Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian used Hardcore Reviews' account to message Shaohu Reviews. Two minutes later, Hu Xiao replied.

"Brother, tell me what you need!"

Pei Qian was slightly shocked. This man really surfed Aili Island 24 hours a day. Pei Qian sent Hu Xiao a private message on Aili Island, not on other social media platforms.

Yet, the UP Master of Shaohu Reviews replied so quickly. It proved that he was always keeping an eye on private messages he received on Aili Island.

Of course, he might have been surfing Weibo and other forums apart from Aili Island as well.

Pei Qian could only say that he had the attitude of a professional UP Master. Pei Qian considered his words carefully.

The System did not allow him to buy fake reviewers. Perhaps it was because the System saw buying fake negative or fake positive comments as trickery nonetheless. Either way, consumers' judgment of the product would be affected.

Since the System saw this behavior as trickery, Pei Qian was not allowed to use System Funds.

However…

He would be able to use the System Funds if he was not planning to resort to trickery.

I'll hire a group of people to comment on the game honestly, in the same way with paid reviewers. The System can't prohibit that, right?

Boss Pei was extremely good at finding loopholes in the rules.

"Do you take on custom assignments?" Pei Qian asked.

Hu Xiao seemed eager to tend to Pei Qian. His reply came quickly. "Of course! Our brothers are very good at their assignments. Not only do they have vast experience, but they are also highly adaptable. Just name your request; we will satisfy it for sure!

"Of course, there might be a slight adjustment to the prices. It's a custom assignment after all; it's considered skilled work…"

After what happened the last time, Hu Xiao paid a lot of attention to Hardcore Reviews' UP Master.

This UP Master was obviously rich and skilled in terms of his marketing. What's more, he seemed to have a complex relationship with Fei Huang Workspace.

Hu Xiao was happy to establish a good working relationship with this UP Master. For all he knew, he would need the latter's help in the future.

Of course, Hu Xiao did not mind earning a bit more money, too.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and typed. "I'll let you and your brothers play a game. Then, I'll need you to write comments on the game based on your first impression."

Hu Xiao paused. "That's all?"

Pei Qian replied, "That's right. Name your price."

Hu Xiao felt confused. He quickly asked, "Brother, let me confirm this. You're asking us to give our first impression of the game? Clarify what you mean. Do you want us to write good or bad comments?

"I'm afraid I'll misunderstand you."

Hu Xiao's head was beginning to hurt. This was the first time someone was hiring fake reviewers for this purpose.

You have to give fake reviewers a clear aim once you hire them, right?

Should they mindlessly praise, mindlessly curse, masquerade as enemies, make biased arguments while pretending to be logical, offer praise and criticism hand-in-hand, or divert attention…?

Fake reviewers were good at all the above.

However, the payer had to be clear with his instructions, right?

There are so many ways of doing things. If you don't clarify which method you want us to adopt, what if we achieve the wrong effect?

Pei Qian replied, "I just want your brothers to try the game and comment on it based on their first impression. I've made it very clear. Be it good or bad, just comment on the game based on your first impression.

"Also, I must emphasize that I'm not buying fake reviewers. I am just spending money on getting your brothers to try the game. I want them to give their opinion of it."

Hu Xiao was speechless.

You named so many requests to the leader of fake reviewers and then ended off with 'I'm not buying fake reviewers'?

Brother, we are having a private conversation. I won't expose the contents of this conversation. You don't have to be this nervous.

Hu Xiao was very uncertain, but his principle had always been 'the customer is king'. He read the other party's words carefully from beginning to end and tried hard to understand him.

"So you're spending money to invite everyone to play the game and write a few comments.

"As for whether they are to be good or bad, you don't have specific requests. We're just supposed to write our first impression of the game, right?"

Pei Qian answered, "That's right."

Hu Xiao asked, "Which platform?"

"Everywhere, including the official platform, Aili Island, Weibo, forums, and the like. I'll leave it to you," replied Pei Qian.

"Name your price."

Since he could use the System Funds, Boss Pei immediately sounded much more generous.

I'm stingy with my own money, but I go all out with System Funds!

After two minutes, a reply came in.

"I'll base the price on our premium reviewing standards: twenty yuan for every hundred comments. Of course, we will properly consider the contents of more popular Weibo posts before we post our own comments. That will make our comments look more realistic.

"On other platforms such as games channels on Aili Island, we'll try our best to produce popular comments as well.

"There are more complicated issues related to fees here. We'll have to calculate things like the cost of every like, share, and comment we get on Weibo. However, you can rest assured that we are very professional. We will make sure that we cover all ground and give you a favorable price.

"This is the price list…"

Hu Xiao had just sent the price list over when he received a reply almost immediately.

"Don't make it so complicated. I'm too lazy to do the calculations.

"I'll pay you according to the number of people working for me. I'll pay three hundred yuan for every person. Help me form a team of three to four hundred people. Assign the workload to them according to the price combination.

"It doesn't matter whether the comments would be good or bad, as long as they are made based on their first impressions.

"Any problems?"

Hu Xiao felt light-headed. Of course there were no problems—what problems would he have?

I can't be happier with you being so willing to spend. But why? What are you spending so much money for?

It would be much more worth it to pay per comment rather than per person!

Hu Xiao just had to do the math to realize that Pei Qian would end up paying over ten thousand yuan if he paid three hundred yuan to each of three or four hundred people. Yet, the problem was that ten thousand yuan would be wasted just like that!

However, on further thought, Hu Xiao doubted that the UP Master of Hardcore Reviews would mindlessly throw money into asking others to play games when he was so good at marketing.

He must have had his own intentions.

Thus, Hu Xiao did not question him any further and agreed. "No problem. Don't worry, we'll do the job well! I'll notify my brothers and reply to you soon."

…

After getting the reviewers settled, Pei Qian felt much more stable. Ten thousand yuan was a small figure; it did not hurt to use the System Funds to pay this sum.

Pei Qian knew very well that he could not buy enough reviewers to change the direction of the wind.

Even if hundreds of fake reviewers tried to change the general direction of the comments, they would still prove to be the minority among tens or hundreds of thousands of players.

What's more, Pei Qian was being restrained by the System. He could not request for the fake reviewers to comment positively or negatively. He could only employ this method to make them comment based on their first impressions of the game.

Pei Qian could be this confident because he knew very well that the fake reviewers would have an extremely bad first impression of Repent and be Saved!

One only had to think for a while to realize that the fake reviewers would not be skilled players. Pei Qian was not even sure if they would be able to figure Repent and be Saved out.

This group of people probably had very a poor experience in gaming. Could they possibly have a good impression of Repent and be Saved?

Thus, Pei Qian had found the perfect loophole in the System's regulations. Not only had he managed to buy fake reviewers to influence the direction of discussions online, but he also managed to avoid spending his own money for this purpose.

It was perfect!

Ten thousand yuan was not a lot of money, but Pei Qian was interested to see what kind of results he would achieve.

Whether it proved effective or useless, he could continue to spend more money on this.

However, if it backfired… he could hold back and minimize losses.

Pei Qian did not dare to spend too much money yet. If things developed like they did the last time, he would be in big trouble.

He was just about to close the chat window when he received another message from Hu Xiao.

"Brother, we have to purchase the game. How should we pay for it…?"

Pei Qian was speechless. Didn't you just say you were professional fake reviewers? Do you need me to teach you how to buy the game and then return it within the stipulated period?

However, on further thought, Pei Qian realized that they probably hardly acceded to custom requests like his.

Others probably gave clear directions when hiring fake reviewers. All the latter would have to do was copy and paste the message or make minor edits to it before starting work.

Yet, Pei Qian was hiring the fake reviewers to experience the game for themselves.

He was putting them in a spot.

Pei Qian replied, "Don't worry. You can try it and then refund it. If you think it's too troublesome, I can pay you twenty thousand yuan more for your hard work."

Hu Xiao replied, "Thank you very much, Boss! Speaking of which, does your game have a lot of hardware requirements? I don't know if my brothers' computers are good enough."

Pei Qian was speechless. "…"

You're so troublesome!

So what if they're not good enough? Just download the game and play it. If the screen freezes, leave a bad comment.

If you can't even download it, leave a comment as well! Curse the game as much as you can. I wouldn't come after you!

How do you want me to answer this question?! I can't give you so many details.

Pei Qian pondered for a while and replied, "I'll give you twenty thousand yuan more for you to solve the problem on your own. If you really can't, look for a good internet cafe nearby."

Hu Xiao replied, "Ai, alright! Brother, you're too kind!"

Indeed, money could solve all problems—especially when the System was paying.

With everything resolved, Pei Qian happily resumed working.

The game would be released the next day!

…

…

October 1st…

Repent and be Saved was officially released!

The moment the 'purchase' button was activated, countless anxious and excited gamers clicked it without hesitation!

However, a small number of gamers were careful enough to notice a line of words in the game's introduction: 'You may unconditionally refund the game within five hours of purchase.'

On the official platform's other games, the same sentence read, 'You may unconditionally refund the game within three hours of purchase.'

Of course, an even smaller number of gamers who read this thought that Tengda was being good-hearted once again. They did not realize there was a hidden threat in the message.

…

Shenzhen…

In his own house, Hu Xiao had just finished briefing his brothers about the new assignment.

Although the assignment seemed slightly confusing, the payer seemed extremely generous. Since he had paid them so much money, Hu Xiao did not think other problems would arise.

Hu Xiao had already picked his candidates. They were all waiting for the game to be released before they started work.

"Why don't I try it out, too?"

Hu Xiao did not have anything better to do anyway.

He was not getting any offers for sponsored partnerships, and he did not feel like watching videos either.

Of course, Hu Xiao did not have to write fake reviews on his own. He could not be bothered to earn that bit of money.

However, the game looked quite popular on the official platform. He thought it would be a good idea to try the game out and de-stress while he was at it.

At that thought, Hu Xiao downloaded the game and started playing it.

"The game requires 8.0 GB?

"That's fine. I'll download it."

Repent and be Saved had high requirements for hardware, and its art resources were also top-quality. However, since the game was not long and it had been significantly improved, the entire game remained below 8.0 GB.

This was not an intolerable size.

Hu Xiao was curious as to why the payer was only asking them to leave comments about their first impression of the game.

What would everyone's first impression be like?