Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 420: President Li's Little Scheme
February 15th.
Fright Hostel.
After being "backstabbed" by his beloved employees on Valentine's Day, Pei Qian was still heartbroken and hadn't fully recovered. He had even considered arranging a full Fright Hostel experience for all employees.
However, considering that the project was not yet perfect, he temporarily shelved the idea.
For now, he would let them off. Once all three Fright Hostel projects were fully completed, he would settle accounts with them afterward!
At that time, every single employee would be arranged to experience it—so they could truly feel President Pei's "love"!
At this moment, Chen Kangtuo was reporting to Pei Qian about the completion status of the second major Fright Hostel project.
"President Pei, the six small modules in the initial plan have all been completed. The rollers beneath the containers can be controlled by mechanisms to move and recombine randomly, making it impossible for players to predict which module they'll enter next."
"The second major project has moderate difficulty. It mainly tests the players' psychological endurance. Before entering, players must completely memorize all the requirements of each module, and even after the order is scrambled, they must still accurately complete all tasks to pass and earn the qualification to challenge the third major project."
"Of course, unless players choose to quit voluntarily, everyone can experience the entire project—they won't be asked to leave immediately upon failure."
"According to your instructions, President Pei, the price for one run of the second project is set at 30 yuan, which means each small module costs only 5 yuan. Personally, I feel this price might be a bit too low."
"The plans for the first and third projects are being rushed. Construction is expected to officially begin this week. However, since these two projects will take longer, even with an optimistic estimate, they won't be completed until May or June next year."
"And if the construction quality doesn't meet standards by then, there's a possibility of further delays."
Pei Qian nodded. "Well done."
"As for pricing, there's no need to worry. Fright Hostel will mainly rely on the third project for profit."
"All three projects should be completed before officially opening. No need to rush—prioritize quality and safety."
It seemed certain that the haunted house project wouldn't be completed within this settlement cycle and would have to be postponed.
Fortunately, this cycle allowed for one unfinished project without affecting settlement.
Moreover, this meant Pei Qian could pour all excess funds into the Fright Hostel project, greatly easing the pressure of having surplus funds before settlement.
Of course, while such investment seemed unlimited on the surface, there were actually constraints.
Delayed projects had to be completed before the next settlement. In other words, the scale couldn't be expanded indefinitely.
Take Fright Hostel as an example: Pei Qian could invest all surplus system funds into it, but the more money he spent, the larger the project would become—and the longer it would take to complete.
If the next settlement cycle was only three months, and Fright Hostel still hadn't opened by then, it would trigger a delayed settlement.
Therefore, when investing more money into Fright Hostel, Pei Qian had to consider this hidden limitation—he couldn't just focus on short-term gains while ignoring long-term consequences.
Additionally, since Fright Hostel had already been chosen as the unfinished project for this cycle, all other projects—including mobile phones, games, and so on—had to be completed.
Pei Qian checked the time. The "test subject" should be arriving soon.
Sure enough, before long, Li Shi's car pulled up outside Fright Hostel.
"President Pei." Li Shi approached with a bright smile and shook hands with him.
Yesterday, when Pei Qian invited him to visit Fright Hostel, Li Shi had agreed without hesitation.
This visit had two main purposes. First, to assess the investment environment around the haunted house. Second, to probe Pei Qian's stance—specifically, to find out what Dream Fulfillment Ventures' attitude was toward the Top Student, Come Quickly app, and whether they were planning to pull out.
Pei Qian smiled and shook hands with President Li. "You've come a long way, President Li. You must be tired—come, have some tea first."
Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong had been supervising construction progress here the whole time, so they had set up a small office in advance. Snacks, drinks, tea—everything was fully stocked, perfectly embodying the spirit of Tengda Group.
President Li sat down on a single sofa, sipping tea as he sighed with emotion. "I remember President Pei saying before that I'd be the first customer of this haunted house. I didn't expect the progress to be this fast, it really lives up to 'Tengda Group efficiency.'"
Pei Qian thought to himself: well… strictly speaking, President Li, you're not actually the first customer anymore—after all, Ruan Guangjian has already experienced three of the smaller modules.
But for someone to fully experience the second major project, President Li would indeed be the first—so calling him the first customer wasn't entirely wrong.
Sipping his tea, Pei Qian corrected him, "This is only the second major project of Fright Hostel. More than half of the work has just begun, so it's not ready for official operation yet."
"And this isn't really 'Tengda Group efficiency.' Tengda Group never pursues speed—we only strive for perfection within a given timeframe."
"Strive for perfection…" President Li murmured, then asked a very serious question, "So… are the projects inside actually scary?"
"Ahem." Pei Qian coughed lightly and glanced at Chen Kangtuo. "Well… that depends on the individual. You'll know after experiencing it."
Chen Kangtuo handed over a sheet listing the project requirements. "These are the actions you need to complete during the experience. Please review and memorize them."
President Li took the paper, scanning its contents. His eyebrows rose slightly.
At the top were several simple instructions:
[If visitors feel unwell, they may terminate the challenge at any time.][Memorize all steps and execute them accurately during the challenge. Completing the entire process grants qualification for the third project.][If willing, even if steps are done incorrectly, visitors may still continue the full experience.][There is no time limit for memorizing the steps.][Important: The order of the following six projects will be randomly shuffled during the challenge. Do not rely on rote memorization.]
Below were the names of six projects, along with the required tasks for each.
Each project had about 5 to 7 steps, with some logical connections between them—nothing too hard to remember.
For example, the bathroom scenario:
Lock the bathroom door from the inside.Pick up the red candle on the floor and light it.Place the candle in front of the mirror, cover your eyes for three seconds, then look into the mirror.Turn on the faucet and wash your hands.Lie in the bathtub, press the timer, and cover your eyes with both hands until the timer stops.
The challenges were mainly centered around three areas: the entrance, the bathroom mirror, and the bathtub. The sequence progressed from outside to inside. With a clear mind, it would only take two or three minutes to roughly memorize.
Of course, since all the small projects would be shuffled, fully memorizing everything would take at least half an hour.
President Li quickly skimmed through all the requirements and fell silent.
It seemed… not as terrifying as he had imagined.
When he came, he had mentally prepared himself for the worst.
After all, he knew that Pei Qian always pursued perfection in everything he did, so the haunted house project must be extremely terrifying!
But after seeing this sheet, it felt somewhat different from his expectations.
Most of the scariest haunted houses typically share two characteristics: long processes and heavy interaction between staff and visitors.
However, this Fright Hostel project was the exact opposite.
From the items listed on this sheet, it was clear that each individual challenge didn't last very long—probably around five to eight minutes each. Altogether, the full experience would only take about thirty to forty minutes.
Moreover, it seemed there was basically no "staff dressed as ghosts chasing visitors" type of gameplay.
This reassured President Li quite a bit.
It looked like this project mainly served as a gateway to qualify for the third project, so the level of horror was moderate.
With that thought, Li Shi felt more at ease.
Originally, he had planned that if the project was too terrifying, he would skip the experience and find another way to extract information from Pei Qian.
But now that it didn't seem overly scary, he could make a little use of it.
"President Pei, if I manage to complete the entire experience, can I exchange it for a different reward? 'Qualification for the third project' doesn't mean anything to me," Li Shi asked.
Pei Qian nodded. "Of course. What reward would you like? How about a lifetime VIP pass to Fright Hostel—you can come and experience it for free anytime?"
President Li's face darkened. "What would I want that for? Do I look like I've got a death wish?"
"Ahem… how about this: if I somehow manage to endure the entire project, could you tell me the truth about something? Regarding the Top Student, Come Quickly project—does Dream Fulfillment Ventures actually plan to cash out and run?"
Pei Qian chuckled inwardly. President Li's request was exactly what he had hoped for.
Even if President Li hadn't asked, he had already planned to hint at it.
"No problem," Pei Qian agreed without hesitation.
President Li gave a thumbs-up. "Good! President Pei really is straightforward! Then I'll go in and experience it now—just don't go back on your word."
Li Shi carefully memorized the instructions on the sheet. After about fifteen minutes of silently rehearsing them several times, he was confident he had them all down.
"I'm ready." He stood up.
Pei Qian nodded. "Please go ahead, President Li."
Full of confidence, Li Shi walked toward the entrance of the second project and strode in boldly.
"Talking about being scared, yet walking in so firmly… Could President Li be like Ruan Guangjian—someone who's pretending to be weak while actually strong?"
Pei Qian suddenly felt a bit uncertain about Fright Hostel's scare factor.
However, just as he reached the monitoring screen, a blood-curdling scream echoed from inside.
"AHHHHHHH!!!"
Looking at the surveillance feed, President Li—who had entered less than a minute ago—had already fallen to the ground, frantically rubbing the back of his neck.
Pei Qian noticed that the first module President Li encountered was the "Ceiling" scenario.
When entering the room, the visitor had to bend down to pick up a tattered notebook from under a table. At that moment, a drop of liquid would fall from the ceiling onto the back of the visitor's neck.
Instinctively, the visitor would look up—and see that a panel in the ceiling had been removed, revealing a head with wide, staring eyes and blood-like tears streaming down its face.
Clearly, when President Li looked up and saw this head, he was so frightened that he screamed and stumbled backward. After falling, he instinctively tried to wipe away the "blood" dripping down his neck.
Seeing this, Pei Qian finally felt reassured.
"Looks like the horror level of the Fright Hostel isn't the problem… the problem was Ruan Guangjian."
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