Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Ma Yang scratched his head. “A Fresh Air Ventilation System? What’s that?”


  “Ask Qiandu.” Pei Qian did not have the time to explain these things to him. He switched the computer on and downloaded Ocean Stronghold.

  Fresh Air Ventilation Systems were produced quite early. Around the year 2000, Europe had already set specifications for it. They were also slowly introduced in households and in businesses. After that, they were used in large-scales.

  Within China, Fresh Air Ventilation Systems and air purifiers only became popular after the ‘airpocalypse’ smog. In about 2014, people started to learn about these things.

  At this time, Fresh Air Ventilation Systems were mostly made by foreign countries. They were bloody expensive.

  However, to Pei Qian, it was not a bad thing that they were so expensive. In fact, it was a good thing!

  After downloading…


  This was really a high-end computer. The gaming experience was so good!

  When he entered the game, he automatically adjusted all the settings to the maximum. This would guarantee a top-notch, full experience of the game! This computer had many good points and no shortcomings but one.

  If he lost the game, he could not push the blame to the computer!

  All the excuses about mouses trembling, keyboards buttons not responding, the computer lagging, the monitor flickering, and the headphones not working…


  All of them would be irrelevant.

  If one was bad at the game, there was no way they would be able to blame the computer; they would only have their own lousy skills to blame! To some people, this might be a flaw.

  Pei Qian played two games in PvP mode and was completely trashed. Then, he played in biochemical mode. He was still trashed. He had no choice but to play story mode.

  “Indeed, a smart man like me cannot play games that are fully dependent on reaction speed. The story mode is still the most fun.”


  As Pei Qian played in story mode, he could not help but feel moved.

  Pei Qian was still playing when Zhang Yuan suddenly served him a glass of alcohol.

  The glass was not big, but the liquor inside it looked especially bright. It was dark red at the bottom and an apple-red at the top. Both colors were translucent. Where they met in the middle of the cup, Pei Qian could see the colors mixing. It looked quite awesome.

  The first thing he felt was: how mysterious!

  After taking a sip, he found that it tasted special as well. It was hard to describe, but it was a very memorable drink indeed.

  “What is this alcohol called?” Pei Qian asked.

  Zhang Yuan answered him matter-of-factly, “Boss Pei, this is a type of Aurora Jungle-Juice. Ordinary Aurora Jungle-Juice would only glow in the dark. This slightly different recipe makes the color look more natural.”


  “Not bad, how much does it cost?” Pei Qian asked.

  Zhang Yuan, “Fifty yuan for a glass.”


  Probably for fear that Pei Qian would find this too expensive, Zhang Yuan quickly added, “There is grappa in here, which costs about four hundred yuan for seven hundred milliliters. This cup alone contains thirty milliliters.

  “There’s a cheaper version as well, which can be used to replace the grappa.”


  “Oh,” Pei Qian responded, nodding. “Then, how much is the cheapest cocktail on the menu?”


  Zhang Yuan pondered for a moment and said, “The cheapest is… twenty-five yuan. Most drinks sold at the bar are priced that way.”


  This was 2010. It was not cheap.

  The cost of one glass of alcohol would be equivalent to the cost of two meals for many students. What’s more, the customers that would come to an internet cafe-cum-bar are different.

  “How is it, Boss Pei? Are the prices alright? If you think it’s too expensive, we can reduce it.”


  Reduce?

  Or increase?

  If he lowered the price, he would earn less for every glass of alcohol. However, what if people spread the word that the drinks at this bar were cheap? What would he do if everyone came here to drink?

  Wouldn’t that be akin to making small profits but having quick turnovers?

  He could not reduce the price!

  Although the price of the drinks was not considered low now—after some thought, Pei Qian decided that there was still room to increase the price!

  Pei Qian made up his mind. “Add ten yuan to the price of every drink. Our customers are all high-class customers. If we price our drinks too low, it would be akin to looking down on them!”


  “Huh?” Zhang Yuan was stunned.

  “That’s decided, then. We will add ten yuan to the price of every drink.” Pei Qian sipped his cocktail happily and went back to his game.

  Naturally, Zhang Yuan did not ask any more questions. Instead, he turned around and went back to work.

  Pei Qian played for a while more and felt satisfied.

  It was not so much because of the environment… but because of the expenses! According to his calculations, playing this game for two hours and drinking a glass of cocktail cost him eighty yuan in total. This money was enough to play at an ordinary internet cafe for a week!

  Immediately, mainstream customers would be chased out of this internet cafe into other, cheaper alternatives.

  Of course, Pei Qian knew that these high-end internet cafes would soon become the trend in sixty or seventy years. However, that didn’t matter… as long as it was not the trend now. What’s more, in sixty or seventy years, internet cafes would not have cocktails at sixty yuan per glass!

  He had to incur a loss! He had to incur losses for the next four to five years.

  How great!

  Pei Qian stood up and prepared to leave.

  At that moment, Ma Yang walked over and asked him, “Brother Qian, we plan to open the day after tomorrow. How do you think we should organize the opening ceremony or opening specials? I plan to half the price of gaming and drinks for the first three days. Do you think that’s enough discounts?”


  Half the price of gaming for the first three days? Half the price of drinks? No, no, no, no, definitely not!

  This would make them wildly popular in a short time. How could Pei Qian let that happen?

  He shook his head profusely and said, “No, tacky! We are a high-end, attractive internet cafe, understand?

  “We will open for business as per normal, without resorting to these low-class tricks. Good wine needs no bush. With such a top-class environment, are you scared that we would not attract customers? Why must we slash all our prices and make our opening so big? We cannot allow our internet cafe to look like a market!”


  “Alright, we won’t do it, then…” Ma Yang did not understand why, but he knew that he would not go wrong by listening to Pei Qian.

  Pei Qian walked out of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, satisfied. He was ready for the internet cafe’s opening day. On that day, he would see how desolate the internet cafe was. Then, he would finally feel real relief!

  …


  …


  March 9th…


  The opening day of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe!

  There were no opening specials, flowers, firecrackers, or banners. There was nothing! Everything proceeded as per normal.

  There were no Mandarin words on the shopfront. There was only one huge logo. Indeed, it looked high-class. However, it was not helpful in telling anyone that they could access the internet here.

  The good thing was that there were many glass panels in this two-story building. In the day, people could easily see through the glass panels… into the coffee area and the gaming area.

  Even so, everything was too low-key.

  Zhang Yuan waited at the bar counter for customers to come in so that he could perform his fancy bartending skills. After waiting for half a day, he only saw people walk past the shop. At the very most, they looked curiously. However, not a single one of them walked in.

  The cold wind outside the shop was very effective in persuading people not to enter.

  Pei Qian sat at the coffee area, sipping and enjoying his coffee as he watched the empty internet cafe. The corners of his lips slowly curled up in a deep smile, but he tried his best to keep them down.

  Ma Yang was not as calm as he was. It was obvious that he was getting restless. “Brother Qian, they should at least go out and distribute flyers, right…?”


  ‘They’ was referring to the managers that they hired. They were managers in name, but their job scope was wide. They even had to wait on people by pouring water and tea for them.

  Before this, Pei Qian rejected every proposal that Ma Yang raised to promote the opening of this internet cafe. The reason he gave was that they needed to be patient!

  In the end, the opening day of the internet cafe was extremely quiet; no one cared for it.

  Pei Qian sipped his coffee nonchalantly. “Why should we distribute flyers? How classy would that be? We have to allow our customers to stumble upon this place. Then, it would be a pleasant surprise!”


  “Allow customers to stumble upon this place…?”


  Ma Yang felt like there was something wrong with this strategy. However, at that moment, he found it difficult to rebut it.