Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

October 4th…

After having a meal with Lin Chang the day before, Pei Qian carefully considered his new business.

Live-streaming and cell phone manufacturing would both require huge initial investments and potentially incur major losses. Even if he wanted to venture into these new territories, he had to wait for the next settlement cycle.

Of course, while huge initial investments were required, there was an expensive and a cheap method of going about things.

Take cell phone manufacturing for example. Even if Pei Qian wanted to start such a business, he did not need to have hundreds of thousands of cell phones in his inventory. It was impractical and unnecessary.

Huge manufacturers needed a lot of inventory for two reasons. First, they needed to reap the economies of scale. Second, they were afraid of being reprimanded by customers should their cell phones sell out.

However, Pei Qian did not have to think about these things.

It did not matter if he could not reap the economies of scale. In fact, he would be able to incur more losses. If he ran out of stock, so be it. He did not even want to sell a single cell phone.

He could only produce three thousand cell phones in the beginning; any more, and he would lose out.

In any case, his goal was to incur losses. There was no need to have such a huge appetite; he would lose whatever amount he could.

Of course, he still had to think about all the details. He could only take action once failure was guaranteed.

When he arrived at the office, the first thing that Pei Qian did was check on Repent and be Saved’s situation.

He could not determine much from a day’s worth of figures. However, it was good enough for Pei Qian that the figures did not show signs of improvement.

He was just about to refresh the back end of the game editor when he heard a knock on his door.

Pei Qian looked up to see Li Yada.

Li Yada shyly pushed the door open, pushed her thick spectacles up her nose bridge, and twiddled her forefingers. “B-B-Boss Pei, there’s been a serious problem. “According to the official platform’s regulations, a warning would be issued if a game’s refund rate exceeds 20%. If the refund rate exceeds 35%, the game developers would be forced to take the game off the shelves and edit it.

“At the moment, we’re close to 30%. If this continues, the consequences would be… dire.”

Pei Qian was confused.

Oh? Such a good thing existed?!

Pei Qian had never experienced this problem before because Tengda Games had always created games with hearts. They were priced inexpensively, and few people refunded them.

Even The Lonely Desert Road was priced extremely low; that was why very few players refunded it.

However, this situation was different. Repent and be Saved had attracted loads of ordinary and lousy players. Although most of these players might stay for various reasons, there was also bound to be a significant portion of them who would return the game out of anger.

Not only were the game’s reviews reaching two extremes, but the refund problem was becoming more serious as well.

However, this was good news for Pei Qian!

If the game was forced off the shelves to be edited, he could take his time to edit it before releasing it again. This way, he could control the sales volume as well. As long as he could release the game again a week before settlement, he would be fine.

Pei Qian had not done this on purpose; the System probably would not fault him, right?

Pei Qian glanced at the platform and asked, “Where’s the warning?”

Li Yada lowered her head. “Er, those are the official platform’s regulations. I’m not sure why we haven’t received a warning.

“It might be because we have a good reputation on the official platform.

“I’m just reporting this to you and asking for your advice on how we should move forward. Should we edit the game and lower its difficulty?”

“There’s no need!” Pei Qian raised his hand to stop her. “I understand the current situation well. Don’t worry.”

“Alright… alright.” Li Yada nodded and then left the room.

Pei Qian’s heart hurt slightly as he looked at the refund rate, which had not yet reached thirty percent.

Ai, what a pity!

I should have worked harder back then to make sure that it reached 35%!

The refund rate was not increasing now. Instead, it was constantly decreasing. This pained Pei Qian.

Yet, this was expected. As news about the game spread across the internet, most newbie gamers would have learned that the game was extremely difficult. They would be well-prepared before entering the game.

That was why the percentage of gamers who refunded the game was decreasing.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and then accessed Shaohu Reviews’ chat window.

The fake reviewers whom he hired had proven useful; the game was being brutally criticized.

Since that was the case, he needed to intensify his efforts!

He had to get more people to curse it and add fuel to the fire. It would be best if he could persuade more gamers to refund the game. Even if he couldn’t, he had to try to scare more gamers away. That would lower the game’s sales.

Of course, he could give clear directions this time either.

Pei Qian had to use the same method that he used before and drop as many hints as he could.

On the flip side, Hu Xiao was deeply reflecting on his own rash behavior.

I regret this so much!

‘Hehe’ popped up on his screen again and again. Hu Xiao felt retarded; his character and pride had been gravely injured.

What’s happening?! Why did my brain malfunction?! Why didn’t I refund the game?!

The boss had poured money into hiring fake reviewers, and yet Hu Xiao gave over a hundred yuan back to him for no reason. He could not put how he felt in words.

“Did I fall for a trap? Did he know that there was bound to be people who would not refund the game? That’s so scheming!

“If he speaks to me again, I will question him properly! I cannot let this go if I don’t clarify the matter!”

Hu Xiao thought to himself angrily.

Just as raging, he received a new message from Hardcore Reviews.

“I’m buying a hundred thousand yuan worth of additional fake reviewers! Intensify your efforts!”

Hu Xiao paused and then quickly replied, “Alright, Brother! No problem!”

Earning a hundred thousand yuan more had cheered Hu Xiao up immediately.

Why would such a generous boss cheat me? I must have been thinking too much!

October 5th…

In Beijing…

Qiao Liang sat in his rented apartment, feeling anxious and nervous.

Painful!

He had been keeping a close eye on Repent and be Saved’s situation ever since it was released. However, the more he observed, the more anxious he became.

The comments on the game’s webpage were divided. Many people criticized it before understanding the true essence of the game.

Some UP Masters had uploaded introductory videos for the game, but most of them had not touched on its essence either. None of them even mentioned the game’s rich story or plot design.

Most people were still thinking about whether they should refund the game or not or whether there was a mistake in the game’s system design or none. To Qiao Liang, these topics were meaningless!

Repent and be Saved was a piece of treasure. These people were staying at the entrance of the cave containing the treasure and discussing if the entrance was too narrow. It was foolish!

Each time he thought about how sincerely Boss Pei had treated him and the King Crab that Boss Pei had fed him, Qiao Liang felt the urgent need to help Boss Pei out.

However, while he had an accurate answer in his hands, he could not display it to the world just yet.

This was because Qiao Liang had already promised Boss Pei that he would only publish a video about the game a week after its release. Within this one week, Qiao Liang could not leak the plot. He had to allow other gamers to enjoy the full, unique gaming experience without any interference whatsoever.

Thus, Qiao Liang had to turn his pain into motivation and continue working hard at reaching alternative endings in Repent and be Saved. He had to accumulate sufficient material for his next video.

The correct battle strategy for the game had already become clear to Qiao Liang who had unlocked multiple endings. Now, he had to focus on the game’s plot.

After all, the plot and worldview were arguably important parts of any game; and Repent and be Saved was obviously rich in these aspects.

After playing the game for some time, Qiao Liang opened a document and began to write a plan for his video.

“If you are observant enough, you would realize that the beasts that appear in the video also appear in the official game flow. What’s more, they would change.

“The corpse by the river twitched in the cut scene. This is a hint that it has turned into a monster. During the gameplay, a weapon appears beside the corpse. If the player attempts to take this weapon, the corpse would jump up and grab the player, instantly killing him.

“… The video also contains an old monk, seated in a worn-out temple outside the city and chanting. He manages to shield himself against the wandering ghosts’ attacks. When the player arrives outside this temple, he will realize that the old monk has already lost his sanity. He will later crazily attack the player.

“…Once you kill the old monk, you will get his Buddha beads and staff. The former is a consumable item that would be useful in the early stages of the game. The latter has average stats and is barely worth storing as an alternative weapon. “…Since the Buddha beads are more important and the old monk is quite weak, I suggest that everyone go and kill him after getting out of the city. That way, you would be able to obtain these items.

“The crazy scholar set his house on fire. When the player arrives here, he would see that the house has been almost reduced to ashes. In a nearby corner, he would be able to find the scholar’s corpse. You can get a torn and tattered letter from his body. From it, you will learn a bit of history about the village before it descended into chaos…

“… There are certain triggers in the plot that might lead you to a different ending in the game. At the moment, I am not sure how different endings there are. However, I am sure there are at least two.”

As Qiao Liang played the game, he recorded the various details and Easter eggs he encountered.

The more he recorded, the more he appreciated the game!

He had not noticed all these things when he was playing the game before. He had only been thinking about how to complete the game, how to defeat a certain boss, and the like. There was no time to take note of the details.

However, he had already seen multiple endings of the game and returned to his own apartment. The game was no longer as challenging as it was before. Now, he could finally study the details that he missed out on.

The more he studied, the more he realized that the game was rich in content!

Qiao Liang began to suspect that there was a full team in charge of plot design. That was the only way they could have produced such a perfect, detailed story!

Of course, objectively speaking, Repent and be Saved did not have as much content as foreign AAA games with rich storylines. In fact, the former would be considered quite fragmented.

However, the feeling of uncovering treasure captivated Qiao Liang. He could not stop even if he wanted to!

After writing a long plan for his video, Qiao Liang decided to take a break.

He made a bowl of noodles and accessed his fan group, wanting to see what his fans were talking about.