Chapter 210 The Restaurant’s Location? It’s Been Decided.

Manager Cui's mouth opened slightly, and he looked speechless.

'Doesn't sound too expensive?'

If they weren't expensive, would these villas still be left behind after so long?!

In fact, this price was higher than many other villas in Jingzhou City. Their selling points were their design, their elaborate renovations, and the fact that they were standalone hilltop villas.

Yet, Pei Qian did not think the villas were too expensive because he had subconsciously been comparing them to the prices that he remembered in the back of his head.

He could buy such a huge villa for seven million yuan? That was really inexpensive! If he tried to buy a villa this big in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou; it could rise to tens of millions or even over a hundred million yuan in ten years.

Moreover, Pei Qian had already confirmed with the System: he was allowed to buy this villa using System Funds! However, the villa would be considered part of the company's assets once he bought it. He could turn this place into a restaurant, but he could not live here.

In other words, he had to legitimately use this place to run the business and use it if he would manufacture resources.

On top of that, using company funds to purchase this property meant that he would have to spend far more than if he were buying it in his own name. He would have to pay building taxes and duties, and he would not enjoy discounted loan interests. If he wanted to sell this villa later on, he would probably have to pay value-added tax, stamp duty, and other additional fees as well. Ordinary companies would find it extremely hard to sell properties like that.

However, none of this mattered to Pei Qian. The System had given him a break and allowed him to turn this villa into a restaurant using System Funds. This had already been a surprise!

Pei Qian glanced at the remaining amount in the System Funds.

Immediately after settlement, the System Funds started out with eight million yuan. Three weeks had passed since then. From Ocean Stronghold alone, they already earned more than six million yuan.

At the beginning of the month, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe also contributed a significant amount of income from the sale of alcohol. They only had to pay rent once every three months so they were still not making a loss. All the money that they earned had been transferred straight into the system.

Subsequently, Pei Qian invested a huge amount of money into projects like Zhongdian Chinese Network, Shang Yang Games, and the Headwind Courier stations. At this point, there was over eight million yuan in the System Funds.

That was enough to buy this villa, but he would still need to provide Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games with money later on in the cycle.

The budget for Repent and be Saved was twenty million yuan. It would take at least three months to produce this game. Based on the income from the other games, Pei Qian had guessed that they would probably have enough money to fund this.

However, if he spent six million yuan on this villa, they would not have enough.

Pei Qian pondered for a while. Since this was the case, he would create another epic weapon to be sold in Ocean Stronghold!

He could sell an epic weapon for 888 yuan. According to the 70-30 profit split, they would need to sell ten thousand weapons in order to earn six million yuan.

That was just as well. He would make a limited edition weapon and only sell ten thousand pieces. Once they finished selling all those weapons, they would have filled in the huge gap that this purchase would create.

At that thought, Pei Qian sent a message to Assistant Xin, asking her to make a trip down to complete the administrative matters.

Then, he asked Manager Cui to lead them into the villa to take a look.

There were a total of eight hilltop villas in Ming Yun Villas. They were all stand-alone villas, and they each stood far away from one another. This ensured that the surroundings would remain peaceful and quiet.

Pei Qian purposely chose to view a villa closer to the north-west region. He was mainly worried that when his employees gathered here for meals, all the driving around would disturb the other residents.

They would enter the restaurant from the north-west and leave once they finish eating. It would be more convenient.

There was 580 square meters of usable space in the villa. There were three levels, six rooms, three living rooms, and three restrooms. The living room's ceiling height was seven meters. The renovations were well done, and there was furniture inside as well.

Of course, Pei Qian had no need for the furniture. After all, he was going to turn the villa into a restaurant. He could keep the renovations largely the same, but the use and structure of the rooms would have to change. This applied to the kitchens, the toilets, and the like.

The infinity pool also looked out at the scenery from halfway up the hill. The vibes of the place were good overall.

Pei Qian walked around, feeling emotional inside.

How good it would be if he were rich!

If I can incur about seven million yuan worth of losses by the next settlement, I would buy another villa for myself to live in without any hesitation!

One could dream – there was always a possibility of dreams coming true.

Manager Cui worked hard to blow up the merits of the villa and hype it up.

He was already well-spoken to begin with. In addition, the place was indeed well-designed. Apart from the price, everything else was extremely good. Of course, it was all quite bewitching

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan followed behind Pei Qian and walked around the villa as well.

Both of them had the exact same thoughts as Pei Qian.

How good it would be if they were rich!

After walking one round, Zhang Yuan turned to Pei Qian and said, "Boss Pei, why don't you continue looking at the villa with Boss Ma? I'll go and survey the other restaurant locations."

Pei Qian faced him and asked, "Restaurant locations? It's been decided-here it is."

Zhang Yuan was confused.

Here?

There was very low traffic through this villa. Why would Boss Pei want to set up a high-end restaurant in such a deserted place?!

Pei Qian did not bother to address Zhang Yuan's astonishment. Instead, he turned to Manager Cui and said, "Manager Cui, I want to buy a semi-commercial hilltop villa and turn it into a private restaurant. There shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Manager Cui was stunned. "You want to buy a semi-commercial villa? Er… of course!

"Villas like that can be used for commercial or residential purposes. I just have to communicate your intentions with the proprietor on the side."

Manager Cui was quite surprised. He did not think that Boss Pei would be looking for a semi-commercial villa.

The semi-commercial villas were the hardest to sell because of the low traffic in the area. They were also isolated from the other residential villas and located in a very deserted region. For various reasons, it seemed much better to stay in fully-residential villas as opposed to semi-commercial ones.

Of course, there were possible problems with opening a restaurant here: vehicle traffic and people management.

The semi-commercial villas stood alone. That meant that vehicles would have their own entrance. Thus, it would probably not cause disturbance to residents in other villas.

What's more, Pei Qian had already said that the restaurant would operate on a reservation and membership basis. They would strictly control the crowd and not allow any resident to be disturbed. Any impact on their daily lives would be minimized.

As for whether opening a restaurant in such a secluded area would be profitable or not…

It did not matter.

In any case, to the developer of Ming Yun Villas, all that mattered was selling the villas and earning money. Whether Boss Pei incurred losses or not was his problem, and it would not affect the developer in any way. In fact, they could stand to gain from it.

On the other hand, to Boss Pei, incurring losses was more than he could ask for.

If they ran into other problems down the road, he could simply spend more money to resolve them. These would be the System Funds anyway-it wouldn't be a problem!

Soon, Assistant Xin arrived.

It was obvious that she was quite surprised.

Why is Boss Pei buying a house all of a sudden? What's more, he's buying a hilltop villa with a poor price-quality ratio, located on the outskirts of the city. He's also buying the semi-commercial villa under the company's name?

All of this had happened so suddenly. However, Assistant Xin was never one to ask too many questions. She worked according to Pei Qian's requests. She negotiated the price, signed the contract, and finished up the other administrative matters.

Pei Qian continued to sip his tea nonchalantly. Then, he sent a message to Lu Mingliang.

"Make some time to create a new epic weapon for Ocean Stronghold. Limit the sales to ten thousand weapons. Once we hit the number, cease sales forever. It'll be a limited edition weapon."

He would not earn more money than he needed.

Pei Qian would never kill the goose that laid golden eggs.

Ocean Stronghold was in quite a good situation. The reason why so many people started playing the game was precisely that it had rare weapons and marketing value.

If he allowed the Barrett Doom to be sold freely in the market, it would have severely damage the game's financial situation.

Thus, after some consideration, Pei Qian made his decision. In order for Ocean Stronghold to keep earning money and laying golden eggs systematically and orderly, he would only sell three types of weapons:

The first type was like Barrett Doom. He sold a maximum of five hundred weapons per month and refreshed the number every month. This would slow down their depreciation and ensure that the majority would be able to cope with the developments.

The second type would be similar to the newest epic weapon. He would sell ten thousand of them at one shot and then cease to sell them forever. This would allow them to appreciate it slowly.

As for epic weapons like the Red Kilin which were sold freely in the market forever, Pei Qian would not think about releasing a second one for now.

Otherwise, he might unintentionally increase the income generated by the game. After that, it would be hard for him to bring the income levels down again. He would also cause players to spend more than they otherwise would.

As long as he could sell all the epic weapons which he created this time and fill up the huge hole in their finances created by the villa, they would not break the capital chain. The other games and projects would also not be affected by this purchase.IS no

Pei Qian was going to make a full, upfront payment for the villa. That meant there was no need for complicated loan applications. The entire process would be completed relatively quickly; it would only take three to five days at most.

Pei Qian did some calculations in his head. The administrative matters, planning, and renovations would all be completed by the beginning of next month.

It would be just in time for his selection of the best employee on August 1st. He would have a legitimate excuse to bring all his employees here for a meal and then happily send the lucky man off.

However, it was surprising that the System allowed Pei Qian to purchase this property and turn it into a restaurant using System Funds.

Was it because Pei Qian could not rent this place?

Or was it because there was now enough System Funds to afford something like that?

Although he could only turn the villa into a restaurant and was still not allowed to stay in it, the System had relaxed its regulations slightly. That was a good thing!

Chapter 211 Boss Pei is Very Heaven-Defying!

July 26th, Monday…

At Shang Yang Games…

Lin Wan had been scrunching her nose and trying Bloody Battle Song out for two weeks now.

In the beginning, she was contemptuous and confused. Now, she found that there was a purpose to a game like that.

The original Bloody Battle Song was a traditional game with paywalls. Ballers could spend money to buy experiences while ordinary players could play with ballers and act as their sidekicks or their punching bags.

In other words, those with money would show up with money while those without money would show up for their friends.

War games with paywalls, like Bloody Battle Song, were filled with negative emotions. The biggest problems were feelings of injustice and forcefully-generated hatred.

These were the same two reasons that similar war games with paywalls were criticized badly.

Such games were unfair because the battle power one could obtain in the game depended on the amount of money they spent. The richer one was, the stronger they would be. Game merchants would create three, six, or nine levels in a single game. Depending on how much one topped up in the game, they would get different experiences.

If one spent money, they could kill four parties at once and completely destroy other players' gaming experience.

This type of injustice could easily provoke negative feelings in players. After all, there was a saying, 'do not worry about scarcity but rather about uneven distribution'.

Moreover, such games could easily generate hatred by force because many game merchants would design the game experience to invoke a competitive spirit in them and cause them to spend more money on the game.

Take war for example.

If one could take over a city, they would be crowned the king. An announcement would be made to the entire channel, and all the players in the city would receive rewards. This was an excellent opportunity for one to show off in front of other players.

Many players wanted to be crowned king. This would in turn depend on who spent the most money on the game.

'If you top up ten thousand yuan, I'll top up thirty thousand yuan. If you top up fifty thousand yuan, I'll top up a hundred thousand yuan…'

This competitive mindset would form some sort of involution mechanism. Two ballers could compete with each other and end up buying a bunch of useless computer data. They would be playing right into the hands of the game merchants.

After each update, new equipment would be released. No matter how much the ballers had spent before, they would have to start from scratch in order to avoid being overtaken.

After one or two years, players—who had spent a huge amount of money on the gamewould look back and see that they had bought nothing but emptiness.

However, from another angle, why would games like that become popular?

This was all because complete, rich, and dynamic worlds existed in the game.

Actually, traditional online MMORPG games were doing the same thing. Take Fantasy World for example; there were guilds in that game as well. The officials included guild leaders, guild managers, assistant team leaders, commanders, and the like. Players could also take on roles at different levels.

War games with paywalls, such as Bloody Battle Song, allowed players to become more engrossed in their roles. This was because the human relationships were much more complex, and there were many more levels.

The only difference was that a player in Fantasy World would pride himself in the amount of time he spent in the game and his understanding of the game's mechanics. On the other hand, a player in war games with paywalls would pride himself in the amount of money he had spent on the game.

Now, what Bloody Battle Song's update had done was to get rid of nearly all the paywalls in the game. This way, less negative emotions would be invoked in players. The entire game was now at the standard of traditional MMORPGs like Fantasy World.

At the same time, the complex levels and human relationships in Bloody Battle Song were retained. Every player could take on different roles, creating a pseudo-society in the game and allowing them to operate in an orderly fashion.

The 'Chosen One' system was an example of this. Each person had a chance to play a critical role. This experience was something that other games could never provide.

After being chosen by the 'Chosen One' system, players' skills would immediately surpass that of other players. They would be allowed to have a hack-and-slash experience.

Hack-and-Slash games could recreate this feeling as well, but one would only be fighting non-playing characters in games like that. It was all down to programming. On the other hand, in Bloody Battle Song, one would be fighting other real players. Behind each ID was a human player.

One would be invincible and help one's team attack critical locations on the battleground, thus showing off in front of hundreds of other players. It would be extremely difficult for other types of games to create the same sense of achievement.

Thus, the changes made to Bloody Battle Song could be summarized. As much as possible, the unique experience of war games with paywalls was retained while the aspects that invoked negative, 'toxic' feelings in players were removed.

Lin Wan only understood these things after playing Bloody Battle Song every day during this time and talking to many other players in the game.

"I see. It looks like I've been too childish. I never knew that there were so many ways about this. Now I understand why ballers liked to come here and spend huge amounts of money before as opposed to playing games like Fantasy World.

"Boss Pei's aim is clearer to me now. Why did he want to buy over Shang Yang Games, even as it incurred huge losses? He wanted to use Bloody Battle Song to try something very risky. He wanted to conduct an experiment that no one had thought about conducting!

"Boss Pei wanted his players to stop being slaves to money. He wanted to adjust his players' taste, and show them that it was possible to enjoy feelings that only ballers used to feel, even without having to spend money…

"I must admit… this motivation is noble indeed!

"Or shall I say… this is absolutely heaven-defying!"

Lin Wan could not help but view Boss Pei with fresh eyes.

Games with paywalls could be profitable because they sold unique, custom gaming experiences to ballers at high prices.

From golden, dazzling wings to the title of king in a war game, these were all products that had been custom-made for ballers. On the other hand, ballers did not mind spending thousands of yuan on these things.

Through this process, game companies stood to profit and ballers stood to enjoy a custom-made gaming experience. The only people who were getting hurt were the players who acted as the ballers' sandbags.

Now, Boss Pei was choosing not to make profits like that. He wanted to snatch the custom-made experience from ballers' hands and distribute that to ordinary players according to set rules.

Wasn't this a heaven-defying move?

Lin Wan felt that she was bearing an even heavier burden.

Boss Pei had spent so much money to create Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version in order to make up for the game's only shortcoming: its graphics. After the game was complete and given Tengda Games' strong marketing capabilities, the game might slowly revamp the entire domestic market for games with paywalls!

Of course, this might be too idealistic. Games with paywalls would not go extinct. As long as ballers were willing to pay, they would remain in the market.

However, as long as Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version could cleanse the games market a little and influence players' taste, it would have achieved loads for the community!

Some game developers wanted to tender to ballers and used games with paywalls for their own interests; other game developers wanted to create a reputation for themselves and develop standalone games very seriously.

Boss Pei was probably the only one in the industry who had already achieved huge success with standalone games but still bothered enough to intentionally get involved in messy situations elsewhere. He was willing to give up making huge profits, purely for the sake of influencing gamers' tastes and leading them to freedom from slavery to money.

How noble were his aspirations?!

Chapter 212 Dis is the Newest Update dat You haf Never Played Before

Lin Wan continued to play the game seriously.

Although she still could not develop a liking for games like that,for the sake of following through with this historical, pioneering work and witnessing the birth of a new type of game; Lin Wan tried to act with a good deal of professionalism.

As a designer, she had to continue playing the game even if she did not fancy this game genre. She had to work hard to understand it!

"Eh? I am the chosen one!"

On her screen, Lin Wan's game character suddenly lit up and expanded by two or three times. Among the other players, she looked like a formidable giant.

This was what it would look like if one was chosen by the 'Chosen One' system. At that moment, Lin Wan's character's battle powers were multiplied!

Lin Wan continued to 'work hard' by charging into the battlefield and slaughtering the masses.

About half an hour later, the war finally ended.

Ye Zhizhou knocked gently on the door. He had come to discuss something with Lin Wan.

He had come over once before already. However, upon seeing Lin Wan working on the game seriously, he decided that it was inappropriate to interrupt her. Hence, he waited for the war to end before coming over once more.

"Director Lin, I want to discuss with you about advertising. We're still more than a month away from publishing the game, but I think it's time to prepare for advertising."

According to their past research and development experience, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin both felt that it was time to come up with a marketing plan.

Lin Wan paused. "Huh? That early?"

Based on her recollection, the effects of Tengda Games' advertising would only be seen after the game had been published. Then, their games would become popular almost immediately.

Lin Wan thought that was normal in the industry.

Yet, on second thought, it might be that she had been clueless.

It was obvious that Boss Pei planned for Game Designer's performance-art-style advertising in advance. The advertising only took effect a while after the game had been published, but the work must have been done earlier.

At that thought, Lin Wan nodded. "Alright. Based on your experience, how do you think we should do it?"

Ye Zhizhou pondered for a moment and said, "According to our experience, the best way of advertising would be to buy advertising space on webpages and video websites. People would just have to click on the ads, and the game window would pop up…"

Lin Wan instinctively frowned.

That's too low-class.

Lin Wan had always hated these dishonest, misleading, and irritating advertisements on websites. Now, her own game company was intending to do that?

No way!

Ye Zhizhou added, "However, our current problem is that our game is a mini-client.

"Even if the window pops up, players would still have to download some content before they would be able to play our game. This would greatly reduce our game's click-conversion rate. This is a very serious problem. If the click-conversion rate is reduced, it would be more difficult for us to attract players to our game… we probably won't be able to recover our advertising fee, then."

Lin Wan was speechless.

Was he saying that even a low-class and irritating advertising method like that wouldn't be effective?

Lin Wan pondered for a moment and then said, "I have to ask Boss Pei for his suggestions on this."

Ye Zhizhou looked excited. "That would be best!"

Pei Qian had instructed Ye Zhizhou before to ask Director Lin about anything to do with the game's creation process.

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin had done so. Whenever they ran into minor problems in the research and development process, they would raise them up for internal discussion before allowing Lin Wan to make a call.

However, if no one could make a call, they would still have to consult Boss Pei.

None of them could think of good ideas for marketing the game. Thus, they had no choice but to ask Boss Pei.

Lin Wan felt apprehensively sent a message to Pei Qian, asking him about the advertising plan for Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version.

What if Boss Pei could not come up with a good advertising method either?

After all, the game is of a different type now that they have converted it from a browser game to a mini-client. Traditional methods of advertising would no longer work.

Even Boss Pei would need several days to think about it and reply to her, right?

Yet, a few minutes later, Lin Wan received Pei Qian's reply.

"Wait, I'll send you a plan."

Five minutes later, Pei Qian sent a document to Lin Wan.

Lin Wan opened it and read it together with Ye Zhizhou.

The advertising method suggested by Boss Pei was very simple: ad-bombing! They would carry on with traditional ways of advertising and continue to place advertisements on webpages and video websites. It looked no different from the original advertising plan.

However, the plan which Boss Pei sent had specific requests. They had to spend money to hire stars who would cosplay and film the advertisements. Moreover, these stars had to be Hong Kong celebrities. They had to personally read the advertisement script which had already been written[1]!

"Hello, everyone! I am so-and-so. I haf acted in many shows, but in terms of games, I haf only played Bloody Battle Song: De Powerful Version. It's a fair gam, which would allow everyone to feel like a baller. It will be to your advantage to play dis gam. I will be your bruvver on de battlefield tonai!

"So-and-so is rooting for Bloody Battle Song: De Powerful Version! Dis gam is very fun. If you miss it, you'll have to wait anuver 120 years for something similar!

"Dis is the newest update dat you haf never played before. In just swee minutes, you will luf this gam as much as I do!

Everything else was similar to the above.

Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou looked at each other, confused.

They closed the document and reopened it. They had thought that they had opened the wrong document.

Ye Zhizhou began to feel like a complete letdown. Boss Pei had sent the plan over so quickly; it was obvious that he had been prepared. For all Ye Zhizhou knew, Boss Pei had already thought of this advertising method way in advance.

Yet, why was he choosing a method like that?

The script sounded… very low-class!

Wouldn't they be scolded and cursed at by everyone?!

Ye Zhizhou thought that since Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version was no longer a game with paywalls, one could call it a game with a heart. They could have washed their reputation clean!

Since that was the case, why did they have to produce advertisements like that and dirty themselves in front of the public? If this was a traditional game with paywalls, this method of advertising would be quite good indeed.

This was because the main players of web-based games were ballers and coal bosses, who loved watching Hong Kong films. What's more, the script was very direct and could easily pique their interest.

However, Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version's main target audience was no longer ballers!

What's more, this advertising method seemed old-fashioned. Even when held to the standards of ordinary advertisements for web-based games, it looked low-class.

Finished! I really don't know what Boss Pei is thinking!

Ye Zhizhou looked at Lin Wan questioningly.

Lin Wan was deep in thought as well. It was obvious that she hated this script much more than Ye Zhizhou did. However, she understood Boss Pei much better than Ye Zhizhou did as well.

Everything that looked illogical had greater meaning!

After considering for a long time Lin Wan nodded slightly. "I understand. Boss Pei's original aim is to free players from being slaves to money and influence their tastes!

"That means the advertising has to be done to attract players who love games with paywalls as much as possible. That's the only way to influence their tastes and change their view on spending through this game!

"If players of traditional web-based games do not play this game, how could we dream of influencing their mindset?"

Ye Zhizhou felt confused.

"It's… it's not that extreme, right? This is a very common way of advertising web-based games."

"It may look like that on the surface, but many things run deeper than that." Lin Wan shook her head. "Boss Pei will know how to follow up. We'll just have to wait and see."

[1] The script is written to imitate the Hong Kong accent.

Chapter 213 Just as Boss Pei had Expected!

Pei Qian waited for a few minutes. Lin Wan had not sent any questions. This meant that the problem had been resolved. In fact, Pei Qian knew that the advertising plan he had sent them was the most effective advertising method for traditional web-based games.

He could not say that the quality-price ratio was the highest, but it was quite effective.

For web-based games, advertising methods with the best quality-price ratio required directly copying other games' materials or creating strange, humorous videos. All in all, their aim was to get as many clicks as possible.

Take 'I keep showering, where is the world of oil' for example[1].

However, doing so was illegal. One could not use others' art resources at will, or they would surely be sued.

Pei Qian would not do anything illegal. Thus, he had no choice but to hire movie stars.

Traditional web-based games mainly targeted middle-aged players who were rich and successful like owners of private companies or coal bosses. These people loved watching Hong Kong celebrities. At the same time, they did not have high expectations for game graphics and had plenty of cash. They also liked the feeling of having followers in games.

Thus, filming advertisements targeted at people like that would be good.

He chose Hong Kong celebrities to appear more attractive and warm to the target audience. At the same time, he made the language simple so that the merits of this game would be obvious to the target audience.

These included the ability to earn money from selling equipment, deal freely, fight in wars, and the like. All of these were characteristics that were popular to web-based game players.

If one could list all of these merits in the advertisement, it would be simple and effective. The advertisement would also brainwash viewers effectively. It would make the money spent worth it.

Since that was the case, why would Pei Qian want to film the advertisement in this manner?

The reason was simple. The target audience was wrong, and the effect would be useless!

This advertising method was meant to attract players of traditional web-based games. Ordinary players would despise these methods.

It was the same logic with the name 'Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version'.

This way, while Pei Qian spent money on advertising that would effectively draw people in, the people who would be drawn in would be players of traditional web-based games.

These people did not care about game graphics. Instead, they only wanted to use cash to slaughter as many people as they could, buy as many loyal followers as they could, and enjoy feeling like the moon among stars.

Yet, what was 'Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version' about?

There were almost no paywalls, people could only purchase strength potions, and only lucky ones selected by the 'Chosen One' system would be allowed to slaughter everyone else.

They even changed the game's form-from a traditional browser game to a mini-clientjust to improve the game's graphics.

In other words, these people would have to download the mini-client to play the game. They could no longer access it from the browser and play whenever they wanted to. The computers that they used in the office might not have this game installed either. Yet, they might not even notice the improvements in graphics.

When they find out that this was not the game they were looking for, they would curse under their breaths and run as fast as they could.

Could this game succeed?

He would spend huge amounts of money hiring celebrities to film the advertisements. He would also buy advertising space on various websites. Ultimately, the advertisements would still prove ineffective, and the game would lose players.

He would incur losses for sure!

What kind of people was Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version really made for?

The game was probably targeted at students and working adults who were not rich, ordinary players who like playing traditional browser games but could not afford to top up too much money on them, or ordinary client-side games and mobile games players.

However, the problem was that most of these people would probably be turned off by the game's name and advertisements.

They would be just like Pei Qian; even if he could recite the advertisement script backward, he would never think about trying the game out.

Thus, there was no problem with the game or the advertising method per se.

However, the game and advertisements would appeal to different groups of people. That was where the problem was!

In addition, they invested a lot in the game to begin with. They spent a total of seven to eight million yuan on research and development coupled with advertisements. With a limited number of players and purchase optionseven if some people did try out the game, they probably would not be able to recover the capital.

Pei Qian let out a long sigh. It looked like he could leave Shang Yang Games alone for now.

The next thing to focus on was the research and development of Repent and be Saved.

Two days ago, Pei Qian discovered that official novels about Repent and be Saved were being uploaded onto Zhongdian Chinese Network. This gave him a good scare indeed. After being through so much, Boss Pei was now extremely cautious and wary. Any slight movement or breeze would catch his attention.

Thus, nobody could hide the official novels about Repent and be Saved on Zhongdian Chinese Network from him.

However, after reading the feedback from readers, Pei Qian relaxed considerably.

Until now, Zhongdian Chinese Network had been developing slowly. Although they had already attracted a good number of authors using their excellent full-time rates, the contents of the library were still horrible. Thus, the rate at which people were creating new accounts was devastating.

Until now, Zhongdian Chinese Network only had over two thousand visits daily. What's more, this included people who only visited the site out of curiosity and decided to say goodbye forever afterward.

Yet, even so, hundreds of people had read the official novel for Repent and be Saved.

This was because the novel was placed on the homepage of the website, in a particularly eye-catching position. Most people who visited the website would notice it immediately.

However, all the comments under the novel were negative.

"What are you writing? I don't understand."

"I read three chapters, and I still don't understand who the protagonist is!"

"They're all descriptions of the world? My head is hurting just reading this."

"A novel of this standard made it to the homepage? What kind of rubbish website is this?"

"Repent and be Saved? What a nonsensical name! I don't know what it's driving at!"

"I strongly suspect that this is an insider's publication. So many other books are much better than this, but they're placed in much worse spots."

"If it was written by an insider, this proves that the website would not have a future!"

Repent and be Saved was still in the research and development stage. There was no news about it as well. That was why they did not advertise on Zhongdian Chinese Network that this book was written for the game, Repent and be Saved. The novel could not ride on any of Tengda Games' glory.

Ma Yiqun and Zhu Xingan's intention was to upload the official novel for their own entertainment. At the same time, they wanted to get feedback from potential players.

Mindless fans of Tengda might praise the designs without thinking much about it. Then, Ma Yiqun and Zhu Xingan might let the praise go to their heads and fail to maintain an objective view. This might affect subsequent plot planning endeavors.

In the end, the readers' feedback could not be more realistic.

Pei Qian read the first two chapters of the novel and found that the readers were right to criticize it. Zhu Xingan and Ma Yiqun had not been wronged at all.

Zhu Xingan had written this novel. The others only had to raise ideas and suggestions.

Since Ma Yiqun had to run the website, he did not have time to write novels. What's more, he felt that he had been more deeply influenced by online literature and was more likely to digress from the topic. Thus, he handed the task to Zhu Xingan.

On the other hand, Zhu Xingan had no foundation in writing online literature. As he wrote the official novel about the game's world, he naturally gravitated towards the plots of foreign games, including foreign AAA games' original novels, official serial publications, and the like.

Everything was very confusing and impossible to unravel.

There was no problem using his writings as the plot plan for the game. However, they were far from deserving of being uploaded to a website for online literature.

The fact that this official novel had been placed on Zhongdian Chinese Network's homepage also turned many readers away.

Many new readers would first click on the books displayed on the homepage upon arriving at the website. This was because they normally represented the highest standard of the books in it.

When they read the book, they discovered this was the standard.

Of course, they would leave at once and never return.

Pei Qian quietly observed all of these behind the scenes. He could not help but celebrate in his heart.

Excellent! Zhongdian Chinese Network has not let me down indeed!

Ma Yiqun-who only got thirty subscriptions for his first book-was placed together with a group of laymen who had zero understanding of the world of online literature. Now, everything was going as Boss Pei had expected!

Pei Qian decided not to do anything about Repent and be Saved's official novel being placed on Zhongdian Chinese Network's homepage. In any case, this novel would not attract anyone's attention for now. Instead, it worked to dissuade readers from staying on the website.

It was infinitely valuable!

[1] This was a famous, funny advertisement for a game in China. In Mandarin, the tagline sounds like 'I keep searching for a future with you'.

Chapter 214 Boss Pei and Big Boss Ruan are Two Peas in a Pod

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