660 Chapter 660 - Wait Right Here (1/2)

Five Nights had a somber expression on his face, ”That is precisely the problem that I am very worried about. This is why I kept stressing on the importance of striving for time. We can only teach as many players as we can before the game company steps in and asks us to stop. The moment they ask us to cease our operations , we will have to refund the players who haven't learnt the efficient monster grinding routines in time to maintain the reputation of our workshop.”

”Is that so… ?” Gu Fei nodded.

”Yes, do you have any other questions, Brother Miles?”

”Nope,” Gu Fei said.

”Alright then. Shall we continue to estimate how much profits we would make? Brother Miles, how much time do you think it would take for the game company to respond after they see our advertisement go up?” Five Nights continued with a tone ready to negotiate.

”Heheh, what will happen to us if they are quick, and respond the moment we make our announcement?” Gu Fei asked.

”Then we will have no choice but to suffer a loss from this deal…” Five Nights said.

”Heh, by your words, doesn't that mean our profits would simply be zero, and the 20% cut we had agreed upon would essentially be worth nothing?” Gu Fei said.

Five Nights chuckled as well, ”But that is only Brother Miles' assumption. From our workshop's understanding toward how the game's operated, the chances of the game company being able to immediately respond to our actions is abysmally miniscule. From when they first see our advertisement, proceed to inform the managing director, the ensuing discussion and subsequent decision, and then relaying said decision to the necessary personnel, the time taken for the entire process would hardly be very quick. Especially if we choose to launch our services on a weekend night, during the peak period of player traffic. Even though the game would operate as per normal, the higher ups would be resting at home, so even contacting the relevant people would take some time, and we can use this to our advantage. Furthermore, we are not about to release the information in such a public venue like what you guys did through internet forums. We would instead utilize the in-game channels that we have in Parallel World, spreading the news in the game so it would take even more time for the game company to notice what's happening.”

”Wow, you've sure got plenty of methods!” Gu Fei exclaimed.

”But of course,” Five Nights laughed. ”Actually, for us who work in workshops, dancing back and forth with the game companies has always been one of the main responsibilities of our job. While we would not dare to claim that we have a complete understanding of how they would act and make their moves, we could at the very least be able to get a vague idea of it.”

”Hehe,” Gu Fei laughed. ”That is to say, you are very certain that the game company would stop us from developing efficient monster grinding routines, right?” Gu Fei said.

”Who would dare to say that for certain? I just feel that such a possibility exists, so of course we must do our best to take precautions against such an eventuality,” Five Nights said.

”Hmm, you're right. We must definitely take preventive measures, but this is not what we should be preventing,” Gu Fei said.

”What do you mean by that, Brother Miles?” Five Nights was confused.

Gu Fei stood up, ”Calling me and Eternal Dominion to help you develop the efficient monster grinding routines is actually the preventive measure you've taken, am I right?”

”What are you saying?” Five Nights asked.

”A workshop sounds like a really good place to be. All of you would be familiar with the game, the players and are even on relatively good terms with the game company. In a game environment, you guys might perhaps be the only entity that could achieve all these points. Even if it is the game company itself, they must consider the big picture, and would not be able to put themselves in the shoes of every single player out there. When it comes to the game, they must leverage on the game's playability and entertainment to earn money. It is completely different for you workshops, racking your brains to research and study how the game works so that they could find business opportunities to make a profit.”

Five Nights was still nonplussed, ”Brother Miles, just where in the world are you going with this?”

”I'm saying that because you guys understand the situation from many different perspectives, which is why you came up with your current plan, am I right?” Gu Fei said.

”My… Plan?”

”As long as the efficient monster grinding routines are promoted widely, you seem to be absolutely convinced that it would most definitely be shut down by the game company. What you are safeguarding against here isn't the shutting down of the venture, but in the event there isn't a call to shut down this venture by the game company. This is why you've reached out to me and Eternal Dominion to provide you guys with the efficient monster grinding routines, so if this business isn't halted, you guys would still have something to teach,” Gu Fei said.

”Brother Miles, there's a part of what you said that I don't understand. According to what you've just said, would we still be able to conduct this business without the efficient monster grinding routines?” Five Nights asked.

”Of course you can. We've all successfully done the promotion and the deposit payments, so all you have to do is just clone it. However, the main difference this time, is that the net you've cast is too wide. So after you collected the deposit, the game company would step in before you guys could even finish organizing the lessons, and they would stop this project from taking off. Thus, you guys don't even have to provide the actual efficient monster grinding routines,” Gu Fei was looking at Five Nights as he said this.

Five Nights opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but Gu Fei had continued to elaborate, ”You just said the moment there's a call to halt the operations, you would most definitely stop everything at once. Of course, this is a must. But you've also said that you would fully refund all the fees you've already collected in advance; so I do believe this is the part of the story where you would have had your hand in things, right?”

”How is that possible!? If you don't believe me, then let us add that condition straight into the contract, so you guys can oversee our actions when the time comes,” Five Nights angrily said.

”Of course this stipulation would be written into the contract; as long as this condition exists, the fees that you've collected in advance would be refunded in full, and so what we would get in the end is no more than the lowest guaranteed commission that we had previously agreed upon when we first signed the deal. This would be the capital you've set aside for PR. What do I mean by PR? Obviously, it would be the public opinion from the players after the game company halts your operations, as you guys would try and redirect as much of the resentment from the players towards the game company. Your workshop would refund the fees that they collected in advance, but I believe it would just be a small portion of the fees you received, as just this small portion alone would successfully spread rumours that you need. I have no idea what sort of excuse you guys would find to deny the majority, but I have no doubt that it would all find its way into your company's pockets.”

”There's plenty of reasons you could use!” Southern Lone Blade began throwing out ideas to Five Nights. ”You guys can make a gesture when the time comes, and officially announce the news that you would be paying out refunds, but the news would surely state that because there were no prior preparations for such a result, there's no proper records or list of the players' name, so they hope players would step forward candidly. Then some time after that, you guys can say that many players were dishonest, having tried to hoodwink their way to make off with the 99 gold coins, and the number of players that came forward for their refund went several times beyond the numbers that originally registered, and you are unable to handle them all. How about it, do you think this idea would work?”

Glue nodded his head vigorously when he heard this, ”If the cries of the players continue to be too much, then they would have no choice but to grit their teeth and and refund everybody! But there's a limit to the amount of money they have, so it is impossible to return the full 99 gold coins, so everything will be evenly divided. How much the workshop has is how much they would get. Players cannot blame the workshop, as the capitalists don't have any surplus; if you want to find someone to blame, blame those people who pretended to be a victim like you!”

”Yes, if the workshop was even more daring, they might even claim to have added their own additional reserves to the refund process, and further mention about the deposit they had to pay to Miles and Eternal Dominion. As such, the players would see that they had already paid out plenty, and would sympathize with their plight, no longer feeling that they should make a ruckus any further. Adding to your deliberate direction of the story to blame the game company for what happened, the point is you guys won't be the focal point of the public's ire. And if you're lucky, some might even praise you for the efforts you've taken,” Southern Lone Blade said.

”You guys!!” Gu Fei shook his head repeatedly. ”Now that you've both said everything, what's left for Brother Five Nights to say?”

The expression on Five Nights's face had yet to change, chuckling, ”Guys, you sure love to jest. What's with all these stuff that you're talking about? It's definitely not like that.”

”But right now, we are severely skeptical and have plenty of suspicions because of this, what now?” Gu Fei gazed at him.

Five Nights wrinkled his forehead, ”Gentlemen, what am I to do if you guys want to make such baseless accusations? You guys can make your assumptions, but what proof do you have?”

”We don't need proof!” Gu Fei said. ”Just having this suspicion means this deal of ours would fall apart. However, the onus is on you, as it is more important for you to hurry up and provide us with the proof that you actually haven't made such plans.”

”You… You're just intentionally making things difficult for us,” Five Nights was angry.

Gu Fei turned to consult Southern Lone Blade and Glue, ”Do you guys think this anger he's showing is real, or just an act?”

”It's an act, there this idiom that goes… How does it go again?” Glue turned toward Southern Lone Blade.

”Is it 'adamant in the face of guilt'?” Southern Lone Blade asked.

”Hmm, seems about right, the meaning is there,” Glue said.

”You people...” Five Nights slapped the top of the table and got up.