Monday, November 18th.

With the start of a new week, Pei Qian was filled with fresh melancholy.

He called up the system to check his financial situation.

【Wealth Conversion System】

【Host: Pei Qian】

【Surplus conversion ratio 100:1, Loss conversion ratio 1:1】

【Next settlement time: 73 days later】

【System funds: 971,634.3 (↑471,634.3)】

【Personal assets: 1,322.8】

Looking at the long string of numbers for the system funds, then at the pitiful thousand-plus in his assets, Pei Qian always felt an urge to contemplate the meaning of life.

Why was it like this?!

The last time he checked, he had managed to reduce the system funds to just over 200,000.

But now, when he checked again, the system funds had risen again!

The net income from these two weeks combined was about 900,000, and after it was added to the system funds, even though Pei Qian had tried his best to purchase snacks, coffee, and all kinds of things that were either useful or useless for the office, he still hadn’t spent much!

Pei Qian felt his temples throbbing with pain.

Was it so difficult to lose money?

He was almost desperate enough to take “Ghost General” off the shelves immediately—stop making money for me, damn it!

But he couldn’t do that. Forced by the system’s “violation warning,” he could only endure.

Fortunately, there were still two months until the next settlement date, and during these two months, Pei Qian had plenty of ways to spend money.

By the end of this month, he would have to pay another round of rent, and the employees’ salaries and overtime pay would also need to be distributed, which would use up a significant portion of the system’s funds.

Besides that, starting this week, “Sea Fortress” will also begin making large purchases from resource websites.

This included various art resources, program functions, music, sound effects, and more—all of which needed to be customized.

After all, this wasn’t going to be a mobile game like “Ghost General.” Since it was a PC game, it naturally had to meet the strict standards of PC games!

Pei Qian couldn’t wait to set the requirements even higher—it would allow him to spend more money!

He wondered how many resources Huang Sibo had listed for online purchase this time, and how much money he could spend.

Pei Qian was looking forward to it a little.

…

“Boss Pei, here’s the complete list of all the resources we need to purchase online. Please review it.”

Huang Sibo handed a long spreadsheet to Pei Qian.

Pei Qian took it and scanned through it briefly, his eyes immediately fixing on the final total price.

670,000.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but frown.

This frown made Huang Sibo very uneasy.

Did Boss Pei think it was too extravagant? That couldn’t be it, right?

I’ve already been very careful about controlling the budget!

Pei Qian didn’t say anything, so Huang Sibo could only wait anxiously.

The figure displeased Pei Qian greatly.

It was too little!

This was supposed to be a PC game, yet they were only spending 700-800 thousand on game resources and customized functions? Was this some kind of joke?

Too stingy!

At this rate, when would he ever be able to use up all the system funds?!

Pei Qian didn’t immediately express his dissatisfaction; instead, he continued examining the detailed prices.

Basic shooting template (precision-tuned version), 120,000.

Scene template, secret base style, 50,000, plus three style customization effects and various destructible objects within the scene, totaling 100,000.

Character models, including zombies, mercenaries, and other generic models and animations, plus customization fees for adjustments and modifications, are over 80,000.

Little girl’s model and customized animation effects, 60,000.

Various weapon templates, including bullet trajectories, weapon appearances, etc., over 90,000.

Custom functionality for various game modes, hiring programmers for approximately 2 months, 5 people, totaling around 70,000.

Besides these, there were other expenses such as music, sound effects, and voice acting for common character dialogue.

The cost of renting cloud servers and other subsequent expenses hadn’t been calculated yet, as these issues would need to be considered after the game was made, depending on its popularity.

Pei Qian was confused.

What was going on?

He felt that just from a numerical perspective, 670,000 was far too little.

But looking at this list, although the prices seemed a bit conservative, they were all within a reasonable range.

They hadn’t deliberately bought cheap resources either, so why had they spent so little?

Pei Qian’s confusion was understandable.

It was because he didn’t have a deep understanding of the game “Sea Fortress”!

According to Bao Xu and Huang Sibo’s plan, they wanted to save resources as much as possible. The story mode only used one scene style, and the main supporting character was just the little girl. All other zombies and mercenaries were made from generic resources with minor modifications.

With fewer customized elements, of course, the price would be lower!

But Pei Qian didn’t see all these details at a glance; he just felt very unhappy about the small amount of money being spent.

“Take it back and redo it. Double the budget,” Pei Qian handed the spreadsheet back to Huang Sibo.

Huang Sibo was dumbfounded.

Double the budget???

“But… Boss Pei…”

Huang Sibo wanted to say something more, but Pei Qian’s gaze was resolute.

If I tell you to double it, then double it. What’s with all these “buts”!

That seemed to be his meaning.

The words that were about to leave Huang Sibo’s mouth were swallowed back, and he silently took the spreadsheet and left.

Pei Qian leaned back in his chair, calculating in his mind.

Six hundred thousand plus was too little.

Double it, and 1.2 million—that’s more like it.

Otherwise, there was no way he could spend all the system funds!

There were still more than two months until the next settlement. Although “Ghost General’s” income had started to decline, it was still continuously generating revenue!

If he didn’t spend more, he’d be eating dirt again at the next settlement!

As for what resources Huang Sibo would buy with all this money, Pei Qian didn’t care.

He could buy whatever he wanted, as long as it didn’t trigger the system’s warning. Pei Qian couldn’t care less!

…

Huang Sibo returned to his seat, conflicted.

Doubling the budget? Seriously?

Previously, when he searched for resources online, he had focused on cost-effectiveness.

He looked for resources that offered good quality at reasonable prices.

Some resources were excellent in quality but priced too high, so Huang Sibo hadn’t considered them.

But now, Boss Pei wasn’t satisfied with the price!

“Is he dissatisfied with the resources I found?”

“Yes, that’s possible. Boss Pei is someone who strives for excellence.”

“The original artwork for ‘Ghost General’ is a good example.”

“Alright then, we’ll replace everything with high-quality resources, using only the best!”

“Being responsible to the players, striving for excellence… that must be what Boss Pei meant.”

Huang Sibo opened the resource website and completely scrapped the previous plan to start over.

All resources, including the artists and programmers he had contacted, were replaced with the best ones available!

With a doubled budget, Huang Sibo had more room to work with. Spending freely, he barely managed to reach the target set by Pei Qian.

The final budget was fixed at 1.26 million, and it now included many items that Huang Sibo had originally cut out.

He worked until after 3 PM before finally finishing the revisions.

Huang Sibo let out a long breath: “Phew, Boss Pei should be satisfied now, right?”

He picked up the new plan and went to see Pei Qian again.

Pei Qian took the plan, quickly scanned through it, and his eyes fixed on the price at the bottom.

1.26 million!

This time, Pei Qian was much more satisfied.

As long as the amount was right, he couldn’t care less about what specific items were purchased.

“Good, go find Assistant Xin.”

“Divide the purchases into two batches. Buy the more important ones first, and leave the less important ones for next week.”

Although Pei Qian was spending money lavishly, he had considered future income.

So, the 1.26 million had to be spent in two installments; otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough funds in the account.

Huang Sibo took back the plan—this was now the final confirmed version.

Pei Qian emphasized: “Also, in the future, whenever there’s an opportunity to spend money, don’t be shy about it, and don’t compromise by revising the plan yourself. Always come to me first, understand?”

Huang Sibo nodded vigorously: “Yes, Boss Pei, I understand!”