When Lin Chang spoke these words, he gave Pei Qian the impression of a Saudi billionaire visiting a domestic storefront to buy Shenhua phones.

So cheap, such a good deal? Let’s buy ten in bulk!

Perhaps because Shenhua also had a football club, Lin subconsciously felt that top players should be worth tens of millions, and even a decent player should cost several million, right?

But after getting into e-sports club operations, he discovered that the most elite e-sports players weren’t as expensive as ordinary football players, and those internet-addicted teenagers without much fame could be hired for just over ten thousand yuan a month in youth training.

At the facility, it was just one more person to feed. Raising ten of them, as long as one proved capable, would be profitable.

With this mindset, Shenhua immediately launched a frenzied purchasing mode. They didn’t just ask high-ranked GOG players, but also approached IOI and Divine Dawn players one by one, asking if they were interested in transitioning.

Quite a few people were successfully poached.

Although many professional players had emotional attachments to their beloved games, emotions couldn’t feed them.

GOG was currently so popular in China, with the GPL league about to start, offering ready-made popularity.

As the saying goes, a man fears choosing the wrong career. For an e-sports player, choosing the wrong game would be a lifelong regret.

Shenhua was already famous in football circles, so they certainly wouldn’t be inferior in e-sports.

Of course, not everyone was willing to switch games, and Shenhua wasn’t accepting everyone indiscriminately—they still conducted some tryouts.

That’s why those IOI teams weren’t completely emptied. Out of five people, three or four remained, but the vast majority of IOI teams had been raided; it was just a matter of how much they’d been dismantled.

Moreover, it wasn’t just Shenhua poaching people. Many other clubs, seeing Shenhua’s approach, developed a strong sense of crisis.

If Shenhua was doing ten premium pulls here, how could they stand idly by?

If you take the entire gacha machine, what are we supposed to do?

So, other club owners followed Shenhua’s lead and went around poaching players, adopting the mindset of “trying regardless of success,” grabbing promising talents when they saw them.

After all, GOG’s professional league had just started not long ago. Although the gap between professional players was already quite large, once the league began formal operations, new players would still have opportunities to catch up quickly.

Therefore, with Shenhua taking the lead, these clubs weren’t going to back down. Like a tidal wave, they swept through the entire domestic e-sports scene.

…

In SHG’s training base, Pei Qian sipped tea while listening to Lin Chang grandiosely discuss his “major moves” and “brilliant decisions” while operating the SHG club.

Although SHG was funded by Shenhua Real Estate, Lin Zhou wasn’t very attentive to it, as his main focus remained on football.

Lin Chang, on the other hand, was very active, volunteering to serve as the SHG club’s owner and personally selecting managers and team leaders.

Lin Chang was very satisfied with this round of operations and was optimistic about the SHG club’s prospects.

“I’ve been playing GOG recently, even catching up on GOG matches on the plane. I suddenly realized this game is really interesting!”

“Before, I always thought it was just a game. What’s so great about it? Could it be better than football?”

“But after playing, I found it’s truly engaging. Although its current popularity is far from sports, this e-sports model has qualities in terms of spectator appeal that ball sports simply don’t possess!”

“Hey, Mr. Pei, which hero is your favorite? I like Ruan the Wind Calligrapher and Modister…”

“This game is genuinely fun. Mr. Pei, how did you design it?”

Lin Chang grew more enthusiastic as he spoke.

Actually, at the beginning, he was completely just showing up for appearances’ sake. He didn’t think e-sports could amount to much, approaching it as a casual pastime.

But after learning more about it during this period, he discovered that e-sports, as an alternative type of sporting event, was indeed fascinating and promising!

That’s why Lin Chang was so attentive, buying everywhere, emphasizing a combination of foolishness and wealth.

“So, Mr. Pei, are GOG matches now the best e-sports competitions in the world?” Lin Chang asked.

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, “Mr. Lin, that’s hard to say. Finger Company is organizing the IOI World Finals. They don’t lack money or people, and they’ve been preparing for so long that they might not lose to GOG’s Global Invitational in terms of scale.”

“After all, although GOG now dominates within China, it still lags behind IOI globally.”

Lin Chang nodded in realization, “I see.”

He looked at Pei Qian, “Mr. Pei, do you need help promoting GOG overseas? Our Shenhua phones can help promote it through overseas game time, and for movies, we can also advertise a bit or even do some product placements…”

Pei Qian hurriedly said, “No need!”

Lin Chang was stunned, not expecting Mr. Pei to refuse so decisively, “Really? It’s no trouble, just a small gesture.”

Pei Qian immediately shook his head, “Really, there’s no need! Regarding GOG’s overseas market, I have other plans. Please don’t act rashly, as it might affect my overall strategy.”

Lin Chang nodded, “Alright, then I won’t interfere. Mr. Pei, if GOG encounters any difficulties in overseas promotion, you can always find me. I’ll help without hesitation!”

Pei Qian was somewhat speechless.

Still talking about “helping without hesitation”!

I haven’t even settled accounts with you for “Beautiful Tomorrow” yet!

The biggest difficulty GOG faces in overseas promotion is that it’s spreading too fast… Can you help me reduce GOG’s market share?

You can’t? Then never mind.

Zhang Yuan took a sip of tea and said, “Mr. Lin, the GDL slots have all been arranged, and training matches with the DGE club have been scheduled. However… even with two teams, you’ve bought too many players now.”

Lin Chang asked, “What’s wrong with buying too many?”

Zhang Yuan was silent for a moment. “Well, nothing’s wrong, it’s just a bit wasteful in terms of salaries.”

Lin Chang laughed, “That doesn’t matter, we have plenty of budget anyway, just keep them. Besides, I see several players at IOI clubs who can barely hang on. By poaching them to play GOG, shouldn’t it count as a good deed?”

…

That evening, the meeting room at Dragon Yu Group was brightly lit.

Members of Dragon Yu Group’s IOI operations partnership department were gathered together, with extremely grave expressions on everyone’s faces.

This weekend, Zhao Xuming had tirelessly visited most clubs in Magic City, personally delivering news about the IOI World Finals to show sincerity.

But what they never expected was that the IOI divisions of these teams had almost all been dismantled to varying degrees. Although most teams were only missing one or two players, none were complete anymore!

Upon careful inquiry, Zhao Xuming learned that it was just a matter of three or four days. If he had come earlier, these people could have all been saved.

Now, contracts had been signed with other clubs, and buying them back would require transfer fees…

The more Zhao Xuming thought about it, the angrier he became, slamming his fist on the conference table.

“This Mr. Pei is ruthless! Absolutely ruthless!”

“This move is simply a plan for destruction!”

“Sending people to buy up IOI professional players, dismantling all teams without leaving a single one intact! It’s outrageous! Too outrageous!”

“Is he deliberately trying to make our domestic IOI teams lose face at the world competition?”

“Despicable, shameless!”

Others remained silent, not daring to join in on this topic.

After venting his anger, Zhao Xuming gradually calmed down.

After all, he was someone who had weathered many storms and had strong emotional adjustment abilities.

He held his breath, trying hard to adjust his emotions.

“Alright, it’s a business tactic, I overreacted.”

“Mr. Pei played this hand well, pulling the rug out from under us, spending just a little money to create such a big difficulty for us.”

“The timing was perfect too, which shows that Mr. Pei not only has good intelligence and decisive action but also enjoys messing with his opponents’ mentality…”

“Truly a formidable opponent!”

“So, have we compiled the current situation of all clubs?” Zhao Xuming looked at his subordinate beside him.

The subordinate hurriedly nodded, handing over a document, “Director Zhao, the current status of all IOI teams is here, including which positions are missing, all marked out.”

Zhao Xuming reluctantly took it and glanced over it.

All IOI teams were listed in a table, with missing positions marked in red. Looking at it was like playing Minesweeper, but the kind where the mines had already exploded.

After some consideration, Zhao Xuming said, “Let’s do this. Gather these veteran clubs that still maintain IOI divisions for a meeting, and put together the three strongest teams to participate in the World Finals.”

“As for exactly how to assemble them, let these owners negotiate among themselves, with us mediating.”

“Then, have them start training immediately!”

The so-called “self-negotiation” simply meant that owners qualified to participate in the finals would pay to buy players for other positions to strengthen themselves.

There weren’t many domestic IOI players to begin with, and now with this situation, it was completely a matter of choosing generals from among dwarfs.

Zhao Xuming continued, “Alright, that’s settled then. We’ve given them the slots; how well they perform is up to them.”

“We need to start preparing to coordinate with Finger Company to promote the World Finals, and negotiations with various streaming platforms must begin immediately…”

Zhao Xuming began assigning tasks one by one.

Dragon Yu Group, after all, was a veteran game operator in China, with unquestionable work capabilities in this area. Various promotional tasks were quickly arranged.

Although everything had been considered, Zhao Xuming still felt uneasy.

After all, since IOI and GOG began direct competition, Mr. Pei had always been flawless in his strategies, winning every time.

So this time, could Dragon Yu Group and Dayark Group together defeat GOG, which had already firmly occupied the domestic market?

Zhao Xuming wasn’t confident. He vaguely felt that the key this time lay in the World Finals. Only if they could organize it well would IOI’s domestic server have a glimmer of hope for a comeback from the brink.

Therefore, failure was not an option!