Today happened to be Monday, both the day for the game platform’s profit distribution and the system’s settlement day.

For Pei Qian, this should have been a day of immense anticipation, but now he found it tasteless, even somewhat tearful.

The fifty thousand yuan he had thought was guaranteed—gone!

But what must come will come.

Pei Qian didn’t summon the system interface, but perhaps because of the settlement, the interface automatically appeared in his vision.

【Wealth Conversion System】

【Host: Pei Qian】

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

【Settlement in progress…】

【System funds: 125463.5 (↑75463.5)】

【Personal assets: 153】

【Settling…】

【Converting wealth…】

【System funds: 125463.5】

【Personal assets: 907.6 (↑754.6)】

Seeing these two numbers, Pei Qian lay on his bed like a salted fish, having lost all hope.

In two weeks, the game had sold more than 200,000 copies!

For other game developers, this would be a dream start, something to boast about for a lifetime!

But for Pei Qian, it was an absolute nightmare…

On the light screen, new entries continued to appear.

【Next settlement time: 30 days later】

【Replenishing system funds, target amount: 300,000】

【System funds 174536.5 being replenished…】

【System funds replenishment complete.】

【System funds: 300000】

【Personal assets: 907.6】

Seeing these lines, Pei Qian completely lost hope, practically the same as being dead.

Adding insult to injury!

Salt on the wound!

During settlement, the 70,000 yuan profit had only converted to 700 yuan, which was already painful enough for Pei Qian.

But he had consoled himself that at least the extra system funds could be invested in the next round, allowing for bigger losses later.

However, after the settlement, Pei Qian discovered that after each settlement, the system funds seemed to have a fixed value.

If below this fixed value, the system would replenish it!

The first time, the minimum fund was 50,000; the second time, 300,000. This meant that if Pei Qian’s current system funds were less than 300,000, whether it was 10,000 or 290,000, it would be replenished to 300,000!

Before the last settlement, whether he lost or earned money didn’t affect the starting funds for the next phase, unless Pei Qian could turn 50,000 into more than 300,000.

Pei Qian could no longer calculate exactly how much money he had lost this time; he just felt waves of heartache.

“Looking on the bright side, at least I have an extra 700 yuan income, which can slightly improve my life…”

Looking at the 300,000 system funds, Pei Qian salivated.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t spend this money arbitrarily.

Pei Qian checked his bank card balance online and found that it had indeed increased by 754.6 yuan, matching exactly the increase shown in the system.

However, there was no transfer information, as if the bank card balance had changed automatically.

Pei Qian roughly understood the system’s operating mechanism.

The system’s powerful ability directly changed the balances of the company account and personal bank account without arousing suspicion from anyone or any institution.

The initial 50,000 yuan provided by the system existed in the company account of Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd. As the company’s owner, Pei Qian could use this money independently and invest in any industry.

But once a violation occurred, such as using this money for eating, drinking, or personal consumption, the system would immediately withdraw the money, terminate the current wealth conversion cycle, and even sever its binding relationship with Pei Qian!

The specific determination of violations depended on the system, but also followed general rule recognition.

For instance, while both involved spending money on food, Pei Qian treating friends to a meal was not allowed, but company gatherings and team-building activities were acceptable.

After the game became profitable, the money earned by the gaming platform would similarly be deposited into the company’s account, just like with other gaming companies.

But Pei Qian still couldn’t spend it carelessly!

During system settlement, the system would convert the changes in the company account balance into personal assets according to a fixed ratio and directly modify Pei Qian’s personal bank card balance.

And this money was what Pei Qian could freely spend—the system wouldn’t restrict it!

“The next settlement is in one month.”

“This won’t do. This time, I must find a way to lose all 300,000; not a single penny can be left!”

Pei Qian flipped over and sat up, opened his computer, and began searching for “how to lose money.”

But all the search results were about “how not to lose money.”

“Garbage Baidu!”

Pei Qian looked up at the ceiling, his grief and indignation evident.

“No class this afternoon, come on, let’s team up for games!”

Someone shouted, and everyone in the dormitory responded.

Ma Yang peeked down from the upper bunk again: “Qian Ge, you coming? You haven’t teamed up with us for a long time. Seeing your worried expression… could it be you’re having relationship problems?”

What the hell are relationship problems?

This is way more important than relationship problems—my fifty thousand yuan is gone!

Pei Qian didn’t bother to say anything, nor could he.

Because according to system rules, Pei Qian couldn’t reveal or hint at the existence of the system itself or the challenge to anyone, in any way, or even arouse too much suspicion.

“Fine, I’ll play one game with you guys today.” Pei Qian turned on his computer and opened “Divine Awakening.”

Pei Qian had already researched that “Divine Awakening” wasn’t much different from DOTA. Though he wasn’t amazing at it, he wasn’t bad either.

With Pei Qian’s advanced understanding, at the dormitory battle level, he should be able to carry a couple of games when things went well.

Ma Yang was delighted: “Qian Ge is joining, we’ll crush the opposite dorm!”

Soon, the sounds of keyboard tapping and mouse clicking filled the dormitory, occasionally punctuated by shouts.

“Nice!”

“Awesome!”

“Showing off now, huh!”

“Ma Yang, where are you?!”

“Old Ma, why are you never at team fights! Stop being greedy for minions, damn it!”

The intense battle temporarily made Pei Qian forget the pain of losing fifty thousand yuan, and he quickly immersed himself in the game.

Although Pei Qian wasn’t familiar with “Divine Awakening,” he benefited from his memories of similar games and delivered quite a carrying performance!

Half an hour later.

“Defeat!”

Pei Qian looked at the exploding base on his screen, then at his score in the upper right corner.

11-2-7.

“How the hell… could we still lose…”

Pei Qian felt like vomiting. The game had been going well; he was dominating, and everything was smooth. But in the mid-game, they started losing, and after losing one late-game team fight, they were pushed straight to defeat.

Glancing at his four teammates, Ma Yang’s “2-2-2” score was particularly eye-catching.

Unfortunately, “Divine Awakening” didn’t yet have a feature to track team fight participation rates. If it had measured Ma Yang’s participation rate, it would probably have been quite pitiful.

Pei Qian carefully recalled the various moments from the battle.

It seemed… his side had indeed been fighting four versus five the whole time…

When others were ganking together, Ma Yang was farming minions.

When others were competing for key resources, Ma Yang was happily stealing small jungle camps from the enemy.

When teammates were ambushed, Ma Yang remembered to shout “someone’s missing” and then continued farming.

Hmm…

Exhausting!

Ma Yang said somewhat regretfully: “Ah, too bad we lost.”

He peeked down at Pei Qian in the lower bunk again: “Qian Ge, you can’t just focus on getting fed yourself; you need to carry!”

Pei Qian nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

What do you mean I didn’t carry?

Do you expect me to use hacks and destroy the enemy’s main base with one skill before it’s called carrying?!

However, Pei Qian didn’t argue, because he knew exactly what kind of person Ma Yang was…

Ma Yang wasn’t deliberately annoying; he was simply bad…

The type with not just a lower limit but an extremely low upper limit too.

In Pei Qian’s memory, throughout four years of university, Ma Yang had actively participated in various clubs, run errands for teachers, and attended classes diligently, never absent.

But by graduation, he hadn’t caught any breaks, hadn’t found a good job, and ultimately went back home to work at a place his parents found for him.

Of course, everyone has their aspirations, and this choice couldn’t be called bad.

But it definitely couldn’t be considered good either.

As for gaming, Ma Yang was the type who didn’t excel at either end.

If you said he played well, his awareness was always half a beat behind. After playing games for so many years, he had never carried a single match.

If you said he played poorly, in every match he muddled through, his stats were always passable; you couldn’t say he was the most detrimental player.

This skill level couldn’t improve further, nor was there much room to decline.

Just that kind of person.

Honestly, he was a born slacker.

It reminded Pei Qian of the famous “Silver rank equals late-stage cancer” Otto quote. What was there to argue about with such people?

Wait.

Pei Qian suddenly realized something.

He had just recognized that Ma Yang was a born slacker, inadequate for success but sufficient for failure, the type who professionally dragged his teammates down for a hundred years.

Wasn’t this exactly the kind of talent Pei Qian desperately needed?!