“A fighter?” Zacao was quite bewildered. “Aren’t you a mage?” As he spoke, Zacao quietly cast an Appraisal spell, confirming that Gu Fei was undoubtedly a mage.

Gu Fei shook his head and said, “I have no interest in making money in the game, nor do I need to.”

Zacao smiled. The professional gamers in their studio knew that ordinary people didn’t see them as a legitimate profession. In fact, with the booming online gaming industry, gaming studios that relied on this fertile ground for survival had long been a crucial part of the entertainment industry. They entered games, used in-game resources, and colluded with game companies to eye players' wallets. The monthly profits they generated were not as bad as ordinary people imagined. Although in the early days, some studios only pursued profits, massively infiltrating games to destroy the in-game economic environment and had many negative impacts on games, this method of killing the goose for its eggs had long been eliminated as the industry became more standardized. Nowadays, studios want games to have a healthy and harmonious environment even more than players do.

Especially large, well-known studios like Yingqi, they were also legitimate companies with legal business licenses. Their entry into some games even required them to pay considerable fees to the game companies through formal channels. It could be seen that after studios embarked on the path of standardization, even game operators recognized them.

Gu Fei’s words were something Zacao had heard a lot. They were old-fashioned ideas, completely unaware of how booming the online game studio industry was. Especially in this new game environment of a parallel world, players had richer demands in the game, and there were countless ways for studios to get involved in making profits. It was no longer the simple and boring ways of early online games like farming gold, grinding materials, or running gold groups.

The Whitestone industry in Whitestone City, the private ship industry in Linshui City, and the lantern and torch industry in Xiamu City, which one wasn’t developing vigorously?

Zacao had previously met a showy guy who thought his income was considerable and he could be a RMB (real money) player in the game to look down on everyone. As a result, he later learned that the guy’s self-righteous income wasn’t even as good as a porter selling Whitestone for their Yingqi studio. Since then, Zacao had become even more confident that those who didn’t think much of them would be shocked as long as he showed them the income statement of any random guy from their studio. And right now, the efficiency leveling method was such a huge business! The profit he had assessed, if he said it, wouldn’t it scare the number one killer in this parallel world into wetting his pants?

These thoughts flashed through Zacao’s mind in an instant. He had already decided to reveal a number to shock these two hicks. Immediately, he said in an indifferent tone, “Hehe, does anyone ever think they have too much money? Just playing games and making a few million in pocket money, why would you two refuse?”

Before Gu Fei could speak, Baishi Jinglun patted his pocket with a wealthy look and said, “A few million gold coins is nothing. I already have it.” This guy took the part that Gu Fei didn't want from the last deal, plus his previous scattered income. He really had over a million gold coins in his pocket.

Baishi Jinglun was smug, but the other party thought that he was indeed a hick, and then dismissively said, "I'm not talking about gold coins, I'm talking about RMB."

"RMB…" Baishi Jinglun's mouth grew wide. A few million RMB was too dreamlike for him.

Zacao was very satisfied with Baishi Jinglun's reaction. He thought that he was indeed a country bumpkin. A few million could scare him. It seemed that ordinary people really couldn't imagine how big the profit of a studio was. Even a character like one of the Five Strongest was nothing more than this. He really didn’t know how Yaowu would react if he faced this situation. While thinking, Zacao glanced at Gu Fei again. Seeing that this person was still smiling faintly without being moved, he felt a little upset. He felt that Gu Fei was pretending to be reserved, so he decided to add more fuel to the fire, and said, "Well, I actually estimated this number quite conservatively. After all, we haven’t started a real cooperation yet, so we haven’t conducted a detailed market survey. But let’s roughly estimate. With more than 50 million players in the parallel world, as long as we promote the efficiency leveling method to one-tenth of them, which is 5 million players, and each person pays the current price of 99 gold coins, then it’s already 495 million gold coins. Recently, the gold coin market has been relatively stable. Our Yingqi’s price for 100 gold coins is 30 RMB, so 495 million gold coins can be converted into 148.5 million RMB."

"148.5 million!!!" Baishi Jinglun gasped.

"It's RMB," Zacao reminded him again.

"What's going on here?" Baishi Jinglun's brain was a little overloaded.

"It's like you and a few partners started a small business together, but then a large company sees the potential of your exclusive project and wants to merge with you and expand the project, is that what it means?" Gu Fei explained and asked Zacao.

"Uh, almost!" Zacao nodded. He had just directly calculated a number over 100 million, but seeing that Qian Li Zui still didn't seem to react, he felt a little uneasy. Could such a huge number not move him? Who was this person?

"148.5 million..." Baishi Jinglun was still muttering, "I can't use that much..."

"You wish. That's the final income of the entire project. I don't know how many people will share it then!" Gu Fei said, then asked Zacao, "If it's shared, how much can he get?"

Zacao immediately understood. He felt that this guy was pretending because he hadn't determined how the benefits would be distributed, right? It was a pity that Zacao couldn't decide how to divide it. He didn't dare to speak randomly, fearing that it would affect future negotiations. At this time, the higher-level leaders naturally needed to come forward. Although Aohuang was only the head of the Moon Night City branch, he still had some authority to carry out business. But at this moment, he did not rashly promise, but said very calmly: "Regarding this issue, if you two are interested, we might as well sit down and talk slowly. There is a barbecue restaurant operated by our Yingqi on Fourth Street of Moon Night City. The environment is quite good. Why don't we go over there and talk while eating?"

At present, the food in the game is still mainly grilled meat. Although Chinese food has many varieties of frying, stir-frying, boiling, and cooking, the ingredients required are also very complex. Where can you find green onions, ginger, garlic, and seasoning ingredients in the game? Even grilled meat has become tiring for many players who are clamoring to eat cumin flavor, which is really difficult for countless barbecue experts. Countless cooking masters have drilled into the wild forests, tasting wild grass everywhere, hoping to chew out a cumin flavor.

"Now? I haven’t eaten yet!" Gu Fei said.

"Isn't that the perfect time to go eat?" Aohuang said.

"I'm not talking about the game..." Gu Fei wiped his sweat. It was really annoying to communicate with these players. They took the game too seriously.

"Oh... is that so! Then you two go eat first, and we'll contact you later, okay?" Aohuang wasn't insistent either. At the beginning, Qian Li Zui didn't care and was about to leave, but now that he heard this large number, he didn't mention rejecting the matter anymore. Now that he had loosened his mouth, the next thing was just a matter of benefit distribution. It was a good time to negotiate with the higher-ups while this guy went to eat, and ask what the bottom line was to facilitate the negotiation. While talking to the two, Aohuang kept calculating in his mind.

Aohuang and Zacao were not wrong about one thing. In terms of games, Gu Fei and Baishi Jinglun were indeed hicks. They really didn't expect that studios could make so much money. The people Gu Fei had dealt with, far away there were people like Can Mengsi, and closer by there were the Seven Swords of Jiangnan You. They all seemed to be working very hard, and their income didn’t seem to be very prosperous. But looking at these two studio guys, their tone and confidence were really different from those of Jiangnan You and his group. Was this the difference between a large company and a small workshop? Then, both sides added each other as friends. Gu Fei and Baishi Jinglun continued to discuss this matter on the way back to the city. When they reached the resurrection point, they went offline separately. Gu Fei hurriedly ate and rested for a while before returning to the game. Baishi Jinglun was more anxious than him. He was already waiting in the game, waiting for Gu Fei to log on at the resurrection point.

Gu Fei was still thinking about this matter when he was eating. After resting for a while after the meal, he immediately entered the game.

"You're finally here. I was about to go offline and call you," Baishi Jinglun said.

"You have my phone number?" Gu Fei asked in confusion.

"Ask your dad!" Baishi Jinglun said.

"Oh..."

"Did you contact them?" Gu Fei got back to the point.

"They greeted me, and I told them I was waiting for you. They said they would go to that barbecue restaurant on Whatever Street and wait there. Do you know how to get there?" Baishi Jinglun asked.

"If you don't know, can't you ask?" Gu Fei casually grabbed a player and asked how to get to Fourth Street. Then, he and Baishi Jinglun set off.

Fourth Street of Moon Night City, Yingqi Barbecue Restaurant was also a relatively famous place. The two saw the very conspicuous "Barbecue" flag as soon as they entered the street. While walking towards it, they sent a message to Aohuang: "We're here."

The door of the barbecue restaurant opened immediately. The two saw Zacao walking out and looking around. The two quickly waved and hurried over. Zacao's expression didn't seem as cheerful as before. Seeing the two coming, he said faintly, "Please come in," and led the way.

The barbecue restaurant was filled with the smell of grilled meat and various red wines. This form of eating and drinking at the same time was more popular among players than taverns, and the business was really good. Gu Fei glanced at the price list posted on the wall. It impressively listed frightening items such as "Vegetable Wild Boar," "Unicorn Wolf," "Three-Eared Gray Rabbit," and "Red-Tailed Snake." Behind the meat were not only the prices, but also the levels of the monsters. The higher the level, the more expensive the price. It seemed that what they were eating here was not the taste of the meat, but the levels.

Like Xiao Lei, the tavern owner in Cloud End City, Yingqi also had a lot of brains. They had separated private rooms outside the lobby. However, obviously, Yingqi had more talents. The overall layout of the barbecue restaurant was obviously carefully designed, unlike Xiao Lei's tavern where he dared to open for business just by pulling up a table and putting a few benches. The style of the whole shop was different from the taverns, the most common consumption places for players, making people know what it was for as soon as they came in.

Zacao led the way and took the two to a private room in the corner. When Gu Fei went in, he saw that there was not only Aohuang, but also another player. And Aohuang's face was a bit gloomy, just like Zacao's when they first met. However, seeing Gu Fei and Baishi Jinglun come in, he immediately raised a warm smile: "You two are here, please sit down."

"Yeah!" Gu Fei nodded and sat side by side with Baishi Jinglun. Aohuang and Zacao sat opposite the two, and the newly appeared player sat in the main seat.

"You two." This person also took the initiative to greet them, "Let me introduce myself, I am Wuye, the director of Yingqi Studio's Cloud End, Moon Night, Whitestone, Red Rock, Dusk Rain, and Morning Glow six cities."

"Oh, hello." Gu Fei and Baishi Jinglun greeted the person. At this time, Gu Fei caught the contemptuous look in Aohuang and Zacao's eyes when Wuye introduced himself, and immediately understood a little. This studio was really institutionalized. Obviously, if Aohuang and Zacao could sign this deal, it would become a remarkable achievement in their hands, and bonuses and promotions were all possible because of it. And this Wuye claimed to be the director of six cities. It seemed that he was Aohuang's direct superior. At this time, he actually intervened, clearly wanting to steal the credit of his subordinates. No wonder Aohuang and Zacao put their unhappiness on their faces.

This kind of internal power struggle within the company, like the disputes between guilds in the game, was a mess that couldn't be distinguished between right and wrong. Aohuang and Zacao were now despising the actions of their superior Wuye, but who knew if they would do the same when they sat in this position, facing such a huge deal? Most of the people who survive in a system are eventually assimilated by the system. Those who grit their teeth and refuse to adapt to the system are either eliminated or become the protagonist…

This unexpected discovery made Gu Fei realize that this cooperation was no longer a small-scale thing that ultimately served entertainment, like the usual interactions between players. If such a large business was really negotiated, it might be necessary to sign legal documents to restrain the behavior of both parties. Fei didn't know much about games, but he still knew these common sense things in life.

"Uh, I believe Aohuang and Zacao have explained the prospects of the efficiency leveling method to you two very clearly, right? Now I want to hear what you two think. Don't be polite, feel free to speak." Wuye didn't mince words and immediately started忽悠(hū yōu - to trick, to con), and he adopted a relatively high posture from the start.

Gu Fei and Baishi Jinglun certainly mastered the technology to develop the efficiency leveling method, but without the studio's promotion, it was impossible for them to organize and achieve a game-wide spread on their own. Wuye believed that this was absolutely impossible. Although Yingqi had approached them first, it didn't mean that they were begging them. They couldn't do this deal without these two, and these two couldn't fully exploit it without them. Since both sides were indispensable, it was inevitable that people would raise the price on the spot if they still looked like they were begging for cooperation at the beginning. Therefore, Wuye first put his posture high and straight, wanting the two to realize the value of their studio and not overestimate themselves. At the same time, Wuye had another thought: how were Qian Li Zui and Baishi Jinglun able to develop the efficiency leveling method? If he could directly grasp the key to this, he could completely kick the two out if possible. Even if the conditions were limited, he might not be able to take more initiative because of this.

Wuye's idea was not wrong, but unfortunately, they completely did not understand the different thoughts and values of Gu Fei and Baishi Jinglun, the martial artists, from ordinary people.

Gu Fei was not short of money at all, and his personal pursuit was spiritual rather than material, so no amount of money could form a temptation for him; and although Baishi Jinglun was short of money, his highest pursuit was also spiritual rather than material, so enough money could form a temptation for him, but when the money became more, the temptation would not magnify with it. When Baishi Jinglun heard the number 148.5 million, he uttered the sentence "I can't use that much." Ordinary people might think that this person was really stupid, but in fact, it was their values as martial artists that caused him to say such stupid things. For them, satisfaction, happiness, and joy, these things cannot be bought with money at all, so what is the use of having money? Money is just a means to ensure life.

No matter how high Wuye's posture was, could it be higher than Gu Fei's directly indifferent posture? Hearing Wuye ask about this, he turned to look at Baishi Jinglun. Gu Fei had no pursuit for this, so when it came to practical matters, Baishi Jinglun, who had a need, had to make the decision. As a result, Baishi Jinglun swallowed and looked a little nervous. He opened his mouth, but in the end, he said to Gu Fei, "You say…"

Was Gu Fei a procrastinating person? Seeing that Baishi Jinglun was going to entrust him with full authority, he immediately didn't stand on ceremony: "We don't have any opinions, we just want to hear your conditions?"

"Conditions? Ha…" Wuye smiled, feeling that these two really didn't understand the art of negotiation at all. They were so direct from the start. Didn't this reveal their eagerness? Such guys might be bought off at a very low price. Thinking like this, Wuye also began a long speech. After briefly describing their operating methods, he began to sell them misery. When wooing people, he blew their studio to be unparalleled in the world. When it came to substantive negotiations, he said "to be honest" in every sentence, making people feel that their studio was simply on the verge of collapse, with various true and false reasons. Anyway, the last sentence was: we are very difficult, you have to understand, since both sides are cooperating, you should show sincerity. Now we sincerely offer a price, it's time for you to be sincere.

At this time, if you were 忽悠(hū yōu - to trick, to con) and got caught, you would be embarrassed to ask for a high price, as if asking for a high price was insincere, sorry for the other party, adding insult to injury, and pushing people into the fire pit.

After saying so much, Gu Fei just turned his head and asked Baishi Jinglun: "How much money do you need?"

"Wait, let me calculate, my current consumption for three meals a day, daily expenses…" Baishi Jinglun climbed onto the table and started calculating. Gu Fei despised him from the side: "Damn, should I ask you how many years you plan to live?"

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Cough, hello everyone, it’s been a long time since we met. That’s right, I am the gorgeous Butterfly Assistant Automatic Update. Butterfly is not here today, so I have another opportunity to solemnly introduce this chapter to you… Another holiday is coming soon, but this holiday doesn’t seem to be a happy or celebratory one, so on behalf of Butterfly, I simply wish everyone a good three days of rest and sleep, and of course, don’t forget to vote for the monthly ticket… I’m flashing~~~~~