In the afternoon, Shanghai.
The boss of the FV Club, Wu Yue, was raging in his office.
"Ding Gan's group is too much!"
"His own team was torn down, so he came to tear down my team?"
"They even worked together to put pressure on a small club that is not strong enough to be easily controlled by them?"
"Zhao Xuming, that b*stard was also pushing it. Disgusting!"
Manager Lu of the FV Club also felt indignant. "Boss Wu, these people are birds of a feather!"
"Zhao Xuming and Ding Gan are obviously in cahoots."
"They said that they were going to fight for a spot in the qualifiers for the international competition, but what are they going to fight for? The team has basically been decided internally after the selection!"
"Our team's strength had been preserved relatively well, but we were not as famous as those clubs. That was why Ding Gan worked with the other clubs to pressure us to sell our players. The most infuriating thing was that even though Zhao Xuming looked like he was mediating, he was actually on their side."
"To put it bluntly, they want to choose the three most famous clubs with the most fans. They are willing to tear down small clubs like ours in order to form a team.
The boss, Wu Yue, was even angrier now. "The worst thing is that these people poached our players and it's a win-win situation since we earned a transfer fee. Win-win situation, my a*s! Dammit!"
Since he was in his own office and Manager Lu was one of his own, Wuyue couldn't care less about his image and started cursing.
Last week, Long Yu Corporation and Finger Games had decided on various cooperation matters. Zhao Xuming had also started organizing domestic teams to participate in the qualifiers and select teams to participate in the IOI global finals overseas.
However, they encountered a very serious problem: the teams of the veteran clubs had been torn apart!
Take the SUG Club for example. There were only three members left in the IOI branch. How could they compete?
The other veteran clubs were about the same. The good seedlings with potential had all been poached by Lin Chang and GOG's clubs. Most of the teams were not complete anymore.
It was just like playing mahjong. How could he play when they were short of one player?
While Zhao Xuming was cursing Tengda for using such a strategy. He did not have any good ideas and could only try his best.
This was going to be a world tournament. They could not possibly promote new players to start from scratch, right? They would definitely be tortured. They might as well not go.
Thus, in order to make up for the shortcomings of a few teams so that they could play in the international competition, they had no choice but to dismantle the other teams.
The question was, which teams should be dismantled to supplement which teams?
Obviously, they could only dismantle small clubs and to supplement larger clubs.
From Zhao Xuming's standpoint, even if he did not consider from the point of funding, he had to consider fame and popularity.
A veteran club like SUG had a large number of fans in the country and a certain degree of fame internationally. Only such teams could represent the local IOI E-Sports circle if they went to the international competition.
As for a small club like the FV Club, its reputation was too low. It did not have much fame both domestically and overseas. It was far from being popular.
After all, Zhao Xuming knew very well that the main aim of the IOI World Finals was to bring traffic to the local server, IOI. If the traffic could not be brought up, everything would be for naught.
Results were important, of course, which teams should be dismantled so that it would produce the best results? Take the current competition level for example. No team could win the championship.
Since that was the case, it was only natural for the big clubs to try to attract more attention.
Thus, Zhao Xuming and the other big clubs worked together to find small clubs like FV to buy players.
Of course, the sales of players were voluntary, but the pressure was still there.
FV Club was a small club. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was an internet cafe team. The boss, Wu Yue, was a personal sponsor. He was maintaining this club out of interest. How could he win against the collaboration of Longyu Corporation and these big clubs?
Of course, Wuyue could also choose not to sell anyone and let the team compete in the qualifiers. However, if they offended these big clubs and Long Yu Corporation, would they still have a good time in the future?
What's more, Wuyue himself did not have 100% confidence in his own team. If he could not win the qualifiers and his team members were not sold, that would be even more of a loss.
Thus, Wu Yue could not come up with any good ideas after much consideration. He could only unwillingly dismantle his own team and sell his team members to other established clubs to make up for lost time.
GOG's club demolished IOI's old club, and IOI's veteran clubs dismantled IOI's small club. It became a vicious cycle.
Wuyue was extremely reluctant to sell his team members. That was why he flew into a rage in the office.
However, there was nothing he could do. Small clubs had no say.
After Wu Yue vented his anger, it dissipated. "Forget it, let this matter pass. Go out first. I want to be alone for a while."he said as he waved his hand.
Manager Lu nodded and left.
Wu Yue leaned back in his chair, pondering whether he should continue with this club.
The FV Club was only maintained because of his own funding. It was purely for his interest. He did not dare to think about GOG's quota as he could not afford it. He could only play IOI if he wanted to maintain his lifestyle.
However, IOI's team had been mostly dismantled.
Of course, he could recruit more people and build a new team, but anyone with eyes could tell that there was no chance for the qualifiers this time.
Zhao Xuming had given FV Club a spot to participate in the qualifiers out of respect, but the problem was where to find good players?
After all, Zhao Xuming felt that it would be embarrassing to tear down these small clubs, thus he gave them a spot in the qualifiers. These small clubs would not be able to qualify anyway.
Even if they managed to gather enough teams to participate in the qualifiers, they would probably be defeated by teams such as SUG.
Once they missed the IOI world competition, they would probably end up with no competition to play.
Wu Yue's current situation was: the team that he had painstakingly built up had been dismantled and only had three members left. Reorganizing the team would be very troublesome; there would be no competition to play in the short term, and burning money would not generate any popularity. Selling members to earn a transfer fee seemed to be a good choice.
Therefore, Wu Yue was a little discouraged and did not want to play anymore.
He was still struggling when someone knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
Wu Yue looked up to see Manager Lu return
"Boss Wu, there's something very important." Manager Lu looked to be in disbelief. "Boss Pei of Tengda Corporation wants to come to Shanghai personally to meet you."
Wu Yue was stunned. "Who?"
Manager Lu repeated, "Boss Pei of Tengda Corporation."
Wu Yue was completely stunned.
Boss Pei?
Wasn't that the designer of GOG and the big boss of the GPL league?
He wants to come here... to meet me...?
Wu Yue even suspected that this was fake news because the gap between the two parties was too huge. What was so important that Boss Pei had to personally make a trip?
The price of the slot of the GPL league had already been sky-high. Many traditional giants and enterprises had also joined in. It could be said that GOG was currently the most popular e-sports circle in the country and even the world.
On the other hand, Tengda Corporation was the organizer of all of GOG's competitions. The contractual incident a while ago had also sent a message to the outside world: Tengda Corporation held absolute power in GOG's E-Sports scene.
On the other hand, the FV Club was a private club. It was purely for fun. It was neither famous nor powerful.
Originally, the IOI branch's strength was barely passable. However, two outstanding members had been poached away, leaving only an empty shell immediately.
Why is Boss Pei coming here personally?
Wu Yue could not figure it out.
However, he did not dare to be negligent. He quickly asked, "When will Boss Pei arrive?"
Manager Lu answered, "He said that he'll reach Shanghai's high-speed rail station in an hour."
Wu Yue quickly stood up. "Drive my seven-seater commercial car over to pick them up at the high-speed rail station immediately!"
...
Two hours later, at a high-end restaurant near the FV Club...
Wu Yue, Manager Lu, Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan took their seats.
Both parties had already exchanged pleasantries along the way. Now, they sat down and sipped their tea while waiting for the dishes to be served. It was about time to get down to business.
It was the first time that Wu Yue and Manager Lu met Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan. They found it hard to believe that these two were the top figures in GOG's E-Sports circle.
Boss Pei was ridiculously young. What's more, his real identity was the actor in the short film. This surprised both Wu Yue and Manager Lu. Zhang Yuan, on the other hand, could not look more ordinary. It was hard to imagine that he was the person-in-charge of Tengda's E-Sports scene.
Wu Yue personally poured a cup of tea for Boss Pei and Zhang Yuan. Smiling, he said, "Boss Pei, Boss Zhang, your presence brings light to our FV Club. Everything happened so suddenly that we didn't have time to prepare a proper reception. We could only make do in this restaurant. Please don't take any offense."
"I'll arrange for a meal tomorrow with a few friends. Boss Pei, please do me the honor."
Pei Qian quickly waved his hand. "There's no need for that. Boss Wu, please don't stand on ceremony. I'm here to discuss something today. I'll leave tomorrow morning."
Wu Yue nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei, feel free to ask. If you have any requests, I'll do my best to fulfill them!"
Pei Qian could not be bothered to keep them in suspense. "It's not a big deal. I want to invest in the FV Club."
Wu Yue was stunned. He almost thought he heard wrong. "Huh?"
Invest in the FV Club?
Do you think I don't know how lousy my club is? Is there a need to invest?
Wu Yue looked at Boss Pei. "Boss Pei, are you serious?"
Pei Qian nodded. "Of course!"
After some consideration, Wu Yue said, "Boss Pei, if you like the FV Club, I'll sell it to you directly at 1.5 million yuan. What do you think?"
Wu Yue did not dare to ask for too much, because he knew very well what the FV Club was like.
This was a negative asset without any profitability. Team members' salaries and rental fees were purely burning money. What's more, the FV Club did not have any results. They did not even have play in competitions or traffic flow, not to mention that the traffic had changed now. It was impossible.
The only useful thing now was that the FV Club could play in the IOI qualifiers. However, there were many teams with this qualification. What's more, Boss Pei had the GPL league all to himself. He would not be interested in this.
The remaining three players were slightly more valuable, but if they could not be sold, they would not be able to earn a transfer fee. What's more, the strength of these three players were not good enough. Otherwise, they would not have been left behind while the others were poached.
Wu Yue did not know why Boss Pei was interested in the FV Club either. In any case, he could just take it all away if he wanted it. He would be happy to sell it and take the opportunity to leave the E-Sports circle.
Pei Qian shook his head. "I don't buy clubs, I only invest."
Wu Yue was confused. What was the meaning of this? Wouldn't it be better to buy it if he was really interested?
Could it be that Boss Pei was willing to pay far less than 1.5 million yuan?
Wu Yue asked, "How much do you plan to invest?"
Pei Qian: "Three million yuan."
Wu Yue :"..."
Three fu*king million?!
I offered you the entire club for 1.5 million yuan, Boss Pei counter proposed to invest three million yuan? That was unnecessary, right?
Wu Yue was confused. "Are you planning to change the team name? Change the management team? Or add advertisement spots to the team uniform? Do you have any other requirements?"
fWu Yue was a little flustered. This sum of money was too much for the FV Club. Could Boss Pei want to arrange something like a valuation adjustment mechanism agreement?
Pei Qian shook his head. "I don't want any of them. I just want to invest and get some shares. I don't have any other requests."
Wu Yue blinked, completely confused.
Boss Pei could have bought the entire club for 1.5 million yuan however, he refused and insisted on investing for a higher amount?
Chapter 771: A Vicious Cycle
Investing three million yuan without changing the team name, managing team, or even to do advertisement. He just wanted to take some shares?
How was this any different from giving money for free?
Wu Yue was at a loss for words.
Zhang Yuan sat at the side and did not say anything. He actually did not know what Boss Pei was up to either.
FV Club was a small club to begin with. It was not famous and had no achievements. Wouldn't it be better for Boss Pei to buy it for 1.5 million yuan even if he really fancied it? Why would he invest three million yuan and not take any control?
That was too generous.
Zhang Yuan was confused as well. However, Boss Pei had done this many times before. Thus, he did not say anything.
Pei Qian's idea was actually very simple – he wanted to make losses!
He did not want to buy the club at all because it would easily cause problems.
Zhang Yuan was good at managing the club. What if he bought it and changed the management team, and the team took off?
Therefore, investing, not changing the team name, not changing management teams, and not asking for any advertisement spots would only allow Tengda to minimize its impact on the FV Club.
He could not possibly make more money, right?
Wu Yue and Manager Lu exchanged confused looks.
However, there was no reason to refuse free money even if they were confused, right?
Wu Yue deliberated for a moment and said, "Boss Pei, I don't know what we, the FV Club, have to do to deserve such good terms from you but we can't go overboard either. We have to know the severity of the matter. How about this? Tengda will take 70% of the shares while we take 30%. What do you think?"
"In terms of operations, you can make any requests at any time. We can follow DGE's standards and make a complete overhaul..."
Pei Qian shook his head, rejecting him decisively . "No, I only want 49% of the shares. Moreover, the management rights of the club will always be in your hands. We will not interfere in anything. This has to be written in the contract."
A complete overhaul according to DGE Club's standards?
Stop fooling around. I've already suffered enough losses on this!
Now, all GOG clubs were training their members in the same way that DGE Club did, and the effect was good.
The main reason why DGE could beat the other GOG clubs before was because of their scientific, systematic, and healthy training methods.
At the moment, the management of the other IOI clubs were not proper. What if the FV Club changed to a full DGE club management and training mode and took off?
Everything seemed to be going well for the FV Club now. Pei Qian could not allow DGE's culture to spread to them. It would be a disaster if a few bottom-tier players were to suddenly improve by leaps and bounds!
Thus, he had to ensure that the FV Club remained the same. The management could not be changed. He could not even allow Tengda to affect the FV Club in any way.
Wu Yue looked at Manager Lu, and the confusion in their eyes intensified.
They didn't understand!
Boss Pei had offered an extremely good condition right from the start. What's more, he had not given in at all. He was determined not to get any benefits at all. That was ridiculous.
Wu Yue had hesitated time and again when discussing previous collaborations because the conditions were not good enough. It was different this time. He hesitated because the conditions were too good.
After much consideration, Wu Yue could not find any reason not to accept the investment. However, giving Boss Pei only 49% of the shares was very difficult to accept.
That would be too dishonest!
Wu Yue thought for a while and said, "How about this, Boss Pei? You'll get 70% of the shares, but we can agree in the contract that Tengda will not interfere with the daily operations of the FV Club."
"Don't be so polite with me."
"To be honest, I originally planned to sell the FV Club and retire from the E-Sports scene."
"However, since you are so generous, I have no reason to quit. I will continue to work hard to run FV Club well!"
Pei Qian could not say anything else after seeing Wu Yue's persistence.
He'll accept the extra shares in that case, since it wouldn't be worth any money anyway.
"Alright, let's do that." Pei Qian nodded.
Manager Lu felt that the scene in front of him was a little ridiculous.
Why did it feel like Boss Pei was reluctant to take the extra 20% in shares?
Wu Yue heaved a sigh of relief. For some reason, he felt more at ease after giving away 20% more shares.
"However, Boss Pei, I have to talk about the objective situation of our FV Club first. Our IOI branch may be able to participate in the qualifiers, but the team is not complete. If we were to find new members, it would be very difficult to pass the qualifiers. Therefore, you have to be mentally prepared..."
Pei Qian could not help but smile.
They were very weak and it was impossible for them to pass the qualifiers?
That's great!
I can't wait for FV Club to become even less popular!
I don't need to be mentally prepared. I'm alright as long as you guys know your place and not cause trouble.
Pei Qian smiled. "Boss Wu, that's alright."
"You don't have to worry too much about the team members. Let nature take its course. Use the good team members if you have them, and wait if you don't."
"E-Sports is a competitive sport. There are winners and losers. It doesn't matter whether you win or not in the qualifiers. You just have to show your own style."
"We won't give you any pressure for performance even though we are investing in the club. Don't worry."
Wu Yue was moved. "Alright, thank you, Boss Pei!"
...
The next morning, Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan took the high-speed rail back to Jingzhou.
The entire process of investing in the FV Club was swift and decisive. They took the high-speed rail the day before, had dinner together after the discussion then they left the next day after staying the night.
The boss of the FV Club, Wu Yue, felt like he was in a dream. It was all very surreal.
Bad things became good in just two short days.
Initially, Wu Yue had been suppressed and torn down by Long Yu Corporation and a few veteran clubs. He did not want to play anymore. Yet, Boss Pei had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and given him three million yuan for free, giving FV Club a boost of confidence instantly!
In the office, Wu Yue and Manager Lu started thinking about how to spend the money.
"We can change to a new training base. The previous place was too crowded and the conditions were too poor. This time, we can change to a more spacious place and update the computers used for training."
"It's a good thing that Boss Pei came in a hurry and did not visit our training base. Otherwise, we would have been too embarrassed!"
"I'll also improve everyone's meals!"
"The team members have persevered for so long. They have been putting in their passion with not much care for anything else. It's about time to increase their pay."
Manager Lu took notes as Wu Yue spoke.
FV Club had always been a small club. It was economically tight, so its material conditions were not satisfactory. They could improve it now that they had gotten such a huge sum of money.
Manager Lu recorded all the content that improved training conditions and said, "Boss Wu, after deducting all the money, there's still a lot left."
"I think the most important thing to do now is to buy some members and replenish our team members. We should have at least five people."
Wuyue nodded. "Hm, that's true. Let's start digging for newbies with potential."
Manager Lu was just about to write it down in his notebook when he stopped. After some consideration, he said, "Boss Wu, I suddenly have a bold idea."
"Can we poach some celebrities from other clubs?"
Wu Yue pondered for a moment, then frowned. "That's not easy, right?"
"We should really improve our club's current state. That's not a problem."
"However, the established clubs in the SUG have already bought all the better players. Their overall value has increased. If we buy now, we will have to pay a huge sum of money for breaching the contract. Wouldn't that be akin to sticking our heads out and getting slaughtered?"
"I can't waste the money that's not mine like that even though I feel no pain spending it."
"What's more, we might have money left, but it's not a lot. We won't be able to afford the penalty fee if the other clubs were to make it difficult for us."
Manager Lu quickly shook his head. "Boss Wu, you've misunderstood. Of course, I'm not talking about buying from direct competitors like SUG!"
Wuyue was confused. "Where are you referring to then?"
Manager Lu smiled. "Do you remember how the IOI branches of the clubs in SUG were dismantled? By the new clubs in GPL!"
"In other words, all the star players are in the hands of the GPL clubs. The GPL league is Boss Pei's league. Which of the bosses of these clubs would not give Boss Pei some face?"
"If that's the case, can we look for these clubs and hope that they will make an exception? We will not offer too low a price as long as they are not out to devour us. We can use the market price to buy these star players and fight for the qualifications for the international competition. That wouldn't be bad!"
Wu Yue's eyes lit up. "Eh? That makes sense!"
SHG dismantled SUG, SUG dismantled FV.
However, wouldn't it form a perfect closed loop if FV bought back the IOI members from SHG?
It was a perfect shake-up!
The veteran clubs like SUG must have thought about buying their outstanding IOI players back from the GPL team, but they did not in the end. It was not worth it to pay a high transfer fee.
What's more, these veteran clubs felt that since the qualifiers had already been decided internally, there was no point in spending so much money to buy back their players.
However, it would be completely different if FV Club bought them!
GPL's clubs, such as Shenhua, would definitely not be nice to the SUG. They would definitely ask for exorbitant fees.
However, the FV Club was invested and controlled by Boss Pei. These GPL teams could not possibly extort Boss Pei, right?
They did not need anything else, other than for these GPL teams to sell their IOI members at the market price.
FV Club did not have much money on hand, but they only wanted to make up for two positions. What's more, IOI's value could not be compared to GOG. There might still be a chance if they could communicate properly.
What if they managed to make it out of the qualifiers and win the IOI World Finals? Wouldn't that be very worth it?
The money that Boss Pei invested would not go to waste then.
Wu Yue suddenly perked at that thought and sprang up. "Book the tickets! We'll go to Jingzhou immediately!"
Chapter 772: Pick Any Player You Like!
At DGE Club...
Zhang Yuan had a confused expression when he looked at Wu Yue and Manager Lu, who had come to visit him.
What was going on?
He had just returned to Jingzhou with Boss Pei. Wu Yue and Manager Lu arrived before he could even rest his legs.
They were only two hours apart.
Did he have any objections to the cooperation? What could there be that he could not communicate over the phone?
Zhang Yuan was a little confused. However, he had to entertain them since they were already here.
Someone served them tea After leading Wu Yue and Manager Lu to the conference room.
Zhang Yuan was not only the manager of DGE E-Sports Club, but he was also the person-in-charge of Tengda E-Sports. His focus was gradually shifted to the GPL league, and he did not have much time to manage DGE Club's daily training.
Thus, DGE Club recruited more and more staff. Coach, analyst, team leader, nutritionist, team doctor, brand visual design, photography, creative design, etc.
Now, Zhang Yuan was gradually delegating his work and made only important decisions. He would only briefly ask about the situation of certain things at times.
It was the first time that Wu Yue and Manager Lu had come to DGE Club. One look and they were overwhelmed, it was so much more official than FV club!
They were incomparable no matter whether it was the training environment, the staff allocation, or the spiritual appearance of the entire base.
Wu Yue sipped his tea and said emotionally, "Boss Zhang, I've long heard that DGE Club is the most official club in the country and that no other club can compare to it. It really lives up to its reputation after seeing it today."
"Boss Pei is so forward-thinking about the future of the E-Sports industry. He has brought forward the official process of the domestic E-Sports Club."
Zhang Yuan smiled. "It's more like a form of confidence rather than forward-thinking."
"Actually, most of the clubs know that in order to produce results, the standardization of the management of the clubs is indispensable. Many clubs also want to look like traditional football clubs."
"However, most of the clubs do not do it very well. At the end of the day, it is because they did not have confidence. That is because the formalization of the clubs meant that they had to invest more money. If they did not have confidence in making profits, they would not be willing to invest. Naturally, the formalization could not be discussed."
"Boss Pei is actually very optimistic about the future of the E-Sports industry. He is very confident. Naturally, he can spend a lot of money on the club without any worries."
Wu Yue agreed. "That makes sense!"
"Boss Zhang is also very experienced in the operations of the club. DGE Club is one of the few clubs in the country that can generate profits. It can earn both fame and profit without competing. It's really admirable."
"I hope that Boss Zhang can impart some experience in the operations of a club if there's a chance next time."
Zhang Yuan smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. Boss Pei was the one who set up the big framework for the club's operations. I didn't actually contribute much. I was only in charge of ordering take-out."
After exchanging some pleasantries, Zhang Yuan said, "Is there a problem with the collaboration which made you come all the way to Jingzhou?"
Wuyue shook his head. "No, no, no, of course there's no problem with the collaboration."
"It's like this, Manager Lu and I discussed how to spend this investment and we would like to buy a few players..."
Wu Yue briefly explained his intentions.
Zhang Yuan nodded after he understood.
It was no wonder that Wu Yue and Manager Lu had come to Jingzhou. Obviously, they had not thought of using this sum of money to buy players previously, and had only thought of it after Boss Pei left.
What's more, if they wanted to buy players, they had to make a trip to Jingzhou to talk to the bosses of these clubs.
After some consideration, Zhang Yuan said, "How about this? I'll introduce you to the other clubs. You can talk to them. As for whether they are willing to sell it or not, that will depend on how well you negotiate."
Tengda was the organizer of GPL. These clubs listened to everything Boss Pei and Tengda said. However, Zhang Yuan did not want to force these clubs to sell people. That would be an abuse of Boss Pei's influence and would be very inappropriate.
The key still depended on the club's wishes.
Wu Yue nodded. "Of course!"
Zhang Yuan stood up and brought Wu Yue and Manager Lu to the SHG Club to look for Lin Chang.
They had to start with Lin Chang since he was the one who had started buying IOI players and snatched two or three good saplings from the IOI team.
If Lin Chang was not willing to sell, Zhang Yuan would consider looking for other clubs.
Wu Yue and Manager Lu walked around Ming Yun Villas, looking at the beautiful single villas and the E-Sports Club, their eyes filled with envy.
"Jingzhou has really been turned into a sacred ground for e-sports by Boss Pei. It's simply prospering day by day. I'm so envious."
"There are more than ten regular clubs like the DGE Club. How could the GPL league not be good? It looks like IOI really lost."
"Sigh, it's a pity that our company is in Shanghai. We can't move it."
They arrived at SHG Club in no time.
Zhang Yuan brought Wu Yue and Manager Lu to look for Lin Chang and explained their intentions.
Lin Chang was stunned. "Boss Pei invested in your club? You want to buy IOI players?"
Wu Yue nodded. "That's right, Boss Lin. Actually, we want to form a stronger team so that we can better compete in the qualifiers. Boss Pei would be able to feel proud when we get a good ranking."
"Of course, we will definitely pay according to the market transfer price. It would be good enough if you could just sell us one or two players who can play IOI who are not good enough to go on stage."
Wu Yue knew that Lin Chang was the big boss of Shenhua Corporation and that he had a favor to ask of him. Naturally, he spoke very politely.
Lin Chang smiled. "Hey, don't stand on the ceremony!"
"We must fully support it since it's a club that Boss Pei invested in!"
"To be honest, I bought these players to try my luck. I thought that I could dig out and develop them if there were any good seedlings among them."
"Since it's a club that Boss Pei invested in, of course there is no problem. Choose whichever player you like!"
"Oh, there are a few other teams as well. I'll let them bring out their IOI's players for you to choose from them as well!"
"Of course, we have to respect the players' personal wishes."
Wu Yue was a little embarrassed as he quickly said, "No, no, no, I'm just missing two members. There's no need to mobilize so many people..."
Lin Chang waved his hand. "Don't be so polite! This is just a small matter to us."
"I don't know why Boss Pei invested in your club, but since he invested in it, he must have a special purpose. Anyway, let's aim for the qualifiers first. The team that Boss Pei invested in must not embarrass Boss Pei!"
Wu Yue was moved.
He knew very well that Boss Lin acted this way mainly because of Boss Pei and had nothing to do with FV Club but it was still very heartwarming.
Lin Chang quickly made a few calls.
Half an hour later, the club leaders arrived with a list in their hands.
Lin Chang summarized all the names and handed them to Wu Yue. "Boss Wu, this is the list of all former IOI professional players. Take a look and choose the strongest players."
Wu Yue reached out to take it and took a closer look at it with Manager Lu. Both of them looked shocked.
Th-this lineup was too magnificent!
FV Club knew the famous IOI players' IDs by heart since they focused only on IOI.
There were celebrity players from veteran IOI clubs like SUG on the list. It might not be an entire team, but there were players from every position. They could completely piece a top team together in each position.
Wu Yue looked at Lin Chang and the other club leaders. "I'm afraid we can't afford these players with their value..."
Lin Chang smiled. "You're treating me like an outsider. You can choose whoever you like! We didn't spend much money on these players anyway. Just treat it as a gift to the club that Boss Pei invested in!"Chapter 773: Forming a Qualifying Team
Wu Yue and Manager Lu quickly went through the list and selected five members, for each position.
In fact, they originally wanted to buy two players to fill in the gaps in the team. They had only three players left after all and had never thought that they would be able to amass a five-man All-Star IOI team.
He felt embarrassed instead of being picky when he saw how generous Lin Chang and the other club owners were!
There were even overlapping players who were quite good in the same positions. After much consideration, Wu Yue and Manager Lu decided on the final five members' lineup based on their personalities, familiarity, and tacit cooperation.
These players could be said to be the dream players of Wu Yue and Manager Lu previously, but they had no choice since they could not afford it.
A group of young geniuses appeared in the country prior to the time when GOG was not yet pervasive throughout the domestic market and when IOI was still popular. However, most of these young geniuses were divided up by veteran clubs like SUG. They could not be bought.
However, some time ago, with the rapid development of GOG, the overall decline of IOI's local server, and the establishment of the GPL league, there were fewer and fewer IOI players in the country. The environment was getting worse. The players and clubs were all thinking of retreating.
The entire environment had loosened up, and the clubs were no longer refusing to let go of the players in their hands, waiting for their prices to appreciate.
On the other hand, new clubs like Lin Chang's club did not lack money. The GPL league players that they had formed were extremely rare. That was why they had bought a batch of IOI players, intending to slowly nurture them.
Now, since the club that Boss Pei invested in did not have enough players, wouldn't the deal be done once each of these clubs produce one person each to form a team of five?
In fact, for a big club like Shenhua, giving one member for free would not affect their own strength at all. In any case, these members had not had the chance to play previously. They still had to be nurtured to be able to work together.
Why wouldn't he be happy if he let them return to their IOI and do Boss Pei a favor at the same time?
After selecting the members, the leaders of the various clubs immediately went to communicate with the players. They all replied with a 'yes'.
That was because these clubs were very easy to talk to. They would not restrict the freedom of the players in terms of contracts. The contract said that after these players transferred to the FV Club, they would play an IOI qualifier. If they did not qualify for the international competition, they could choose to return to their previous clubs. If they qualified for the international competition, they would make a decision after the international competition.
For the players, their salaries and benefits remained the same. They could play the IOI that they liked, and their teammates would be very supportive. They could even make it to the international competition.
Such a world-class competition could bring about a lot of popularity and traffic. If one played well in foreign battles, they could attract a lot of fans. They could return to their original club at any time without any losses even if they did not qualify for the competition.
Thus, the players readily agreed.
Lin Chang smiled and said, "Alright, let's sign the contract since all the players have agreed. You can take them away today. Time is tight, train them well!"
Wu Yue was deeply moved. He finally understood what it meant to have someone backing him.
In fact, he had not thought so much at the beginning. He had only wanted to give it a try and buy two players to make up for the number of players in the team.
He did not expect the club owners to be so supportive on the account of Boss Pei. These outstanding IOI players were practically given away for free. FV Club only needed to pay for their salary during the period of the qualifiers.
Initially, Wu Yue had thought that the chances of FV Club emerging from the qualifiers were extremely slim. After all, the strength of the team was at that level. It was definitely not something that could be greatly improved overnight.
However, now that he had an IOI celebrity team, Wu Yue was filled with confidence!
While this team still needed to get used to each other but it was the same for veteran teams like SUG. FV Club would stand a chance with the rookies pecking at each other!
Wu Yue and Manager Lu quickly signed the contract and met five members.
The two of them shook hands with their team members, unable to hide the admiration and joy in their eyes.
After Wu Yue shook their hands, he asked suspiciously, "All of you have quite strong hands."
He often interacted with the players in his team, but he felt that the players in his team were either too skinny or fat. However, these five players were not skinny and did not show any signs of weakness. They were all quite strong.
Lin Chang smiled. "Oh, they've been training in accordance to DGE's training method for some time now. Their muscles have grown."
Manager Lu looked at one of the team members. "Pan Ying, can you be the captain in the future?"
Pan Ying had the smallest eyes in the team of five and was not good looking. However, Manager Lu knew very well that Pan Ying was only 17 years old this year and had a high rank in IOI as a passerby since a long time ago. He was a rare commander-type player who played the support position.
Wu Yue and Manager Lu had already decided to let Pan Ying be the captain and lead the team when they were selecting members.
Pan Ying nodded. "Sure, but can I give some suggestions regarding training?"
Wuyue nodded. "Of course! We'll be a family from now on. If you have any requests, feel free to ask."
Pan Ying looked at the other four members. "I'll speak briefly. If you have any objections, feel free to raise them."
"First of all, I hope that the daily training can continue with DGE;s training and play according to GOG's training method, which will include things like zone division, visual field layout, and transferring operations."
"Secondly, I hope that everyone can go to the high-end section of the international server for individual training to recover their skills."
"Lastly, I hope to use the remaining players to organize a team of sparring partners to test out various strategies."
Wu Yue nodded immediately. "No problem! The FV Club originally had three members. An addition of two more members would form a sparring team, and the two teams would train faster."
Manager Lu said with uncertainty, "There's no problem using GOG's training method, but is it really okay to use GOG's fighting style to play IOI?"
Pan Ying nodded. "I think there's no problem."
"During this period of GOG's training competition, after studying the strategies of each team, I feel that GOG's teams have a better understanding of the game than IOI's teams."
"I was greatly inspired by the transfer of the line-up, the choice of lineup, and the like. The main difference between the two is in the choice of heroes, the rhythm of the game, and so on. However, there are many similarities. As long as we can make good use of these similarities and use some of GOG's tactics in IOI, we might be able to achieve a surprising victory."
Manager Lu was stunned.
Would that work?
It might sound ridiculous as GOG and IOI's games were very different after all. However, it made sense on further thought.
GOG might have been released later but the E-Sports competition was much more professional than IOI. Their overall standards improved very quickly since the DGE Club was constantly beating up other teams.
There might be differences between these two games but they were still the same type of games after all with similarities in terms of operational thinking.
These players had their own operations and had a good understanding of IOI. If they could integrate GOG's operational thinking and make use of it, they might be able to achieve a surprise victory?
It was hard to say if they would be able to get a good ranking in the international competition. It would not be a bad idea to achieve a win in the qualifiers, right?
Wu Yue nodded. "Alright, no problem. We can satisfy all of these requirements. Just fight and train hard!"
...
At the same time, IOI's domestic qualifiers were also preparing nervously.
The qualifiers would be held in Shanghai this time. After all, Finger Games' local server headquarters and Long Yu Corporation were both in Shanghai. There were more clubs in Shanghai and the atmosphere of e-sports was thick. It was the best choice from every angle.
The venue for the qualifiers was an indoor recording studio in a certain shopping mall in Shanghai. The venue was not big and could only accommodate 600 people. The renovations were almost done.
It was not as impressive as the GPL, but it was passable.
Ding Gan and Zhao Xuming walked two rounds around the venue and discussed about the preparation for the qualifiers.
Ding Gan said, "Boss Zhao, the team has been formed. Don't worry. However, our three clubs have spent a lot of money to buy people. If we don't qualify for the qualifiers, we would lose a lot..."
Zhao Xuming smiled. "Shouldn't you be confident about qualifying? We've put pressure on those small clubs this time and got them to sell their players. Don't you think you deserve it if you can't qualify even after all this?"
Ding Gan laughed dryly. "That's true."
The various clubs were also in a mess when they formed the team this time. While Long Yu Corporation had internally decided on three established clubs, they still had to spend a lot of money if they wanted to buy people from other clubs.
They naturally had to pay a higher transfer fee since the other clubs sold their players unwillingly. The veteran clubs like the SUG were in the wrong to begin with. They could only wait to be slaughtered.
However, Ding Gan and the other bosses did not think too much about it. It was not a loss to spend money to buy a chance to compete in IOI after all.
Most of those small clubs had been demolished, and the three veteran clubs like SUG had been strengthened. The chances of them being eliminated in the qualifiers were slim.
Ding Gan looked at the competition venue and sighed softly. "It's a pity that this venue is not as good as GPL's venue."
Zhao Xuming said, "That can't be helped. Let's watch the international competition."
Long Yu Corporation and Finger Games were not short of money, but the key was where best to spend it.
Renting a venue and renovating it would cost too much money. Wouldn't it be a waste of money if they were to spend so much money but did not garner too much attention?
They wouldn't be willing to spend it this way even if they had the money.
Thus, Long Yu Corporation decided to choose a broadcasting studio first to make it passable.
In any case, IOI's world finals would be held in the United States. It would definitely surpass GOG's finals. That would be enough.
The domestic qualifiers were nothing more than a formality to allow the three teams, including SUG, to enter the international competition legitimately. Therefore, it was alright for the venue to be barely passable.
Chapter 774: Visiting The Capital
December 7th, Wednesday...
Pei Qian sipped his coffee as he read the news on the forum in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
"That's strange. Logically speaking, IOI's qualifiers should be starting soon. Why isn't there any news online?"
"There are a few pieces of news, but there is nothing concrete and nothing made waves at all."
Pei Qian was confused. According to Shang Yang Games' information, IOI's qualifiers should start within a week.
That was because the start of the seasonal competition for the GPL league was this weekend. Not all clubs would be participating in this seasonal competition. It would only last three weeks.
The pre-season competition was an opportunity for the club to practice and familiarize themselves so that they could adapt to the various unexpected situations in the competition in advance. The audience could watch the competition during this boring period and the prelude of the GPL league in advance.
They would rest for two weeks at the end of this month. Then, around mid-January, the GPL spring competition would officially begin.
At the moment, IOI was facing a huge threat from GOG. It was better overseas, especially domestically. It could be said that every action of IOI's local server depended on GOG.
Even the changes to IOI's new version were based on GOG.
Under these circumstances, IOI's two important competitions: the qualifiers and the world finals had to avoid GOG's competition time as much as possible.
If wouldn't IOI be waiting for its popularity to be stolen if both competitions were to take place at the same time?
Thus, Finger Games had set a time to finish the qualifiers in the country during this weekend and select three teams to play in the international competition. At the end of this month, they would start the world finals when the GPL season's pre-season competition had just ended. That way, they could avoid the popularity of the GPL and its effects.
Pei Qian agreed with this thinking wholeheartedly.
However, Pei Qian felt that it was a pity that the qualifiers for IOI were the same as the GPL's pre-season competitions: they were all starting this weekend.
"It looks like Finger Games is trying very hard to avoid the GPL competition, but there's no other way. There's not enough time."
"Time is very tight from the IOI Qualification Competition to the official start of the competition. It was impossible to move it forward and if this drags on, there will be GPL competitions for the next twenty days. There's no point in dragging it on."
"That's why they can only clash. That's a little awkward."
"However, dates clashing aside, IOI's popularity is so low. It doesn't make sense, does it? Why isn't the official platform creating much publicity?"
"There's no sound at all. Isn't this giving all the popularity to the GPL?"
"These people are too unprofessional. I have to think of a way to help them stir up popularity."
"Hmm... how can I help?"
Pei Qian could not help but worry for them when he saw how low the popularity of the IOI Qualifiers was and how no one was discussing it.
If IOI's popularity did not rise, how could it pose a threat to GOG?
If GOG's popularity continued to soar, how were they going to lose money?
Thus, Pei Qian decided to lend a helping hand to Finger Games. At the very least, he could hype up the popularity of the IOI Qualification Competition and increase the popularity of the competition.
It was just a matter of spending some money on marketing; it would not cost much.
Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation were both big companies that did not lack money. Why were they so stingy on this matter? Pei Qian was quite puzzled.
However, on further thought, he realized that they might have been too busy in preparing for the qualifiers and had not taken the time to hype it up.
Yes, that was possible.
All the more reason to give them a hand.
However, Pei Qian had not thought about how to help exactly.
It was impossible for him to pay out of his own pocket. Pei Qian only had peanuts and could only buy fake reviewers on the internet to boast a little.
What's more, the main purpose of doing all these things was to lose money and convert into more Personal Wealth. Yet, he had to spend his Personal Wealth before he lost money. Was he crazy?
Thus, he had to think of a way to make the System reimburse him.
The problem was that IOI's qualifiers wAS not organized by Tengda. How could the System reimburse him? That did not make sense.
Pei Qian rubbed his chin and thought hard for a long time. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
"Yes, didn't I just invest in an IOI club! I can do something about it!"
Pei Qian had just gone to Shanghai and invested in the FV Club at lightning speed. Only two days had passed since then.
Spending the company's money to publicize the IOI qualifiers did not make sense and the system would not approve of it. However, wouldn't it do if he were to spend money to publicize the FV Club and the IOI qualifiers?
He could spend as much money as he wanted to advertise his club. The System was very tolerant of this!
While Pei Qian had once made up his mind not to interfere with the operations of the FV Club, giving them money for advertisement should not be considered as interfering with the operations, right?
Of course, there was also a hidden danger in doing so. What if the FV Club became famous, gained more attention, and became profitable?
However, after some thought, Pei Qian realized that the possibility of this happening was too low. It was almost negligible.
What is the current situation of FV Club?
They had some money, but not much. Pei Qian had only given him three million yuan. That amount of money was nothing compared to the investments of the rich clubs. There was no need to mention the players since only three of them were left, and they were not that strong.
What can happen even if they are to publicize such a club with all their might?
E-Sports was about results after all. Without results, no matter how much marketing one did, it would only make the audience feel disgusted and uncomfortable. On the contrary, it would speed up the loss of their audience appeal.
What's more, the chances of FV Club making it out of the qualifiers were negligible. Their popularity could not be retained even if they were to advertise like crazy now.
All in all, money-burning publicity would focus only on IOI qualifiers. It would not affect FV Club much. What's more, Pei Qian had justifiably spent a sum of money.
Perfect, simply perfect!
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more it suited him. He immediately called Wu Yue, the boss of the FV Club.
"Hello, Boss Pei?" The phone rang only a few times before being picked up. Wu Yue sounded sleepy, as if he had just woken up.
Pei Qian looked at his watch. It was almost 11 in the morning. *Is he still sleeping? That means that he wakes up even later than me?*
Good, Boss Pei admired such people.
Pei Qian asked, "Does the club have enough money to spend?"
Wu Yue was obviously stunned.
Didn't Boss Pei invest three million yuan the day before? Why is he talking about money again today?
Could it be that... Boss Pei knows that I went to buy players and is worried that I don't have enough money, so he wants to give me more money?
Wu Yue could not help but feel warm and moved. He quickly said, "Don't worry, Boss Pei. We still have enough money. You don't have to worry about that."
Pei Qian was not satisfied with this answer.
How could there be enough money? This Wu Yue was obviously not honest enough.
Pei Qian cleared his throat. "There is obviously not enough money. If you think that you have enough money, it must be because you are not doing all that you can!"
"How about this, I'll give you another three million yuan."
"However, this three million yuan will be exclusively used as a marketing budget. Use this money to publicize online. Use various channels to publicize the FV Club and the upcoming IOI qualifiers."
Wu Yue was stunned for a moment. He quickly said, "Boss Pei, three million yuan for marketing is too much! I'm afraid it won't be very effective. It would be a waste..."
"How about this, we can use five hundred thousand yuan or one million yuan for marketing while we spend the rest elsewhere..."
Pei Qian's eyes lit up when he heard the word 'waste'.
Waste was great!
It would be a real waste to use it elsewhere.
Pei Qian immediately said, "No, you have to spend all three million yuan on marketing and publicity. What's more, we have to spend it all before the weekend. We can't leave a single cent!"
"Don't ask why. Just spend it."
While Pei Qian had said that he would not interfere with the daily operations of the FV Club, Wu Yue had no reason to turn him down.
Wu Yue had been silent for a long time on the other end of the line. Finally, he replied reluctantly, "Alright, Boss Pei. Since you've thought it through, I'll take the three million yuan for marketing."
Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, don't worry and spend as much as you can. Oh yes, you must remember to promote the IOI qualifiers."
Pei Qian was afraid that Wu Yue would forget. He would be putting the cart before the horse if he were to publicize FV Club but not the IOI Qualifiers.
Pei Qian's main aim was to let more people know about the IOI Qualification Competition and create popularity for IOI after all.
Wu Yue: "Alright, Boss Pei, I understand!"
...
Wu Yue sat up in bed after hanging up.
He rushed back from Jingzhou with a few players in the middle of the night and had also arranged accommodations for his team members. They had spent almost the entire night settling down and had only just fallen asleep at six in the morning.
He did not expect to be woken up by Boss Pei's call in the afternoon and for another three million yuan to fall onto his lap.
Wu Yue was no longer sleepy. He got out of bed and washed his face. Afterwhich, he immediately called Manager Lu and explained the three million yuan marketing budget in detail.
Manager Lu had just woken up and was as confused as Wu Yue.
"Boss Pei gave us another three million yuan? What's more, he specifically said that this is only for marketing expenses? We can only spend it on marketing?" Manager Lu also felt that this was a little ridiculous.
Why was Boss Pei so good to FV Club?
Other than the possibility that Boss Pei was actually Boss Wu's long-lost father, it did not make sense.
Wu Yue said, "I made a rough deduction based on Boss Pei's tone and recent events. Listen and let me know if you think this is possible?"
"The first thing Boss Pei asked me was if I had enough money. He must have found out about us buying players."
"If that's the case, Boss Pei must be giving us money to spend elsewhere."
"Our team's current strength is already considered very good in IOI's e-sports circle. Our results would have to depend on the team's adaptability. However, it would definitely not be a problem to compete with those strong teams."
"Since we already have a certain level of strength, what our club lacks the most at the moment is obviously popularity and fame!"
"Boss Pei specially gave us a sum of marketing funds to remind us that it was the right time to generate popularity and heat.
Manager Lu was stunned for a moment. "But Boss Wu, the IOI qualifiers have not started. We are not sure that they will be able to qualify either. Wouldn't the other clubs benefit for nothing if we are to generate heat now but not win the competition?"
Wu Yue shook his head. "There is such a risk, but we have to take it."
"What's the point of doing publicity after we've confirmed that we've made it? The competition would be almost over, and the heat would be over!"
"We have to publicize and warm up before the competition starts so that netizens will pay attention to the competition and our club. That way, we can gain more popularity after our team members achieve results."
"As for the possibility of benefiting others... I can only say that this risk must be taken."
"Boss Pei should be very clear about this as well. That's why he repeatedly instructed us to spend all the money within a week. Isn't he reminding us to create the hype before the game starts?"
Manager Lu suddenly understood. "That's true."
"Then, I'll start preparing the publicity for FV Club and IOI qualifiers!"
...
Pei Qian put the E-Sports matter aside and stopped worrying after calling Wu Yue.
Even though he had spent three million yuan to promote IOI, Pei Qian did not have high hopes for the qualifiers. It would be best if they could generate popularity and help IOI fight back, but it did not matter even if they could not generate popularity.
The worst case scenario would be that the IOI qualifiers would still not be popular. However, three million yuan was already spent in Pei Qian's eyes.
Pei Qian began to think about Beijing again.
At the moment, Pei Qian was more concerned about two projects in Beijing. The first was Qiu Hong's independent game incubation base, and the second was Meng Chang's Cold-Faced Lady.
The independent game incubation base had been officially operating for half a month. Pei Qian had not been there even once and was completely unaware of the situation there.
For some reason, he felt a little uneasy.
What if there were actually some money to be made in these independent games? What if the income from two or three games completely covered the losses of other games and the expenses of the incubation base? What if there were even profits?
Pei Qian knew his own character very well. It was not impossible, and it was very likely.
Thus, he was inexplicably worried.
However, Pei Qian could not personally go and take a look because the Destitution Plan and the incubation base had nothing to do with Tengda at the moment. Wouldn't Pei Qian be exposing himself if he went?
Once the 'Destitution Plan' project was linked to Tengda Corporation, all sorts of capable, ambitious, and independent game producers would come to seek refuge. Then, the chances of this project losing money would be greatly reduced.
The other project was the Cold-Faced Lady.
Pei Qian had invested a lot of money into this project. It was impossible for him not to be worried.
It would be fine if he made a loss on such a project, however, it was precisely this type of projects that would go on to become unicorns if they were to succeed. Pei Qian also felt uneasy since he had never been there personally.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to send someone to take a look after much thought.
That person would make a trip to Beijing and check out the incubation base for the Destitution Plan and then check out Cold-Faced Lady's shop and gather some information before reporting back to him.
It might not be useful, but at least he could feel more at ease.
However, the question was, who should he send?
The most important thing about this person was honesty. This person should not be too subjective in his or her judgment, and it would be best if he or she was not in charge of the various departments.
It was not a big deal to delay the department's work, but it would be bad if the two projects were to be linked after this.
Thus, after some consideration, Pei Qian quickly decided on the best candidate.
He would send Little Tang!
Until now, Tang Yishu had no other work to do apart from managing the students' meetings and feeding the cats. He did not need to worry about any possibility of linked effect from her journey to Beijing.
What's more, Tang Yishu's presence in Tengda Corporation was very weak. Even if she appeared in an independent game incubation base, no one would be able to guess the relationship between Tengda and the incubation base.
Apart from that, Tang Yishu was observing as a third party. She did not have any relevant professional knowledge and should be able to get rid of some subjective factors and see the actual situation of the independent incubation base and the cold-faced lady.
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed. He gave Tang Yishu a call.
"Hello? Senior." Tang Yishu lowered her voice. "I'm in the study room. Give me a moment, I'll head outside."
A moment later, Tang Yishu's voice returned to normal. "Senior, I'm out. What's the matter?"
Pei Qian went straight to the point. "I want you to make a trip to Beijing over the next two days to help me with something. Our company has some business in Beijing at the moment. You can go take a look and report to me when you return."
Tang Yishu sounded shocked. "Huh? S-Senior, I don't think I can do it. I'm afraid of traveling..."
Pei Qian had already expected this. "It's alright. This time, I'll get Little Sun, who has the best driving skills in the company and another driver to accompany you. Before you set off, they'll carefully inspect the car from beginning to end to ensure that nothing goes wrong on the way."
"When Qiu Hong receives you, you don't have to worry about anything. You just have to inspect it for me and then reflect on what you saw."
Pei Qian knew very well that Tang Yishu's luck was a little strange. However, her bad luck only appeared on small matters such as accidentally tripping on her way out or bugs appearing in the program.
Tang Yishu had never encountered life-threatening danger before. She was not a local in Jingzhou and had never met with a train derailment even though she traveled all the way here to study. Thus, there was nothing much to worry about.
It would be alright as long as Little Sun was extra careful.
Tang Yishu was still a little reluctant. "But Senior, it's almost exam week. I still have to revise..."
Pei Qian smiled slightly. "It's alright, it's only for two days. Two days without revision would not affect you much with your calibre. It wouldn't affect your scholarship."
Every time he mentioned this, Pei Qian would be especially envious of these super geniuses.
Why did Tang Yishu score very well every time while he had to work so hard to pass?
This world was so unfair!
Tang Yishu hesitated for a moment but finally agreed. "I'll make a trip then. However, I don't know anything and I might not be able to see any problems..."
Pei Qian smiled. "It doesn't matter. Only people like you who don't know anything can see some details. You don't have to study on purpose or care about what others say. Just observe and then tell me what you have observed based on your first impression."
"Oh right. Take note of the situation at the incubation base. Overtime is strictly not allowed."
"If they don't work overtime, take a look at their working conditions. If they are doing well, force them to play games. They must play for at least ten hours a week!"
Pei Qian had learnt to be smart now. He realized that he could no longer control these people by limiting their working hours. While many departments only had a short working time, their efficiency was very high. Their progress had not fallen behind at all!
Therefore, apart from working hours, he had to pay attention to the working conditions of the independent game designers in the incubation base. If their working conditions were off the charts, he had to take some measures.
Tang Yishu answered, "Alright, Senior."
...
...
December 8th, Thursday...
At the headquarters of the Long Yu Corporation, the person-in-charge of IOI's operations and cooperation department, Zhao Xuming, the person-in-charge of IOI's local server, Chrétien, and the relevant staff were having a meeting.
Chrétien introduced Finger Games' headquarters to everyone.
"The headquarters are currently preparing for the IOI World Finals. The finals will be held in Los Angeles this time and the venue is still being prepared. It should be completed by the end of this month."
"The qualifiers from all over the world should be launched very soon to determine the participants of the international competition. The competition time for the international competition is temporarily set to be on the 24th of this month. The competition will officially begin on Saturday, which is the day of Christmas Eve. It will end on January 15th."
"This competition basically does not coincide with the GPL competition. This is also my suggestion to the headquarters."
"Our global finals will definitely not be any less popular than the GPL league in any way, however, there is indeed no need for us to go head to head with them considering the special circumstances of our local server. A lapse in timing could ensure that the popularity of the finals would be maximized."
"On top of that, deep innovations in IOI's gameplay are still underway. The next goal of the headquarters is to further absorb the advantages of the gameplay in GOG. I will fight against the public opinion and request to use the modified version in the finals to compete. I want to show the world's players, especially the Chinese players, our determination."
"Boss Zhao, how's Long Yu Corporation doing?"
Zhao Xuming replied, "Everything is going smoothly at Long Yu Corporation. The progress is perfect!"
"Domestic players have accumulated a lot of resentment some time ago, because of the low-priced region and the changes to the game. However, we are beginning to see the effect of dragging it out."
"Targeted compensation given to old gamers temporarily appeased their anger. As for the new version, while there were some changes to the gameplay, many old gamers did not resist it after adapting for a period of time."
"I believe that as time passes, they will slowly accept it."
"Of course, we cannot be blindly optimistic about the current situation. There are still some old gamers who are less active. However, this is not a big deal. As long as the global finals are done and IOI's popularity rises, these old gamers will definitely return."
"The local clubs are already foolproof. Long Yu Corporation has collaborated with three veteran clubs to help strengthen their team."
"These three veteran clubs are famous clubs in the country. They are currently the strongest, and there is no problem for them to fight their way out of the qualifiers. The other clubs have also gotten quite a good transfer fee by buying players. They can also play a supporting role when they participate in the qualifiers."
"This can be considered a win-win situation for the small clubs, big clubs, and us, the organizers.
"All in all, we are ready for the IOI World Finals!"
Chrétien nodded. "Yes. Is there a FV club among the three clubs you mentioned?"
Zhao Xuming was stunned. "Huh? No."
"FV Club is a small club. It's not famous. Even if they were to participate in the qualifiers, they could only be a sidekick. Their skills are very far from the pros."
Chrétien could not help but frown, slightly stunned.
Obviously, both parties had deviations on their information.
"Then why is this FV Club spending their own money to advertise for the qualifiers? I thought this was an idea from Long Yu Corporation." Chrétien said.
Zhao Xuming was confused. "When did this happen? Why didn't I know about it?"
Chrétien was a little unhappy. "Since yesterday, Boss Zhao doesn't seem to be very well-informed."
Zhao Xuming quickly explained, "I've been busy for the past two days and didn't pay much attention to this."
He turned to his subordinate. "Do you know about this?"
The subordinate nodded. "I know. Actually, the publicity only appeared yesterday afternoon and evening. I've already sorted out the relevant content. I wanted to report to you later today."
The subordinate quickly took the initiative to take the blame seeing that the atmosphere was not right.
Zhao Xuming said coldly, "Give it to me now!"
The subordinate quickly stood up and left. A moment later, he returned with a set of documents and handed them to Zhao Xuming.
Zhao Xuming took it and quickly scanned through it.
From the report, the FV Club had done publicity in many places, including live-stream platforms, video websites, forums, and so on. Apart from buying hot searches and advertisements, there were also signs of fake reviewers under these topics.
It had indeed greatly increased its popularity, but all of these marketing activities were limited to the domestic IOI qualifiers and FV Club.
What's more, since the FV Club itself was not very famous, they had to use the IOI World Finals for marketing. Therefore, FV Club was not the most important part of the publicity.
It was no wonder that Chrétien thought that Long Yu Corporation had instructed the FV Club to do these marketing activities.
Zhao Xuming was confused. What was happening?
The emperor was not anxious, but the eunuch was?
Long Yu Corporation did not deliberately publicize IOI's qualifiers in the country mainly because there was no need to waste money on it.
There were only a few teams participating in the domestic qualifiers. Other than the three veteran clubs like SUG, the other teams were just there to accompany the players. They had already been confirmed when the teams chose their players.
What's more, the qualifiers would not attract much attention in the country. There would not be many people watching the competition either. The Long Yu Corporation did not plan to spend too much money on the field. They had only found a recording studio to make do with it and thought that it would be over after a walk.
Why spend so much money on marketing under such circumstances?
The audience would come in to take a look when the game became popular. That was it for the stage? That was the standard of the game? It was too far from GPL!
It might not have a good effect even if he were to spend money.
Thus, Zhao Xuming did not forget to publicize the game, he deliberately did not want to publicize it too widely. He just had to go through the motions and send the three veteran teams to the international competition. Then, he would do his best to publicize and generate popularity during the international competition.
Money had to be spent wisely.
However, FV Club paid for the publicity unexpectedly!
Zhao Xuming was confused. The qualifiers had nothing to do with them.
It would have been fine if the clubs like SUG were to pay for publicity. After all, they would be able to obtain real popularity and traffic. However, the FV Club was just there to accompany them. Wouldn't it be a waste of money to advertise?
Chrétien became unhappy when he saw Zhao Xuming's confused expression.
He gently knocked on the table and said, "Boss Zhao, the situation with FV Club is not of very good influence."
"We don't have enough publicity on our own. Many players actually obtained information from the FV Club, since there's no news from the official platform. That makes us look unprofessional!"
"I originally thought that you were the one who instigated the publicity of the FV Club. I thought that you were not professional in this matter. However, I did not expect you to not know about this at all. This is even more unprofessional!"
"We have never asked about the domestic qualifiers due to our trust in Longyu Corporation. However, the current situation seems to be letting us down, right?"
The corners of Zhao Xuming's mouth twitched. He was speechless.
How unlucky!
According to the original plan, they would just casually organize the domestic qualifiers. It would be fine as long as the scene was passable. The teams were all internally decided, and no one would watch them. Why would they create such a huge scene?
It would not be too late to save the money and wait for the international competition to kickstart.
The official platform was in a difficult position now that FV Club was doing this. Players would think that IOI's official publicity was worse than a club's. They would definitely think that Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation were unprofessional.
For example, the Long Yu Corporation was like a department leader. Initially, they had brought all their members along to slack off. Others could not tell, but they could feel that this department was not very impressive.
In the end, someone in the department suddenly worked hard as if they were on steroids and worked overtime every day. Everyone else in the department was exposed and became a bunch of useless people waiting to die.
The person-in-charge of the department would definitely be scolded the most.
Zhao Xuming quickly said, "Don't worry, there's still time to salvage the situation!"
"The competition will only start on Saturday. There are still two days left. We will invest some resources into promoting IOI's qualifiers. That way, players will think that FV Club has only obtained insider information in advance. They will not think that we are unprofessional."
"What's more, we should be able to achieve a good effect by doing publicity now with FV Club's publicity."
Only then did Chrétien nod in satisfaction. "It would be best if you can salvage the situation. I believe in your professional abilities."
On the surface, Zhao Xuming looked calm and relaxed. However, he was cursing in his heart.
Why was this FV looking for trouble? They were harming others without benefiting themselves!
This time, Long Yu Corporation would have to fork out another huge sum of money to invest in the qualifiers.
Not only did they have to spend money on advertising and marketing, but they also had to hurry up with the construction of the competition venue and make it more gaudy, right?
With more attention on the game, there would definitely be more players who would nitpick. If the venue was not good enough, it would definitely lower the level of the competition and be more embarrassing.
Of course, the game would start in two days. Time was of the essence, and it would be too late to change the venue. He could only purchase some decorations to improve the venue's effect as much as possible.
Zhao Xuming still could not understand why FV Club had nothing better to do than to spend money to promote themselves, but he did not have the time to think about it.
After all, time was of the essence. The competition would begin in two days. Zhao Xuming had to focus all his energy on preparing for the qualifiers.
...
At the same time, in Beijing...
Tang Yishu alighted from the car and stepped carefully into the capital.
This was her first time here. Nothing had happened to her even though she had been frightened on the way.
However, that did not make Tang Yishu feel at ease. Instead, she felt more dangerous.
Perhaps it was because the safety measures had been done so well that bad luck had not found an opportunity to take advantage of. She did not know which breakthrough point bad luck would find that would suddenly explode with the accumulation.
Little Sun drove the car directly to the hotel parking lot. Qiu Hong had already helped to book a room and was waiting in the lobby.
According to the schedule, they would eat something at noon and rest for a while. In the afternoon, he would bring her to the independent game incubation base. They would visit the Cold-Faced Lady the next day and return to Jingzhou in the afternoon.
Qiu Hong looked at the mechanical watch in his hand and guessed that it was about time.
Two minutes later, he looked up and saw Tang Yishu at the hotel entrance.
The two drivers were like bodyguards, one on the left and one on the right, carefully protecting her safety. However, the automatic revolving door at the entrance of the hotel suddenly stopped for some unknown reason. The three of them froze on the spot.
Qiu Hong quickly opened the side door. "Little Tang, right? Come here!"
Tang Yishu and the two drivers had no choice but to walk through the side door. However, as soon as they entered the lobby, the revolving door at the entrance of the hotel returned to normal.
Qiu Hong did not pay much attention to it. He thought that it was just an accident and shook hands with Tang Yishu.
"You've had a long journey, the three of you must be tired from it. Here's the itinerary: We'll have a simple meal nearby, and then the three of you can go back to the hotel to rest at noon. We'll gather in the lobby at two in the afternoon. I'll bring everyone to the incubation base to take a look."
"The time now is... Eh?"
Qiu Hong subconsciously raised his wrist to look at the time. However, he realized that the mechanical watch that had been working just now was no longer moving.
He was a little confused. He had been wearing this watch for a few years, and there had not been any major problems. He had just received a message on it a few minutes ago.
Why did it stop all of a sudden?
Tang Yishu looked up at the sky in embarrassment, pretending that nothing had happened.
...
At noon, at the independent game incubation base...
Wu Zhicheng was having a meal with a few new independent game designers in the resting area.
"See, I told you that Fish-Catching Take-Out's tomato eggs are very delicious, right? They're different from the ones made in restaurants outside, right? Fish-Catching Take-Out's food is absolutely healthy."
"...Huh? Work plan? Don't worry about that. It's not necessary to complete by the dateline. It can be adjusted. If you feel like you have anything new to add, feel free to look for Xi Hao."
"...Don't be afraid of him. Don't treat Xi Hao as your boss or manager. He's just the boss of the service department. He won't interfere with the project. He'll only plan the work according to your ideas. How the project is done depends on you."
"Come, eat more."
Wu Zhicheng was like an old veteran, showing meticulous care for the new independent game designers, even though he had only been here for less than a month.
At first, Wu Zhicheng thought that he would not be able to adapt to this kind of collective work. However, after coming here, he realized that it was completely different!
After coming here, the development of Black Ink and Clouds could only be described as progressing by leaps and bounds.
Wu Zhicheng also thought deeply about the difference.
Now that he recalled, thinking that he was efficient developing games at home previously was all an illusion.
That was because he would often be distracted by trivial matters when working at home. For example, what to do with the art resources in a certain part of the game, and what to do if he suddenly realized that the entire framework was unclear when he was halfway through the checkpoint. He would have to redo everything.
Similar situations often happened because Wu Zhicheng did not plan the entire project meticulously and comprehensively. Moreover, these trivial matters would indeed distract him.
However, after coming to this incubation base, everyone else was in charge of these small matters. Wu Zhicheng himself only needed to seriously think about creativity and design. Naturally, his efficiency increased a lot.
Many independent game designers could not make it because of this problem.
There were specializations in the industry. Even within the planning department, there were different types of work such as designing and modifying the gameplay, raising the art requirements, and planning and development progress. It was very difficult for anyone to be well-versed in all of them.
If he was not good at a certain part, he would have to spend a lot of energy to fill that shortcoming.
However, with the help of the incubation base, independent game designers like Wu Zhicheng only had to be in charge of creating creativity and game design. The other jobs had professionals helping them. With such a detailed division of labor, the efficiency was naturally greatly improved.
Initially, Wu Zhicheng was a little afraid of socializing and worried that he might run into problems in the workplace. However, after spending some time together, he realized that he was worrying for nothing!
As the person-in-charge of the administrative department, Xi Hao was very clear about the positioning of his own department: this was just a service department.
Thus, there was no issue of who was in charge of whom. Naturally, there were no twists and turns in the workplace.
On the contrary, these independent game designers had been screened by Qiu Hong previously. They varied in capabilities but their personalities were rather simple. Thus, they did not do much mutual deception and were naturally closer to each other.
Wu Zhicheng realized that there were very few people in the world who were completely autistic and did not want to communicate with others. Many people looked so autistic and socially fearful because they were in a circle that was not suitable for them.
Wu Zhicheng was now in a circle that suited him very well. Thus, he was very happy every day and his personality became much more cheerful.
Everyone was having lunch happily when Xi Hao walked in.
"Boss Qiu might be bringing people over to take a look in the afternoon. I'm letting you know in advance, consider it an inspection." Xi Hao said.
Wu Zhicheng was stunned. "Is there anything that we need to prepare in advance?"
Wu Zhicheng might have very little official work experience in companies but he had seen the inspection by leaders before. Usually, they had to make preparations in advance to leave a good impression on the leaders.
To be honest, Wu Zhicheng had always been very curious about who the boss behind the incubation base was, but he had never gotten a definite answer.
On the surface, Qiu Hong was in charge of everything. However, there were rumors that Qiu Hong was not the real boss. There was someone else behind the entire plan.
He wondered if the person who came to inspect this time was the real boss?
Xi Hao shook his head. "There's no need to prepare anything in advance. We just have to show our true colors."
"We are strictly following Boss Qiu's instructions. The eight-hour work schedule might not be long, but everyone's work is very serious and fulfilling. In fact, it is even better than 996 for many companies."
"I think it should be enough as long as everyone shows this serious and responsible working attitude as usual."