Chapter 16 Thursday, September 16th

Pei Qian once again visited the Moyu Internet Cafe at Handong University to check on Qiao Laoshi's progress in the game.

This time, Pei Qian's mindset was completely different from before.

Because... he had already beaten the game!

Of course, he had beaten it on the easiest difficulty, using the "Pudu" (salvation) to jump directly from the Yellow Springs Road to the Six Paths of Reincarnation, finishing off the boss of the Six Paths and calling it a day.

If Pei Qian were to try playing a second playthrough at this point, he would probably find it impossible to move even a single step.

This was because the initial difficulty of the second playthrough was very high, and the "Pudu" became just like any other weapon, even becoming increasingly useless due to the fact that it couldn't be upgraded. Using it to fight monsters would be pure suicide.

But what did it matter? The system's task was already complete, and Pei Qian felt a sense of relief wash over him.

On the other hand, the preparations for the new Moyu Internet Cafe branch were also nearing completion.

The location was in Jingzhou's largest shopping mall, and the rent wasn't cheap either, at 12 yuan. This was already the most expensive piece of land that President Pei had ever rented.

Although it still couldn't compare to the rent of ten years later, it was already astonishing enough for the current time.

This time, the area wasn't as spacious as before, since it was inside a shopping mall. It was only about 800 square meters.

After deciding not to offer coffee and alcoholic beverages, a large amount of space was saved. Pei Qian had also specifically set aside an area as a public recreation area, equipped with a projector.

The remaining space could still accommodate 150 computers.

Pei Qian roughly calculated that the monthly rent was close to 300,000 yuan. Add to that the salaries of two cashiers and four internet cafe attendants, amounting to 30,000 to 40,000 yuan per month, plus electricity, cleaning, and other various expenses, and the total monthly cost would be approaching 400,000 yuan.

Continuing to charge 10 yuan per hour, the current utilization rate of Moyu Internet Cafe averaged only 30% to 40%. Assuming a standard business hours of 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM, the profit would be, at most, 300,000 yuan.

Of course, many internet cafes were open 24 hours a day. Pei Qian didn't plan to do that.

It wasn't because the shopping mall would close at night.

Even when the mall closed, many cinemas inside would still schedule midnight showings, and there would still be customers coming and going at two or three in the morning, unaffected by the mall's closing.

It was simply a matter of leaving a door open for customers; this was nothing new.

Pei Qian's purpose in opening this internet cafe was to lose money, so he naturally wanted to minimize business hours as much as possible.

Working backward, based on the current expenses, the internet cafe would have to maintain an average occupancy rate of about 60% to break even. Pei Qian felt that this was an unlikely goal.

After all, even the flagship store of Moyu Internet Cafe was so popular, but its occupancy rate hadn't reached that level.

Of course, Pei Qian didn't completely trust the data, because data could change.

Pei Qian wasn't in a hurry to expand too quickly. Instead, he planned to open a new store first to see how things went.

If the losses were as expected, then he would invest more money to open a few more stores before the settlement. If, for some inexplicable reason, he made money, then he would quickly figure out a way to stop the bleeding.

...

Arriving at the Handong University branch, Pei Qian pulled up a computer chair next to Qiao Laoshi and sat down, watching Qiao Laoshi play the game while drinking a cocktail.

Pei Qian's intention was simply to watch Qiao Laoshi suffer, adding a bit of fun to his busy work and life.

Qiao Liang, on the other hand, felt very important and became energized.

The game's chief designer was personally sitting next to me, watching me play, and was ready to listen to my opinions and suggestions at any time. What a proud thing this was!

Qiao Laoshi was full of fighting spirit.

At this moment, Qiao Liang had just finished updating the game and casually opened the update log.

"Oh? The epitaph function is done?"

Qiao Liang was pleasantly surprised. President Pei had quickly resolved the problem he had raised last time, which showed that he really valued my opinions!

Pei Qian also saw the update log and said with some regret, "The epitaph function is only available at the beginning of the game. You probably won't be able to play it unless you start a new game."

Qiao Liang entered the game: "It doesn't matter, I was just about to start a second playthrough anyway."

Pei Qian: "..."

Damn it!

Qiao Laoshi's words were said so casually, but they were like a sharp knife stabbing into President Pei's heart.

About to start a second playthrough?

Pei Qian had indeed beaten the first playthrough, but he had done so by relying on the "Pudu" and skipping as much content as possible. He had probably only experienced 30% to 40% of the actual game content.

But Qiao Laoshi was different. He had beaten the game by following the normal process, and he had also experienced a major setback along the way—all of his favorite weapons had been nerfed by a certain unscrupulous designer, forcing him to adapt to new weapons from scratch.

Even so, Qiao Laoshi's game progress was still on par with President Pei's.

This was truly a case of people being more irritating than others...

Pei Qian felt that his mood wasn't beautiful at all, and he even started to doubt himself.

It wasn't that he doubted his own gaming skills, because President Pei had always been very clear that he was a noob and had never doubted this point.

What he doubted was mainly the game's difficulty.

Even after all this, he still couldn't stop Qiao Laoshi from beating the game?

God knows how much effort I put into making this game more difficult for the players!

And yet, Qiao Laoshi still managed to beat it, which made Pei Qian feel a deep sense of frustration.

Even his favorite cocktail didn't taste as good anymore.

Fortunately, Qiao Laoshi was about to start the second playthrough, and the difficulty of the second playthrough had been significantly increased.

Enter the game.

The opening cutscene was still more or less the same as before. After the opening CG, the camera moved to the starting small village, where many villagers who had lost their three souls and seven spirits were wandering. In the nearby mass grave, the protagonist rose from his coffin.

He, who was considered dead, had awakened and embarked on the road to the Yellow Springs.

According to the original design, the player should pick up a broken sword at this time to kill monsters.

But after this update, an extra cutscene was added.

The protagonist came to his grave in the mass grave and saw a very simple tombstone with no words on it.

The protagonist squatted in front of his tombstone, stroking the rough, simple stone tablet, and said in a hoarse voice, "No inscription... In that case, let me write an epitaph for myself."

At this time, an input box appeared on the screen, allowing the player to freely enter text, up to ten characters.

Qiao Liang scratched his head.

As someone who hated naming things the most, he was now facing a very serious challenge.

What kind of epitaph should he write?

Something optimistic, to encourage himself?

Something resolute, to create a bleak atmosphere?

Or something funny?

He racked his brains to come up with a few literary phrases, but he didn't have the talent for it. Moreover, President Pei was watching him, so writing something too long would seem like he was deliberately trying to show off, which was very inappropriate.

Qiao Liang thought for a while and wrote four characters: "You can do it."

He would just write this simple sentence to encourage himself!

After all, this was an extremely difficult game. After dying, encouraging himself with a "You can do it" would fill him with more confidence to face the challenges ahead.

Another simple cutscene played, and the four ancient characters were engraved on the tombstone as an epitaph. The game officially began.

"Second playthrough, here I come!"

Qiao Liang was in high spirits, planning to perform well in front of President Pei.

After all, he had been playing for so long with the salary that President Pei was paying him, so he had to show some improvement.

Qiao Liang pulled out a wailing stick (kusangbang). This was a two-handed weapon that he had dropped when fighting the Black and White Impermanence in the later stages of the first playthrough. Its appearance was a very thick and long stick with many white paper tassels on it.

It was a good heavy weapon with considerable attack power, and it also came with a weapon skill. After using it, it could deal area damage to enemies in front and extract a small amount of their three souls and seven spirits.

"Show off my skills in front of President Pei!"

Qiao Liang was full of confidence. After all, he had beaten the first playthrough with his own strength. He had already fought many bosses and seen many big storms.

These few monsters in the starting village were nothing to him.

The protagonist carried the wailing stick and charged forward.

Qiao Liang clearly remembered that the first few monsters were all stupidly squatting in the mass grave and wouldn't react unless they were attacked, so he charged forward without hesitation.

However, just as he was halfway there, the three monsters near the mass grave suddenly turned around and surrounded him!

Qiao Liang was shocked, but it was too late. He instinctively rolled, but rolled directly into the monsters' blades.

The three monsters rushed over and each gave the protagonist a slash. Qiao Liang died on the spot.

The screen turned gray, and his epitaph, written in red ancient characters, appeared in the center.

"You can do it."

Wait, wasn't the epitaph supposed to be encouraging me?

How could the same words have a different meaning?

The scene was a bit awkward for a moment.

Qiao Liang couldn't help but scratch his head.

It felt like he was using the boss's weapon, the wailing stick, to fight the small monsters, but he was directly killed by them in two or three moves. At this time, a voice-over floated by: "You can do it."

The implication was that he was being abused by small monsters even with the boss's equipment, so he was very awesome.

With a bit of resentment, Qiao Liang revived.

This time, he advanced steadily and successfully killed the three monsters at the entrance of the mass grave, but he soon died again at the next corner.

"You can do it."

The four bright red ancient characters appeared on the screen again.

Qiao Liang: "..."

He reached out and supported his forehead, falling into deep doubt about life.

What exactly was going on...

Pei Qian watched silently from the side, trying hard not to laugh out loud.

This epitaph was excellent, perfectly achieving his expectations!

In fact, Pei Qian had already thought about it. No matter what the player wrote as an epitaph, the sentence that appeared after death would become a taunt.

Even an encouraging epitaph like "Go, you're awesome" would become ironic after the player died too many times.

If it was a mocking epitaph like "noob," "?," "loser," or "hehe," then the effect would be even better.

In other words, no matter what the player wrote as an epitaph, 99% of the players would be played by President Pei, pinned to the ground, and repeatedly ridiculed!

This would inevitably produce an excellent effect of discouraging players, coupled with the ultra-long-term refund mechanism, causing Pei Qian to lose a lot of sales and small money.

Tsk tsk tsk, just thinking about it made him feel secretly happy!

Moreover, seeing Qiao Laoshi's self-doubting appearance at this time, Pei Qian felt much better after his previously suppressed mood.

Pei Qian could only sigh silently.

Although hurting each other was wrong, but...

It was so much fun!!