Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

June 30th, day of settlement…

Pei Qian had a mouthful of Coca Cola. However, even the happy drink for fatties could not cheer him up.

On the third day, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's popularity exceeded his own imaginations. Chen Lei's fans flew in from various parts of the country. They gave Chen Lei alcohol rewards as if they were insane.

Since his hopes of incurring losses were dashed, Pei Qian had no choice but to return to his own rented apartment. He kept to himself for two days.

In these two days, Pei Qian kept thinking about one question.

Where did he go wrong?

It felt like every time, at the crucial moment, all his work would go down the drain.

From the moment he obtained this cheating system, he had only managed to incur a loss once. What's more, it was a mere loss of twenty thousand yuan. All he had to do was earn two million yuan to cover that loss. The plot was going in a completely opposite direction from what Pei Qian imagined.

At first, he thought that with the system, he would be able to incur losses and become a wealthy man. However, from the looks of the situation, the System Funds were only going to increase. His Personal Wealth was remaining the same. Until now, he had not made more than a hundred thousand yuan.

"This is so strange. Logically, I should not be this poor."

"Yet, why am I this poor…?"

Pei Qian started to doubt his life. He must have been going in the right direction. Before the start of this week, Pei Qian would not have thought that he would be able to earn so much money.

Ocean Stronghold's sudden popularity and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's unfortunate circumstances were all out of Pei Qian's expectations.

If he knew that he would not be able to incur losses, he would have thought about how he could earn more money. Yet, he would not have been able to tell the future!

What's more, to Pei Qian, there was not much of a difference between a hundred thousand yuan and twenty thousand yuan now.

Now, as long as Pei Qian was spending money on anything vaguely related to work, he could report the expenses to the System. However, what he really needed to spend money on had nothing to do with work. He just wanted to enjoy and improve his home.

Incurring a loss of six or seven hundred thousand yuan would be way faster than sticking to a plan and earning about a hundred thousand yuan each month.

Now, there was five million yuan in the System Funds' starting sum. Next time, it might increase. Logically, with such a huge base to work with, it should not be difficult for Pei Qian to lose six or seven hundred thousand yuan.

Still, he could not incur that loss! He was furious!

"Must I really depend on my profits and work with a conversion ratio of 100:1? That's pathetic, isn't it? I'm not going to give up!"

Pei Qian struggled in his heart as the System's screen lit up automatically.

<Wealth Conversion System>

<Owner: Pei Qian>

<Profit Conversion Ratio 100:1. Loss Conversion Ratio 1:1>

<Settlement starting…>

<System Funds: 7,360,000 (↑2,360,000)>

<Personal Wealth: 45,256.4>

<Settlement in progress…>

<Conversion in progress…>

<System Funds: 7,360,000>

<Personal Wealth: 71,299.78 (↑23,675.8 x 110%)>

Pei Qian was speechless.

After working so hard for two months, he only managed to convert over twenty thousand yuan. That was worse than the last time.

Painful!

Seeing his pathetic Personal Wealth, Pei Qian could not help but develop another thought.

"Why not take a break? I should laze around for a week.

"The few games have been earning money during this period. Other things aside, Ocean Stronghold's monthly gross alone is an eight-figure sum. Including the profits that the official games; platform gave us, we would earn about seven to eight million each month.

"Even Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store is making money now. Although the other branches are incurring losses, they are not incurring as much loss as they were before.

"According to my calculations, if I don't do anything or casually invest in low-investment projects that offer low-reward, even if I maintain my current expenses; I could easily earn about five or six million yuan each month."

Pei Qian did not think about cutting down expenses. He could not bring himself to take away his employees' benefits for the sake of increasing his own wealth.

On the one hand, it would be utterly embarrassing. On the other hand, it would be ineffective.

Getting rid of four hundred thousand yuan worth of employee benefits would only earn him about four thousand yuan. Would he still be human if he did that?

Yet, even if he maintained his expenses, he would continue to make a profit.

"Imagine if the next settlement cycle lasted two months. If I earn five million per month, I would have earned about ten million yuan by the settlement date. Wouldn't it be more worth it than working so hard to lose money, only to convert twenty thousand yuan?"

Pei Qian suddenly felt like being a slacker was a rather decent option!

As he was considering, new messages continued to appear on the System's screen.

<Next Settlement: 120 days later.>

<System Funds will be topped up. Target amount: 8,000,000>

<Topping up 63,457.6…>

<System Funds topping up completed.>

<System Funds: 8,000,000>

<Personal Wealth: 71,299.78>

<This Week's Special Task: Making profits and incurring losses are all part and parcel of business. The owner seems to be caught up with the profit he is making. This is not the attitude a talented businessman should have. The System advises the owner to achieve a loss before the next settlement date.>

<Special Task Completion Reward: A mysterious surprise within the System's regulations.>

Pei Qian, who had just been thinking about slacking for a week, was stunned. He read the special task for this week carefully and could not hold back his desire to curse.

"System, your mama so fat!"

What the f*ck do you mean by 'the owner seems to be caught up with the profit he is making'? I've not been caught up with the profit. I don't even want to make profits. I've been trying to incur losses all along. Can you blame me for not being able to incur losses?

Alas, that was not what the System thought.

For the two most recent settlements, Pei Qian had indeed made profits. If he considered all five settlements, it was profit, profit, loss, profit, profit. If one ignored the process and only looked at the outcome, they might indeed think that Pei Qian was an owner who was caught up with profits.

Pei Qian's heart was filled with different cuss words.

The most absurd thing was the Special Task Completion Reward.

'A mysterious surprise within the System's regulations!'

The System did not make clear what it was, but the description alone made Pei Qian feel like the reward was especially valuable. It would probably make all the hard work worth it.

Up until now, the System had only been giving Pei Qian cash by converting money to his Personal Wealth on the settlement date.

However, 'a mysterious surprise within the System's regulations' left so much to his imagination.

Maybe it would be a special tool? Or maybe it would alter the conversion ratios by huge margins!

Pei Qian understood that this might well turn out to be a pit, but he could not help but jump! There was a possibility that he would get a useless 'surprise' reward once he completed the mission. Yet, what if he got something useful?

Pei Qian could not give up this 'mysterious surprise within the System's regulations' for a mere hundred thousand yuan. That would be too stupid.

After cursing for a long while, Pei Qian finally calmed down.

"Stupid System, on account of your integrity thus far, I will believe you this once."

In any case, the settlement is complete. I have a Special Task now. I'll leave the unhappy events of the past week behind me.

In order to complete this Special Task, Pei Qian quickly regained his composure. He had to think of more ways to incur losses.

However, the good news was that the settlement cycle was longer this time. Last time, it lasted two months. This time, it was going to last four months. In four months, Pei Qian could probably show his true worth. He could do things that he had no time to do in the last cycle.