November 18, Monday.
A new week had arrived, and Pei Qian found himself troubled once again.
He summoned the system interface to check his financial situation.
[Wealth Conversion System]
[Host: Pei Qian]
[Profit Conversion Ratio: 100:1 | Loss Conversion Ratio: 1:1]
[Next Settlement Date: 73 days from now]
[System Funds: 971,634.3 Yuan(↑471,634.3)]
[Personal Funds: 1,322.8 Yuan]
Looking at the long string of numbers representing system funds, and then at his pitiful personal assets barely over a thousand yuan, Pei Qian felt an impulse to deeply reflect on his life.
Why is it always like this?!
The last time he checked, he had already managed to shrink the system funds down to just over 200,000 yuan.
Yet now, after checking again, the funds had shot up once more!
Over the past two weeks, net income had totaled around 900,000 yuan. Even after replenishing the system funds and trying desperately to spend money on snacks, coffee, and various useful—or entirely useless—office supplies, he still hadn't managed to use up much!
Pei Qian felt a headache coming on.
Is losing money really this difficult?!
He was on the verge of pulling the game "Ghost General" off the shelves entirely—stop making money for me, dammit!
But he couldn't do that. Due to the system's explicit "violation warnings," he had no choice but to endure.
Fortunately, there were still two months until the next settlement, and plenty of ways left to spend money during that time.
At the end of this month, there would be another rent payment, and the salaries and overtime pay for employees would also be due. Those expenses alone would drain another considerable chunk from the system funds.
In addition, starting from this week, it was also time to begin large-scale resource purchases for "Ocean Fortress."
This included custom art resources, programming functions, music, sound effects, and more.
After all, this wasn't just a mobile game like "Ghost General." Since it was a full-fledged PC game, it absolutely had to meet the rigorous standards of a PC game!
Pei Qian would love nothing more than to set the bar as high as possible—so he could spend more money!
He wondered how many resources Huang Sibo had listed for online purchasing this time, and how much money he could spend on them.
Pei Qian felt a small thrill of anticipation.
. . . . .
"President Pei, here's the full list of resources we plan to purchase online. Please have a look."
Huang Sibo handed Pei Qian a lengthy spreadsheet.
Pei Qian accepted it and quickly glanced over it, immediately locking onto the final total at the end.
670,000 Yuan.
Pei Qian instinctively frowned.
Seeing his reaction, Huang Sibo became uneasy.
Did President Pei think it was too extravagant? Surely not, right?
I've already been very careful in controlling the budget!
Pei Qian remained silent, forcing Huang Sibo to wait nervously.
But the number had made Pei Qian deeply dissatisfied.
It was far too little!
This was a PC game, yet they only planned to spend around seven or eight hundred thousand yuan on game resources and custom features? Was this some kind of joke?!
Too stingy!
At this rate, how was he ever going to burn through the system funds?!
Pei Qian didn't immediately react but continued examining the itemized details closely.
FPS base gameplay template (precisely tuned version): 120,000 Yuan.
Scene templates (secret base theme): 50,000 Yuan, plus three custom-style variations and destructible environment objects, totaling 100,000 Yuan.
General character models (zombies, mercenaries) plus animation adjustments and customization: over 80,000 Yuan.
Custom model and animations for the little girl character: 60,000 Yuan.
Various firearm templates including bullet trajectories, weapon appearances, etc.: over 90,000 Yuan.
Custom development of various gameplay modes, hiring five programmers for around two months: approximately 70,000 Yuan.
In addition, there were other miscellaneous expenses like music, sound effects, and voice acting for commonly-used character lines.
Costs related to cloud servers and subsequent expenses hadn't even been factored in yet. Those would be considered later depending on the game's popularity after launch.
Pei Qian was puzzled.
Just what was going on here?
He felt that, judging purely by numbers, 670,000 yuan was far too little.
However, after carefully examining the list, he saw that although the prices were somewhat low, they were still within reasonable bounds.
No one had deliberately bought cheap resources, so how was the total cost still this low?
It was normal for Pei Qian to be puzzled.
He simply didn't have a deep understanding of the game "Ocean Fortress"!
According to Bao Xu and Huang Sibo's plan, resources had been conserved as much as possible. The story mode used only one scene style throughout, and apart from the main supporting character—the little girl—the other characters like zombies and mercenaries were merely modified generic assets.
With fewer customized elements, naturally, the cost was lower!
But when Pei Qian glanced over the budget, he didn't see these finer details—he just felt displeased at how little was spent.
"Redo it. Double the budget," Pei Qian directly returned the form to Huang Sibo.
Huang Sibo was dumbfounded.
Double the budget???
"But… President Pei…"
Huang Sibo wanted to protest, but Pei Qian's gaze was firm.
If I said double, then double it! No buts!
That was clearly Pei Qian's intention.
Huang Sibo swallowed his words and quietly took the form away.
Leaning back in his chair, Pei Qian calculated silently.
Sixty-something thousand yuan was too little.
Doubling it to around 1.2 million yuan—that was more like it.
Otherwise, the system's funds would never get spent!
With more than two months to the next settlement, Ghost General was still earning money, even though revenue had started declining.
If he didn't spend aggressively, he'd end up broke again by the next settlement!
As for what Huang Sibo would buy with that money, Pei Qian couldn't care less.
Buy whatever you like, as long as the system doesn't issue a warning—I won't interfere!
. . . .
Back at his seat, Huang Sibo felt conflicted.
Doubling the budget was a thing now?
Earlier, when sourcing resources online, he had primarily focused on cost-effectiveness.
He'd chosen resources that were good quality but reasonably priced.
Those resources of excellent quality yet priced on the high side had been completely ignored.
But now, President Pei wasn't satisfied with the price!
"Could it be that President Pei was unhappy with my resource selection?"
"Hmm, it's possible. President Pei is a person who pursues excellence."
"The original artwork for Ghost General was a good example."
"Fine, since that's the case, I'll upgrade everything to the highest quality—only the best!"
"Being responsible to the players and striving for perfection… that must also be President Pei's intention."
Huang Sibo reopened the asset website and scrapped the previous plan entirely.
All the resources—including previously agreed-upon artists and programmers—were replaced with top-tier alternatives!
With twice the budget, Huang Sibo had greater freedom to spend lavishly. Only by exhausting all his options did he manage to meet President Pei goal.
In the end, the budget settled at 1.26 million yuan, and he even included many items he had initially eliminated.
It wasn't until after three in the afternoon that he finally finished redoing the budget.
Huang Sibo breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew, this should finally satisfy President Pei, right?"
He took the new plan back to Pei Qian.
Pei Qian quickly glanced through the revised proposal, his eyes stopping at the total figure at the bottom.
1.26 million!
Only now was Pei Qian genuinely satisfied.
As long as the numbers were sufficient, he didn't care about what was actually being purchased.
"Alright, good enough. Take this to Assistant Xin."
"Split the purchases into two batches—buy the more important things first, then the less crucial items next week."
Though Pei Qian spent lavishly, he still took future income into consideration.
Hence, the 1.26 million yuan had to be split into two transactions to avoid running out of cash.
Huang Sibo took back the finalized plan.
Pei Qian emphasized, "Also, whenever there's an expense in the future, don't hesitate or adjust the plan by yourself. Always come to me first—understood?"
Huang Sibo quickly nodded. "Yes, President Pei. Understood!"
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 92: A Small Lie[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/losing-money-to-129248702[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/losing-money-to-129248702
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/losing-money-to-129248702
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded