March 13th, Sunday.

Pei Qian once again arrived at OTTO Technology to supervise operations in person!

Although supervision seemed rather pointless, Pei Qian still felt more at ease seeing things with his own eyes.

Today was Sunday, but since the phone launch was a major event, they were working overtime—with ample overtime pay, of course.

For Chang You, the pressure was immense.

Mr. Pei coming in person indicated how seriously he took the OTTO E1 phone’s sales situation.

But there was no way they could sell out all their inventory today!

The reservation numbers had only just reached 5,000 units, while they had stocked 9,000 units.

Those consumers who had made reservations could pay the remaining balance within the next two or three days, so they certainly wouldn’t be in a rush to purchase.

Other people had even less reason to hurry, since anyone truly interested had already made a reservation.

In short, today’s phone sales figures would probably not look very good.

If Mr. Pei got angry, the situation might become difficult to manage.

But at this point, Chang You had no other options but to grit his teeth and wait for the sales to begin.

At 10 AM, the phones went on sale again!

The sales numbers began to rise rapidly, but soon slowed down, clearly lacking momentum.

Pei Qian watched the changing sales figures on the product details page, growing happier by the minute.

Not bad! The situation aligned perfectly with his predictions, even better than expected!

Many people who had paid deposits and made reservations weren’t in such a hurry to purchase, and with the increased inventory this time, the frenzy couldn’t compare to the first two waves.

After an hour, sales had barely reached 4,100 units, and the rate had slowed considerably.

Pei Qian felt this was good enough. Even if the remaining people who had made reservations remembered to pay in the next couple of hours, today’s sales would struggle to exceed 5,000 units.

The goal of holding back 4,000 units of inventory had been easily achieved!

Seeing Mr. Pei stand up, Chang You became very nervous.

He also knew that watching the sales figures any longer was pointless, so he quickly said to Mr. Pei, “Mr. Pei, don’t worry, I’ll continue to keep a close eye on phone sales and think of other methods! I’ll solve the inventory problem!”

Chang You figured he should quickly express his determination.

Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly. “Think of other methods”?

Please, I beg you, don’t!

The current situation was perfect—nobody wanted the phones anymore. Why not just let them lie peacefully in the warehouse and romantically age together?

Could you feel the pain of these adorable phones being marketed back and forth? No, you couldn’t. You only cared about yourself!

Pei Qian shook his head. “Our marketing strategy is not the problem. That’s not your primary task right now, don’t waste time and energy on marketing.”

“Your primary task is still to increase production!”

“Take out all the money again for inventory. Before next Wednesday, I want to see 14,000 OTTO phones in the warehouse!”

Chang You’s mouth fell slightly open, momentarily speechless.

More inventory?

They already couldn’t sell what they had!

And 14,000 units? It would be a miracle if they could sell the current 4,000 units. They could restock later if needed!

Seeing Chang You frozen in shock, Pei Qian asked, “Can you do it?”

Chang You instantly snapped back to reality and quickly answered, “Yes! No problem!”

…

Back at his residence, Pei Qian felt much more at ease.

The pressure of losses for this cycle had greatly decreased!

Pei Qian had long discovered that the system’s calculation of profits and losses was extremely simple and crude, only accounting for changes in system funds.

Converting money into physical or virtual assets wouldn’t be counted in the system fund statistics. Only large real estate properties would be counted, and even then, only at 10%.

Pei Qian was even tempted to move excess funds from other places to stock up on OTTO phones.

But he resisted the temptation, knowing clearly that such behavior also carried risks, significant ones.

Just like what happened with ROF computer assemblies before—one big fire, and all the inventory was bought up, resulting in unwanted profits…

The situation was the same now. If half of these phones sold for some inexplicable reason, then Pei Qian would have stockpiled for nothing.

So, he planned to wait and observe a bit longer, making sure the phone situation was secure before continuing to increase inventory.

After returning to his residence, Pei Qian’s first action was to open the Dog’s Eye APP to check the box office performance of “Journey to the Flying Star.”

Number one: “Journey to the Flying Star,” 16.493 million yuan in daily box office as of noon.

Number two: “The Pursuer,” 3.217 million yuan in daily box office as of noon.

Number three: “Beautiful Tomorrow,” 2.874 million yuan in daily box office as of noon.

Three question marks instantly appeared over Pei Qian’s head as a chill ran through his heart.

This situation didn’t seem right!

“Journey to the Flying Star” should reach about 32 million yuan today, considerably higher than yesterday but still in line with Dog’s Eye APP’s box office expectations, even slightly lower.

In other words, this film would likely only achieve around 300 million yuan in domestic box office, and that was in RMB…

Dog’s Eye APP had strongly proven to Pei Qian that its estimates were very accurate.

But now Pei Qian was puzzled.

This was supposed to be a major production, but it was performing terribly!

If the box office turned out like this, the film would lose everything down to the last penny, with global box office losses heading toward 400-500 million dollars!

“How enviable!”

“Well, it’s not my concern anyway.”

“I don’t care how much you lose, just help me suppress ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’s’ box office!”

Seeing that “Journey to the Flying Star” had become a hopeless cause, Pei Qian naturally lowered his expectations for it.

He had originally hoped it would drain the screenings and box office during this period, but now that seemed impossible.

Looking at “The Pursuer,” Pei Qian felt even more annoyed.

“What’s your situation?”

“It’s only your third day of release, and your box office has dropped to this little? Aren’t you also a major production?”

“So disappointing!”

Then, looking at “Beautiful Tomorrow,” its box office was better than yesterday, rising against the trend!

It was even on the verge of overtaking “The Pursuer” to reclaim second place.

Pei Qian was completely speechless.

“Something’s wrong, definitely wrong!”

“Even if ‘Journey to the Flying Star’ is a bad film, it’s still an American blockbuster on its second day of release. And how could ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’s’ box office increase? This makes no scientific sense!”

When something unusual happens, there must be a reason. Pei Qian quickly browsed through discussions on various film forums and websites, trying to uncover the truth!

Finally, Pei Qian found the answer in a review of “Journey to the Flying Star.”

“Journey to the Flying Star: Like Eating Damp Sunflower Seeds”

“I heard this film had an investment of 170 million, adapted from a famous work with an all-star cast. Before its release, it even desperately tried to associate itself with a series of foreign sci-fi IPs. I eagerly bought a ticket, but after watching it, I only had one feeling—magical absurdity!”

“The original novel was written exactly 100 years ago. I don’t deny that the original is indeed a classic, but viewing 100-year-old sci-fi through modern eyes, times have changed, and it’s completely lost its flavor. If this film had been made twenty or thirty years ago, I wouldn’t deny that it might have become a classic in film history. But come on, it’s 2011 now! We saw ‘Avatar’ the year before last, and now you’re showing us this?”

“The protagonist travels to a planet with two factions of aliens who look just like humans, plus green-skinned four-armed savages. These savages have no modern weapons, yet haven’t been exterminated, while the two alien factions possess high-tech weapons, yet still find interest in the Earth man who can just jump a bit higher. Even the alien princess falls in love with the protagonist at first sight. The film’s explanation for space travel is also quite half-hearted, and the conspiracies in the film remain at a child’s level of intelligence…”

“Of course, I’m not criticizing the original author—after all, he lived a hundred years ago. But the director should have known this film would be out of place if made now.”

“Recently, many people have been comparing ‘Journey to the Flying Star’ with ‘Beautiful Tomorrow.’ Although I risk seeming like I’m over-praising a domestic film, I still have to say that while ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ also has many unreasonable aspects, its plot, world-building, details, and sci-fi elements are all far superior to ‘Journey to the Flying Star’!”

“To make an analogy, ‘Journey to the Flying Star’ is like throwing many good ingredients together and cooking them on high heat—all good ingredients, but the flavors are all cooked away.”

“‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ on the other hand, is more like using many simple, common ingredients to create a flavor no one has ever tasted before. The ingredients don’t seem complex, but the taste lingers after careful savoring.”

“So, if you haven’t seen ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ and find ‘Journey to the Flying Star’ a bit eye-straining, I strongly recommend you check it out. Of course, if you’ve already seen it and want to watch it again to cleanse your eyes, I have no objection.”

…

Pei Qian seemed to have found the problem.

Still somewhat skeptical, he took another tour around the forums and finally believed it.

People were going to see “Beautiful Tomorrow” because of “Journey to the Flying Star”!

Those who hadn’t seen “Beautiful Tomorrow” before became curious after hearing people criticize “Journey to the Flying Star” while praising “Beautiful Tomorrow.”

Those who had already seen “Beautiful Tomorrow” wanted to watch it again to cleanse their eyes.

But this development didn’t hurt “Journey to the Flying Star” the most—after all, it was a star-studded major production with a 170 million dollar investment. Even though it was losing money hand over fist, it wasn’t something other films could easily bully.

The biggest loser was actually “The Pursuer.” As “Journey to the Flying Star” and “Beautiful Tomorrow” clashed, both films saw rising popularity, increased attendance rates, and growing box office numbers, resulting in “The Pursuer” losing its screening slots…

Pei Qian had originally hoped that the release of “Journey to the Flying Star” would thoroughly defeat “Beautiful Tomorrow,” reducing his burden before the film ended its run.

But now, “Beautiful Tomorrow’s” box office figures were rising against the trend!

Looking at the current situation, the film’s box office would continue to rise!

Pei Qian tossed his phone aside, feeling somewhat devoid of life.

The reinforcements from abroad were too weak, getting knocked down in just one day.

Not only had they failed to impact “Beautiful Tomorrow’s” box office, but they had produced the opposite effect.

This was unbearable!!!