Chapter 195 A New Plan!

After sending Lin Wan off, Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief.

Heh, little lass, I settled you, didn't I?

Pei Qian knew Lin Wan's weakness: she was overly concerned with growing and working on her own abilities through rigorous training. As long as he could make her feel that this task would train her and help her mature, she would agree to it. This would be so even if Pei Qian did not pay her.

All in all, sending Lin Wan to Shang Yang Games would ensure that she would be tormented.

What's more, Pei Qian had already given her sufficient hints.

Pei Qian was worried that Lin Wan would feel like they lacked money midway through. What would Pei Qian do if she approached her older brother for money? Thus, Pei Qian purposely hinted this would be a huge test of Lin Wan's skills. He said this would nurture her ability to independently take charge of a project.

This way, in order to prove her own abilities, Lin Wan would not turn to her family for aid. The chances of her succeeding would be greatly lowered.

It was a perfect plan!

Pei Qian closed his little notebook. For now, he had already dealt with most hidden dangers. He was more or less done with planning for both companies.

However, this was just the first step in a long journey. After all, his business was huge now. He had to take care of every aspect.

In order to ensure that he would finish spending all his money before the settlement period and achieve his aim to incur losses, Boss Pei had to continue working hard.

Thus, Pei Qian decided to leave and check out Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's situation.

At Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's branch in Ming Yun Villas…

This branch was doing the worst out of all the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes.

Zhang Yuan and Ma Yang were already waiting inside for Pei Qian. When Pei Qian walked in, he looked around.

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Yes, this was a familiar feeling.

There were a few people in the store. Many computers were not occupied, and the coffee area looked cold and deserted as well. The bartender was falling asleep while standing, and there were more waiters than there were customers.

This is what a Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is supposed to look like!

Ever since the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store became famous, Pei Qian stopped going there.

Although Chen Lei had already returned to Shanghai, the fame he won for the store still remained. Many people would visit Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store every day. The losses had been completely converted to profits.

One could say that Chen Lei had made Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store famous forever.

Thus, Pei Qian wanted to avoid the heartbreaking place.

He looked for a random seat to sit down. A waiter brought him coffee. The three Fish-Catching giants chatted as they sipped their drinks.

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan exchanged a knowing look. In their hearts, they understood.

Boss Pei had his reasons for choosing this?shop.

Before this, they always met at the flagship store. Why were they meeting at the deserted Ming Yun Villas branch this time? He was hinting something to them! Since the flagship store had become famous, there was no need for them to focus on it too much.

Now, the Ming Yun Villas branch was doing the worst out of all the shops. It was incurring the most losses. The next step would be to turn this store's losses into profits. The fact that Boss Pei had chosen to meet here out of all the stores made this problem clear to them.

They had to understand Boss Pei's intentions. They needed to make the Ming Yun Villas branch the next successful store as soon as possible!

Ma Yang looked very energetic. He even looked like he had put on some weight.

Now that the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store's losses had turned into profits, he felt like a completely different person in front of Pei Qian. Even his walk was more confident.

This time, he was even more confident about his own plan.

"Brother Qian, I have good news to report about the flagship store."

Pei Qian's left eyelid twitched violently. He tried to maintain a straight expression as he said, "Speak."

Ma Yang was obviously excited. "Ever since Chen Lei sang at the flagship store, the income earned from the sale of drinks has been increasing. Now, we have completely made up for the losses, and we're making a profit instead!

"Not only that, but our singers have been getting better as well. When they learned about Chen Lei, many local singers of Jingzhou jumped over to our flagship store. The quality of our singers has improved drastically!"

As Pei Qian listened, his heart began to hurt. He had already guessed that this would happen, but at that moment, he still felt pain inside.

Chen Lei had become famous and had attracted a big group of fans to the flagship store. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store was now a mini tourist attraction. Naturally, outstanding singers would approach them for gigs.

Even if Chen Lei was not around anymore, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store would still maintain a high volume of alcohol sales!

For a long period in the future, the singers in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store would probably be the best in Jingzhou City or even in the entire Handong Province. This was akin to a golden signboard!

The good thing was that there was only one flagship store. The other stores were not enjoying the same benefits for now.

Ma Yang continued, "Brother Qian, that is why I feel that we should make this model popular!

"Actually, we can turn the internet cafe into a bar entirely. That would further increase our income from the sale of alcohol…"

Pei Qian immediately shook his head. "No, Old Ma, you are too short-sighted."

Ma Yang was speechless.

Zhang Yuan, on the other hand, smiled without saying anything.

See, I told you Boss Pei would not agree!

Zhang Yuan could not help but admire Ma Yang. Until now, Boss Ma could not understand Boss Pei's intentions. His comprehension skills were truly hard to describe in a few words.

Even so, Boss Pei had not given up on him. Their relationship was indeed very solid!

Could Brother Ma have taken a bullet for Boss Pei before?

It was obvious that Boss Pei wanted a multi-faceted layout; he did not want to run a singular business. Turning the internet cafe into a bar in order to increase the volume of alcohol sales was short-sighted indeed. It would be surprising if Boss Pei agreed to something like that!

Zhang Yuan guessed that Boss Pei's plan would be to make the other Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches popular by riding on the popularity of the flagship store. This new internet cafe model would then be famous across Jingzhou and spread to surrounding cities as well.

Zhang Yuan could not help but feel overjoyed.

He realized that he had improved significantly ever since he started working for Boss Pei!

Initially, he had difficulty understanding Boss Pei's intentions. Subsequently, he began to understand partially. Recently, he was finally able to predict what Boss Pei's next move would be. From time to time, he would even get it partly right.

All of this showed that his vision was expanding. Finally, he was getting close to Boss Pei's way of thinking!

Pei Qian sipped his coffee and casually asked, "How is Fish-Catching Take-Out doing?"

Ma Yang quickly answered, "Fish-Catching Take-Out's reputation is good! People who have tasted our food have left us good feedback. They say that the food is healthy, and there are no concerns about hygiene… er, they also left good feedback about our delivery men.

"However… we are still a distance from making a profit."

'A distance' was an understatement; they were a long way from making a profit.

Zhang Yuan secretly looked into this model as well. The outcome of his analysis was that it would be impossible for them to make a profit in the short-term.

This was unless they expanded their business and covered a larger area in the future. This would allow them to reap the economies of scale from hiring manpower for delivering food, collecting utensils, disinfecting utensils, and the like.

Pei Qian nodded his head, obviously satisfied by this update.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Zhang Yuan began analyzing the situation.

It's strange. Boss Pei did not ask about how the other stores are doing. Instead, he asked about Fish-Catching Take-Out. Could his main focus for the next stage be the take-out? Does he want Fish-Catching Take-Out to ride on the flagship store's popularity and become more well-known?

As Zhang Yuan gave him a puzzled look, Pei Qian confidently announced the next stage's plan.

"After this, we will take a step in the logistics industry. We're going to start a new company, called Headwind Logistics!"

Chapter 196 Benefit Society While We're at It

Zhang Yuan and Ma Yang exchanged a look.

The corners of Ma Yang's lips twitched. "Brother Qian, let's not talk about anything else first. The name alone has a negative underlying meaning… is it meant to express that we handle logistics slowly?"

Pei Qian shook his head. "Old Ma, you're being uncultured. Going against the headwind is ideal for flying, understand? Our name means we are getting ready for flight!"

Zhang Yuan blinked hard but said nothing.

He did not understand Boss Pei's thinking at

all!

Earlier on, Zhang Yuan tried to predict what Boss Pei's next target would be. Would he improve on the other branches? Would he work on Fish-Catching Take-Out?

In the end, it was neither. Boss Pei was expanding his business even more.

Both of them looked at Pei Qian in disbelief.

Pei Qian cleared his throat and said, "I know. This plan might sound too big. Based on the amount of funds we have, it might even be beyond our reach.

"However, I'm not in a rush to build a large-scale logistics company with a nation-wide scope. I don't even plan to make deliveries between cities.

"We'll focus on Jingzhou City alone. We're going to focus on the problem of the 'last kilometer'!"

There were already many e-commerce platforms in the world at the time. The only problem was that they had not yet become so popular that everyone was using them as would be the case later on.

Naturally, logistics and express delivery services had already begun serving the entire country. What's more, they were developing quite well.

However, most express delivery services were still living in the moment. They did not deliver parcels on time, lost them occasionally, and always dumped them at pick-up points where customers could collect them on their own. These were all common occurrences.

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In other words, few delivery companies delivered parcels to customers' doorsteps.

In simple terms, this was the problem of the 'last kilometer'.

Even ten years down the road, this problem would not be well-resolved. Apart from good-hearted companies like SF Express and JD.COM, most delivery companies continued to dump parcels at collection points as they did before.

Hive Box, Cai Niao Courier, and the like were started in order to solve the problem of the 'last kilometer'. However, in reality, they were doing very badly.

The root of the problem was capital.

It required a lot of effort to deliver every parcel from a local warehouse to the customer's doorstep. That was why most delivery companies chose to transfer this expense to their paying customers.

Pei Qian's thinking was quite simple: The reason why everyone was unwilling to do a dirty job like that was that it did not make a profit, right?

I don't mind!

In any case, he had to incur losses. Taking on dirty jobs like that could ensure that he would incur losses. On top of that, he would be able to bring convenience to his customers. Why would he turn down an opportunity to help others?

"I have already decided. We will start off by opening a hundred Headwind Courier stations in Jingzhou City. We will cover most districts in Jingzhou City.

"Then, we will talk to various express delivery companies about working together. They can ask their delivery men to drop parcels off at our stations. Our delivery men will then deliver these parcels to customers' doorsteps."

To put it plainly, they would be Cai Niao Courier stations that could deliver parcels to doorsteps.

However, the problem was some Cai Niao Courier stations were profitable.

The initial investment required for Cai Niao Courier stations only amounted to about twenty to thirty thousand yuan. All they needed to do was rent a space in the district. Each month, rent would cost about a thousand yuan or two (this was based on Jingzhou's rental market). They would have to spend an additional ten thousand yuan on shelves, a front desk, a computer, a cabinet, and renovations. Then, they would be able to open for business.

They would have to negotiate a suitable price with the delivery men, but they could earn about twenty to forty cents per delivery. If they accepted two to three hundred deliveries per day, their monthly income could add up to about three thousand yuan.

Ordinarily, Cai Niao Courier stations would be managed by two people. The other ways to earn income included selling products, providing marketing and advertising options, making express deliveries, and the like.

All in all, there were ways for Cai Niao Courier to make profits. That was why so many people participated in starting Cai Niao Courier.

However, this did not pose a problem for Pei Qian since he was starting Headwind Courier stations. This was because they had to take the initiative to deliver parcels to customer's doorsteps.

On one hand, this would increase the costs of hiring delivery men alone. If they delivered three hundred parcels a day, they needed at least one or two hardworking delivery men. Pei Qian would be paying their salaries.

On the other hand, customers would not need to pick up their parcels from the courier station. With less traffic, the income that the courier stations would earn from the sale of products, marketing, and the like would fall.

In order to maintain a courier station like that, they would need at least three people: one branch manager and two delivery men. Districts with more people in them would probably require three delivery men. If each person had to be paid three thousand yuan per month (that was the sum of their base salary and their commission), he would be able to spend at least nine thousand yuan per month.

In addition to paying two thousand yuan for rent, he would be spending a total of eleven yuan per month. Assuming they would barely be able to earn three or four thousand from revenue, they would be making a loss of seven to eight thousand yuan.

If Pei Qian started a hundred courier stations, he would have to make an initial investment of about three million yuan. The monthly losses that he would incur could reach up to seven or eight hundred thousand yuan.

What's more, this would just be the beginning. As Pei Qian expanded his business, he would have more employees. That would mean he would make more losses.

The best part of it all was that he would have some extent of control over the losses he incurred in this business!

For example, if Pei Qian did a rough calculation a month before settlement and found that he still needed to spend about a million yuan worth of System Funds, he could immediately open twenty new Headwind Courier stations. As long as he opened the shop a week before settlement, the money would be considered spent. This would not delay settlement either.

Headwind Courier stations would not be like Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. It would not take much time to open or close these stations. As the saying went, 'the smaller a boat is, the easier it was to turn around'. This made it much easier for Pei Qian to spend money.

Pei Qian had thought of it all. When the time came, he would open Headwind Courier stations near Tengda, Fei Huang Workspace, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and his own home first.

Then, no matter what he or his parents bought online, there would be no need for them to collect the parcels on their own. Everything would be sent to their own home.

Since this business was going to benefit society, he might as well start with blessing his own home.

Not only would he be incurring losses, but he would be doing good deeds. This was perfect!

After listening to Pei Qian's brief, Zhang Yuan completely admitted defeat.

Indeed, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to predict what Boss Pei was thinking!

From the looks of the situation, this was going to be quite a long-term plan. Although Pei Qian did not make things clear, Zhang Yuan could roughly guess his intentions behind going in this direction.

If he settled the problem of the 'last kilometer', he would slowly be able to develop people's reliance on Headwind Logistics.

In the short-term, this would mean incurring losses. Yet, how about the long-term? Once people became used to using Headwind Logistics for their delivery services, they would choose Headwind Logistics for their deliveries whenever they needed it.

In the future, Headwind Logistics would be able to move into inter-city and inter-state deliveries.

However, the plan seemed to be too long-term. It was so long-term that most people would undoubtedly expect little of it!

Perhaps many years later, Headwind Logistics would still be incurring losses. However, once it succeeded, it would deeply influence many aspects of people's lives.

Zhang Yuan could not help but respect Pei Qian.

See, this was what a true set-up looked like!

Chapter 197 This Game is Really Unbelievably Lousy…

"What game did I just play…?"

Lin Wan closed her laptop and fell into deep thought.

This game was called Bloody Battle Song. It had completely changed what she thought had been the bottom line of games.

Did such a trashy game really exist in the world?!

Although it had already been updated, these changes were mainly made to the gameplay and design.

No matter what changes were made, Bloody Battle Song was still going to be a web-based game. From the moment she entered the game, she found countless reasons to stop playing

The graphics were lousy. They were still filled with the arts and style that belonged to the last century. The characters in the game were all dressed in bits and pieces of decorative patterns, and armors that completely lacked style. The golden special effects wrapping their bodies all looked exaggerated and vulgar. Each of them also had multi-colored wings on their backs.

The background was a mess as well. This was especially true for the main city where most players gathered together. Each person was dressed in multi-colored equipment. A lot of information could be found above the characters' heads, including their IDs, their guilds, their nicknames, and the like. The entire scene looked extremely messy and unnecessarily complicated.

The game very considerately allowed players to screen others. Once the player entered the game, they could also very easily locate themselves on the map.

However, by allowing this, the game was exposing the ugly truth. It looked cold and deserted. The less beautiful locations were also made very clear to the players.

The vibes of the game's music made one feel like they had been transported back to ten years before. It did not sound bad, but it was hindering players from being immersed in the game.

The most important thing was that it was a web-based game. That meant that most of its art resources had to be downloaded online.

Each time they entered a new map with a new background, a little progress bar would appear on the screen because the art resources had not been fully downloaded. This progress bar would say 'downloading resources'.

All the players would also become black, silent figures. The map's background only appeared after a while.

In places where the background would frequently change, players would experience a meltdown each time it did.

The gameplay was even tackier and simpler. All players had to do was kill beasts, level up, and complete missions. 'Tired and old' would be an overstatement for the game.

Lin Wan's nose was practically scrunched up throughout the entire five minutes that she played the game. During this time, she only felt one thing.

Low-class!

Even if someone paid her to, she would never play this game.

Lin Wan was beginning to regret it. She had too much trust in Boss Pei. That was why she accepted the task without considering too much. She vaguely knew about Shang Yang Games' situation. She also knew that this company had produced a game that was quite a failure.

However, she never expected that the game would be this bad!

In Lin Wan's mind, this failure was probably several tiers worse than Sun Strike Studios' Bullet Hole.

After trying Bloody Battle Song, she finally realized that this was not a matter of several tiers. It was practically years off! This game made her feel like she had been transported back in time by ten years.

After playing the game for a while, Lin Wan not only felt uncomfortable, but she also developed suspicion and confusion towards Pei Qian's decision.

Why… did Boss Pei buy this game company over?

No matter what angle she looked at this from, there seemed to be only one outcome that this game company deserved: being eliminated from the market.

This company should have gone insolvent. The designer who created this game should have looked for another company to work at. If no company wanted to accept him, he should have changed industries altogether.

From this game's situation alone, Lin Wan could tell that its designer should not remain in the game industry!

Yet, Boss Pei bought the company over. What's more, it was said that he personally groomed a newbie and made several suggestions to revamp the company.

The game that Lin Wan had just played was the result of the changes Boss Pei implemented. However, it was obvious that it was far from being a profitable game.

Lin Wan was beginning to shrink back. She did not want to go over anymore. How good would it be if she could research and develop Repent and be Saved in Tengda Games?

Boss Pei was there, overlooking the entire company. That meant that the game would likely be well-praised. Sales would go through the roof. Then, as a member of the production team, Lin Wan could feel proud of herself.

However, now, she had been transferred to Shang Yang Games and made to research Bloody Battle Song. The plot was completely different!

She was not even thinking about whether she could successfully produce the game or not. Even if she could, the game would probably end up being dissed by mainstream gamers!

Lin Wan would be embarrassed to tell her friends and classmates that she was responsible for creating a game like that.

n

However, after recalling that Boss Pei had been behind this arrangement, Lin Wan felt that there was a deeper meaning buried in it.

After all, when he had been briefing her on this task, Boss Pei seemed to have high hopes for her. Not only would she be a 'communications button', but she would also be the 'carrier of Tengda Games' spirit'.

If she gave up just like that, perhaps she would never understand Boss Pei's true intentions. This arrangement could contain the key to her becoming stronger.

Lin Wan considered all of these for a long time. Finally, she made up her mind.

In any case, Boss Pei was going to leave her work desk in Tengda Games empty. She could go back whenever she wanted. She would take this opportunity to challenge herself in Shang Yang Games. This was quite a rare chance to do so after all.

At Shang Yang Games…

In the conference room…

Ye Zhizhou, Wang Xiaobin, and the others secretly and apprehensively sized Lin Wan up as she sat on the other side of the table. Lin Wan had just arrived at Shang Yang Games. She was holding onto a little book and playing the part of a guilty intern.

However, to everyone else, Lin Wan was stressing them about by furiously writing notes in her notebook. As for this leader that had been parachuted in from Tengda, everyone felt apprehensive and uneasy.

The main problem was that they could not guess what Boss Pei was thinking.

Did Boss Pei trust Shang Yang Games or not?

They couldn't say he did not. He had left it completely up to Shang Yang Games to come up with a design plan for the new game. The new chief planner was also a newbie groomed from within Shang Yang Games. The company's framework had not been changed, too.

Yet, they also could not say he did. Why else would he have parachuted someone from Tengda in now that they were on the brink of producing the new game?

According to Boss Pei, Lin Wan was going to be the new Development Director. In essence, she was going to be like a creator. However, it did not seem like someone in a position like that would be able to manage everyday operations. She would probably be more of an overseer.

One could say that there were three key roles in Shang Yang Games now: Ye Zhizhou, who was in charge of the creation and general planning of games; Wang Xiaobin, who was in charge of systems design and administration; and Lin Wan, who had veto power over every important decision made in the company.

Before this, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin could take charge of all game planning in the company. They reported to Boss Pei directly.

Yet, now, between Ye Zhizhou and Boss Pei, there was Lin Wan—the Development Director.

Many people were even guessing whether Ye Zhizhou had lost Boss Pei's trust because he had not managed to turn their losses into profits ever since he took over as chief planner. Was that why Boss Pei was parachuting another leader from Tengda into Shang Yang Games?

At that moment, the entire Shang Yang Games was covered in a shadow of confusion.

At first, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin wanted to hand over all their work to Lin Wan. However, Lin Wan unexpectedly shirked away from them.

She said very little in front of everyone as well. She only said several perfunctory things to pacify everybody and calm them down. Then, she stayed by the side and listened quietly.

Thus, the meeting continued as per usual. Ye Zhizhou began explaining the design of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version to everyone.

As Lin Wan listened by the side, she took notes down in her book. Then, question marks began to appear in her mind. What is this? And what is this?

Chapter 198 Increase the Budget Estimate!

It was normal for Lin Wan not to understand. This was because when she was working at Sun Strike Studios; she worked on Bullet Hole. Later, when she moved to Tengda Games, she helped to create Ocean Stronghold and Game Designer. All of these were client-side games.

Bloody Battle Song was a web-based game. One could say that it was a completely different kind of game compared to the ones she worked on before.

Web-based games made use of a set of unique design concepts and principles. The gameplay on mature systems for this type of games was rarely seen in client-side games.

Not only had Lin Wan never researched and developed web-based games, but she had never even played web-based games. She was not even interested in them.

Yet, in the meeting led by Ye Zhizhou, they employed common terms used in the development of web-based games and complicated English acronyms as well. When they were describing the gameplay, they also made use of a lot of slang words and short-forms that would only be known to people familiar with the internal processes.

Because of this—even though everyone spoke in Mandarin, Lin Wan found that she could only understand thirty to forty percent of the discussion.

Simply put, she knew every single word; but when strung into sentences, she had no idea what they were talking about.

Lin Wan had no choice but to silently take notes, without nodding or asking a single question.

She refrained from nodding because she did not understand what was going on, and she did not want to pretend that she did. She refrained from asking questions because she was worried that she would display her own ignorance and embarrass Tengda and Boss Pei.

On the other hand, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin would steal glances at Lin Wan every now and then.

All they saw was Lin Wan's somber expression and her writing in her book non-stop. It was hard for them to read her expression. They had no clue what she was thinking.

Although she looked young, none of them belittled her. After all, the people whom Boss Pei hired had never been of the same pattern.

If Boss Pei thought so highly of her, they guessed that she had to be either genuinely talented or someone with great, hidden potential. No matter what, they could not afford to offend her.

Every now and then, Ye Zhizhou would pause mid-speech to give Lin Wan time to express her opinions.

Boss Pei had not made any edits to the design manuscript, but who knew whether the Development Director would have any valuable suggestions to offer?

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However, Lin Wan remained silent as she recorded the meeting. She did not utter a single word.

Ye Zhizhou was beginning to doubt himself.

Why don't Boss Pei and this director have any suggestions?

Was my design manuscript really perfect?

It can't be, right?

Have I been underestimating myself?

Finally, they finished discussing the design manuscript. Ye Zhizhou briefed everybody on the schedule for the project and the art resources that they would need for the game. He also proposed a budget of about two million yuan for the various art resources that they required.

After this, Ye Zhizhou looked at Lin Wan.

This director has to give a comment or two, right?

What else are you here for?

Lin Wan felt everybody's gaze boring into her and began to panic inside.

What should I do? Even after listening to their discussion all day, I don't understand a single thing!

Even if I understood a small portion of it, there's nothing to discuss. Everything that I managed to understand was basic. Wouldn't I be making a fool of myself if I raise it up?

The good thing was that Lin Wan did not show her panic. Instead, she successfully brought up a point that she knew Boss Pei would definitely not be happy with.

"I have no big issue with other things. The only problem is the budget estimate. According to my understanding of Boss Pei, he would not allow it."

Ye Zhizhou began to feel nervous. Indeed, they would not get approval for the budget estimate after all!

Setting two million yuan aside for a web-based game did sound ridiculous.

Expenses for research and development should only make up a small portion of the total budget for web-based games. The majority of the budget should be used for marketing, like buying pay-per-click advertising on webpages, hiring celebrities, and the like.

This would be decided based on the target audience of the web-based game.

Web-based games were mostly targeted at white-collared workers and whales. These people did not have high expectations for the games' graphics. Most of them played these games secretly while at work. They would not want complicated operations that would take up brainpower.

Instead, these people would only be interested in topping-up and killing others with their mouse.

On top of that, these people had higher purchasing power. Thus, it would be wiser to save money on research and development and spend it on advertising instead. This would maximize revenue earned from the game.

However, when Ye Zhizhou was calculating the budget, he decided that he did not want to go down the traditional path.

It was not easy to get Boss Pei to make a decision-this game would be named 'The Powerful Version'. He could not possibly allow the graphics to be as bad as other ordinary web-based games.

The art resources had to be made high-definition for sure. The various gameplay had to be improved to the point of perfection.

All of these little things would add up to about two million yuan. Ye Zhizhou even checked with Wang Xiaobin beforehand; he was very satisfied with the budget estimate.

Yet, was Lin Wan going to say it was too much?

Ye Zhizhou looked at Lin Wan apprehensively. In his heart, he decided that they could reduce the estimate by three or four hundred thousand yuan at most… but not any more than that.

Lin Wan spoke again. "I think… Boss Pei would only approve of this project if you have a budget estimate of four million yuan at least.

"Forget it. You should make it five million yuan. That'll save Boss Pei from having to check in. This way, you definitely won't have to redo everything later on."

Each time they re-estimated the budget, they had to edit the list of art resources and the various plans. They also had to find new artists and processes from the website for resources.

Increasing the budget estimate from two million yuan to three or four million yuan would be almost double. That meant all the plans would have to be re-done from scratch. To achieve this huge change, it would not be just a matter of engaging different artists.

Thus, Lin Wan considerately hinted for them to raise the budget estimate from the start. This would save them the trouble of working hard on the budget estimate, only to have Boss Pei call them and ask them to redo everything.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Ye Zhizhou almost thought that he had heard wrongly.

Two million yuan was too little? They had to increase it to five million?

They had more than double the original budget estimate?

However, when he saw Lin Wan's serious expression, he realized that she was not joking. This was a serious warning.

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin exchanged a meaningful look. Hesitantly, Ye Zhizhou asked, "Five million? That sounds like too much…

"Actually, we don't need that much money. Two million yuan is enough. It really is enough."

Lin Wan shook her head. "To you, it might be enough. However, to Boss Pei, it is far from enough. You don't know how particular Boss Pei can be about these details. Listen to me. Make it five million yuan."

Lin Wan could not help but rejoice when she saw Ye Zhizhou lower his head in confusion and begin to edit the proposal.

I finally understand why Boss Pei sent me here! Apart from learning about the design and knowledge relevant to this type of game, my more important responsibility is to influence them with the Tengda spirit!

The way Ye Zhizhou acted so cautiously with the budget estimate reminds me of what Lu Mingliang was like before.

Boss Pei is extremely busy. He has many things to take care of. He cannot possibly correct these bad habits himself. That was why he sent me here. On one hand, he's giving me the opportunity to hone my skills. On the other hand, he's using me to correct these people's bad habits!

That's why I should focus on correcting their mentality. I need to help them emulate Tengda. Boss Pei did not lie to me. This really is an important job!

Ye Zhizhou quickly edited the budget estimate and frowned.

"But… if we increase the budget estimate to five million yuan, we will run into a new problem.

"We're only creating a web-based game. Even if we make all our resources high definition, and hire top artists to handle the concept design, we might not be able to finish spending all the money…

"What's more, we're using the official platform's 2D game engine at the moment. It doesn't support these high-definition graphics very well. The effect might not be as obvious as we hope.

"Simply put… the quality-price ratio is going to be bad."

Lin Wan pondered for a moment and said, "Let's change the engine then. We'll use the 3D one instead."

Ye Zhizhou was speechless. "If we use the 3D game engine… We won't be able to let it remain as a web-based game. We have to transmit a huge amount of art resources. The current internet speed causes these to load too slowly."

Web-based games were meant to be played once they opened. All the art resources were supposed to be downloadable on the spot.

They were limited by internet speed. That was why they could not allow the art files to grow too big. Otherwise, the transmission would slow down. If players could not see the background even after walking around in a certain place, wouldn't it be extremely awkward?

This was the reason why Lin Wan saw the words 'downloading content' every time she went to a new place in Bloody Battle Song.

After so much discussion, the problem did not seem like it could be solved.

Lin Wan knew very well that a mere two-million-yuan budget would not satisfy Boss Pei. However, they were limited by the demands of a web-based game. Even if they wanted to increase the budget to five million yuan, there was nowhere they could spend the money.

That was unless they decided not to make the new game a web-based one but a client-side one instead. Players would then be required to download all the content into their own computers.

However, doing this… Would change the entire mode of the game. Wouldn't that be akin to changing it fundamentally beyond recognition?

Wang Xiaobin cleared his throat twice. "Heh, I think that we can try to make the game a mini-client if we want to use high-definition resources and create a 3D version. This is a mini-client.

"Compared to client-side games, players would need to download far fewer resources. What's more, there would not be too many requirements on the hardware. On the other hand, compared to web-based games, the graphics would be obviously better.

"Of course, we could fail on both ends. We would be taking a huge risk."

Chapter 199 Director Lin is Made of Something Indeed!

Although Lin Wan could not accurately describe the difference between web-based games and client-side games, she could roughly understand the risks associated with doing something like that.

Client-side games and web-based games were completely different.

That meant that their traditional gameplay, core, and target audience were very different.

Only complete idiots would think that the transition from playing web-based games to client-side games was easy.

Transitions from a higher level to a lower level might be easier such as the transitions from client-side games to web-based games or web-based games to mobile games.

However, even so, special support from the game was required.

If one tried to do it in reverse such as the transition from web-based games to client-side games, they would have to change too many things. It would be as difficult as learning everything from scratch.

Yet, Shang Yang Games had already confirmed the research and development of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. Even the design manuscript was complete. What's more, this was Boss Pei's decision-nobody could change it at will.

This meant that in order for them to spend that much money, making the game a mini-client would be the only way.

Just like Wang Xiaobin said, there were huge risks associated with making the game a mini-client.

Players would have to download fewer resources for mini-client games compared to client-side games. However, the graphics would look better than web-based games. On the surface, this looked like a perfect solution that could satisfy both sides.

However, from another angle, it could be seen as a way to fail both sides.

For client-side gamers, the graphics for the new game would look worse than ordinary client-side games.

For web-based gamers, it might be troublesome to ask them to download content. The fact that they could not access the game as and when they liked might be a turn-off.

There was a chance that both types of players would not like the game. Then, it would completely fail.

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Everyone turned to look at Lin Wan. As the director, she had to make the call.

Lin Wan began to panic inside.

When she was at Tengda, she was put in charge of certain tasks. However, she never had to make such important decisions.

One had to understand that a decision like that could affect everyone's work for the next few months. It also concerned millions of yuan.

If they succeeded, of course, there would be nothing more to say.

However, if they failed, everyone would have worked in vain. What's more, they would have made ducks and drakes of the money.

Lin Wan felt immense pressure bearing a burden like that. Instinctively, she thought about walking away and consulting Boss Pei on this.

However, on second thought, she decided not to. Boss Pei had made her in charge of Shang Yang Games because he had high hopes for her! If she consulted Boss Pei on every little thing, wouldn't she be akin to a telephone? She would be letting Boss Pei down.

Lin Wan fell into deep thought.

If I were Boss Pei, what would I do now?

Phew… calm down. Boss Pei is always making unexpected decisions. However, on closer inspection, his decisions were reasonable.

Would Boss Pei reduce the budget estimate? He would not. Would Boss Pei care about whether players liked the mini-client or not? I don't think he would.

Boss Pei would probably make the decision for the players. He wouldn't care whether they accepted it in the beginning or not.

Thus… it's quite clear what Boss Pei would do.

After pondering for a while, Lin Wan decisively said, "We'll make a mini-client. We will not make any changes to the design. We will just improve all the art resources and turn them from 2D to 3D."

Lin Wan looked quite confident.

The source of this confidence was not from inside herself but from her accurate prediction of what Boss Pei would do.

This was the self-cultivation of an employee of Tengda!

After the meeting…

Ye Zhizhou went back to his own work desk and started editing his budget estimate and requirement form. It was a good thing that their budget estimate was more than double of the original. However, to Ye Zhizhou, editing the various requirement forms was a pain.

Fortunately, this was a good kind of pain.

While he was busy, his cell phone's screen suddenly lit up. He glanced at it and saw that it was a message from Boss Pei.

"How's the progress?"

Ye Zhizhou perked up at once. Great! Boss Pei is taking the initiative to ask me!

Ye Zhizhou still felt worried about Lin Wan's decision.

Doubling the budget estimate and turning the game from a web-based one to a mini-client were quite risky moves. Without Boss Pei's confirmation, Ye Zhizhou could not relax. Yet, he could not possibly have reported the matter to Boss Pei. That would have made him a snitch.

Of course, it was great that Boss Pei had now taken the initiative to check in on him.

Ye Zhizhou quickly explained to him the outcome of the meeting. He mainly talked about the budget estimate and converting the game to a mini-client. His intention was to clarify any doubts Boss Pei might have had about this arrangement.

Two minutes later, he received Boss Pei's response.

"Very good, go with this. If there is any problem you cannot solve in the future, just listen to Director Lin."

Boss Pei had no issue with it. In fact, he completely agreed with Director Lin's decisions!

Ye Zhizhou could not help but feel emotional. After all, Lin Wan was a director parachuted in from Tengda. Of course, she would live up to her reputation.

Initially, during the meeting, Ye Zhizhou was suspicious of Lin Wan. This was because Lin Wan had suggested such a huge change to the game without asking a single question about the design manuscript. This made Ye Zhizhou feel like she was being rash.

Now that Boss Pei had validated her move, his suspicions dissipated like smoke.

Could Boss Pei possibly make a wrong decision?

What's more, just as Director Lin had said, Boss Pei approved the budget estimate of five million yuan without any hesitation. He did not even have a single doubt about doing something as risky as changing the game into a mini-client.

It looked like Director Lin understood Boss Pei many times more than any of them did!

Would this mean that the burden of carrying Shang Yang Games could finally be lifted off the ever-busy Boss Pei's shoulders?

Pei Qian put down his phone, feeling quite

good.

Lin Wan was doing even better than he had expected!

Pei Qian had mainly been worried that Lin Wan would fold her arms at Shang Yang Games and not dare to do anything. That would have made her a commander with a polished rod.

If that had been the case, Lin Wan would not experience strong disappointment in the face of setbacks. She might blame others for it instead of willingly going back to carry on her family business.

However, from the looks of the current situation, Lin Wan was playing her role well!

She was fully cooperating with Pei Qian without even having to discuss things with him!

Not only had she spent so much money, but she also suggested changing a stable web-based game into a mini-client.

Pei Qian knew about mini-clients, but he also knew that this model would never become the main model for web-based games.

It was not so now, and it would not be so in the future as well.

Indeed, some web-based games created mini-clients. However, these were just meant to be the icing on the cake. What's more, most mini-clients were limited to 50 MB. They did not get bigger than that.

At the rate Shang Yang Games was going, not only would they raise the hardware requirements of the game, but they would also increase the size of the downloadable client. It would add up to at least 200 to 300 MB.

Many players who used their office computers or old computers to play the game would be scared off!

To put it bluntly, the game would not be able to please client-side gamers or web-based gamers. Not only that, but it would also cost much more to produce it. It was perfect!

A web-based game like that would cost about five million yuan to produce. Subsequently, based on the way things developed, he could probably pour another two or three million yuan into marketing. Its research and development would probably be completed much sooner than Repent and be Saved.

Then, he could publish it a month in advance and ensure losses sooner. Pei Qian loved the sound of that!