Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

An announcement was posted on Zhongdian Chinese Network, Repent and be Saved's details page, and Tengda Games' official Weibo at almost the same time. Soon, they caught the attention of many players.

"Eh? Repent and be Saved's developers are working together with a small online novel website?"

"Isn't that the website which published Repent and be Saved's official novel?"

"The rewards for this combined event are so awesome! Not only can we get unimpeded access to the novel website, but we can also get rewards in-game items."

"Look-Changing Pills? They can change the characters' looks? Holy sh*t, don't stop me, I'm going to get them for sure!"

"The accounts have been linked? That's great; we won't have to register for a new account."

"I've been keeping up with this website. The books were trash in the beginning, but their more recent novels look quite good. They're not far off compared to the elite novels you find on Infinite Chinese Network. You can read them when you have nothing better to do."

"For the sake of the Look-Changing Pills, let's go!"

Everyone seemed quite excited.

At the end of the day, one had to admit that the rewards were well-chosen!

The protagonist in Repent and be Saved was just an ordinary man. At the moment, players could not customize their characters. After all, Pei Qian had been trying his best to deter sight-seers from the game back then.

That made being able to change their characters' looks that much more important to players!

There were several NPCs in the game—especially female ones—who looked quite similar to the protagonist.

Once players heard that they could turn their character into a female, they became more excited!

Of course, given the game's theme and design, female NPCs could not look that attractive. They were worlds apart from adult games, which prioritized the characters' looks.

Still, players of Repent and be Saved would be used to seeing monsters and corpses thanks to the game's background story. Any female NPC would look outstanding and attractive against such a backdrop.

Thus, hoards of players logged onto Zhongdian Chinese Network to finish their tasks, in hopes that they would obtain Look-Changing Pills at the end of the seven-day period.

They did not even have to spend money on an item like that—all they had to do was log in for seven days in a row. It would be an absolute waste if they gave it up!

At the same time, Zhongdian Chinese Network released a bunch of elite novels.

Under the editors' tireless guidance, there were bound to be a few lousy authors who would achieve breakthroughs and produce pretty good novels.

Based on the backend figures, Ma Yiqun picked out these good seedlings and topped up their remuneration using the sum of money that Boss Pei had transferred to him. The payment that these authors received was comparable to what they would earn if they had written for other large websites; thus, they became very motivated.

Many authors began to update their novels quicker during the event period, causing readers to become hooked more easily.

Thus, Zhongdian Chinese Network had both the right quality of novels and the right number of readers. A virtuous cycle had been established!

Many gamers who had been reading novels on Infinite Chinese Network were happy to add another novel website to their list. They could read different novels on each site concurrently.

With the revenue earned from readers, the website would no longer need to rely on Boss Pei for subsidies in the future. Slowly, it would be able to turn losses into profit.

As Ma Yiqun watched the backend figures on the website increase, he felt pleased and comforted.

"I'll report this good news to Boss Pei!"

Ma Yiqun dialed Boss Pei's number, feeling increasingly proud of himself.

"Hello…?"

Boss Pei's voice sounded very nasal over the phone.

Ma Yiqun paused. "Boss Pei, do you have the flu? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be disturbing you now."

Every Tengda employee was extremely concerned about Boss Pei's health. After all, he was like a mentor to all of them.

Pei Qian answered, "It's no big deal. Is there trouble with the website? Quick, tell me."

Ma Yiqun was not sure if he was just imagining things, but there always seemed to be a hint of hopefulness in Boss Pei's voice.

Did he hope that there would be trouble with the website?

That's impossible. Boss Pei must sound like that because he's sick. I must be hearing things.

Ma Yiqun could not help but grin. "Boss Pei, I have some good news!

"Starting next month, you won't have to provide so much money to top up our authors' remuneration! At the end of this month, I intend to return a portion of the money you transferred to me as well. In three or four months, Zhongdian Chinese Network might become self-sufficient!"

Boss Pei remained silent for a long time before he responded. "Huh?"

Ma Yiqun continued, "Boss Pei, you've directed a huge amount of traffic to Zhongdian Chinese Network through Repent and be Saved. It's proving effective!

"We saw many gamers visiting Zhongdian Chinese Network during this period. It made our website much more popular than it was.

"Thus, I thought about organizing a combined event with Li Yada. It looks like we're seeing some results!

"There's been an increase in the number of registered users and active users on the website. On top of that, more readers seem to be following various novels. This means that gamers are not just visiting Zhongdian Chinese Network to browse through the official novel. They're staying behind and reading other novels on our site!

"With the revenue generated by these readers, the website would probably earn much more during this period. That's why I don't think we'll need to spend as much money to top up our authors' remuneration.

"That's also why I'm thinking about returning a portion of the money you transferred to me. That way, we can spend the money more meaningfully…"

Before Ma Yiqun could finish speaking, Boss Pei turned his suggestion down.

"There's no need! Don't do that!"

Ma Yiqun was confused. "Huh?"

Pei Qian cleared his throat, trying to calm himself down. "The money is not important. Repent and be Saved is selling so well; why are you still worried that Tengda would lack funds?

"In any case, the money would be better spent on Zhongdian Chinese Network!

"What stage are we at now? We're only seeing signs that our losses could be turned into profits. We're still a long way from becoming giants in the online literature industry, like Infinite Chinese Network!

"Keep the money and don't transfer it back.

"No matter what, you have to think of ways to spend all that money this month! Shouldn't we be giving our new readers some benefits?

"Shouldn't we give our authors a greater bonus, given that they've been working so hard over the past few months purely for the sake of their passion?

"Our employees have been working extremely hard as well. Shouldn't we organize some team-building events and bring everybody closer?

"We could also look for more programs and improve our website and mobile application. Are our server and bandwidth still good enough now that we have so many new readers? Otherwise, spend money to upgrade them.

"There are still so many avenues to spend money. Why are you always thinking about holding back and saving on capital? It's not your own money that you'll be spending; don't be so stingy.

"Spend as much as you want! If you don't have enough money, ask me for more!"

Ma Yiqun felt ashamed upon hearing Boss Pei's words.

He was such a letdown!

Ma Yiqun had only thought about turning the website's losses into profits and saving money for Boss Pei.

After all, the website had been burning money on the editors' salaries, the website's operating expenses, the authors' remuneration, and the like for the past couple of months

This made Ma Yiqun deeply uncomfortable. He couldn't stop thinking about how to earn all that money back for Boss Pei.

Now, Boss Pei's words had shaken him awake.

It was important to generate profits, but the website's development was even more important!

Zhongdian Chinese Network was one part of Boss Pei's larger plan. It was still considered small-scale at the moment. Even if Ma Yiqun could turn the losses into profit, the website would probably only generate a small profit. One could not compare Zhongdian Chinese Network to a giant like Infinite Chinese Network.

Tengda Games was already way ahead of Zhongdian Chinese Network. It was almost as if that latter was the younger sibling, trailing behind the older sibling and copying everything it did.

At a time like that, the younger sibling should be thinking about sharing the older sibling's burdens and maturing as quickly as possible.

Ma Yiqun was deeply moved, not only because Boss Pei seemed to already have a bright plan for Zhongdian Chinese Network's future, but more so because he seemed to trust Ma Yiqun a lot as well!

"Alright, Boss Pei. I'll spend the money on developing the website. Don't worry!"

…

After hanging up, Pei Qian silently switched on his laptop to study Zhongdian Chinese Network's situation.

Although he could not see the backend figures, there was another way to check how popular the website was.

He could click on a random novel on the homepage and browse the comments section.

Before this, the comments sections had either been cold and deserted or filled with criticism. Either way, they always looked tragic.

However, the situation was different now. Pei Qian clicked on various books on the homepage, and all their comments sections looked normal!

Some rushed authors to update more regularly, some gave positive feedback, and some discussed the plots.

It was also obvious that more people were recommending, voting for, and saving all of these novels.

This was not the case for just one or two novels but for nearly all the novels on the homepage!

Pei Qian knew very well that Zhongdian Chinese Network was not faking these figures. In fact, it would remove any novel with artificially-boosted figures from its recommendation spots immediately. There was no way that such novels would remain on the website's home page.

In other words, all the figures Pei Qian was seeing for the novels on the homepage were real! They were becoming more popular among readers!

That was not the worst part.

To Pei Qian's surprise, the novels on the homepage were much better than before, in terms of content, rhythm, and language.

Pei Qian had read several novels on Zhongdian Chinese Network before. Basically, all of them were some of the lousiest novels he had ever read. He could never decipher the plot. They were the kinds of novels that ordinary people would give up on after one or two chapters.

However, the novels he was reading now looked like something else!

Their titles and synopses were much more attractive. They also had a better pace and more satisfying storylines.

All in all, the novels were more tasteful!

It was no wonder that the figures were improving.

The higher traffic was only part of the problem. The root of the problem was that the books were getting better. That was why the readers were sticking around.

Of course, the books were not that great either. At best, they could be considered top-tier books on Infinite Chinese Network. Still, they were very readable.

"What's happening?"

Pei Qian frowned after discovering the problem.

I thought Ma Yiqun didn't understand online literature.

After all, every single novel he released failed. Clearly, he deeply misunderstands the world of online literature. If that's true, the editors he trained should be equally clueless. If all the editors in Zhongdian Chinese Network do not understand online literature…

How did they decide to place these better-than-average novels on the home page? Did they base their decision on the backend figures?

Hmm, that seems possible…

Pei Qian was beginning to suspect that he had misunderstood Ma Yiqun's true standard.

However, on further thought, he realized that the readers were the greatest decision-makers. Although Zhongdian Chinese Network did not have that many readers yet, their choices were still dependable.

Ma Yiqun did not have to read every single book. He only had to pick out the books with better backend figures and place them on the recommended list.

"Forget it, forget it. I'll stop thinking about these things.

"Settlement is right around the corner. Zhongdian Chinese Network just has to finish spending that sum of money on my behalf. I don't have any more energy to look into these details."

Pei Qian tossed his phone towards his bed and went into ostrich mode.

He did not want to be bothered by anyone now. He just needed each business to spend all the additional money they had earned to ease the pressure off of himself.

He was just about to take an afternoon nap when his cell phone rang again. He picked it up and saw that it was Assistant Xin.

"Boss Pei, the official platform wants an exclusive interview with you to find out about your thought process behind the creation of your games."

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment. "…I'm very busy now. Can I turn them down?"