Chapter 151 I'm So Tired

January 26th, Wednesday.

Round Dream Ventures.

Pei Qian sipped his tea, listening to He Desheng's report, his mind wandering.

Ruan Guangjian had left, and the last exam of the exam week was over. It should have been a double celebration, but Pei Qian always felt a little empty.

The Spring Festival was only a week away, and watching his classmates go home one by one, Pei Qian himself still had to busy himself with company matters.

How could he not feel miserable!

He wanted to just throw up his hands, oh no, wash his hands of it all, but he couldn't. If he didn't look for work, work would come looking for him.

Round Dream Ventures had two tasks at hand, one was the domestic server of IOI, and the other was the Scholar is Coming app.

Currently, the test results of IOI in Europe and the United States were very good. According to common sense, preparations for the domestic server should also begin.

At this stage, many domestic game companies had noticed the good momentum of IOI during the tests in Europe and the United States, and wanted to win the agency rights for the domestic server as soon as possible.

However, when they inquired with Finger Games, they learned that the agency rights for the domestic server had already been taken...

Therefore, these people could only pin their hopes on Round Dream Ventures reselling the agency rights for the IOI domestic server.

With many companies interested, the asking price naturally became higher and higher.

"President Pei, so... are we selling?" He Desheng ended his long report, concluding with a soul-touching question.

Pei Qian was silent for a moment: "Tell me again, what's the highest offer now?"

He Desheng: "Thirty-five million."

Pei Qian silently put down his teacup, almost wanting to sigh to the heavens.

35 million!

The domestic server agency rights that Round Dream Ventures had in hand were given away for free when they bought Finger Games' shares...

At that time, it only cost 20 million to buy just over 20% of Finger Games' shares. Now, those shares were still in hand, and just selling the domestic server agency rights would bring in 35 million.

Robbing money wasn't this fast.

Pei Qian immediately shook his head: "Reject them all, not selling!"

Pei Qian knew very well that if he took this money, he couldn't expect to lose money this cycle!

With only two months left until settlement, what could he do in these two months to spend more than 30 million and still ensure that the project was launched? It was too risky!

So, he definitely couldn't sell!

He Desheng deeply agreed: "Yes, that's what I think too! 35 million is too little, we can definitely sell it for more if we hold onto it for a while longer!"

Pei Qian: "?"

He Desheng's face was full of joy, and he continued, "President Pei, I've done my homework too. The agency fees for several large domestic companies to represent foreign games are almost astronomical!"

"The agency fee for the last version of *Fantasy World* was 30 million US dollars, nearly 200 million!"

"Now it seems that the popularity of IOI in the future may reach the level of *Fantasy World*. They want to buy it from us for 35 million now? No way!"

"Of course, this is also because IOI has just started testing, and Finger Games itself is not very famous."

"In short, we don't need to rush at all now. As long as the popularity of IOI continues to increase overseas, the agency fee will definitely rise again!"

Pei Qian: "..."

We're not thinking about the same thing at all, okay!

Pei Qian was thinking that if he sold it now, the settlement for this cycle would be directly ruined. There was nowhere to spend 35 million, so he couldn't sell it.

And He Desheng was thinking that 35 million was obviously still low, and he wanted to continue raising the price!

After hearing He Desheng's words, Pei Qian actually wanted to sell it a little.

But on second thought, he still couldn't sell it.

From a short-term perspective, selling it would affect the settlement. From a long-term perspective, if IOI could really reach the level of several billion, then Pei Qian could simply lie down and earn money.

After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said, "What I mean is, not only can we not sell it, but we also have to open a company specifically to operate the domestic server of IOI!"

He Desheng was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded: "That's great too!"

"This way, we can keep this money-making tree in our hands and make money continuously!"

Pei Qian: "..."

Believe whatever you want, I don't want to say anything anymore, I'm tired!

Pei Qian decided to set up his own company to operate the domestic server of IOI, mainly for two reasons.

On the one hand, since he had already obtained the agency rights for the domestic server, it would definitely not be possible to not do it himself or sell it. It would inevitably arouse suspicion.

On the other hand, operating it himself would allow him to spend more money!

As a real-time battle game, whether it was IOI or GOG, the server requirements were the highest of all Tenda's current games, which would inevitably require a large amount of server costs.

At the same time, the initial promotion of IOI would definitely require a lot of money.

In this way, he could at least ensure that it would be a loss in this cycle.

As for the future...

If IOI really became a money-making tree, earning so much that he couldn't spend it all, then Pei Qian could consider simply becoming a salted fish, relying on the 1000:1 profit conversion ratio to earn some pocket money in the future.

Pei Qian didn't want to dwell too much on the IOI issue. In any case, he definitely couldn't sell it now, and he could only grit his teeth and continue step by step.

"In short, there's no need to rush this matter. Let's talk about it after the new year."

"What about 'Scholar is Coming'?"

"The previous three million should be almost spent, right?" Pei Qian asked casually.

During this period, the "Scholar is Coming" project had been burning money non-stop. Whether it was advertising or subsidies, there were holes everywhere.

Although it wasn't as terrifying as the crazy spending on shared bikes, the initial capital was only three million after all, and it would be used up after spending a little.

He Desheng nodded: "Almost, there's less than a million left in the account."

"But President Pei, don't worry, recently several investment companies have expressed strong interest in the 'Scholar is Coming' project and want to make follow-on investments!"

The teacup that Pei Qian had just brought to his mouth stopped: "...Huh?"

You want to make follow-on investments in such an unreliable project? Are your brains burned out?

The "Scholar is Coming" app had been revised.

Previously, Pei Qian found that this app had an undesirable trend of becoming a dating platform, so he decisively took measures and made major changes to some functions.

Now, all user options on the platform had no gender, no photos, only names and default avatars.

Viewing a scholar's homepage only showed the approval rating and the system's default tags for him, such as: good teaching attitude, patient, easy to understand, etc.

The page of a student seeking help was similar, with approval ratings and system default tags, such as: listens attentively, good learning attitude, polite, etc.

According to the current standard process, students seeking help would fill in their needs on the app, including the subjects they needed tutoring, the time, and the agreed location. The scholars would independently accept orders, and the chat function attached to the software would be used throughout the process. During the entire process, it was impossible to clearly know the other party's gender and appearance.

Of course, some people would definitely try to ask the other party's gender before meeting. In response to this situation, the app also specially designed a "one-click complaint" function. After clicking, the chat history between the two parties would be automatically submitted for review, and the tutoring would be terminated.

Once it was verified that an account had attempted to probe the other party's gender or appearance, the account would be immediately penalized. The lightest penalty would be to deduct credit points, and the heaviest penalty would be to permanently block the account along with the ID card and mobile phone number.

As soon as this new version of the app was updated, the number of active users plummeted!

Because the app was originally mixed with a large number of users with impure motives, they originally just regarded it as a platform for meeting the opposite sex.

Just like on ride-hailing apps, many drivers would deliberately pick up pretty girls and even discuss them in private, the "Scholar is Coming" app was no exception.

Moreover, face-to-face tutoring was inherently prone to creating such opportunities for encounters. If allowed to develop, it would be even more serious than ride-hailing apps.

The new version completely extinguished the delusions of this group of people.

Therefore, the sudden drop in the app's popularity was a normal thing.

Pei Qian originally thought that the release of this new version would inevitably cause a heavy blow to the "Scholar is Coming" project, and then he would seize the time to burn all the millions of dollars, and everything would be fine.

He never expected that several investment companies would want to make follow-on investments?

Pei Qian fell into deep thought.

Originally, he planned to quickly burn the three million dollars, and then he could righteously announce the failure of the project and let it cool down naturally.

As a result, the money hadn't been spent yet, and someone was rushing to send him money. What should he do!

Pei Qian wanted to refuse, but he had no reason to!

President Li's Fuhui Capital had already invested one million, and other investment companies wanted to invest, and the shares they wanted weren't too many. The "Scholar is Coming" project was currently short of money...

What reason could he find to refuse?

After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian had an idea.

He could tell these companies about the unreliable aspects of the project and let them back down!

Thinking of this, Pei Qian said to He Desheng, "Call these investment companies immediately and explain two things clearly."

"First, ask them clearly why they want to invest in the 'Scholar is Coming' project."

"Second, clearly state all the problems currently faced by 'Scholar is Coming' and explain in advance the risks involved in this project!"

The purpose of the first question was very simple, just to ask these people what they thought was reliable about the "Scholar is Coming" project, and if they told him, he would change it.

He Desheng was a little confused.

What did President Pei mean?

Why did these investment companies want to invest in the "Scholar is Coming" project? It must be because they thought the project was reliable!

This should be a question for these investment companies to consider. They were investing money, and they were taking money!

He Desheng racked his brains and thought to himself, "Could it be that President Pei hopes that I can use this method to deduce the success of this project? Deepen my understanding of investment?"

"Yes, that's the only reasonable explanation."

"But why does President Pei want to clearly explain the risks of this project to all investors?"

Other people's projects try their best to deceive investment companies, reporting good news but not bad news, so that they can invest more money.

If he revealed all his cards, would they still invest money?

He Desheng didn't think too clearly, but he didn't dare to ask more when he saw President Pei's unquestionable eyes, so he called these investment companies one by one.

Pei Qian listened silently on the side.

He Desheng was very obedient. He completely followed what Pei Qian had told him in advance, first asking the other party's opinion on the "Scholar is Coming" project, and then giving a long speech about the problems currently faced by the project.

For example, the current number of active users was not able to support the market demand, the popularity and daily active users plummeted after the app was updated, and the current functions were still relatively simple.

As expected, he persuaded two companies to withdraw right away!

Before investing, these investment companies would go through some research, but no matter how much research they did, they couldn't get some internal data.

Some investment companies simply saw that the education industry was a promising industry, and they were optimistic about the background of Tenda and Fuhui Capital behind this company. They felt that this was a relatively reliable project, so they considered making follow-on investments.

But now that He Desheng clearly explained the real situation faced by the project, especially emphasizing the huge risks faced by the project, and that they might lose everything.

As a result, investment companies immediately retreated.

After making three calls in a row, the investment enthusiasm of the three investment companies on the other side was all extinguished, and they went from being ready to invest money to being in a wait-and-see state.