Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian had still been in deep thought when someone knocked on the door of his office. Looking up, he saw Lu Mingliang.

“Boss Pei, we’ve produced a few concept drawings. Do you want to take a look?”

Before that, Lu Mingliang had instructed Ruan Guangjian to handle all concept designs for Repent and be Saved. This included the sceneries, the characters, the monsters, the equipment, the weapons, and the like.

Ruan Guangjian could not have finished all of this alone. However, he had his own workspace now.

After graduation, Ruan Guangjian used his fame and connections to open a small workspace, right next to the finance university which he had been studying at.

The workspace was called Halo Workspace. Thanks to its work for Ghost General and Game Designer and its other concept designs, it had already made a name for itself in the industry.

Ruan Guangjian also invited the few classmates whom he roomed with in university to join him. What’s more, their business had been making profits recently. They had just hired a new group of employees. While they could only undertake small-scale tasks before, they could now handle much bigger ones.

As they became more famous, more games merchants began to contact them through the website for resources. From time to time, they would even be placed on the waiting list.

People who wanted Ruan Guangjian to personally handle the drawings would face increased prices and more difficult scheduling.

However, Ruan Guangjian remained loyal to Tengda Games.

No matter what kind of demands they made, they would be fulfilled as long as they did not affect Ruan Guangjian’s current projects!

Once the requirements for Repent and be Saved’s plot, world structure, and various art resources were released; Lu Mingliang immediately contacted Halo Workspace and handed the responsibility of the concept design to Ruan Guangjian.

Now, the first batch of concept drawings was complete.

With the company of Lu Mingliang, Pei Qian reviewed the drawings. The first drawings he reviewed were concept art for the backgrounds.

The strategically-placed Gate to the Netherworld was located in a continuous mountain range. On either side was a bizarre mountain. In front of it was a 100,000-feet deep abyss, filled with grievous spirits.

Light blue fog encircled a big, light-gray memorial arch. The ancient, awe-inspiring, yet sinister Chinese characters written on the memorial arch made chills run down Pei Qian’s spine.

Behind the gate was the Road to the Underworld, which stretched into the horizon. Countless grievous spirits roamed the Road to the Underworld. They walked forward in a muddled fashion, looking far from exhaustion.

On either side of the Road to the Underworld was whirling, green fog. From time to time, dried-up, scaly hands would reach out from within the fog, trying their best to grab people on the Road to the Underworld and drag them in.

After crossing the Bridge of Forgetfulness atop the River of Forgetfulness, one would arrive among a group of sinister-looking spirits. A few spirit-conjuring lanterns hung from the sky. One by one, wandering spirits would walk past it. They would either disappear into the fog in the distance or jump off the bridge into the River of Forgetfulness, never to be seen again.

Apart from these, there were a few more drawings of random items and a few concept drawings for monsters’ animations.

Among these were drawings of worn-down temples, Buddha statues, Tudi’s temples, Tudi statues, ordinary malicious spirits, broken weapons, spirit-conjuring flags, and the like. Mengpo on the Bridge of Forgetfulness and the netherworld’s four great magistrates were among the monsters.

Although many other games had the same characters as monsters, Ruan Guangjian designed these monsters from scratch. Using his own expertise, he drew these monsters and made them particularly dark.

After looking at the drawings, Pei Qian could not help but feel sorrowful.

“Ruan Guangjian’s work is really stable.”

The underlying meaning in Pei Qian’s words was this: Damn it, why can’t you just fall short in your work for once?!

Most importantly, from Ghost General to Game Designer to Repent and be Saved, this person seemed to be continuously improving in terms of his skills. It was infuriating!

One could immediately tell that the concept art for Repent and be Saved was produced much quicker than before. The style also looked much more proficient.

Compared to Game Designer, Repent and be Saved’s content was more suited to Ruan Guangjian’s epic ink oil painting style. This could be one of the main reasons why he seemed to be getting better at his work.

Lu Mingliang fully agreed with Pei Qian’s comment. He nodded and said, “That’s right. We can only say he’s a big boss indeed. He’s so steady! We can relax if we hand our animations to him!”

Pei Qian, “…”

He really wanted to sever ties with Ruan Guangjian and never work with him again. Yet, there was no reason to do so!

He drew so well, he was giving them a discount, and his style completely matched the game. What reason could Pei Qian give to avoid working with him?

The good thing was Repent and be Saved was not a game that depended on its graphics to succeed. He would dissuade players using the gameplay. On top of that, engaging Ruan Guangjian would indeed allow Pei Qian to spend more money. At that thought, Pei Qian gritted his teeth and decided to go through with it.

“It’s quite good. Let’s continue based on this.”

Pei Qian looked at the drawings for a long time and still could not find anything to say. The concept drawings were too well done; there was nothing to change. He also lacked knowledge in the area of concept art. Thus, he had no choice but to allow Ruan Guangjian to do him in.

Lu Mingliang felt emotional hearing Pei Qian’s words. “Boss Pei and Big Boss Ruan have telepathy indeed. You are two peas in a pod.

“Big Boss Ruan said that he would take a break for a couple of days once this project is done. Then, he might come to Jingzhou and visit our office. At the same time, he would pay Boss Pei a visit.

“After all, both of you have been communicating online for a long time but have never met face-to-face. It is a pity. Boss Pei, you must be thinking the same, right?”

The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched.

I’ll be d*mned if I think the same! I don’t want to meet him at all!

The first name on his blacklist in his notebook was Teacher Qiao, but the second was this fellow!

Most importantly, ever since they worked together on Ghost General, Ruan Guangjian and Pei Qian’s relationship was no longer a purely business one.

Instead, Ruan Guangjian seemed to take Pei Qian as his trusted companion. Although both of them were in different industries-one was in the games industry and the other was doing concept art, the feeling of being like two peas in a pod seemed to plug the inter-industry gap between them.

The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched again. “Hehe, when he comes, I’ll make sure to ‘host’ him well.”

The two games were progressing according to plan. From the way things were going, it did not look like there were any serious problems Pei Qian had to correct.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment. There were many more things to keep him busy from now on. In the blink of an eye, July was nearly over. There were three more urgent things to handle.

First, according to Pei Qian’s plan, he had to select the outstanding employee on August 1st. Pei Qian had a rough idea of how to conduct the evaluation this time. The outstanding employee would be selected based on votes. Pei Qian did not plan to manipulate things behind the scene because he did not trust his own judgment.

Crowds were the best judges. The outstanding employee whom they selected must be widely-recognized to be important in the company. Pei Qian would not protect or keep him or her for sure. Even if the employee happened to be his beloved and trusted confidant, Pei Qian would have to eliminate him or her!

Apart from this, there were also the high-end restaurant and Upwind Logistics. They were still in the midst of preparations to open for business, but it was about time to decide who should be put in charge of these.

Pei Qian remembered that one of the branch managers of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes was a chef. That man should be assigned to take care of the high-end restaurant.

After all, the chef did not manage to achieve anything after becoming the branch manager. It was obvious that he was not that skilled. If Pei Qian put him in charge of the high-end restaurant, it would look like a match on the surface in terms of profession. Yet, in reality, he would become a liability.

As for Upwind Logistics…

Pei Qian thought about asking the outstanding employee this time if he or she would be interested in being in charge of Upwind Logistics.

If he or she was not, Pei Qian would give him or her a Dream Fund of a million yuan to blindly chase his or her dreams. If he or she was, Pei Qian would put him or her in charge of Upwind Logistics.

Lastly, it was time to produce some results out of the money Pei Qian had taken from Lin Chang