September 16th, Thursday …
Pei Qian once again came to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Handong University branch to check on Teacher Qiao's progress.
This time, Pei Qian's mentality was completely different from before.
That was because … he had already cleared the game!
Of course, he had cleared the game at the easiest difficulty level. He had used Pudu and jumped from Road to the Underworld to the Six Realms of Rebirth and Existence. He had defeated the boss in the Six Realms of Rebirth and Existence.
If Pei Qian were to attempt the second round now, he would not be able to move an inch.
That was because the initial difficulty level of the second round was already very high. What's more, Pudu would be the same as other weapons after the second round. It could not be strengthened and would gradually become worse than other weapons. Using it to fight monsters would be a suicidal act.
However, that did not matter. Since the System's mission was completed, Pei Qian felt relaxed.
On the other side, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's new branch was almost done.
The location was the biggest shopping mall in Jingzhou. The rent was not cheap either. At 12 yuan, this was the most expensive place Boss Pei had ever rented.
Although it was still incomparable to the rent ten years later, it was already shocking enough.
The area this time was not as spacious as before. After all, it was inside a shopping mall. It was only about 800 square meters.
After deciding not to start a coffee and wine business, Pei Qian had saved a lot of space. He had even specially set aside a public entertainment area with a projector.
The remaining space could fit another 150 computers.
Pei Qian did a rough calculation. The monthly rent was close to three hundred thousand yuan. If he hired two cashiers and four internet cafe managers, he would have to pay them thirty to forty thousand yuan a month. Including electricity, cleaning, and other expenses, he would have to spend four hundred thousand yuan a month.
If he continued to charge ten yuan per hour, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would only have an average of thirty to forty percent of customers. Based on the standard operating hours from 8 to 24, he would only be able to earn three hundred thousand yuan at most.
Of course, many internet cafes were open 24 hours. Pei Qian did not intend to do that.
It was not because the shopping malls would be closed at night.
Even if the shopping malls were closed, many cinemas in the shopping malls would have midnight screenings. There would still be customers coming in and out at two or three in the morning. They would not be affected by the closing of the shopping malls.
It was just leaving the doors open for customers. This was nothing new.
Pei Qian's goal in opening this internet cafe was to incur losses. Of course, he had to reduce the opening hours as much as possible.
Based on his current expenses, the internet cafe had to maintain an average occupancy rate of about 60% to be profitable. Pei Qian felt that this was an impossible target.
After all, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store was already so popular. Even so, the attendance rate had not reached this figure.
Of course, Pei Qian did not completely trust the data. After all, the data could change.
Pei Qian was not in a hurry to expand his business. Instead, he planned to open a new shop and see how it went.
If the losses reached their expectations, then they would invest in a few more shops before settlement. If they made profits for some inexplicable reason, then they would quickly find a way to stop the losses.
…
When he arrived at the Handong University branch, Pei Qian pulled over the computer chair beside Teacher Qiao and sat down. He sipped his cocktail while watching Teacher Qiao play games.
Pei Qian's original intention was to watch Teacher Qiao suffer and add some entertainment to his busy work and life.
On the other hand, Qiao Liang felt that he was being valued, and he perked up.
The chief designer of the game was sitting next to me and watching me play. He was ready to listen to my opinions and suggestions. What a proud thing it was!
Teacher Qiao was full of fighting spirit.
At that moment, Qiao Liang had just finished updating the game. He opened the update log.
"Eh? The Epitaph function has been completed? "
Qiao Liang was pleasantly surprised. Boss Pei had solved the problem that he raised previously so quickly. It was obvious that he really valued his opinions!
Pei Qian saw the update log as well. He said regretfully, "The Epitaph function is only available at the beginning of the game. I don't think you can play it anymore unless you create a new account."
Qiao Liang entered the game. "It's alright. I'm about to play the second round."
Pei Qian, "…"
F * ck!
Teacher Qiao's words sounded nonchalant, but they were like a sharp knife stabbing into Boss Pei's heart.
Was he going to play the second round??
Pei Qian had indeed completed the first round. However, that was because he relied on 'Pudu' and skipped classes endlessly. He had probably only experienced thirty to forty percent of the game.
However, Teacher Qiao was different. He had completed the game according to the normal process. What's more, he had experienced a huge setback in the middle. All the weapons that he was good at had been destroyed by an unscrupulous designer. He had to adapt to new weapons from scratch.
Even so, Teacher Qiao's progress in the game was still the same as Boss Pei's.
It was really infuriating to compare oneself with others …
Pei Qian felt that his mood was not good at all. He even started to doubt himself.
It was not that he doubted his own gaming standards. Boss Pei had always known that he was a weakling. He had never doubted that.
What he doubted was the difficulty of the game.
Even at this stage, he still could not stop Teacher Qiao from completing the game??
Who knew how much effort I had put into making this game more difficult for the players!
Even so, Teacher Qiao still managed to complete the game. This made Pei Qian feel a deep sense of defeat.
Even his favorite cocktail did not taste good anymore.
However, the good thing was that Teacher Qiao was about to challenge the second round. The difficulty of the second round had increased significantly.
He entered the game.
The opening plot was more or less the same as before. After the opening CG, the camera moved to the small village at the beginning. There were many villagers who had lost their souls wandering around. In the mass grave near the village, the protagonist opened the coffin and stood up.
He, who had been regarded as a dead person, woke up and set foot on the road to hell.
According to the original design, players were supposed to pick up a broken sword and slash monsters.
However, after this update, an additional scene was added.
The protagonist came to his grave in the mass grave and saw a very simple tombstone. There were no words on it.
The protagonist squatted down in front of his own tombstone and caressed the rough, simple stone. With a hoarse voice, he said, "There are no inscriptions on the tombstone … since that's the case, I'll write an epitaph for myself."
At that moment, an input box appeared on the screen. Players could freely input up to ten words.
Qiao Liang scratched his head.
As someone who hated coming up with names the most, he was now facing a very serious challenge.
What kind of epitaph should he write?
Something more optimistic and encourage himself?
Something more resolute and set off the sorrowful atmosphere?
Or something funnier?
Qiao Liang racked his brains to come up with some genteel words, but he did not have the knowledge. What's more, Boss Pei was watching from the side. If he wrote too long, it would feel like he was deliberately showing off. It would be very inappropriate.
After some thought, Qiao Liang wrote four words: 'You can do it.'
I'll write such a simple sentence to encourage myself!
After all, this was an extremely difficult game. Encouraging himself with 'you can do it' after he died would make him more confident to face the next challenge.
Another simple scene appeared. Four ancient words were carved on the tombstone as the epitaph. The game officially began.
"Second round, here I come!"
Qiao Liang was full of energy. He planned to perform well in front of Boss Pei.
After all, he had been on Boss Pei's salary for so long. He had to improve.
Qiao Liang took out a mourning stick. This was a two-handed weapon that he had obtained after killing the Black and White Impermanence in the last round of the game. It looked like a very thick and long stick with many white strips of paper on it.
It was a good heavy weapon with good attack power. What's more, it came with weapon skills. After using it, it could cause area-of-effect damage to the enemies in front of it and draw a small amount of their souls.
"I'll show off my skills in front of Boss Pei!"
Qiao Liang was full of confidence. After all, he had used his own strength to complete the first round of the game. He had already fought many bosses and seen all kinds of storms.
These few monsters in the newbie village were nothing to him.
The protagonist carried the mourning stick and rushed forward.
Qiao Liang clearly remembered that the few monsters at the beginning were all silly and squatting in the mass grave. They would only fight back when they were attacked. That was why he boldly rushed forward.
However, he had just rushed halfway when the three monsters near the mass grave turned around and surrounded him!
Qiao Liang was shocked, but it was too late. He instinctively rolled and landed on the blade of the monsters.
The three monsters rushed over and each gave the protagonist a slash. Qiao Liang died on the spot.
The screen turned gray. In the middle of the screen, the ancient red epitaph that he had written appeared.
"You can do it."
That's not right. Wasn't the epitaph meant to encourage me?
Why did the same words have a different meaning???
The situation became awkward.
Qiao Liang could not help but scratch his head.
He felt like he had used the mourning stick that the boss had dropped to fight the small monsters. Yet, he had been killed in a few moves. At that moment, a voice drifted over. "You can do it."
In other words, it meant that he was very good at being tortured by the small monsters even though he had the boss's equipment.
With some dissatisfaction, Qiao Liang was resurrected.
This time, he advanced steadily and successfully killed the three monsters at the entrance of the mass grave. However, he was soon killed at the next corner.
"You can do it."
Four bright red ancient words appeared on the screen again.
Qiao Liang: "…"
He reached out to hold his forehead and fell into deep doubt about life.
What was going on …
Pei Qian watched silently from the side, trying hard not to laugh out loud.
This epitaph was very good. It had perfectly met his expectations!
In fact, Pei Qian had already thought about it. No matter what players wrote as an epitaph, the words that appeared after their death would become a mockery.
Even encouraging epitaphs like 'Keep it up, you'd do it' would become a form of irony after many players died.
If it was' noob ','? ',' little brother ', or' hehe ', the effect would be even better.
In other words, no matter what players wrote as an epitaph, 99% of players would be played by Boss Pei, pressed to the ground, and repeatedly mocked!
That would definitely produce an excellent dissuading effect. Coupled with the long effective refund mechanism, Pei Qian would lose a huge amount of sales and money.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, just thinking about it made me secretly happy!
What's more, Pei Qian felt much better now that he saw Teacher Qiao doubting his life.
Pei Qian could only sigh silently.
Although it was wrong to hurt each other, but …
So happy!!
()
A complete copy
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
