Fish-Catching Internet Cafe…
At the coffee area…
A mildly aged man sipped his coffee, nonchalantly singing. Another middle-aged man, who looked over fifty years old, walked into the internet cafe and sat down in front of him.
“Boss Liu.” The first man stood up slightly as a sign of respect.
“I’m sorry, Boss Li. I was busy at work; that’s why I arrived late. Speaking of which, this place is really difficult to find.” The slightly older Boss Liu sat down across Boss Li and pulled a cigar out of habit.
Li Shi held up his hand at once to stop him. “Boss Liu, this place prohibits smoking.”
Boss Liu paused. “Prohibits smoking?”
He turned around and saw no ‘No Smoking’ signs, but one of the young waiters was looking at him and smiling apologetically. Smoking was indeed prohibited here.
Boss Liu did not mind. He kept his cigar.
“Boss Li, this is the place you said you wanted to invest in?” Boss Liu looked around. “This place… looks like an ordinary cafe.”
He hesitated, looked slightly confused. “But there are rows of computers. What’s the meaning of this?”
Li Shi sipped his coffee and smiled slightly as he replied, “Boss Liu, you don’t understand. The boss of this place has foresight beyond our times. To me, whether this place is purely an internet cafe, a bar, or a cafe; it would be unique and promising.
“Unfortunately, for some reason, the boss of this place has mixed all of these businesses into one. Now, they are dragging one another behind and leaving the place cool and empty.”
Li Shi described what he had observed about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe during this period once over. He also talked about what Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was like when Chen Lei was around.
“However, after that singer left, the new singer was not as popular. The crowd here gradually dissipated. Now, it’s back to what it was before—lifeless and lackluster. However, my judgment of this place remains the same. At the very least, the high-end path that this internet cafe is taking might be the future of internet cafes.”
After listening to Li Shi’s words, Boss Liu nodded slightly.
“So you want to invest in this place?”
Li Shi sipped his coffee again, looking confident. “That’s right. As an investor, I need to have my instincts about me. Boss Liu, you work in the property market. I think that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s high-end models would be popular if it’s opened in the right location. That’s why I asked you here today. I want to talk about this.”
Boss Liu pondered for a moment and then quickly understood the main point Li Shi was making. “En, that’s right. Whether this place generates a profit or incurs losses does not make much of a difference. However, allowing its high-end service to increase the property prices of the property in the area would make a good deal.”
“Have you spoken to the boss of this place?”
Li Shi shook his head. “Not yet. I’m waiting for a suitable time. This place has only been open for two or three months. I feel like the boss is not lacking money. What’s more, from the way he has been doing things, he seems to be quite stubborn. I don’t think he’ll listen to our opinions.
“According to my knowledge, even while this place was incurring losses, the boss kept pouring money into it. He opened three or four more branches in Jingzhou City. A hard-headed person like that is rare.
“Of course, I did not study him very closely. I’ve only put together everything I’ve heard and witnessed during this period and made an inference.”
Boss Liu nodded slightly, expressing his agreement.
Many people probably tried to stop this man from pouring three or four million yuan into creating a unique place like that. However, this shop stood nonetheless. What’s more, there was not just one of its kind. All of this evidence showed that the boss of this place did not lack money; what’s more, he probably acted in a very arbitrary fashion.
Otherwise, he would not have done something like that.
Li Shi continued, “So if I talk to him now, I might be rebuffed. The boss would not accept my investment for sure. I want to keep waiting. I want to wait as this shop continues to do badly. I will wait until all its branches incur losses, and when the boss begins to doubt himself and starts to plan for a change…
“I will decisively offer to invest a huge sum of money as assistance. Then, I will acquire a shareholding in this place systematically. When that time comes, Boss Liu, we can talk about cooperating.”
Boss Liu laughed, neither agreeing nor rejecting the proposal. “Good planning, Boss Li. However, I feel that we have to observe this business model for a longer time.”
“Boss Li, don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to be a wet blanket. I’m just slightly more conservative. I’m not like you investors; I don’t know how to see too far into the future. Once you—Boss Li—achieve your objective, I don’t mind discussing this deal.
“For all we know, Boss Li, you might not succeed. Then, it might be someone else hoping to work together with me.”
Li Shi smiled and sipped his coffee once more. “Don’t worry, Boss Liu. I think the boss of this place would have no reason to reject me.”
…
…
June 18th…
Tengda’s few games were updated at the same time!
There was a lot of excitement among people who had been waiting for these to happen. People who usually bought downloadable content did so; people who tried to acquire epic weapons did so. These people made their purchases while shouting ‘Tengda is so kind’. At the same time, they cursed various games with paywalls on the forums.
As Pei Qian scanned the forums, he kept an eye on the numbers on the platform. The rate at which they were selling some downloadable content was making him panic.
This was especially the case for Ocean Stronghold’s five hundred Barrett Dooms. Pei Qian had thought that they would last him for the entire day. However, from the looks of the situation, they probably would not last for even an hour.
The players could see that the limited Barrett Dooms was being sold out at the speed of lightning. Many people who had been considering whether to buy it made the decision to snatch it on the spot.
Although the rapidly-increasing numbers on the screen were causing Pei Qian’s heart to race, a more thorough calculation assured him that everything was still going according to plan.
After several settlements, Pei Qian was becoming clearer and clearer of the rules of the System. In order to incur a loss, he did not need to make the company go bankrupt. He also did not need to make the company remain stagnant.
He just had to achieve two things before settlement. That would ensure he would incur a loss that could be converted into his Personal Wealth.
First, at the time of settlement, the amount of money in his System Funds had to be lower than there was initially. Second, in the week before settlement, they could not have any unannounced products.
The System Funds would be topped up at the start of every settlement cycle. Whether they had fifty thousand yuan like they did at the beginning or five million yuan like now, the System would continue to top up the System Funds without fail. Since the System was giving the money to them for free, there was no reason for Pei Qian to reject it.
For this settlement, Pei Qian only had to make sure that there would be less than five million yuan in the System Funds. The amount of money he could convert would depend on how much loss he incurred.
After settlement, the games would continue to make money, and the System would continue to top up the System Funds. The company would not run out of funds. They would develop whatever needed to be developed and expand whatever needed to be expanded. The System would not affect the running of their business.
What’s more, the System Funds had to either be spent on the employees or on research and development. It was not like Pei Qian could just throw away the money.
Now, Pei Qian was no longer that concerned about whether particular projects were making money. Take the downloadable content this time for example. He agreed to release them only to continue deceiving the public. He knew he would make profits from it for sure, but he decided to go ahead anyway.
It did not matter. As long as he incurred losses for other projects and made sure he had less than five million yuan in his System Funds at the date of settlement, he could still achieve an overall loss. He did not need to lose all of his hard-earned money.
Now, everything was going according to Pei Qian’s plan. Even Fish-Catching Take-Out, which was the latest project, was complete. Although no one was using it for now, it was considered up and running. It was not considered an unannounced product.
Everything was in its place. Pei Qian was in a good mood. He was ready to see how the players would praise him.
Casually, he opened one of the forums.
“Ghost General is finally updated! Thank the heavens! What’s more, they added so many generals. We can play for six more months!”
He opened another forum.
“Game Designer’s new update is worth five stars. The new voice-overs and scenes are so beautiful!”
Another one…
“What the hell is there to update for a game like The Lonely Desert Road? They’re only selling it for one yuan, too? I’m crying! Although I don’t play the game, I’ll just buy the update. While I’m at it, I’ll say Tengda is amazing—!”
The last one…
“Rubbish planning, your mother is dead!”
“F*ck your mom! You added such a great epic weapon and only made five hundred of them available. I purposely took some time off work to go to an internet cafe to buy an epic weapon. Now you’re telling me that you’re sold out for the month???”
“All the accounts who managed to get a Barrett Doom, please appreciate it!”
“For every like, Tengda’s boss will shrink by a centimeter!”
“F*cker! Sell more soon! I can’t wait until next month!”
Pei Qian quietly closed Ocean Stronghold’s comments section. Hehe, the atmosphere there seems to be quite different.
It doesn’t matter. You can continue to curse and scold. As long as you don’t continue to throw money at me before this settlement, I’ll still take you as my brothers!
