Chapter 79 Another Stroke of Good Fortune

July 31st, Tuesday.

Finally, it's settlement time again.

This weekend was a bloodbath.

GOG's "Koi Event" concluded successfully, drawing lucky Koi players from all over the world and issuing various discount coupons to nearly ten million players.

As for Pei Qian...

Of course, he didn't win the Koi.

Although he did get a 100 yuan coupon as a Tier 2 player, it was completely useless to him!

His account already had all the skins, since all in-game expenses could be reimbursed under the guise of "experiencing the game."

Pei Qian was more concerned about the situation with IOI.

Logically speaking, if it hadn't coincided with GOG's Koi event, IOI's new version wouldn't have been so badly criticized.

After all, this new version event wasn't entirely about spending money; it also gave out some freebies, which was better than nothing.

Moreover, the new hero was decent, and the new skins were cool. Discussions about this new content could, to some extent, cover up the players' complaints.

But the problem was that it coincided with GOG's Koi event, which was very awkward!

What was already a so-so event suddenly seemed particularly terrible.

The key issue was that, in the eyes of the players, this wasn't the first time IOI had mistreated them.

It was the third time in a row!

During the 515 Game Festival, GOG gave things away for free, while IOI promoted sales and was exposed for giving away a car as a prize;

During the Summer Sale, GOG offered discounts of 30% to 50%, while IOI remained indifferent and gave a negligible 40% discount;

After the first two incidents, many players were already simmering with anger.

The result this time was even more outrageous. GOG directly gave away ten million and hundreds of millions in coupons to celebrate surpassing ten million daily active users, which was incredibly generous.

But IOI's new skins not only weren't discounted, they even increased in price!

How could anyone tolerate that?

As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

After holding three consecutive events within three months, all of which were crushed by GOG, people really began to doubt whether Finger Games lacked the ability or had the wrong attitude.

Judging from the new version's cash-grabbing content, it was most likely the latter.

Therefore, the online criticism was overwhelming, almost drowning Finger Games!

Finger Games felt quite wronged. They shouldn't be taking the blame at all, since everything was decided by Dayak Corporation.

But they couldn't pass the buck, so they could only silently endure the criticism.

The miserable state of being scolded by players and not daring to say a word, acting like a turtle hiding its head, was truly heartbreaking to see. Pei Qian couldn't bear to watch.

But there was nothing he could do. In order to spend money rapidly and complete the settlement, he had to let his good brothers suffer.

Hopefully, the situation next month would be more optimistic, the pressure to lose money wouldn't be so great, and he could ease up on his good brothers, letting IOI catch its breath!

Before Pei Qian's eyes, the system light screen automatically appeared.

[Wealth Conversion System 2.0]

[Host: Pei Qian]

[Surplus Conversion Ratio 1000:1, Loss Conversion Ratio 10:1]

[Settlement in Progress...]

[Re-evaluating Fixed Asset Value...]

[System Funds: 6.72 million + 32.03 million (↓11.48 million)]

[Fixed Assets: 320.28 million]

[Details:]

[One Ming Yun Mountain Villa Commercial Residence (12.08 million)]

[12 Units at City Dawn Building 1 (43.89 million)]

[77 Units at Shun Dong Garden Commercial Residence (25.80 million)]

[32 Units at Binhu Community Building 8 and Building 9 (29.73 million)]

[30 Units at Jin Di Hua Ting Community Building 5 (77.83 million)]

[24 Units at Hua Xin Mountain Villa Community Building 3 (26.48 million)]

[Old Industrial Zone Farmer's Market (11.70 million)]

[62 Street Shops in the Old Industrial Zone (92.77 million)]

Seeing this long list of numbers, Pei Qian fell into a long silence.

"What the actual f***!"

"The subway news broke before the settlement? Is that even human?"

Pei Qian almost coughed up blood on the spot.

According to the previous fixed asset update, the total should have been around 270 million. In that case, the loss value would have been around 16.28 million, meaning that Pei Qian could have converted 1.6 million into personal wealth.

But with the news of the second phase of the subway project, a big problem arose.

The street shops in the Old Industrial Zone had all skyrocketed in value, jumping from around 60 million to over 90 million in a short period of time. The farmer's market, after being renovated and turned into a snack street, had also soared in value from over 7 million to nearly 12 million.

Other properties near the subway had also increased in price, such as the villa in Ming Yun Mountain Villa, which had risen by more than two million.

It was practically taking off!

He could have converted 1.6 million, but now he was left with only about 1.15 million.

In other words, the increase in value of these fixed assets had directly eaten away about 450,000 of Pei Qian's personal wealth...

The key was that the appreciation of these fixed assets was of no benefit to Pei Qian.

Because he bought these fixed assets to be used for business operations, not for hoarding and speculation. So whether they appreciated or not didn't affect the usual production and business activities, nor did it help Pei Qian to create losses.

It could only be said that this was probably fate!

The rules given by the system were like this. Fixed assets would be included in the system funds after being discounted, providing Pei Qian with a good way to spend money quickly. But this good method also had a side effect, which was that it would occupy a part of the quota, causing the amount of money that could be converted to decrease.

Indeed, there was no free lunch in the world.

The thought of the 450,000 that had evaporated into thin air made Pei Qian feel a pang of heartache.

"I will definitely never buy fixed assets randomly again!"

"Buying fixed assets is completely a scam. Although it seems like you're spending money in the short term, they will only become more and more troublesome as they appreciate in the future, seriously affecting my settlement."

"Fixed assets, I will definitely touch them less in the future! I'm a dog if I buy another building randomly!"

"..."

"But on the bright side, there's still over a million, so it's not a complete waste of time."

"Looking at Meng Chang will make me feel very happy in life."

When Pei Qian thought about how Meng Chang could only earn a few thousand yuan after working hard for a month, while he could earn over a million after working hard for half a year, he felt that the system had treated him well. Why was he complaining?

Sure enough, happiness was ultimately relative.

The system light screen continued to scroll.

[Settling...]

[Converting Wealth...]

[System Funds: 6.72 million + 32.03 million (↓11.48 million)]

[Fixed Assets: 320.28 million]

[Personal Wealth: 2.725 million (↑1.15 million x 110%)]

[Each cycle with a wealth conversion value of over 800,000 will receive a *significant* mystery reward (currently available)]

[Currently Uncompleted Project: Thriller Paradise Roller Coaster Project, must be officially opened to the public in the next cycle.]

Seeing that the system funds had been converted into personal wealth, Pei Qian felt much more at ease.

He had spent a lot of his own money this cycle.

He had spent nearly 1.5 million buying a house, spent 100,000 of his own money to exchange for 10 million in burning money funds, and spent money to buy some internet trolls as a positive example for Meng Chang.

Adding up all the miscellaneous expenses, it was a bit of a heartache.

But fortunately, it proved that everything was worthwhile!

He clicked on the mystery reward for this cycle.

[Mystery Reward: To meet the company's development needs, enabling rules related to infrastructure projects.]

[Infrastructure Projects: Specifically refers to non-profit infrastructure required for the company's daily operations and office, such as office buildings, etc.]

[Uncompleted infrastructure projects do not affect the cycle settlement, but subsequent additional investment funds cannot exceed 30% of the original planned funds. If exceeded, the current settlement cycle will be postponed according to the excess ratio.]

[Infrastructure projects will be included in the system funds at a ratio of 100:1.]

"Oh?"

Pei Qian's eyes lit up.

This new reward was awesome!

Infrastructure projects didn't affect the cycle settlement, didn't require engaging in commercial activities, wouldn't generate profits, and were included in the system funds at a ratio of 100:1. It was simply the perfect choice for a rapid spending spree!

"What did I just say?"

"Uh... Never buy fixed assets randomly again?"

"Ahem, this doesn't count as fixed assets. You see, the system classifies it as an infrastructure project, it's not the same thing."

Pei Qian studied the detailed rules a bit and found that while the surface restrictions were broad, there were still some limitations.

For example, if Pei Qian spent 300 million to build a building, it definitely wouldn't be something that could be completed in one or two cycles. If this rule didn't exist before, it would be very troublesome to build a building and might stall the settlement.

But now, after throwing in these 300 million, he could slowly wait for the building to be completed without affecting the settlement.

Moreover, since it was included in the system funds at a ratio of 100:1, the 300 million building would only be converted into 3 million, which wouldn't put too much pressure on the settlement.

Of course, Pei Qian had thought the same thing when the fixed asset rules were first updated.

At that time, he felt that converting system funds at a ratio of 10:1, with a 10 million building only counting as 1 million, meant he could buy as much as he wanted?

Now he realized that it wasn't unlimited...

But it shouldn't be a problem in the short term.

After the infrastructure project was determined, although there was no time limit, he couldn't invest money into it indefinitely. He could only invest up to 130% of the original budget. Exceeding that would result in a postponement.

The subsequent 30% was probably to cope with some unexpected situations. A building worth 1 billion could have an additional investment of 300 million, but it wasn't an unlimited amount.

Moreover, to engage in large-scale infrastructure construction, he first had to have that much money. If the system funds weren't enough, he couldn't do any major projects, which was also one of the limitations.

This wasn't a problem for Pei Qian, because he was worried about how to spend the money in the next cycle!

The movie box office of *Mission and Choice*, the subsequent sales of Doubt VR, and various miscellaneous incomes made the pressure to lose money in the next cycle unprecedentedly high.

But with this new rule, the difficulty of losing money had been greatly reduced!

"Not bad, not bad, this rule appeared at a very timely moment. The system has finally done something worthwhile."

Although Pei Qian suspected that there might be some new tricks behind every system rule update, this update was beneficial for spending money. Even if there were any tricks, he could only accept it.

The system light screen continued to scroll, loading the information for the next cycle while also listing all the rewards he had obtained so far for easy viewing.