Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

There were twenty-odd workspaces in the huge space, making the office look like an internet cafe.

At the moment, Ma Yang, He Desheng, and other newly-recruited odd-job workers were deeply engrossed in their computer screens, clicking and tapping away at their mouses and keyboards. It was obvious that they were in the middle of a war.

When he saw this scene, Pei Qian was practically moved to tears.

Hear, hear! What have I been saying? My brother is the most reliable!

If everyone worked like Old Ma did, what would Pei Qian have to worry about?

Pei Qian quietly moved behind Ma Yang to observe the game.

The game was already nearing its end. At once, Pei Qian noticed that Old Ma's <anno data-annotation-id="00a578c7-9b5b-45e4-9b47-94214315f752">KDA</anno> ratio was 10-0-2.

After Old Ma dealt a final, normal attack; the enemy's base exploded. The word 'victory' appeared on the screen.

It was then that Ma Yang realized Pei Qian had been standing behind him.

"Eh, Brother Qian, you're here!

"We were too engrossed in the game and didn't notice you. I had to carry my teammates after all. Come on, come on. Let me introduce you to our newly-recruited employees."

Everyone apart from Ma Yang looked at Pei Qian uncomfortably.

Although many of them had never met Pei Qian, they could tell from Boss Ma's reaction that he was the boss of Tengda Corporation. That meant he was one level higher than Boss Ma.

They had just been caught spending working hours playing games with their big boss. Naturally, they felt uncomfortable.

However, when they saw the grin on Boss Pei's face and how he did not seem bothered, they heaved a sigh of relief.

Ma Yang immediately began introducing them to Pei Qian.

"This is Little Zhou, who has 1780 points in Gods Rising.

"This is Old Li, who has 1730 points in Gods Rising.

"This is…"

Ma Yang introduced the remaining nine people in the game. It was then that Pei Qian realized every single one of them was like He Desheng. None of them had less than 1700 points in Gods Rising, and the highest among them had 1860 points. They only had a little way to go before they could be considered professionals!

Now, Pei Qian finally understood why he had seen what he never expected to see earlier.

How did Ma Yang, who always had a KDA ratio of 0-3-0, suddenly become impressive enough to carry the team?

The nine other people he had been playing with were all his employees. It must have been so hard on the other nine people who had an average of 1800 points on the platform.

Those on Old Ma's side had to beat the enemies until they were more or less dead before letting Old Ma deal the finishing blow.

On the other hand, Old Ma's opponents had to kill Old Ma's teammates one by one to keep the balance and suspense in the game. At the same time, whenever Old Ma came for them, they had to try to put up some sort of defense in order to and let Old Ma have some fun.

As for why Old Ma didn't die…

Nonsense—who would have dared to kill him?!

That would be akin to making a slam dunk over the old boss while playing company basketball.

Pei Qian had no doubt in his mind that Old Ma only had two assists because his teammates had slipped up.

After Ma Yang finished introducing the new employees, Pei Qian very respectfully greeted them.

"Thank you for your hard work! We will go to Ming Yun Private Kitchen for a feast this Saturday!"

Pei Qian could not help but feel sorry for them. Life was not easy.

They had studied so hard to do well in the investment industry and make a living. Yet, they ended up playing supporting roles in someone else's game. What's more, that someone was incredibly lousy at the game.

Nine of them had to play games with Old Ma and even make sure that he enjoyed it. How could Pei Qian live with his conscience if he shortchanged them?

He had to compensate them for the mental torture they suffered!

Hearing that they were going to be treated to a feast for no reason, Old Ma's team of supporting players looked excited and puzzled.

At the same time, they looked at Boss Ma with newfound respect. They had already known Boss Ma and Boss Pei were close, but they did not think they would be this close!

After all, Boss Ma was playing games with his employees every day. Yet, Boss Pei did not even seem bothered. How much trust did Boss Pei have in him?!

Ma Yang tugged at Pei Qian's sleeve. "Brother Qian, do you want to play one game? Come, come. You have to experience fighting players with 1800 points.

"I know this now. I'm stuck at 1100 points not because I'm lousy… but because my teammates have been lousy!

"Playing with professionals is much more fun than playing with newbies!"

Pei Qian was speechless. "…"

Old Ma, you really have no self-awareness whatsoever…

If you had been playing with them as someone other than the CEO of Dream Realization Ventures, you would have been tortured so badly that your computer would be smashed by now…

Still, seeing how happy Ma Yang was to live in his imaginary world, Pei Qian could not bear to expose him to the truth. He could only turn him down, saying, "It's alright. I have work to do. Next time, for sure.

"Er… Old Ma, how are you doing with the twenty million yuan I gave you? How much have you spent?

"I came to remind you once again that you must not hesitate to invest the money. Spend it when you must. The smaller your investment, the smaller your returns; the larger your investment, the larger your returns, understand?"

Ma Yang nodded excitedly. "Don't worry, Brother Qian. I've already spent all twenty million yuan!"

Pei Qian paused, evidently surprised. "Huh? You've spent it all? You've spent all twenty million yuan?"

Ma Yang nodded. "That's right. I only started playing games after finishing my work. Why else would such a professional person like me play games during office hours?"

Pei Qian blinked, feeling confused.

Although this was the outcome he had hoped for, he was still deeply shocked to find out that Old Ma had spent twenty million yuan without hesitation.

Once again, this confirmed that Old Ma was his trusty right-hand man!

Pei Qian's expression went from bewilderment to elation. Old Ma was burning money so quickly. He did not have to fear even if the company continued to generate more profits.

"Tell me, what did you invest the money in?" Pei Qian was brimming with excitement.

Ma Yang giggled and opened a report on his computer. "This is the company I invested in! It's called Finger Games.

"My first thought was to buy Gods Rising when I got the money. However, there was no way I could do that. I could not find the game's creator.

"Also, I heard that the creator is in the midst of discussions with game giants in the West. Of course, our twenty million yuan would be peanuts to him.

"That's why I instructed He Desheng and the others to look around. That's when they found Finger Games, which is currently developing a similar game called Imagine of Infinity, or IOI for short. They're lacking funds at the moment and were looking for investors. I made it just in time!

"They needed eight million US dollars in total. I did my calculations and converted the twenty million yuan into about 2.8 million US dollars. With that, I bought about twenty percent of the company's shares, as well as the right to be their exclusive agent in the country.

"Although that's useless for now, the company allowed us to be their exclusive agent for free. I thought that it would be a waste to turn it down. Even if we realize we don't need those rights in the future, we can still transfer them, right?

"Eh? Brother Qian, why do you look so pale?

"Quick, quick! Bring a chair over!"

He Desheng quickly swiftly moved one of the office chairs beside him over, so that Boss Pei could sit down.

Pei Qian felt slightly dizzy. He never thought that the first stab in the back in this cycle would be from his trusted brother!

Pei Qian was not prepared to be stabbed in the back like that.

Wasn't it common practice to only stab him in the back when settlement was near? This cycle had just begun!

Still feeling incredulous, Pei Qian asked, "Don't you… need to apply for relevant permission before making overseas investments?"

He Desheng explained, "Boss Pei, you do need to apply for permission. However, the review process would be especially long for investments worth more than a hundred million US dollars.

"We only invested about two million US dollars, and so it's not considered a huge project. We only needed to complete the paperwork in Jingzhou. Fu Hui Investments made overseas investments before as well. That's why we're quite familiar with the procedures. We got approval quite quickly.

"Also, we were buying shares and not property. That's why the transaction was much quicker.

"Of course, we have to follow up with some more paperwork. That will still take us some time."

Finished.

Pei Qian turned to Ma Yang listlessly. "Why… why did you choose this company?"

Ma Yang smiled. "Brother Qian, didn't you tell me to invest in whatever I liked? You know that there are not many things I like."

Pei Qian was speechless. "…"

There was a huge problem.

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="00a578c7-9b5b-45e4-9b47-94214315f752">This stands for Kill-Death-Assist.</li></ol></annotations>",