Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

After all, there was nothing much he could do for the game now. He had to spend the extra money earned as quickly as he could.

Upwind Logistics was progressing quite smoothly. Lu Mingliang was working quickly to recruit employees and open the new courier stations. Lu Mingliang had always been reliable, and Pei Qian never had to worry about him. However, at a critical moment like that, Pei Qian decided it was better to personally oversee the progress.

He was busy, but he could not help it. He had to endure this, at least until after settlement.

While in the car, Pei Qian’s phone rang. He glanced at it and saw that it was Li Yada. His heart thudded.

Don’t tell me that something went wrong with Repent and be Saved. Don’t mess with me! I’m trying my best to solve all these problems already. Don’t create any more problems for me!

He quickly answered the phone.

“Boss Pei, do you want to create an English version of Repent and be Saved?

“There are many foreigners leaving comments under our game, hoping that we’ll produce an English version.

“What’s more, we might be able to venture into overseas markets. Haven’t the officials been pushing local game developers to move overseas and glorify our traditional Chinese culture…?”

When Pei Qian heard this, his heart began to race. Immediately, he replied, “Let’s not rush to do that!”

Create an English version? That would kill me!

Pei Qian knew very well that the first of the Dark Souls series had become popular in the West. The Westerners loved being tortured by difficult games like that.

Wouldn’t he be shooting himself in the foot if he created an English version of Repent and be Saved?

Of course, he was not completely brushing off that idea. However, they were already at a crucial juncture in the cycle. Even if he wanted to earn money, he could not do it now!

He had less than a month to settlement. Pei Qian was rushing to open more internet cafes and Upwind Courier stations, in the hopes that he would be able to incur a loss. If he could lose hundreds of thousands of yuannot only would his own pockets be full, but he would also receive the System’s special reward.

If he released an English version of the game in the overseas market at a time like that, wouldn’t he be screwing everything up?

It was true that he would need to spend money translating the game in order to create an English version. However, it would not be a huge sum.

Written translation was a very respectable job in the West, but in China, written translation was worth far less than simultaneous interpretation and real-time translation in business meetings. One could say that it cost as much as vegetables in a market. A thousand words could be translated for a mere three or four hundred yuan. That meant that Pei Qian would only spend tens of thousands of yuan to get a written translation of Repent and be Saved, which only had hundreds of thousands of words.

Would it be worth it for Boss Pei to spend that little money?

Even if he hired a famous translator, he would only be able to spend over a hundred thousand yuan at most. Compared to the income that an English version of the game would generate, this was negligible. It would not be worth it at all.

If Pei Qian said yes to Li Yada’s suggestiongiven the latter’s efficiency, she would probably find suitable written translators within two days. Each translator could translate a separate portion of the game. The job would be done in no time.

Settlement was right around the corner; Pei Qian could not afford such a mess-up!

Thus, Pei Qian turned her down. Even if he wanted to translate the game, they had to wait until settlement was complete!

Pei Qian cleared his throat. “It’s too sudden.

“We need to wait for the right time to venture into the overseas market. Every single factor has to be right. Without adequate resources and support, we could be easily eliminated once we enter.

“Of course, I’m not saying we should be crippled by fear. I’m just saying this concerns our company’s long-term plan. We need to be more cautious.

“Let’s stabilize our position in the local market first. We can think about translating the game into other languages next month.

“You can start looking for suitable translators in the meantime. As for when exactly they will start translating the game… We can discuss further next month.

Li Yada answered, “Ah, but what should we do about our foreign players now? They seem quite pitiful. Should we let them refer to dictionaries as they play the game all the way until next month?”

Pei Qian sounded stern as he said, “Why not? This is a good opportunity for them to learn Mandarin!

“The ones who are playing our game now have some understanding of Mandarin. Let them use their dictionaries and revise knowledge that they had already forgotten. They will learn new Mandarin terms while they’re at it. Isn’t that a good thing?

“As for the players who completely do not understand Mandarin… they’ll have to wait anyway. Waiting half a month more would not make a big difference.

“What’s more, our game has so many ancient poems. How long would it take for the translators to translate them all? If they rush through the translation, they might sacrifice quality. We’ll become a laughingstock among the foreigners. “That’s why we shouldn’t rush these things. We have to consider them at length. You can start looking for more well-known and skilled translators. We’ll discuss these things again once you’ve found a few.”

Li Yada pondered for a moment and realized that Boss Pei was making sense. “Alright, I’ll make the necessary preparations.”

After hanging up, Pei Qian heaved a long sigh of relief.

Thank goodness I’m smart; we almost ran into a massive problem!

He could leave next week’s problems to be resolved in their own time. As long as they did not try to squeeze everything in these couple of days, he could discuss them after settlement.

Pei Qian calmed himself down. A while later, he arrived at Huanyu Tianjie.

He alighted from the car and headed straight for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe which was on the third floor.

Pei Qian had been keeping an eye on Tengda over the past few days. Thus, he had not visited Fish-Catching Internet Cafe in a long time. He needed to see the situation for himself today before he could relax.

Yet, before entering the internet cafe, Pei Qian felt that something was amiss.

It was a Sunday afternoon. As this was the biggest shopping mall in Jingzhou City, Huanyu Tianjie received many visitors.

Normally, this did not affect Fish-Catching Internet Cafe in any way since it was located on the third floor. After all, most people only came here to shop, eat, and watch movies. Few people would come here to play games. While he had been looking for suitable locations for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Pei Qian had noticed that the two clothes shops on this floor were relatively deserted. Even the coffee shop drew a limited crowd. That was why he decided to set up the new Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branch here.

Yet, something about the current situation looked off!

Pei Qian had taken the elevator up. There were many people inside. Pei Qian was not too concerned at first; he had thought that they were on their way to watch a movie or eat some food. Yet, to his shock, the entire group of people emerged on the third level!

Stunned, Pei Qian became the last person to get out of the elevator. He stared wide-eyed as the entire group of people walked towards Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

Wait a moment! Stop right there! What are you doing?! Stop walking around!

Pei Qian walked briskly towards Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. When he looked inside the internet cafe, his breath caught in his throat; and he almost fainted.

More than sixty percent of the seats were filled. From the way things were going, Pei Qian guessed it would not be long before his losses would be turned to profits!

To h*ll with bitterness ending and sweetness beginning!

Pei Qian immediately looked for Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan.

Where are they?! The two of them must have been responsible for turning my internet cafe into this mess! Whoever was responsible for this should be prepared to take the blame. Once I catch you, I will make sure you suffer!

Pei Qian continued to walk deeper into the internet cafe. The further he got, the faster his heart raced.

The last time he experienced something similar was at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s flagship store. However, while the flagship store had become famous at that time, the crowd had mostly visited it for the drinks and Chen Lei.

This time, only the internet cafe part of the business remained!

All of these people were seated in their gaming chairs, focusing intently on the game. Most of them were playing Repent and be Saved. There were even a few couples and groups of friends. The internet cafe was bustling; it was no longer as cold and deserted as it used to be.

Painful!

Pei Qian arrived at the resting area and saw Teacher Qiao’s latest video playing on the screen.

Some customers were seated around the long table in the resting area. Some were drinking coffee while others were drinking milk tea. As they enjoyed their drinks, they listened to Teacher Qiao’s walkthrough. From time to time, their faces displayed understanding and inspiration.

Ma Yang was seated in the resting area as well, but Zhang Yuan was absent for some reason.

“Brother Qian, you’re here?”

A grin spread across Ma Yang’s long face as he welcomed Pei Qian into the resting area.

“Do you want some coffee? There’s a coffee shop next door. They noticed that our internet cafe was getting crowded so they collaborated with us to give our customers a thirty-percent discount on their drinks! All things aside, their drinks are quite good. Look, everyone here has one.”

The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched.

It was like Ma Yang had stabbed him right in the face; Pei Qian was utterly stunned.

“Why… are there so many people here today?” Pei Qian asked, trembling.

Ma Yang looked confused. “Huh? Not really. There are this many people in here every day.”

Pei Qian was speechless. “…”

What the f*ck! Long-face, are you trying to infuriate me to death?! What do you gain from doing that?!

Pei Qian forced himself to calm down. “So since when did all of these people start coming?”

Confused, Ma Yang asked, “Brother Qian, don’t you know? It was while you were busy with Repent and be Saved!

“I didn’t realize it before. We didn’t have many people in our internet cafe at the time, but after everything that happened in Jingzhou recently, we did build up quite a good reputation for ourselves!

“This branch is new, but it has quite a high rating on Quanmin Reviews.

“At first, very few people came here, but the number of visitors started increasing as time went by. After shopping, people wanted to find a place to rest. The coffee shop happened to be full so they started coming into our internet cafe. In any case, spending ten yuan per hour is not much in a shopping mall like that.

“Brother Qian, guess what happened next. A few days ago, they finished renovating the huge skating rink in the mall. It was officially?open!

“Many fathers started bringing their children here to ice-skate. Since their children’s ice-skating classes lasted over an hour, the fathers would come up and play games in the internet cafe.

“Some other men accompanied their girlfriends to have their hair or nails done. These would take a couple of hours at a time. That’s why they started visiting our internet cafe to pass time as well.

“On top of all of these, we had a good reputation. Teacher Qiao seemed to have recommended us in his videos as well. Wang Peng from Quanmin Reviews also recommended us.

“Of course, the most important factor was Repent and be Saved becoming popular. It caused the internet cafe to rise to fame along with it! Many of our customers want the best experience while playing Repent and be Saved; that brings them here every day. “Brother Qian, you’ve been extremely busy with Tengda’s business recently. Weren’t you working on this?” Pei Qian was really speechless.

What? How did it become my fault again?! Do you think I wanted Repent and be Saved to become like that?!

Ma Yang looked slightly regretful. “It’s a pity that we are still away from generating profit… even though we are doing so much better than before. “Brother Qian, you’re not happy with the current situation as well, right? You also think that we should get even more popular, right?”

The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched. I’m really not happy, but it’s for a whole other reason!

He thought about a more urgent problem and immediately asked, “How are the other branches doing?”

Happily, Ma Yang answered, “We’ve already chosen the other locations. We just have to do simple renovations, and we should be able to open for business by next week!” Pei Qian quickly waved his hand. “It’s not urgent! Postpone their openings to the week after next-the week of the 24th. There’s no need to rush things anymore, understand?”

At first, Pei Qian had thought it did not matter when they opened the other branches. However, looking at the terrible situation the Huanyu Tianjie branch was in, Pei Qian finally realized that it mattered greatly!

If he opened the other branches too early, and they gained many customers as a result, Pei Qian would have even more problems to resolve!

Thus, he had to delay opening the other branches to a week before settlement. This would mean losing a week’s worth of revenue. He did not want to put too much pressure on himself.

Ma Yang paused. “But we’ve already paid the rent. Why do you want to delay…?”

Pei Qian acted solemn as he said, “Let’s wait for a better time. Don’t ask so many questions.”