Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Lin Wan sat in the guest room sipping tea offered by Assistant Xin.

Ah, how nostalgic.

That was the taste of home…

How long has it been since she had such good tea? Probably half a year at least…?

Lin Wan was in her final year of university and it would take her another half a year before graduating. However, she had already spent half a year interning at Sun Strike Studios as well.

When Lin Wan made her decision to enter the gaming industry while she was schooling, she had many arguments with her father with everything escalating during the summer of her third year.

With that, she decided to run away from home in a huff to do her internship in Sun Strike Studios.

Thereafter, Lin Wan led a really frugal life. All the branded bags and clothes she could afford in the past were now only accessible to her after saving up.

She had not managed to taste the same tea at home outside either.

This was the first time that Lin Wan had the feeling of home in a long time.

Instantly, her fondness for Tengda rose rapidly!

This was Lin Wan's first time visiting Jingzhou City and when she debarked from the plane, she was slightly disappointed.

This was a second tier city after all and could not be compared to the glamor of a first tier city like Guangzhou.

However, her disappointment was replaced with admiration and elation upon entering Shenhua View!

When she saw the working environment and the attitude of all the employees, she decided that this was the feeling she wanted!

If she had seen a glimpse of the idealist light illuminating from Pei Qian previously, she was bathing in it at this place!

Assistant Xin knocked and entered, holding a contract.

"Congratulations! Boss Pei has agreed to it! Once you sign this contract, you'll officially be an employee of Tengda! The starting salary will be at 4,000. Are you alright with it?"

Lin Wan stood up hurriedly. "Of course!"

She took the contract over and browsed through it casually before signing her name.

"So, what will my job be?" Lin Wan asked in anticipation.

Assistant Xin gave it a thought. "Your job… hmms, come and join our cohesion activity at 2pm tomorrow. We'll go for a movie, have a meal and go for karaoke!"

"Huh?" Lin Wan was stumped.

…

…

Friday afternoon.

Pei Qian who had disappeared for his final exams finally showed his face once more in office. This was because Ocean Stronghold was planned to be uploaded onto the official games platform this week based on the original schedule.

The settlement was due two weeks later because Pei Qian left himself some room for error.

When he had decided on the project, he was worried that his slack employees might be too slow such that the game might be delayed. That was why he pushed the deadline ahead by a week so that they would have breathing room.

Today was the day for him to reap the fruits of his labor.

He went to Huang Sibo straight after arriving at the office.

"Boss Pei!" Huang Sibo looked spirited and seemed to have turned handsomer.

The two months spent in Tengda had caused Huang Sibo's income to rise along with his resting time. As such, his mood was considerably lifted too.

That was why he no longer looked as lethargic as before and was even filled with energy!

Winter had arrived and Huang Sibo had just bought a few coats for the weather just the week before.

Considering the fact that he had more spare cash now and he was working at a place like Shenhua View, Huang Sibo decided to get a decent outfit and thus, he spent more than a thousand on a casual-looking suit. Now, he looked more like a slightly successful professional.

"How's the progress of Ocean Stronghold? Do we need a week's extension?" Pei Qian asked.

Huang Sibo shook his head furiously. "No! Don't worry, Boss Pei, we've already tested it repeatedly and fixed all the bugs we found. The game can be uploaded at any time!"

"Hmms, not bad," Pei Qian nodded his head but there was no joy in his face.

Huang Sibo's bravado had Pei Qian feeling nervous!

Could the game have been completed with its quality intact?!

But, when he thought about Huang Sibo and Bao Xu's past experience as well as the three requirements he set for the game…

He felt that even if the game was successfully created, there was no way it could possibly earn money.

"Do you want to give it a test play?" Huang Sibo asked.

"There's no need for that," Pei Qian thought for a moment. "Show me the game's story mode and epic equipment."

Pei Qian was clear that more than half of Ocean Stronghold was trash and there was nothing fun about it.

Having to eat the poo he created made no sense to him.

However, to ensure that the game could lose money, Pei Qian decided that he should still check briefly if the game had followed his ideology strictly.

Did they dedicate their efforts in creating the story mode?

Was there an 888 Red Kilin item for the game?

Those were what mattered to Pei Qian.

Huang Sibo nodded his head. "Sure thing, Boss Pei. Let me show it to you."

He turned on Ocean Stronghold on his computer and started introducing the game to Pei Qian.

"This is our story mode where the gamers will have to climb up the stronghold from the lowest level. The entire story lasts around 6 hours and is split into three different scenes. The main aim of the game is to kill zombies, defeat the mercenaries as well as some simple puzzle elements…"

"This is the market system."

This is the epic weapon, Rainbow Red Kilin, that we're going to introduce during the launch month. As you've mentioned, the permanent use pass will be sold at 888. We're in the development of more epic weapons and we intend to launch a new set every two to three months."

Pei Qian listened to Huang Sibo's explanation, frowning and nodding at times.

He frowned because he saw the actual gameplay content of Ocean Stronghold.

It was a little different from what he had imagined!

He had initially thought that it would have graphics similar to Crossfire. However, it was much more detailed with better graphics!

Be it the characters, guns, settings or game UI, all of it was brand new. Even though it couldn't be compared to the top end overseas AAA games, it was not that far apart either.

Pei Qian was initially angry and wanted to question Huang Sibo about why he made the game so beautiful.

'Don't you know that such a beautiful game is going to kill us?'

But he suddenly recalled that he was the one who had caused it…

'Oh, that's fine then.'

Back then, Huang Sibo came to look for Pei Qian with a procurement list with a budget of 60,000. However, Pei Qian asked him to double it without even looking at it.

The money was indeed spent.

However, that meant that the quality of the art resources purchased had increased too!

When he saw how beautiful the game looked, he felt nervous once more.

Most importantly, he could not get mad at Huang Sibo as well since he was the one who requested for the latter to purchase such beautiful resources.

But when he heard Huang Sibo's continued explanation, Pei Qian felt more comforted.

Thankfully, they had wasted time on creating the useless story mode. Killing zombies and defeating mercenaries? That sounded boring right away.

The 888 yuan Red Kilin was created as well and that was the only gun available in the marketplace with nothing priced lower.

They were most likely going to be flamed by the gamers but Pei Qian was mentally prepared for it as long as they could lose money!

Old Ma was getting flamed by gamers everyday as well but it wasn't as though he did not dare to take public transport thereafter?

Furthermore, Pei Qian had already checked and knew that Sun Strike Studios' Bullet Hole was going to be launched at around the same date. That was why he wanted Ocean Stronghold to clash with it so that they could stand to lose!

With such a strong competitor, what was the use of making Ocean Stronghold a great game?

They would definitely be crushed bitterly by the other party!

"Boss Pei, there's still some other modes for the game. Should I introduce them to you too?" Huang Sibo asked.

Pei Qian shook his head. "It's fine! Let's just send it to the official platform for vetting. It's been rough on you guys through the long development process! Prepare yourselves for some fun this afternoon! We'll go have a movie and a great meal!"