Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  2010 was fast approaching by the time they returned to Jingzhou City.

  Everything was functioning well in the company and salary as well as rental was paid out timely with the System Funds covering all the expenses. As long as he could spend all the money with the game becoming a flop, Pei Qian would be able to earn his 500,000 easily.

  It was exam week for school as well. Because he did not want to fail any subjects, Pei Qian rarely returned to the company.

  In any case, he wasn’t bothered about the outcome of the game. It would be for the best if it failed……

  January 7th, Thursday.

  Pei Qian was done with another paper and returned to his rental apartment, laying down on the sofa with an indescribable comfort.

  The system’s settlement date was approaching and Pei Qian’s money losing goal was hitting its target – that finally set his nerves at ease.

  He summoned the system and checked on the System Funds.

  <System Funds: 138,754.5 (↓361,245.5)>

  He had done it!

  His money was finally about to be spent completely!

  Pei Qian was so touched that he wanted to cry. Through all his heart work, most of the profits were finally being converted into losses!

  Right now, there were a few large expenses on Tengda’s side: rental of office space, employee salary, overtime pay, electricity bill, daily expenses and various company purchases. From time to time, he would even organize a company dinner to spend money out of the blue.

  Through those, he had finally managed to spend most of the money earned from Ghost General and the System Funds no longer had much profit left in it!

  The current state of the System Funds was considered to be in a loss compared to the initial 500,000.

  Next up, Pei Qian only had to ensure two things.

  He had to get Ocean Stronghold uploaded online so as to fulfill the system requirements of not having any unannounced products a week before settlement.

  Next, he’d have to spend money randomly so that the remaining sum could be splurged completely!

  Thereafter, he could just wait to earn money post settlement!

  As to how they should market Ocean Stronghold……

  Pei Qian had no intention of marketing it at all. He considered the job to be done the moment it was posted on the official platform. IN fact, it would be best if no one discovered it at all!

  Since they wanted to lose money, they had to try and prevent gamers from discovering the game!

  “For safety measure, I should organize a cohesion event after the game’s developed so that I can spend the remaining money. The less I have left, the better.”


  “Since everyone worked so hard for the game, I don’t think it’ll be crossing the line to have the company watch a movie, have a meal and go for karaoke, right?”


  At that thought, Pei Qian gave Assistant Xin a call.

  “Assistant Xin, please make the necessary arrangements for a cohesion on Friday evening to celebrate Ocean Stronghold’s completion. We’ll start off with a movie followed by a meal and end with a karaoke session. For places we can book, book them!”


  “Yes, there’s nothing wrong with the date. Friday evening.”


  “Saturday and Sundays are rest days. How can we make use of the rest days to organize a cohesion? Wouldn’t that be cheating?”


  “That’s right, just set it on Friday evening.”


  “Alright. Send me the schedule after you’re done planning it. The requirements are the same – everything must be high end, got it?”


  Pei Qian gave a few simple instructions and just as he was about to hang up, Assistant Xin continued, “Please hold on, Boss Pei. There’s something else.”


  “Do you remember a girl who spoke to you when we went to Sun Strike Studios in Guangzhou? Her name is Lin Wan.”


  Lin Wan?

  Pei Qian had some vague recollections of that name.

  “What about her?”


  “She’s in Jingzhou City now and said that she wants to join our company. She is adamant about it and claims that she’s fine even if there is no salary.”


  Pei Qian froze up. “Huh? Where is she?”


  “In the office. She just arrived not too long ago and I’m attending to her.”


  ‘Wasn’t she doing well in Sun Strike Studios? Why is she in Jingzhou now?’


  ‘She wants to join our company, even without a salary?’


  ‘How could that do!’


  Pei Qian pondered for a moment and asked, “Assistant Xin, what do you think about her?”


  Xin Hailu went silent before replying seriously, “Boss Pei, I think she might be from quite a powerful background. She should be a scion of a rich family. I’ve noticed that her clothes and bag are all famous designer brands. Her outfit alone cost at least tens of thousands yuan.”


  “However, she has no airs at all and has a good character too. I’m just worried she might be a little too silly and naive about things to make her a good employee. But of course, you’ll be the one to decide whether or not we should accept her.”


  ‘Silly and naive?’


  ‘Doesn’t that just mean she has no working capabilities?’


  ‘That’s great! That’s the type of employee I like!’


  Pei Qian felt that this Lin Wan fit every single one of his recruitment requirements!

  A carefree scion from a well to do family should not be too good at working – wasn’t that great?

  “Alright, we’ll hire her then! For salary…… let’s start with 4,000 a month before increasing it in the future. Sign an employment contract with her for me! As for work…… right, we won’t really have much work recently so let’s not assign her to anything yet. Just let her do what she wants. Oh yeah, remember to count her in for Friday’s cohesion!”


  Pei Qian finished off briefly and thought nothing about the entire issue as he continued to daydream about his 500,000……

  At the company, Ocean Stronghold’s development was in its final phase.

  Because Bao Xu did not head to Guangzhou, he spent his days grinding through Ocean Stronghold’s story and recorded every single portion that seemed awkward so that Huang Sibo could amend them.

  He wasn’t someone who had in-depth knowledge about game design theory; he merely trusted his guts.

  Anything his guts pointed out, he recorded them for Huang Sibo.

  Huang Sibo was the one who had to squeeze his brain juices to analyze where the issue was and somehow, he truly did manage to amend them.

  In his heart, Huang Sibo knew that the story was a huge selling point for Ocean Stronghold and was the key in making it a class of its own. That’s why he had to try and perfect it!

  But of course, the other aspects such as hand sensitivity, the game’s models, movements and other modes aside from the story were equally important as they determined the gamer experience.

  All of these content were basically overseen by Bao Xu. He was a heavy gamer to begin with and the only thing that changed was him playing their own game instead of other games.

  He did not find the work tough at all. Instead, he enjoyed it!

  When he played other games, Bao Xu would feel helpless when he came across the parts he did not like.

  That was because if he sent in feedback as a customer, it would be a waste of time since his feedback would most likely not reach the development team. Even if it did, things would most likely not change either.

  However, it was different for Ocean Stronghold. If he found any issues, he could tell Huang Sibo about it and things would be swiftly amended!

  Most of the major modifications were done at the start of the project. What remained were small details that required tuning such as gun trajectory and character hitboxes. Even though they were important to the game experience, they could be easily changed with some simple modification of the values.

  As the deadline approached, Huang Sibo found himself heaving a sigh of relief.

  He had completed his mission!

  Ocean Stronghold’s development would be completed on time with its quality assured – he had not let down Boss Pei’s trust!

  However, Huang Sibo knew nothing about how they should market and spread news about the game.

  He wasn’t too bothered either since those were decisions to be made by Boss Pei.

  Could there be any mistakes in Boss Pei’s plans?

  The man who thought of advertising Ghost General through Weibo would definitely be able to come up with a superb way of marketing!