Twenty minutes later, Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong, one on the left and one on the right, dragged out Manager Li, whose legs had gone weak.

Pei Qian hurriedly offered tea: “Manager Li, have some hot water.”

Li Shi slumped into a chair, took the teacup with both hands and had a sip, but his deathly pale face showed no sign of improving.

“Manager Li, feeling better?” Pei Qian asked with concern.

Li Shi weakly waved his hand, without even the strength to speak.

Too terrifying!

Initially, Li Shi had thought it would be simple. Half an hour? Just grit your teeth and get through it, right?

Moreover, he’d played a little trick on Mr. Pei, saying he would “persist through the project” rather than “complete it,” meaning as long as he stayed until the end, even without completing those challenges, it would count as a victory.

However, dreams were beautiful, reality was harsh.

After entering, Li Shi was scared half to death by the first project, and by the fourth project, he couldn’t take it anymore. His legs went weak, and he gave up on the spot, being carried out by Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong.

Still in shock, Li Shi had only one thought: never underestimate Mr. Pei at any time!

Take this haunted house challenge – it didn’t seem particularly frightening on the surface, the process wasn’t long, and there were no staff dressed as ghosts, but when you were there, it was enough to scare you half to death!

Thinking back carefully, these projects weren’t complex, but they were full of psychological suggestions.

Simply put, they used every possible means to scare visitors!

The effect, it must be said, was overwhelming.

Manager Li held his teacup with trembling hands, feeling he would wake up startled from nightmares for at least a month.

The blood-tear-stained head hanging from the ceiling, that mirror in the bathroom, that crackling television in the dimly lit living room…

These were all common scenes in homes, yet they had left him with extreme psychological trauma.

Seeing Manager Li, who usually portrayed the image of a successful mature businessman, now scared like a chicken waiting for slaughter, Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Well, although Manager Li has repeatedly thwarted my plans, he just wants to make some money, which isn’t a capital offense.”

“To extract a few words from me, he’s even willing to experience such a frightening haunted house. I feel a bit guilty now.”

Pei Qian felt he could temporarily cross Li Shi off his little notebook, no, temporarily put him aside.

“Manager Li, thank you for your hard work. Your feedback on the haunted house is extremely valuable to us!”

“In short, thank you very much!” Pei Qian’s expression was extremely sincere.

Li Shi’s pale face showed some confusion: “Huh? What feedback did I give?”

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “Your screams were the best feedback.”

“To show my gratitude, I’ve decided to tell you about the Academic Express project anyway.”

“Yes, Dream Venture Capital is selling its shares in Academic Express. This is my decision, and I hope you will also quickly sell the shares you hold. This is from the bottom of my heart, without a single word of falsehood!”

Pei Qian spoke very sincerely.

There wasn’t a single lie in this. Pei Qian was indeed selling shares, and he truly hoped others would sell all their shares too.

However, he concealed his true intention: he hoped the Academic Express project would lose money.

This way, Manager Li would certainly think Pei Qian wanted to sell all his shares for cash and exit, and he would naturally follow suit. Once all investors sensed something was wrong, they would all sell together.

In reality, Pei Qian planned to keep as many shares as possible for himself, so that when the project failed, these shares would become worthless.

This way, even if the project didn’t lose much, it would still be cutting losses in time, preventing excessive profits.

Li Shi carefully observed Pei Qian’s expression, and after a long while, nodded: “I understand. In that case, I’ll sell my shares too.”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but smile.

Success!

Manager Li currently holds over 20% of the shares. If he sold alongside Dream Venture Capital, it would send a very clear message to other investors, instantly crushing their confidence in the project!

If things went smoothly, Manager Li might still make some profit selling his shares.

No one would lose out—perfect!

…

In the afternoon, at Fuhui Capital.

Li Shi sat in his office, deep in thought, with his eyes closed.

He had been badly frightened at Jingji Lodge that morning, but work couldn’t wait.

The intelligence gained at the cost of his sanity should be reliable.

Mr. Pei said Dream Venture Capital was selling Academic Express shares, and it was indeed his intention. He also advised Li Shi to sell too, which probably wasn’t a lie.

After careful consideration, Li Shi had made his decision.

Sell!

But exactly how to sell—that was something to think about carefully.

For unlisted companies, share transfers generally had to be offered internally first, meaning that if internal shareholders were willing to purchase, they usually had priority.

If no one internally wanted to buy, then approval from the shareholders’ meeting was needed to introduce external shareholders.

In other words, if Li Shi wanted to sell shares, all shareholders would know immediately.

Most of the shares Mr. Pei sold had been bought up by these few shareholders, without introducing external shareholders.

However, Mr. Pei hadn’t sold many shares, so these shareholders only had suspicions but didn’t think Mr. Pei was planning to run.

But Li Shi was planning to sell all of his 20%+ shares, which would make his intention to flee too obvious. The other shareholders couldn’t possibly miss it!

Many of these investors had followed Li Shi’s lead in investing in this project. If both Mr. Pei and Manager Li sold their shares now, it would cause panic among other investors. At that point, everyone would want to sell, losing all confidence in the project, and the company’s valuation would instantly collapse!

If it came to that, even if Li Shi managed to sell all his shares, he probably wouldn’t make much money.

So, Li Shi felt this approach wouldn’t work.

Such a promising project—he’d invested a total of four million, but selling shares in such a chaotic manner would certainly drive prices lower and lower.

After all that trouble, making just a few hundred thousand? He couldn’t lose face like that!

So, while he would sell, he definitely couldn’t sell this way!

Thinking of this, Li Shi found the contact information for the other investors and planned to schedule a small conference call.

Soon, the other investors all responded, setting the time for an hour later.

Li Shi took this time to organize his thoughts, recording all the key points he wanted to make later.

…

An hour later, everyone was present, and the conference call began on time.

“Manager Li, what’s so urgent?” one of the Academic Express project investors asked over the phone.

Li Shi didn’t want to waste time and got straight to the point: “Mr. Pei seems to be planning to cash out and leave. I’m also preparing to sell all my shares.”

There was a moment of silence on the phone, followed by a chorus of questioning voices.

“What?”

“Are you sure?”

“Now?”

“Where did you get this information? Is it reliable?”

Most investors were skeptical, instinctively unwilling to believe it.

Because Academic Express’s current situation was good in every aspect. Although it was burning through a lot of money, all that money was being converted into data!

If it continued burning money until it went public, all investors would multiply their profits many times over!

The project was nowhere near its downhill stage yet, so why run now? This seemed somewhat irrational.

Li Shi calmly said: “I have no reason to deceive you. Think carefully—everyone has seen the popularity of Academic Express, isn’t this the perfect time to cash out?”

“Moreover, do you think this project can go public? Even if it could, how long would it take, and how much money would be burned? A company needs to operate for at least three years to qualify for listing!”

“If Mr. Pei persisted, I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that this company could go public in three years. But now that Mr. Pei wants to withdraw, do you think this project can last three years?”

“At the current rate of burning money, how much will be burned in three years? Who among you has that much money to burn? If we continue financing, who can guarantee we’ll find enough buyers to take over?”

“What happens if we run out of money? Have you thought about that?”

The phone fell silent again.

Most investors agreed with Manager Li’s view.

The reason this project was reliable was entirely because of Mr. Pei; but if Mr. Pei decided to let go, confidence would collapse, and the project would have only one outcome—utter ruin!

After a long while, a voice finally came through the phone.

“Manager Li, why are you telling us all this?”

The implication was, shouldn’t you be quietly making money, selling your shares first?

By notifying everyone now, with everyone selling together, outside confidence in the project would instantly collapse. Everyone would be fighting to sell shares, and no one would benefit!

Li Shi smiled: “My point is, since we’ve decided to sell, we certainly can’t sell so foolishly.”

“The cheaper you sell something, the less people want it. But if you keep raising the price, many people will rush to buy it.”

“Now, to maximize our interests, the best approach isn’t to panic and sell, but to continue hyping up this project, then find a suitable buyer and ‘reluctantly’ sell all our shares to them at a high price!”

A chorus of approval immediately came through the phone.

After pondering for a moment, one investor said: “Speaking of this… Manager Li, previously a vice president from Xude Education, showed strong interest in the Academic Express project and wanted to buy my shares. I hesitated and haven’t given him an answer yet.”

Manager Li smiled slightly: “Sounds like this is our ‘suitable buyer.'”

After hanging up, Li Shi had made up his mind.

Now, all investors were in the same boat with aligned interests. They all wanted to sell their shares at the highest possible price, so there was no need to worry about leaks.

Next, they would all work together to continue hyping up the Academic Express project, making it more attractive to Xude Education.

Then… in order to become the major shareholder of Academic Express, Xude Education would certainly keep acquiring shares, and Li Shi and others could take the opportunity to cash out at high prices.

As for Xude Education…

Li Shi didn’t have a good impression of this educational institution.

Despite its proper-sounding name, Xude Education had a notorious track record of false advertising and promises during recruitment. Their salespeople played multiple roles—they would do anything to make money.

Yet such a company had achieved substantial scale through ubiquitous advertising campaigns and training new sales staff in marketing tactics.

Many students were inexperienced, and their parents were eager for their children to succeed. They were deceived by Xude Education’s marketing talk, and once they paid, getting a refund was nearly impossible.

Li Shi admitted he couldn’t be a righteous businessman like Mr. Pei, earning every penny cleanly and taking on as much social responsibility as possible, such as subsidizing Headwind Logistics.

But he still despised Xude Education’s despicable behavior of “cheating students out of their money.”

Letting such a company that made money unscrupulously take over wouldn’t give Li Shi any sense of guilt whatsoever.