Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Qiao Liang looked at the bowl of hot noodles in his hand and then looked back at the number in the conversation window on his screen: one three… and three zeroes.

“Three thousand yuan?! Does this company belong to a rich lord?!”

Qiao Liang was stunned. The amount of money he was used to earning per video was only about a thousand yuan. From time to time, he was paid 1,500 to 2,000 yuan. However, those videos normally had many requirements, and they were few and far between.

This big client’s offering price was three thousand yuan?

Once he was finished with this job, he would be able to catch fish¹ for at least half a month!

Qiao Liang no longer felt tired. “No problem! What kind of video am I supposed to make? Please brief me.” As long as there was money to be earned, he could do anything.

Lu Mingliang sent a document to him, containing the video script that Pei Qian wrote. “Teacher Qiao, this is the script for the video. The only requirement is that you strictly follow this script. Prepare the necessary material. It’ll be good if you can show your face, but if you don’t, that’s fine. You cannot make any changes to this script. That’s the only condition; there are no others. Later on, I will send you a few recordings of the game.”

Qiao Liang downloaded the document. After reading it, he only had one thought.

Are you playing around with me or messing around with me? I only read this script one time, and I already feel ashamed. How can you expect me to read this out in a video? You’re even saying it’ll be good if I can show my face?

Are you trying to destroy my reputation? 

On the surface, this is a sponsored partnership; in actual fact, you are ruining my career! 

Qiao Liang replied immediately: “I cannot accept it, I cannot accept it. Please look for someone else. I might be a penniless content creator, but I have my pride!”

Lu Mingliang was silent for a moment.

“Four thousand yuan?”

What the f*ck…?

Qiao Liang suddenly felt distressed.

See how rich this man is; the amount he’s adding to his offer is the same as the total amount companies normally offer me… 

Still, it won’t be good money to earn.

“Can you let me play your game?” Qiao Liang asked.

Lu Mingliang, “I’m sorry, we are still testing the game, and it’s not convenient for us to release it. However, we can provide you with more materials for your video so that you can edit them in.”

Qiao Liang was speechless.

Materials for the video and a script… this financial backer was all prepared.

Everything looked very easy. He did not need to think of a synopsis; neither did he have to add special effects to the video. All he had to do was pinch his nose and read the script and then add the recordings of the games. Once he published that, he would earn four thousand yuan.

Everything sounded good, but the only problem was what would come after he published the video. He would probably not just be scolded for doing lousy work for a commission. He would be scolded for doing ‘shit work’ for a commission!

Before Qiao Liang thought about how to reply, Lu Mingliang sent over several materials for the video. They were all recordings of Game Designer, the game to be featured in the video. There were no voice-overs in this version.

The video itself would require the content creator to do a voice-over. Of course, they could not have two voices speaking at the same time. That was why Pei Qian requested for Lu Mingliang to take out the voice-overs for the game before sending the recordings over as video material.

Qiao Liang opened the first video. It was running.

The second video, still running.

The third and fourth…

They were all running videos!

The only difference was the details of the rooms. Each time, the character entered different doors, too. Qiao Liang could not tell what the meaning of the game was at all. However, the images were nice. They looked exquisite, and their style was fresh. All in all, it looked like a well-packaged piece of sh*t.

Qiao Liang pondered for a moment and then replied, “Well, may I ask if I can post this video in Trash Games Diss?”

Four thousand yuan was very tempting indeed. It was such a huge amount that Qiao Liang felt he could give up on his own reservations to a certain extent.

Of course, to outrightly feed the audience sh*t would be generating hatred towards him. He could not do that. However, if he could post this under his ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment, he could salvage the situation.

Although he would have to read the big client’s script for the entire duration of the video and he could not diss the game as he did in his previous videos—as long as he posted this in his ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment, the audience would think that he was being sarcastic and trying to achieve a comedic effect.

Then, he would not be hated by his fans! What’s more, he would be able to earn more. He would be killing two birds with one stone; how great.

Lu Mingliang quickly replied, “I’m sorry, you cannot.”

Qiao Liang expected this response because many clients did not understand the context behind these words. The moment they heard ‘Trash Games Diss’, they did not want their games to be associated with it. After all, who wanted their games to be called trash games?

However, in actual fact, as Qiao Liang saw it; ‘Trash Games Diss’ was where he could be his authentic self. On the other hand, ‘New Recommended Games of the Month’ was wholly used as a business tool.

The number of views that the Trash Games Diss segment got was more than ten times that of New Recommended Games of the Month. Many big clients despised ‘Trash Games Diss’ because of its name, but they had no idea how influential the segment was.

Thus, Qiao Liang decided to get an example to persuade the big client.

“I understand your worry, but please rest assured. The amount of influence the ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment has is more than ten times that of New Recommended Games of the Month! I am sure it will be beneficial to your game.

“You might not believe me. Here, let me give you an example.

“A few months ago, I dissed a domestically-produced, independent game called The Lonely Desert Road. After I dissed it, the game that nobody knew about became extremely popular. Two weeks ago, it reached more than two hundred thousand in terms of volume of sales!

“That’s right, that company was called… please hold on, I’ll check.”

He had made so many dissing videos; it was physically impossible to remember a small company that made just one game.

Qiao Liang opened the official games platform and quickly found the game.

He looked at the creator… Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.

“En?”

Qiao Liang felt like something was amiss.

What was the name of this big client again?

He scrolled up in the conversation window.

Wasn’t it also called Tengda?!

Qiao Liang looked at the other games created by this company. There were Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold. He was confounded.

Of course, he had heard of Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold before. However, since he normally focused on standalone games, he did not research much into either of these games; neither did he find out which company created them.

Now, he realized that Tengda created both of them as well!

The small company which created one independent game a few months ago had completely turned itself into a big client!

This… there’s something wrong with the plot!

Qiao Liang quickly tried to recall his previous messages but found that it was too late. He could no longer recall them.

Qiao Liang, “…”

Awkward; so incredibly awkward!

He quickly tried to salvage the situation. Qiao Liang said, “That’s right, it’s your company’s product! I did not think that I would get the honor of working with your company!

“Since that is the case, your company should know quite well the influence that the ‘Trash Games Diss’ segment has. If we post the video under this segment, the marketing effect would be very good!”

Lu Mingliang replied very quickly: “You have worked with our Boss Pei before? That’s great! Hold on, I have to ask Boss Pei for his opinion.”

Boss Pei?

That was probably the name of the boss of Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Could he be… the creator of The Lonely Desert Road?

En… very likely!

A few months ago, Tengda was an unknown, small company. The Lonely Desert Road was his first game. Even if the one who created the game was not the boss, he must have been an important partner.

It was most likely Boss Pei! There was a big problem, then.

Boss Pei… would not bear a grudge, would he? After all, I did harshly diss his game back then! 

Qiao Liang began to panic.