Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

February 8th, Wednesday…

Min Jingchao, Ye Zhizhou, and the FV Club set off for Shanghai Airport. Once again, they flew straight to Los Angeles to make up for their holiday.

Everyone took the time to settle their work before they left.

This was especially so for Min Jingchao. He had followed Boss Pei's instructions yesterday and quickly asked his designer to change the hero character of 'Mission and Choice' and GOG from Qin Yi to 'Skylark warrior'. He had changed it from a specific character to a symbolic and broader character.

On the other hand, Ye Zhizhou was working with Wang Xiaobin to come up with a design plan for the smart fitness drying rack.

Zhou Pengyuan was the coach of DGE Club. He assigned training tasks to the new batch of DGE members before he left. The daily training competition and high-end Rank had to continue. When he returned from Los Angeles, he had to check on the members who had not completed their training.

The others had also handed over their work to their colleagues, making sure that they could put down their work and take time off when they returned to Los Angeles.

Of course, the members of FV Club did not have much work to hand over. They were still basking in the joy of winning the championship.

The fame of FV Club and its members had skyrocketed. As the boss of the club, Wu Yue had been talking to various live-stream contracts and business representatives until he was a little annoyed. He could take this opportunity to go to Los Angeles for a few days to change his mood.

The group left Jingzhou happily and headed to Shanghai.

The only one who did not fit in amongst them was Bao Xu.

He had just finished spending the five-day holiday for the annual meeting. It had only been a few hours since he returned to Jingzhou, but he had already packed his luggage, ready to set off.

Everyone was discussing their trip to the United States in high spirits on the high-speed rail to Shanghai. Only Bao Xu was slumped in his seat, looking at the retreating scene outside the high-speed rail car with a blank expression.

…

At the same time, Cui Geng stepped out of the high-speed rail in Jingzhou. He hailed a taxi and headed for Zhongdian Chinese Network's study class.

Cui Geng sighed, feeling an inexplicable sense of melancholy looking at the familiar city scenery outside the window.

"How can I be filled with motivation in my life?"

Cui Geng asked a soul-stirring question.

At that moment, he actually had three identities: a second generation heir, the top author of Zhongdian Chinese Network, and the special observer of Tengda Corporation.

All three identities had one common characteristic, which was that they severely weakened his motivation to work hard. When all three of them were added together, it made him maintain a state of 'intermittent complacency, continuous eating and waiting for death'.

Whenever he finally managed to perk himself up and wanted to work hard, he would lose his fighting spirit in two days.

Cui Geng had been running back and forth between his hometown and Jingzhou.

It was not that he liked the life of businessmen. It was mainly because he felt that if he stayed in the same environment for too long, he would easily become lazy. Changing an environment could motivate him to work hard again.

Even just three minutes of heat was better than a pool of stagnant water.

However, the results were minimal.

What made things worse was that The Butterfly Game had been completed a while ago.

The good news was that the book was completed normally and did not have a bad ending. Even though the last part was written very quickly, it still reached nearly three million words. It gave a conclusion that satisfied most readers.

This was a historic breakthrough for Cui Geng. It was also a touching thing for readers who had been left hanging by him countless times.

The bad news was that all of his previous inspirations had basically been used up. He had written several new opening chapters, but he felt completely dissatisfied after reading them a few times. Thus, he had deleted all of them. He had not started any new books until today.

That made Cui Geng feel like his creativity had reached an awkward position. His passion for creativity was deteriorating.

Of course, apart from the identity of the second-generation heirs and web novelist, Cui Geng also had another identity - he was a special observer of Tengda Corporation.

This special observer identity allowed him to gather a lot of material for The Butterfly Game. He also helped the HR department's Wu Bin to organize the annotated version of the Tengda Spirit Manual.

However, Cui Geng knew very well that he was just an ordinary web novel author. He did not understand business or management. Thus, he would only occasionally go to Tengda's various departments to collect materials. He never had guided the insiders or affected the work of Tengda's various departments as an outsider.

Thus, his identity as a 'special observer' only gave him a free pass to enter and leave Tengda Corporation's various departments.

Cui Geng had been cooped up in Zhongdian Chinese Network's class for a long time some time ago, but he had not been able to come up with anything. His new book was still nowhere in sight.

Thus, Cui Geng went home for a few days during Chinese New Year. He slept in and read novels every day, completely forgetting about his new book.

However, a few days after the new year, Cui Geng received news from Zhu Xingan that Zhongdian Chinese Network was going to hold an "inspiration class".

What's more, he had invited Cui Geng warmly, asking him if he was willing to be bought out. He had also said that Boss Pei was very concerned about this matter and wanted to give Cui Geng priority.

Cui Geng was naturally unhappy when he heard about the fixed-rate contract.

I am a top author who is not in need of money. I have my own goals in writing novels!

At the moment, the online literature industry had developed for a certain period of time. Fixed-rate Contracts and Royalty Contracts had been around for some time.

The authors had long come to a consensus: Apart from a very small number of authors who could continue to write well and achieve a win-win situation, most authors who wrote well either lost or were in a bad state.

The authors with fixed-rate contracts might have written some explosive works but the fixed-rate contract meant that other than the fixed royalties, all the profits had nothing to do with him. It was a very bad loss to the authors. On the other hand, in order not to lose money, some authors did not use 100% of their ability to write. In the end, they became less and less able to keep up with the trends. The storyline collapsed and they became useless. No one would read them even if they were to go back to the royalties contract.

Therefore, Cui Geng's first reaction when he heard that he was invited to a fixed-rate contract was to reject it.

However, Cui Geng realized that Zhongdian Chinese Network's fixed-rate contracts were very different from other websites' after Zhu Xingan's explanation. They were completely different.

The biggest difference was that the word count was low and the price was high!

Take Cui Geng for example. The other websites would only be able to pay a little higher than his current royalties if they were to poach him. Cui Geng was already the top author of Zhongdian Chinese Network after all. His royalties were already very high. There was not much room for improvement beyond that. It would be too risky for the other websites if they tried to poach him. The loss outweighed the gain.

However, Zhongdian Chinese Network had requested for the works to be between 100,000 and 500,000 words. It could not exceed 500,000 words. What's more, the 1,000 words royalties that Zhongdian Chinese Network offered were three times more than his original royalties!

What's more, he would be given priority to experience the 'inspiration class' after adopting this fixed-rate contract.

Cui Geng did not know what the "inspiration class" was exactly but the "study class" had an immediate effect on his creation. It had helped him evolve from a glutton to a serious author who could finish the book normally and write new ideas.

Could this "inspiration class" save his exhausted inspiration?

Cui Geng was very curious.

Cui Geng came to Jingzhou again out of mixed feelings.

…

Soon, the taxi arrived at its destination.

The "inspiration class" this time was on the same office building as the original "study class" but on different floors.

The previous "study class" had been very successful. It had been held many times and the scale had gradually expanded. At first, there was only one room. Now, it has expanded to three rooms.

Even so, Zhongdian Chinese Network's authors were still eagerly participating. The number of applicants was always full, and the editors had to choose carefully.

There were even fewer slots for the "inspiration class". What's more, only the top writers of Zhongdian Chinese Network could participate.

Cui Geng deposited his luggage in the hotel with familiarity and headed straight for the inspiration class once he arrived at his destination.

While the "Inspiration Class" would only be officially opened tomorrow, Cui Geng had been to the class many times after all. He was very familiar with the place and could easily locate it.

Cui Geng saw a few familiar-looking editors packing up when he arrived at the floor where the "inspiration class" was to be held .

The editors were already very familiar with Cui Geng. After greeting him, they allowed him to enter the "inspiration class" area to watch freely.

Cui Geng's first thought was that the space was too big!

They might be in the same office building but the "study class" and "inspiration class" were on different floors and occupied different areas.

The "inspiration class" was only one-fifth of the number of people in the "study class", but it occupied more than twice the area of the "study class"!

On a closer look, the equipment in the "inspiration class" was completely different from the study class.

Standard computer tables and chairs were inside the "study class". At first glance, they looked similar to internet cafes or computer rooms. However, the chairs were actually ergonomic chairs. The height of the tables had also been specially adjusted. It was all to allow authors to have a more comfortable writing experience.

However, there were no ergonomic chairs in the "inspiration class". Instead, there was a single-person sofa from a famous foreign brand!

The common point of the ergonomic chairs was that they were all in line with the science of ergonomics compared to such a single-person sofa. They would not feel tired even if they sat for a long time. Compared to the other chairs, the impact on one's health was relatively small.

Of course, no matter how good the ergonomics engineering was, one would still feel tired after sitting for a long time. They would have to get up and move around every once in a while. However, at the very least, it was in line with ergonomics that would reduce the burden on the body.

The difference between the two was that the usage of the ergonomic chair was in an office while the use of the single-person sofa was for leisure.

In order to give customers the best viewing experience, many high-end VIP seats in the movie theaters also used high-end single-person sofas. The armchairs could be adjusted by electricity, it was very comfortable be it sitting, lying down, or sitting cross-legged.

Since there were no office chairs, there was no need for a desk. There was a television cabinet on the opposite side of the single-person sofa. On top of it was a high-end OLD television supported by a scaffold.

OLD TV was the latest technology in recent years. It was much smaller than traditional television, but it was priced at at least tens of thousands of yuan. The reason it was so expensive was mainly because OLD TV had an extremely low screen response time of about one millisecond. There was almost no lag. It could achieve a pixel level of light control and there was an almost unlimited amount of comparison. Therefore, HDR's effects were better. At the same time, its color was pure, and its natural color was high… In short, its quality performance in most aspects surpassed traditional television. It could achieve better results when watching movies and playing games.

Of course, the refresh rate of this television was much lower when compared to the equally expensive E-Sports monitors. However, the television in the "inspiration class" was mainly used to watch movies and play games on the main computer, so the requirement for the refresh rate was not that high. The size of the screen was more important.

It might be smaller than traditional television in terms of size, but it was one for each person after all. It was to be watched at a closer distance, so it was the best choice for viewing the movie based on its size and quality.

There were ROF computers, game consoles, and various high-definition blue light discs on the television cabinet. There were also many blue light discs and novels on the bookshelf behind the wall.

There was a high-end earphone, mouse and keyboard, and a small folding table beside the single-person sofa.

In addition, there was a reading light beside each person's sofa. They could choose to turn it on or not. They could also read books when they were tired from watching movies.

Cui Geng was a little surprised. He asked the editor, "Wouldn't you feel uncomfortable writing here?"

While it was very comfortable and suitable to watch videos and play games while sitting on a single-person sofa, it might not be the same for writing.

The single-person sofa was not meant for writing after all.

The editor explained, "Oh, that keypad is for you to deal with emergencies like typing to search for a film and to record inspiration at any time."

"Go to the work area over there if you really want to create something."

Cui Geng turned around and realized that there was another office area next to him with standard desks, ergonomic chairs and mechanical keyboards. It was completely separated from this area.

Obviously, the purpose of this relaxation area was to make the authors focus on watching movies and collecting inspiration materials.

It was obvious that there would not be a program like the 'little black room' that forced him to write his story every day since they had arranged it this way.

The editor explained, "There's also a large-scale sound studio over there. The entire room is soundproof. A cinema-level projector and sound system can be used according to the requirements."

"You can go there to watch a complete movie if you want to achieve the best viewing effect. If you only want to collect materials and don't have many requirements for the quality of the pictures or if you want to skip and watch, you can do it in your own seat."

Cui Geng could not help but be shocked as he listened to the editor's introduction.

Could this be… heaven?