"Renshu, quick, help me write this down. Let's calculate together.

"Calculate multiple times, don't make any mistakes.

"The data from the computer before mentioned that the urban road density is about 3km/square kilometer, so for a 700 square kilometer city, the urban roads are approximately... 2100 kilometers.

"As for the streetlight spacing, it should be at least over 20 meters, right? 20 to 50 meters? Let's use an average of 30 meters. Assuming there are streetlights on both sides of the road, this would be... 140,000 streetlights.

"The question mentioned that each streetlight has a power of 150W, but we also have to consider the average daily lighting time. Let's calculate it as 10 hours.

"Multiply these two, and that's the final answer.

"... approximately 210,000 kilowatt hours."

Without a calculator, the two could only do the math mentally, so they were afraid of making mistakes and each calculated a few more times.

Fortunately, the game time is 10 minutes, providing ample time for calculation and verification.

At this point, both of them were somewhat relieved that the question wasn't too excessive. If they were directly asked to calculate the annual power consumption and then multiply it by 365, just the mental calculation of this data could overload like a pig's brain.

"So should we fill in 210,000? Should we fluctuate it a bit? Add some margin?" Xu Tong asked.

Li Renshu shook her head: "No need, fluctuating it is just deceiving ourselves.

"Since we have already averaged uncertain data during the calculations, this number is already the result after fluctuation. Further fluctuation based on feeling might cause even greater deviation due to incorrect intuition.

"Just fill in 210,000."

Xu Tong anxiously entered the number 210,000 into the tablet.

Before pressing the button to submit the answer, she looked at Li Renshu again: "Should we make an additional investment?"

Li Renshu contemplated seriously for a moment: "Yes!

"Currently, there is already a gap between our funding chain and our opponent's. The key is we must shatter their confidence before they will agree to cooperate with us.

"Since there is data provided by virtual employees, this risk is worth taking."

Xu Tong nodded, and after both made additional investments, they clicked the button on the screen to submit their answer.

[Limited Liability Company No. 17's market research results are closer to the real situation and seized the opportunity, earning a reward of 30,000 minutes of visa time.]

[As Limited Liability Company No. 17 made an additional investment of 20,000, they will receive an additional 20,000 minutes of visa time as a reward.]

[This market research activity has ended. Both parties please exit the venue and wait for the next opportunity to appear.]

"Yeah!"

Seeing this result, Xu Tong couldn't help but get excited and high-fived Li Renshu to celebrate.

Li Renshu let out a sigh of relief, it seemed the calculation was correct.

There was indeed an element of bluff in the opponent's speech. If they had become disorganized and lost their fighting spirit due to it, they would have really stood no chance of winning.

The data from the virtual employees played a crucial role.

Without this data, Li Renshu and Xu Tong would probably still be clueless and unable to estimate such precise numbers.

In any case, this additional investment not only gained extra profit but also heavily suppressed the opponent's psychological advantage.

The two people from Community No. 8 cast a meaningful glance over here and then silently left the venue.

...

"Fu Chen! We succeeded!

"Fifty thousand visa time!"

Xu Tong and Li Renshu swiped their employee badges through the turnstile and couldn't wait to share the good news with Fu Chen.

Fu Chen was also very pleased: "I've been watching the computer and noted three pieces of data. Moreover, I noticed that the higher the employee's salary, the higher the probability that they report these data.

"The data pop-ups all came from employees with salaries over 5000 and the title of 'junior supervisor'.

"In addition, these data only appear when senior executives go out for market research.

"Before you went and after you returned, there were no similar pop-ups."

Xu Tong nodded: "Hmm? I hadn't really noticed the timing aspect before.

"But I also noticed the link between salary and data—the higher the employee's salary, the more likely they are to provide data. The earlier data about the cinema was reported by an employee with a monthly salary of 10,000."

Li Renshu appeared thoughtful: "It seems that these expensive employees indeed have their worth, and can't be laid off arbitrarily."

Fu Chen nodded: "So not laying off employees was the right decision."

Li Renshu looked at the refreshed company information interface on the computer and fell into thought again.

"It's still difficult to say."

[Limited Liability Company No. 17]

[March Company Account Balance: 157,000 minutes of visa time]

[April Estimated Income: 60,000 minutes of visa time]

[April Estimated Expenditure: 68,000 minutes of visa time]

Although it seems that a new high has been reached, if you look closely, you find there's still an undertone of crisis.

Every month, the estimated income decreases by 20,000.

Next month, if they can't complete the market research, the company will begin to incur losses.

What's worse, the margin for error will decrease as time goes on, and if expenditures significantly exceed the company's estimated income, failing to complete market research for two consecutive rounds could very likely lead the company to bankruptcy.

Li Renshu said: "It's still uncertain when the market winter will end, but based on the design of the months, ending in December is a possibility.

"If that's the case, layoffs and salary cuts will be unavoidable. Because we can't ensure that we will win every market research, nor can we guarantee not to lose with every additional investment."

"Xu Tong, have you prepared the layoff plan?"

Xu Tong nodded: "Yes, I've identified four layoff candidates. I considered their age, positions, departments, salary levels, and so on, ensuring it wouldn't affect the company's operation too much."

Li Renshu pondered for a moment: "Are there any with high salaries?"

Xu Tong immediately nodded: "Yes, I cut by proportion, so there's one with a salary of 7,000 minutes of visa time per month.

"Among all employees, that's considered relatively high."

Fu Chen asked: "Should we replace them with those having lower salaries? After all, from the previous situation, higher salaries had their reasons; they were more likely to provide data."

Li Renshu shook her head: "No, probability is unreliable, as it is influenced by many factors.

"The safest way is to cut by proportion.

"Let's just submit this plan to Aunt Su. Fu Chen, you keep watching the computer and jot down the data. For the next market research, we'll choose the social domain. I should be more proficient in it, and currently, the data provided by virtual employees suggests that there is slightly more social domain-related data."

Fu Chen stood up and returned to his office: "Alright."

Although he had already noticed that during non-market research times, similar pop-ups wouldn't appear, since he had nothing else to do, he might as well keep watching in case of any exceptions.

After Xu Tong submitted the plan, Li Renshu got up and went directly to the CEO's office.

"I think it's necessary to explain this to Aunt Su."

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