Chapter 120: What Kind of Website is Aili Island?

Lu Mingliang was a little puzzled as to why Pei Qian was eating to his heart's content. "This is weird. Boss Pei seems pretty happy today. He was completely different during the previous company dinner."

This was a little strange. According to Bao Xu, Pei Qian should be very lonely. He shouldn't be behaving this way.

Bao Xu shook his head and said, "You've got it wrong."

"Huh? Brother Bao, what do you mean?" Lu Mingliang was very confused.

Bao Xu heaved a sigh and explained, "Currently, the only person who must not be in low spirits is Boss Pei himself. Think about it. Game Designer did not do well. Both its reputation and sales figures were not up to expectations. Everyone's mood was already low.

"Boss Pei is our spiritual leader. If he appears to be worried and solemn as well, what will become of today's company dinner?"

Lu Mingliang was enlightened. "So that was the reason! Boss Pei was trying to influence us with his positive outlook!"

"That's right." Bao Xu continued saying, "A true leader must have a natural influence on people. He must be powerful spiritually! When faced with obstacles, he must be the most optimistic person. When everything went smoothly, he must be the most vigilant person.

"Not only must he be the first to become concerned with the world's troubles and last to rejoice in its happiness, but he must also maintain a positive mindset when facing adversity and encourage the others.

"Boss Pei is a person like that. He is a realist who would carefully predict and ensure that everything went according to his plans. At the same time, he is also an idealist who would do some things without regard for its consequences.

"Therefore, we cannot let Boss Pei down. We must quickly become optimistic again. I believe that Tengda will definitely be able to sail through this storm. Everything will turn for the better! Moreover, I have a feeling that given Boss Pei's confidence, he definitely has a back-up plan.

"Boss Pei has yet to give up. It is too early to be talking about our failure now!"

Lu Mingliang slowly regained the sparks in his eyes. "That's right. Boss Pei has not given up. How can we say that the game has failed? We will definitely be able to turn the tables in our favor. We must have faith in Boss Pei!"

…

On the other side, Huang Sibo, Zhu Xiaoce, and other employees from the Fei Huang Workspace were eating to their heart's content. Huang Sibo seemed a little apprehensive.

"Is this an appropriate time to tell Boss Pei about this?"

Zhu Xiaoce contemplated for a while and said in a serious tone, "I think that now is the most appropriate time. The sales figures for Game Designer had come to a standstill. Although Boss Pei didn't show it on his face, I believe that he must be a little disappointed internally.

"This good news could help lift the spirits of our co-workers and give Boss Pei some assurance. Although the game might have caused us to suffer a loss, there is still hope for us to have a comeback."

"It's still too early to say that we will have a comeback." Huang Sibo shook his head. "After all, the other party is a newly established website. This can only be considered a piece of ordinary good news. Let's not exaggerate about the good news."

Zhu Xiaoce thought for a while and agreed with Huang Sibo's opinions. "Let us just report the facts."

They held their wine glasses and walked towards Pei Qian. "Boss Pei, we will like to offer you a toast."

Pei Qian was in a good mood. He raised his wine glass, clicked it with their wine glasses, and drank it all in one gulp.

After he had drunk the wine, Huang Sibo hesitated for a while before saying, "Boss Pei, I have good news."

Huh?

Good news?

Pei Qian became alert at once.

Don't you guys upset me during such a happy occasion!

Pei Qian tried his best to keep calm. "Okay. Say it."

"Boss Pei, this was what happened. There is a newly established video website that hopes to sign an exclusive broadcasting rights agreement for our video series. After signing the contract, Boss Pei's Daily Life will only be aired on this website.

"Although this is only a new website, it has been developing well recently. Moreover, they had recently pushed out a stimulus plan to reward video producers based on the views they received.

"After signing this exclusive broadcasting rights agreement—as a high-quality video creator, we will be able to receive a considerable amount under that stimulus plan.

"To put it simply, we will attract viewers to their website with our Boss Pei's Daily Life series, and they will split the profits with us based on the number of views!

"According to what you said, we must protect our company, value our reputation, and assert the value of our IP. We must not sacrifice those factors for money."

Huang Sibo could not hide the excitement in his voice. They had been propelling themselves solely with their passion for so long. Now that they finally saw the opportunity to earn profits, how could they not be excited?

Although the amount may not be much, this profit would definitely not ruin the reputation of the video. It was not trying to earn money through bad partnerships that blatantly promoted the products. It had similar effects to the high-end, custom-made sponsored advertisements that Boss Pei wanted to include in the videos. Rather, its effect was much better!

Pei Qian was solemn for a while. He felt that something amiss was about to happen. "A newly established video website? This video website… does its name start with an A or a B?"

If the website was something like?Bilibili1, something terrible was about to happen!

However, Huang Sibo stoned for a while before saying, "Neither, Boss Pei. It is a small site called Aili Island. Some people call it the I-Site."

Pei Qian was very confused.

I-Site? Aili Island?

Never heard of it…

As long as it's not the A-Site (AcFun) or B-Site (Bilibili), all was well.

Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. He knew clearly that in the next few years, Tudou.com, which was the Potato Web in this universe, would slowly experience an irreversible downfall.

B-Site managed to attract most of the viewers from these traditional video websites using its bullet screen comments?feature1, its no-ads promise, and its high-quality original content. Several emerging live-stream platforms had also attracted some viewers from traditional video websites.

However, what kind of website was Aili Island? Never heard of it.

The name itself sounded like the website will fail in the future. It must be an insignificant website that would soon be lost in the river of history.

Since this website was about to fail…

He must sign the contract immediately. If he was any slower, he might not even have the chance to sign the contract anymore! Furthermore, the agreement was not one that gave them the money directly. It rewarded them based on the number of views. That assured him even more.

This small website had low viewership volume to begin with. The Boss Pei's Daily Life series would definitely lose some crucial viewers when it moved its location to another platform. How much profit could he earn with that low viewership numbers?

Not only would he not profit, but the video series would also lose some of its popularity. The contract also made it impossible to be popularized on other video websites. That was simply killing many birds with one stone!

Pei Qian nodded his head immediately. "Great. Good job!"

Although it was just casual praise, Huang Sibo was still very happy. Boss Pei did not compliment others usually! Earning Boss Pei's praise made him even happier than if he received a thirty thousand reward. Huang Sibo nodded his head vigorously. "Rest assured, Boss Pei. We will work even harder!"

Pei Qian continued enjoying his food.

He had received two pieces of good news today!

In the midst of his happiness, he heard cheers suddenly erupt from beside him!

"Amazing!"

"Is that true? We're going to be invincible!"

"Hahahaha! The official platform pointed us out and complimented us. With the publicity on the home page, we are going to be popular!"

The Bluefin tuna that Pei Qian had just picked up with his chopsticks almost dropped on the floor.

What was going on?

Pei Qian became alert at once!

He could tell that although he tried to warm the atmosphere, most people were still pretty down. However, the cheers that he was hearing now seemed abnormal! He heard snippets of their conversation and felt that it emitted a warning for danger!

That made Pei Qian a little nervous!

Did… something bad happen?

Lu Mingliang ran over at once. "Boss Pei! Good news!"

"I realized that over this period, the volume of sales of our game has been increasing rapidly. Our reputation has also been showing signs of improving! I looked further into it and discovered that someone had indeed realized the meaning in this game that you created and the significance of the performance art-style of marketing you used!

"Boss Pei, your marketing strategy is amazing indeed! We did not realize it in the beginning, but everything was in your plan! Our game is finally being understood by gamers!

"Your efforts did not go to waste!!"

Boss Pei said nothing. His expression became dazed.

What was that?

Did my extreme joy just turn to sorrow? The volume of sales increased, and our reputation improved? Holy sh*t, how is that possible? I didn't do anything!?

And what the hell was 'performance art-style of marketing' supposed to be?!?

What in the world is happening?!?

Seeing everyone looking at him passionately, Pei Qian tried his hardest to maintain his cool. He put on an expression that showed he had everything under control and then said, "Don't be over-excited. Speak slowly."

Lu Mingliang handed his cell phone over to Pei Qian excitedly. "Boss Pei, see for yourself!"

Pei Qian took Lu Mingliang's cell phone suspiciously. It was a video on Potato Web. It looked very popular, and its title was: First Episode of Products of the Gods: Game Designer and large-scale performance art! He glanced down at the content creator… Teacher Qiao!

Pei Qian put his earphones on and watched the video as the employees cheered and clapped.

Silence.

Confusion.

Shock.

He even began doubting life's meaning…

What the hell was happening?!

When he heard 'performance art', Pei Qian completely broke down. When he heard the analysis of Game Designer later on, he became completely speechless. What made him feel even more helpless was the comments section below!

Teacher Qiao, who had been cursed upside down, was now a performance artist. He had been given a new lease of life! Even his sponsored partnerships were no longer called sponsored partnerships. They were now being referred to as 'paid art'!

After this video of his became popular, his previous video and the video that other content creators posted rose to fame as well. More and more people were imitating them. 'Qiao-logy' did not become less popular because of this. Instead, during this period, it was becoming more popular. It was almost explosive!

The scariest thing was that Pei Qian could not explain any of this.

Even if he stood up and said that all of this 'performance art' business was nonsense and that he had just been trying to disgust gamers…

They would not believe him!

Not only would they not believe him, but they might even take this as a new form of art. Then, the entertaining netizens might spread it like wildfire and cause it to pop up as a hot search…

That would make it an uncontrollable mess!

Pei Qian watched the entire video, and his hands trembled.

This…

He was in deep trouble!

This was bad!

Lu Mingliang stood by the side, watching Boss Pei's reaction and feeling moved. Indeed, Boss Pei had too much on his hands. Now that he had found someone like Teacher Qiao online who could understand him so well, it was understandable that he would be moved to the point that he was trembling.

They could probably continue working with Teacher Qiao for future games. This was a beautiful win-win situation for them all!

Lu Mingliang continued, "Boss Lu, there is more good news. Earlier on, ESRO's official platform sent us an article, specifically praising Game Designer. They have put Game Designer on the first page of their platform!

"After they saw the sincerity behind our game, they encouraged all domestically-produced games to be updated, so that they no longer modeled after foreign games. Whether in terms of gameplay or content, they greatly appreciated Game Designer. They even want to offer us good recommendation spots for all our future games!

"What's more, many well-known game reviewers and leading players have given good reviews for our game. You've hidden many deep meanings in the game that even we did not understand. These people understood them all!

"Boss Pei, our game's reputation has turned over!"

Pei Qian immediately leaned back in his chair, raising his chin and heaving a long sigh.

A moment later, he regained his composure. Through his forced smile, he mumbled two words. "Not bad."

Lu Mingliang could not help but feel moved.

Boss Pei was indeed made for big things. This was such an exciting thing, and yet he expressed no visible emotion. It only took him a moment to regain his composure. Nevertheless, that long sigh exposed him. Indeed, the happiness that Boss Pei displayed at first was all an act. He had been worried this entire time. Finally, he could relax!

"Boss Pei, do you want to address everyone?" Lu Mingliang asked.

Pei Qian waved his hand. "There's no need. This is only a temporary success. We should not be arrogant."

Lu Mingliang nodded profusely. "Alright, Boss Pei. I understand!"

He then turned around and went out to have some celebratory drinks.

The atmosphere in the office this time was highly charged. Everyone in the design team was celebrating and feasting.

Yet, Pei Qian's heart was extremely cold. He had no appetite at all. His entire mind was filled with question marks.

What the hell is happening??

I only gave Teacher Qiao money for one video. Why did he do two videos? Was it a one-for-one promotion? Was he taking revenge??

He must have been!?

Yet, that doesn't make sense. I turned you into the creator of 'Qiao-logy'. You should hate me; why did you reward me instead? Why did you promote Game Designer on my behalf??

How was he planning to take revenge?!

Still, this was not the most infuriating thing.

This video was the fuse that strangely lit up the flames: everyone's over-reading into Game Designer! The official platform and many other game reviewers were now praising Game Designer non-stop!

The official games platform, especially, was specifically recommending Game Designer. What's more, it gave the game a place on its first page. In other words, it was sending a clear signal to the other domestically-produced game manufacturers to learn from this game because it was the kind of domestically-produced game that the official games platform supported!

Pei Qian felt paralyzed.

From the looks of the current situation, he had been working so hard in vain again!

…

…

April 14th…

"Alright, pack up!"

"Boss Pei's acting is getting better and better."

"Well, that's a wrap on the third season of Boss Pei's Daily Life for now. Thank you for your hard work, everyone!"

Everyone in Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.'s office applauded. Ever since they started filming Boss Pei's Daily Life, Fei Huang Workspace had produced thirty episodes worth of content. That was three seasons in total.

The first episode of the first season and the last episode of the third season were all filmed in Tengda's office. One could say that was a perfect ending. The first two seasons were published on huge video websites like Potato Web and were very well-received.

Until now, the total number of views that the last episode of the second season had was more than two million. Boss Pei's Daily Life was now worthy of its title as the most popular series on the internet!

Based on these outstanding statistics, Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce decided to sign a contract with Aili Island, giving them exclusive broadcasting rights. In the future, all episodes of Boss Pei's Daily Life would be broadcasted exclusively on Aili Island. In order to ensure that they could successfully switch websites this time, Huang Sibo and Director Zhu Xiaoce made several preparations. They worked hard to film all the episodes for the third season, so that they would have enough ammunition.

Then, they coordinated with Aili Island's official marketing efforts as well as the recommendations of various other platforms, so that the audience of Boss Pei's Daily Life could be diverted from all over the internet to Aili Island's website. This was so that they could boost the number of views and popularity of the series.

This way, they could increase traffic on Aili Island's site and make money for Fei Huang Workspace. They were killing two birds with one stone. Since they were granting Aili Island exclusive broadcasting rights and the video could only be published on Aili Island, the remuneration that the website offered was very generous.

After all, it was normally extremely expensive to increase traffic on a website in the beginning.

Pei Qian did not ask for too many details on this. This was because he was still depressed about Game Designer!

Two weeks after publishing, Game Designer's sales were increasing rapidly. Until now, they had already sold more than a hundred thousand copies of the game! This was already not bad, considering that sales were dismal in the first week, and they were only beginning to pick up in the second week.

However, Pei Qian felt like the countdown to his death had begun…

The moment Game Designer's sales broke through three hundred thousand, he felt like this game was beginning to make profits. If its sales kept increasing and reached four or five hundred thousand, it could begin earning back the money incurred by Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and the short videos!

To Pei Qian, this was like a bolt from the blue; horrible news! Thus, recently, Pei Qian had been keeping an eye on the sales of Game Designer. He kept praying that the game would not get more popular than it already was.

Given the current situation, Pei Qian could not do anything more. The game was already out. Changing the game into rubbish maliciously was considered a violation. As for making cheap shots and causing commotions… gamers would probably think this was just another form of art.

Pei Qian only had one thought in his mind: he was in a great fix! He had to admit that although Teacher Qiao's video was full of nonsense, he got one thing right: 'being misunderstood was the fate of one who expressed ideas'.

As one who was expressing his ideas, Pei Qian was being insanely misunderstood. What's more, everyone was misunderstanding him! This kind of fate made him want to vomit blood.

Others, on the other hand, were celebrating the conclusion of the third season of Boss Pei's Daily Life.

"Brother Huang, what are you going to do from now on? Are you going to shoot the fourth season?" Lu Mingliang asked expectantly. He was hooked on acting as an intern in the series. He really wanted to continue acting in more episodes.

Huang Sibo smiled and said, "We're not sure yet. However, according to the benefits Aili Island gave us in the contract, we should be able to recover all the money we poured into the previous seasons. We might even be able to profit.

"Since we have already proven the IP value of Boss Pei's Daily Life, we have two main options to consider: we can either continue investing in this IP or look for a new direction. Of course, before we get back to work, we plan to take two weeks off. We have been working extra hard during this period. Everyone must be tired."

The more Pei Qian heard, the more he felt like something was amiss.

What was going on?

According to the benefits Aili Island gave them in the contract, they should be able to recover all the money they poured into the previous seasons? They might even be able to profit?

These words were another bolt from the blue. Pei Qian was instantly stunned.

They had poured more than a million yuan into the previous seasons! They did not accept a single sponsored partnership. How could they earn all of it back? Even if this small website had an incentive plan, they could not possibly earn so much in such a short time!

"You guys didn't accept any low-end sponsored partnerships, did you?" Pei Qian suddenly became wary.

Huang Sibo smiled. "We didn't, Boss Pei. I told you before that Aili Island has an incentive plan for video creation. This is what makes it different from Potato Web."

"An incentive plan… ten thousand clicks would amount to about fifteen to thirty yuan, right?" Pei Qian asked, becoming more confused.

The incentive plan was targeted at the whole internet. This meant that the price tag could not be too high. Ordinarily, ten thousand clicks would earn fifteen to thirty yuan. Videos with a million clicks would earn about two thousand yuan.

Of course, some websites' incentive plans would weigh this price tag according to the total number of clicks the video got. For example, videos that had more than a million clicks, two million clicks, and three million clicks… all were paid differently for every ten thousand clicks. Still, they would not be paid an excessive amount.

Since Boss Pei's Daily Life had only ten episodes per season, they would likely earn thirty to fifty thousand yuan at most. They could not possibly earn more than that.

No matter how Pei Qian calculated in his head, he could not figure out how the one million yuan would be recovered!

Huang Sibo smiled slightly and shook his head, explaining everything to Pei Qian in detail.

"Boss Pei, there are things you don't understand. The incentive plan is targeted at all content creators. However, taking into consideration the amount of influence Boss Pei's Daily Life has online, we negotiated better terms with Aili Island. The capacity we have is no longer that of an ordinary content creator.

"For the sake of marketing itself, Aili Island offered a sum of money to purchase exclusive broadcasting rights of Boss Pei's Daily Life. The way they agreed to split the profits in this regard was extremely generous as well.

"The upper management of Aili Island thinks that short videos like these represent the future of video content. The show has good prospects. That's why they made an exception and increased our grade from B to A.

"According to the rules—if a single account clicks on a single episode of an A-grade series and watches the video for more than six minutes, it would be viewed as a valid click. A valid click would earn about 0.4 yuan!

"Of course, since our videos are extremely short and only last about a minute each, this standard was adjusted downwards. If a single account clicks on a single episode of ours and watches the video for more than thirty seconds, it would qualify as a valid click. However, the earnings were adjusted downwards as well. Each valid click would earn us about 0.2 yuan.

"In other words—if we can confirm that each of the ten episodes in our third season would have more than a million valid clicks, we would be able to earn about two million yuan!

"Even if we deduct our expenses and taxes, we would still make a profit!

"This is all thanks to Boss Pei's accurate strategizing! It was only because we rejected all the low-end sponsored partnership offers that Boss Pei's Daily Life could earn its image as a high-IP-value web series. That was why Aili Island was willing to increase our grade and offer us such attractive, profit-splitting terms!

"All of these must be credited to your foresight!"

Pei Qian cursed in his heart.

Each click would earn them 0.2 yuan? That meant they were earning two thousand yuan for every ten thousand clicks. This was more than a hundred times more than ordinary websites' incentive plans!

Pei Qian really did not see this coming.

Video websites could indeed devote huge sums of money to purchase popular series and copyrights or exclusive broadcasting rights of popular variety shows. At the same time, they could sell these shows to members in bundles in order to increase their competitiveness. Copyrights were the moats for video websites. This was where most video websites spent the most money.

However, Pei Qian never expected that such an ordinary web series like Boss Pei's Daily Life would receive treatment like that!

Ordinarily, websites set requirements to be fulfilled before awarding these A-, B-, C-, or D-grades for web series. Many restrictions were strictly adhered to. A web series had to be very good before they stood a chance to be awarded a grade.

What's more, to get a grade, a web series had to hand over exclusive broadcasting rights to these websites.

This way, video websites would not have to pay one-time fees for exclusive broadcasting rights. Instead, they would split the profits with the content creators based on the popularity of the videos. To websites and content creators, this was the most practical and low-risk method of splitting profits.

This website called Aili Island had probably decided to spend a huge load of money recently. The upper management there must have chosen Boss Pei's Daily Life by chance. That was why this was happening!

"Tonight at 8 PM, our third season will be broadcasted on Aili Island. Everyone, please take note of it. I think it will be quite lively then and there," Huang Sibo announced, sounding proud of himself.

"Alright, alright! I will show my support for sure!"

"I will send the first bullet screen comment!"

Everyone was very excited.

Pei Qian was beginning to panic. He felt like he should take a look as well.

"What's the address to this I-Site?" Pei Qian asked.

"Oh, it's this." Huang Sibo tapped a few times on his phone and then showed the address to Pei Qian.

A long line of English words was displayed on the screen.

'www.ilidilid.com'!

Pei Qian was shocked.

This…?

Isn't this the freaking mirror-image of Bilibili?!

"This site… its name is Aili Island?" Pei Qian looked at Huang Sibo as he tried his best to not appear shocked.

Huang Sibo nodded, "Yet it is. Piecing together the syllables in English for ilid, this site is called Aili Island."

Pei Qian was speechless.

You actually still seemed to make some sense!

"Alright, Boss Pei. We will make a move first. These few days, we have to properly consider the future of Fei Huang."

"Hope that Boss Pei's Daily Life and Game Designer can both make killing profits!"

Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce 'cursed' as they kept their equipment and left.

The entire office was filled with jubilation and a harmonious atmosphere!

Pei Qian went back to his own office, stunned. He quietly sat in front of his computer and entered the Aili Island website. The web page loaded. Seeing the familiar page in front of him, Pei Qian was now certain.

This was indeed this world's B-Site!

Pei Qian hurriedly used the Qiandu search engine to find out how the site was doing. Alas, after he searched, his heart sank deeper.

Aili Island was the earliest bullet-screen video website. Although it had only been established recently, its momentum was rather fierce. It was now going up against Potato Web and other traditional websites! Furthermore, Aili Island also had something different from the B-Site that Pei Qian knew; it was rich!

Although it was still making a loss now, it was an independent video company that Shenhua Corporation and Qiandu had jointly invested in. That was how it could have such strong finances to spend a huge amount of money to purchase exclusive, popular drama series!

More unfortunately, as Qiandu had also invested in this website, regardless of what one searched on the Qiandu search engine; the Aili Island video website would always be prioritized as a search result.

"An enhanced version of B-Site?

"B-Site combined with iQiyi?

"Finished…"

Pei Qian leaned on his chair; he was feeling very unwell. He had thought that only at eight tonight would he announce his death sentence; now, he realized that the writing was already on the wall! This was a loss as a result of him not being familiar with the environment!

Pei Qian had been rather attentive to this world's video websites; he was especially mindful of the websites that started with A and B. However, never would Pei Qian have guessed that this world's B-Site had actually been written backward—from Bilibili to ilidilid!

Together with this ludicrous Chinese name for this site, Pei Qian had mistakenly thought that this was a site that would crash and burn very soon; he had not paid much attention to it!

Now that things had come to a head, it was very embarrassing for him.

After sitting in a daze for a long while, Pei Qian was a little hopeless as he summoned the system screen.

From the looks of it, the system was still experiencing losses.

However, this would not be the case for long!

From the previous settlement to date, Pei Qian's primary income had still been Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold.

As he had not created any new purchase options, Ghost General's income had started to slide. However, at least a million in revenue still came in monthly while profit was at six to seven hundred thousand.

As Ocean Stronghold continued to benefit from an ever-rising number of active players, its monthly revenue was on a rising trend. Revenue was now almost seven million while profits were at three and a half million.

Although the game only sold one Red Kilin, there were just so many FPS players in the domestic market!

Currently, Ocean Stronghold was one of the leading FPS games domestically; it was converting Counter Strike players in droves. As Tengda kept on acquiring new servers and increased bandwidth—with more and more players joining, this game's revenue had not only not dropped but was showing signs of rising!

After all, FPS games were known for their longevity. In two and a half months, these two games had brought Pei Qian around nine million in profits! Together with the initial million in the System Funds, that was a total of more than ten million.

Furthermore, when it came to current expenditure, he had:

Fei Huang Workspace, one million;

Game Designer, three million in development;

Game publicity and the money for sponsored partnerships, another three hundred thousand;

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, three and a half million including three months' rent;

The company's monthly rent was below four hundred thousand while employees' monthly wages amounted to two hundred thousand. Together with all miscellaneous expenditure, these amounted to eight hundred thousand monthly or around two million in two and a half months.

All expenditure added together was around nine million and eight hundred thousand!

Of course, Pei Qian wasn't bothered with the exact figures; the company accountants would naturally do those up. Pei Qian only had to look at the figure in the System Funds and then make plans on how he was going to continue spending money.

Originally, he had been in good control of the numbers and had successfully pushed the System Funds to below eight hundred thousand.

Before this month's settlement, as long as he did one more large-scale splurge, giving all his employees bonuses while going on a shopping spree himself; he could control the System Funds to around a hundred thousand. That would mean that he could safely get more than eight hundred thousand in his own pocket during the next settlement!

However, there was a premise: the new game, short videos, and internet cafe couldn't make money or couldn't make much money! Like the internet cafe that was losing three hundred thousand a month; that fulfilled Pei Qian's requirements very well!

However, problems arose.

Although Boss Pei's Daily Life had not been fully released—based on its popularity now, that would bring in at least a million. Of course, Pei Qian would not want this whole sum. However, he had to take some at least, or else the system would not let this go.

Game Designer's sales had also continued to rise exponentially. In the remaining half a month, at the very least, it would sell two hundred thousand copies!

Added together, these two projects would bring in more than three million!

While the internet cafe could continue to bleed—in the face of so many other sources of revenue and profit, it could not amount to much use.

If Pei Qian did nothing from now on, optimistically, he would still make two to three million in the end.

If he was pessimistic, he could even end up with four to five million.

If the profits were four million and were converted into forty thousand as Pei Qian's Personal Wealth—as he only had less than fifty thousand now, that was actually not bad. It was better than nothing.

However, the crux was in what that was in comparison to!

If he incurred losses, he could get seven to eight hundred thousand added to his Personal Wealth; that was a difference of at least ten times!

Pei Qian sighed sorrowfully. He couldn't do anything now and could only leave it up to fate.

If the numbers were just like the previous time, Pei Qian definitely could organize another shopping spree and bonus splurge.

However, with the situation being such now…

He could only take one step at a time.

Pei Qian felt a little anxious and worried.

Didn't I have a triple-layer insurance plan…?

How did things end up like this…?

April 15th, noon…

Pei Qian was in his office as he was deep in thought.

At eight, last night, Boss Pei's Daily Life's third season was exclusively broadcasted on Aili Island. From yesterday to now, Aili Island's main page's most prominent spot had hung a huge publicity banner used to promote Boss Pei's Daily Life.

Many viewers had been attracted by fame as they vied to send their messages on the bullet screen. The only one-odd minute long short video was evidently very boisterous as the huge amounts of bullet messages on the screen attracted many viewers from traditional websites such as Potato Web. These viewers all witnessed the uniqueness of this new interactive method called 'bullet screen'!

Pei Qian did not look at the premiere but waited till the second day, today, to look at the viewership of the video. It had already reached six hundred thousand! From the looks of it, this video's final viewership could possibly hit one million.

While not all of these would be unique clicks—no matter how he counted, he would at the very least be getting two hundred thousand from Aili Island incentives for this video. Furthermore, as the popularity of this video series compounded, future videos could even get more views than previous ones.

A full season of ten episodes would result in an inflow of more than two million three hundred thousand in total. That meant that Aili Island had used more than two million to buy the exclusive rights to Boss Pei's Daily Life's third season.

This price wasn't actually considered that high. In comparison to some popular drama series and variety shows that could easily command tens of millions in rights fee, that was not a huge amount of money.

However, to Pei Qian, this was even worse than the worst-case scenario he had estimated; it was sufficient to make him break down!

This was probably what they meant by trouble never came alone.

A knock rang out on the door. It was Assistant Xin. "Boss Pei, this is the new company benefits scheme that had been previously decided. I need to verify it with you one more time. If there are no issues, I'll send this out accordingly."

Pei Qian took it over and looked at it. This document was the new company benefits and treatment scheme that had been decided around a month ago.

After Ocean Stronghold's development had been completed, Pei Qian had made a series of recommendations to changes in company benefits. For example, this included an across-board pay raise, project bonuses, shopping gift cards, as well as forced expenses limit, etc.

Also, Pei Qian had decided on a new benefit: employee physical examination!

He had chosen a more high specification physical examination. It was to be done in the best hospital in Jingzhou City, Triple A Hospital. This higher-end physical examination would cost three thousand two hundred per person.

As Tengda, Fei Huang Workspace, and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had more than fifty employees in total; this would cost a hundred and sixty thousand in total!

Besides this, the normal benefits scheme had been kept as per normal. The shopping gift cards' limit had been raised to three thousand while other innovation benefits had been created as an excuse to spend money as well. All these would cost five hundred thousand in total.

Initially, this had been Pei Qian's last resort at incurring an overall loss for the month. If he could reduce the System Funds to below seven hundred thousand and he spent this additional five hundred thousand, wouldn't that be perfect?

However, things were a little awkward now.

According to Pei Qian's new calculation—even after spending this five hundred thousand, the System Funds would still remain in the black!

Based on the conversion rate for profits, this amount of money could have been changed into five thousand in Personal Wealth for Pei Qian. Now that he had spent this, Pei Qian would have five thousand less in his own pocket.

Pei Qian did not consider further as he said, "Let's work according to this; leave the document for me to take a closer look."

"Alright, Boss Pei." Assistant Xin flipped her small notebook as she recorded the contents of this meeting. "One more thing: a journalist from Amusement Times called Hu wants to arrange an interview. This is the third journalist calling this week. Should I reject this request like the previous ones?"

Pei Qian nodded, "En, please reject it. The principles are the same: no one is to reveal my surname and real identity while no one can divulge in detail our salary packages and company benefits scheme. Please emphasize this to everyone once again."

"Alright, Boss Pei." Assistant Xin turned and left.

To date, Tengda as a company was still a mystery to the games media and players. Many people knew that this company existed. However, as for who the boss was, how the company benefits were like, what actually went on in the company; they knew nothing.

As for why Pei Qian wanted to keep things this way, there were two reasons:

One, if Tengda's benefit scheme numbers were leaked and everyone saw how well Tengda's employees were being remunerated, all the talented people in Jingzhou City would definitely flock to try and enter; many might even come from other cities after catching wind of this!

If many of these talented people were willing to even lower their own salaries, Pei Qian still had to think of logical reasons to reject them. If the reasons were not logical, the system would not agree; and he would be forced to hire some talented people.

At present, he couldn't even think of anyone to fire; if more people came, wouldn't that make things worse?

Second, Pei Qian couldn't let his parents know his true identity yet. If he could hide it a day longer, so be it. Pei Qian also didn't want to be famous. After all, famous people always set tongues wagging. If he became famous and caught the attention of many people, things might become inconvenient for him.

The system had a rule: Pei Qian could not reveal or hint at the existence of it to anyone. Pei Qian did not want to bring additional trouble to himself.

Hence, Pei Qian was not going to accept any media interviews.

Many media outlets had called Tengda's front desk asking for an interview; they had all been rejected, and this time was not going to be an exception.

…

Pei Qian looked at the five hundred thousand benefits document in front of him. "Don't take this so hard; just take it as using five thousand of your own money to give benefits to the employees.

"Come to think of it, this is rather a good value for money…

"Aye, I am such a good boss."

To give his employees five hundred thousand less in benefits just for five thousand more in Personal Wealth, Pei Qian was not someone who could do something like that. Regardless, these employees were really earnestly working for him. Although Huang Sibo, Bao Xu, and the others consistently did things to thwart his plans, these people were indeed loyal to him.

Furthermore, from the employees' point of view, they were really contributing to the company wholeheartedly!

However, it was just that from Pei Qian's perspective, they were all being unhelpful and detrimental to his plans…

"Forget it; I'm resigned to fate. The benefits scheme will be as per normal. I'll continue to add on the previously agreed scheme as well."

"I can't shortchange my brothers. Since I didn't manage to make a loss this time, I'll continue working hard the next round…"

Pei Qian was a little melancholic. Taking one's painful experience to heart. He was going to reflect on his experience and learn from his mistakes. He was going to find out how Game Designer had become a success! Maybe, he wanted to find out if Game Designer had any stark flaws that he could use and adopt.

It had been two weeks since this game was released. On the net, many players and professional games critics had done an in-depth analysis of this game.

This time, Pei Qian did not need to ask the design team to summarize their experiences anymore. He just had to skim through some discussions online, and he would be able to roughly know where he had failed!

First, he looked at the more authoritative games media sites:

"Game Designer is a very successful interactive, narrative experience. It has completely overtaken the traditional game narration methodology."

"In this game, one becomes a game designer while his objective is to surmount all obstacles and choose the most viable way to design a game. Would one become a superstar game designer, or would one quietly go bankrupt? The decision is in the player's hands."

"This game's triumph lies in allowing players to experience tough decision-making choices and the feeling of being conflicted; this is exactly how game designers feel in real life!"

"However, if that was only the case, this game would at most be considered a rather good outstanding simulation game. Compared to traditional simulation games—besides its exquisite art style, it would not stand out."

"What makes this game a masterpiece is the voice-over that accompanies the players in the game. That was the master stroke to this game!"

"A beginner player might feel that the voice-over is annoying and be angered by its mocking. However, after taking time to think, players would realize that the voice-over is what makes the game interesting!'

"The voice-over could be seen as the greed within every game designer; or perhaps the people that give all sorts of advice (sometimes unsolicited). For a content creator, difficulties don't lie in finding ideas but in making the right choices. Content creators have to persistently maintain his own stance and not forget his passion amidst the criticism and unhelpful comments; he would then be able to achieve success in the end!"

"All in all, this is a game that is rich in content, leaves a deep impression, has novel gameplay; it is different from other games. Not only does it convey the difficulties that game designers face to us, but it also discloses the true reasons behind the seemingly chaotic games industry. It is also encouraging all content creators to not forget their passion and to press on!"

Rating: 9.0

Conclusion: Uses dark humor to dissect the entire game industry, giving players a new interactive playing experience!

Pros:

Dark humor;

Multiple conclusions that leave people wanting more;

Incredible voice-over;

Shines a light on the gaming industry and invokes deep thinking.

Cons:

The game would sometimes purposely restrict players; however, this is also a part of the gameplay.