Tuesday, December 31st.

Two months had passed in the blink of an eye.

Pei Qian lay on the sofa, silently waiting for the final moment of the system settlement.

During these two months, he had mostly stayed at home, rarely going out. He hadn’t visited the company, and all company matters were discussed and decided by the department heads themselves.

Various departments had carried out negative-profit activities, with those in charge racking their brains to figure out how to spend money quickly on Pei Qian’s behalf. Traditional spending methods, including charitable activities, naturally progressed according to their original processes.

Although Tenda Group’s charitable activities hadn’t yet reached a particularly large scale, they had developed good momentum.

Led by Tenda Group, numerous companies across the country had joined the Initial Relief Plan charity initiative, which was developing rapidly with many companies and individuals responding to the call.

Pei Qian always maxed out the charitable donation limit allowed by the system, so these charitable activities naturally grew larger and larger, making it difficult to slow down even if he wanted to.

During his two-month seclusion, Pei Qian had thought about many things, including his own future path and how the entire Tenda Group should develop.

Just then, a transparent light screen gradually unfolded before Pei Qian’s eyes, and lines of text appeared:

【Wealth Conversion System 2.0】 

【Host: Pei Qian】 

【Surplus conversion ratio 1000:1, Loss conversion ratio 10:1】 

【Settlement in progress…】 

【Re-evaluating fixed asset values…】 

【System funds: 15.77 million + 42.47 million + 15 million (↓126.76 million)】 

【Fixed assets: 424.73 million】 

【Infrastructure projects: 1.5 billion】 

【Click to expand fixed assets and infrastructure project details】 

【Personal assets: 5.08 million】 

Seeing the final system funds figure, Pei Qian couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

Sure enough, leaving the work to those in charge was much more reliable than wracking his own brain and doing everything personally.

The department heads had all racked their brains to spend money quickly, competing to run activities and expand markets. While rapidly developing Tenda Group, they were also quickly consuming cash flow, directly reducing the system funds to just over 10 million.

Of course, since Tenda Group’s cash flow was better than most companies, the company’s liquid funds might be recovered quickly, but this was enough to handle the settlement.

This result was far better than Pei Qian’s initial estimate.

Although some fixed assets had been added, according to the final results, Pei Qian could still successfully extract over 10 million yuan in “wool” as planned.

Even though there had been slight deviations in the process, the final result had turned out as Pei Qian had initially envisioned.

However, after the dust had settled and he saw this number, Pei Qian didn’t feel ecstatic or excited. Instead, he faced this fact with a rather calm attitude.

In fact, he felt a bit of worry and confusion in his heart.

The system light screen continued to scroll.

【Settlement in progress…】 

【Performing wealth conversion…】 

【System funds: 15.77 million + 42.47 million + 15 million (↓126.76 million)】 

【Fixed assets: 424.73 million】 

【Infrastructure projects: 1.5 billion】 

【Personal assets: 19.01 million (↑12.67 million × 10%)】 

During the last settlement, Pei Qian already had around 5 million in personal assets, and he had many ways to earn extra income, whether through bonuses from cooperating with other companies or other sources of income. His extra monthly income ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions.

Pei Qian had actually spent quite a bit of money this year. He had never stopped buying various latest digital products and other relatively expensive odds and ends. During this cycle, he had spent even more liberally, but even so, his personal assets hadn’t changed much.

Now, with the converted sum of over 10 million arriving, his personal assets had directly risen to the enormous figure of 19 million yuan!

But unlike before, this change didn’t bring Pei Qian any sense of joy.

He still remembered how ecstatic he had been the first time he extracted over 1 million from the system. He had constantly thought about using that money to buy a new house for his parents, buy a new car, and cover renovation costs. He had been full of motivation.

But now, the arrival of over 10 million seemed like just a numerical change to Pei Qian.

Pei Qian now owned two or three properties, and most of his living expenses could be covered through the company, so he didn’t need to spend his own money.

Originally, his desire to extract another 10 million, apart from his dream of buying a villa, was more about not giving up. He felt that with such an impressive system, only managing to extract a few million after so much effort was somewhat embarrassing.

But now that he had achieved this short-term goal, he felt a bit lost.

What was the point of having these 10+ million sitting in his account earning interest? It couldn’t create real value.

There were many places in the world that needed money, yet Pei Qian himself didn’t really need this sum.

Yes, he could buy a villa, renovate it nicely, and hire two housekeepers to take care of his daily life.

And then what?

Buy an even bigger villa, a seaside mansion, build his own estate? Fill the estate with luxury cars worth millions, have his own private jet? Or directly buy a small island and live in isolation from the world…

If these were his goals, Pei Qian could continue to extract wool from the system until the day he died.

But using such a system just to satisfy his personal desires seemed like a waste of a precious resource.

If Mr. Pei’s existence was like other wealthy people in the world, taking pride in the personal wealth figures on rich lists, focusing on estates, yachts, private jets, and luxurious living, then how would he be any different from an ordinary person controlled by materialism?

The term “richest person,” literally speaking, might refer to someone with the most wealth.

But if one merely greedily possesses wealth without using it, such a person shouldn’t be called the richest, but rather a vampire!

Money turning into mere numbers—this feeling made Pei Qian feel deeply vigilant.

Just then, new text appeared on the system light screen.

【System will undergo an update and upgrade. Please read the update instructions carefully and make a choice after the update.】

Pei Qian was stunned. He had thought he would normally enter a settlement cycle of one year or longer, but he didn’t expect the system to update and upgrade again.

The last upgrade felt very distant to him. That time, the system had adjusted the profit and loss conversion ratios with the Matthew Effect as the reason. He wondered what kind of adjustments the system would make this time.

【Considering factors such as Tenda Group’s industry scale, system fund amount, and host’s personal assets, the system will undergo a final upgrade to version 3.0】

【After the upgrade, the system will enter a fixed settlement cycle, with settlements occurring once a year】

【Profit and loss ratios will undergo final adjustments. After adjustment, the surplus conversion ratio will be 50:1, and the loss conversion ratio will be 50:1】

【After adjustment, the host can only choose one settlement method: either profit or loss. Once chosen, it cannot be changed in the future】

【The system will dynamically determine the initial system fund amount at the beginning of each cycle based on Tenda Group’s development and operational status, ensuring the host can achieve an appropriate conversion amount whether aiming for profit or loss】

【This choice cannot be changed. Please consider carefully】

Pei Qian was stunned. He hadn’t expected the system to make such adjustments.

This adjustment didn’t include any extra benefits. It was very simple and straightforward, changing only two points.

The first point was fixing the settlement to once a year.

The second point was adjusting the profit and loss ratios, both becoming 50:1, and dynamically determining the initial system funds to ensure that regardless of whether profit or loss was chosen, the theoretical returns at settlement would be considerable.

However, at the same time, the system required Pei Qian to choose between profit or loss, and no longer allowed him to decide based on the actual situation during the cycle as before.

Although the previous wealth conversion ratios for profit and loss were vastly different, in situations where losses were no longer possible, the wealth converted from profits was actually not insignificant.

Now Pei Qian had to make a choice, and once chosen, it could never be changed!

“Both the profit and loss conversion ratios are actually 50:1!”

“Come to think of it, this system is called the Wealth Conversion System, not the Loss Money System, and the initial wealth conversion ratio seemed to be randomly generated.”

“Converting through profit or through loss both fall within the system’s allowed rules. I just didn’t expect that profit and loss would now have the same ratio, and I can only choose one.”

The current situation wasn’t difficult to analyze.

Pei Qian had studied this system for so long and had basically mastered how to use it.

From the current situation, it was clearly more beneficial for him personally to choose profit.

Because there was a limit to the personal wealth that could be converted through losses, but there was no limit to profits.

To give a simple example, if at the beginning of the next cycle, the system gave an initial fund of 300 million, then according to the current conversion ratio, even if Pei Qian reduced the system funds to zero at settlement, he would only be able to convert 6 million.

But if he could use some methods to make the system funds 600 million or more at settlement, then the income would already exceed what could be achieved through losses.

Increasing system funds from 300 million to 600 million wasn’t difficult. There were too many loopholes to exploit. With Tenda’s many benefits and industries, he could easily save a large sum of money.

Moreover, Tenda Group was now on the rise, entering more industries and making more money. The company might continue to experience rapid development for several more years.

Under this continuous expansion, overall, the difficulty of making profits in the future would be less than the difficulty of making losses.

And even if he chose profit, Pei Qian didn’t need to have too much psychological burden.

Other company bosses also benefited from their company’s development, but there was only so much money—what went to the boss meant less for the company’s development funds or employee salaries.

But Pei Qian’s earnings still came from the system, and the company’s funds remained the same. Pei Qian took money from the system, which wouldn’t have a significant impact on the company’s operations.

Even though both involved earning personal wealth through company profits, there was still a big difference between Pei Qian and other company bosses.

From a personal perspective, no matter how he analyzed it, choosing profit was more advantageous.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but shake his head and smile slightly: “It seems the system is giving me an ultimate test.”