Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 382: You Call This Thing a Phone Booth?
More than an hour later, Ye Zhizhou looked at the small notebook filled with several pages of feedback, as well as the various scene concept artworks Ruan Guangjian had sent over in different styles. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
Ye Zhizhou looked at the energetic Ruan Guangjian. "Boss… are you sure you're really afraid of horror themes?"
Ruan Guangjian nodded. "Yeah, I'm really scared."
Ye Zhizhou was speechless for a moment. "Then how do you explain all these horror-themed reference artworks you've collected?"
Ruan Guangjian replied, "Work needs."
Ye Zhizhou asked again, "Then why do you understand so many frightening little details, and grasp the psychology of fear so accurately?"
Ruan Guangjian said, "Watch enough horror movies, get scared enough times, and you naturally remember these things."
Ye Zhizhou grew even more confused. "Wait—being timid, but also watching a ton of horror movies… isn't that contradictory?"
Ruan Guangjian shook his head. "Not contradictory at all. I am timid, but that doesn't stop me from watching horror movies."
"It's like someone who has no sense of humor and never laughs, yet watches comedies all the time. Is that contradictory?"
Ye Zhizhou: "..."
Ye Zhizhou sighed inwardly. Looks like every true big shot has some strange little quirks that outsiders would never guess…
He didn't dwell on it too much. Even if Boss Ruan claimed to be timid but was actually super into horror, so what? That was a good thing!
No need to get hung up on it.
The urgent task now was to quickly compile all of Ruan Guangjian's suggestions into a proper document and add them to the next version's development plan.
With that in mind, Ye Zhizhou opened his computer and hurriedly organized Ruan Guangjian's proposed changes into a document, adding them to the upcoming version's development schedule.
There were only about two months left until the game's scheduled release. With the seven-day Spring Festival holiday in between, the development time was still pretty tight.
President Pei had repeatedly stressed that overtime was not allowed. Working even one extra hour during the Spring Festival would be a luxury. That meant they could only hurry up and push progress now.
Meanwhile, Ruan Guangjian pulled up the art resource documents for BE QUIET and began proposing changes according to his own ideas.
And the biggest advantage of Ruan Guangjian making revisions was this:
If the other party couldn't accurately understand how to modify an original image through words alone, Ruan Guangjian could just draw it out directly.
If the other party felt it was too difficult and didn't want to change it—subtly conveying a "you do it yourself if you're so capable" attitude—then Ruan Guangjian would actually go ahead and do it himself.
Watching Ruan Guangjian work so earnestly, Ye Zhizhou couldn't help but sigh with admiration.
A boss really is a boss.
With just a few casual pointers, he could raise the game's quality by another level.
And this kind of "turn lead into gold" ability—Ye Zhizhou had only ever seen it in President Pei.
Of course, President Pei was on an even higher level.
After all, Boss Ruan still needed to rely on concrete changes to achieve such effects, while President Pei often only needed a single sentence—or even just one simple word.
"No wonder people say President Pei and Boss Ruan are the perfect duo. When big shots work together, it's often this kind of tacit understanding."
Completely convinced, Ye Zhizhou went back to organizing the new version's development documents.
…
…
That afternoon, at Dream Fulfillment Ventures.
He Desheng looked at the renderings in his hand, then at Zhang Wang sitting across from him.
"You… call this thing a phone booth?"
Zhang Wang smiled a little awkwardly. "President Pei's budget was too generous. As I kept revising it, I realized I'd drifted a bit off-theme."
"But don't worry. President Pei never specified what the Shared Phone Booth had to look like in the first place."
"I just made it a bit bigger and added a few more things. The essence of the Shared Phone Booth hasn't changed."
He Desheng took another careful look at the disassembly diagrams that followed.
"You designed the entire phone booth yourself? Your efficiency is… pretty insane."
Zhang Wang replied modestly, "I just took some stuff I'd tinkered with in my free time before and modified it a bit. It didn't take that much effort."
"I have a workshop back in my hometown in a nearby county. This is just a preliminary prototype, something I can put together in a few hours."
He Desheng fell silent for a long while, then squeezed out two words: "That's amazing."
What he was holding were the real-life photos and exploded-view diagrams of the "Shared Phone Booth."
It was different from what they had discussed earlier. Since President Pei had increased the budget, the design plan for the phone booth had naturally been adjusted as well.
The booth was 2.2 meters tall and took up about 2 square meters of floor space—clearly much larger than the phone booths people had in mind, roomy enough to seat two people comfortably.
From the disassembly diagrams, the Shared Phone Booth was indeed easy to assemble and dismantle. None of the frame components were permanently welded. By removing several surrounding tempered-glass panels and then taking apart the frame piece by piece, it could be moved away fairly easily.
The key assembly points could be locked.
Of course, this was just a sample Zhang Wang had cobbled together in his own "workshop." If they were to commission a factory for mass production, they would definitely need to rethink the materials, strength, cost, and details from scratch.
But at least the prototype existed—it just hadn't been shipped over yet.
Inside the phone booth in the photos, there were also various other items, each with detailed explanations.
For example, there was a small counter inside, with a compact coffee-and-drink machine on the tabletop, a jukebox, a three-port charger, wireless Wi-Fi, a bookshelf, and a gashapon machine. Beside it were two foldable seats.
There was also a small scrolling display screen inside the booth. The content on the screen could be clearly seen by people outside through the glass.
Of course, since it was a Shared Phone Booth, a phone was indispensable.
On the upper right side inside the booth, there was a stylish vintage telephone—rotary dial, black-and-gold color scheme—looking very cool.
Clearly, this phone was more about nostalgia and vibes than actual practical use.
Even more outrageous was the fact that there was something under the tabletop.
He Desheng asked in confusion, "AED? What's that?"
Zhang Wang replied, "An automated external defibrillator. It's a medical device."
He Desheng frowned. "That thing should be pretty expensive, right? And putting it in a phone booth… isn't that kind of random?"
Zhang Wang smiled. "It's okay, it costs less than 20,000 yuan. And it's not random, because there are other medical devices too, like a body-fat scale and a blood-pressure monitor."
He Desheng: "...Do we even have enough money?"
Zhang Wang nodded. "Yeah!"
"Originally, I planned to make a traditional-style phone booth that would cost only about 5,000 yuan. But since President Pei increased the budget, it had to be upgraded, right?"
"With the current size and materials, one unit costs a bit over 10,000 yuan. Adding in all the equipment inside—aside from the AED—and installation costs, it comes to about 18,000 yuan per booth."
"The monthly rent for the spot is around 500 to 1,000 yuan. So all told, an upfront investment of 40,000 yuan per booth is enough!"
"President Pei gave 500,000 yuan. I did the math: we can put in ten Shared Phone Booths, and use the remaining 100,000 yuan plus regular income to cover ongoing maintenance costs."
He Desheng suddenly realized something. "Wait, monthly rent of 500 to 1,000 yuan? That's pretty high, isn't it?"
Zhang Wang nodded. "Sure. I asked around at a few big malls in Jingzhou. They all have reserved spots like this. The cheaper ones are 500; pricier places like Huanyu Sky Street are about 1,000. After all, it's only taking up a bit over two square meters."
He Desheng blinked, a little bewildered. "So… it's not placed by the roadside?"
Zhang Wang laughed. "By the roadside? With cars rushing past all the time—who would even use it?"
"With only ten or twenty units total, of course they have to be placed inside busy shopping malls."
He Desheng was completely speechless.
Why did it suddenly feel like Zhang Wang was looking down on him intellectually?
This script felt off somehow!
He Desheng flipped through the materials again. "Why is the 'Cultural Connotation' section in the back left blank?"
Zhang Wang said, "I haven't really figured that part out yet. Mainly… I ran out of budget."
"Originally, I wanted to leave one side of each phone booth as a dedicated surface and hire an artist to paint a postmodern piece on it, just to decorate it a bit. Each booth would have a unique theme, something people could take photos with."
"Then I wanted to design a different stamp for each phone booth and put it inside, so people who come could stamp a souvenir."
"But the budget accidentally went too high, and there's no money left to hire artists…"
He Desheng thought for a moment. "If you remove those ten… whatever you called them, AEDs, wouldn't that free up 200,000 yuan?"
Zhang Wang shook his head vigorously. "No way! The AEDs absolutely cannot be removed. They're the heart and soul of the Shared Phone Booth!"
He Desheng: "..."
He didn't really understand Zhang Wang's train of thought, but considering this was Zhang Wang's project, it made sense to respect Zhang Wang's priorities.
After thinking it over carefully, the project suddenly didn't seem quite as ridiculous as it had at first.
At the beginning, when He Desheng heard "phone booth," he had instinctively assumed that the booths would be placed by the roadside.
And given Zhang Wang's… unique way of thinking, He Desheng had zero doubt that Zhang Wang would actually do something like that.
But it turned out Zhang Wang had never planned to put this thing by the roadside at all!
When you think about it, the old phone booths used to be on the roadside because people genuinely needed them—calling from the street was convenient. But now that everyone has a mobile phone, that kind of need has long since disappeared.
Since the current Shared Phone Booth was more of a cultural symbol and also bundled in some additional functions, it obviously made sense to place it in high-traffic areas.
He Desheng couldn't help but feel puzzled. "Strange… this suddenly looks like a project with a normal vibe."
"He's clearly a pretty normal person, so why did the proposal read so unreliable…"
"Could it be that President Pei had already seen that this project actually had solid potential for success, which is why he immediately approved the investment?"
"Yeah… that's very likely!"
He Desheng nodded. "Alright, I'll arrange for people to contact manufacturers and start production as soon as possible.
"If you need any help, just say the word."
Although Zhang Wang was the initiator of this project, he was just one person and unfamiliar with many practical matters.
Since this was a project being invested in by Dream Fulfillment Ventures—and they didn't have much else going on anyway—lending a hand was only natural.
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