Slackin’ Internet Café.
Coffee area.
A somewhat weathered-looking man held a cup of coffee, sipping it leisurely.
A middle-aged man in his fifties walked into the internet café and sat down across from the weathered-looking man.
“President Liu.” The weathered-looking man stood slightly, showing respect.
“Sorry, President Li, company affairs kept me busy, so I’m a bit late. But I must say, this place was quite difficult to find.” The older President Liu sat down across from him and habitually took out a cigar.
Li Shi raised his hand to stop him: “President Liu, smoking is prohibited here.”
President Liu was startled: “Prohibited?”
He looked around and didn’t see any no-smoking signs, but a young server gave him a slightly apologetic smile, confirming that smoking was indeed prohibited.
President Liu didn’t mind and put the cigar away.
“President Li, is this the place you mentioned having investment intentions for?” President Liu looked around. “This place… looks like just an ordinary café.”
He paused, then seemed confused: “But what’s with all these rows of computers?”
Li Shi sipped his coffee and smiled: “President Liu, you don’t know the whole story.”
“The owner of this establishment has a forward-thinking vision. In my view, whether it’s an internet café, bar, or coffee shop, each on its own has great prospects.”
“Unfortunately, for some reason, the owner combined all these businesses, resulting in them hindering each other, causing this place to be deserted now.”
Li Shi detailed his observations at Slackin’ Internet Café over this period, including the prosperity when Chen Lei was there.
“Unfortunately, after that singer left, the new singer wasn’t as popular, and the place’s popularity gradually declined. Now it’s nearly back to its previous half-dead state.”
“However, my assessment of this place won’t change. At the very least, this internet café’s high-end approach might be the direction of future development.”
After hearing Li Shi’s speech, President Liu nodded slightly.
“So, you want to invest here?”
Li Shi took a sip of coffee, full of confidence: “That’s right. As an investor, one must have this kind of intuition. President Liu, you’re in real estate. I think the high-end model of Slackin’ Internet Café, if opened in suitable locations, should have potential. That’s why I specifically invited you here today to discuss this matter.”
President Liu thought briefly and quickly understood the connection: “Hmm, put that way, it makes sense. Whether this shop makes or loses money doesn’t matter much. Making it serve high-end clientele and raising the property value of the entire area would be a good business.”
“Have you already spoken with the owner?”
Li Shi shook his head: “Not yet, I’m waiting for the right opportunity.”
“This shop has only been open for two or three months. I feel the owner doesn’t seem like someone short on money, and judging from his aggressive approach, he’s probably quite stubborn and won’t listen to advice.”
“As far as I know, even though this place isn’t profitable, the owner continued to pour money into it and opened three or four branch stores in Jingzhou. Such stubbornness is truly rare.”
“Of course, I haven’t investigated thoroughly, just made this deduction based on my observations during this period.”
President Liu nodded slightly in agreement.
To invest three or four million to create such a unique store would certainly face opposition from many. Yet the store not only opened but expanded to multiple locations, indicating that the owner not only wasn’t short on money but was also quite autocratic.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have done such a thing.
Li Shi continued: “So if I approached now, I’d likely hit a wall. The owner would not accept my investment.”
“I need to continue waiting—wait until this store continues to show no improvement, wait until all the branch stores also incur huge losses, wait until the owner begins to doubt himself and is ready to make changes…”
“I will decisively extend a helping hand, invest a large sum, and naturally gain some control.”
“At that time, President Liu, we can properly discuss cooperation.”
President Liu chuckled, neither agreeing nor refusing: “President Li has a good plan. But I think this business model still needs further observation.”
“Don’t misunderstand, President Li, I’m not being negative. I’m just more conservative in my approach, not like you investors with such far-reaching vision. However, when President Li achieves his goal, I wouldn’t mind discussing this matter in more detail.”
“Who knows, President Li might fail? In that case, someone else might be discussing cooperation with me.”
Li Shi smiled and took a sip of coffee: “Rest assured, President Liu, I believe this owner has no reason to reject me.”
…
…
June 18.
Several Tenda games simultaneously updated their versions!
Eagerly waiting players immediately celebrated—those who should buy DLCs bought DLCs, those who should grab epic weapons grabbed epic weapons, shouting “Tenda is so generous” while frantically purchasing, and also mercilessly criticizing other pay-to-win games on forums.
Pei Qian scrolled through the forums while monitoring the backend data.
The sales growth of several DLCs was very rapid, making him somewhat anxious.
Especially for “Sea Fortress”‘s 500 Barrett-Destruction rifles. Pei Qian had originally thought they would last a day, but now it seemed they wouldn’t last an hour.
Players could see the limited 500 units selling at light speed, and many who were hesitating decided to buy without further thought.
Although the rapid increase in these figures made Pei Qian nervous, when calculated carefully, everything was still within expectations.
After several settlements, Pei Qian had become increasingly clear about some of the system’s rules.
To achieve a loss, it wasn’t necessary to bankrupt the company or halt its progress.
As long as two conditions were met at settlement, a loss could be completed, and property conversion would occur.
First, at the moment of settlement, system funds must be lower than the initial system funds.
Second, there should be no unreleased products in the week before settlement.
System funds would be replenished at the beginning of each settlement cycle, from the initial 50,000 yuan to the current 5 million. Any excess wasn’t refunded, while any shortfall was supplemented—all provided freely by the system, so why not use it?
For this settlement, Pei Qian only needed to ensure that system funds were below 5 million. However much lower it was, that much would be converted.
After settlement, the games would continue to make money, the system would replenish system funds, and the company’s capital chain wouldn’t break. Development could continue, scale could expand—there was no real impact.
Moreover, the spent system funds went either to employees or to research and development, and were not wasted.
Now, Pei Qian didn’t care so much whether a particular project lost money. Take these DLCs, for instance—they were made purely as a smokescreen and were going to be profitable, yet Pei Qian still made them.
That was fine. As long as other projects lost enough money to ensure system funds were below 5 million at settlement, the goal of achieving a loss could still be met. It didn’t have to be a complete financial bloodbath to count.
Currently, the entire script was basically proceeding according to Pei Qian’s plan. Even Slackin’ Delivery, which started latest, was already completed. Although it had no users yet, it was officially in operational status and didn’t count as an unreleased product.
With everything ready, Pei Qian was in a good mood and prepared to see players’ flattering comments.
He randomly clicked on a game forum.
“‘Ghost General’ finally updated! Heaven-moving and earth-shaking! And so many generals at once—enough to play for another half year!”
He clicked on another.
“‘Game Producer’s’ update deserves five stars! The new voice acting and scenes are full of sincerity!”
Another one.
“‘Lonely Desert Highway’ is getting an update? And selling for just one yuan? I’m dead! Even though I won’t play it, I’ll buy it anyway and shout ‘Tenda is awesome!’ (voice cracking)”
The last one.
“Dog designer, your mom should die!”
“F*** your mother, such a cool epic weapon and you only sell 500 units? I especially set aside work time and found an internet café, but you give me a ‘sold out this month’???”
“Looking to buy an account that got Barrett-Destruction, serious offer!”
“One like equals 1cm less for Tenda’s boss!”
“F*** your mother, sell more! Can’t wait until next month!”
Pei Qian silently closed the “Sea Fortress” comment section.
Ahem, this tone seemed a bit different from the previous ones.
But it didn’t matter. They could complain all they wanted—as long as they didn’t send him more money before this settlement, they would still be good brothers!