Seeing Chen Kangtuo’s bewildered expression, Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling secretly pleased.
That’ll teach you to misinterpret my intentions again!
Go reflect properly in the haunted house!
Although Chen Kangtuo, as the designer, understood the haunted house better than visitors, this didn’t mean he wasn’t afraid.
It was like the designer of “Outlast 2” personally testing “Outlast 2,” then getting so scared that he dropped the controller on the spot.
Of course, some exceptional designers knew the game mechanics so well that they treated horror scenes like their own backyard and played horror games like parkour games, but those were unusually gifted, rare exceptions.
For ordinary people, when they should be scared out of their wits, they will be scared out of their wits.
Not to mention, if someone gave you a structural map of the haunted house now, marking all the scary spots, and you memorized everything, would you still not be scared when entering the haunted house?
At most, after mental preparation, the level of fear would be reduced, but to say you wouldn’t be afraid was impossible.
Visual effects, audio effects, various psychological hints… even with mental preparation, it was still difficult to maintain psychological defenses when truly immersed.
Of course, if someone were exceptionally gifted without any sense of fear, that would be different.
However, Chen Kangtuo was not such a person, as his current expression proved.
After hearing Mr. Pei speak this passage in a very calm tone, Chen Kangtuo’s expression changed from shock to bewilderment, from bewilderment to astonishment, and then from astonishment to devastation.
This could cost someone’s life, Mr. Pei!
Chen Kangtuo had designed the haunted house himself, set the style himself, and had even visited the half-finished product during construction, so he certainly knew how terrifying it was inside.
After the third project of Palpitation Hotel was completed, he never went in again, even though there were temporarily no staff members dressed as ghosts inside.
Just walking around in this environment was enough to scare someone witless!
But what was Mr. Pei saying now? To completely familiarize himself with every detail?
This wasn’t something that could be done by gritting one’s teeth and walking through once!
However, Pei Qian didn’t give Chen Kangtuo a chance to protest. He waved his hand and said, “Alright, let’s continue the tour.”
Chen Kangtuo had no choice but to lead everyone to continue visiting other projects.
When they encountered the investors’ establishments, such as restaurants and hotels, the corresponding investor would explain.
Besides this, there were also reports on other aspects, including the recruitment of staff needed to maintain the operation of the entire Palpitation Hotel.
This haunted house was neither too big nor too small, and daily operations required service staff, ticket sellers, cleaners, equipment maintainers, makeup artists, prop masters, as well as staff members dressed as ghosts, etc.
Especially the staff members who would dress as ghosts had been recruited long ago and had been in training ever since.
Because playing a ghost wasn’t just physical labor, it was also a technical job.
If they were too far from visitors, in pitch darkness, visitors wouldn’t be scared at all, failing to achieve the effect.
If they were too close to visitors, they might stimulate visitors to make some stress responses, possibly even getting kicked, which could lead to injuries.
If they appeared too suddenly and truly frightened visitors severely, that wouldn’t be acceptable either.
In short, these people needed to understand psychology, choose different scare tactics for different visitors, to achieve the best effect.
At the same time, these people also needed to clearly know all emergency exits of the haunted house, guide visitors to leave when necessary, and even master certain first aid knowledge.
In summary, the goal of training was to enable staff to provide progressive, moderate scares to visitors while protecting themselves, allowing the entire haunted house to continue operating normally.
Chen Kangtuo suggested, “Well, would everyone like to take a look at the three projects of the haunted house? Offer some opinions?”
Pei Qian chuckled, “No need.”
Trying to trick me into the haunted house? Not happening!
Pei Qian was very relaxed now. His only concern was the Golden Maze making money. As for Palpitation Hotel itself, it was far from the project that needed the most concern.
The first project had a very low fee, and the venue’s capacity was limited. Even if it was full every day, it wouldn’t earn much money;
For the second and third projects, if they weren’t scary, then not many people would play them, and if they were very scary, then they would be perfect for dealing with the enemies in his little notebook.
It wouldn’t be a loss either way!
Pei Qian’s attitude was also very clear: no matter how eloquent you are, I absolutely will not experience the haunted house. I am a noble person who has transcended low-level interests. I am busy with work, and I simply don’t have time to experience such simple and crude entertainment activities.
Chen Kangtuo looked at the other investors: “Then, would you all…”
Mr. Li quickly said, “No need!”
“Don’t misunderstand, young brother Chen, it’s not that we don’t trust you. Quite the contrary, we trust you too much, which is why we don’t dare go in. After all, with our old arms and legs, we’re not suitable for such stimulating projects.”
Chen Kangtuo: “…”
Well, since no one wanted to go in, that meant only I needed to “experience it thoroughly,” right?
After touring everything, and yet everyone was unwilling to experience Palpitation Hotel’s projects, they could only end there.
The investors were all very happy, after all, the Golden Maze problem had been solved, greatly increasing the chance of the project making money.
Chen Kangtuo escorted everyone back to the entrance. Everyone was chatting happily, but he sank into melancholy.
The investors all got into their cars, and Pei Qian also got in his car, preparing to leave.
Chen Kangtuo suddenly remembered something.
“Oh right, Mr. Pei! Zhang Wang came to see me earlier and said he hoped the Golden Maze could also sell some Automatic Contradiction Machines. After all, the Shared Phone Booth had promoted Palpitation Hotel, so this request seems reasonable…”
Pei Qian was about to close the car door, but his expression instantly changed.
“Absolutely not!”
Although the Automatic Contradiction Machine was quite mysterious with no practical use, it was indeed finely crafted with gold edges. If placed in the Golden Maze, what if there was a large flow of people, and someone bought it?
Pei Qian was now hiding the Automatic Contradiction Machine like a treasure, absolutely not wanting anyone to discover it.
Chen Kangtuo was startled; he hadn’t expected Mr. Pei to refuse.
When Zhang Wang had come to find him earlier, Chen Kangtuo hadn’t taken the matter too seriously, thinking, isn’t it just a small handicraft? Although it was quite large and not easy to carry, the Golden Maze had so many shops, and it wouldn’t be a big deal to clear some space and display a few for sale.
Moreover, Zhang Wang had arranged for the Shared Phone Booth to promote Palpitation Hotel. Even as a reciprocal gesture, it seemed reasonable, right?
However, Mr. Pei reacted intensely and flatly refused.
“But Mr. Pei…”
Chen Kangtuo still wanted to explain, but Pei Qian had already raised his hand to interrupt him.
“Absolutely not.”
“I’ll talk to Zhang Wang about this matter. In short, there are other arrangements. The Automatic Contradiction Machine absolutely cannot be sold in the Golden Maze, absolutely not!”
Seeing that Mr. Pei was so determined, Chen Kangtuo had nothing more to say and could only nod.
Pei Qian closed the car door and let out a long breath.
That was close!
Fortunately, Chen Kangtuo hadn’t acted first and reported afterward, and had told him in advance. Otherwise, there really might have been big trouble.
It seemed that Zhang Wang hadn’t taken his words seriously and was still secretly trying to find ways to sell them.
This wouldn’t do. He had to emphasize to Zhang Wang again, telling him to focus on production first and not consider these messy matters.
The Automatic Contradiction Machine, this lone seedling, must be protected!
On the other side, Mr. Li also closed his car door, preparing to leave.
He hadn’t heard the conversation between Chen Kangtuo and Mr. Pei, only vaguely hearing words like “sell XX machine,” seemingly talking about some kind of machine or invention.
However, since Mr. Pei hadn’t mentioned it, Mr. Li didn’t feel it appropriate to pry into the details.
He just silently noted this matter, thinking it might be useful in the future.
……
……
July 4th, Monday.
Pei Qian arrived at the office as usual.
Currently, most departments have formed an unspoken understanding that if anything needed Mr. Pei’s decision, they would come on Monday, because Mr. Pei was always in the office on Monday.
For other times, they would call if there was anything.
Last Saturday, the Loss Management meeting was held as usual.
Besides the information Pei Qian had already grasped, two pieces of information caught his attention.
First, the new high-end brand of Slackin’ Takeout, Shi-He, was currently being prepared at full speed.
The Loss Manager of Slackin’ Takeout also made a detailed report. The idea of this high-end brand was to offer castrated versions of dishes from the Nameless Restaurant, packaged in beautiful food boxes, providing customers with a higher-end takeout dining experience.
After listening to the report, Pei Qian felt that this should be good news.
Slackin’ Takeout itself was already losing money due to its high-end positioning.
Now they were creating an even higher-end positioning, wouldn’t that lose even more money?
This new brand needed to train chefs, customize food boxes, designate special delivery personnel, etc. No matter whether they sold a lot or a little, these costs would be hard to cut.
Selling a lot might lead to profits, but selling little would result in even worse losses than Slackin’ Takeout.
With such a good money-losing opportunity, there seemed to be no reason to stop it, right?
Second, the Loss Manager of Tenda Games reported on Zhang Zuting’s coaching of acting skills.
The harm of this matter was obvious, but the rice had already been cooked into rice porridge, and Pei Qian was helpless.
He couldn’t just use a mass memory erasing technique to make these actors forget everything Zhang Zuting had said, could he?
He could only silently note Zhang Zuting in his little notebook, waiting to give him VIP treatment after Palpitation Hotel opened.
Pei Qian had been sitting in the office for five minutes when, sure enough, someone knocked on the door.
Looking up, it was Xiao Peng.
“Mr. Pei, the Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0’s esports lifestyle hall model seems to be successful from the current perspective, right? So… can I continue to open branch stores as you said before?”
Xiao Peng’s face was full of expectation.
Earlier, when planning to open Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0, Mr. Pei had already said that if this store made money again, then they would open branches, renovate, buy computers, spend all the money, leaving nothing.
Although Mr. Pei’s emotion when saying this seemed a bit off, Xiao Peng understood that the statement itself still showed Mr. Pei’s trust in him.
However, despite this, he still felt he should ask again for confirmation.
After all, this was a significant power, and Xiao Peng feared misunderstanding, needing a second confirmation.
What if Mr. Pei was just saying it casually and wasn’t serious?
If he spent money lavishly and Mr. Pei got angry, where could he go to explain himself? He couldn’t argue with the boss, right?
It was better to clarify things in advance before making big moves.
Pei Qian was speechless.
Don’t report good news a second time!
Pei Qian helplessly waved his hand: “When have I ever not kept my word? Go ahead and open them. Remember to spend all the money. Don’t report such small matters repeatedly.”
Anyway, Slackin’ Internet Café initially had a large investment. Although it made money, the payback period was long. As long as they opened enough branches quickly enough, profits wouldn’t be able to catch up with me.