March 9th, Wednesday...
Otto E1 was available for sale for the second time!
Pei Qian purposely traveled a great distance to Otto Technologies' office to observe the frontlines. The cell phones were to be sold at 10 AM. Pei Qian arrived at 9 AM to survey the situation.
After a lot of thought, he decided to make a suggestion to Chang You.
"Vice President Chang, from today onward, we should allow people to pay a deposit and reserve a cell phone. They can pay a deposit of a hundred yuan to reserve a cell phone, and we can manufacture cell phones based on the number of reservations we get."
Chang You looked pained. "Boss Pei, I know about that plan.
"Many cell phone manufacturers do that when they're running out of stocks, but we don't have that much money now. What if we receive ten thousand cell phones? We don't have enough funds..."
Pei Qian waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. You can ask me for more cash if you run out. We can use Tengda's funds to ease your cash flow. We're all under one roof, anyway.
"Anyway, just make sure we have enough supply. Every fan of Tengda should get to use our cell phone!"
Pei Qian sounded so righteous and just that Chang You felt moved.
However... Pei Qian was thinking of something else. He was only suggesting allowing customers to make reservations for three main reasons.
First, he wanted to repel the scalpers. He had to increase the number of cell phones available, to deter those who wanted to transfer ownership of their cell phones once they got their hands on them. That way, only those who needed the cell phones would get them.
Second, he wanted to clarify how many people wanted to purchase the cell phones. If there were five thousand people, Pei Qian could manufacture eight thousand cell phones. That meant storing three thousand cell phones in the warehouse and wasting money!
Last, Pei Qian had summarized all the discussion and feedback online and concluded that only a few people would make a reservation.
After all, the cell phone was too expensive. It was more expensive than Shenhua or Pineapple's flagship models. Although the benefits looked good, most of them could only be enjoyed in Jingzhou. In other words, most people were still waiting to see how the cell phone would turn out. The first few thousand cell phones had basically been sold to Tengda's fans that were living in Jingzhou. Pei Qian guessed that once those people got their cell phones, sales would drop drastically! As for whether Boss Pei's judgment was right... He had to see how the company was doing today. Chang You had already instructed his subordinates to create a function for people to reserve a cell phone. At 10 AM sharp, Pei Qian whipped out his cell phone and observed how many people were trying to reserve Otto E1.
Things didn't turn out as he had imagined; they did not sell out the moment they made stocks available. At first, the number of customers increased rapidly, but this slowed down after some time.
By now, many scalpers had already given up getting a cell phone because purchases were now linked to a Tengda Games account and an identity card. If they increased the price and sold it, buyers would have no way of enjoying the benefits of being Tengda's distinguished customers. Thus, scalpers saw no point in trying to snatch the cell phones. Of course, scalpers could resort to harassment tactics like make orders and snatch the cell phones in place of others. Still, this was much better than giving them unrestricted access to the cell phones.
An hour later, there were still 1,100 cell phones left.
Pei Qian ate his lunch at Otto Technologies and watched as the cell phones slowly sold throughout the day until they sold out at about 2 PM!
Once the 'sold out' label appeared, Chang You and Pei Qian wiped the perspiration from their foreheads at the same time.
Chang You did that out of relief that the phones had finally sold out!
Boss Pei was here to supervise the process today. If they could not sell out all two thousand phones and nobody wanted the remaining, Chang You would be too embarrassed to explain himself to Boss Pei.
On the other hand, Pei Qian wiped his perspiration out of relief that they had lasted until 2 PM!
Selling out immediately would have signified a much bigger problem.
Now, Pei Qian could finally relax. The facts had shown that his judgment had been accurate. The cell phones were quite popular, but not many people could afford them.
Most consumers in Jingzhou would be limited by the speed of information transfer and their mistrust in the new brand. Those factors would have stopped them from buying a cell phone so early on.
The next step would be to wait and see how many people would reserve a cell phone over the weekend.
As long as the quantity was close to what Pei Qian estimated, he could decisively manufacture more stocks, spend as much money as possible, and aim to incur losses before settlement!
March 10th, Thursday...
In the afternoon...
Pei Qian picked up his cell phone and checked how many people had reserved an Otto E1.
Otto Technologies' programmers had worked overtime to include a reservation function on the website. Of course, Chang You had paid them full overtime allowance.
Until now, more than 1,800 people had reserved a cell phone. The number was still increasing but at an obviously slower pace.
They had four thousand cell phones prepared for Sunday.
Pei Qian began to think. It was a sure bet that the number of reservations would surpass four thousand by Sunday, but it would likely not pass five thousand.
In other words, if they manufactured more than five thousand phones, the extra phones would have to be left in the warehouse.
If they spent all the revenue they had earned from the sale of cell phones on manufacturing even more cell phones to be stored in the warehouse...
Wouldn't all of Otto Technologies' additional funds be dealt with?
That sounded like a good idea.
Pei Qian just had to count on the heavens to see things through for him.
Just as he was thinking about this, his cell phone vibrated. Pei Qian picked it up and saw that it was He Desheng. At once, he frowned.
What's happening?! Has the 'Top Student, Come Quick' application gotten into trouble again?!
That can't be. We only bought the shares a few days ago. Trouble shouldn't be occurring so soon, right?
Pei Qian quickly accepted the call.
"How's the 'Top Student, Come Quick' project?" Pei Qian asked as if faced with a powerful enemy. He Desheng was stunned. "Er, Boss Pei... there's nothing wrong with 'Top Student, Come Quick'. Zhang Wang has something to report to you so he's here at Dream Realization Ventures. Do you have the time to meet him? If you don't, he can just give you a
call."
Pei Qian frowned.
Zhang Wang? Isn't he the 'sharing maniac' and 'grassroots inventor' of the shared phone booths?
Just hearing his name infuriated Pei Qian.
You still have the cheek to meet me?! I agreed to invest in your shared phone booths back then, but what have you done in the end?
Yes, you can say that you created a phone booth because the booth contains a phone. That would make sense, but you're too good at generating profit!
Zhang Wang and Ruan Guangjian had collaborated to stab Pei Qian in the back, causing Pei Qian to completely lose confidence in Zhang Wang and his shared phone booths. Now, Pei Qian was leaving Zhang Wang to burn and perish.
After asking Zhang Wang to manufacture more shared phone booths with the money that he had earned, Pei Qian stopped checking in.
Ever since he was driven crazy by what happened with the movie, Pei Qian lost track of the shared phone booths project.
Pei Qian calmed himself down and asked, "Is he beside you now?" He Desheng, "Yes, Boss Pei."
"Alright, pass the phone to him. I'll ask him about the shared phone booths," said Pei Qian.
"Alright."
A moment later, Zhang Wang's voice sounded at the other end of the line. He seemed excited as he greeted, "Boss Pei!"
Hearing this voice made Pei Qian feel sorrowful.
He and his project seemed so reliable in the beginning. Everything had been fine; how did they start generating profits? Ai, what a pity!
"Yes, what's the matter?" Pei Qian asked.
Zhang Wang, "Boss Pei, the shared phone booths are no longer the focus of my work! This project can be sustained with some basic manpower. I'll let it develop at its own pace."
Pei Qian's eyes lit up when he heard this.
"Eh? What's the matter? Has something gone wrong with its management?" Pei Qian sounded overjoyed.
Zhang Wang sniggered. "It's not that serious. I've already set up phone booths in all of Jingzhou's shopping malls. Even if I set up more, they wouldn't make money. The project has reached its peak in Jingzhou, and so I'm going to give it a rest and find something else that interests me."
Hearing this made Pei Qian more excited.
Alright, rest! That's a wise decision! Indeed, my judgment had been right all along!
The shared phone booths would only be able to generate profits if they were set up in places with high traffic such as shopping malls. What's more, there were only so many shopping malls in Jingzhou. Putting one or two shared phone booths in each one would be good enough.
Further, as more and more people tried out the shared phone booths, their interest would dissipate. That would be the end of the project in Jingzhou.
Of course, Pei Qian wanted to ask why they could not set up shared phone booths in Luzhou or Lincheng, or even Beijing or Shanghai. Weren't those markets available as well?
However, he held himself back. All in all, Zhang Wang's timely repentance was worth celebrating!
Comforted, Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, that's
good."
Zhang Wang asked, "Boss Pei, if I have other dreams to realize in the future, can I also approach you for investments?"
Pei Qian, "...Of course, but I will have to evaluate your proposals."
Pei Qian's first instinct had been to reject Zhang Wang, but he could not bring himself to do that. Thus, he had no choice but to be courteous.
Of course, Pei Qian found it highly unlikely that he would invest in Zhang Wang's projects ever again, given the latter's outstanding achievements.
That was unless he came up with a legendary project that looked like it could make Pei Qian lose everything. Then, Pei Qian would seriously consider making an investment.
"Alright, I won't keep you from working, then! Goodbye, Boss Pei!"
Zhang Wang handed the phone back to He Desheng. "Is there anything else?" Pei Qian asked. He Desheng answered, "Not really, Boss Pei. However... I have something to remind you. We still have twenty million yuan in our account. Have you thought about how we should spend it?"
Pei Qian recalled instructing He Desheng to remind him about the money in Dream Realization Ventures' bank account after some time.
He could not forget about that sum of money. If he didn't spend it before settlement, the consequences would be dire.
What should he spend the twenty million yuan on...?
Hm?
Twenty million yuan?! All of a sudden, Pei Qian noticed that something was amiss! Dream Realization Ventures had spent five million yuan buying back all the shares in 'Top Student, Come Quick'. There should be less than ten million yuan in its bank account now.
Why was there twenty million yuan?!
"Wait a moment. Where did we get the twenty million yuan?" Pei Qian had a bad feeling about the situation.
He Desheng answered matter-of-factly. "That's the profit generated by the shared phone booths."
Pei Qian's mind was filled with question marks.
What the hell?
Didn't Zhang Wang say that the shared phone booths had reached their peak in Jingzhou?
Didn't Zhang Wang himself have plans to stop working on the shared phone booths and take a break?
How did the project earn ten million yuan in such a short period?!
Pei Qian began to perspire, but he forced himself to calm down. "The shared phone booths could make ten million yuan in Jingzhou alone?"
He Desheng laughed. "Ah, Boss Pei, you didn't know yet?
"Of course, the project could not have made ten million yuan in Jingzhou alone, just like you said. Every shared phone booth could only make so much each day, and our initial investment was huge. The revenue we generated was then poured into manufacturing more shared phone booths. That's why we didn't profit much at the start.
"However, once we filled up Jingzhou City's shopping malls, Zhang Wang considered taking the project further. That's why he thought about finding franchisers to maximize profits.
"He didn't personally supervise the shared phone booths in other cities. Instead, he contacted other cities' shopping malls online and then presented to them our business model."Those shopping malls saw that the share phone booths were profitable. Thus, we sold the shared phone booths to them as a package and put them in charge of maintenance and repair. All we had to do was lend them our name and take a cut of the shared phone booths' revenue.
"That helped to lower our costs since we no longer had to hire professionals for maintenance and repair or care about whether the shared phone booths were generating profits or not.
"We only had to remain seated, sell our shared phone booth packages, and take a cut of their revenue! From the current situation, it looks like this business model guarantees
profits!
"That's why we only need to hire a few people for maintenance, cashiering, and managing the company's daily operations now. Zhang Wang doesn't have to be personally involved.
"We earned another ten million yuan from the sale of the shared phone booths so we're handing the funds up right away. "How do you think we should spend the twenty million yuan, then, Boss Pei?"
"Boss Pei?"
"Boss Pei?"
Chapter 446 I Turned Around for a Moment and Earned Another Five Million Yuan
Sometime later, He Desheng heard Boss Pei heave a long sigh through the phone. He began to have mixed feelings.
First, he could not help but feel disturbed.
What's the matter with Boss Pei?
Oh, I know. Boss Pei has just found out that the shared phone booths have moved out of Jingzhou towards the rest of the country. He must be feeling comforted like a mother eagle would after watching her babies fly out of the nest!
Yes, that must be the case!
Yet, at the other end of the line, Pei Qian was feeling sorrowful! He had only had ten million yuan to worry about at first, but now it was twenty million yuan.
The pressure was on!
"Let me think about it and get back to you."
After hanging up, Pei Qian flipped through his little notebook, trying to see where he could spend all that money.
Time was tight. It was too late to find another city and open a few more Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches. However, he could still keep opening Upwind courier stations. That would be much faster, and he would be able to keep adding more stations until the week before settlement.
At the same time, he could manufacture more stocks for Otto E1. That would burn money quicker.
Piling up five thousand cell phones in Otto Technologies' warehouse would cost Pei Qian twenty million yuan. Of course, if he managed to sell them all... he would be in a worse state than he was now.
Apart from all of these, Pei Qian still had an ultimate killer move—the Thriller Hostel project!
Thriller Hostel could be delayed until the next cycle. A place like that was considered a bottomless pit for money. It would probably have no problem eating up all twenty million yuan.
Still, unless he absolutely had to, Pei Qian did not want to throw more money into Thriller Hostel.
If he invested more money, the place would become scarier, the experience would become more exciting, and the surrounding facilities would be perfected sooner. At the end of the day, the project might not be able to incur losses.
Thus, giving Lu Mingliang more money to open Upwind Courier stations and expand Fish-Catching Complex's reach throughout Lincheng would be his best option.
Then, he would channel the remaining funds to Otto Technologies and ask Chang You to store more stocks in the warehouse...
Just as Pei Qian was deep in thought, his cell phone rang again. This time, it was Ma Yiqun. Pei Qian frowned and accepted the call at once.
"Boss Pei, there's an additional five million yuan in Zhongdian Chinese Network's company account. I've already transferred it over to you!" Ma Yiqun's voice had a hint of pride.
Pei Qian's mind was filled with question marks.
After two seconds, he asked, "When did this happen?"
Ma Yiqun answered, "Just two days ago.
"We've been settling the previous month's royalties, right? After receiving February's income and after dealing with the company's matters, I asked the finance department to transfer the money to you!"
Pei Qian's expression darkened, and he frowned. "Didn't I tell you to spend all that money on your own? The authors' class requires funding now. Why are you transferring the money back to me?" Ma Yiqun was stunned. "The authors' class has enough funding. "Don't worry, Boss Pei. The five million yuan is not all of last month's profit. I've already deducted the website's daily operating expenses, transaction fees, funds for supplementing authors' income, and expenses for the authors' class. I've even set aside a sum of money for other uses. This is what's left.
"We've also maximized benefits for those attending the authors' class. I don't know where else to spend this money, and so I'm handing it up to you.
"I heard that Otto Ei is lacking funds now. If we hand this sum of money to them, they should be able to put it to good use!"
Pei Qian was speechless.
I don't know where to spend all this money either! How can you transfer the money to me just because you don't know how to spend it? That's so irresponsible!
You threw five million yuan at me without any warning. I wasn't even mentally prepared. You're making my life very difficult!
Wait a minute, did Ma Yiqun just say that he had already deducted expenses for the authors' class from this sum?
Doesn't that mean...
The website is earning even more now?!
The website had already started generating profits before. Ma Yiqun tried to transfer the profits to Tengda once, but Pei Qian decisively rejected him and asked him to start the online authors' class.
The authors' class was to be run continuously. There was one every month. The participants' food and lodging would be provided, and they would be paid a salary and given insurance as well. Logically, all the money should have been gone by now.
Why was there an additional five million yuan from the previous month's revenue?!
The sensitive Pei Qian realized that something was amiss. He quickly asked, "Did Zhongdian Chinese Network's profits increase again in February?"
The moment he finished speaking, Pei Qian felt strange. Why did I say 'again'? Ma Yiqun smiled. "Of course, Boss Pei. That's all thanks to your great planning! "The facts have shown that your decision to invest all the website's profits into the online authors' class had been a wise and forward-thinking one!
"In the short term, we generated fewer profits. However, the benefits of the authors' class are infinite!
"Firstly, we gave unregulated, ill-disciplined authors a fixed working schedule and more security in life. Thus, they could focus on writing and improving their novels.
"Secondly, authors have a platform to communicate, learn, and improve their own skills. That means Zhongdian Chinese Network's mid-tier writers are growing at a rapid pace!
"Lastly, the Tengda spirit classes you've been organizing for the authors have been termed 'inspiring'. Instead of only wanting to write more, they're now focusing on maintaining both quality and quantity. Overall, the novels on our website are moving towards excellence. That'll be very helpful to retain readers!
"Most importantly, Cui Geng's The Butterfly Game has pleasantly surprised us. It has broken the record for subscriptions, and news has spread throughout the online literature industry. Many authors have noticed the high upper limit for Zhongdian Chinese Network's online novels and have come over to start writing as well. "As more and more novels appear on the website, there's also more and more quality content. Readers are also becoming more loyal and hardworking in keeping up with the novels!
"All in all, Zhongdian Chinese Network is a whole new website now!"
Pei Qian almost had a panic attack halfway through
The Tengda spirit classes have been termed 'inspiring'? Instead of only wanting to write more, they're now focusing on maintaining both quality and quantity? That's not right. I thought they were supposed to become slackers!
Although Pei Qian was confused and he did not know how the lessons on the Tengda spirit had become so problematic, he was still in touch with reality.
"Immediately stop holding the lessons on the Tengda spirit!" Pei Qian immediately said. "Ah, alright, Boss Pei. That's what I was thinking, too." Ma Yiqun was in complete agreement. Pei Qian, "?"
Ma Yiqun continued speaking, "Actually, we're going with a mentoring model for the second authors' class. An experienced author would be paired with a new one. Almost all the experienced authors have already received lessons on the Tengda spirit at Tengda's headquarters before.
"Now, we're counting on the lessons being passed down through the various generations of authors. That would spread the Tengda spirit, and the HR department would not have to bear this burden any longer. "That's why I was thinking of doing away with this step." Pei Qian, "..." Oh no, it's too late!
The Tengda spirit had spread to the entire authors' class, just as Pei Qian had hoped. However, the effects were drastically different from what he had imagined!
Could it be... that the enemy was in the HR department and right beside him?!
However, on further thought, Pei Qian became more confused.
No one in the department worked overtime!
They had held the second selection for the winner of the Zero Overtime Competition at the end of the previous month. This time, more than half of the departments won, except Fei Huang Workspace. That was because it had had a particularly busy month, and the staff had ended up working overtime a few days.
Even Tengda Games, the stubborn department, had shown marked improvement. It had not applied for permission to work overtime last month.
Based on Tang Yishu's regular reports, nobody was secretly working overtime, too... All the departments in Tengda's headquarters seemed to be living out the Tengda spirit very well.
Where was the problem, then?
Had it been there from the beginning, or had it only appeared when authors started attending lessons on the Tengda spirit? Was that how it affected the other authors?
If it was the latter, Pei Qian would just have to 'isolate' the authors. Yet, if it was the former...
Pei Qian felt a sharp pain in his head.
He was very confused. On one hand, his already fragile mental state was on the brink of collapse now that he had an additional 25 million yuan to get rid of for no reason. On the other hand, he could not figure out why the various businesses seemed to be improving despite his efforts to encourage his employees to slack more.
"Boss Pei, if there's nothing else, I'm going to hang up now. I don't want to hold you up," said Ma Yiqun.
Pei Qian quickly stopped him, breaking his train of thought. "Wait!" "Er... what else do you need, Boss Pei?" Ma Yiqun asked.
After pondering for a long time, Pei Qian said through gritted teeth, "Change the way Zhongdian Chinese Network splits revenue. Make it 70-30, where all authors get seventy percent of revenue effective from this month!"
Pei Qian was going all out now.
In the long term, this move would probably increase traffic on the website. However, Pei Qian could not bother too much about it now.
He had to think about this cycle's settlement! March's income would increase for sure. The incoming funds would be enough to make Pei Qian want to cough up blood by the end of the month.
Thus, he had to get rid of as much of Zhongdian Chinese Network's income as possible!
hat way, the website's income would immediately fall by forty percent. At the very least, Pei Qian would have millions of yuan less to worry about.
The best that the System would allow was a 20-80 split, but Pei Qian was afraid that only taking twenty percent of the revenue would invite too many authors. Then, the consequences would be dire. Thus, he stuck with 30-70.
Although Infinite Chinese Network's split was 50-50, other websites on the market also split revenue 30-70. By following suit, not only would Pei Qian be able to reduce Zhongdian Chinese Network's income, but he would also not raise suspicions.Ma Yiqun hesitated, and then said, "Alright, Boss Pei. I understand."
Obviously, he thought that Boss Pei was continuing to burn money to attract more readers.
Pei Qian could not be bothered to explain himself. Instead, he allowed Ma Yiqun to conjure up his own explanation.
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt even more sorrowful.
Misfortune really never came singly! Two days ago, he had been worried about spending ten million yuan. Now, that sum had turned into 25 million yuan!
Setting up more Upwind Courier stations alone would get rid of five million yuan at most; they took time to set up. Pei Qian had to finish all projects a week before settlement, and trying to set up too many at ones could easily cause problems.
As for the remaining twenty million yuan...
Through gritted teeth, Pei Qian decided to invest them all into manufacturing phones for Otto Technologies!
Chapter 447 A Little Game
March 11th, Friday...
Despite having two dark eye circles, Qiao Liang persisted through Game Designer's storyline. He had only one expression: indignance!
An entire week had passed since Be Quiet was officially released. Yet, until now, not a single copy of the game had been sold.
It was not because the game was rubbish, and no one wanted to play it. In fact, many people had no idea what the game even looked like.
Nobody had managed to solve the riddle and obtain the so-called 'invitation letter'!
Many people had already given up, cursing and swearing as they did so. Obviously, the developing team's willful behavior had severe reverse-psychological effects on gamers, turning many of them away.
Those with bad tempers dissed the developing team for being 'insane'. After that, they stopped updating themselves about the game altogether. Those with more patience continued to check on forums every day after giving up. They wanted to see how far the bosses had gone with solving the riddle. Their intention was to copy the answers once it was solved.
A minority of gamers were truly hardcore. They, like Qiao Liang, were still trying to find the answer to the next step in the riddle, not being able to rest or sleep until they did so.
During this period, they've all exhausted different methods.
They had filled all sorts of content into the two input fields. However, the webpage still showed no response.
Thus, everyone guessed that the next message was hidden in another game.
As Tengda Games' classic piece of work, countless people had completed Repent and be Saved many times. However, nobody managed to find a single clue.
A few bosses even found out that Tengda was constructing a haunted house named 'Thriller Hostel' and went down to the construction site to search for clues.
In the end, the person-in-charge—whose surname was Chen-chased them out in frustration. He also told them that the project was not even done, and it could not have been a part of the riddle.
After playing all the other games and ensuring that he could not find anything from them, Qiao Liang turned to The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer once again.
All of a sudden, Qiao Liang realized something. Given what he knew about Boss Pei, it seemed that it was possible for him to hide even more clues in those two games!
Who said that each game could only contain one clue?
Wouldn't players be missing things right under their noses if they stopped playing a game just because they found one clue inside?
What's more, both of Boss Pei's codes were to be solved in similar manners. Thus, whether time was tight or Boss Pei was trying to make gamers' lives easier, the riddle was probably not as difficult as they thought.
That meant that Boss Pei probably asked his programmer to only edit two games in the interest of time. What's more, only the simplest parts had been edited!
With that, Qiao Liang entered The Lonely Desert Road once again.
This time, he did not find any new clues. However, he noticed one thing: instead of taking three hours to collect all the alphabets, much less time was needed now!
Qiao Liang's head began to hurt immediately.
Isn't this unfair to the f*cking forerunner?! I suffered and drove for three hours, and yet other people can now find all the alphabets in just one hour?
His heart hurt so bad that he could not help but hug himself. However, on further thought, he realized something more important.
Less time was needed to collect all the clues now. That meant that once he found the clue, Boss Pei had asked his programmer to edit the game again. Why?
The clue had already been found. Others would not have to enter The Lonely Desert Road to drive again. Why did Boss Pei ask the programmers to edit the game?
"Could it be...
"Is Boss Pei hinting that one has to find the clues on his own for it to count?"
A realization dawned on Qiao Liang, and he quickly opened Game Designer.
He had once reached the ending where he lost all his hard-earned money. However, the game had only been released a while ago, April last year.
Strictly speaking, Qiao Liang had reached the ending before, but he had not found the clue on his own!
Qiao Liang was already very familiar with every choice and ending in Game Designer. He ran through it quickly, without having to think. In ten minutes, he reached the first choice for the ending where he would lose all his hard-earned money.
After that, he found the string of clues made up of the numbers 'o', '1', and '2'. The code had already been cracked it was the double pinyin for 'Search 'Thriller Hostel".
"What's next?"
Nothing surprising happened.
Qiao Liang steered his character in the game until he reached the last stage of the 'losing everything' ending. He started searching for something without knowing what it was that he was looking for.
All of a sudden, he noticed a report on the wall.
In the original ending, the report criticized the failed game designer. Its title had been 'You can only truly master knowledge if you personally put it to practice'. The report had been there from the beginning, criticizing the failed designer (or the player) for having high hopes but low capabilities. He could give a lot of guidance while playing others' games and yet failed when he had tried to design his own.
The title was still the same now, but Qiao Liang had sharply noticed that the font in the title was different from the fonts of all the other titles. Obviously, it had been changed!
However, most players would stop playing the game once they obtained the earlier clue. Even if they got to this stage by chance, they would not have been searching for another clue. Naturally, they would not have noticed this title.
Qiao Liang quickly exited the game and entered the title into the input fields on TPDb's website.
Indeed, there was no response.
After pondering for a moment, Qiao Liang typed his Tengda account username and password into the input fields and then hit 'enter'.
This time, the webpage changed!
Qiao Liang realized that he had guessed correctly! They only had to type two simple things into the input field: their username and password. There was nothing extraordinary!
However, they had to personally find the first clue in The Lonely Desert Road and the second clue in the 'losing everything' ending of Game Designer before typing their username and password into the input fields!
What's more, they could only do this after Be Quiet was released.
Pei Qian had especially hidden a subtle hint in the final stage of the 'losing everything' ending. He had changed the font of the words 'You can only truly master knowledge if you personally put it to practice' to hint to gamers that they had to find the two clues on their own to solve the riddle.
Many people could not guess it because they had misunderstood the rules of the game. They didn't think they had to look for the clues themselves since everyone else had already found them. Thus, no one had fulfilled both criteria.
The webpage didn't react after they entered their Tengda account username and password.
That formed a vicious cycle. Everyone began to think that their usernames and passwords could not have been the answers to the input fields. As time went by, people stopped trying!
Qiao Liang could not help but feel proud.
It was a good thing that he had played The Lonely Desert Road again and realized the change. That was how he had guessed Boss Pei's intentions!
Otherwise, he would not have reached the 'losing everything' ending of Game Designer again, much less tried entering his Tengda account username and password in TPDb's website once more.
Boss Pei had indeed managed to stump so many gamers by only editing the two simplest games and TPDb's website.
Still... his close friend, Teacher Qiao, had cracked the code!
Qiao Liang became arrogant.
At that moment, the input fields on the black web page disappeared. Instead, a pale invitation letter appeared. There were lines of words written in blood that seemed to be dripping from the paper.
"Congratulations. You are the first lucky one to obtain this invitation letter.
"You've already proven your intelligence and perseverance. You are now good enough to become food for the hostel.
"If you, the smart and delicious human, are prepared to sacrifice yourself to Thriller Hostel now, just do as I say:
"First, find a random camera.
"Second, use your account and password to enter the game. Enter this series of codes where the bloody handprint is.
"We've prepared a very interesting game for you..."
There was a code made up of a string of random English alphabets and numbers at the bottom of the letter.
Qiao Liang already had a camera, but he did not use it often. At once, he dusted it off and clipped it onto his computer's monitor, making sure that it was pointing at him.
Then, he opened Be Quiet and clicked on the bloody handprint.
There had been no response when he had clicked it before, but an input field appeared now. Qiao Liang quickly typed the code.
He had not thought about sharing the news with other gamers yet because he wanted to become Be Quiet's first player.
His screen went black as if he had just entered a small program. There was a mirror on the screen, which reflected Qiao Liang's own face.
The game had programmed the camera image to look as if it were a reflection in the mirror. That made Qiao Liang feel like the screen was a window, through which he was looking in the mirror.
However, the mirror looked dusty and blurry. It was frightening.
On one hand, it was because Qiao Liang's camera was blurred to begin with. On the other hand, the game's programmer had also increased the blurriness of the camera's image.
There was a line of words written in blood beside the mirror: 'Stare at the blood print on the mirror'.
There was a dotted frame on the mirror, outlining the silhouette of a face. The game seemed to be directing Qiao Liang to adjust his camera so that his face fitted within the outline.
Qiao Liang had placed his camera on top of his monitor before. He adjusted it downwards and brought himself closer to the monitor, and then the dotted frame on the mirror disappeared.
At that moment, a blood print on the mirror began to spread. Qiao Liang stared at it as it spread continuously, covering most of the mirror before it finally stopped.
After that, the blood print disappeared. The line of words written in blood changed. "Keep facing yourself in the mirror. No matter what happens, do not look away.""Does it mean to 'keep staring' at myself?" Qiao Liang stared at his own face in the mirror and realized a subtle glow appeared around the place at which he was staring. The glow followed wherever his eyes looked.
"Eye-tracking?" This was surprising and unexpected to Qiao Liang.
Eye-tracking was not considered high-end technology. In fact, it had been in the market two years ago. The camera could detect the muscles around the eyes and the pupils, to roughly estimate the spot on the screen that the eyes were focused on. Many applications on the internet were also making use of eye-tracking.
Of course, the technology was not as ideal as one would hope. First, the user had to be front-facing the camera. Second, the system had to collect a bunch of data points. Obviously, that was what the game had been doing while Qiao Liang's eyes followed the blood print around the mirror.
The entire process was quite complicated, but Boss Pei's simple packaging made everything feel more strange and immersive.
Third, eye tracking had poor precision. It could only roughly detect the general direction in which one's eyes were looking. There was no way to make it more precise. Still, using it to conduct this test seemed sufficient.
Qiao Liang focused on his own face in the mirror. A few seconds later, he realized something was wrong.
The corner of a black shirt suddenly appeared in the bottom-right corner of the mirror. There was also a dark red blood print on top!
Chapter 448 The Savior Has Arrived!
"AH!"
Qiao Liang was taken aback. His eyes involuntarily looked at the black clothes that suddenly appeared but at the same time, the entire mirror broke with a loud bam—!
Qiao Liang was really scared this time. He even leaned back involuntarily and almost toppled onto the bed behind him with the chair.
The mirror inside was already broken when he looked at the screen again, revealing the darkness behind the mirror.
A line of numbers in bright blood-red appeared in the right corner. 10:00.
This line of words quickly became 9:59, which seemed to indicate that the game could only be played again in another 10 minutes.
Qiao Liang was slightly shocked, but he calmed down in no time.
"It seemed like this step is purely to test the psychological quality of a person. You must start at the center of the mirror without drifting away. Otherwise, you'll fail immediately...
"Alright, I'll train hard now and try to succeed in one shot 10 minutes later!"
Qiao Liang was full of motivation at that instant. He realized that all puzzles set by Boss Pei should be successfully solved as long as he passed this test!
One hour later...
Qiao Liang stared at himself in the mirror, and a bloody ghost floating in the air had stretched out its bloody hand and was about to touch his neck...
Qiao Liang felt his heart thumping very loudly, but he still gritted his teeth and stared at his eyes in the mirror, using his will to force his eyes to remain motionless.
That terrifying ghost, which was always wandering around the mirror, was constantly using all sorts of ways to attract Qiao Liang's attention.
Finally, it seemed to have completely lost his patience, came to the center of the screen, opened its huge mouth, and let out a shriek towards Qiao Liang!
Qiao Liang was pretty smart, he did not turn on the sound of the speaker so he could not hear the sound. However, the scene that appeared in front of him was enough to make his heart race like crazy!
However, a whirlpool suddenly appeared in the mirror, sucking the ghost in!
This ghost seemed to be constantly struggling. However, there was no avail as it quickly disappeared in the mirror.
A line of bloody words appeared in the mirror. "Congratulations, the first guest of Thriller Hostel!"
He clicked randomly with his mouse and exited this program. The invalid buy button lit up on the 'Be Quiet' page which meant that Qiao Liang could finally spend money buying the game!
Qiao Liang was so moved that he was nearly in tears.
That was tough! How could it be so tough to buy a game in this era?!
However, that was all worth it since he was the first player of Be Quiet!
"I have to share this news immediately with others!"
Qiao Liang opened his fan group and shared the solution to the last puzzle excitedly with his fans.
At the same time, Pei Qian spat out two words slowly after sitting in the office for some time.
"The f*ck..."
A chill ran down Pei Qian's back seeing the eye-catching number '1' on the backend of the Be Quiet purchase counter. It was still solved in the end. A puzzle he thought could last for one month only lasted until the 11th! Not even half a month!
"Sigh, my previous estimate was still too optimistic. It is really impossible to trap players for a month with a puzzle of this difficulty. However, that did not mean there was no use at all. It's still alright."
Pei Qian knew very well that this puzzle had been completely solved since the first buyer showed up. As long as this person shared his experience, more people would be able to receive the invitation and purchase.
However, even so, there were still barriers to purchase!
Pei Qian set the price of The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer as free and then silently followed the changes in sales. His mode of operating was the most optimal under the strict restrictions of the system.
In layman's terms, the difficulty in solving puzzles and the restrictions of everyone buying the game was different.
Finding clues, solving puzzles, etc., involved the players. Once someone solved the puzzle, everyone could continue to study the next step. The difficulty would naturally be set higher.
The game itself would have a purchase threshold even after knowing and understanding how to solve the puzzle.
The players must drive a car in The Lonely Desert Road for a while, personally reach the 'Game Designer' ending in Game Designer, then go to the TPDb website to search for "Thriller Hostel', enter one's own account password, enter the dynamic code into the bloody handprint of the game, complete the eye-tracking mirror challenge before one could purchase the game.
That was the highest threshold allowed by the system and could not be higher.
Of course, Pei Qian had nothing to be dissatisfied with. This threshold could help him to screen out numerous players.
There was also Pei Qian's attempt to make The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer free. It seemed to be creating convenience for the players, but in fact, it was to make less money.
Pei Qian found that the system allowed the games to be completely free, but the requirements were more demanding.
It had to be a standalone game.
It must have been officially on sale for more than 10 months.
The revenue from last month must have fallen to one-fifth of the revenue when the game first went on sale.
The system would only allow the game to be free based on these three conditions. The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer happened to meet this condition so Pei Qian was able to make them free.
He did not even need to consider web games like the Ocean Stronghold.
Repent and be Saved had been released for 10 months, but it was very difficult for its monthly revenue to drop to one-fifth of its starting revenue. This game was more durable, and there seemed to be an endless stream of newcomer players interested in masochism.
In short, the puzzle might be solved, but the purchase threshold was still there. It could help Pei Qian make a lot less money, at least in this settlement cycle.
Pei Qian turned off the platform and thought some time about the sales volume growth and what countermeasures to be taken.
The most important thing right now was...
He would first take a look at the pre-sales situation of the OTTO E1 cell phone before sending money to Lu Mingliang and Chang You!
Two days had passed from the opening of reservations on Thursday. The reservation for OTTO E1 cell phones increased to 4,728. It might still be increasing, but it has been extremely slow.
Pei Qian was very happy that the situation was not that much different from what he had previously estimated to be. The number would be capped at 5,000 by the time they had reached Sunday. It was absolutely impossible to go any higher.
Pei Qian decided to give 5 million yuan to Lu Mingliang to open up more Upwind Courier stations in Lincheng and the remaining 20 million yuan to Chang You to let him stock another 5,000 units from the original 4,000 units.
If the 5,000 cell phones could be sold, the remaining money would be used to stock up. There would then be a backlog of about 13,000 cell phones in the warehouse.
This money would then be staying happily in the warehouse until the next settlement cycle. Perfect!
Pei Qian leaned on the chair and let Assistant Xin arrange everything. He could finally rest a little. He turned on the computer and casually looked at the comments of the netizens towards Be Quiet and the OTTO E1 phone.
The solution to the puzzle had been completely revealed. Posts on how to purchase the game had been spread everywhere. However, there was a clear polarization between players' comments. There were even quarrels online.
"Crazy, you can't even buy the game even if you solve the puzzles. Why did you have to make such a complicated pre-step? Are they crazy?"
"That is, that you even have to bear the brunt of the producers' emotions even though you are paying for the game! Tengda Games is really awesome, ah? They don't even give any face!"
"I still don't quite understand what the purpose of this ARG[1] is. I purely wanted to experience the game, no in solving the puzzle!"
"That's right, I definitely won't buy it. I'll just sit here and wait for this game to fail!"
"...who do you think you are? Do you think Tengda cares about this? They started this ARG and set the purchase threshold to screen out no-brainers like you."
"You can go and play a no-brainer shooting game like Ocean Stronghold. It's not like Tengda Games doesn't have any other games that do not suit you."
"This ARG is very interesting. I might not be able to solve it, but I'm so excited about watching the big boss solve them online every
day!"
"This ARG, as well as the last step with the eye-tracking game, really amazed me. I feel that it's really worth it! This is equivalent to a large-scale, multiplayer free brain-burning game. It's equivalent to buy-one-get-free for the Be Quiet game. What's not enough?
"Moreover, Tengda made The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer free, they have a conscience!"
People on both sides argued hard.
Pei Qian was not interested in the content of their argument. He only cared about how many people were dissatisfied with the game Be Quiet, which could reduce the game's revenue this month.
He then saw what the netizens said about the OTTO E1 phone. They were basically in a polarized state as well. However, the people who supported this phone were obviously in a weak position.
The reason was simple, there were too few quantities sold!
Only about 3,000 units of this phone had been sold so far. Even if they were satisfied with the cell phone, there were only 3,000 users. Some of them might not even discuss this online.
A larger proportion of users were actually questioning the brand, quality control, stocks, etc. Many believed that this cell phone was made by speculation and whether the specific value was worth buying or not.
Pei Qian was very satisfied with this. You just wait and see, you have to insist on your own judgment and don't buy it!
Finally, Pei Qian took out his cell phone and glanced at Gou Yan.
On the 18th day of Tomorrow is Beautiful with a box office of 4.184 million yuan today and an estimated box office of 225 million
yuan!
Tomorrow is Beautiful ranked second in the box office. The first place was given to the domestic film that was released just two days ago.
Pei Qian held his forehead with this hand, his face full of pain.
Why did the estimated box office increase significantly?! That meant that the stamina of the movie was very strong. People probably went to watch it twice or thrice.This was very bad news for Pei Qian. Pei Qian would earn a few million yuan more if the box office of this movie improved even a little.
What evil!
Pei Qian swiped to the right subconsciously, wanting to view the lineup tomorrow.
However, under the presale column, Tomorrow is Beautiful which originally occupied the second place, directly squeezed to the third place. The first place was an upcoming American blockbuster!
Pei Qian's eyes lit up.
My savior!
Great, the box office would definitely not reach 225 million yuan! Bro, why didn't you release half a month earlier?
[1] 'ARG' stands for Alternate Reality Game, a game that makes use of the real world as a platform to be altered by the player's choices.
Chapter 449FlyingStar Journey
Pei Qian clicked on the movie's promotional page to check it hurriedly.
Flying Star Journey
Action/Sci-Fi/Fantasy 3D IMAX
United States/134 minutes
Released 12th March 2011.
Description:
The traumatized former military officer Tim (played by John Stanton) inadvertently traveled to a mysterious planet on the eve of World War I and became involved in the disputes of multiple forces on the planet. These forces regarded him as the key figure in ending the dispute. He even won the love of the beautiful princess Lynn (Deca Morton); however, could he really leave the past and reverse the fate of this planet?
Pei Qian's cheerful mood was instantly spoilt after reading this summary. This story did not seem very attractive!
However... it seemed as though most films made in the United States were of this style. Wasn't the very popular Avatar also transmigrating to another planet and falling madly in love with the indigenous girl?
Well, it's almost the same.
The director and investment were key to this! If the director was reliable and the investment was high, then it wuld definitely drive Tomorrow is Beautiful to the ground!
Pei Qian checked for more information about this movie hurriedly. After closer inspection, Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief.
It's set!
Director Darryl directed his first animated short film as early as 1988. He had directed many films and received multiple Oscar nominations to date. In 2005, his animated film obtained 600 million US dollars in the global box office and won the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film. His science fiction animation film won this award again in 2008.
Moreover, the film 'Flying Star Journey' was based on a classic science fiction novel published in 1911 in the United States. This year marked the 100th anniversary of the original novel. The total investment in the film exceeded 170 million US dollars. Well-known celebrities were cast in the show.
The male protagonist John Stanton worked hard to complete very rigorous physical training during the filming. He lost a full 25 pounds while enduring the pain of injury to complete the filming. He was a role model of professionalism.
In short, Pei Qian felt instant relief as he looked at the information of this film thoroughly.
That was the standard United States blockbuster template model!
Look at this luxurious line-up, the generous investment, famous director, top actors, and the great script. It would probably make 600 to 700 million US dollars with no problem at all once it broadcasts all over the world?
Getting a box office of 500 to 600 million yuan in China would also be easy for them.
Moreover, Pei Qian estimated it very pessimistically. Based on the investment of 170 million US dollars, a global box office of 500 to 600 million US dollars would only break even.
It should have at least 1 billion US dollars if it was popular!
When the time comes, the major theaters will be struggling to line up this movie and squeeze out Tomorrow is Beautiful. Wouldn't this be a piece of cake?
At present, 31.4% of the theater space was scheduled for its launch date. This line-up would definitely rise if this trend were to continue!
Moreover, the schedule for Tomorrow is Beautiful had fallen to less than 15%.
The only pity Pei Qian felt was that this film did not release half a month earlier. It would have been the best if it was released together with Tomorrow is Beautiful!
However, it was never too late, it could at least help Pei Qian earn less money afterward!
Pei Qian was elated as he thought of this scenario.
March 12th, Saturday...
It was the weekend, and there was no need to go to work. However, Pei Qian had a very heavy task every weekend starting from today!
He checked the latest updates with OTTO E1 while eating his Fish-Catching Take-Out. As expected, the pre-order did not reach 5,000 units. They could at least reduce 4,000 units this time. The numbers were about the same as Pei Qian's estimates.
This number had caused a lot of ridicule online as well.
That was because the news conference for the launch of OTTO E1 was very lively. The video website showed the digital list of Aili Island. Chang You's crosstalk attracted many imitators.
The 1,000 units were instantly sold out on the day of the news conference, creating an illusion of high popularity.
Many people had questioned if this was hunger marketing previously. Now that there was an appointment by deposit scheme and yet the number of appointments was less than 5,000, it was very far off from the other larger cell phone manufacturing brands whose order books were in the 10,000 units.
As a result, everyone's focus naturally changed. "Otto Technologies really made a bad move. They should continue engaging in hunger marketing so that the popularity of the cell phone could be maintained. Everyone knows how many phones are sold now that they made it public. Isn't it shameful that only 5,000 people had pre-ordered?"
"What if they just faked the data? They might have just added one more digit behind the pre-orders. How shameful!"
"Hehe, I think Vice President Chang must have grown arrogant. The 3,000 units sold previously gave him an illusion that this phone is very popular so he increased the reservation numbers and instantly fell from his high horse!"
"You call it hunger marketing when there is no stock. When there is enough stock, you say that this cell phone is not popular enough. Trolls always win..." "Hehe, that is reality. Let's not ask for more. I'll reluctantly admit that this cell phone is popular if it can sell 30,000 units. The question is, can it? Only 3,000 units have been sold until now. There is a pre-order of 5,000 units. It has reached its peak! Facts have proven that it's impossible to go far with marketing and IQ tax!"
Pei Qian felt much better after reading these ratings. His appetite increased. Especially the last message. It was full of righteousness and utterance. It completely affirmed that the OTTO cell phone had no future. It made Pei Qian feel good.
The only pity was these people did not understand how this industry worked. Selling just 3,000 units made Boss Pei profit 12 million yuan. He would have made a net profit of more than a million yuan even if he returned profits to the other departments. Wouldn't Boss Pei die if he really sold 30,000 units?
Pei Qian took another look at the player rating of Be Quiet. Players were still arguing about the purchase threshold of this game. There was a very intense discussion about the game itself. The sales volume for the game was increasing, but less than 10,000 copies had been sold so far.
It was a flop compared to the previous games!
Pei Qian was elated. He designed this dissuasion process carefully. It was obviously effective and remarkable!
Of course, there was no lack of criticism. The most contentious point amongst the players on the internet was also here.
Many players were already simmering with anger when Be Quiet first released, but they could not buy it directly. Some of them even wanted to dismiss the game altogether when they found out they had to perform ARG decryption.
The ARG took one whole week to solve and when many people wanted to buy it with joy, they found that there were even prerequisites!
This prerequisite required nearly an hour to complete. It was a horror game; some people who did not have a webcam at home had to get a webcam. The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer might be free, but there was no motivation for people who had never played it to play or even download it.
No matter what, all these steps made many players back out. It caused huge arguments even now.
Some players said that Tengda Games had become arrogant. They let go of themselves and did totally meaningless publicity. That affected game sales, which equated to the game waiting to die out. Some players also said that such a method screened out players and prevented the impatient novice players from entering the game. They could then purify the game environment and enhance the game experience. It was part of the game marketing strategy. Moreover, it seemed to be very successful currently.
Pei Qian watched these debates with vigor. Pei Qian wanted to tell everyone that they were all right!
He did hope for the game to die out; he was indeed screening players. They were all referring to the same matter!
In addition to the two types of people arguing fiercely, some posts made Pei Qian sigh with the great wisdom of the public.
A player named 'super general' posted a detailed guide on how to pass the preconditions, including how long to drive in The Lonely Desert Road, how to select the options in Game Designer, and how to maneuver in TPDb website.
The best thing was that this player also worked out the ultimate play for the final level test: find a piece of paper and dig a hole on it to cover the screen so that you only need to keep your eyes on that small area beneath the hole. You would be completely unaffected by the ghost around the screen.
The ultimate test originally required more than half an hour of trial and strong willpower to succeed. This method meant that many could pass in a single attempt.
Pei Qian only had one word for the person who wrote this post: admirable!
Of course, there was also a way to fill this loophole. That was to adjust the gameplay so that the player's eyes must sweep across the corners of the screen throughout the entire process instead of just staring at one spot.
However, the current challenge already had an obvious and very strong dissuasion effect since the sales volume was not high. Pei Qian, therefore, turned a blind eye to it.
Only a handful of players would get to this last step anyway. Lastly, Pei Qian opened Gou Yan to check the box office for the first day of release for Flying Star Journey. The box office had broken 11 million yuan at noon so the total box office on the first day should be around 24 million yuan.
Pei Qian could not help but frown slightly. It did not seem to be as impressive as he thought it would be?
However, he thought, it was just the first day of the show. There would be a wave of moviegoers watching tomorrow on Sunday. Would it not be easy for the total figures of both days to add up to 60 million yuan? Famous director plus famous actors plus huge investments plus large setups. It was impossible for it not to be a success no matter how someone looked at it. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if it could not hit a box office of 600 to 700 million yuan easily?
Pei Qian remembered that the box office for Tomorrow is Beautiful was less than 8 million yuan in half a day and estimated to be 17 million yuan for the first day of release. Gou Yan estimated the total box office of it to reach 210 million yuan.
Gou Yan's estimate increased to 230 million yuan when the ratings of Tomorrow is Beautiful increased afterward.
Pei Qian looked at the Flying Star Journey's estimated box office hurriedly.
"320 million yuan?"
"Why did they estimate such a low box office for such a good movie? I don't buy it!" Pei Qian almost thought that there was one digit missing in this number.
However, on second thought, the estimates on Gou Yan were estimates after all. They were not necessarily accurate, especially since it was based only on half a day's box office estimates.Didn't they underestimate Tomorrow is Beautiful?
Flying Star Journey, do you best, I'm rooting for you! You must slap Gou Yan in the face tomorrow with a high box office. Let them know what it meant to be stuck up!
Pei Qian looked at the film schedule for tomorrow again. Flying Star Journey's schedule increased to 32.3% from 31.4%. The increase was not a lot, but it would still have a rather good suppression effect for Tomorrow is Beautiful.
That was also because Tomorrow is Beautiful had been showing for the past 19 days. It would stop showing in 10 days.
What was more, Tomorrow is Beautiful's competitor for the time slot was not only Flying Star Journey. Many other movies were being released during this period.
The box office of Tomorrow is Beautiful had now fallen to third place. The first two were Flying Star Journey and The Chaser. The latter was also a new movie released just two days ago. Its total box office might not be able to exceed Tomorrow is Beautiful, but it was a new movie with a high ranking after all. Its single-day box office could still win over Tomorrow is Beautiful.
At present, the daily box office of these three movies stood at 20 million yuan, 8 million yuan, and 4 million yuan.
Tomorrow is Beautiful seemed to have entered its twilight due to the constant squeeze of the two new movies.