I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

“President Chen, you were looking for me.”

Fang Chang answered the call nervously.

“Yes. The game Tianlong was developed by our company, right?”

Chen Mo asked directly.

Fang Chang’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. He thought to himself, Could President Chen have found out about the losses Tianlong has been incurring? Is he going to hold me accountable?

Fortunately, he had already prepared in advance. He was just one announcement away from shutting the game down.

“Yes, President Chen. However, Tianlong has been operating at a loss for a long time. I was planning to shut it down.”

“Shut it down? Why?”

Chen Mo immediately interrupted, thinking, How could such a great money-losing game be shut down? That can’t happen!

Good thing he made this call. Otherwise, if the game were shut down, he wouldn’t be able to lose nearly as much money!

“President Chen, Tianlong has been losing money for a long time. The company has tried various improvements, but nothing has worked.

“If we don’t shut it down soon, the losses will only increase.”

Fang Chang explained. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“No need to shut it down. If you just close the game like this, what will happen to the remaining players?

“Those who have spent money in the game—won’t they feel abandoned? And what will happen to our company’s reputation?

“If we shut down games just because they lose money, will players still trust us and play our other games?

“You need to look at the long term and not sacrifice the company’s reputation just because of temporary losses.”

Chen Mo racked his brain and finally came up with a reasonable excuse.

Losing money is a wonderful thing! The more, the better!

“So... we’re not shutting it down?”

Fang Chang asked cautiously. He really couldn’t understand what President Chen was thinking.

“Of course not. Also, give me an internal game account—one with god-tier equipment.”

“Understood, President Chen. I’ll send it to you shortly.”

Fang Chang quickly agreed.

After hanging up, he immediately called in his assistant.

A short while later, there was a knock at the office door.

“Brother Chang, you were looking for me?”

Zhao Bowen entered the office and asked.

“Yes, give me two internal accounts for Tianlong—fully geared ones.”

“What do we need god-tier accounts for? Aren’t we shutting the game down?”

Zhao Bowen asked in confusion. He had been preparing for the server shutdown these past two days.

“We’re not shutting it down anymore.”

Fang Chang said casually.

“We’re not? But the game has been bleeding money! If President Chen finds out about a loss-making game in our company, he won’t be happy!”

Zhao Bowen looked worried.

No boss would be pleased to hear that their company was running a game at a loss.

“It’s fine. The decision to keep the game running came from President Chen himself. The internal accounts were also his request.”

“President Chen knows the game is losing money?”

“He does. But he insists on keeping it running.”

Fang Chang leaned back in his chair and sighed.

Thinking back on what President Chen had just said, he couldn’t help but admire him. He’s willing to sacrifice profits for the sake of the company’s reputation.

“So, what is President Chen planning to do?”

Zhao Bowen was baffled.

“No idea. But since he asked for a game account, he probably wants to experience it firsthand and see what can be improved.”

Fang Chang speculated. Otherwise, he really couldn’t understand why President Chen wanted an internal account.

He’s probably trying to find a way to turn things around.

It’s not like he just wants to play the game for fun... right?

If that were the case, the company would have gone bankrupt long ago.

“This game was already beyond saving even for us professionals. Can President Chen really do something about it?”

Zhao Bowen had his doubts.

“I don’t know.”

Fang Chang shook his head.

“But he must have some idea. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked for an account.”

———

Changfeng Garment Factory, Inside the office.

Chen Mo had just reinstalled Tianlong when Fang Chang sent over the internal account details.

He logged in and entered the game.

Looking at the character decked out in dazzling god-tier equipment, he smiled.

Now, no one can beat me!

He controlled his character and strutted into the wild zones, soon arriving at the spot where he had been one-shot by a rich player last time.

He looked around but didn’t see the same guy from before.

Since he wasn’t around, Chen Mo casually started grinding monsters in the wild.

With this god-tier account, farming was effortless—most monsters died in one hit.

———

“Damn it, there are fewer and fewer people in this game! I’ve been wandering around for ages and haven’t found a single player. It must be because that rich guy went on a killing spree in the wild earlier.”

Inside a rented apartment, a young man was mindlessly controlling his in-game character, looking for other players to kill for fun.

But after searching for a while, he found no one.

“What kind of crap game is this? There’s no one left. Maybe it’s shutting down soon.”

Jiang Jiu angrily slammed his mouse, ready to log off and quit.

Just then, he spotted a figure in the distance farming monsters.

“Xue Luo? Never seen that ID before. Not in any guild I know... but the gear looks pretty nice.”

“Whatever. Kill first, ask questions later.”

Jiang Jiu smirked and charged forward.

———

“Huh? Someone’s coming.”

Chen Mo was in the middle of a massacre when he noticed a character rapidly approaching.

Before he could figure out what was happening, a skill attack landed on him.

Luckily, this was a god-tier account. Otherwise, he would have been one-shot again!

The moment the attack landed, Chen Mo was instantly reminded of the last time he got obliterated and taunted. His face darkened.

He glanced at the attacker’s ID—not the rich guy from last time, but doing the exact same thing.

Without hesitation, he controlled his character and charged toward his opponent.

“Wait... only one pixel of his health bar moved?”

Jiang Jiu was stunned.

For his attack to barely scratch someone... only top-tier godly accounts could have that kind of defense!

“This guy has a god-tier account!”

I just kicked a steel plate!

Realizing this, Jiang Jiu panicked and turned to flee.

There’s no way I can fight that—I have to run!

———

A while later, Jiang Jiu found himself cornered in a dead-end.

Desperate, he quickly started typing in chat.

“Bro, this was just a misunderstanding!”