June 20th.

Starting from mid-July, schools would begin summer vacation. This period was gradually entering exam week, and Pei Qian still needed to spend some time getting a grip on his coursework.

Although exams were generally easy to pass, certain closed-book courses still required him to pull a few all-nighters to prepare.

In this regard, Pei Qian particularly admired Ma Yang.

Ma Yang managed to simultaneously run Slackin’ Internet Café and Slackin’ Takeout while diligently attending classes. While high scores weren’t guaranteed for exams, passing them was no problem.

One could only say that sometimes being able to coast through things was a powerful ability in itself.

Up until now, Pei Qian’s identity had not been exposed. Although he rarely returned to the dormitory and was seldom seen, there were quite a few similar students at the university, so it wasn’t anything unusual.

Ma Yang, the only person at school who knew the truth, kept tight-lipped, and no classmates deliberately pressed for information.

Whenever Pei Qian went to school, he would return to his rental apartment to change back into his ordinary clothes, so he hadn’t aroused any suspicion.

However, Ma Yang’s clothes were becoming increasingly expensive, and his digital products increasingly high-end, leading classmates to wonder if his family had recently received compensation for demolished property.

With Ma Yang drawing the attention, Pei Qian was happy to remain an ordinary student at school.

Of course, Pei Qian knew that this situation was like hiding something from parents—it couldn’t be concealed for long. But he didn’t need to reveal himself now; it was nice to interact with everyone as an ordinary person.

However, with final exams approaching, Pei Qian had to both review his studies and keep an eye on company matters, making him feel quite miserable.

In the study room.

Pei Qian was forcing himself to memorize borrowed photocopied notes, occasionally picking up his phone to check messages.

Although he couldn’t constantly monitor online news himself, he had Lü Mingliang compile important messages and notify him promptly.

“Mr. Pei, Game Time has reported on our games’ DLCs, praising us as the conscience of domestic gaming. The response has been great!”

Pei Qian glanced at his phone and put it down.

Game Time was the gaming media outlet that first reported on Tenda’s games. This kind of news riding on trending topics was expected and wouldn’t have too much impact.

“Mr. Pei, news about our DLC updates is trending on Weibo. Many players are discussing it heatedly!”

This wasn’t a big problem either. Trending topics come and go quickly—they can even be bought with money—nothing to worry about.

“Mr. Pei, apparently accounts with Barrett-Destruction are being scalped for 2,000 yuan on the black market…”

What’s going on? It’s almost the end of the month, and next month’s limited 500 weapons will be on sale soon. Why are people so eager…

Oh right, they probably won’t be able to buy one next month either. Buying an account now means they can enjoy it for ten days.

Go ahead and buy them then. We said 500 limited pieces means exactly 500, not one more.

“Mr. Pei, AiLiDao has created a special section for our games!”

“Mr. Pei, a game developer, complained on Weibo that we’re disrupting market order and got blasted by players!”

“Mr. Pei, ESRO’s official platform has created a special feature for our games and placed it in the recommended section on their homepage. We expect a significant increase in both game and DLC sales over the next few days!”

Seeing this message, Pei Qian’s hand suddenly trembled.

The official platform was stirring things up again!

Last time, they gave “Game Producer” prominent homepage promotion, which was already almost unbearable for Pei Qian.

And now, they have directly packaged all the games together for a special feature on the homepage?

Stay calm, stay calm…

Pei Qian took several deep breaths to compose himself.

Based on previous experience, although homepage recommendations were indeed effective, the increase was still within an acceptable range.

Pei Qian still had opportunities for emergency spending, and with the promotion happening now, next week’s income probably wouldn’t show explosive growth. The settlement would be completed before the income explosion in the week after next, so there shouldn’t be major problems.

“Mr. Pei, also, the official platform considers our company a benchmark in the gaming industry and has decided to strongly support and assist us!”

Pei Qian was startled.

Strongly support and assist?

Free homepage recommendations now and then were already generous enough—how many gaming companies could enjoy such treatment?

What other strong support and assistance could there be?

“Mr. Pei, the official platform has upgraded our company’s status. To encourage us to have more adequate funds for game development, they’ve decided to change our revenue split with the platform from 50-50 to 70-30, with us taking 70 percent!”

“This is usually a special privilege enjoyed only by very large companies with significant influence, or companies with excellent reputations that are established as role models. This represents the official platform’s high recognition of our games!”

“I heard the highest possible split is 90-10. Mr. Pei, we’ll continue working hard!”

Pei Qian’s hand trembled, and his phone fell onto the table with a “thud.”

This is disastrous!

Changing from a 50-50 split to a 70-30 split means that every month, without doing anything, all games would automatically generate an additional 20% income?

For something like “Sea Fortress” that earns about 3.5 million yuan per month, an extra 20% would be 1.3 to 1.4 million yuan!

In other words, with one week left until the next settlement, even without considering DLC income, all game revenues would be 20% higher than usual weekly income, adding at least 600,000 to 700,000 yuan more!

And then add the DLC income…

Pei Qian was stunned.

He had anticipated the games would be profitable and had roughly estimated the sales figures for all DLCs. Originally, these profits were within his expectations, but the official platform’s unexpected move completely disrupted his plans!

If other companies learned of this news, they would certainly celebrate extensively, but Pei Qian now felt like an ant on a hot pan.

With one moment of carelessness, he might not be able to spend all the money!

After all, he couldn’t invest in developing new things during the week before settlement; he could only rely on methods like distributing benefits to rapidly spend money, which wouldn’t happen very quickly.

If there was a surplus of one or two million at settlement time, that would only convert to a bit over 10,000 yuan. Slight losses could easily exceed this number, and the system would make up for any deficits in funds.

This was truly exhilarating—like being poised between heaven and hell…

Pei Qian could no longer sit still and immediately packed up his books and left the study room.

At such a critical moment, who cares about reviewing for exams?

The emergency spending plan needed to start immediately!

…

…

Arriving at the company, Pei Qian hurriedly called Assistant Xin and rushed to his office.

Lü Mingliang, Ma Yang, and others saw Mr. Pei’s grave expression and couldn’t help but feel impressed.

They had just received official recognition and an improved revenue split—something other gaming companies could only dream of, enough to make countless people envious if word got out.

Yet Mr. Pei maintained his composure, as if nothing had happened!

Instead, he hurried along with a serious expression, still concerned about the company’s other affairs.

This mindset truly embodied the spirit of a great leader!

…

In the office.

Pei Qian opened a spreadsheet and carefully examined the company’s various expenses.

By now, Tenda’s expenses had become extremely complex, from basic rent and utilities to various R&D investments and employee benefits. The enormous spreadsheet made Pei Qian’s head ache.

He could only get a general overview.

After a casual review, Pei Qian thought of a good starting point.

“Our company’s business condition is getting better and better. It’s about time we expanded.”

“Have each department establish a recruitment plan. We’ll start hiring next month, including your administrative, HR, and finance departments—expand them all.”

“There’s no limit on positions. Tell them to report as many as possible.”