Li Xiaohui having such an idea did not surprise Liu Yutong in the slightest.
However, given the current circumstances, it's definitely not feasible to invest in it.
The primary issue is the technical aspect. This isn't as simple as building a website, which is relatively much easier and could be handled by someone like Xiao Bin and his team.
But game development is completely different; it requires a much more professional team.
Currently, there are very few teams domestically with mature experience in 3D engine development and the capability for large-scale FPS projects. The barrier to independent research and development is simply too high for them.
Moreover, even if they could develop something now, it might not stand a chance against FPS games like CF.
User habits and market environments differ in every era.
Take the wildly popular 'Valorant' from her past life as an example. From the perspective of current technology, market conditions, and user habits, even if they had the ability to recreate it, snatching users away from CF would be extremely difficult.
Big Goose Company now possesses the largest user base and a near-monopoly on distribution channels. The difficulty for a new game to take a bite out of its market share is easy to imagine.
Furthermore, the Wanlong Hui Group isn't as wealthy as Big Goose.
Developing a large-scale PC game, from project initiation to testing, would take at least a year or two; it's too time-consuming and burns through too much money.
Therefore, to truly get a foot in this field, two things need to be done first.
First, create a social software platform that can rival Big Goose, to control their own traffic gateway.
Second, make money, lots of it!
There are just too many places needing funds right now.
The Wanlong Shopping Center is under renovation, costing at least tens of millions, even up to a hundred million, and this project cannot be halted.
The group also holds several plots of land awaiting development—one to be built into employee housing, another for the group headquarters. These plots can't be left idle indefinitely.
They also require massive capital investment.
Wanhui Youxuan has already secured investment, but it's still far from being profitable. If it weren't for the investment they secured, the group would have had to pour a significant amount of money into it.
The supermarkets and restaurants are indeed making money, but that income is still far from sufficient to cover the group's overall expenditures.
As for Mingzhu Capital, while they managed to raise some funds from members through the connections of Lin Muyang and Yu Mo, it only amounts to tens of millions in total. Part of it was invested into Wanhui Youxuan, and the rest was used by Lin Muyang to purchase various copyrights.
This leaves Liu Yutong with few choices: either seek financing or take out loans. For now, those are the only two paths available.
Of course, she actually has a bold plan in mind that could generate a lot of money in a short time, but the required startup capital is enormous; she can't do it alone.
She needs to bring more people on board, preferably those with some influence abroad as well.
In short, Liu Yutong herself is also worrying about money.
The bigger the ventures she expands into, the more she feels the money isn't enough.
Unless the group can have a project that consistently generates profits and can also support other projects, for now, they can only proceed step by step according to the established plan.
Games are actually a great choice, but it's just not feasible right now.
At least FPS games aren't.
Hearing Li Xiaohui suddenly want to invest in games, Liu Yutong replied, "Xiaohui, regarding the game matter, I can support you, but we need to solve the funding issue first. You understand that, right?"
Li Xiaohui nodded. "I know, Yutong-jie. With our big family business now, money is needed everywhere. Don't worry, I'm just thinking out loud for now. I'll definitely focus on doing well with the internet cafe part first and try to earn more money."
Seeing how sensible Li Xiaohui was, Liu Yutong smiled with relief.
It was getting late. She told Xiaohui to go back to bed and, after a quick wash-up herself, returned to her own bunk.
She checked her phone messages for a while, flipped through a book, and soon fell asleep.
Roughly a few hours later.
Li Xiaohui and Ling Yan were already sound asleep.
But Liu Yutong, in a half-asleep state, was awakened by a series of intermittent, muffled sounds.
She was a light sleeper to begin with, easily roused by the slightest noise.
At first, she was groggy and thought it was Li Xiaohui grinding her teeth.
After all, this girl did tend to grind her teeth in her sleep, a loud, grating sound. Liu Yutong would usually put a mouthguard in her mouth whenever she heard it.
Subconsciously, Liu Yutong felt for the mouthguard she always kept by her pillow, ready to solve Li Xiaohui's teeth-grinding problem as usual.
But just as she reached out, she paused.
That's not right.
This sound wasn't teeth grinding.
It was crying.
Lin Lele.
The usually cheerful and adorable girl was now tightly wrapped in her blanket, curled into a small ball.
From inside the blanket came waves of barely suppressed, almost breaking sobs, accompanied by a sense of struggling to catch her breath.
Realizing something was wrong, Liu Yutong quietly climbed down from her bed, walked over to Lin Lele's bedside, and reached out to pat her.
"Lele?"
"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? Or are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
The crying under the blanket abruptly stopped, followed by sounds of panic.
"N-no... it's nothing, Monitor. I'm sorry I woke you up."
"I'll be fine soon, really, I'm sorry..."
This didn't sound like 'nothing' at all.
Liu Yutong didn't leave. She remained by the bedside, comforting her. "Don't be afraid, it's okay. What happened? Tell me. Did you run into some difficulty? Let's figure it out together. It's better than keeping it bottled up alone."
Faced with this sudden concern, Lin Lele finally couldn't hold back anymore. She slowly peeked out from under the blanket.
Her eyes were swollen like two ripe peaches, her face streaked with tears, and strands of hair were stuck to her cheeks and forehead by the tears. She looked utterly pitiful.
"Monitor, I think I've been scammed!"
Liu Yutong said, "Come down. Let's talk outside, so we don't disturb Xiaohui and the others."
Lin Lele hesitated for a moment, then climbed down from her bed.
Liu Yutong casually picked up her coat and draped it over herself, put on an outer garment, and, holding her hand, quietly opened the dorm door and walked out.
The two walked to the window ledge at the end of the corridor.
It was some distance from the dorm rooms, so talking wouldn't disturb others.
"Tell me. How were you scammed?"
Perhaps because Liu Yutong held too much prestige in the class and at school, Lin Lele didn't dare to hide it. She told Liu Yutong what had happened in a fragmented manner.
It turned out that, wanting to ease the burden on her family, she had been looking for part-time jobs.
Not long ago, through a Big Goose group chat, she came into contact with a so-called high-end tutoring platform. The website looked quite professional, claiming that by becoming a VIP member, one would get priority access to high-paying, reliable tutoring jobs.
VIP membership fees ranged from tens to hundreds, with higher levels supposedly granting access to better information.
Lin Lele, with a try-it-out mindset, first paid for a junior VIP membership. Sure enough, she received several contact details and even successfully landed an online video tutoring job.
Being able to teach through online videos without even leaving home was an ideal part-time job for her, incredibly convenient too.
Things went quite smoothly at first, with a daily income of seventy or eighty yuan.
But when she wanted to withdraw her earnings, problems arose. Customer service informed her that the withdrawal amount had to reach a minimum of 1,000 yuan to be processed, citing easier financial management.
Later, the customer service contacted her again, saying that if she wanted unlimited withdrawal privileges, she needed to upgrade to a premium VIP membership.
If she was short on funds for the upgrade, she could also recommend classmates to register and deposit money. This way, she could not only earn back her own membership fee but also receive a commission from their deposits. Using that commission to fund the upgrade would be even more cost-effective.
It was this scam, later overused to the point of cliché, that step by step pushed Lin Lele toward the abyss.
