Pei Qian didn’t fully understand what Bao Xu was saying, but one thing was certain.

A major incident had occurred again!

Originally, Pei Qian thought his situation was already miserable enough.

“Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” was making money;

“Game Developer” was also making money;

The system funds couldn’t be spent, no matter how he tried.

Could anything be more miserable than this?

The answer was… yes!

Because of one interview, strangers suddenly developed an intense interest in Tenda Games, and incidentally, all of Tenda’s games became popular again!

Pei Qian became even more depressed.

What was this called?

Life is full of big ups and downs, downs, downs, downs…

However, on second thought, this might not be such bad news.

Because… the system funds couldn’t be spent completely anyway!

Under the premise that losses were hopeless, earning more money meant converting more into personal assets. From this perspective, it seemed…

Not bad?

Pei Qian was experiencing an existential crisis.

“Today is a day of celebration. I propose we take a group photo, what do you think?” Zhu Xiaocai raised his SLR camera and said loudly.

“Great idea!”

“Yes, yes, yes, let’s take a family photo!”

“Come on, everyone, stand ready!”

“Mr. Pei, Mr. Pei should stand in the middle!”

The crowd instantly responded, spontaneously surrounding Pei Qian in the center.

Zhu Xiaocai squatted down, skillfully adjusting the SLR camera: “Come on, everyone, smile. One, two, three, everyone shout together, ‘Congratulations on the great sales! ‘”

“Congratulations on the great sales!!”

Everyone shouted in unison, their faces all beaming with happy smiles.

Pei Qian stood among his employees, listening to everyone’s sincere “blessings,” feeling complicated.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t manage to lose money in this settlement cycle—sadness surged like a river.

But strangely, he could convert a large sum of money, which was a bit of a blessing in disguise…

So should he be happy or depressed…

Pei Qian’s melancholic eyes drifted aimlessly, his lips unconsciously revealing a resigned smile.

“Click!”

Zhu Xiaocai pressed the shutter, the flash lit up, and this moment was perfectly captured by the SLR camera.

Pei Qian silently sighed and buried himself in his office.

Right now, he just wanted to calm down properly and think seriously about where exactly this world had gone wrong…

Zhu Xiaocai transferred the photo to the computer, and everyone gathered around.

“Quickly send it to me.”

“Director Zhu’s photography skills are impressive, truly professional.”

“Hey? What’s with Mr. Pei’s smile?”

“Zoom in a bit.”

“Zoom in more.”

Everyone crowded closer, looking at the computer screen.

In the photo, Pei Qian’s position had been magnified several times. Thanks to the high-definition quality of the SLR, Pei Qian’s expression was visible.

His gaze was wandering, with a hint of faint sadness in his eyes.

But his lips were slightly curved upward, not forcing a smile, but a genuine one from the heart.

Zhu Xiaocai looked at Huang Sibo, then at Bao Xu and the others.

“Mr. Pei’s smile…”

“What does it mean?”

…

…

In the office.

Pei Qian did a quick search online.

Bao Xu was telling the truth!

The keyword “Tenda Games” was trending on Weibo, with onlookers discussing it enthusiastically, and some had even started criticizing.

Because this interview was a “three-no product,” no one knew how much of the information was true and how much was false.

There were some people leaking information below, but with true and false messages mixed, it was impossible for the onlookers to distinguish in a short time!

The reason the confidentiality work was done so well was mainly because Pei Qian’s prestige in the company was too high.

All employees at Tenda were grateful and worshipped Pei Qian. Since Pei Qian had explicitly required not to reveal his true identity or specific benefits, everyone strictly complied.

Even someone like Ma Yiqun, who secretly promoted Tenda and gave interviews, followed these two points 100% and would not publicly reveal his identity as a Tenda employee!

So, among the currently circulating information, some was true and some was false, and the onlookers couldn’t confirm the source.

This exclusive interview claimed to lift the mysterious veil of Tenda, but it only lifted half, and after lifting it, they still couldn’t see clearly!

This feeling of holding a pipa, half-covering the face, made people more curious!

“Game Developer” and “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” together shaped Tenda’s vague image, and when these two hot spots converged, they achieved an excellent secondary promotional effect!

Pei Qian opened the backend to check, and the data for all the games had indeed increased.

Although the growth wasn’t particularly fast, it was happening across all four games at once!

Even “Lonely Desert Highway” experienced a small peak in downloads again.

And “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” had an exclusive broadcasting agreement with AiLiDao, with every click translating into real income.

Closing the backend.

Pei Qian had unprecedented doubts about himself.

Was he so naturally gifted that everything he did came easily, and he could achieve success with minimal effort?

That couldn’t be it.

Pei Qian knew himself well.

Recalling his successes, was it simply a matter of luck?

That wasn’t right either.

There were definitely some luck factors, such as if “Lonely Desert Highway” hadn’t been coincidentally discovered by Qiao Laoshi, it would definitely have failed.

But to say it was all luck wasn’t right either.

There seemed to be some deeper reasons, certain reasons that Pei Qian had been overlooking.

Pei Qian thought carefully.

“Lonely Desert Highway” became popular because it was different from the rest.

“Ghost General,” “Sea Fortress,” “Game Developer”…

They were all the same!

Although there was some coincidence in the success of these games, there was also inevitability.

On one hand, to go against market trends and player preferences, Pei Qian deliberately created some unconventional content.

On the other hand, to spend more money, Pei Qian burned money on a large number of excellent art resources, paid a lot of salaries and benefits, and fully mobilized the enthusiasm of employees.

Thus, a high-quality innovative game was born!

Pei Qian slapped his forehead.

“…So that’s it, I’ve fallen into a misconception!”

“I can’t do it this way!”

“I’m so stupid!”

“So, when making games, should I follow trends?”

“No, no, that doesn’t seem right either…”

Pei Qian immediately rejected this idea.

There were plenty of examples of games that imitated others but completely surpassed the original. Pei Qian’s company had the character “Teng” in its name, and that was no joke.

“No, I need to spend some time thinking through this issue.”

“Before that, all new game development must stop. I can’t take risks anymore.”

“There are already three money trees; if another one comes, I really won’t be able to handle it.”

Pei Qian immediately decided to abandon the new game development plan.

He had previously promised players to slightly update several old games.

So for the next cycle, he would let Lü Mingliang and others work on the old games.

According to convention, there should be a “first elimination” session next month.

But Pei Qian didn’t want to eliminate Lü Mingliang, because from the current situation, Lü Mingliang would faithfully execute Pei Qian’s orders and wouldn’t overthink like Huang Sibo and Bao Xu.

This point made Pei Qian quite satisfied.

The failure of “Game Developer” should be attributed more to Pei Qian himself; blaming Lü Mingliang seemed unreasonable.

Although the voice acting issue seriously deducted points, they could simply not let him do voice acting for the next game, so it wasn’t a big problem.

Since he was still reliable, there was no need to replace him easily.

The main concern was what if they brought in a Huang Sibo 2.0—that would be disastrous!

So, after consideration, Pei Qian decided to continue letting Lü Mingliang serve as the main planner, casually developing new versions.

They would set a lower price, and while it would make money, they’d try to earn as little as possible.

To lose money, he had to consider other approaches.

“Must correct the thinking strategy.”

“Then, how to lose money next becomes very clear.”

“Need to expand the experience of Moyu Internet Café.”

“Open branches in Jingzhou City!”

There was still a week before settlement in this cycle, but Pei Qian was already considering the next cycle’s matters.

Just like in some BO5 matches, when the current game had already become a 20-minute surrender, everyone could start discussing how to play the next game…

So far, Pei Qian’s most successful experience was Moyu Internet Café!

With an initial investment of 3 million that couldn’t be recovered, and then a net loss of over 300,000 every month, it could be said to be Pei Qian’s most successful attempt!

If he could promote this experience and open many branch stores…

Wouldn’t he be able to lose money at will?!