Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch...
Pei Qian quietly scrolled through He An's long Weibo post, including the gamers' comments at the bottom. His eyes widened, and his tongue was tied. He was stunned.
"I see! I understand, I understand!"
"I felt weird when the game was first released, but it all makes sense now!"
"Boss Pei's game has reached this standard now, hasn't it? A giant in the local game industry has to step up to analyze it so that the rest of us would understand?"
"I believed the official platform's long Weibo post earlier and thought that Struggle had greatly refined reality and turned itself into a mirror, so that each person could learn some lessons from it. However, now that I've read the big boss's explanation, I finally understand. I was only at the first level, but Struggle had a second, third, and fourth!"
"Heh, Boss Pei is known to be a man of a thousand levels."
"Tengda's games are so terrifying. Repent and be Saved had already broken the fourth wall one, but Struggle had done it countless times. It's never-ending. Fourth wall, are you alright?"
Among the many comments, one—in particular—had the most likes.
"What moves me the most is the spirit that Struggle embodies. There were different interpretations of the word 'struggle'. It seemed to overturn all basic theories, and yet, it still coincided with them again on a higher level.
"Based on the Big Boss' analysis, Struggle had gone against all the basic theories on the surface. However, on closer inspection, one would also find that the game brought all of those basic theories to new highs, thus coinciding with those theories on a higher level.
"It's the same with the concept of 'struggle'. The main content of the game was a conceptualization of struggle. It kept showing us that the rich struggle in the clouds while the poor struggle in the mud.
"The rich would be lying to the poor by telling them that they could climb to the clouds if they struggled hard enough; the poor would be telling white lies to their children by saying that they could change their lives if they struggled hard.
"The game ruthlessly tears the lies apart, so that those who have been bluffed would wake up.
"On the surface, the game seems to deny that struggling could change lives. It seems to say that the rich are on the clouds and the poor are in the mud, and no amount of struggling would change the vast difference between the two.
"However, the 'consumerism' segment allowed us to make comparisons to reality and discover that we can still struggle to change our lives.
"That's not a concrete action, but an attitude and a choice. While we are yet deep in the mud and at the point of no return, we can search for all sorts of opportunities to live a better life and create more value. That would be the struggle.
"Thus, even though we won't be able to get to the clouds no matter how hard we struggle, we cannot lose hope in life. That's because we all have to make choice after choice in life. Giving up would never be the right option."
Underneath that long comment were many people sharing their experiences.
"That reminds me of a saying: We're sent up a stage that we didn't choose to perform a script we didn't write. The script may be torturous and painful, but as long as we work hard to play our role well, we could create excitement in the pain.
"I was reflecting on my own life. My parents gave me outstanding living conditions and forced me to work hard as well. Seeing many other poor people wandering about and taking things slow, I always thought that they were poor because they were lazy.
"Now, I know I was wrong. Not everyone had the same living conditions that I did. I bought both the rich and poor versions. Hopefully, this game would always remind me never to make the same mistake as the rich protagonist.
"Indeed. The rich and poor versions alike try their best to help each group understand the other. The poor are prevented from admiring the rich, so that they would not fall for their lies; the rich are forced to drop their arrogance by looking down at the poor.
"This game creates a gap between the rich and the poor. Perhaps both groups would never fully understand each other, but at the very least, the bridge exists and speaks. That's still meaningful.
"That's why I think that the best option isn't to buy the rich version or the poor version, but to buy both! Looking at your own life would resonate within you and force you to reflect. Looking at others' lives would force you to recognize your blind spots. The game's true meaning can be found only if you buy both the rich and poor versions!"
"Is that why buying both versions together makes the game more expensive? I get it now. I'll buy it! I'll spend the extra thirty yuan more willingly!"
"Gamers are willingly spending more money to purchase the game and feeling so comfortable about it as well. That's what I call a genius pricing model!"
"You can decide not to purchase it and watch others play the game online as well."
"Brother, listen to me. You could watch others play the game, but you would never be able to experience the emotions that the game could invoke in you. Why are games referred to as the ninth form of art? That's because they're interactive!
"Watching others play would result in you remaining as an observer throughout. You wouldn't be able to make your own choices. How is that interactive?"
"Everybody can choose what they want to do. You can choose to pay attention, watch others play, only buy the rich version, or buy both versions... I think Boss Pei wouldn't mind it.
"Struggle has already become a hot topic online, and it's even gone out of the gaming circles. Even those who don't normally play games are paying attention. As an interactive movie game, its mission is already complete."
"Still, I think those that have the capability to and who have real a passion for domestically-produced standalone games should buy the game and store it. After all, being able to afford a game like that is a privilege in itself!"
...
After reading those comments, Pei Qian quietly closed his laptop.
Mad, this world has gone mad!
At first, he had thought that working hard to keep Teacher Qiao locked away would mean that Struggle could surely incur losses.
Never would he have expected He An to pop out of nowhere!
The official Weibo post had also given He An inspiration for some reason, causing him to gain a good position from which to stab Pei Qian squarely in the back!
Pei Qian was completely dumbfounded after reading He An's analysis. He An said that every creator would express their own thoughts in their works. Yet, Pei Qian wanted to say that he had not!
He had only decided to do this because he wanted players to hate the game!
As for going against all four basic theories of game design, it went without saying that Pei Qian had done that on purpose!
After He An explained all the theories to him, Pei Qian had done the opposite on purpose. Yet, Teacher He had pulled a fast one on him. He had been the one to teach Pei Qian the lessons, and yet he had also been the one to say all Pei Qian's wrong answers were correct! How ridiculous was that?!
I really want to know how I can successfully cause a game to fail.
I did everything I could to fail, but you're telling me that I made one full circle and ended up succeeding instead?!
Ridiculous!
It was utterly ridiculous!
Pei Qian was furious. Obviously, Teacher He was to blame for all of this!
You must have left a huge gap in the theories that you taught me. Why else would I still fail to incur losses despite doing the opposite of everything you said?!
The most infuriating thing was that He An had posted his thoughts on Weibo, thereby taking Teacher Qiao's place!
I thought that, as a veteran in the game industry, you would offer deep insights on Weibo. I didn't know that you would just end up spouting rubbish like the rest!
How sad, how very sad!
Pei Qian refused to accept this. He would take revenge for sure!
Since it was almost Friday, He An would probably arrive in Jingzhou for the next lesson soon. It would be their final lesson. Pei Qian had to ask why none of the lessons that He An had taught him were reliable! All of them were wrong!
...
...
September 9th, Friday...
Pei Qian angrily stomped into the cafe near Handong University.
Ever since Struggle had gone up for sale on September 3rd, its comments had taken two sharp turns. At last, the rating of the game reached 9.5 on the official platform and 9.3 on TPDb.
Pei Qian could not bear to look at those numbers any longer!
It had even surpassed Repent and be Saved. Repent and be Saved's ratings had been low at first, but as time went on, it slowly increased. Now, it was at 9.2.
Boss Pei had been hopeful about Struggle, but it had ended up surpassing Repent and be Saved in a short one week. He found that extremely ridiculous!
Of course, even the best games could not please everyone.
What the majority interpreted from the game also could not resonate with everyone. Some people felt tired of struggling and wanted to rest. They thought that struggling was meaningless. Of course, they would not agree with the concept behind the game and would give it one star and a negative review.
However, that couldn't be helped. Nothing in the world could please everyone at the same time. Just as He An said, the key was to see what the game encouraged and discouraged.
Not encouraging enthusiastic self-improvement would be akin to encouraging giving up on oneself. Obviously, the latter could not be encouraged under any circumstances.
Spreading negative energy could indeed trigger negative emotions in a group of audience and bring the game into the spotlight. However, everyone would know full well that this would be wrong.
Negative energy could not change one's life for the better.
Struggle's sales were not through the roof at the moment. If this extended for a year, Pei Qian would probably be able to profit a little. Now, he was less than a month from settlement. No matter how he looked at the situation, he could not find a way to recover all the investment he had poured into the game.
That was the silver lining.
Clearly, Pei Qian's strategy of investing a huge sum into the game from the beginning had proven very effective. The work was exquisite, and the game's production allowed others to free-ride.
Yet, Boss Pei still felt wronged! He was not supposed to earn either fame or fortune. Yet, now, while he wasn't gaining much fortune, he was gaining much more fame!
Struggle had successfully broken out of the circle. Not only were gamers paying attention to it, but those who didn't normally play games were as well. There were many walkthroughs of Struggle on Aili Island, and the discussions were unstoppable.
All Pei Qian wanted to do now was to interrogate Teacher He.
Didn't he say that going against all four theories would be a surefire way to fail? What happened to me, then?
Is there something wrong with your lessons, Teacher?
Pei Qian furiously sipped his coffee. Soon, He An arrived.
"Teacher He, about Struggle..."
Pei Qian wanted to ask why none of his theories proved accurate. However, at that moment, He An burst into laughter and interrupted Pei Qian.
"Boss Ma, I know what you want to say!"
Pei Qian: "?"
He An sat down across from Pei Qian. "Did you tell Boss Pei about the four basic theories that I taught you?"
Pei Qian's mind filled with question marks.
?
I told myself?
Confused, Pei Qian asked, "Why do you ask that?"
He An smiled. "Isn't it obvious? Struggle had coincidentally gone against all four theories that I taught you. Could Boss Pei have telepathy? Of course not!
"Boss Ma, you must have told Boss Pei about it accidentally, so that Boss Pei decided to use Struggle to show off his skills!"
"Why do you say he's showing off his skills?"
"That's because game developers would be able to tell what he's done, but ordinary gamers would not! Boss Pei broke all four basic rules of game design and then coincided with the theories on a higher level. That's akin to writing a textbook on those theories.
"Boss Pei must have realized that you're learning about this now. That's why he used the game to create a reference point and support for you!
"Before this, I guessed that you and Boss Pei are good friends who talk about everything. Now, I can confirm that. Boss Pei probably did not intend for the game to become your textbook when he first started out. However, some details within had been adjusted for your learning!
"Boss Ma, I have to say that your friendship with Boss Pei is admirable.
"Boss Ma, can you arrange for me to meet Boss Pei some time? I really want to get to know such an outstanding game developer!"
Pei Qian was tongue-tied at He An's words. He could not bring himself to say anything that he had wanted to earlier.
Both of us are not on the same page at all!
We're talking about completely different things!
He An had done so much analysis that he had discovered Ma Yang's character and the relationship between Ma Yang and Pei Qian. He had just fallen short of finding out that Ma Yang was Boss Pei.
Pei Qian was helpless!
The more He An analyzed, the closer he thought he was to reality, and the stronger the beliefs in his mind.
Pei Qian realized that ever since he started acting as Ma Yang, he had been finding himself caught in more and more misunderstandings that he could not clarify!
Now, He An was certain that he was Ma Yang. If Pei Qian introduced himself as Boss Pei, wouldn't the old man pass out at once?
Thus, despite still feeling furious, Pei Qian swallowed his anger and said nothing. He had no other option. He had chosen to act as Ma Yang in the first place, and so his hands were tied now.
It didn't matter. On account of the old man's age, he would let this matter slide.
Pei Qian was just about to invite He An to start the lesson when he suddenly noticed that He An had not prepared any teaching material.
At once, an ominous feeling rose up in his gut.
"Er... Teacher He, we're not going to talk about Struggle today, are we?"
He An grinned. "Not bad, Boss Ma! You're becoming increasingly aware! You think that talking about Struggle today would be the best option as well, right?
"The game is one for the textbooks. It would be most appropriate to use it to end our series of lessons, review everything that we learned before, and integrate all the theories together!
"Of course, Boss Ma, I have already posted what I did on Weibo. Thus, I decided to waive today's fees! I will return you one lesson's worth of fees from the money that you transferred me earlier. I'll send it to the company's account..."
Pei Qian was stunned.
Return my fees?
Quit messing with me! The school fees are meant to be deducted from the System Funds during settlement. If you return me two hundred thousand yuan now, I would get eight times less reduction during settlement!
You're clearly messing with me, aren't you?! Not only have you crazily analyzed Struggle and posted your analysis online, but you're also trying to stab me now?
Go to hell!
Pei Qian quickly rejected him. "No! You can't return that money! I'll be d*mned if you do!"
He An was stunned. Why was Boss Pei so agitated?
Yes, he valued knowledge and sought to learn more. Not bad, not bad.
He An nodded satisfactorily. "Yes, alright. Boss Ma, you're not very quick at understanding, but you're sincere and eager to learn. Your attitude is very commendable.
"I'll start the lesson now!
"First, let's talk about Boss Pei's original intentions when he first thought about the concept of this game..."
Pei Qian sipped his coffee quietly, feeling terribly alone.
How upsetting!
Chapter 646: International Invitational Tournament
September 10th, Saturday...
The Management Trainees had their regular meeting, but there was no news worth taking note of.
Ever since He An posted that long post on Weibo about Struggle's deeper meaning, the game's sales and reputation had been ballooning.
Once Struggle was termed a Product of the Gods, many UP Masters on Aili Island began to give live commentaries on it. Due to the time difference, most UP Masters only uploaded one or two episodes. However, a couple of more popular UP Masters saw terrifying effects from their large fanbase. Almost immediately, their fans clicked on their pages and gave them millions of views.
Although many people were watching the playthroughs online, a significant number of people were also buying the game after watching those videos.
They each had different mindsets.
Some thought that, despite having watched others play it, the game had a variety of options. Thus, they could only experience it best if they played it themselves.
Others thought that it did not matter whether they played it or not, but they had to make sure they owned a classic game like that. That would make them happier about their game collection.
Still, others thought that everyone made choices based on the world that they liked more. If they liked a game, a film, or a book; they had to spend money to support it. The more supporters there were, the more such works would be created.
If they thought that something was not bad but didn't support it, there would be less of it in the future, and they wouldn't be able to complain.
Similarly, if they thought that something was not bad and showed their support, there would be more and more of such good products. The credit would belong to all supporters. Even if they simply praised the brand or product, they could still say that they did something.
On top of that, the official platform had done a lot to publicize Struggle.
Hu Xianbin and the others were rushing to create an English version and send it overseas.
That was because the game had an international background to begin with, and they spoke in English. All the characters inside had Western features, and so the game would be that much more acceptable to a foreign audience.
Of course, before it was released, no one knew whether a foreign audience would enjoy the game or not. No one knew if the foreigners would be able to decipher the meaning behind the game without a proper interpretation of it.
Still, there was no harm in trying. They could sell as many copies as they could.
If Tomorrow is Beautiful could succeed overseas, there was a chance that Struggle would be able to as well.
Pei Qian was helpless in all of this.
He could not bear to watch anymore!
The gamers insisted on buying the game, and the official platform insisted on recommending it. What could Pei Qian do?
If the game's domestic sales had collapsed and its reputation had fallen apart, perhaps Pei Qian could have persuaded Hu Xianbin not to create a foreign version and to admit that it had failed. However, the game had done exceedingly well in the local market. Why should Pei Qian disagree with Hu Xianbin about creating a foreign version to test the market...?
This was disastrous.
Pei Qian felt that he had fallen into a reverse Tacitus Trap.
The Tacitus Trap referred to something that Tacitus had said while critiquing a Roman Emperor: once the Emperor became someone that everybody hated, everyone detested whatever he did—good or bad.
Pei Qian was faced with the reverse situation: once Tengda became a popular corporation that everyone liked, everyone loved whatever it did—good or bad.
Of course, Tengda couldn't really do anything bad because its hands were tied by the system. It could not scrimp and save on material or produce shoddy work. It had to maintain a certain quality and ensure that its price was kept within an acceptable range that would be determined based on that quality.
So, Pei Qian could only think of different ways to dissuade everyone from buying Tengda's products. However, under the effect of the reverse Tacitus Trap, everyone was taking his ways as more meaningful than they were...
Pei Qian was exhausted.
...
After the meeting, Pei Qian immediately rushed towards Great World Shopping Mall in the center of the city. Today was the first official day of GOG's first global invitational tournament!
Before this, Pei Qian had been kept so busy by Struggle that he had not had the time to see the set-up even after it was done.
However, it did not matter whether he had managed to or not. In any case, the main purpose of the competition was to burn money. Pei Qian only cared that they achieved that as much as possible.
Before arriving at the competition grounds, Pei Qian checked the competition schedule that Wang Xiaobin had sent to him on his cell phone.
There were a total of sixteen teams taking part in the competitions this time. Eight were from China, and the rest were from overseas.
That ratio really did not make sense, but the organizing team had rushed to plan the competition, and so they had no other choice.
They had chosen the oldest teams from overseas to compete with. All of them were wealthy and managed well, and each individual member was strong.
The lousier ones had not been invited at all, for fear that the competition would become boring.
Foreign teams had only been invited to ensure that the competition gained a certain amount of attention from all over the world. After all, most players would support their own countries or states before anyone else.
The other half was local teams so that the competition would be worth watching.
Simply put, the local teams would be in charge of putting on a show while the foreign teams would be in charge of bringing in the viewers.
Compared to the previous competition, there was double the number of teams. Thus, the competition was to take longer this time.
The first round of games would be held from September 10th to September 13th.
The second round of games would be held from September 15th to September 18th.
The top eight teams would be determined from September 20th to September 21st.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals would be held from September 23rd to September 25th.
From the point that the top eight teams are to be determined, the competition would take on a 'best of five' model.
Within two-odd weeks and three weekends, the entire competition would end. There would be time to rest between every round, but only for one day.
As for why they had to rush this... of course, it was because Pei Qian wanted to spend all the money on the competition before September 30th.
If he left it to next month, how would he deal with that sum of money? Would he still be able to incur losses during this cycle?
Still, most gamers were happy with the competition schedule.
The game would go on for sixteen days, with rest on the 14th, 19th, and 22nd. They could sit back and enjoy high-level performances!
Of course, once the scale of the competition increased and they changed venues, the rest time between the semi-finals and finals would likely extend up to a week. After all, that would keep the competition the hot topic. Putting the events on weekends as much as possible would also ensure more viewers.
Nevertheless, waiting one entire week to watch the next stage was torturous to the audience.
All in all, Pei Qian and the audience were all quite happy with the competition schedule.
Ten minutes later, Pei Qian arrived at the competition grounds.
Great World was a large shopping mall in Jingzhou, just like Huanyu Tianjie. It was different from Huanyu Tianjie in that it contained huge multi-purpose halls, where large-scale competitions could be held.
This time, GOG had rented the largest multi-purpose hall in Great World, which took up the entire top floor. Rent cost thirty thousand yuan per day. Although it was considered cheap compared to rent in first-tier cities, the price was enough to catch the attention of most companies in Jingzhou.
The multi-purpose hall on the top-most level of the shopping mall was about 4,500 square meters large and twelve meters tall. Its maximum capacity was 1,800 people. Since Great World was located in the most prosperous district in Jingzhou, transport was convenient and train stations were everywhere. On the whole, this place was the most suitable location.
Decorations had mainly been done on the stage, and they had begun about a month ago. Now, they were all done.
Pei Qian alighted from his car outside Great World and then looked up to see the gigantic promotional poster on the outside of the building.
On it were several iconic heroes from GOG, as well as the words 'GOG's First International Invitational Tournament'. Of course, Modest and Ruan, the hot favorite heroes, were featured among the heroes as well.
Pei Qian looked helplessly at Modest on the poster, feeling that the joke was becoming increasingly unbearable.
In the future, as GOG became popular in other countries around the world, he might see Modest everywhere he looked.
From the entrance to the hall, there were elements of the competition scattered around, directing Pei Qian to the right location. There were flags of the various teams and large posters of the various heroes. The audience only had to follow those elements to get to the competition ground, get their entry tickets checked, and enter.
The tickets were priced extremely low this time as well. Even tickets for the finals did not exceed a hundred yuan. After all, Pei Qian was here to spend money. The cheaper the tickets, the better.
Clearly, he had to put measures in place to prevent scalpers from taking advantage of the situation as well. After all, selling tickets at a low price would invite many scalpers to take action. Using information from TPDb and Tengda account data, Pei Qian could filter scalpers out as much as possible.
At the same time, all tickets were sold with the purchaser's name and were non-transferrable. If people could not make it on the day itself, they could ask for a refund. Others could look for spare tickets through official channels, but private transactions were prohibited.
Pei Qian followed the crowd into the competition ground and quietly walked to the back row, prepared to observe how GOG's international invitational tournament would go.
However, this time, Pei Qian felt more relaxed.
That was because he had no expectations of the game to begin with. Whether it became popular or not did not seem to matter. In any case, it probably would not be able to affect settlement.
The structure of the stage made him think about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0's Live Esports Museum.
Obviously, Xiao Peng had been organizing frequent competitions in the internet cafe while managing the Live Esports Museum. Thus, he had accumulated a lot of precious experience which he could apply to the international invitational tournament.
There was a large screen above the stage, which would project images of the competition. On either side of the large screen were two longer screens, which displayed each team's heroes and line-up.
There was also one small screen in front of the team members, which recorded each of their expressions.
At that moment, the competition had not officially started yet. Thus, Pei Qian whipped out his phone to check the situation on various platforms.
Local live-stream platforms had already set up a dedicated room for GOG's international invitational tournament. Larger streaming platforms like Waiwai and ZZ were already experiencing huge traffic because of how popular the competition was among the audience.
That was largely because GOG had organized a local invitational competition before, and ZZ had organized a Performance Competition as well. GOG had already gained a lot of traction within the live-streaming circle. Now that the international invitational tournament was taking place, GOG only needed a little extra publicity to draw in large crowds.
After all, this was akin to a huge carnival.
On top of that, Shang Yang Games had also contacted live-streaming platforms overseas to stream the international invitational tournament.
Although the game's popularity overseas could not be compared to that in China, it was still significant.
On one hand, it was because GOG had conducted aggressive publicity overseas. Ever since the Multifaceted Man was released, many foreign players began paying attention to the game. Gamers of both client-side games and mobile games alike were familiar with GOG. On the other hand, it was also because eight foreign veteran clubs were taking part in the international invitational tournament as well. Naturally, this had become a topic of discussion in the foreign esports circles.
On top of that, Shang Yang Games had specially produced a promotional video for GOG's first international invitational tournament.
In the promotional video, Lin Wan appeared as the Director of Shang Yang Games and the person-in-charge of GOG's overseas operations. With fluent English and a confident expression, she helped to win over many fans for the game.
"GOG's international invitational tournament is by far the biggest GOG competition yet, and it's about to become the biggest esports competition as well. We have esports athletes from all over the world, and a total of sixteen teams gathered in Jingzhou. They will fight for the most generous esports championship in history.
"Tengda's mission has always been to go all out and achieve perfection. We have invested a huge amount of money in this international invitational tournament to prove our determination to promote esports and build an esports ecosystem.
"Here and now, I promise this to GOG players all over the world: We will strive to build GOG into the strongest competitive online game in the future. Please be our witness!"
Lin Wan looked very natural and exuded confidence on the screen.
However, all the netizens overseas understood the hidden message in her words.
Obviously, she was declaring war against IOI!
Chapter 647: There are Nine Other People who are Better than Me
Pei Qian could not help but feel emotional.
For some reason, he felt like Lin Wan had become much more confident after taking over GOG's international server.
Yet, speaking of which, if Lin Wan was declaring war against IOI, then...
Why wasn't there any news of IOI's local server from Eric?
Before this, during meetings, he had heard that Eric had failed twice trying to manage IOI's local server. First, he failed to find internet cafes that would support him; then, he failed to find live-stream platforms or clubs that would support him. In the end, his strategy proved to be an utter failure, and he shifted his focus to manufacturers of peripheral products. There, he tried to find other gamers.
At the time, Pei Qian was overjoyed. He instructed GOG's people to follow closely behind Eric.
However, after what happened with Struggle, Pei Qian completely forgot about the matter. Until now, the employees of Shang Yang Games had not updated Pei Qian on the fight. There was also no news of Shang Yang Games online.
All of a sudden, Pei Qian felt worried about Eric.
Brother, you didn't quietly leave, did you?
How I look forward to you coming to Tengda Headquarters one day... arrogantly asking to see me. That would mean that IOI was getting better again. Then, I would be able to continue burning money with you!
Pei Qian searched for news about IOI's local server online and realized that, apart from a few insignificant advertisements from cooperating manufacturers, there were no other hot news.
There were a couple of posts discussing how IOI's local server was completely deserted though.
Compared to GOG's current situation, they were unbearably miserable.
For some reason, Pei Qian felt sympathy. He thought about the high-level executives of multinational corporations coming all the way to China, hoping to tear the veil and put on a big show. Yet, in the end, the game that had become hot in every other corner of the world had failed to take off here...
Then, even the overseas markets began to be dominated by GOG...
Awful.
It was so awful.
Still, he soon recalled that the other party had forced tens of millions of US dollars down his throat and then stopped feeling sympathetic.
Whatever. Dayak Corporation was an extremely wealthy multinational corporation after all. How could they collapse over such a small thing?
Yes, he had to trust in their wealth.
He should just focus on the competition for now.
Before this, Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games had already organized competitions before and accumulated a certain amount of experience. This time, they were also working with experienced esports media. Thus, every aspect of the competition was well-planned.
Apart from all the hard factors like equipment, network, on-site scheduling, and so on; another important factor that would determine whether the audience enjoyed watching the competition or not—and whether the competition would run smoothly or not—was the details.
For example:
They had to film promotional videos for each club and member to warm up the field...
They had to brief the members well on the rules and etiquette of competition, so that every team would take the initiative to shake hands with their opponents after each game, regardless of whether they won or lost. They would also have to walk to the center of the stage and bow to the audience...
They had to arrange for the emcees to interview members after each match. At the same time, there were special interview stands at the side of the stage for interviews to be conducted in English and streamed to the overseas audience.
The competitors' mouses and keyboards had to be sent for inspection in advance to ensure that there were no hacks installed. Moreover, two sets of additional equipment of the same models had to be prepared to minimize disruptions.
It was necessary to come up with back-up plans for all sorts of emergency situations. For instance, if there was a jam, the director would have to immediately notify the commentator of the reason behind it. The commentator would then have to explain it to the audience to prevent them from losing interest. Of course, they also had to minimize the chances of the game jamming as much as possible.
Soon, the competition officially began.
There was a warm-up video with intense background music at the beginning. Key landmarks in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other first-tier cities flashed across the screen... before it finally settled on Great World in Jingzhou—the location of the competition.
There was a 10-second countdown, which everyone in the audience joined. After 'one', there were loud cheers and exciting electronic music that swept the audience away!
On the screen, a huge beam of light descended from the sky and lit up a huge, silver treasure chest. The treasure chest suddenly cracked open, causing more beams of light to shine through it. Then, it turned into the map for the game—the Canyon of Gods.
An exquisite-looking trophy hovered above the Canyon of Gods. Around it, the silhouettes of GOG's iconic heroes appeared one after another, causing the audience to scream and cheer in excitement.
Since they had not had much time to prepare for the competition, the opening ceremony was rather simple. However, for an audience that had not seen anything as grand as this, it was enough to fill them with excitement.
Even Pei Qian's blood began to rush through his veins in the charged atmosphere.
After that, a trophy that looked exactly like the one on the screen slowly rose up from the bottom of the stage and appeared in front of the audience.
The trophy had been ordered about a month ago and had only been delivered a few days ago.
It was 35 centimeters tall, gold-plated, and made of zinc alloys. A dragon and a phoenix were engraved in it, making it look like a beautiful piece of ancient Chinese treasure. At the same time, it harbored elements of GOG.
Yet, that was not the main focus. The main focus was that it weighed 28 kilograms.
That's right—28 kilograms.
That was because the initial intention behind the design of the trophy was for all five members to raise it up together.
After that, promotional videos of all sixteen teams were screened, ending with a family portrait of all sixteen team leaders. The sixteen team flags around the arena were lit up, and the commentator shouted every club's name, along with the names of each team member. One by one, the teams went up onto the stage to show their faces.
The thunderous applause and cheers in the competition ground did not stop for a long time!
...
After hyping the crowd up, the commentator announced that the competition was officially starting. The two opening teams were the first to play against each other.
This time, the opening match was to be played by H4 and FRY because both teams were veteran clubs. As early as when Starcraft and Fantasy Battle were still popular, both clubs had participated frequently in global competitions and put on multiple exciting shows.
It was precisely because both teams were quite well-known globally that they were made to play the opening match.
The groupings had not been done by drawing lots this time. Instead, it was decided internally and rather shrewdly. Since there were eight each of local and overseas teams, there were four groups in total. The numbers of Chinese teams in each group were zero, one, three, and four.
They had arranged groupings in this manner instead of putting two local teams in each group, mainly for fear that there would be no foreign teams left after the first few rounds. That would be a tough situation indeed.
If only local teams made it to the semi-finals, the foreign audience would become extremely anxious.
Thus, more foreign teams were placed in Groups A and B to peck at each other. Then, three foreign teams would surely make it to the top eight, and one would surely make it to the quarter-finals. That way, the foreign players would feel a stronger sense of existence.
At the same time, prematurely turning the game into an internal war between local teams would disappoint the local audience that was looking forward to a war between the Chinese and foreigners. The competition would seem bland, and there would be nothing else for them to look forward to.
As for the weak teams that had been assigned to the death group... the organizing team could not do anything about it. The eight local teams that had been invited to the first international invitational tournament had already been shown preferential treatment. There was only so much more than they could ask for.
Over time, as the competition was perfected, and the teams were invited to join the competition after selection in their various districts, this problem would no longer exist.
Pei Qian relaxed and leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink as he watched the game.
Since they were in a mall, there were many places where they could eat, drink, and play. There were many types of drinks available and sold at low prices. In this regard, the experience was quite commendable.
Pei Qian was pleased as he watched the exciting games and listened to the excited claps and cheers of the audience.
How comfortable!
Watching the event via live-streaming platforms could not be compared to being at the competition ground. When hot team battles broke out, the excitement in the narrator's voice and the cheers and screams of the audience were enough to cause one's adrenaline to soar and blood to rush. One would be tempted to cast all worries aside and shout!
He had to admit that the FRY Club was not bad.
Those foreign clubs had started late, but their team members had all been transferred from Gods Rising and IOI. They had a good grasp of games like GOG already. In addition, since they had a good foundation and hardcore training, their standard was not far off from local teams.
Moreover, since this was the opening match, H4 was playing very securely. Both teams seemed to be trying the other out. The Western-style was to select heroes that nobody had seen much of so far. Thus, both sides were putting on a good show, and the match was not overly one-sided.
The live and online audience alike enjoyed watching the match.
That was the charm of exchanges and collisions between different regions. Each region's teams would train as a group, resulting in overlaps of their understanding of strong heroes and the game version. However, when different regions came together, there would be a huge difference between their respective understandings of the game.
When different regions came together with their unique skills, the audience would be able to tell which side would prevail. Thus, compared to the local GOG competitions that the teams had taken part in before, this competition was more interesting and fun to watch.
At last, H4 proved to be stronger and more powerful. They took the chance to wipe out their opponent's team and successfully ended the game.
The live audience was overjoyed, and so was Pei Qian.
It felt so good to be able to watch a game from start to finish, without having to worry about being stabbed in the back!
In any case, this competition was meant for him to burn money. Regardless of who won or lost, GOG could not become more famous. Thus, Pei Qian believed that there was no room for him to be stabbed in the back at all.
Soon, the post-match interviews began.
Huang Wang walked up to the stage and was interviewed by one of the female hosts.
The moment he walked up, the audience cheered.
His muscles! His uniform was filled!
The other members were either very skinny or chubby. It was rare even for any of the foreign players to have such a good physique.
Huang Wang's physique was particularly eye-catching when he stood next to his teammates!
Standard questions were asked during the interview, such as why each member chose the hero that they did, how they worked out of a particularly intense battle, and what they wanted to say to their fans.
Soon, the host came to the final question.
"Lastly, I want to ask Huang Wang something that his fans are very concerned about. Huang Wang, did you really used to be a professional boxer before you became an esports player? What inspired you to make such a decision?"
Huang Wang helplessly raised his muscular arm to scratch his head. "Actually, this is a mistaken rumor. I was very weak before I started playing esports professionally."
The host was obviously stunned. "Huh? Then how did you become like that, Huang Wang?"
Huang Wang laughed. "I used to train at DGE Club, where all the members were forced to work out. What's more, the person who lost the most was made to do the most extra training. I was the one who had to do the most extra training back then."
The host was even more shocked now. "Huh? The person who lost the most had to do the most extra training? The other team members..."
Huang Wang nodded. "That's right. I was actually the lousiest member in both teams. Nine other people are much better than me!"
Still shocked, the host asked, "Huang Wang, you only trained for a few months and became like that? Your training must have been very effective. Which gym did you go to?"
Huang Wang smiled. "Deposit Fitness, of course!"
Pei Qian: "?"
All of a sudden, he realized that something was wrong.
On further thought, Pei Qian realized that all of DGE's members had already been sold to the other teams, but each of their bodies looked very outstanding!
The members of the other clubs had also started working out, but too little time had passed for there to be any obvious results.
On the other hand, DGE's athletes looked much better than everyone else! One look, and the audience would be able to identify them!
Weren't they akin to walking billboards?
As GOG's international invitational tournament continued to become more popular, the audience would be able to identify the DGE member each time they walked up on stage. Then, if those members performed exceedingly well during the competitions and won the 'Most Valuable Player' prize...
Wouldn't DGE Club's and Deposit Fitness' popularity shoot through the roof?!
Sponsors would not start approaching DGE, would they?
Things looked more dangerous for Deposit Fitness. If even young teenage addicts could look like that, what about everyone else?
A huge number of people would rush to sign up for sessions for sure!
The hand that Pei Qian had been using to hold his milk tea began to tremble. All of a sudden, he realized that he had neglected to consider a very serious problem.
Chapter 648: Someone Posted a Video First
September 12th, Monday...
The first-ever GOG International invitational tournament was in its third day.
Fei Huang Workspace and many others were watching it online.
The video exposing the formaldehyde-filled rooms will be done in one or two days. To most of the people, their work was done.
Therefore, those who were free could watch the competition and relax.
One could hear a burst of cheers from Fei Huang Workspace every time the game progressed to an exciting part.
Zhu Xiaoce was waiting for the export of the video with his staff.
The editing and post-production might have been completed, but it was still unknown whether the video would be satisfactory or not after export. He would probably have to fine-tune it twice or thrice before it could be published online.
Waiting for the video to be exported was always very boring, so much that the two people responsible were also watching GOG's international invitational tournament.
"This tournament is really well done, and all the details were in place. Shang Yang Games must have put in so much effort," the editor said.
Zhu Xiaoce nodded. "Yes, the GOG international invitational tournament really put much effort into it. The previous esports competitions were basically not able to achieve such a level. Boss Pei is very ambitious this time!
"But this is not surprising when you think about the things that happened in Times Square before. Boss Pei had already thought about burning big money to promote GOG. It would be strange if this international invitational tournament was run in a small way."
Jiang Huan was being interviewed on the live screen.
All the bullet screen comments quickly drifted past, covering the entire screen.
"He appeared! DGE's strongest man!"
"The way to judge strength is very simple and only needed to follow two laws: DGE's first law is that they only had strong muscular men. Now, their strength and muscle mass of the professional players in the club were proportional. The second law of DGE Club was that whoever was the most noob would need to take the additional practice lessons. That meant that overall muscle mass and strength were inversely proportional!"
"Jiang Huan belongs to the category of muscular mass but with the least muscles. That meant that he had the least extra training in the DGE Club. This kind of strength could be described in three words, 'unfathomable and terrifying'!
"Esports competitions could use their body to judge the strength of the players, which is outrageous!"
"I'm really curious about what the sacred DGE Club is. They are invincible both online and offline; they are invincible in solo and group fights! Everyone could get MVP even after being distributed to other teams. How scary!"
"Explain the competition? That's precious historical data!"
"This is the legendary 'gather and become a ball of fire, scatter and be starry skies'?"
"A mysterious club that does not play in competitions. They only make money by selling its players, a really money-making genius!"
Zhu Xiaoce could not help but laugh as he looked at these playful bullet screen comments.
These entertaining netizens were really too capable!
Originally, Huang Wang had a 'boxer' title. In the first two days of the competition, many people took a deep look at the ten members of the DGE Club and found that they all appeared in this international invitational tournament. They all appeared in the international invitational tournament and actually played to MVP level.
That was very ridiculous!
Many times the results of the fight between two teams really depended on which side of the DGE Club player was stronger.
The audience would look at the player being interviewed with expectation in every post-match interview. As expected, it was another muscular man!
They could confirm that this was a former member of the DGE Club by looking at his muscles!
This muscle was simply a walking billboard; whatever they went, they were advertisements of the DGE Club and Deposit Fitness.
What was even more outrageous was that before the start of many games, the audience would cheer for DGE after cheering for the two teams. That became a trend.
The winner of the esports was king, and the audience naturally admired the strong. The weak were not worthy of applause.
If the other clubs were like the DGE Club, there might be no competition. Every player could influence the direction of the game, which indefinitely elevated DGE's position in the eyes of the audience.
After a few days of competition, DGE Club's fans had a lot more fans than the other clubs combined!
Zhu Xiaoce was envious of watching: "The atmosphere in the scene was really good, but it is a pity that I have to cut the film recently and don't have the time to watch it."
The editor asked curiously. "Director Zhu, is the Deposit Fitness that good? These players have been practicing for a few months. How come they have more obvious results than me when I trained for nearly a year?"
Tengda had issued fitness cards to all employees previously so that the employees would have some fitness habits.
Many people would not experience many changes even after they went to the gym for some time.
Zhu Xiaoce smiled. "How did you train? Lacking perseverance and continuity, you sometimes go there for less than two days a week. You don't bother about what you eat. How did others train? They have strict training schedules and can only eat their fitness meals. Can the effects of everyday gym compare to that of the Deposit Fitness?"
"However, don't worry. Deposit Fitness will soon be popularized as an employee benefit. That should be Boss Pei's purpose, opening so many branches of Deposit Fitness near their company and trialing it out."
The editor froze for a moment. "Huh? Really? Why didn't I hear about it?"
"I heard from Guo Licheng that Boss Pei originally wanted to wait for a while after he opened the branches before letting his employees use them. As a result, they were full before the employees could even use them," Zhu Xiaoce said.
"The reputation of the original Deposit Fitness had been accumulating. Tengda Life App and Fish-Catching Take-Out had also provided Deposit Fitness with a good reputation. The slots were full for the peak period.
"The competition some time ago had ignited the heat of the Deposit Fitness. On the one hand, the figures of the players were too conspicuous. The advertising effect was too good. On the other hand, when many people inquired, they found that the fitness effect was indeed immediate. Many people who used it agreed that it is effective—which is why so many people signed up during the past two days!
"You don't know how difficult it is to grab a place in Deposit Fitness now.
"I have to say that Boss Pei's publicity strategy was very calm. Think about it, it is not easy to simply advertise a gym. The others would definitely not believe it. However, it is definitely something if you can train all internet teenagers into muscle men.
"Those who like to work out know that Deposit Fitness must be something if they can train internet-addicted teenagers who hate sports! I asked friends around, and they said that they will definitely sign up if Deposit Fitness can really help, even if it is a little more expensive.
"However, only Boss Pei could use such methods. How could any ordinary gym be able to spend a few months to train internet-addicted teenagers? They were all thinking about making quick money and running away in a few months.
"However, Boss Pei was not the same. It is obviously for a long-term goal even if they had lost money for a few months just for the sake of reputation!
"The photos of the comparison of the DGE Club members' body changes in the gym were going crazy online. This is a live advertisement!"
The editor also nodded frequently. "Indeed, Boss Pei's move was really wonderful. The heat of the World finals promoted both the DGE Club and Deposit Fitness.
"When will this good thing come to our internal employees?"
Zhu Xiaoce asked confidently. "Don't worry, Boss Pei will not forget us. The Deposit Fitness gym is now full. He will definitely continue to open branches for us. It is a matter of time.
"It is said that the Sloth Apartments was also prepared as a staff dormitory by Boss Pei, but he's still thinking about it."
The editor was a little puzzled. "Why is he still thinking about it? What is he waiting for?"
Zhu Xiaoce could not answer it. He thought about it and replied. "Perhaps to see if this business model will be successful or not? Perhaps it will be used as an employee benefit when it is confirmed that it can be successful.
"Perhaps the Sloth Apartments had some unique features that must be verified."
The two of them chatted while an employee ran over.
"Director Zhu, look at this! Someone is one step ahead of us!"
Zhu Xiaoce took over the cell phone and was taken aback.
The title of the video is "Rented Apartment Formaldehyde Evaluation: Safe House by Home Corporation, Snail Apartments, and six other rental companies. Only one of them passes the evaluation!"
The publisher was a domestic technology evaluation media.
Zhu Xiaoce froze for a moment... because he knew that this technology evaluation media had a good reputation in the digital circle.
However, why did such a company test formaldehyde in houses?
It was a video that lasted nearly half an hour. The content in it was almost the same as the one being produced by Fei Huang Workspace.
First of all, some consumers have reported excessive formaldehyde and health damage in rented apartments. Some employees of this company had also stayed in formaldehyde houses.
This evaluation media began to recruit volunteers to test the formaldehyde rooms after that.
As compared to Fei Huang Workspace, they did not target Home Corporation but conducted random inspections on six rental companies, including the Safe House from Home Corporation and Snail Apartments.
The final result for the Safe House of Home Corporation was that all the readings for the houses they stayed within three months were over the limits, more than half of the houses in three to six months were over the limits while at least one house would be still over the limits after six months.
Snail Apartments, which has the same model as Home Corporation, also went over the limits for formaldehyde.
Only all houses from Sloth Apartments passed the test and were obviously lower than the national limits!
In the end, the evaluation media also had current basic knowledge, for example, the best way to get rid of formaldehyde was to open the windows to allow it to dissipate. However, that in itself was a long process. Therefore, there was no better method once someone was to stay in such a house.
This video was not so detailed in its editing compared with Fei Huang Workspace. However, this company was rather famous in the digital circle. Its objectivity and independence would not be doubted.
Moreover, they tested six companies in their video; therefore, their content was much more complete.
There was already a heated discussion below the video and on the Weibo of this evaluator.
"Isn't that killing people? So much formaldehyde, it might cause cancer within a few months of staying in it."
"How dare they call it 'Safe House'? Safe in what way? Die safely?"
"I opened my window out of fear!"
"It is true. I have worked at Safe House for one month previously. One of the tenants told me repeatedly that there is a smell. I checked it out, and I really felt there was something wrong! Therefore, I asked my boss 'is there something wrong with this house?' The boss told me not to care about it; this is the industry rules. I left after that. I need money, but I will not do anything against my conscience!"
"Thinking about it now, the smell was very strong when I went to view the Safe House. The agent told me that I can move in the next day if I were to sign the contract now. He also guaranteed that he would get a cleaning company to get rid of the formaldehyde. Haha, luckily, I didn't believe him!"
"Snail Apartments always say that they do things with more conscience than the Safe House from Home Corporation? Now, the results really slap their own faces!"
"The Sloth Apartments passed all the national standards tests? That's too ridiculous; didn't they just finish renovations less than two months ago?"
"In theory, using environmentally friendly materials for renovations and furniture plus having a fresh air ventilation system would definitely be able to achieve it. However, the cost will be higher."
"Yes, they were introduced in the video as well. It seemed like the ventilation in Sloth Apartments was on 24/7, and the furniture is all of good quality."
"In the end, Boss Pei is still the one with the most conscience! So many black posts of various Sloth Apartments were posted during this time, such as IQ tax, rent raising, profiteering, and the like. The results of the evaluation were really a slap in the competitors' face!"
"As expected, Tengda's physical industry might not be cheap, but they were definitely of good quality! Take these apartments for example: if it was not because someone went to dig about it, who would know that the Safe House and Sloth Apartments are a world apart?"
"Sigh, I really have to say, many times, it is not because Tengda did fantastically well, but their peers did too poorly!"
The netizens were absolutely fired up.
Most people renting were young; that was especially true in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. They had stringent requirements for their places of rental.
The housing needs of the young were relatively high. Generally, no one wanted to live in old houses. They all wanted to live in better housing such as Safe House and Snail Apartments.
However, how could have thought that all these were just appearance?
The renovations that looked pretty good was, in fact, cutting corners in invisible places while seriously damaging the lives and health of the consumers.
Moreover, the young were the main group of people on the net. They were livid seeing such news which was why its popularity went up instantly!
The editor was in a fix after watching the video.
"Director Zhu, erm... what should we do with our video?"
Chapter 649: A Better Place for Interview
Videos were made on both sides which were highly homogenized.
They were both exposing the problem of formaldehyde in houses. The editing and details might not be done so well there, but they investigated all the brands in the market, including Sloth Apartments.
Moreover, as an evaluation media in the technology circle, they had high credibility. It was far better for them to come out as a third party than for Fei Huang Workspace to expose this matter. Fei Huang Workspace and Sloth Apartments had direct interest after all.
That made Fei Huang Workspace, which was making the video, very awkward then.
"We'll store the video after it has been exported. We will not publish it." Zhu Xiaoce decided.
The editor was dumbfounded. "Did we do all that for nothing?"
Zhu Xiaoce shook his head. "Of course not. We did the right thing. No one knows it, but it is meaningful for us to do it."
There was really no need for the video to be posted again.
The problem had been exposed and attracted enough attention. What happened next would have nothing to do with Tengda.
Previously, Zhu Xiaoce and the others did not find a third-party evaluation agency mainly because of two considerations.
First of all, the level of various evaluation agencies would be different so the effect of the video could not be guaranteed. Fei Huang Workspace could definitely not interfere with others' work. The actual effect may be far from expectations.
If the video responses were not enthusiastic enough, then it would not serve its purposes as an exposure.
Secondly, if the incident of Fei Huang Workspace looking for a third party organization to post a video was exposed, the credibility of the video would be questioned. The Home Corporation may take this opportunity to fight back, but the situation was even more unfavorable.
Fei Huang Workspace could not possibly ask these evaluation agencies one by one whether they plan to make formaldehyde-filled house videos or not, let alone keep waiting like this. The more he waited, the more victims would appear.
After comprehensive consideration, it was better to do it themselves at least to give people a sense of uprightness.
Right now, it happened that a relatively objective evaluation media had come forward to expose this matter so that there was no need to publish the video of Fei Huang Workspace.
The editor regretfully put the exported video into the folder. "Unfortunately, Brother Huang is not here. He worked so long on this video, but in the end, it could not be shown to the public."
Zhu Xiaoce smiled. "It's okay, Brother Huang won't care about it either way. Anyway, he should be back this weekend, right? I don't know if he is having fun in Africa or not. The signal is very bad there so he is generally not contactable."
The editor took out his phone and flipped through the comments under Tengda Life App.
"It seems like many people have come to the Sloth Apartments section to leave messages, but the controversy is still rather big.
"No one is picking problems with the price and quality anymore, but on the rules of Sloth Apartments... many still do not understand."
Obviously, this video not only hit the formaldehyde-filled rooms... but also pushed Sloth Apartments to the front.
Suddenly, the Sloth Apartments became a real 'safe house', healthy, environmentally friendly, with cleaning services. It might be a little more expensive, but which was more important between life and money?
Health and life could never be measured by money.
However, even so, many people still questioned the Sloth Apartments model.
If it was only for health reasons, wouldn't it be good to rent ordinary houses or 'Safe House' after six months since they were renovated?
Everyone could accept the price of Sloth Apartments now since one would get what they paid for. It was only natural for the price of the rent to be higher since there were so many good materials and furniture.
However, one of the biggest problems of Sloth Apartments had not been solved, that was its livability!
There was not much storage space and one could not add one's own furniture or change the layout of the rooms. Those points were still unacceptable to many tenants.
Zhu Xiaoce shook his head. "Who knows, such impersonal regulations cannot always be deliberately used to persuade tenants to quit, right? Boss Pei must have other considerations. We will know by waiting patiently."
...
At the same time, Pei Qian just closed this video in his own office.
"There were actually other evaluation agencies also making this video?
"Um, well, it's alright, formaldehyde rooms should indeed be exposed.
"However, can't you not-praise my Sloth Apartments?
"Fortunately, I have sufficient psychological preparations. Otherwise, wouldn't I have another knife stabbed into my back?"
Pei Qian knew that the video made by Fei Huang Workspace would most likely not be released after seeing this video.
However, they were all to expose formaldehyde-filled rooms; it was the same whoever exposed it.
The only surprise was that this review video actually measured formaldehyde concentration in the Sloth Apartments.
The Sloth Apartments was only in its infancy after all. It was incomparable to the size of rental companies such as those in the Home Corporation. That was outrageous, without avoiding evaluation.
The environmental protection index of Sloth Apartments completely crushed all other rental brands. This news obviously improved the Sloth Apartments' reputation tremendously when it broke out!
However, Pei Qian was also prepared for this. Someone would definitely test the formaldehyde levels in the Sloth Apartments no matter who disclosed the formaldehyde after all. It was inevitable.
Pei Qian knew from the start that none of these competitors could be relied on!
His peers were too weak; he could not count on them.
In many cases, it was not Boss Pei who wanted to make money. His peers made it happen.
Therefore, Pei Qian did not place all his hopes on his peers. He knew that they were pigs.
He would have to rely on various unpopular regulations and the Four Bare Walls style of the house to make the Sloth Apartments unprofitable.
The Sloth Apartments would continue to be unprofitable as long as he insisted that it was not livable and the room was not satisfactory.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the office door.
Assistant Xin pushed the door and entered. "Boss Pei, Jingzhou's Financial Channel would like to have an exclusive interview with you about the outstanding contributions you have done for the old industrial zones through the Thriller Hostel so..."
Pei Qian was taken aback. A question mark floated above his head.
?
Jingzhou TV interview? Again?
"I'm not free!" Pei Qian said hurriedly.
"Tell the TV station that I'm very busy with work and have no time. Next time definitely."
Assistant Xin nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei."
Pei Qian patted his chest and calmed down when Assistant Xin left.
Jingzhou's Financial Channel?
Don't joke, I nearly died because of Fish-Catching Take-Out previously!
You want to try something like this again on Thriller Hostel? Dream on, I won't be fooled any longer!
The Thriller Hostel was built in an industrial zone. It had good heat even though the Thriller Hostel was far from covering its cost.
The transformation of old industrial zones had always been an old and difficult problem. The local enterprises in Jingzhou did not want to run into this mess.
Tengda Corporation's heavy investment in the old industrial zones to build a theme park was enough to transform the old industrial zones even though it was a haunted house!
Therefore, it was a matter of time when the TV station came for an interview.
The TV station reported it once when the Thriller Hostel was first launched. However, it did not cause much of a stir by then. The publicity of the Thriller Hostel was overwhelming so the TV's report was not very eye-catching.
However, Pei Qian did not dare accept the interview. He knew very well that it was a bad thing as long as he accepted the interview!
Just like the previous time for Fish-Catching Take-Out. Pei Qian only showed his back, and yet he was picked out by the netizens. Then, it became 'Tengda's boss personally brought the goods'. If he were to be interviewed, it would set the Thriller Hostel on the road to instant popularity. It was totally possible!
Pei Qian did not want to show his face either.
As for a text press release... not to mention, he now had a psychological shadow.
Therefore, Pei Qian's attitude was very firm in saying that he was busy.
What could you do to me if I refuse to accept the interview? Would you hold me at knifepoint?
Impossible!
...
Zhang Lixian, the journalist from Finance Channel, hung up with a dazed expression.
Boss Pei actually rejected me!
Was there a need to reject a TV interview? Especially a positive interview that could improve his corporate image?
Did he refuse intentionally?
Not to that extent, there was no need to refuse such a good deal.
Perhaps... he really had no time?
Zhang Lixian felt that it was a pity because she wanted to interview Boss Pei—not only for the Thriller Hostel and the transformation of the industrial zones—but also to understand more about Boss Pei's views on investment.
Jingzhou TV reported on Thriller Hostel previously, but the effort was mediocre and did not elicit much response.
The main thing was that the content was not in place after reflecting on it.
The visit this time was to be done from another angle.
Most companies did not respond to the call to transform the old industrial zones and dared not invest in it because they were all afraid of taking risks.
However, Boss Pei was also an investor so why did he dare to invest in the old industrial zone? Was there any story behind that could be unearthed?
Everyone felt that they would be a good angle.
However, it was a pity that Boss Pei did not accept the interview.
"If Boss Pei does not have the time... why not change to someone else? Boss Pei was not the only investor of Thriller Hostel. There is Boss Li from Fu Hui Investments who invested a lot of capital," A staff member suggested.
Another staff member also nodded in agreement. "Yes, you can interview Boss Li. The effect should be the same since he is also an investor."
Zhang Lixian thought for a while and felt that really seemed to be a good alternative.
Boss Li of Fu Hui Investments also invested in the old industrial zones, which was also commendable. Moreover, he worked alongside Boss Pei so he should understand the inside story during the construction process.
Zhang Lixian found the phone number of Fu Hui Investments and successfully managed to contact Li Shi. She explained her intention: to arrange an exclusive interview to share their thoughts on investing in the old industrial zones and the reasons for their success.
Li Shi agreed over the phone.
Zhang Lixian was elated. "Boss Li, then shall we go to your office for the interview? Let me know a convenient time for you."
Li Shi was silent for a moment over the phone. "If it is to introduce a successful investment experience... then I have a better location for the interview.
"Sloth Apartments at the Dawn of Prosperous City."