At the Slackin’ Internet Café’s Hangdong University branch.
After lunch, Pei Qian sipped his coffee while reviewing his previous mind map, connecting the lines between Tenda Games, Shangyang Games, Slackin’ Internet Café, DGE Esports Club and other departments, recording their recent interactions.
Looking at the increasingly numerous and dense connecting lines, Pei Qian felt that each line was like a knife in his back.
“Looking on the bright side, this mind map is somewhat useful.”
“At least this time I successfully predicted based on this mind map!”
“…Though I was two hours late.”
“But I’ll improve next time!”
Pei Qian closed his laptop and suddenly felt the impulse to take a walk through the internet browsing area of Slackin’ Internet Café.
After walking around, Pei Qian suddenly realized something wasn’t right.
Thinking carefully…
It seemed many more players were playing GOG than IOI at Slackin’ Internet Café? The data showed an overwhelming trend!
That didn’t make sense.
Pei Qian thought for a moment. Wasn’t Shangyang Games the first to contact these internet cafés, offering more money? So why would this situation occur?
“Could it be because of Xiao Peng?”
“Come to think of it, Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 was designed specifically for GOG, so it makes sense that other Slackin’ Internet Cafés would be influenced and have more GOG players.”
“Xiao Peng probably thinks that since GOG is Tenda’s own game, while IOI is just an adopted son, he naturally favors GOG more?”
“Yes, that must be it.”
“But the situation should be the opposite at other internet cafés, right?”
Pei Qian immediately got up and headed to another large chain internet café nearby, Star Joy Internet Café.
Speaking of which, Star Joy Internet Café was invested in by Mr. Li, initially to compete with Slackin’ Internet Café.
But as they competed for meat, they ended up just drinking soup.
Who knows what happened?
Anyway, from the current situation, Star Joy Internet Café was probably the second largest chain of internet café brands in Jingzhou after Slackin’ Internet Café. Its overall configuration was much better than those small internet bars, so the situation there should be quite representative.
A few minutes later, Pei Qian arrived at the nearest Star Joy Internet Café, pretending to look for someone while walking around.
After Pei Qian checked the last computer game, he fell into deep thought.
Why was GOG still dominating?
This wasn’t right. The script shouldn’t have been written this way.
What happened to “money talks”?
Had Shangyang Games not negotiated cooperation with Star Joy Internet Café?
That didn’t make sense.
Pei Qian saw the display board at the entrance of Star Joy Internet Café stating that both GOG and IOI players could enjoy free in-game skin trials and free internet fees.
Moreover, IOI offered even more free internet time than GOG.
What did this mean? Was money not working anymore?
Pei Qian went to the front desk and confusedly asked the cashier about this issue.
The cashier happened to be free and smiled, “I can tell you don’t play games much, right?”
Pei Qian: “?”
The cashier explained, “IOI does offer free internet fees, but so does GOG! Though it’s not as much, most people already have their heroes and skins in GOG. How could they switch to IOI just for those few yuan in internet fees?”
“Besides, people come to internet cafés to play games with friends. They want to have fun, not save a little money by learning a new game from scratch.”
“Furthermore…”
The cashier paused mysteriously and lowered his voice: “Let me tell you some inside information, but don’t spread it around.”
Pei Qian quickly nodded: “I won’t tell anyone.”
The cashier whispered: “Though both games belong to Tenda, there’s a difference in how they’re treated!”
“GOG is the biological son, and IOI is the adopted son. From all indications, Tenda is promoting GOG. In the future, GOG will be the pillar of internet café revenue. For the long-term benefit of internet cafés, we must promote GOG more!”
Pei Qian was confused: “Where did you get this inside information?”
The cashier proudly said, “Our boss told us!”
Pei Qian: “And who told your boss?”
The cashier said even more proudly: “Someone from Tenda Games personally told our boss!”
Pei Qian: “…”
Now he understood.
So, Min Jingchao had sent someone to persuade them! No wonder the internet café owners were all fooled!
The situation at other internet cafés was probably no better.
These people were too cunning!
When they couldn’t win by spending money, they resorted to manipulation. Is this what decent people do?
After a moment of silence, Pei Qian asked: “Didn’t your boss consider that this might be some kind of business talk, not to be fully trusted?”
The cashier smiled meaningfully: “You don’t believe it?”
“Did you see yesterday’s news?”
“Why did all of Slackin’ Internet Café’s newest esports lifestyle halls feature GOG? The exhibition matches were GOG, all players on site played GOG, and there was no mention of IOI at all?”
“The esports club established by Tenda has GOG players, right?”
“Even Mr. Pei’s hero was added to GOG!”
“Doesn’t this prove that Tenda’s leadership, including Mr. Pei, favors GOG more?”
Spending money on IOI is just a breeding ground strategy to put pressure on GOG. How could they seriously promote it?”
Pei Qian: “…”
For some reason, he suddenly felt this cashier made perfect sense!
Indeed, many people already knew that Mr. Pei = Modiste.
If he didn’t especially like GOG, would he have himself put into the game? Of course not!
Pei Qian wanted to ask, if I said I knew nothing about this… would you believe me?
But on second thought, he decided not to ask. If he were this cashier, he wouldn’t believe it either…
He was completely convinced by this cashier!
Walking silently out of Star Joy Internet Café, Pei Qian realized a very serious problem.
It seemed… the idea he gave Shangyang Games had failed after less than a week of trying.
“This is simply shameless!”
“Whatever method the competitor uses, do you just mindlessly copy?”
“Is there any justice? Is there any law?”
“Is anyone in charge?”
Pei Qian was speechless. The idea he had come up with was directly taken by the GOG side and copied without reservation!
Pei Qian now understood the feeling of those small companies being mindlessly “imitated” – pure fury with no recourse!
Only this time, both the imitator and the imitated were himself, which made it very awkward.
The gap between GOG and IOI from the last settlement period hadn’t narrowed at all but seemed to be widening…
“This won’t do. I need to think of a solution quickly.”
“Shangyang Games must be feeling as desperate as I am. I need to quickly figure out a way for them to turn the tables…”
“Or more simply, should I reassign Lin Wan back to Tenda Games now and let her coast to victory?”
“No, no, that would probably backfire…”
Pei Qian knew clearly that Lin Wan was quite proud. If he transferred her to the GOG project now, she wouldn’t think she was coasting to victory but would think Mr. Pei wanted her to “observe and learn well.”
Then she definitely wouldn’t leave!
Pei Qian thought hard but felt his chances of success diminishing the more he considered.
Actually, not even mentioning others, he had barely played IOI because the heroes were completely different from LOL, and the mechanisms weren’t entirely the same either. He simply couldn’t be bothered to learn…
He was more familiar with GOG.
Pei Qian himself was just an average player, at most slightly better than that slacker Ma Yang. Comparatively, GOG was more suitable because it had simpler operations and could be played on mobile phones.
“No, I can’t give up so easily…”
“What other aspects can I try?”
“Changing game mechanics is impossible, the game updates fast enough, and the internet café promotions have already been done…”
“Currently, the gap between IOI and GOG seems to be mainly in esports.”
“So, it seems I can only work on that aspect.”
“I don’t believe it. I’ll give IOI another sum of money to properly fill the esports shortcoming.”
“If we still lose this time, I…”
“I’ll just let IOI fend for itself…”
Pei Qian sighed silently, not knowing how things had become like this.
Originally, he had created GOG just to lose money while lying down, but after several months, why wasn’t the script following the normal trajectory?
Pei Qian silently left Star Joy Internet Café, feeling that life was as lonely as snow.
Just as Pei Qian was leaving the entrance of Star Joy Internet Café, Li Shi happened to pass by.
“Hmm? Isn’t that Mr. Pei?”
“Strange, am I seeing things? Why would Mr. Pei come to Star Joy Internet Café?”
Li Shi initially wanted to greet Mr. Pei, but then abandoned the idea and went straight into Star Joy Internet Café to ask the cashier at the front desk: “Did that young man just come to use the internet?”
The cashier hurriedly stood up: “Hello, Mr. Li. That young man just walked around the internet café, then… then asked me a few questions.”
Although Mr. Li wasn’t the owner of Star Joy Internet Café, as an investor, his word carried more weight than the owner’s.
Li Shi immediately became serious: “What questions did he ask? Quick, recall carefully, don’t miss a single word!”
The cashier’s face turned pale, thinking Li Shi was going to scold her for leaking internal information: “Mr. Li, I, I, I, I didn’t say anything…”
Li Shi frowned: “Who’s asking what you said? I’m asking what he said.”
“He?” The cashier tried hard to recall, “He, he just asked why more people were playing GOG than IOI, and also… also asked if I’d considered whether ‘Tenda values GOG more’ might just be a business tactic…”
Li Shi’s frown deepened, becoming more confused.
What did Mr. Pei mean by that?
Everyone knows GOG is Tenda’s biological son, right?
Could it be…
Li Shi suddenly realized, Mr. Pei was testing again! He was deliberately spreading false information, trying to shake the confidence of partners!
It was the same with Study Hut and Thriller Lodge before – seemingly trying to dissuade, but thinking the opposite!
Mr. Pei was testing Star Joy Internet Café’s determination to cooperate with GOG!
Li Shi immediately waved his hand: “Remove all promotional materials related to IOI immediately. From now on, Star Joy Internet Café will only promote GOG!”
…
Meanwhile.
Liang Qingfan was still seriously considering whether there were any adjustments to be made to the decoration plan.
After completing the plan last week, the construction team officially started work this week.
Regarding the video recording, Liang Qingfan had found another renowned studio in Jingzhou over the weekend and hired a well-reputed videographer.
After seeing several previous works, which were all very good, he was confident this videographer could handle the task effortlessly.
Liang Qingfan considered having the videographer shoot all the raw footage first. After shooting, if Fei Huang Studio had finished their vacation, they could help with editing and post-production.
Before the construction team started work, the videographer had already shot the most original footage of these houses. During subsequent construction, he would come to shoot once every so often.
The renovation period was long, but the final video might only be about half an hour, so the videographer didn’t need to inform Liang Qingfan every time he came. Coming once every so often and shooting for about ten minutes each time was enough.
Liang Qingfan wasn’t always at the construction site either, so the two hardly had any chance to meet.
Liang Qingfan felt there was no need to supervise the videographer’s work since he was a professional who knew more about this than himself.
What was more concerning now were the details of the decoration.
Sloth Apartment was a high-end brand, so details had to be perfect. More importantly, this renovation plan also included hard furnishings, putting more pressure on environmental protection.
Liang Qingfan decided to follow Mr. Pei’s requirements and choose the best environmentally friendly wall paint on the market. For the small amount of furniture, he would also choose as environmentally friendly and healthy options as possible.
Of course, neither wall paint nor furniture could be completely formaldehyde-free, but as long as the formaldehyde content met national health standards, with long-term window ventilation and constant fresh air system circulation, it wouldn’t harm human health.
Liang Qingfan was quite satisfied with the management trainee beside him.
He often asked him to run errands and do odd jobs, finding him quite handy.
“Mr. Pei was quite thoughtful, essentially assigning me a little assistant.”
“It’s just a pity that he often has classes, and with his regular work, sometimes I want to take him to the site to have a look, but don’t have the time.”