Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, is there a problem?" Chang You's expressions were very exciting. He was first confused, then puzzled, and finally thoughtful. However, after several changes, Chang You still said through gritted teeth, "Alright, Boss Pei! I'll do that!"
He turned around and walked out.
Pei Qian quickly raised his hand. "Wait!"
Chang You, "Eh? Boss Pei, do you have other instructions?"
Pei Qian cleared his throat, thinking about how to phrase his thoughts. He discovered that the situation was looking increasingly strange.
In the past, whenever he gave ridiculous suggestions, his subordinates would confirm his instructions with him repeatedly, clarify operational details, and then reluctantly carry them out.
Today, Chang You did not ask a single question. Instead, he struggled internally and was prepared to carry it out!
That wouldn't do!
Pei Qian could not relax.
How would Pei Qian know if his subordinates understood his instructions if they did not question him or express doubt?
A single misstep could lead to dire consequences!
After some thought, Pei Qian tried asking, "Tell me what you would say during the news conference."
Chang You confidently answered, "I'll emphasize the cell phone's flaws; it's expensive and it's heavy. After that, I will tell the audience that our cell phones are expensive because we have used the 'following materials', and then I'll list out the hardware.
"Boss Pei, don't worry. I'll simplify everything as much as possible and only tell the customers critical information.
"After that, I'll focus on its weight. I'll tell them the exact mass of our cell phone, and then compare it with more commonly-bought cell phones in the market. That'll allow everyone to have an idea of our cell phone's weight.
"Then, I'll tell everyone that the cell phone's weight is mainly due to its powerful 5800 mAh battery..."
Pei Qian felt sorrowful.
It's a good thing I asked more questions. He obviously misunderstood me!
Chang You was saying that he would talk about the cell phone's flaws first before turning them into merits. Take the cell phone's weight for instance. He would first acknowledge that the cell phone was a 250-gram machine, but he would then showcase the cell phone's merits: its powerful battery and long endurance.
That was akin to following up every insult with praise.
How could that do?
If he said those things at the news conference, it would not be a failed news conference at all!
After some consideration, Pei Qian said, "You're on the right track, but you still have to work on the details. This is what I suggest.
"The news conference should go exactly opposite of most other news conferences for cell phone brands.
"Tell them the price once you start speaking.
"Don't netizens nowadays like to leave as soon as they realize they're not the other party's match? Let them do that at the beginning, so that they won't have to wait. "Prepare a picture to cover all the merits of our cell phones. Don't spend more than five minutes explaining this picture.
"Then, emphasize on the cell phone's flaws.
"First, say it's expensive. Not only must we emphasize that the cell phone will be priced at more than eight thousand yuan, but we must also emphasize that the cell phone cannot be paid for by installments. We'll never offer discounts, too!
"Second, say it's heavy. We'll give them the cell phone's accurate mass, and its final mass after sticking the film and putting on the cover. After that, compare it to other everyday objects. Make it clear to everyone that the cell phone would feel very heavy if they try to carry it with one hand!
"Once you go into this segment, you cannot start talking about the cell phone's merits again because you've already covered them at the start!
"You cannot say things like 'our cell phone is heavy because it contains a 5800 mAh battery' during this segment! "Focus on the flaws when you're talking about the flaws. Nobody's asking you to praise yourself. Don't try to come up with so many gimmicks, but try to be more sincere.
"Of course, that won't be enough for the news conference.
"Think carefully about more of the cell phone's flaws. Is it just heavy and expensive? There's no such thing as a perfect product in the world. If you can't find flaws, there must be a problem with your eyesight!
"Look for enough flaws to spend thirty minutes talking about!
"All in all, this news conference should last for about an hour. Of course, I wouldn't mind if it's slightly shorter.
"Many cell phone manufacturers have long and boring news conferences. They can even spend ten minutes talking about minute functions. That's not showing respect for the audience's time. We have to avoid doing that at all costs!
"That's about it. Have you noted them all down?"
Pei Qian smiled as he gazed at Chang You.
Once again, Chang You went from looking confused to puzzled, and then thoughtful. Finally, he nodded. "Alright, I'll do a slideshow based on this!"
Pei Qian, "..."
For some reason, he could not relax. However, he had already said everything that he wanted to. He could not possibly prepare the slideshow himself, could he?
Thus, he nodded. "Alright, do what you have to. Ask me if you have any questions."
At 3 PM, He Desheng arrived. He held two bundles of documents in his hands. "Boss Pei, these are the better investment projects that I've found. These are the projects that Boss Ma thinks involve more dreams. Please take a look."
Pei Qian took the business plans and scanned them. He frowned.
There were so many words. His head hurt.
Ai, people nowadays... their proposals are too seriously and reliably written!
You're making work very difficult for me! Pei Qian could not help but feel sorrowful. How good of a project had 'Top Student, Come Quick' been? It had looked much more 'reliable' than all of these projects, but... how did it end up making money? As he read the proposals, Pei Qian casually asked, "How has 'Top Student, Come Quick' been doing?"
He Desheng quickly answered, "Xude Education has made some big moves ever since it took over 'Top Student, Come Quick'.
"First, it forced all of its students to register for the application. The students were also asked to make their family and friends register and to log in daily. As a result, the students kept complaining.
"After that, the application was modified. Its name changed to 'Xude Top Students', more functions were added, Xude Education publicized their courses on it, and quick log-in options were included.
"After that, the application fell drastically. Everyone started cursing it online. I guess the staff at Xude Education must be having a headache now..."
Pei Qian had been flipping through the proposals casually. However, his eyes lit up when he heard this.
Isn't this the scene I have been dreaming about?
I wanted the application to fall dramatically from grace, fail to cover expenditure, and incur losses! Pei Qian seemed to understand what was going on. There had been nothing wrong with this project that he had thought about, and there had been no problems with its operations. The only reason why it had not been incurring losses was that it had not been the right time!
Xude Education was very knowledgeable in this area. The project started incurring losses the moment they took over. How admirable! Pei Qian immediately pushed all the proposals aside. "I've thought about it."
He Desheng was stunned. Then, he looked at Boss Pei with admiration and hope. "Boss Pei, you've only looked through the proposals for five minutes, and yet you've already found a reliable one to invest in? You're so efficient!"
He Desheng could not help but hold up his thumb and praise the investment genius, Boss Pei.
Pei Qian sniggered. "Use the money to buy 'Top Student, Come Quick' back for me!"
Pick yourself up from wherever you've fallen down!
It's alright that they've made money. They could just spend however much they had earned, right?
He Desheng was shocked.
Buy it back?
Dream Realization Ventures was still holding on to twenty percent of the shares in 'Top Student, Come Quick'. It was already a shareholder. If they wanted to acquire more shares, they would be given priority.
What's more, Xude Education had already met with serious setbacks. If the project caused them to incur losses and endure scolding and they saw no chance of improving the situation in the short term, they would jump at the chance to cut their losses and sell their shares to anyone willing to take over.
Even if they did not sell their shares now, they would probably give up in a week or two and sell them.
However, that was precisely why there was no need to acquire their shares!
The project is now a mess, and we've already successfully cashed out. Why should we get involved in the messy situation?
Confused, He Desheng tried asking, "Boss Pei, how much... are we buying exactly? 34%, 51%, or 67%?"
Pei Qian waved his hand. "Buy as much as we can, of course. It would be best if we can get back a hundred percent of the shares!
"That's right. Try and poach the man in charge at Xude Education while you're at it. I want him to continue leading this project."
Pei Qian finally understood now. Whether a project would succeed or not depended on the people handling it! If he bought the project back and handed it to He Desheng, it could be resurrected.
He had to poach the man at Xude Education, who had caused the project to fail in the first place, and then allow him to continue leading the project. That way, the project would continue to fail, and Pei Qian could lose everything! He Desheng was absolutely puzzled, but Boss Pei had already made himself clear. There was no point in asking any more questions.
After some thought, He Desheng nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei! I'll do that!"
After sending Chang You and He Desheng off, Pei Qian felt more relaxed. He only had to deal with one more person before he could knock off for the day!
At 4 PM, Lin Wan arrived to discuss Be Quiet with Pei Qian. She wanted to know what kind of advertising they should do for the game.
"Boss Pei, have you played the game? Do you have any thoughts or advice?" Lin Wan asked.
"Er..." Pei Qian wanted to say that he hadn't played the game, but he was afraid that it would make him look bad. Thus, he ambiguously said, "I don't think there are any problems. Let's cut straight to the chase."
Lin Wan nodded. "Alright. I'll talk about the publicity strategy I've thought of." Pei Qian listened intently. Pei Qian had given wrong directions for Be Quiet at the beginning. He had told them that it should be an online horror game with no storyline.
He had not expected Shang Yang Games to be able to create a game based on those instructions!
However, the fact that they could create a game did not mean that players would purchase it. Pei Qian still thought that an online horror game with no storyline would neither be scary nor fun. The game would not be attractive to fans of horror games and ordinary gamers alike.
Still, he could not afford to be careless with publicity.
The Lonely Desert Road had been a rubbish game, but the accidental use of the right marketing strategy had caused the game to become popular.
Pei Qian did not want the same strange thing to happen again.
He had to kill all hope for the game, starting from its publicity!
Chapter 436 The Game was Not Meant for Ordinary People
"Be Quiet's most outstanding point is that many people can connect to the same horror game at the same time. At the moment, none of such horror games exist in the market. Thus, I think that we should focus on marketing this point for publicity.
"We should use traditional methods of marketing, such as buying advertisement spaces on video sites and websites and asking content creators to market the game.
"I've already spoken to Teacher Qiao. He'll try our game out as soon as we release it and then create a video to market it.
"At the same time, we'll select some of the more impressive footage to use in our advertisements. That'll hype people up..."
Lin Wan explained the publicity strategy she had thought of in detail. Once she was done, she looked at Pei Qian nervously.
She had spent several days thinking about the publicity strategy before finally deciding on this, and she thought that this would be the most reliable and effective way of marketing the game. However, presenting it in front of Boss Pei still made her feel apprehensive.
After all, Boss Pei was a legend at marketing his games. Such simple and minor strategies might prove to be unimpressive to him.
After listening to Lin Wan's proposal, Pei Qian let out a soft sigh. His entire body stiffened when he had heard the words 'Teacher Qiao'. His reaction was so extreme that it was almost like he had PTSD.
Boss Pei's subordinates seemed to be growing at rapid speed. He was losing control over them...
When Lin Wan just started out, she had only been a newbie who quietly helped out with projects. However, after undergoing some training, she was looking more and more like a leader of a department.
Take her advertising plan for instance. There was only one word to describe it: reliable!
Pei Qian was very sure that if they followed Lin Wan's proposal to advertise Be Quiet, people would mindlessly buy it upon its release. Then, Pei Qian could expect incredible sales from the get-go.
That was why he had to avoid it at all costs!
Yet, what should he do instead...?
He was a little worried.
He knew full well that Tengda had released too many successful games. It also had a significant number of fans from all around the country and was being closely observed by the official games platform. Game Designer, Repent and be Saved, and Bloody Battle Song had all been given a lot of attention by the official games platform. Once they released Be Quiet on the platform, they would only have to do a little marketing before a good number of people would purchase the game.
Pei Qian could no longer enjoy the good old days of advertising without having to worry about garnering attention.
Thus, it was no longer enough to make ducks and drakes of his advertising money. He had to hope to achieve the opposite effect!
It sounded difficult to achieve, but Pei Qian had spent a lot of time and effort thinking about this. He was now well-prepared.
His ultimate aim was to turn gamers away before they forked out a single cent!
In the past, Pei Qian tried turning gamers away by extending the refund allowance period and increasing the game's difficulty.
However, the facts had proven that the strategy was ineffective.
Pei Qian had no other choice. He could only say that gamers were now too strong in terms of reverse psychology. Attempting to persuade them to refund a game once they had made a purchase would only make them more adamant in keeping it.
Now, Pei Qian had a better plan: to turn gamers away before they even made the purchase!
Do you want to buy the game? I'm sorry, I won't even sell it to you! Who says that games should be made available for anyone to purchase?
The fact that it was a common practice didn't make it reasonable! He would only allow people to purchase Be Quiet once they had proven that they were worthy.
The game was not meant for ordinary people!
Pei Qian would cuss at anyone with objections.
Pei Qian decided to set multiple difficult questions during the marketing period. Only gamers who passed the various tests would be allowed to purchase the game!
That way, ordinary gamers would not be able to buy the game even if they had money. They had to earn the rights first. It would not be that easy to obtain the rights. They would have to pass various tests.
Everyone experienced laziness. Once people discovered that they would have to pass several tests before they would be allowed to purchase the game, most would just give up.
What's more, the riddles would be very complicated. If everyone took at least a month to solve them, Pei Qian would not earn any revenue during this cycle.
The worst-case scenario would be that he would start generating more revenue during the next cycle. However, that would still be better than earning money during this cycle! That would be Tengda's advertising strategy for the new-age: repulsive advertising.
Of course, Pei Qian could not explain all of these things to Lin Wan. He had to think of a way to bluff her.
Pei Qian gently tapped the table and said in a low voice, "There's no big problem with your proposal, but it's too conservative."
Lin Wan's eyes lit up at once.
Indeed, Boss Pei had a better plan!
She listened intently.
Pei Qian continued, "I'll personally take charge of the marketing this time. None of you can interfere. We'll still buy advertising spaces, but I'll decide what kind of advertisements to display.
"I want to play a simple alternate reality game with all of Be Quiet's players."
Lin Wan was stunned. "Huh?"
She had been ready to take down Boss Pei's suggestion, so that she could execute it later.
However, Boss Pei had ended up deciding to take over the advertising work himself. What's more, he was not planning to tell her about it. Still, on the bright side, it meant that Boss Pei was going all out with the advertising this time!
Lin Wan was overjoyed. "Alright, Boss Pei. I'll stay tuned!"
After sending Lin Wan off, Pei Qian checked how much time he had left before knocking off. Then, he immediately started planning for Be Quiet's repulsive advertising.
Pei Qian had not revealed anything to Lin Wan at all. That was because his advertising strategy would be a riddle event. He had to keep it under wraps.
Pei Qian found the programmer from TPDb, who had been in charge of the Tengda Spirit compatibility test, and put him in charge of creating the program for the riddle event.
Until now, none of the questions or answers in the Tengda Spirit compatibility test had been leaked. Obviously, the programmer was quite reliable. That was why Pei Qian entrusted this task to him as well.
There wasn't much work involved. All he had to do was edit the website and minor details in the game.
"Er... it seems like this invitation letter lacks an inscription from the host. I think it's too late to find someone to design a logo now.
"I'll use a ready-made one."
Pei Qian searched his computer and found a logo that had been created for the Thriller Hostel.
Be Quiet was officially released on March 3rd, Thursday!
Teacher Qiao waited in front of his computer early in the morning, with snacks and drinks prepared. He had been waiting to play the game the second it was released and then create a video on it immediately!
This time, he had not been invited to try the game in advance like he had been for Repent and be Saved.
Still, it did not matter. Even if Boss Pei had not invited him, Boss Lin had; it was almost the same!
Before marketing began for the game, Lin Wan contacted Teacher Qiao, asking him to create a video to market the game once it was released.
As a close friend of Boss Pei's, Teacher Qiao obviously obliged! Be Quiet was a product of Shang Yang Games, but it was clearly written on TPDb that Shang Yang Games was now a subsidiary company of Tengda Games.
What's more, the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song had been a game with a conscience and had been recommended by the official games platform. Teacher Qiao had reason to believe that Boss Pei had been overseeing research and development of all games released by Shang Yang Games. Their quality and originality must be up to standard.
All in all, they would be worth Teacher Qiao's time!
Many gamers were on the same page as Teacher Qiao. This as much was obvious from his fans' responses. Everyone had been discussing the game, waiting to purchase it the moment that it was released.
At 2 PM, the game was released for sale!
Qiao Liang reacted as quickly as his twenty-odd-year-old body could and clicked on the game!
However, the discount that he had expected did not appear.
Qiao Liang was stunned.
"What's the matter? I'm experiencing a bug the moment the game was put up for sale?
"That can't be. How could Tengda make such a low-class mistake?"
Qiao Liang was puzzled. He had realized that the 'purchase' button had turned gray once he entered the webpage.
Initially, there had been a terrifying concept art of the game on the game's details page. However, when Qiao Liang clicked on it, a line of words appeared below.
"The invitation letter was left on the previous journey."
There was a bloody fingerprint behind it and a red logo. The top half of the red logo was an obtuse, triangular steeple. Underneath were the words 'Thriller Hostel'. It seemed to be the logo for a hotel.
However, the English words had a blood-dripping effect. Anyone who looked at it would feel their hair stand.
Qiao Liang was confused. What are you doing?
He looked closely at the concept art and guessed that this was a scene in Be Quiet. Perhaps this was a hotel in the wilderness.
Under the pitch-black night sky, the rundown hotel looked hidden in the darkness. It looked like a demon with its bloody mouth wide open, waiting to devour any prey that walked into its trap.
After studying it for a long while, Qiao Liang realized that there was no useful information contained in the concept art.
The real clue seemed to lie in the words 'the invitation letter was left on the previous journey'.
Of course, Qiao Liang could not rule out the possibility that he would find a special, hidden message if he downloaded the image and reopened it in other formats.
Qiao Liang checked in on his own fans. Obviously, he was no exception. Others had all run into the same problem.
They could not buy a game that had already been released!
After some time of being confused, Qiao Liang became excited. They had to solve a riddle before they could purchase this game!
ss Pei, Boss Pei... how do you always think about such new gimmicks? It's such a pleasant surprise!"
Although Qiao Liang did not get to play the new game that he had been looking forward to, he did not feel angry. Instead, he felt quite intrigued. Many people were already discussing this in the group.
"What does this mean? Is there a mysterious principle hidden in the picture?"
"I'm not sure. I tried clicking it, but nothing happened!"
"I saw this picture in the online advertisement. I think this is a riddle!"
"You can download the image from the website. I tried opening it in various formats, but I couldn't find any useful clues."
"I think all of you are thinking too much. The clue should be in the sentence."
"Does 'invitation letter' refer to the rights to purchase the game? What does 'the previous journey' mean?" "Is it referring to a place that exists in real life? Does anyone in this group live in Jingzhou? Go and take a look!"
" 'The Previous Journey' is a unique game that's available on the official platform. Is this a combined event?"
"Stop messing around. Have you seen Tengda run combined events with other games? This must be a coincidence!"
There were so many people in Qiao Liang's fan group to begin with. Now, everyone was giving their own updates. Qiao Liang could not keep up with everything. On top of that, Qiao Liang noticed that many people were discussing the riddle in other gaming groups as well.
After scanning those discussions, Qiao Liang felt that everyone obviously could not understand Boss Pei.
Only a close friend of Boss Pei, like me, would be able to solve the riddle!
Qiao Liang did not think the riddle was that complicated at all. When a game designer talked about 'the previous journey', he was obviously referring to games that he had created before.
After some thought, Qiao Liang opened Repent and be Saved and searched for clues within.
After that, he would look through Ocean Stronghold.
This was what Qiao Liang thought: if Boss Pei wanted to collaborate with another game, he would definitely do so with his own games. Repent and be Saved and Ocean Stronghold were the two most popular games released by Tengda at the moment. Collaborating with both of those games would improve Tengda Games' reputation and brand value. At the same time, he would be able to increase sales of both of those games. Why wouldn't he do that?
Chapter 437 A Series of Codes
Two hours later, Qiao Liang exited Ocean Stronghold, feeling confused.
He had wasted his time!
He had first looked through the famous locations in Repent and be Saved. After that, he had created an alternate account to look around the newbie village. Finally, he had entered Ocean Stronghold and finished several stages in story mode.
Still, he had achieved nothing.
Qiao Liang was not one to give up easily. He had only exited because he thought that he was deviating from the right path.
What if the clue was not in either of those games?
Qiao Liang looked at his fan group once again. Many people had already thought about what he had thought about. They had all gone into games they were familiar with, but two hours had already passed. Nobody had found any useful clues. Qiao Liang looked through the chat records and then started to analyze the games that his fans had looked through. Ghost General, Game Designer, Ocean Stronghold...
All of a sudden, Qiao Liang's eyes lit up.
The Lonely Desert Road!
The letter was 'left on the previous journey'. That game matched the description perfectly! What's more, most people had neglected to look through this game
The messed-up game had been popular in the beginning but that quickly faded away. Compared to Tengda's other games, The Lonely Desert Road was much less known!
What's more, the game was especially boring. Most people who bought it probably did not finish it. Even if they did, they had probably chucked the game in the back of their games library to collect dust. They could not still be playing it.
Wouldn't that be the perfect game if Boss Pei had intended to play hide-and-seek?
Qiao Liang became excited at once. He opened The Lonely Desert Road and prepared to drive.
He had once played this game for eight whole hours. He knew that it would be a long and slow journey. Thus, before he started, he ate his snacks, placed his water in a position that was easy to reach, and made a trip to the toilet.
An hour later, Qiao Liang began to feel sleepy. However, at that moment, he saw a letter float across the screen.
The car was driving too quickly. The letter only appeared in front of Qiao Liang for half of a second before it disappeared again. "Sh*t!"
Qiao Liang did not see it clearly. He faintly saw a round alphabet, but he did not know if it was a C or a G.
However, he was very sure that no such letter had appeared in the game before. Thus, he re-started the game and opened the screen-recording software.
Three hours later, Qiao Liang exited the game and made another trip to the toilet.
When he got back to his seat, Qiao Liang opened the screen-recording software and moved to an hour after the recording started, to check the alphabet that appeared first.
Indeed, it was a G!
After that, an alphabet floated across the screen every five minutes. Sometimes, it appeared on the left. Sometimes, it appeared on the right. There were twenty alphabets in total, and it was a whole hour before they disappeared completely.
After that, no more alphabets appeared. However, just in case, Qiao Liang continued driving for half an hour more and then exited the game.
He checked the video and carefully wrote down all the alphabets.
GAICCCCCCACBIADBHCEA.
It was a series of codes.
In other words, other players did not even need to play The Lonely Desert Road to find out the code.
However, knowing the code was only the start of the solution.
At Shang Yang Games...
Lin Family, Ye Zhizhou, and Wang Xiaobin read various forums and Weibo in order to track the gamers' reactions. There were many more gamers who were unhappy than they had imagined
There were many comments like 'are they sick in the head to not allow people to purchase the game with money' or 'you're acting like a big-shot, and I won't have it'.
Still, there were even more gamers who had become intrigued.
A few hours had passed since they released the game. Until now, gamers had already found the code that Boss Pei had placed in The Lonely Desert Road. However, work obviously still had to be done on the string of letters before they would be able to find the real message.
Ye Zhizhou was working on the clue as well. He had written many symbols in his notebook, and his monitor displayed a search engine. Still, he could not find any useful information.
"I don't know how Boss Pei came up with an advertising method like that. He's really a genius! However... it might have been a better idea to release the question a month before we released the game.
"The game's already on the shelf now, but nobody can buy it. Of course, gamers would get angry. "I wonder if there's a deeper meaning behind this move."
After some thought, Wang Xiaobin said, "Hasn't Boss Pei always been this willful? He already tried to turn gamers away repeatedly when we were working on Repent and be Saved. This may be a unique method of doing business.
"He's intentionally using reverse psychology on gamers, so that they would try to solve the riddle more enthusiastically."
Lin Wan nodded. "Yes, I think that's highly likely!
"Many gamers have already started playing Tengda's older games to solve this riddle. I think Repent and be Saved and Game Designer have seen an increase in sales volume during this period.
"It's a pity that it would only be a short-term boost. People like Teacher Qiao, who understand Boss Pei extremely well, could locate the clue in just a few hours.
"If we had hidden the clue more deeply, perhaps the other games would have seen a boost in sales volume, too."
Ye Zhizhou rubbed his temples. "I don't think Boss Pei wanted to hide the clue that deep. "The word 'journey' already hinted at The Lonely Desert Road. People only had to drive for three hours to find the first letter.
"I don't think Boss Pei wanted to torture gamers for too long...
"Was he afraid that gamers would fly into a craze and buy Tengda's old games if he hid the clue too well?
"Hahaha, how can that be? I'm overthinking things."
Ye Zhizhou laughed inwardly at himself.
Lin Wan looked at the string of English alphabets on the screen. "No one has solved this code yet. Maybe this 'game' only officially began when people found this code.
"Maybe there aren't enough people participating." While they had been researching and developing Be Quiet, Shang Yang Games had indeed kept news about the game under wraps. That was mainly because the game had not been complete, and the staff had been afraid that gamers would develop high hopes for it. At the same time, Boss Pei had never mentioned publicity.
Thus, not many gamers were trying to solve the riddle for now. Even fewer gamers were racking their brains, trying to crack the code.
The lack of numbers meant that the riddle could not be solved any quicker.
Many gamers who were only interested in playing horror games were being blocked. Not one person had purchased the game—this was a real problem.
Wang Xiaobin was slightly worried. "What if nobody can solve the riddle? What would we do? We've worked so hard to release this game. If nobody gets to play it, wouldn't it be
-?!
"You're thinking too much," scoffed Lin Wan. "There are many talented gamers out there. It's only a matter of time that someone cracks the code.
"What's more, the more difficult the riddle, the more participants there would be. Wouldn't the advertising prove more effective, then?"
At Otto Technologies...
Chang You was still worrying about the slideshow. Although he had already gotten clear instructions from Boss Pei, he still had no idea how to execute the instructions.
The thing was that Boss Pei's instructions had completely overturned the way he used to think about news conferences...
All things aside, it was ridiculous to try and explain all the cell phone's merits in five minutes, using a single picture.
Chang You had already asked his subordinates to list out the cell phone's merits. Of course, he could squeeze them all into a single picture, but it would be impossible for him to cover them all in five minutes!
At the moment, Otto Ei had the following merits: a screen with a high refresh rate, a 5800 mAh battery, the latest microchip, a custom-made cooling system, a horizontal linear motor, a high-megapixel dual camera, fast charging functions, a custom-made system, special benefits from Tengda's other businesses, and the like.
If Chang You wanted to go into the specifics of the special benefits, he would have to go through the 'gaming', 'entertainment', 'lifestyle', and 'others' categories, and a total of sixteen individual items.
On top of that, other cell phone manufacturers would normally talk about NFC, infrared, headphone plugs, hi-fi, dual stereo speakers, and the like when they released new models. Yet, Chang You could not afford to mention these things during the news conference for Otto E1.
Chang You looked at the picture, feeling a migraine coming on.
"There's so much content. How can I go through everything in five minutes? I'm not a host who depends on his mouth for a living...
"Yet, Boss Pei has already given orders. I have to get it done. If I can't, wouldn't I be embarrassing myself during the news conference?
"Eh, wait... a host?
"Is Boss Pei hinting to me to turn all the cell phone's merits into a performed dialogue and then explain them all in five minutes?
"Why else would he give me a limit of five minutes?"
All of a sudden, a realization dawned on Chang You. He quickly opened a new document and strung all the cell phone's merits together into a short performed dialogue.
He counted the words... about a thousand.
If a human, like an announcer, talked at average speed and pronounced every word perfectly and clearly, he would be able to read 80 to 120 words per minute.
Humans could process things at a maximum of 2.5 times as quickly. That was about 300 words per minute.
Some hosts could read even faster, such as 350 words in 47 seconds. However, there would be a lot of people at the news conference. Talking at that speed would cause most people to miss out on some information.
Moreover, Chang You did not only have to read three hundred words but close to a thousand. He had to breathe in the middle, or he could cramp up.Thus, he did some rough calculations. He had to read a thousand words in five minutes. On average, he would have to read two hundred words per minute. That would already be two times faster than man's normal talking speed!
What's more, he would be able to explain all of Otto Ei's merits with those one thousand words...
Chang You was shocked. "Was that what Boss Pei meant? He wanted me to use this method to entertain and engage the live audience and those watching the live-stream?
"He had even figured out that I would need just five minutes to do that? Yes, that must be it! That's the only possible explanation. "It looks like I, the old bag of bones, have work to do..."
Chang You still felt immensely stressed, but at least he had found a direction to work toward.
He had to memorize the script and ensure that he could recite it all in five minutes before the news conference. To him, that was no easy feat.
Still, to market the cell phone well and not let Boss Pei down, Chang You decided to accept the challenge!
He had to ensure Boss Pei recognized his hard work at the news conference!
Chapter 438 The News Conference Begins
March 4th, Friday...
Pei Qian arrived at the office early. He accessed the platform to take a look. Not a single person had bought Be Quiet yet! Obviously, gamers could not achieve any breakthroughs in a single day.
Of course, that was what Boss Pei had planned!
The series of codes had been hidden in The Lonely Desert Road, and one would be able to find it after driving for just three hours. What's more, only one person had to find the code before the others would be able to work on it.
If trying to repel gamers had been his only goal, Pei Qian could have requested all gamers to finish all eight hours—or even sixteen hours-of The Lonely Desert Road. That would have been effective, but the system would not have allowed it.
Thus, Pei Qian had to keep an eye on the difficulty while setting the riddle.
It would not be reasonable to make the riddle too difficult. That was because gamers would not be able to buy the game, and the System would prohibit it.
Yet, making the riddle too easy to solve would result in a lack of a barrier. Gamers would be able to purchase the game very quickly, and Pei Qian would have worked in vain.
Pei Qian's main goal for setting up the filter was to minimize the number of gamers who would be qualified to buy the game during this cycle, which had less than a month left. He had to reduce the game's sales volume as much as possible.
As for what he would do during the next cycle, he would think about it when the time came.
The ideal situation for Pei Qian would be for the riddle to take a month for gamers to solve. That way, he would not make any sales during this month.
Moreover, the game had already been released. Gamers were only unable to buy it because they could not solve the riddle and not because Boss Pei had not completed the game. Thus, the System would not take it as an unfinished project, and settlement would not be delayed.
Even if Pei Qian failed to hold them back by a month, buying two or three weeks would still be better than allowing everyone to purchase the game as soon as it was released.
Many gamers had thought of various ways to crack the code. From among them, a bunch of experts emerged.
The entire process was dazzling and included splitting, converting the English alphabets to numbers, converting the numbers to letters on keypads, reversing them, alternating them, forming a sequence, applying the American Standard Code for Information Interchange and the hexadecimal, and the like.
In actual fact, Pei Qian was only an average man. He had not learned about all the complex ways of creating a code. Thus, the riddle was a simple one, which one could use everyday observations to crack.
It was just that there were many steps.
Some gamers had been on the right track. However, the final step was less well-known and more amazing. Thus, once gamers arrived at this step, they mistook it as a dead-end and gave up digging any deeper.
Thus, nobody paid much attention to this accurate way of cracking the code.
GAICCCCCCACBIADBHCEA.
After some observation, one would be able to tell that 'A', 'B', and 'C' appear the most times in the code. 'l' was the last alphabet of the alphabetical sequence that appeared. If 'A' was 1 and 'B' was 2, then 'I' would be 9. That meant this string of alphabets was meant to be converted to numbers.
71933333313291428351.
If one observed this string of numbers, they would realize that there was an order to every alternate number.
71/93/33/33/31/32/91/42/83/51.
None of the latter numbers surpassed four. This was a very common way of arranging alphabets on a cell phone keypad.
'71' symbolized the first letter on the number '7' of the cell phone's keypad— 'P'. By the same logic, every pair of numbers corresponded to a letter on the cell phone's keypad.
PYFFDEWHVJ.
However, what came after this would not look so logical. Thus, gamers who followed the same thought process often failed to get any further. As more gamers observed one another's progress on forums and discussions, they would form the impression that this was not the right way.
In fact, there was nothing complicated about the next step. Its general category was very common in the real world, but this particular branch was very rare. That meant very few people would understand it.
Pei Qian had only learned more about it out of interest. Therefore, when he felt like creating the code, it turned out more effective than he had expected.
Furthermore, even if one managed to get past this step, he would only be one-third done with the entire process.
"Keep working hard, everyone! If you can't solve it, I will incur losses during this cycle!" Pei Qian could not help but feel arrogant.
Otto Technologies would be holding a news conference for the new cell phone this weekend. Pei Qian had to take a look to ensure that everything went perfectly.
However, before that, Pei Qian sent a message to the programmer who had been put in charge of the riddle. "They have found the clue in The Lonely Desert Road. You can reduce the time needed for the clues to appear from three hours to fifteen minutes."
...
March 6th, a Sunday...
At Oasis Four Seasons Hotel, the biggest five-star hotel in Jingzhou City...
Tengda had collaborated with this hotel to host many of its events, including high-end business meetings, employees' recruitment examinations, annual meetings, and the like.
The news conference was also being held in the ballroom in this hotel. Tengda had already invited many members of the media in advance, prepared rooms for them, and paid for their food, accommodations, and transport expenses.
The rest of the seats had been given to customers of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Upwind Logistics, and other businesses for free.
In any case, Pei Qian had experienced no problems in filling the entire event venue up.
The news conference was supposed to begin at 3 PM. At 2 PM, Pei Qian sneaked into the event venue and then found a seat in the corner.
He could have sat in the first row if he had wanted to, but there were cameras set up to live-stream the entire news conference. Pei Qian would definitely appear on camera if he sat in front. Then, his identity would be exposed.
Thus, Pei Qian had told Chang You that he would be coming, but he had not told Chang You where he would be sitting.
Many people were present. It would be extremely difficult for Chang You to locate Pei Qian in this crowd.
That way, Boss Pei could keep his identity hidden and be able to observe the entire process. One could say he would be killing two birds with one stone.
Comforting and gentle music was playing, and people were bobbing their heads. Many people were streaming in as well.
The screen was still black. Perhaps it was because Pei Qian had arrived too early.
If this had been a news conference for any other cell phone, the huge screen would be displaying videos about the cell phone to warm the audience up. There would probably also be advertisement posters of the spokesperson.
However, Pei Qian realized that Otto's cell phone had none of these.
Chang You had brought up the spokesperson issue before, but Pei Qian had not thought about it at the time. Thus, he had not given Chang You a clear direction.
It looked like Chang You had forgotten about that, too.
If there wasn't even a spokesperson, Pei Qian guessed that there would be no introductory videos either.
Yes, that was just as well. Chang You could just walk up onto the stage and speak dryly. Once he finished going on about the cell phone's flaws for an hour, he could get off work. That would meet Boss Pei's expectations perfectly.
Pei Qian was still fantasizing when the lights dimmed.
The screen came on!
A high-tech logo slowly appeared on the big screen. It looked like the rising sun, dissipating the darkness. At once, it caught everyone's attention.
The camera panned out, and the logo became smaller and smaller. Someone's back appeared in the foreground, coincidentally blocking out the light from the logo and leaving a good-looking silhouette.
After that, he reached out and held the light ball in his hand.
A ray of light immediately shot out of his hand. The minimized logo stuck onto the back of the phone and faintly glowing with a breathing light effect!
The person turned around. The handsome and dazzling Lu Zhiyao looked straight through the camera, addressing the audience at the venue. He held a very impressive-looking cell phone in one hand. Behind the cell-phone, the logo was still glowing. Everything looked extremely high-tech.
That was not the end. Two advertisements followed that. One of them was the one involving the drone delivering take-out.
At last, the camera stopped on the publicity image. With an Otto cell phone in his hand, Lu Zhiyao smirked.
Pei Qian was stunned. He had just opened a bottle of water, but he had completely forgotten to take a sip.
What the h*ll...? Wasn't that the advertisement in Tomorrow is Beautiful?
Pei Qian instinctively thought about himself watching Tomorrow is Beautiful in the cinema before.
At that moment, it felt like he had traveled through time. He was equally caught off-guard and confused! Pei Qian had seen this cell phone's advertisement and the logo when he watched the movie. However, it looked different from Otto Technologies' logo. Thus, he relaxed. Why did Otto Technologies end up copying the movie?! Was it trying to ride on the movie's coattails?!
That's so shameless!
What's more, since when did Lu Zhiyao become Otto Technologies' spokesperson?
One could say that Lu Zhiyao was now very famous. Ever since Tomorrow is Beautiful premiered, he had washed himself clean of his reputation for being the 'toxicity in the box office'. What's more, his remarkable acting and the fame that he already had strengthened his position as a first-tier young actor in the country.
If he won an award, Pei Qian would be in big trouble.
Given what Lu Zhiyao had achieved with Tomorrow is Beautiful, it was only natural for him to reciprocate and act as Otto Technologies' spokesperson.
Pei Qian should have been pleasantly surprised. Yet, that was not what Pei Qian was feeling at the moment.
Instead, he only felt horrified!
This way of kicking the news conference off was much more engaging than playing introductory videos. That was because Tomorrow is Beautiful was still screening, and it was still popular. Many people present had probably already watched it.
Those advertisements appeared in Tomorrow is Beautiful. They had been carefully filmed, and they looked novel. They obviously stood out from other cell phone commercials. Seeing them naturally caused the audience to think about the futuristic and high-tech cell phone brand that appeared in Tomorrow is Beautiful.
Pei Qian had not revealed this in the publicity material. Thus, everyone present was obviously pleasantly surprised! The originally dead atmosphere had been livened up!The journalists of the tech media whispered to one another. Clearly, the advertisement and Lu Zhiyao's role as the spokesperson had impressed them.
Feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles, Pei Qian began to panic. The start of the news conference had gone very differently from what he had expected. This did not look like a good sign.
He opened his bottle and drank a mouthful of water to calm his nerves.
Calm down, calm down. I don't think the situation is as bad as I think.
It might not be useful to start off so well. What if the high expectations end up being crushed?
If Chang You presents a slideshow and conducts the news conference completely opposite from other cell phone manufacturers like I told him to, people would just curse louder later.
Then, the fact that the start was so impressive would seem very distant.
There's no need to worry now. Everything will get better!
Chapter 439 This News Conference is so Interesting
After the video finished playing, the atmosphere became livelier and more formal.
People who had not entered yet walked in briskly. Soon, all the seats were filled up.
A gentle female voice reminded everyone of a couple of things, such as keeping their cell phones on silent mode, not to leave halfway through the one-hour long news conference, and to claim the small gifts on their way out after the event.
At the same time, the lady informed everyone that the news conference would be livestreamed on the Waiwai streaming platform and that everyone could head there to watch it.
At 3 PM, all the lights were switched off. Chang You walked up onto the stage while everyone applauded loudly.
"Hello, everyone! I am Chang You.
"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend Otto Ei's news conference. On behalf of all the staff at Otto Technologies, I warmly welcome all of you!"
The applause was as loud as thunder.
Pei Qian took out his cell phone, logged onto the Waiwai streaming platform, and found the livestream of Otto Technologies' news conference.
Livestreaming had developed very quickly over the past year. At this time last year, less than two hundred thousand people used livestreaming platforms. Yet, now, there were tens of thousands of viewers on one channel alone.
There weren't many people watching the livestream of Otto Technologies' news conference-just twenty- to thirty-thousand people. Most of them were fans of digital products.
"Eh, isn't that Vice President Chang? Which pathetic manufacturer is he preparing to attack after causing the collapse of Hongcheng Technologies?" "Otto Technologies? I've never heard of this name before."
"It's under Tengda Corporation, and it's listed on TPDb. Have you seen Tomorrow is Beautiful?"
"That's an inferior brand, too. I'll admit that Tengda is awesome at creating games, but it's still considered a young student when it comes to manufacturing cell phones. I'll wait and see who the king of extortion, Vice President Chang, is going to extort today. A blind guess is that it'll either be Pineapple or Shenhua!"
"What are you talking about? Which cell phone manufacturer in the country wouldn't try and extort Pineapple and Shenhua? Pineapple cell phones are being hung up and beaten daily; I'm already used to it."
Bullet screen comments were not yet supported on livestreaming platforms now. However, there was a chatting window on the right side of the screen. Thus, Pei Qian could read netizens' comments in real-time.
Obviously, many digital hobbyists had formed a deep impression of Chang You after what happened at Hongcheng Technologies. Everyone was focusing not on the cell phones, but on Chang You. Pei Qian was very satisfied with this. He felt like he had a keen eye for people.
On stage, Chang You briefly introduced Otto Technologies' history.
There was a lot that he could have included in the story. For example, he could have talked about Otto Technologies being a subsidiary of Tengda, or about the close relationship the company had with Tomorrow is Beautiful.
However, Chang You did not elaborate on any of that. Instead, he spoke briefly. That was because Boss Pei had emphasized to him to control the duration of the news conference.
Thus, Chang You decided to cut to the chase. He hit a button on his remote control, causing one big word to appear on the screen:
'Pricing!!
Once the word appeared, everyone immediately quieted down. Many netizens typed strings of question marks.
"Wait, hasn't this news conference just started? Did I miss something?"
"Did I miss out on the first two hours?"
"Did they mess up the slideshow?"
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Ordinarily, the cell phone's pricing would be left to the last! Other cell phone manufacturers would have elaborated on the cell phone's functions and merits from the beginning, in ascending order of importance. Once the audience's expectations for the cell phone reached their peak and the host hinted to everyone that the cell phone was high-tech and good-quality, he would ask everyone to guess its price.
Finally, he would reveal that the cell phone was priced slightly lower than everyone had guessed. At once, they would all clap and think highly of the cell phone.
Of course, some manufacturers would mess this up. They would reveal the price, only for the audience to curse and grimace. The atmosphere would then turn awkward.
Regardless, the order would still be the same!
The audience had not even seen the cell phone, and yet its price was staring them in the face. What was going on? Wasn't that taking away the fun of guessing the cell phone's price?
Chang You was already prepared for this. Without another word, he hit his remote control again, and a huge number appeared on the screen.
8,199! Everyone remained silent. Again, the comments section of the livestream window was filled with question marks.
"Is Vice President Chang high on alcohol?"
"A multi-thousand-yuan cell phone... just what I wanted!"
"Even Shenhua and Pineapple don't sell their flagship models at such a high price. Who gave you the courage?!"
0
The live audience was not as direct as netizens on the livestream, but their confused expressions were telling of their thoughts.
Are you kidding me?!
Vice President Chang, you may have caused Hongcheng Technologies to collapse, but this terrible mistake is ridiculous, right?
Chang You remained unperturbed. He continued, "We will not run promotions or reduce the price of our Otto E1 cell phones in the future. Once the next model is released, E1 will be taken off the shelves. Until then, it would be sold for 8,199 yuan, and the price would not change. Of course, we don't accept payment by installments either.
"Alright, everyone can start dissing now." The crowd remained quiet. Comments kept being posted rapidly on the livestream.
Seeing that everyone was mocking and dissing the cell phone in the comments, Pei Qian felt excited and overwhelmed.
Finally, this is going well. This is the right feeling! This is the effect I wanted!
Pei Qian had to suppress the urge to give Chang You a thumbs-up from off-stage.
Chang You's expression remained the same. Since the news conference had a limited duration, he could not afford to talk too much about the price. Instead, he moved to the next segment.
"Next, I'll talk about our stocks.
"We'll only manufacture a thousand pieces of Otto E1. We'll sell them on a first-come, first-serve basis until we run out. We haven't decided when to manufacture the next batch of stocks.
A picture appeared on the screen. This was ROF Computer-Installation's warehouse in Jingzhou. A thousand pieces of Otto E1 had been neatly arranged on one of the shelves inside. The shelf was only half-filled.
At first glance, it looked almost stingy.
"Pfft..."
One of the tech media journalists seated in the front row could not help but scoff.
This news conference was too ridiculous!
At other news conferences, once the price was announced and the audience took back all of their criticisms, the manufacturer would always say that they had enough stocks. This would normally be accompanied by a picture of a filled warehouse.
Of course, under most circumstances, that would only be an advertising tactic. They would cease manufacturing and play punk whenever they needed to. Still, it was necessary to put on a front and go through the motions at the beginning.
Yet, Otto Technologies was taking a unique path. Its stocks were just in the four-figure range; there were only a thousand cell phones!
What's more, they emphasized this pathetic number as if afraid that nobody would understand it.
What's going on? Were they trying to resort to hunger marketing? Did Vice President Chang really think that increasing the price and announcing the low supply would cause consumers to purchase the cell phone immediately? The news conference had only started five minutes ago. Yet, everyone present and on the livestream had lost interest in finding out about the new cell phone. Instead, they were now focused on watching the drama unfold.
Someone off-stage yelled, "Good! Make another one!
"It's so cheap! Buy it! "You might as well give it away for free! Would we still be human if we didn't buy one?!"
Everyone broke into laughter, and the atmosphere became lively again.
Pei Qian had to admit that the netizens were very good at finding humor in the situation as well.
After the pricing and stocks segment, netizens went from commenting 'whoever's selling this is stupid' to 'those who can't afford this should be ashamed of themselves'. The previously solemn atmosphere immediately lightened up.
Pei Qian felt speechless while he sat in the audience.
He's telling the truth. What are all of you laughing at? Is it that funny?
Forget it. You can laugh and shout whatever you want. As long as you don't fork out a single cent when the time comes, we can still be good friends.
Chang You smiled and then moved onto the next segment.
"Next, I'll tell you about the cell phone's merits."
He gently hit the remote control again, and a picture appeared on the screen.
As Chang You faced the audience, his lips started moving quickly. He was reciting the script that he had memorized so hard and that he now knew like the back of his hand.
"A really good brand, a really good cell phone. Welcome to the news conference of the high-end cell phone brand, Otto Technologies' flagship model. Ei has extremely high-quality hardware, a good microchip, a monitor with a high refresh rate, and a custom-made system.
"It brings to you infinitely smooth user experience, and a powerful battery that has fast-charging and long endurance, so that you no longer have to worry about batteries again. A horizontal linear motor, NFC, infrared, headphone plugs, hi-fi, dual stereo speakers—we miss out on nothing.
"A custom-made cooling system, the charging point on the side, and special high frame-rate mode for games ensure that you're always at an advantage in battles. A top-grade dual camera lets you take beautiful photos of people and scenery... "A personal logo with breathing lights makes for a unique appearance, and Lu Zhiyao as the spokesperson of a cell phone out of Tomorrow is Beautiful makes you trendy and futuristic."
Inhale.
"On top of that, there are a total of sixteen special gaming, entertainment, lifestyle, and other benefits. You can become a supergamer of Tengda Games, an ultimate VIP of Zhongdian Chinese Network, a connoisseur of Fei Huang Workspace, a Game Master of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, a top-tier member of Fish-Catching Take-Out, a distinguished guest of Ming Yun Private Kitchen, and a VIP of Upwind Logistics. "You can get a five-percent discount off all of Tengda's products for a lifetime, a free game each year, multiple custom-made skins, tickets to pre-screening of movies, free drinks, regular red packets, free delivery, and additional dishes at Ming Yun Private Kitchen. Your life will be full of surprises."
Inhale.
"You can also trade-in your old cell phones, replace them without repairing, receive free accessories, and upgrade your phone for a lifetime. Make one purchase and you benefit from being a distinguished customer of Tengda forever. "Only a thousand cell phones available first-come, first-serve. Its value would be maintained and never drop. Otto E1, the multi-functional assistant in your career, the legendary weapon in your games, and the golden manager of your life.
"It's the ultimate solution we are providing for all of your problems in the digital age!"
In a single breath, Chang You recited the entire script. Apart from breaking off to inhale in the midway through, he did not even pause. He was speaking as fast as any ordinary person would be able to.
Once he was done, Chang You let out a long sigh and looked into the audience.
He did not know where Boss Pei was seated, but at that moment, he only felt one thing: he was fortunate to have fulfilled his task!
He had memorized the entire long script. What's more, he had recited everything smoothly without missing a single word! The audience was silent. Pei Qian's hand hovered in mid-air as he held onto his bottle of water. It was almost as if he had forgotten where to put it.
Chang You looked discouraged. What was going on? Had he completely lost the audience? He had just recited such a long script, and yet they weren't praising him?
He glanced at his watch and realized that his time was up. Not daring to hold everyone back, Chang You hit his remote control again and said, "Alright, I've already finished talking about the cell phone's merits. Let me talk about its flaws..."
The picture on the screen changed, and everyone off-stage flared up. "Holy sh*t! What just happened?!" "I didn't hear it clearly. Come again?!"
"Say it again! Go back!"Everyone present seemed to have been stunned by Chang You's long recitation. No one knew how to react. If this had been a theater for comic dialogue, the audience would have cheered once Chang You finished speaking. However, this was a news conference in a hotel!
The audience would not have expected Vice President Chang to pull something like that to introduce the cell phone's merits!
That was why they were only reacting now. Everyone was burning with anger!
Faced with the audience's calls for him to repeat himself, Chang You became embarrassed. He said, "I'm sorry. My boss has given me orders to keep that part within five minutes. Five minutes have already passed. I have to move to the next segment. Please understand."
The audience obviously didn't believe this ridiculous excuse. "Stop being ridiculous! Why would the boss impose a limit for how long you can talk about the cell phone's merits?! Is he crazy?!"
"Vice President Chang, don't mess with us! Saying it again wouldn't take you more than a few minutes!"
"That's right! Don't even think about getting away with this. Repeat yourself!"
Chang You helplessly scanned the audience, not knowing where Boss Pei was seated. Sorry, Boss Pei. I tried to keep it less than five minutes, but everyone wouldn't let me!