If possible, Pei Qian would prefer to make the haunted house free, but the system would not allow that.

He could lower the price within certain limits, but after reducing it to the minimum price allowed by the system, the only way to further reduce income would be through a pricing strategy.

Pei Qian still had to implement his previous principle.

Make brave people spend less, while deterring the timid.

The original intention of this statement was to ensure that those who truly dared to enter the haunted house wouldn’t spend much money, while scaring away those with little courage so they wouldn’t have the chance to spend money.

So, after careful consideration, Pei Qian decided to adopt a special pricing strategy.

Different attractions would be priced separately.

Different people would also be priced separately.

The first attraction, with the lowest horror level and richest gameplay, should be the most popular with the general public.

Therefore, the lower the price for this attraction, the better!

Since it had the widest audience and was most suitable for repeated play, many people would come, whether the ticket price was high or low, so setting it lower would mean earning less money.

The third attraction was the most terrifying and had the highest investment. Under the system’s supervision, even if he wanted to set a low ticket price, it certainly couldn’t be too low.

That being the case, Pei Qian decided to do the opposite.

Set a high ticket price!

This way, combining terror with a high price would create a double deterrent effect for ordinary people. To avoid spending money and suffering, people with little courage would not enter.

As for those with more courage, they could be offered refunds based on their progress.

For instance, dividing the entire process into nine sections, with a safe house in each section. For each section completed, 10% of the ticket price would be refunded. Completing the entire course would mean essentially paying just 10% of the original price.

Just 10 yuan to experience the entire haunted house.

Then, following Chen Kangtuo’s idea of “one ticket, multiple entries,” each person could enter three times after buying one ticket. As long as the visitor could complete the entire haunted house within three attempts, they wouldn’t need to buy a second ticket.

This way, the ticket price would appear high on the surface, but the third attraction still wouldn’t earn much money!

As for the second attraction, Pei Qian thought for a moment and decided to set a low price too, just slightly more expensive than the first attraction!

With this in mind, Pei Qian said to Chen Kangtuo: “Price the different attractions separately.”

“The first attraction, 10 yuan.”

“For the second attraction, visitors can randomly experience multiple small projects. Each additional project costs 15 yuan.”

“Give each person a decibel recorder. If they complete the task without screaming too loudly, the current small project is free.”

“The third attraction, 100 yuan per experience, with three entry opportunities in total. For the second and third entries, visitors can continue from where they left off, with ticket refunds based on progress achieved in the final attempt. If they complete the entire course, all money will be refunded.”

“Then we can offer a combined ticket, like 200 yuan for unlimited play.”

“That’s roughly it. You can work out the details.”

After hearing Pei Qian’s words, Chen Kangtuo’s eyes lit up.

“Understood, Mr. Pei. This pricing strategy is exactly what I was thinking!”

Pei Qian: “?”

What did that mean?

He was a bit confused, feeling that this script was different from what he had imagined.

Previously, when he “guided” others, they were often confused, puzzled, bewildered…

But why did Chen Kangtuo seem to have anticipated this and was even excited about it?

What did he mean by saying the pricing strategy was exactly what he was thinking? Was that really what he had in mind?

Could it be that after taking on the Anxiety Lodge project, Chen Kangtuo had become enlightened? Could he now follow Pei Qian’s train of thought?

Pei Qian felt somewhat lost, but this wasn’t something he could ask about, so he waved his hand and sent Chen Kangtuo away.

Pei Qian pondered this, feeling something was strange.

“Strange, a project that’s bound to lose money is about to start burning cash, yet I don’t feel excited at all…”

…

In the afternoon, Pei Qian woke up and prepared to visit Dream Fulfillment Investment.

Other projects were still in development, with no particularly important news for the time being.

Only the progress of the film somewhat surprised Pei Qian.

Since the script itself wasn’t very long, the shooting should have been completed by now if it were just about filming.

But there were no signs of it wrapping up yet.

“Maybe the filming isn’t going smoothly, causing delays?”

“Yes, that’s possible. Director Zhu Xiaocai has only directed short films before, with no experience directing a proper theatrical film. Hitting some bumps is inevitable.”

Pei Qian didn’t pay much attention to it. After all, he wasn’t rushing to meet any release date for the film. It could be released anytime, as long as it was before the settlement deadline.

As for Dream Fulfillment Investment, Pei Qian had squeezed out another sum of money for them, this time three million yuan.

Compared to the previous twenty million, it wasn’t much, but it was more than enough to invest in some small projects.

Moreover, Pei Qian had realized that investment should be gradual; one shouldn’t try to achieve everything at once.

Otherwise, that twenty-million investment would serve as a cautionary example.

He needed to take it slow, first accumulate some experience with failed investments, then proceed gradually.

Besides, this time Pei Qian would personally handle it, setting a good example for Old Ma.

Otherwise, there would be endless trouble.

“I wonder if Old Ma has been properly reviewing business plans lately, and if he’s found any sufficiently unreliable projects.”

As Pei Qian was pondering this, he arrived at Dream Fulfillment Investment.

This time, there were no shouts of “Manager Ma just left” or sounds of keyboards and mice clicking. The entire company’s atmosphere had suddenly changed from an internet café to a formal office.

He Desheng and others were all busy with their own tasks—some reviewing business plans, some creating reports, looking very professional.

The people Old Ma had recruited weren’t purely gaming companions. Strictly speaking, they were “investment industry newcomers who were good at games.”

Just like He Desheng, they worked in the investment industry, with gaming as a skilled hobby.

Seeing this scene, Pei Qian felt very uncomfortable.

It seemed more reassuring when everyone was playing games…

This serious working appearance was quite intimidating.

But then, considering that if everyone played games, they would provide suggestions to the GOG team, Pei Qian decided it was better this way.

Ah, caught between a rock and a hard place.

Better quickly find a project to invest in!

Ma Yang was sitting by the large conference table, holding a stack of investment plans, browsing through them one by one.

However, judging from his browsing speed, he was probably only looking at the title and first page of each.

Seeing this, Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief—his brother was still reliable!

“So, are there any ‘dream-filled’ projects worth investing in?” Pei Qian sat down beside Ma Yang.

He Desheng and others hurriedly came over and sat around the conference table.

This was Mr. Pei personally imparting investment experience—even hearing a single sentence would be immensely beneficial!

They must listen carefully!

Ma Yang said proudly, “Qian Ge, I found one!”

“Just one?” Pei Qian was a bit disappointed. “Out of all these business plans, you only found one ‘dream-filled’ project?”

Besides the stack of investment plans in Ma Yang’s hands, there was another stack on the table.

Pei Qian picked one up, flipped through it, and couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath.

Investment was a technical job!

These business plans were barely comprehensible to him, but the problem was that they all seemed too reliable!

Just as ordinary investors would struggle to accurately identify which projects would make money, Pei Qian found it difficult to accurately identify which projects would lose money.

Because all startups seeking investment would choose projects that genuinely seemed promising.

Even those projects designed to scam investors would make their business plans especially impressive, exaggerating their work to sound extraordinary.

Fake projects had to appear more genuine than real ones.

Otherwise, how could they trick investors?

This presented a problem: all the business plans looked reliable. Even though a large portion were destined to fail, their business plans were designed to look highly likely to succeed.

Pei Qian didn’t have the discerning eye to tell the difference.

He had no choice but to accept the one Ma Yang had selected.

The moment he took it in his hands, Pei Qian was shocked.

It was so light!

Other business plans had lots of content, but this one had only one page!

Not only that, the format of the business plan was completely wrong, full of errors, and the content was very simple.

This project, called “Shared Phone Booth,” didn’t seek much investment—only 200,000 yuan.

Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling a little excited. In this business plan, he saw dreams!

Ma Yang was still screening other business plans when Pei Qian raised his hand to stop him: “Let’s put aside the others for now and invest in this project first.”

Ma Yang obediently set aside the other business plans and said, “Qian Ge, are we investing in this?”

“This project is indeed full of dreams, which is why I singled it out.”

“But… can it make money?”

Pei Qian chuckled. Wasn’t that a silly question? If it could make money, would I invest in it?

But he couldn’t say that, of course.

Everyone at the conference table, including He Desheng, looked shocked.

They had all seen the “Shared Phone Booth” investment plan but had dismissed it as a joke.

Shared phone booths where you scan a code to make calls? Wasn’t that like taking off your pants to fart?

If I have a phone that can scan codes, why would I need to go to a phone booth?

And this wasn’t something new—there used to be many public phone booths on the streets, but now nobody used them.

Why?

Times had changed!

Nowadays, everyone has a mobile phone. Who would still use a phone booth? Wasn’t that just a waste of effort?

Yet Pei Qian had looked at this project for barely ten seconds before deciding to invest?

Seeing everyone’s puzzled expressions, Pei Qian smiled slightly.

“None of you think this project has potential?”

Everyone nodded.

Pei Qian looked at Ma Yang again: “You don’t think this project has potential either?”

Ma Yang nodded, then shook his head: “Qian Ge, as long as you think a project has potential, there’s absolutely no problem! It will make money!”

Pei Qian’s face darkened.

This Old Ma, saying something that should be nice, yet why did it make Pei Qian feel unhappy?

Will it make money? Don’t jinx me like that!

Pei Qian coughed lightly: “Remember, what everyone believes in isn’t venture capital, it’s crowdfunding.”

“Venture capital means investing in projects that seem unreliable, investing in projects that everyone thinks won’t succeed!”

“Without risk, how can it be called venture capital?”

“The greater the risk, the greater the return!”