenever he had the time. He could then immerse himself in figuring out his character.
Lu Zhiyao was about to accept a new challenge now.
Lu Zhiyao could not wait to open the script and read the rest of the plot.
In the previous plot, Qin Yi had understood the inevitability of the previous commander and AEEIS commander. Lu Zhiyao could not wait to welcome the final battle between humans and Zergs.
…
Qin Yi commanded the battles one by one expressionlessly and methodically. Countless starships were destroyed around him. Countless humans and Zergs were blown to smithereens. Not even their bones were left.
He was like a perfect war machine, giving orders one after another and commanding battle after battle. The death of the soldiers was unable to stir up any more emotions in him.
If the death of one person was a tragedy, then the death of many would just be a number.
During this long shot, there was an emotionless voice over by AEEIS. It seemed like it was meant for Qin Yi, but it was also for the audience in front of the camera and players in the game.
“Command is the most important part of the war. It gathers countless soldiers together to form a powerful force.”
“Command can also be divided into two aspects: the handling of information and the decision of action.”
“In war, information processing is especially important because wrong information means wrong decision. Both sides will obtain a huge amount of information at every moment. How to process this information and determine its authenticity and severity often determines whether the final decision is right or not.”
“Information can be regarded as a ‘transmission chain’: whether a message is uploaded or issued, it has to go through various levels and channels like a chain. The transmission chain determines the efficiency of information.”
“Messages transmitted under any circumstances are ‘selective’. Otherwise, both the commander and his subordinates would be drowned by the massive amount of information and become overwhelmed.”
“Such selectivity is the most basic logical setting. Therefore, deception has always existed with war.”
“In ancient China, there was a story of ‘looking at plum blossoms to quench thirst’. In the modern war, the Japanese army deliberately hid the truth of the war after the Battle of Midway Island.”
“The truth of the Battle of Midway was not revealed to the public nor to the senior officials. Instead, it was announced that the war was ‘a battle to determine the overall situation’. The citizens who were deceived even celebrated ‘victory’ with bright lights and colorful decorations.”
“‘Deception’ is not ‘telling falsehood’ but ‘deliberately hiding part of the information’
in most circumstances.”
“Very few superiors would directly give orders to the soldiers to give up their lives. That would not give the soldiers any sense of honor, but would also deal a fatal blow to their morale.”
“In commanding war, the commander would usually only issue a clear mission. For example, hold a position for two hours and then retreat. However, the commander would never say anything unnecessary like: ‘There is a high chance that this operation will wipe out the entire army.’”
“Therefore, deception is not a hypocritical trick. More often than not, it is the most efficient way to deal with information transmission chains. It is to improve results, reduce losses, and obtain greater victory.”
Qin Yi began to command one battle after another with the voice-over from AEEIS.
These battles were mixed with real battles and virtual battles because of the existence of simulated elements.
If Qin Yi failed in a certain battle or was dissatisfied with the results, he could ask AEEIS to review and simulate the battle. It would restore the initial deployment of the forces of both sides’. However, a series of random events would still occur during the war because of the system’s calculations. Each review would be different.
In such a situation, Qin Yi could tell that this was an AEEIS simulation and not a real battle because in reality, these people had already died because of the initial failure.
The battles that Qin Yi had encountered for the first time were also mixed with real and fake battles. According to AEEIS, sometimes he was commanding the real army, and sometimes he was commanding virtual battles.
However, regardless of whether these battles were real or fake, Qin Yi would use 120% of his focus to command. That was because he was already used to treating every single unit on the screen as a living person.
It was precisely because of this mentality that Qin Yi began to rely more on the various data provided by AEEIS.
That was because Qin Yi realized that most of the time, data was more reliable than people. If a soldier’s morale had already fallen to rock-bottom, then commanding him to carry out important tasks would result in obvious results.
During this long process, Qin Yi gradually became numb.
Apart from the necessary sleep every day, Qin Yi was continuously giving instructions one after another, operating the machinery.
If they succeeded, they would continue with the next battle; if they failed, they would review the game countless times until they won.
The cycle repeated endlessly day after day.
There was no day or night in the command cabin. Only AEEIS which accurately calculated the time for Qin Yi to sleep or wake up.
Qin Yi did not remember how many times he had slept or how many days had passed. That was because the decisive battle was coming at any moment. He had to make the best use of his time to prepare.
Finally, one day, Qin Yi was awakened by AEEIS in his sleep.
Qin Yi saw the overwhelming swarm of insects moving in and out of the nest on the holographic image around him. The human stronghold on the planet and the starship floating in the starry sky were ready for battle.
The current situation was self-evident. A new round of large-scale battles was about to begin.
This battle might last for a long time, or it might collapse and end quickly because of an insignificant mistake.
Qin Yi walked towards the console. He felt an unprecedented sense of calmness when this day finally arrived.
Chapter 785 - Destined Failure
After this period of training, Qin Yi was already very good at commanding.
He skillfully used the control panel to send instructions to the troops one by one. He communicated with AEEIS about the current battlefield information, got the entire human army to act according to his plan based on the data given by AEEIS and his previous commanding habits.
The human fleet and the Zergs were like fallen leaves in a storm, colliding together in deep space. The surface of the planet was being cleaned up by the heavy weapons of the spacecraft, but the Zergs would crawl out of the ground every time. The main force of the human army and the special forces that were carrying out the mission would attack the Zerg Queen from different directions, trying their best to find her.
All of a sudden, a red warning flashed across the entire space. AEEIS’s voice became serious. “Commander, a large number of Zergs are moving towards the command ship.”
Qin Yi quickly dragged his camera on the control panel. Soon, he saw the swarm of bugs in the dark starry sky.
This scene felt familiar.
Qin Yi had once made the same choice as the previous commander in a simulated battle. Now, the same situation was happening again.
The war mode between humans and Zergs was very similar. Humans tend to rely on Ansible Communication and AEEIS to allow the supreme commander’s instructions to reach every unit as quickly as possible and complete the fastest and most efficient commands. The Zergs had the consciousness of a Zerg nest. The Zerg Queen could directly command any Zergs through telepathy. The same principle applied to Ansible Communication.
The scale of the battlefield was too large, there was too much information, and it was ever-changing. Therefore, the traditional method of command for humans was no longer suitable for war with the Zergs. It was inevitable that the commander would be the only one to command, and the artificial intelligence would disassemble the command and transmit it directly to the base level of the army. The method of command for real-time Ansible communication became indispensable.
Under such circumstances, killing each other’s commanders was the best choice for both the Zergs and humans.
If the Zergs were to successfully decapitate the human commander, it would mean that all the commands would be taken over by AEEIS before the appointment of a new human commander. There would be no chance of a surprise victory and the possibility of better tactics. On the other hand, if humans manage to decapitate the Zergs’ queen successfully, they would be able to get a breather for a period of time and eliminate a large number of Zergs on a large scale.
Therefore, Qin Yi knew what he should choose now.
He quickly turned his vision and gave orders to every unit.
The frontline troops increased their attack speed and rushed to the top of the new Zergs nest; the fleet at the back of the planet held back the remaining Zergs; the frigate charged into the Zergs to self-destruct and stall for time after they depleted most of its weapons…
Qin Yi saw a huge amount of requests for reinforcements from other teams. He did not know these people and had not even heard of their serial numbers.
He could only see countless troops flashing and asking for reinforcements in the dark starry sky, on the surface of the planet and in the worm nests. They were reporting the situation of the battlefield like stars in the sky.
The battle this time was different from the previous simulation, but it felt familiar.
Qin Yi did not know if this operation would succeed. He only followed the previous training and made the choices he thought were right.
“Will my soul find peace in this starry sky after I die?”
No one answered, only AEEIS’ cold voice sounded. “Attention! The command ship is under serious threat. Once the command ship is destroyed, all units will be taken over by AEEIS. Commander, please make the appropriate arrangements!”
This time, Qin Yi had already made the appropriate arrangements without AEEIS’ reminder.
He zoomed in and watched as the frigates crashed into the densest part of the sea of insects one by one. He watched as the dazzling fireworks lit up and extinguished in the dark night sky. He knew that he would soon become the most brilliant among the fireworks.
“AEEIS, will I be the last commander?”
AEEIS did not reply to Qin Yi’s surprise.
Qin Yi pressed the final detonation button and closed his eyes in relief after the few remaining frigates approached the command ship.
The strange thing was that he did not feel much at that moment, even if it was the last moment of his life.
It was as if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
He had no idea what would happen next.
Perhaps the decapitation operation this time would be even more successful than the previous one. The Zergs’ life force would be dealt a heavy blow, and humans would easily welcome subsequent victories. Perhaps this decapitation operation would be just like the previous one, giving humans a short breather. Another soldier would become the new commander and take over Qin Yi’s command, continuing this cycle. Perhaps the war would ultimately fail, and humanity would perish…
However, Qin Yi would not know any of these. He could only risk everything and his life to fight for the greatest possibility of victory.
A bright light flashed, and the space where Qin Yi was instantly became snow-white. Then, it became endless darkness.
Qin Yi had already closed his eyes and waited for death. However, he suddenly realized that he was still alive after two seconds of coldness.
He could still feel his consciousness in the darkness.
All of a sudden, the light around them lit up again. The swarm of bugs and the human fleet disappeared, returning to the quiet starry sky before the battle.
AEEIS’ voice sounded. “Unfortunately, Commander, the final trial mission failed.”
“From an optimistic perspective, everything that happened before was fake. No one died.”
“From a pessimistic point of view, the chance of winning the final battle between humans and Zergs is zero.”
“Even the best case scenario would be for the commander to perish together with the Queen of the Zergs. They would then choose a new commander and prepare for the next decisive battle.”
“However, the following battles will only become more and more difficult because of the existence of the Zerg’s consciousness. The wisdom of the Zerg Queen will continue to increase, and the Zergs’ ability to replenish their forces will also be higher than humans.”
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 519