Chapter 5: This Is No Challenge at All!

You Were Told to Lose Money By Making Games, and You Actually Did It? 

Chapter 5: This Is No Challenge at All!

Monday Morning

Target Games

There were still ten minutes before the official start of work, but every employee had already arrived.

The original computers and office equipment, however, were all gone.

Everyone could only sit upright in their chairs, backs straight as ramrods, staring directly at the office entrance.

After all, everyone knew that the company had changed owners.

As for who the new boss was and what kind of person he might be—they had absolutely no idea.

At a time like this, even though there was no work to do—and even though the tools needed for work, aside from a stack of carefully stored hard drives, had all disappeared—

Nobody dared relax by playing on their phones.

Otherwise, they might end up being fired for something as absurd as entering the office with the left foot first.

With that mindset, every employee maintained peak alertness, prepared to welcome the arrival of the new boss.

Waiting was always torture.

As time slowly ticked by, some people began quietly whispering to their coworkers while maintaining their professional posture.

"Did President Du tell you anything about the new boss?" Gong Qi, the lead game designer, lowered his voice and asked the colleague beside him.

The pressure on him was enormous.

On a broader level, the company's decline could be blamed on Du Qian's inability to operate the business effectively.

But if one looked closer, wasn't the real issue that the products themselves had failed?

And what was a game company's product?

Games.

If the games weren't successful, that meant the person in charge of them wasn't capable enough.

And who was that person?

Him.

Although they had been informed that the existing staff would not be laid off for the time being, nobody knew how long "for the time being" actually meant.

"Don't ask me. The only thing President Du told me was that the new boss is a straightforward and generous guy," Ying Gao clicked his tongue and answered quietly.

Compared to Gong Qi, Ying Gao wasn't nearly as stressed.

He was responsible for art and 3D modeling.

His work wasn't exceptional, but it was definitely solid.

At the very least, if someone had to be sacrificed as an example, he wouldn't be first in line.

Besides, unlike a lead designer position—which was highly dependent on experience and usually limited to one person per project—artists and modelers were always in demand.

If things really went south, he could always switch industries.

Or, worst-case scenario, make a living drawing spicy content online.

"Ahem..." Just as the two were about to continue chatting, a sudden cough came from near the office entrance.

Instantly, the employees' already straight backs seemed to become even straighter.

Gong Qi and Ying Gao secretly glanced toward the door from the corners of their eyes.

Sure enough, about ten seconds later, three young men pushed the door open and walked inside.

The most handsome one led the group.

Unless something unexpected happened, that was probably their new boss.

"I believe everyone has already heard some of the news. I'll just say a few simple words," Chen Xu looked at the assembled employees as he spoke.

Hearing this, Gong Qi and Ying Gao subtly adjusted their sitting positions.

Then they glanced at the other employees, who appeared nervous and fully prepared for whatever was coming.

The two exchanged looks and immediately understood what the other was thinking.

The people here are still too inexperienced.

When a boss speaks—especially a new boss—would "just a few simple words" ever really mean just a few words?

If you didn't adjust into a comfortable sitting position now, what would you do when the speech dragged on?

Adjust yourself halfway through?

What if the boss noticed and thought you were getting impatient?

"First, let's address the issue everyone cares about most: compensation and benefits."

Chen Xu looked around the room.

"What you had before is exactly what you'll continue to have now."

As he made that promise, Chen Xu felt an overwhelming sense of frustration.

Originally, he had wanted to improve employee benefits slightly.

Not only would it increase company expenses—which suited his plans perfectly—but he had also come up with what he felt was a perfectly reasonable justification:

Since the company had just been acquired, better compensation would help prevent employees from jumping ship.

Unfortunately, Brother System had rejected the idea without hesitation.

But after thinking about it, Chen Xu realized that the reason he had come up with really wouldn't get past the system.

After all, Target Games wasn't some outstanding game studio.

It was a company that had been losing money for years.

It had originally owned the copyrights to two games, but had ended up selling both just to keep paying employee salaries.

Aside from its asset library and database, it no longer possessed any meaningful assets, nor did it have any famous game developers on staff.

Judging from those factors alone, the company had virtually no apparent potential.

Under those circumstances, not cutting salaries was already generous enough.

And he wanted to give everyone raises?

No chance.

Unaware of Chen Xu's disappointment, the employees of Target Games were instead filled with excitement.

Many of them had already mentally prepared themselves for pay cuts.

After all, since the company's founding, they had produced three products.

Only the outsourced project had turned a profit, while the other two games had both lost money.

Yet to their surprise, their compensation package would remain completely unchanged.

Having received that promise, the employees began secretly studying Chen Xu.

He looked extremely young.

Yet for some reason, everyone suddenly felt that their new boss possessed a certain indescribable aura.

How should they describe it?

At that moment, it almost felt as if President Chen had transformed into a beam of light—so dazzling that ordinary mortals couldn't look directly at him.

"This is what a real leader looks like."

The thought arose in everyone's mind simultaneously.

"By the way, who were the previous lead designer Gong Qi and art director Ying Gao?" Chen Xu suddenly asked.

The two men who had been exchanging glances froze.

What was happening?

They had been singled out!

Were they about to get fired?

Although they had mentally prepared themselves for such a possibility, their hearts still skipped a beat.

They immediately stood up.

"President Chen, we're here!"

Chen Xu looked at them with a serious expression.

These names!

They're practically destined to make games!

Only after the two began feeling uncomfortable under his gaze did he continue.

"The company's previous equipment is a bit outdated."

"So I've decided to purchase a completely new set."

"When the time comes, you two can work with Xiu Fu and Xiao Dao to verify everything. Then let me know, and we'll transfer the funds directly from the company account."

As he spoke, Chen Xu handed them a procurement list.

"Huh?!"

Gong Qi and Ying Gao stared blankly.

The surrounding employees were equally stunned.

At first, when they had arrived and found all the old equipment gone, many had assumed that President Chen and President Du simply hadn't reached an agreement regarding the assets.

But now it seemed… President Chen thought the equipment was too outdated?

The problem was—

Those machines were already considered mainstream development equipment throughout the gaming industry!

"Pr-President Chen..."

Still confused, Gong Qi and Ying Gao glanced at the procurement list.

The moment they did, their hands trembled.

Had they possessed slightly weaker mental fortitude, they probably would have reacted like Liu Bei during the famous "Discussing Heroes Over Wine" scene with Cao Cao—so shocked that he could barely hold his chopsticks.

Little brothers, surprised?

This is Brother Xu's power!

Standing behind Chen Xu, Xiu Fu and Xiao Dao exchanged smiles.

After all, when they had first seen the procurement order, they had reacted exactly the same way.

Every item on the list represented the highest-end hardware currently available.

The graphics cards, in particular, were specialized enterprise-grade models designed for AI computation.

The cost of a single workstation was equivalent to five of their previous machines.

"Our new project will require AI-assisted development to accelerate production."

"Our time is money," Chen Xu explained calmly.

Inside, however, he was practically celebrating.

Everything had gone exactly according to plan.

So what if he saved 300,000 yuan by refusing the old equipment during the acquisition?

With this hardware upgrade alone, he was about to spend four million yuan.

You think this can stop me?

Not a chance!

You won't let me lose money? Dream on!

Brother System, how exactly do you expect to beat me?