Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chapter 954: “Nag” Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Qiao Liang flipped through the publicity materials of these old games. Every one of them was filled with childhood memories.

At that time, he did not have any financial capability. Naturally, he could not afford to buy the original game. In fact, his memory of these games had already become blurry.

Thus, Qiao Liang missed these classic games when he saw it.

“I’m not going to say anything else. Let’s buy more tickets!”

Qiao Liang did not look through it carefully. Instead, he took out some money to purchase the compilation.

This collection was not cheap. There were a total of eight games in it. The price of each game ranged from tens to more than a hundred yuan. This collection was at a 60% discount with a total price of 588 yuan.

Even after the discount, the price would still be quite expensive. After all, these were all old games from more than ten years ago. The gameplay was completely behind time, not to mention the graphics and game mechanisms.

This money was definitely not worth it as a game.

However, to a veteran gamer like Qiao Liang, this sum of money was equivalent to a ‘supplementary ticket’. After all, he did not have the financial capability back then. It was not bad to spend money to buy a wave of sentiment now.

Qiao Liang’s life was getting better and better because of games. It was understandable for him to buy a few games to support the development of domestically-produced games. What’s more, he could use the material of these games to make videos (roughly) in the future.

After paying, Qiao Liang looked through the games.

“The Landlord Game, I really miss it. It’s a pity that many people have to play it together for it to be fun.”

“‘The Storm of Heroes’ is also considered a masterpiece of a generation.”

“‘Sword Kinesis’ is considered one of the best in this batch of games. It’s a pity that the sequel became more and more ordinary.”

“‘Conquer The Three Kingdoms’? This game is very ordinary, right? There were not many players back then. What’s more, it was an imitation of a foreign game. It’s acceptable to say that it was acceptable, but it’s not a good game.”

“...”

“I can tolerate ‘Conquer The Three Kingdoms’, but what is this?”

Qiao Liang flipped through the games. The first few games looked normal. The types and quality of these games were different, some were classic games, and some were less popular but they were still acceptable overall.

However, he suddenly realized that a strange thing had been mixed in.

“Mission and Choice? Isn’t that the legendary shame of the nation?”

“Why is this rubbish game mixed in to cheat money? It’s even selling for more than a hundred yuan!”

“Are the officials crazy?”

Qiao Liang almost thought that he had seen wrongly.

He had not played Mission and Choice back then, mainly because he had not been financially capable at that time. He could not persuade his parents to spend more than a hundred yuan on this game.

There was no need to buy the game after its reputation collapsed later on.

Of course, just because Qiao Liang had not played this game before did not mean that he had not heard of the ‘shocking’ legend of this game.

Thus, seeing it appear in the compilation of this domestically-produced game was even more unbelievable.

“This lousy thing sells for more than a hundred yuan?”

“Even five yuan is too expensive!”

“Eh, wait a moment. Could this be a game version that the official platform has already modified?”

Qiao Liang suddenly felt that things were not as simple as he thought.

He immediately clicked on Mission and Choice, wanting to see if this was the official version that had fixed the bugs and improved the gameplay.

...

Ten minutes later, Qiao Liang’s hands left the mouse. He looked at the lake outside the window and began to think about life.

The game had not been changed at all!

A pile of fragmented images, perfunctory sound effects, and game bugs everywhere...

Qiao Liang had not been affected by Mission and Choice previously, but he had not managed to dodge it this time!

As for why he insisted on playing for ten minutes, it was probably curiosity driving him.

He really wanted to see how trashy this game could be. Was the game really been released without any changes?

Now that he was clear, this game was indeed useless. What’s more, the official platform had not updated it at all!

Of course, it was understandable if they wanted to “enrich the official platform’s game library”, “remember the shame”, and “sound the alarm for all game companies by faithfully recording trash games.”

However, why did the official platform mix it with other domestically-produced games of the same generation to make a collection and publicize it together?

Was it to reflect how outstanding other games were?

Qiao Liang was speechless. He cut the screen back to the desktop and looked at it. This game was sold at a 60% discount when it was purchased together. However, each game could be refunded individually, and the refund conditions were extremely relaxed.

Qiao Liang could not help but feel enlightened. “Oh, I understand.”

“The official compilation actually has the effect of ‘reminiscing about the bitter and sweet’.”

“This collection did not choose the best game of that era. Instead, it chose the most popular, representative, and even controversial game of that era!

“There are excellent classic games here, such as ‘The Landlord Games’, ‘The Storm of Swordsmen’, and so on. There are also relatively niche games such as ‘Conquer The Three Kingdoms’, which had poor sales but special genres. There is also a lousy negative example, ‘Mission and Choice’.”

“The official platform set up this option to refund the game individually because they knew that gamers would definitely not accept some of the games.”

“Therefore, gamers can choose games that they are not interested in to refund. They would not suffer financial losses.

“I see, that explains it.”

Qiao Liang quickly thought of a reasonable explanation.

That was exactly what Meng Chang wanted to achieve.

Meng Chang had foresaw that Mission and Choice would definitely look out of place in this “domestically-produced gaming compilation”.

If the other games were classic works that were worth keeping, wouldn’t Mission and Choice be too obvious in this collection?

Thus, in order to reduce gamers’ suspicions, the eight games selected in this episode might be classic games from more than ten years ago, but not every one of them was worth the price. For example, ‘Conquer The Three Kingdoms’ was a relatively niche game with poor sales, good reputation, but unique enough.

He could then create a special refund option for a game to minimize the chances of being discovered.

Meng Chang had also considered if he should set this compilation into other games and sell it. Only Mission and Choice needed to be bought elsewhere. That way, he could minimize the chances of “accidentally injuring”.

However, on further thought, this was equivalent to excluding Mission and Choice. That was too strange. It would easily cause players to make strange associations.

Thus, he chose this method of muddling along in the end.

Reality proved that this method was quite effective. Qiao Liang was deceived.

Of course, the prerequisite for all of this was that Tengda had done a good job of keeping it a secret.

The outside world did not know that Tengda was developing a remake of the game ‘Mission and Choice’. Most people would not think in that direction. Qiao Liang was no exception.

He opened his fan group and found that there were a few sporadic messages discussing this compilation.

However, it did not cause much of a stir. After all, most players did not have much interest in such old-fashioned games. People like Qiao Liang were rare.

A few brothers complained about the game ‘Mission and Choice’. Then, they were overwhelmed by the overwhelming messages in the group. Soon, they disappeared.

Qiao Liang did not take it to heart. He had so many games. Most games would not even be opened. Today’s compilation was no exception.

He would only not be able to wait to open the game and clear it in one shot if it was a huge production.

However, after closing the compilation, Qiao Liang fell into confusion again.

What should he do?

He did not have much inspiration recently. He had been cooped up for some time.

All of a sudden, Qiao Liang’s eyes lit up.

“Let’s create another episode of ‘Trash Games Diss’! Isn’t ‘Mission and Choice’ the perfect material?”

Qiao Liang suddenly thought of a good way to make a video.

Even though Mission and Choice had been repeatedly flogged as a disgrace to the local gaming industry, there were almost no UP Masters who flogged it in recent years. After all, this game was so old that many players did not know about it. Its popularity had long passed.

Qiao Liang felt that it might not be a bad thing to make a video to criticize and bring the audience to reminisce about the rubbish game that was so terrible back then!

At that thought, Qiao Liang made up his mind. He would make this video for the next episode!

...

...

At the same time, Pei Qian sat in the car and yawned.

The sunlight outside was not bad, making him feel warm.

He should be taking a good nap at this time, but he could not because there was something he had to deal with.

In the morning, the person-in-charge of Otto Technologies, Jiang Yuan, called. He said that the preparations for the artificial intelligence laboratory were almost done. He hoped that Boss Pei would come to inspect and guide them.

This time, he had bought over a company that researched artificial intelligence with full capital. He had also poached a few technical core members from other companies such as Xunke Technologies.

This company had some achievements to begin with, but it could not compare to a leading company like Xunke Technologies. In order for both sides to communicate and cooperate better, dozens of employees of this company had already moved to Jingzhou. Otto Technologies would arrange accommodation and office for them.

Of course, a portion of employees in the original company had resigned because they did not want to leave their original city. However, that was only a minority. The premium for poaching was very high after all. Everyone knew how good Tengda’s treatment was.

Although the team that he had spent a lot of money to poach had some research results and could operate smoothly even if they did not bother, Jiang Yuan still felt that he had to let Boss Pei guide him and determine the direction of the research.

Artificial intelligence was related to many of Tengda’s businesses after all. This technology had many branches. The direction it developed might affect Boss Pei’s overall plan for Tengda’s businesses. He could not afford to be careless.

To Pei Qian, he really needed to change the direction of the artificial intelligence laboratory’s research. He had to try his best not to let it have too much of a positive impact on his current industry. He had to ensure that there would not be many useful results after spending tens of millions of yuan. That way, he could continue to throw money in without any worries in the future.

Soon, Otto Technologies arrived.

Jiang Yuan was already waiting downstairs. He led Pei Qian directly to the office of the artificial intelligence laboratory.

“Boss Pei, this is the person-in-charge of the artificial intelligence laboratory, Shen Renjie.”

Shen Renjie looked to be in his forties. He was dressed casually and had the characteristics of a programmer. He looked like a more pragmatic person.

After getting to know each other, Shen Renjie said, “Boss Pei, do you want me to introduce the core members of the laboratory to you, and then explain the research results of our laboratory?”

Pei Qian raised his hand. “There’s no need. I don’t have to worry about your work. Let’s get straight to the point.”

Jiang Yuan nodded. “Alright, let’s talk in the conference room.”

The three of them arrived at the conference room and took their seats.

In fact, Pei Qian did not care about the personnel structure and research results of this laboratory. He only cared if this laboratory could continue to burn money for him safely.

Thus, he had to come up with a good name and find a good omen.

Pei Qian sipped his tea and asked, “Do you have a name for the laboratory?”

Shen Renjie answered, “Yes. Previously, our laboratory’s name was ‘Unicorn’ Artificial Intelligence Laboratory’ because Unicorn is an auspicious beast in ancient China. It has outstanding talent and wisdom. What’s more, it has the meaning of auspiciousness. It fits the theme of Artificial Intelligence.”

Pei Qian immediately frowned and shook his head. “That’s not appropriate.”

Jiang Yuan said, “Then we might as well just call it AEEIS artificial intelligence laboratory. After all, AEEIS is our main artificial intelligence product at the moment. This name sounds nice and easy to remember.”

Pei Qian shook his head again. “It’s still not appropriate.”

Good lord, how could it be called Unicorn?

The name was so domineering that Pei Qian felt a strong sense of danger.

It was not appropriate to call it AEEIS artificial intelligence laboratory because AEEIS was already popular. Pei Qian did not want this artificial intelligence laboratory to become popular.

Jiang Yuan and Shen Renjie looked at Boss Pei, implying for Boss Pei to give them a suitable name since all the names were not appropriate?

After some consideration, Pei Qian said, “I think we should call it the ‘Nag’ Artificial Intelligence Laboratory!”

If calling it unicorn was not appropriate, he would do the opposite!

A nag referred to a horse, especially one that is old or in poor health and not outstanding. They were also called shoddy horses. In layman’s terms, they were stupid and slow-witted inferior horses.

Pei Qian vaguely remembered reading an ancient saying in a certain place: “There are three things the quality of a horse.If it takes one day, it would be a military horse; two days it would be a field horse; three days and it would be a nag.”

The general meaning was: There were three types of horses. Some were warhorses used to fight on the battlefield, some were field horses used to farm, and some were useless ordinary nags.

He named this artificial intelligence laboratory ‘Nag’ because he hoped that the artificial intelligence research would be stupid and slow. In the end, it would be useless.

Jiang Yuan and Shen Renjie were stunned.

‘Nag’ Artificial Intelligence Laboratory?

This name did not sound good!

Didn’t ‘unicorn’ have a nice ring to it? Good lord, it was lowered by several levels.

Pei Qian had an unfathomable expression on his face. In any case, as long as he did not feel guilty, others would definitely feel guilty.

“We’ll use this name then!”