I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

“It’s about the new game. Go call Fang Chang and Zhao Bowen over. Now that Extreme Survival has hit its stride, it’s time to start developing the next title.”

Chen Mo spoke slowly and deliberately.

He hadn’t brought this up in the meeting room—there were too many details to go over, and discussing them there would’ve just wasted time.

Originally, he’d planned to head over to Cangxue Games in the afternoon to finalize the new game plans.

But now that Cangxue Games had moved into the Office Building, it was just a matter of going up or down a few floors—much more convenient.

Since Wei Yan had come to him now, he decided to take the opportunity to get things rolling.

“Understood, President Chen.”

Wei Yan felt a wave of relief wash over him when he heard that President Chen was finally moving forward with the new game.

The new game—

Over the New Year holiday, he and Fang Chang had been working non-stop on the concept. They’d even refined the game proposal twice.

Now, finally, it was time to put it to use.

Leaving the office, he quickly returned to Cangxue Games.

Cangxue Games was located on the 20th floor of the Office Building—six floors down from the top.

Back at Cangxue Games, he found Fang Chang and Zhao Bowen.

“President Chen wants to discuss the new project. He asked us to go to his office.”

“Wait a sec, I’ll grab the game proposals.”

Fang Chang hurried over to the file cabinet and pulled out the proposals they had prepared earlier.

“Bring the backup proposal too.”

Wei Yan thought for a moment and added. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

If President Chen didn’t like their main proposal, at least they’d have a backup ready.

“Good idea.”

Fang Chang nodded. He had designed both proposals himself, and he was confident in either one.

With that, the three of them took the elevator up to the top floor.

In the elevator, the three wore different expressions.

Zhao Bowen looked elated. Fang Chang had already told him he’d been promoted from lead to Department Head.

A raise and a promotion—how could he not be thrilled?

Fang Chang, on the other hand, felt a bit emotional. With the recent reshuffling, he had gone from Manager to Deputy Manager. He knew President Chen held Wei Yan in high regard, but he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of disappointment.

Wei Yan’s expression was more complicated.

He had started out as just an experienced salesperson. The role of Office Director had been given to him only because President Chen didn’t have anyone else he trusted at the time.

As for General Manager? That had never even crossed his mind.

After all, Fang Chang had contributed the most to Cangxue Games. Logically, the GM position should’ve gone to him.

But in the end, it had landed on Wei Yan.

He’d even gone to President Chen to suggest a change, but Chen Mo’s tone had been firm—there was no room for negotiation.

The three of them arrived at the CEO’s Office and knocked before entering.

“You’re here. Take a seat.”

Chen Mo looked up as they walked in and gestured toward the sofas around the coffee table. He poured three cups of tea and handed them out.

“Thank you, President Chen.”

The three accepted the tea respectfully and sat down carefully.

“So, what ideas do you have for the new game?”

Chen Mo took a sip of tea and looked up at the trio.

Wei Yan turned to Fang Chang—after all, the proposals had been his work, so it was only right for him to present them.

Noticing Wei Yan’s look, Fang Chang quickly handed over the two prepared proposals.

“President Chen, these are the two concepts we’ve been working on. Please take a look.”

Hmm.

Chen Mo had only been testing the waters, but he hadn’t expected them to actually come prepared.

He took the proposals silently and asked casually, “Who came up with these?”

“President Chen, I designed them. But there were revisions along the way—Wei Yan and Zhao Bowen both contributed.”

Fang Chang replied calmly.

When Wei Yan had signaled him to hand over the proposals, the unease he’d felt about the job title shift completely vanished.

Manager or Deputy Manager—what did it matter?

President Chen had never treated them unfairly based on titles. Why should he get hung up on one?

He needed to look at the bigger picture.

What mattered most was working hand-in-hand with Wei Yan, Zhao Bowen, and the rest of the team to create one blockbuster game after another for the company.

Chen Mo paused slightly as he held the proposals, then flipped through them quickly without really reading the contents and set them aside.

Since the proposals were Fang Chang’s work, it didn’t matter whether Wei Yan and Zhao Bowen had contributed—he couldn’t use them.

If they accidentally created another hit like Extreme Survival, that would be a problem.

He looked up at Fang Chang and spoke calmly.

“I skimmed through these two proposals. They don’t align with my vision for the company’s future direction.”

“What?!”

All three—Fang Chang, Wei Yan, and Zhao Bowen—stared wide-eyed in shock.

They had imagined many possible outcomes, but none of them had expected President Chen to flat-out reject both proposals.

They’d spent nearly a month working on them—was it all for nothing?

It was a complete surprise.

After a long pause, Fang Chang finally came to his senses. He looked at the two proposals on the table and asked slowly,

“President Chen, do you have something specific in mind?”

“I do.”

Chen Mo nodded, a faint smile playing at his lips.

He’d already formed a rough idea for a “money-losing game” during the holiday break.

“For Cangxue Games’ next title, I believe we should move into the Turn-Based Game genre.”

Turn-Based Game?

Fang Chang and Zhao Bowen both looked stunned. They had expected President Chen to come up with something novel and unexpected—but a turn-based game?

If this were five years ago, turn-based games were all the rage.

But over the past few years, Turn-based Games have long since fallen out of favor.

After all, at its core, a Turn-based Game is just you take a turn, then your opponent takes a turn. The only differences lie in the cards, the skills, and the combinations.

But no matter how much it changes, the core gameplay remains the same.

When this genre first emerged, it was wildly popular, attracting a huge following of players and spawning countless imitators.

But as time went on, the novelty wore off. The gameplay became dull, and many players started to quit.

These days, there are only one or two turn-based games left on the market with a stable player base.

The rest are either barely hanging on or have already shut down their servers.

And yet, President Chen chose this exact moment to dive into the Turn-based Game market. No matter how he looked at it, it just didn’t make sense.

Wei Yan watched the changing expressions on Fang Chang and Zhao Bowen’s faces, puzzled about what exactly was going on with this Turn-based Game that could cause such a reaction from the two of them.

But this wasn’t the right time to ask. He’d have to wait until they got back.

Chen Mo noticed the surprised looks on Fang Chang and Zhao Bowen’s faces and smiled to himself.

Looks like they were well aware of the decline of Turn-based Games. Of course they were—both of them were professionals. How could they not know?

This direction he’d chosen for the game—he was certain it was the right one.