Chapter 3 The "Whatever" Solution

In the rented apartment.

Pei Qian, just waking up from a nap, turned over in bed, grabbed his phone, and saw an unread message.

"President Pei, sorry to bother you. I've encountered a problem with the design that I'd like to ask about. Based on the current discussion, cutting off the game's payment points will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the whale players. How should this be resolved?"

Pei Qian rubbed his sleepy eyes and muttered, "Who's this?"

He looked closely and saw it was Ye Zhizhou, the main planner of Shang Yang Games whom he had just promoted.

Pei Qian had given him a Shangfang Sword (imperial sword symbolizing authority), allowing him to report directly and fire employees, so naturally, he had to add him as a friend, otherwise, it would be inconvenient to contact him.

But Ye Zhizhou didn't mention firing anyone; instead, he asked a question about game design.

Pei Qian read the question again.

Question: Cutting off the game's payment points will cause dissatisfaction among players who have already spent money. How should this be resolved?

This was quite understandable. *Blood Battle Song* was a pay-to-win game, and the whales had spent thousands upon thousands of yuan, finally achieving overwhelming combat power over everyone else.

But suddenly, *snap*, all the game's payment points were cut off. They wouldn't be able to experience the joy of easily killing others anymore, so wouldn't they be clamoring for refunds and quitting the game?

Of course, refunds were out of the question.

If you have a grievance, you have a debtor; if you have a debt, you have a creditor. Du Ruijie was the one who took the money, so go ask Du Ruijie.

As for quitting the game…

That would be great! You have my word!

President Pei really couldn't stand you people who insisted on giving him money.

The same old saying: Want to give Tengda money? No way!

Either you whales honestly transform into free-to-play players for me.

Or you can just stop playing the game.

Yes, perfect!

Pei Qian picked up his phone, groggily typed, "Whatever."

Then he tossed the phone aside and went back to sleep.

…

At Shang Yang Games, in the conference room, everyone was eagerly awaiting President Pei's message.

Ye Zhizhou sat at the head of the conference table, staring at the phone screen waiting for President Pei's reply, feeling somewhat apprehensive.

President Pei didn't reply immediately, probably because he was busy with work.

After all, Shang Yang Games was just one of President Pei's many ventures, and not a particularly close one at that, so its priority was probably lower.

As for the others, their reactions varied.

Some people had listened to Ye Zhizhou's modification plan and found it interesting, full of enthusiasm.

Some were still unconvinced by Ye Zhizhou, but didn't dare to show it.

After all, Wang Xiaobin, the most senior member of the design team, intended to cooperate with Ye Zhizhou, so even if others wanted to cause trouble, they wouldn't have much support. What's more, Ye Zhizhou could communicate directly with President Pei, which was the biggest deterrent.

Some even suspected that Ye Zhizhou deliberately asked President Pei this question in the meeting to establish his authority!

He was hinting to everyone, "I can contact President Pei directly, so all of you better behave."

So, the atmosphere in the conference room was still quite serious, and the newly appointed Ye Zhizhou was still able to hold the line.

"Ding."

A notification sounded, and Ye Zhizhou quickly looked at the reply from President Pei.

There were only four simple words: "Whatever."

That's… it?

Ye Zhizhou was a little stunned.

Logically speaking, anything that President Pei instructed had to be carried out to the letter.

But completely ignoring these whale players was just asking for death, wasn't it?

In a national war game like *Blood Battle Song*, the amount spent by whale players accounted for more than 80% of all spending. Abandoning whale players was like giving up eighty percent of your income.

This wasn't a heroic sacrifice; it was suicide!

It was precisely for this reason that everyone had discussed it for so long at the meeting, but still couldn't find a win-win solution.

Cutting payment points would inevitably affect the interests of whale players, and if whale players were unhappy, the game's income would plummet.

In other words, no matter how you analyzed it, President Pei's approach would only lead to a sharp drop in the game's income, accelerating the demise of the two games that were already struggling.

Having no other options, Ye Zhizhou had finally decided to consult President Pei.

But President Pei only replied with these four words.

So the final solution was… not to solve it?

To let these whale players fend for themselves?

What kind of…

Boldness was this!

Wang Xiaobin, who had been frowning, slowly relaxed.

"President Pei is truly magnanimous, admirable!"

"These four words contain great wisdom!"

Wang Xiaobin said with heartfelt emotion.

Ye Zhizhou was somewhat at a loss.

As expected, having an old person at home is like having a treasure.

This kind of profound matter still had to be interpreted by experienced senior designers like Wang Xiaobin!

Wang Xiaobin cleared his throat and said to everyone, "This issue no longer needs to be discussed. President Pei has already provided the solution: 'Whatever'!"

"In other words, we don't need to care about the impact of this change on whales at all."

"After the new version is launched, the whales in the old servers will not have their data changed and will still have their current combat power. But all subsequent recharge channels will be blocked, and they will no longer be able to increase their combat power through large recharges."

"And the players on the new servers will be on the same starting line, according to our new version's plan."

Everyone looked at each other.

That's it?

Didn't this still not solve the problem?

What if the whales don't play anymore and don't recharge?

Wang Xiaobin smiled with relief, "President Pei has already answered this question for us."

"Cutting payment points will indeed affect the interests of whale players; this is inevitable. We've been trying hard to find a solution, but there simply won't be a solution to this kind of thing!"

"This is like a complete revolution, distributing land to the peasants; do you still need to consider the feelings of the landlords? There's no need for that."

"President Pei's meaning is very clear: let them fend for themselves!"

"We've been struggling with this issue for a long time, but President Pei solved it so decisively with a single stroke. This is the difference in skill!"

Everyone suddenly understood.

Just like a complex knot being cut with a knife, this seemingly unsolvable problem was actually solved so easily by President Pei!

But while it was easy to say, it was difficult to do.

Who would have the courage to directly cut off 80% of their income?

President Pei could!

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but admire President Pei even more.

To give in order to gain, without hesitation.

As expected, this was the realm of a true master!

Ye Zhizhou was also deeply moved, and he tapped the table. "Alright, the last question has also been resolved. Let's… officially start work!"

"We must thoroughly implement President Pei's ideas and bring these two games back to life!"