Following the map’s guidance, everyone arrived at the gold area’s shop with difficulty.

The space here was large, not much different from shops in regular malls, except that the route to get here was quite winding, giving a sense of “a new village appearing after passing through the willows and flowers.”

If they didn’t have a map in hand, everyone would have probably exerted a lot of effort to reach this place.

Neat shelves had already been arranged, although they were currently empty, as what specific items to sell hadn’t been decided yet.

After considering for a moment, Pei Qian asked, “What do the other shops sell? Is there a product list?”

Chen Kangtuo nodded: “Of course, it’s right here.”

As he spoke, he handed the pre-prepared product list to Pei Qian.

Pei Qian took it and briefly skimmed through.

Each product had images and specific prices, and they were purchased according to the four previously planned zones.

For instance, the orange area symbolized passion and boldness, mainly selling things for young people. The product list included figurines, merchandise, keychains, pendants, headphones, phone cases, and so on.

While the blue area symbolized maturity and steadiness, mainly selling souvenirs that mature people liked, such as portraits, watches, pendants, sculptures, and so on.

There was also the wine red area selling headgear and themed clothing, and the purple area selling interesting magic props or prank toys and such.

Some of these products were directly purchased—any product with a touch of thriller and horror elements could be bought, while others were pre-customized, directly using related materials from Palpitation Hotel and “BE QUIET” with slight modifications to make phone cases, pendants, postcards, and similar items that could be sold.

Pei Qian’s gaze swept over these products, especially carefully looking at the prices listed afterward, thinking quickly.

This gold area was at the center of the entire Golden Maze, a transportation hub, so to speak, with roughly the same distance from any entrance to here. But from another perspective, it was also the most hidden and hardest to find among the four areas.

So, high-value products could be ruled out first.

Because all products were priced with the same percentage markup above cost, products with higher value would earn more money when sold.

The gold area was already hard to find. If visitors exerted great effort to find it and then saw these seemingly expensive but worthy items, they would buy them.

After all, there’s an old saying: “Since we’re already here.”

If many people bought, the profit would increase.

Secondly, these products couldn’t be exclusive to the gold area.

According to Chen Kangtuo and other investors’ intentions, they wanted to select a batch of products from other areas to sell in the gold area, ensuring that products in each area didn’t overlap.

But in that case, wouldn’t the products in the gold area have scarcity value and collection value? Wouldn’t people buy them more frequently?

That definitely wouldn’t work!

After a simple analysis, Pei Qian quickly came up with a selection strategy for products in the gold area.

They couldn’t be too expensive, and at the same time, they had to be available in other areas as well.

This way, consumers’ purchasing desire wouldn’t be stimulated, making them spend less money, and Mr. Pei could lose more money.

This was truly beneficial for both parties.

Pei Qian’s gaze swept over the entire list, randomly picking several inexpensive items that lacked novelty.

“This blue ghost fire small lamp.”

“This golden small lantern.”

“And this… light green glow stick.”

“Plus this, small devil horns glowing headgear.”

Pei Qian directly selected one type from each of the four areas, with prices ranging from 5 yuan to 50 yuan.

The ghost fire small lamp was from the orange area, the golden lantern from the blue area, the light green glow stick from the purple area, and the small devil horns headgear from the wine red area.

Initially, he wanted to choose cheaper items, like postcards or small pendants, but on second thought, although these items were cheap, they had wider appeal—anyone could casually buy them, and if many people bought them, there might still be issues.

While the selected four props were all somewhat middling—for collection, they were a bit low-grade; for wearing and then discarding after going out, they were a bit wasteful.

The deterrent effect on consumers would be good!

Chen Kangtuo and the investors were a bit confused.

These things… weren’t expensive!

More expensive, high-profit items, like those exquisite souvenirs from the blue area or customized clothing from the wine red area, Mr. Pei hadn’t chosen any of them. Instead, he’d chosen all these marginal products with poor cost-performance ratios, the kind used to make up numbers.

Of course, these products also had the Palpitation Hotel logo printed on them, but surely customers wouldn’t mindlessly buy them just because of a stamp?

However, since Mr. Pei had already spoken, no one dare to question and could only bury their question marks in their hearts.

Chen Kangtuo asked, “Uh… Mr. Pei, so these items won’t be sold in other areas anymore, right?”

“Hm?” Pei Qian said strangely, “Not sold anymore? How could they not be sold? Of course, they’ll still be sold the same way.”

Chen Kangtuo opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately didn’t speak.

This current way of selling completely failed to achieve the original design purpose!

The gold area was originally the hardest area to find and should have sold high-value, unique products to stimulate customers’ consumption desires. Now, these items were sold in all four other areas as well, and they didn’t even have any commemorative value!

But since Mr. Pei had already decided, there was nothing more to say, so he could only silently note it down.

“Alright, if there are no issues, let’s settle on this,” Pei Qian was very satisfied with everyone’s attitude.

Leaving the Golden Maze didn’t take much effort. Everyone casually wandered around and found a passageway out, the entire process incredibly smooth, without even looking at the map.

However, looking back at the return path, trying to find the way back to the shop in the gold area would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Returning to the plaza, Pei Qian suddenly felt a slight urge to urinate.

“Where’s the restroom?” Pei Qian asked.

Chen Kangtuo pointed to both sides: “There are public restrooms on both sides. Also, restaurants and hotels have them too. Do you need me to take you there?”

Pei Qian quickly waved his hand: “No need, just wait for me here.”

Having someone accompany him to the bathroom would be too awkward.

Pei Qian estimated the distance; it seemed that from the plaza to these two restrooms was equally far.

This was normal, after all, restrooms were generally in marginal areas. They couldn’t be built on the plaza or next to the fountain.

Washing hands in the fountain right after using the restroom? That would be inappropriate.

Pei Qian walked toward one of the restrooms, taking the opportunity to check how well the restroom was built and whether it embodied the Tenda spirit, giving visitors the best toilet experience.

Seeing Mr. Pei leave, Li Shi immediately gathered around, asking Chen Kangtuo: “Why did Mr. Pei choose these items to sell? It doesn’t make sense!”

Other investors also chimed in: “Yeah, this won’t make money!”

Everyone was concerned about this issue, after all, everyone had a share in the Golden Maze’s income, receiving a percentage. They certainly hoped to earn as much as possible.

No one mentioned it earlier only because Mr. Pei was present, and it would have seemed like everyone was questioning Mr. Pei’s decision.

Now that Mr. Pei wasn’t here, when else would they discuss it?

Chen Kangtuo also had questions about this. He frowned deeply, trying hard to use the Tenda spirit’s thinking method to interpret the deeper meaning behind Mr. Pei’s actions.

“The idea of the Golden Maze came from Mr. Pei, and he understands the significance of the gold area. The items here should have scarcity value.”

“But the chosen items don’t have scarcity value!”

“Do they have something in common…”

Chen Kangtuo still had no clue and could only initiate a brainstorm, looking at the investors: “What do you all think? Do these items chosen by Mr. Pei have any common traits? If we find the common traits, we can proceed to the next step of reasoning.”

Everyone looked at each other.

“All moderately priced? Neither expensive nor very cheap?”

“All can be carried around?”

“Uh… all can emit light?”

The investors each said one thing, getting more and more far-fetched.

However, Chen Kangtuo suddenly had a flash of insight: “That’s right, they can all be carried around, and they all emit light!”

Li Shi was a bit confused, asking without understanding: “So… what does this mean?”

Chen Kangtuo excitedly said, “This means they can all be brought into the third project of Palpitation Hotel and can be used as some kind of interactive props!”

“Think carefully, these four light-emitting items all have completely different shapes and colors.”

“We can completely use such props to segment customers.”

“The blue ghost fire small lamp can reduce the monsters’ attention.”

“The golden small lantern can dispel most monsters.”

“The green glow stick can attract nearby monsters’ attention.”

“The red small devil horns headgear is equivalent to provoking monsters, being targeted by all monsters, and obtaining the most extreme horror experience!”

“In this way, isn’t it another segmentation of horror difficulty?”

“Timid people can buy a golden lantern to go in, while hardcore players who want to experience a second time after their first experience can bring a glow stick or wear small devil horns inside.”

“Challenging higher difficulty can also get better rewards!”

“Combining props with project content, is there any better promotional method than this?”

Li Shi thought for a moment: “But, this still lacks uniqueness, right? These four props can be bought in other areas as well.”

Chen Kangtuo smiled slightly: “That’s the most ingenious design! If these four props could only be bought in the gold area, then all players would crowd in the gold area, making it difficult to disperse crowds on one hand, and causing relative coldness in other areas on the other hand.”

“With reduced foot traffic in other areas, other products would sell less, which still wouldn’t help with income.”

“According to the current design, these props are also available in other areas. If customers only want one type of prop, they can completely purchase it in other areas; if visitors want to obtain all four types of props, they either have to visit all four other areas or come to the gold area, which also guarantees the status of the gold area.”

The investors suddenly understood.

So that’s how it is!

Thinking about it this way, it did seem much more reasonable.

It ensured the unique position of the gold area while not overly dispersing the customer flow in other areas.

These hard-to-sell items became in-game props, given additional symbolic meanings, making them sell better.

And these items were neither too expensive nor too cheap, affordable for most visitors, while also ensuring profit…

Li Shi couldn’t help but give a thumbs up: “As expected of a talent from the game department, this reasoning is simply perfect!”

Chen Kangtuo quickly said: “Not at all, I’ve only done a tiny bit of analysis based on Mr. Pei’s hints.”

Verbally, he was modest, but in reality, Chen Kangtuo was very proud.

Mr. Pei’s difficult problem, solved by me again!

I’m so great!

This joy of deciphering Mr. Pei’s puzzles is truly irresistible!

As everyone was discussing, Pei Qian returned.

From far away, Pei Qian felt that the atmosphere seemed somewhat off.

When he left, everyone still looked preoccupied, but now, after just a few minutes, why was everyone chatting and laughing, as if all worries had been swept away?

Seeing Pei Qian return, Li Shi immediately gave a thumbs up: “Mr. Pei! These few products you selected for the gold area are so suitable! I admire you!”

Pei Qian: “?”

He immediately realized something was wrong, the situation had changed!

Mr. Li suddenly praised without reason—these people must have misunderstood my intentions again!

Looking at the proud face of Chen Kangtuo beside him, Pei Qian’s bad premonition instantly intensified.

“So, what have you all figured out?”

The investors all looked at Chen Kangtuo in unison, after all, he was the one who answered Mr. Pei’s intentions, and others didn’t dare to steal the credit.

Chen Kangtuo very proudly recounted his reasoning.

“How is it, Mr. Pei? It should be more or less in line with your previous expectations, right?” Chen Kangtuo’s expression was like an elementary school student who had just scored one hundred points.

Pei Qian was too shocked to say anything.

I just went to the restroom, and you guys conjured up so much?!

Is your skill instant cast with no cooldown?!

Thinking back, transferring Chen Kangtuo to the haunted house project was originally a “banishment” because this guy was working overtime too much in the game department and needed to be eliminated.

Unexpectedly, after coming to Palpitation Hotel, he didn’t settle down but instead escalated!

Looking at Mr. Li and the investors’ attitudes toward Chen Kangtuo, they must have been conspiring a lot in private.

No matter what, this couldn’t be allowed to continue! He must be severely punished!

After a moment of silence, he said: “Chen Kangtuo.”

Chen Kangtuo had a smile on his face: “Hmm?”

Mr. Pei’s expression is so solemn, could it be… he wants to praise me?

Pei Qian paused: “As the person in charge of the Palpitation Hotel project, it’s very reasonable and normal to familiarize yourself with every detail of Palpitation Hotel before its opening, right?”

“If you haven’t fully and carefully experienced it yourself, how can you convince visitors?”

“Before the opening, which is within a week, experience every corner of Palpitation Hotel, especially all the details of the second and third projects, so that you’re thoroughly familiar with the entire process, as if strolling in your backyard.”

Chen Kangtuo’s smile froze on his face.