Chapter 43

“Ceiling height 3.2 meters, bay width 8.5 meters, depth 12 meters.” Lin Jingyi brushed her finger, streaked with wall dust, across her notebook, then suddenly looked up at the man studying the circuit breaker box. “Manager Jiang, after renovation, the actual usable floor area on the first level will be about 102 square meters—we can fit all our required zones.”

“What about the price? Add up rent, renovation, and furniture costs and let me see.”

There was no choice—this was a small business, and every yuan had to be spent wisely.

Ding dong!

Lin Jingyi’s phone buzzed with a QQ notification.

“They’ve sent over the drawings.”

“So fast?”

“Not fast—I already talked to a few friends at the design institute. They probably sketched a rough layout during their free time.”

“Let me see—the training zone goes in the largest west-side room, covering 46 square meters. Each computer needs about 1.5 square meters of operating space… we could make it tighter. If we arrange eight in a U-shape, we’ll save a lot.” Lin Jingyi suddenly crouched down and drew several squares on the floor with chalk, like placing defense towers in a game.

The living area in the design was allocated 24 square meters at the east end. The original owner’s white porcelain stove was caked with years of grease. Deng Yi’s cleaning tools were piled in the corner as she scrubbed the tile wall bearing the character “ Xi ” with a steel wool pad.

“This row of ceiling cabinets can hold fifty kilograms of rice,” she tapped the loose cabinet door while standing on a stool. “But we need someone to clear the drain—I saw a cockroach nest when I tested the water.” Zhou Master, helping nearby, spoke up.

After securing the lease on the three-story building, Jiang Ming didn’t delay—he immediately called the two to come and clear out areas that didn’t need renovation.

Neither of them complained; after all, their boss was paying them, and doing some cleaning wasn’t much.

“Place the dining area in the center—just leave enough aisle space.”

Hearing this, Lin Jingyi’s calculator clicked rapidly: “A ten-person table takes up eight square meters, plus the aisle…”

“Rent is three thousand per month, but since we’re leasing the whole year, the boss waived one month’s rent—so rent costs are settled. For renovation…”

“Electrical and plumbing modifications, materials and labor cost thirty to fifty yuan per square meter, plus sockets, faucets, and other fittings—online shopping will be cheaper.”

“Walls and floors need work too. Best to repaint the walls with latex paint. Luckily, the area isn’t large. For the floor, just replace some tiles. But the bathroom, unused for so long, needs new toilet, sink, and showerhead.”

“One thousand… five thousand… ten thousand…”

As an excellent financial officer, Lin Jingyi perfectly demonstrated how to bankrupt a boss without a knife.

Listening to the mounting renovation costs, Jiang Ming’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

He wanted to snatch the pen from her hand and shout, Stop!

Miss, we still need to upgrade the crucial computer peripherals and reinstall the network—keep the renovation simple.

In total, the three-story building for the NXG esports base required simple renovation across 150 square meters, with estimated costs between 20,000 and 40,000 yuan.

Even this budget included temporary workers hired by Uncle Zhou from the labor market—they were self-organized and squeezed to the absolute limit.

“Alright, leave this to Uncle Zhou and Aunt Deng. We’re heading back to campus.”

After greeting the two busy with cleaning, Jiang Ming and Lin Jingyi rushed toward campus.

This time, it was about the club’s esports equipment and network setup.

Since they were doing this properly, they couldn’t settle for the old basement setup—scavenging a few broken computers from a shuttered internet cafe.

(The envisioned rendering, but S3 won’t support it—we’ll wait for S4 and find investors.)

…

Jinling University, Dormitory 103!

Jiang Ming and Lin Jingyi stood on either side of the door.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Lin, the senior guiding them, knocked on the door herself.

“…”

“So your meaning is—you want smooth, tournament-level performance: high refresh rate, low latency, no keyboard/mouse key conflicts, and stable operation during streaming with both game and background processes running smoothly?”

“Mm!”

“And your budget is limited?”

“Mm-mm!”

Facing the man before them, whose messy hair proclaimed him the supreme master of the Computer Dao, Jiang Ming’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.

He wasn’t unable to afford a few high-end gaming rigs.

But the machines used in the 2013 LPL tournament were average—if the team went too far ahead, players might struggle to adapt during competition and end up hurting themselves.

Besides, esports peripherals evolve rapidly. They could upgrade next year once they made some money.

“…”

“Well, it’s not impossible.”

Just as the two assumed the request was too much and the man would refuse, the Computer Emperor simply said, “Wait.”

“Wait—I’ll write you a configuration. For League of Legends, this game is well-optimized and doesn’t eat hardware.”

“Processor doesn’t need to be top-tier—I’ll ensure the key components meet the minimum performance requirements for professional esports.”

“For League, focus on stable frame rates. Cut unnecessary high-end peripherals, storage, and monitors. Some hardware can be secondhand or factory-refurbished…”

Jiang Ming slightly twitched his lips, glancing at Lin Jingyi. “This senior is… truly unconventional.”

Seriously, telling guests they can buy secondhand hardware right to their face? That’s some next-level naivety.

A few minutes later, the Computer Emperor put down his pen with a flourish.

“Done!”

He handed them a sheet of A4 paper. “Follow this configuration. Each unit will cost about 3,600 to 4,500 yuan. For the network, optimize it well—lower latency. If possible, install a backup line. Stability matters more than anything.”

“I’ll send you where to buy the parts. Don’t go to those idiotic print shops in the startup park—they’ll rip you off.”

“Processor: i5-2400, GPU: NVIDIA GTX650Ti, monitor: AOC I2369V…” Jiang Ming scanned the dense list of peripherals on the paper.

Lin Jingyi took the A4 sheet covered in specs and tucked it into her bag. “Thanks, senior. I’ll pay you via Alipay right away.”

“OK, you two go ahead. I’m getting back to my game.” The Computer Emperor waved them off, already turning toward his divine throne.

Seeing this, Jiang Ming offered, “Senior, would you be interested in a part-time job managing and maintaining esports equipment?”

“The NXG esports club you’re running?”

Clearly, as a Computer Emperor roaming the digital battlefield, he was well aware of Jiang Ming’s recent activities.

“Yes. We mainly need your technical support and assurance.”

“We’ll see. Routine maintenance isn’t hard—anyone can handle it.”

“If problems come up, you can always come to me—I charge per visit.”

The Computer Emperor didn’t look up, already reopening his computer. As he bent forward, Jiang Ming finally saw the name on the student ID hanging on his desk.