December 3rd, Friday.

Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Tang Yishu finished scooping poop for “Yintang” and replenishing its cat food as usual, passing by Bao Xu before returning to her workstation.

On Bao Xu’s computer screen was the Terminal Chinese Web page.

He appeared completely immersed in an exciting novel plot, showing no concern for what was happening around him.

However, after Tang Yishu passed by, Bao Xu quickly scanned his surroundings with his peripheral vision, confirming that he wasn’t in anyone’s line of sight, then switched programs at lightning speed.

He scanned through the revised document, quickly saved it, and sent it to Li Yada via chat software.

After completing all this, Bao Xu relaxed slightly and continued pretending to read the novel.

Switching back and forth between game programs was too slow, inconvenient, and relatively easy to expose, far less efficient than a novel website.

Although GOG was already under intense development, the design work hadn’t decreased at all.

This type of game was too prone to bugs.

Each hero had different mechanics: how to determine priority between various skills, whether a skill’s animation, special effects, and values were reasonable, whether certain details needed improvement…

Such design issues required constant adjustments.

Li Yada and the design team were somewhat overwhelmed, so Bao Xu had to help.

But the threat of paid vacation was making Bao Xu anxious.

He didn’t dare to modify documents openly, only secretly sending the revised documents to Li Yada for uploading.

This way, when outstanding employees were selected in the future, Bao Xu could escape being chosen.

A few minutes later, Li Yada replied.

“Should I apply for overtime allowance for you this weekend?”

“Or continue working secretly?”

“I think it’s better not to work secretly anymore; too many eyes around, easy for problems to arise.”

Bao Xu: “Haven’t decided yet, let me think about it.”

“I feel like things are getting stricter lately, not sure if it’s just my imagination.”

When he accidentally encountered Tang Yishu last weekend, Bao Xu had an ominous premonition and prepared himself for possible exposure.

However, Mr. Pei hadn’t come looking for him.

Li Yada and Xiao Zhou were called to Mr. Pei’s office, indicating that weekend overtime had already been approved by Mr. Pei.

This time they were lucky—Li Yada and Xiao Zhou helped cover up, plus the new girl Tang Yishu had enough integrity not to report to Mr. Pei, so Bao Xu was still safe for now.

But this also served as a warning to Bao Xu.

This weekend, Mr. Pei had already approved some overtime allowances.

The design team could have a certain number of overtime slots, and although both the number of people and hours were strictly limited, this was still good news. They no longer needed to work secretly at home like before; they could come to the company legitimately to enjoy coffee and snacks while discussing design ideas face-to-face.

But Bao Xu didn’t plan to apply for this quota.

Because once he applied, how would Mr. Pei view him? How would his colleagues view him?

Wouldn’t all his previous efforts be wasted?

With only two or three months until the next outstanding employee selection, Bao Xu didn’t want to fail when he was so close to success.

So, Bao Xu currently had three options: report for overtime and work legitimately, work at home, or not report but secretly work overtime at the company.

Bao Xu felt conflicted, but his instinct told him not to rush; it was better to observe the situation before making a decision.

……

Saturday evening, Slackin’ Internet Café, Handong University branch.

Pei Qian and Li Shi sat drinking cocktails, staring at each other in silence.

Pei Qian seemed distracted, his gaze unfocused, his mood low.

Meanwhile, Li Shi drank while observing Mr. Pei’s expression, apparently trying to guess his thoughts.

Pei Qian had been feeling somewhat unlucky lately, so he came out for a few drinks in the evening with nothing else to do.

Unexpectedly, he ran into Li Shi.

Pei Qian didn’t think much of it, since Mr. Li was a regular at Slackin’ Internet Café, assuming this was just a normal coincidence.

However, for Li Shi, it wasn’t.

He had deliberately come to the Handong University branch to find Pei Qian.

As for why…

It’s a long story.

The popularity of Mingcloud Private Kitchen had earned Li Shi’s Fuhui Capital a sum of money and increased his attention to Pei Qian’s movements.

He suddenly realized that investing could be so simple!

Wherever Mr. Pei opened a Slackin’ Internet Café or restaurant, blindly investing alongside him would make money!

However, recently, Pei Qian seemed to have lost interest in brick-and-mortar businesses.

At most, he had opened a few Slackin’ Internet Café 2.0 locations in large shopping malls, and then there was nothing more.

Li Shi wanted to invest alongside him to get a piece of the action, but couldn’t manage to do so.

Li Shi found this very puzzling.

From his perspective, Slackin’ Internet Café had finally become popular, with increasing occupancy rates and positive word-of-mouth, so shouldn’t this be the perfect time to promote the Slackin’ Internet Café model nationwide and aggressively open branches?

Even if just for stability, shouldn’t they at least expand to other cities in Handong Province? Cities like Luzhou or Lincheng should be arranged immediately, right?

Li Shi planned to invest nearby when Mr. Pei opened Slackin’ Internet Cafés in these cities, which would surely be profitable.

However, after waiting and waiting, Mr. Pei showed no movement.

It was as if the Slackin’ Internet Café, which had finally turned a profit and started making money, had nothing to do with him anymore—as if he had abandoned it.

This was truly strange!

So today, Li Shi finally couldn’t hold back anymore and wanted to subtly probe Mr. Pei’s intentions.

“Mr. Pei seems very busy lately, and doesn’t often come to Slackin’ Internet Café for drinks anymore.”

“It seems that having business going too well is also a kind of happy trouble.”

Li Shi decided to start with some flattery.

However, Pei Qian wasn’t moved by his flattery.

Business was indeed going well, but there was only trouble, no happiness…

Pei Qian took a sip of his cocktail, his expression melancholic: “Mr. Li, I’m feeling extremely confused right now.”

Li Shi was startled, then smiled: “What does Mr. Pei have to be confused about? Is it because you effortlessly succeed in every field you enter, so you feel life lacks challenge?”

Pei Qian: “…”

The first half was correct, the second half was wrong.

To be precise, it should be that succeeding in every field made Mr. Pei feel that life was too challenging, almost to the point of losing his fighting spirit.

Unfortunately, this kind of trouble couldn’t be shared with anyone.

Pei Qian looked at Li Shi and said very sincerely: “Mr. Li, you have rich experience in investments and know Jingzhou’s industries inside out. Could you give some guidance to confused me?”

Li Shi was stunned, then laughed: “Mr. Pei, I feel like you’re teasing me. In terms of investment, I’m not as good as you; regarding understanding of Jingzhou’s industries, I might be slightly better than you, but when it comes to foreseeing the future development trends of Jingzhou’s industries, you’re far superior to me.”

Pei Qian: “…”

I’m seriously asking for your advice, not exchanging flattery with you!

Ah, talking to successful people is exhausting!

Pei Qian decided to cut through the circuitous talk and get straight to the point: “Mr. Li, let me be direct.”

“Could you give me some insight into what projects the investment circle in Jingzhou is most unwilling to touch right now?”

“I’m planning to invest maybe five to ten million yuan casually, to make a modest contribution to Jingzhou’s economic development.”

Li Shi was dumbfounded.

Mr. Pei was truly Mr. Pei, asking such unique questions!

Others would ask about the most promising projects currently, those most likely to yield returns.

But when it came to Mr. Pei, he immediately asked about the projects the investment circle was most unwilling to touch.

Incredible!

Indeed, the thinking of a genius was just so different.

“I understand, Mr. Pei.”

“Do you feel that traditional investment projects have become too simple, unsatisfying, so you want to find some high-difficulty projects to play with and challenge yourself?”

Li Shi’s eyes were full of admiration and reverence.

Pei Qian: “…More or less.”

Li Shi gave a thumbs up: “Admirable!”

“If we’re talking about the projects most unwelcome in all of Jingzhou…”

“It would probably be the old industrial area.”

“Now, the whole country is emphasizing industrial upgrading, eliminating outdated production capacity, and vigorously developing service industries and innovative industries.”

“Many factories in the old industrial area have already relocated, leaving only some abandoned factory buildings. Those locations are basically in the suburbs, quite remote, so they’ve been left idle.”

“Some have proposed turning this area into a cultural industry park, learning from Imperial City’s advanced experience.”

“However, while many have proposed this, when it comes to investing money, everyone backs out.”

“This is a major problem nationwide. Many cities want to learn from Imperial City’s experience and transform old factory areas into industrial parks, but most have failed.”

“So, although this project has all green lights, hardly anyone dares to touch it. At most, they symbolically rent one or two factory buildings or warehouses to open cafés or art galleries, which still operate at a loss year after year.”

“How about it, Mr. Pei? Is this challenging enough?”

After speaking, Li Shi smiled as he observed Pei Qian’s reaction.

He had thought Pei Qian was just putting on airs, and upon hearing about such a difficult project, would immediately back off.

However, to his surprise, Mr. Pei’s eyes lit up!

“Very good, thank you, Mr. Li! This is exactly the answer I wanted!”

Pei Qian was overjoyed.

Li Shi was right; this was indeed a mess.

Similar factory buildings were all in the suburbs, in remote locations with few decent supporting facilities around and a sparse population.

If they were in the city center, transforming these factory buildings into art galleries or special tourist projects might bring them back to life.

If they were in the city center, with a change in land use, they would instantly become hot properties that countless people would scramble for.

But since these old factory buildings were in the suburbs, they immediately became neglected—they couldn’t even be demolished because no one was willing to pay for it.

But this was exactly what Pei Qian liked!

Pei Qian drained his cocktail and stood up, preparing to leave.

Li Shi hurriedly said: “Wait, Mr. Pei!”

“Are you going to invest there?”

Pei Qian nodded: “Of course.”

Li Shi instinctively didn’t want to believe it, but he had to admit that Mr. Pei had never lied to him…

The things Mr. Pei had done before also seemed unreliable, but Mr. Pei still went ahead without hesitation, and they all succeeded.

Li Shi also stood up: “Mr. Pei, can you reveal what you plan to do with these factory buildings?”

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, then said: “Mr. Li, I can tell you, but there’s one condition.”

“When this place opens, I hope Mr. Li can be the first customer and experience all the attractions inside.”

Li Shi couldn’t help but smile: “What kind of condition is that? No problem! Even if Mr. Pei didn’t make this request, I would go to experience and learn.”

Pei Qian nodded: “Good, then I’ll be honest.”

“I plan to create a large haunted house.”

Li Shi: “…”