Chapter 859: Settlement

January 31st, Tuesday…

It was the second official day of work after the Chinese New Year holiday.

Pei Qian knew nothing about the ongoing storm in Los Angeles as the ‘culprit’. At that moment, all he could think about was the system settlement for this cycle.

At that moment, he was in his office, checking on how much money he had spent during the past week of the Chinese New Year holiday.

The overall financial situation was not bad even though many accidents had happened during the previous cycle.

Mission and Choice had absorbed a large amount of funds. Coupled with the overwhelming publicity and preferential activities in various cities during the Chinese New Year period, the System Funds were almost used up.

Food delivery, internet cafes, gyms, logistics, and other physical industries were also opening branches, which helped to reduce Pei Qian’s pressure.

In addition, the useful APP that had been developing had also been released a week before settlement. However, this APP only contained part of the poem’s content at the moment, and there was no time to publicize it. Thus, it did not cause too much of a reaction.

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this. He felt that this was the most successful project this cycle and that it should continue to flourish.

As for the other projects, while there were profits and losses, Pei Qian knew very well that the price of spending money this month was to transfer the risk of profits to the next cycle.

For example, ‘Mission and Choice’ had a huge amount of development funds, advertisements for various industries were everywhere, it had greatly increased its popularity, and Dream Realization Ventures had done a lot of work around the cold-faced lady, causing those entrepreneurs with bad intentions to stay away…

All of these would be a huge threat to the future.

However, it was enough for Pei Qian as long as he could get through this cycle safely. He could always think of new ways to spend money during the next cycle.

The system screen automatically appeared in front of Pei Qian.

Pei Qian could not help but heave a sigh of relief when he saw the System Funds figures.

He could not relax when held in suspense!

This number was higher than he had expected but it was still acceptable.

Upon closer inspection, one would realize that the value of fixed assets was fluctuating as well. For example, the value of the commercial building had fallen by hundreds of thousands while the value of the residential building had more or less risen.

From the looks of it, the Golden Residence’s Huating District, which was also Sloth Apartments 2.0, was not much different from what Pei Qian had expected. The prices of the buildings were relatively high in the first place, that was why the settlement did not increase significantly. It only increased slightly.

All in all, the fixed assets were still within acceptable limits.

However, Pei Qian could not help but feel emotional. Unknowingly, the fixed assets in his hands, oh no, in Tengda had already reached 160 million yuan.

While there was a burden of 16 million yuan from the System Funds, it also meant that Pei Qian had spent more than a hundred million yuan buying buildings. It was still worth it.

Pei Qian really did not know where he should spend so much money if not for these fixed assets.

What’s more, most of the money had been used to make Sloth Apartments. It had solved the problem of renting apartments for many people. It could be considered as doing charity.

That gave Pei Qian a sense of achievement.

The system screen continued rolling.

[Unfinished project: Mission and Choice project. The game and the movie must be released before the next settlement.]

Pei Qian finally relaxed seeing the System Funds being converted into his Personal Wealth.

“Alright, I’ve converted more than nine hundred thousand yuan. While it’s a few tens of thousands less than the previous cycle, this cycle was only four months after all. What’s more, there are no special missions that can reduce the System Funds. I did a great job having managed to convert so much money.”

“I have some daily expenses as well. Coupled with income from the skins and other miscellaneous income, I can’t tell from my current Personal Wealth.”

“More than three million yuan. Ah… my personal wealth has reached a new peak. At this rate, I should be able to save up for a villa in a year or two, right?”

“However, why do I still feel a little bitter looking at the numbers in the System Funds and fixed assets…”

Pei Qian thought about how, as the boss of Tengda Corporation, he could easily earn tens of millions of yuan. The company’s fixed assets had reached 160 million yuan, and they had several buildings. Yet, he had to save up for so long to buy a villa. He felt a little sad.

However, he quickly got over it.

“It’s alright. As the saying goes, the beginning is always the hardest. I’m already past the beginning.”

“I used to make a lot of money before, but now I can steadily incur losses. Each time, I would convert eight to nine hundred thousand yuan into my Personal Wealth. This means that I have already understood the temper of the system and have mastered the art of spending money.”

“In the future, the losses will naturally increase when the System Funds increase. The money converted will definitely increase as well!”

Pei Qian was filled with confidence once again as he clicked on the reward for this cycle.

The so-called ‘mysterious reward’ of the previous cycle was a random breakthrough in technology in the next six months. Now, it seemed like the breakthrough in artificial intelligence technology of Xianke Technologies was not far off.

If not for this breakthrough, the Fully-Automated Smart Bickering Machine would not have made so much money. The new system of Otto Technologies would not have been so well-received. It had created some difficulties for Pei Qian.

However, on the bright side, such technological breakthroughs did not have much impact.

If global games entered the VR era, communication technology advanced by leaps and bounds, and Cloud Games achieved an unprecedented breakthrough, Pei Qian might face even greater difficulties.

Thus, he was content.

Therefore while this reward did not make Pei Qian lose money, at least it did not make him profit. He should be satisfied.

Pei Qian could rest easy and not worry too much if the technological breakthroughs in the future were only at this level.

However, what would the mysterious reward be this time?

[Mysterious Reward (Upgraded): It can consume a certain amount of Personal Wealth and increase a certain amount of income from a certain industry. The ratio is 1: 100. This reward is a permanent option, but it can be used at most once per cycle. The personal property consumed each time cannot exceed 100,000 yuan.]

Pei Qian: “?”

He carefully read the description of the reward.

Simply put, Pei Qian could spend a certain amount of his Personal Wealth to increase the benefits of a certain industry to consumers.

At the moment, most of the businesses in Pei Qian’s hands could use promotional events to allow consumers to profit. For example, ROF Computer-Installation could be promoted at a low price on 1024 Digital Day.

Similarly, Fish-Catching Take-Out, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and other industries could also use promotions to increase their market share to give to consumers.

However, there was a limit to that. The system would keep an eye on the situation and could not allow them to sell at a loss.

On the other hand, this new reward rule was equivalent to adding a permanent option. Pei Qian could spend ten thousand yuan out of his own pocket to allow a certain industry to burn one million yuan more for the consumers to profit.

Pei Qian could not help but be overjoyed. “Eh? That’s a good thing!”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to spend money this way?”

Obviously, this rule had to be used when he was already incurring losses. If he used it when he was generating profits, he would be stupid.

Take this settlement for example. While he had successfully incurred losses, he still had more than five million yuan left in the System Funds. Pei Qian only needed to fork out another fifty thousand yuan from his own pocket. Then, he could use the five million yuan in the System Funds as a form of interest to return to consumers. That would create a loss of more than five million yuan. In fact, he could earn another five hundred thousand yuan during settlement.

That would be equivalent to using 50,000 yuan to earn 500,000 yuan of Personal Wealth.

Even primary school students could calculate that this was a pure profit!

Of course, the system had restrictions on this as well. It could only be used once per cycle, and it could not exceed a hundred thousand yuan. That was to give consumers an additional ten million yuan.

Of course, Pei Qian did not know if there would be any changes to this quota, but it was enough for now.

The system screen continued rolling.

[Unfinished project: Mission and Choice project. The game and the movie must be released before the next settlement.]

“Alright, I’ll be proud of myself again in the next cycle!” Pei Qian felt that he had become stronger again.

The next settlement would be six months later, which was July 31, 2012. Pei Qian had plenty of time.

While the game ‘Mission and Choice’ and the movie had to be released during this cycle, it also meant that Pei Qian could create a new pit and delay the release of the product in the next cycle.

In any case, there was no need to worry about money being spent as long as the business was big enough.

Pei Qian had roughly thought about what to do for the next project that would be postponed: to open a new project for Thriller Hostel!

As the saying went, wonders mislead countries.

Ever since the ‘quiet, minimalist, philosophical bickering machine’ became popular, the haunted house, flying cars, and pendulum rides became popular, and so did the physical businesses of Thriller Hostel and Tengda in Jingzhou.

Many people would go to Jingzhou to experience the Thriller Hostel.

However, even so, Thriller Hostel would not be able to earn back those investments in a short period of time because of its huge investment. What’s more, half a year has already passed. Those who were interested had already experienced it. The popularity of Thriller Hostel was slowly decreasing.

Since it was not that popular anymore, he could start a new project and spend tens of millions more!

Other than that, Pei Qian had his own plans for the other businesses.

All in all, the starting sum of the System Funds for this cycle had reached an unprecedented fifty million yuan. Pei Qian could use this opportunity to work hard!