Before him was a pitch-black screen.
In the distance was Li Shi, who had already left.
Pei Qian had a feeling that he had somehow been abandoned by the world…
The script for what would happen next was already obvious.
The Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store would explode in popularity!
The influence of such hugely popular TV programs was simply too great. It was like when certain food shows promoted a particular cuisine, and then that cuisine could establish chain stores nationwide in a very short time.
Of course, things weren’t quite that bad yet. After all, Slackin’ Internet Café’s business model was not the same as restaurants.
Restaurants could open anywhere and sell the same food, and eating at any branch would be more or less the same. But there was only one Slackin’ Internet Café with Chen Lei.
There would definitely be many of Chen Lei’s fans coming to see their idol, to visit the “small internet café” where Chen Lei had once stayed, but other Slackin’ Internet Cafés wouldn’t hold much attraction for them.
It was like how the Beatles had once been resident performers at a small underground bar, and to this day, it remains one of the must-visit spots for many tourists, while other bars on the same street didn’t receive the same treatment.
For star-chasing fans, only the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store where Chen Lei had stayed had “pilgrimage” value; there was no need to visit the other Slackin’ Internet Cafés.
So, the most serious problem Pei Qian faced now was that the revenue of the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store would inevitably skyrocket.
The other several branch stores of Slackin’ Internet Café weren’t a major problem for the time being.
But just the flagship store’s revenue explosion was already terrible news for Pei Qian!
Because this cycle hadn’t ended yet, and Chen Lei was planning to return to the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store to sing. Who knew how many drinks and tips he could receive in the three days before settlement!
Pei Qian wanted to refuse, but he had no reason to.
Thinking about this, Pei Qian felt his hands and feet turn ice cold, and his entire body felt awful.
Pei Qian sat for a long time before finally standing up from his seat.
Li Shi had left, and the surrounding stores would no longer run promotional activities to steal Slackin’ Internet Café’s customers. Of course, they couldn’t steal them now even if they tried.
All the heat generated by the promotional activities of nearby stores during this period had, with Chen Lei’s explosion in popularity, been transferred entirely to the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store.
All those profit points that Pei Qian had previously put great effort into pushing away had come back with a vengeance!
He was now very tired, very uncomfortable, and really wanted to return to his warm bed, wrap himself in his blanket, and go to sleep.
Just as he reached the stairs, he heard a commotion from below.
Ma Yang excitedly ran upstairs: “Qian-ge! Qian-ge, are you upstairs?”
Pei Qian’s voice was weak: “What is it?”
“Customers have arrived! So many, so many customers!” Ma Yang’s long face was radiant with excitement.
Pei Qian looked downstairs and saw that many customers had already gathered at the entrance of Slackin’ Internet Café. Many had already poured into the first-floor hall, everyone taking out their phones to frantically take photos.
Some people couldn’t wait to find a seat to sit down and claim a spot; some had nowhere to sit, so they stood on tiptoe to photograph the singers on stage; and even more people, seeing that the first floor was quickly filling up, were already heading to the second floor!
Pei Qian and Ma Yang were almost pushed back by the surging crowd. They finally managed to squeeze downstairs and slip out of the café through the employee passage at the back door.
As soon as they got outside, they saw many people rushing this way from the street.
Looking carefully, they understood.
People from the surrounding bars and many nearby residents had all come running!
The nearby bars had been running drink discount promotions recently, and the evening was the peak time when many people were there. But these people, drinking halfway through, had all heard about Chen Lei and Slackin’ Internet Café!
The news spread immediately, and since it was just across the street, of course people would come to see.
As for Slackin’ Internet Café’s expensive prices…
Nobody thought it was expensive anymore. Take a photo to post to friends and show off—what’s wrong with spending a few dozen yuan to order a drink?
Looking at the boiling crowd at the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store from a distance, Pei Qian’s eyes grew moist.
My nice internet café is gone!
It’s so painful!
“Woo woo woo…”
Pei Qian was a bit dazed. What’s going on? I haven’t even started crying yet.
Turning his head, he saw that it was Ma Yang who was crying.
“Qian-ge, I finally understand your deeper meaning in sending Chen Lei to Magic City…”
“You always believed he could become famous, right?”
“Qian-ge, I misunderstood you before, woo woo woo…”
Pei Qian had really wanted to cry, but seeing Ma Yang crying like a hippopotamus, he instantly didn’t feel like crying anymore.
The mood was gone.
Pei Qian looked dejectedly into the café: “Where’s Zhang Yuan?”
Ma Yang wiped his tears: “He and the manager are inside receiving customers. There are too many people. We just discussed it, and we’re planning to stay open all night!”
Pei Qian: “…That’s not necessary, health comes first.”
Ma Yang patted his chest: “Don’t worry, Qian-ge, the three of us will take turns resting, and we’ll urgently transfer a few waiters from other cafés. We’ll pay them triple overtime, no problem!”
“You’ve painstakingly managed to make the café popular. How could we let down your hard work?”
“Come to think of it, Zhang Yuan and I, as the management of the café, have never been able to share your worries. It’s shameful.”
“This time, just rest assured and leave everything to us!!”
Pei Qian’s lips twitched slightly: “…Well, thank you very much.”
Ma Yang wiped his tears, a smile spreading across his long face: “No need! Qian-ge, we don’t need to say much between us, just understand in our hearts!”
Pei Qian: “…”
There was no way out now.
With only three days left, whether they stayed open all night tonight wouldn’t make much difference.
“Alright, then I’m going to get busy, Qian-ge. You’ve worked hard lately, go back and rest quickly!”
Ma Yang returned to Slackin’ Internet Café through the employee passage again. Watching his departing figure, Pei Qian felt a kind of indescribable loneliness.
…
…
The next day.
Monday.
When Pei Qian opened his eyes, it was already noon.
After hesitating for a long time, he finally made up his mind and summoned the system panel.
Last night, Slackin’ Internet Café had probably been open all night, and who knew how many drinks they had sold. The money earned should be reflected in the system funds.
And this morning, the game revenue from last week would also be credited.
Before going to sleep, the status of the system funds was still at a loss, a loss of over 2.1 million.
This money was what Pei Qian had spent with all his might.
According to Pei Qian’s original plan, Slackin’ Internet Café wasn’t supposed to make money, and the income from the games this week would be around 1.6 million, not possibly exceeding 1.8 million at most.
“Ghoul General” and “Game Producer” originally had a monthly net income of about 600,000 to 700,000 each, and “Sea Fortress” had about 3.5 million. Converted to weekly income, they added up to just over 1.2 million.
The official platform had changed its profit-sharing ratio, and considering the money earned from DLCs, Pei Qian’s psychological bottom line was 1.8 million.
Slackin’ Internet Café’s turnover last night should have been at most a hundred thousand or so, it couldn’t be more.
Some bars might have VIP booth consumptions of tens of thousands, which could indeed amount to several hundred thousand, but Slackin’ Internet Café didn’t have that! At most, it was just some drink consumption and some people using the internet.
What was really difficult to handle were the next two days. Once Chen Lei arrived, the drink tips would not be few.
However, now Pei Qian had many employees under him. In a situation where they rushed to spend money, spending a few hundred thousand to create a loss shouldn’t be a big problem.
So, Pei Qian thought that if he was lucky, there was still a possibility of a small loss of three to four hundred thousand.
If that were the case, it would still be acceptable.
The panel appeared in Pei Qian’s field of vision.
[Wealth Conversion System]
[Host: Pei Qian]
[Surplus conversion ratio 100:1, Loss conversion ratio 1:1]
[Next settlement time: 2 days later]
[System funds: 6.27 million (↑1.27 million)]
[Personal assets: 45691.4]
“Damn it!!!”
Pei Qian nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
“How the hell could it be over 1.5 million more than my psychological bottom line!”
“There’s a big problem!!”
Pei Qian was practically vomiting blood. He hurriedly sat up in his bed like a flipping fish and ran to his computer to open the backend to check the specific revenue data of the various games.
The income of “Ghoul General” and “Game Producer” was higher than Pei Qian had expected, but still within his psychological expectations.
But “Sea Fortress,” compared to Pei Qian’s worst-case scenario, had earned over a million more!
Based on this data estimate, “Sea Fortress” monthly revenue had broken ten million. And with a 70-30 split, after taxes, the weekly income was also over 2 million.
The data Pei Qian had originally estimated mainly differed in the income of this game!
Pei Qian felt his hands and feet turn ice cold.
What was going on?
Hadn’t he checked that “Sea Fortress” didn’t have any major problems before?
These days, Pei Qian had put all his energy into the Slackin’ Internet Café side. He never imagined that “Sea Fortress,” which he had been neglecting all along, would be the project that dealt him the fatal blow!
“What exactly happened to ‘Sea Fortress’ last week?”
“Li Zhengwei did promote ‘Sea Fortress’ a bit, but no matter what, it couldn’t possibly have had such a good effect, right?”
“And besides, my 500 Barrett Destruction rifles for next month haven’t even gone on sale yet! Just the Fire Kirin, selling over 10,000 in a week???
“What’s going on? It doesn’t make sense at all!!”
“What information have I been overlooking??”