[Now, please choose a commercial field for Company No. 17 Limited Liability.]

Outside, a new round of market research had begun.

Fu Chen looked at the four options on the big screen and leaned into the microphone: "Arts and Culture."

[It's known there are 13,000 cinemas nationwide, so for a province with a population of 60 million and a net population inflow, what could be the likely number of cinemas?]

Li Renshu looked at the players from Community No. 8 across the table.

Unlike last time, the personnel had changed.

Jiao Hongtao, the scruffy, unkempt uncle, did not come.

Accompanying Tian Fan was a woman wearing black-framed glasses, looking like a professional elite.

[Community No. 8 - Yang Hui].

Fu Chen turned hopelessly to Li Renshu: "Any ideas? Without other data points, we can only estimate roughly based on population."

Li Renshu didn't start discussing immediately but said, "Hold on, let me try negotiating with them first."

There was a microphone on the table, so just leaning into it allowed the other side to hear them.

"Interested in collaborating?

"From the game rules, this isn't entirely a zero-sum game because there's a mechanism for additional investment.

"No one can guarantee 100% accuracy with such estimation questions, so additional investment itself is a high-risk behavior; any deviation will result in serious losses.

"However, we can take turns winning.

"When it's your turn to select the research field, our side will deliberately input a highly inaccurate, impossible-to-win number, so your side can confidently add 20,000 in investment.

"And vice versa.

"In this way, we don't need to perform those complex calculations, nor worry about the estimation deviations, which maximizes benefits."

Fu Chen's eyes lit up; this was indeed a good plan.

However, Tian Fan across the table shook his head.

"This does look like a win-win solution, but don't forget, if any company goes bankrupt, the game ends immediately.

"As for two companies weathering the economic storm together? That's a very difficult condition to meet and would severely impact our profits.

"I still prefer to see you guys bankrupt quickly to end the game."

Li Renshu frowned: "Are you sure you can always answer correctly?"

Tian Fan was resolute: "I'm sure.

"We can make additional investments and answer all questions correctly, so there's absolutely no need to collaborate with you."

The negotiations were unsuccessful.

Obviously, Tian Fan from Community No. 8 was extremely confident about this segment of the game and was unwilling to share any profits.

Li Renshu wasn't too disappointed; one must always be mentally prepared for unexpected situations in the game.

"That's fine, let's proceed with the normal game process.

"In this game, it's almost impossible to guess the standard answer; we're all guessing within a certain range; as long as we're more accurate than the other side, it's fine."

Fu Chen started thinking: "13,000 cinemas, so on average, that's one cinema for every 100,000 people.

"For 60 million people, there'd be about 600 cinemas.

"So, should we fill in... 700?"

Li Renshu shook her head: "Still too few. This is a province with a net population inflow, so it's definitely an economic powerhouse.

"I'm inclined towards 900, or 800."

Fu Chen thought for a moment: "Then 900? Guess a bit higher."

Li Renshu pondered deeply: "Although instinctively, 900 shouldn't be too far off, I also feel that in densely populated developed provinces, the number of cinemas might not necessarily be much higher.

"I remember seeing a statistic: If given the same area, cities have more stores than counties; but with the same population, counties have more stores than cities."

Fu Chen was taken aback: "Huh? How so."

Li Renshu explained: "For example, if one store can service 10,000 people, in a county, even if a large area doesn't have 10,000 people, there must be one store there, right.

"But in a city, maybe this area has 12,000 people, exceeding a store's capacity, but opening another one might mean each having only 6,000 customers, leading to losses, and hence no one opens a second one.

"So, in economically developed areas, because of denser populations, the number of stores per 10,000 people might actually be below average.

"It's counterintuitive data, so it stuck with me.

"If considering this, offsetting it a bit, this number might be lower than we expected?"

Fu Chen frowned: "Are you saying that in economically developed provinces, because the population is dense, cinemas can service more people, so compared to sparsely populated areas, there might actually be fewer cinemas.

"Focus on large cinemas?

"Doesn't seem right, it's too counterintuitive, hard for me to accept.

"However, I think 800 isn't low, I could accept that number."

Li Renshu wasn't sure either, after contemplating, she said: "Let's fill in 800 then."

She entered the number 800 on the tablet.

Since they weren't particularly confident, they didn't make additional investments.

[The market research result from No. 8 Limited Liability Company was closer to reality, seizing this opportunity, and awarded 30,000-minute visa time as a reward.]

[Since No. 8 Limited Liability Company made an additional investment of 20,000, they will receive an extra 20,000-minute visa time as a reward.]

[This market research event has ended, please both parties leave and await the next opportunity.]

Fu Chen expressed regret with a "Ah..."

He had chosen the arts and culture field, and he had guessed the number, so he felt very frustrated.

What's worse, the correct answer would not be displayed on the screen.

So Fu Chen and Li Renshu had no way of knowing whether their guess of 800 was too high or too low.

The two stood up slightly defeated and returned to their company's office area.

...

"Fu Chen, Renshu! I discovered a new game mechanism!"

Just as they swiped their work cards and passed through the turnstile, they saw Xu Tong quickly approaching them.

She noticed that Fu Chen and Li Renshu both looked quite displeased and asked, "What happened, was the market research unsuccessful again this time? What was the issue?"

Fu Chen sighed: "I originally thought the arts and culture field question would be something like guessing songs or movies.

"I didn't expect it would be about estimating the number of cinemas in a province with a population of 60 million."

Xu Tong was somewhat shocked, her eyes widening: "I was just about to tell you this!

"While you were away, I stayed in front of the computer the whole time.

"And I discovered that virtual employees provide specific data through pop-up windows!

"I received three different pieces of information, one of which was about cinemas!"

"Let me think, it said:

"The top three provinces in cinema numbers have an average of 1,200 cinemas."

Hearing this data, Li Renshu fell silent.

She thought seriously for a moment, then sighed: "I understand now, we guessed too low.

"The correct answer should be around 1,000.

"I really shouldn't have thought about convenience stores."

Xu Tong was curious: "How many did you guess?"

Fu Chen: "800 cinemas."

Xu Tong was quite surprised: "Ah? That's quite close, isn't it? How can you be sure it was too low?

"The data on the computer was for the top three provinces in cinema numbers; a province with 60 million people probably wouldn't be in the top three, right? I remember the major populous provinces have populations nearing 100 million.

"800 looks quite reasonable."

Li Renshu explained: "No, provinces with net population inflows are very few, especially among provinces with large populations; net inflow means this is definitely a very economically developed province.

"Even if it's not in the top three for the number of cinemas, it shouldn't be far from the third place.

"Since the top three provinces have an average of 1,200 cinemas, provinces around the third and fourth places should reach around 1,000 for normalcy.

"This figure is much higher than the average calculated based on population."

Fu Chen was a bit puzzled: "But what about that store problem you mentioned earlier?"

Li Renshu was very annoyed: "That's not relevant at all."

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