Friday afternoon.

Pei Qian was checking the latest report submitted by Shangyang Games in his office.

This weekend, the IOI qualifiers and the GPL pre-season will be held simultaneously, with the schedules directly clashing.

The GPL pre-season tournament needed no introduction. From the moment it was announced until now, players have been eagerly following it, almost unable to contain their excitement.

Tickets for the GPL pre-season, except for the internal company quota, had long been sold out. Those who couldn’t get tickets could only watch on streaming platforms or visit the Slackin’ Internet Café to experience the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Dragon Yu Group had invested significant resources to promote the IOI qualifiers, including the IOI national server website, various video game websites, clubs, and self-media channels.

During the promotion, Dragon Yu Group linked the IOI qualifiers with several established clubs and the IOI World Championship, achieving decent promotional results.

On one hand, slogans like “Challenge the World’s Peak” sounded impressive. On the other hand, established clubs like SUG already had strong reputations among esports enthusiasts, which objectively enhanced the qualifiers’ prestige and recognition.

Dragon Yu Group’s promotion came later than FV Club’s, but they spent much more money.

FV Club had spent 3 million on promotional expenses. Based on this standard, Dragon Yu Group’s promotional budget must have reached around 10 million.

Pei Qian wasn’t sure whether Dragon Yu Group had been stimulated by FV Club’s promotion or if they had already planned their promotion strategy and were simply two days late in executing it.

But that didn’t matter. The important thing was that the IOI qualifiers now had enough attention and wouldn’t be completely overshadowed by the GPL pre-season, which was good news for Pei Qian.

Pei Qian checked the time—it was 4 PM, about time to finish work and welcome the wonderful weekend.

He closed Shangyang Games’ report, then shut down his computer, ready to happily go home and sleep.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Pei Qian was taken aback. Who would come to report for work on Friday afternoon?

“Come in.”

As soon as Pei Qian finished speaking, Tang Yishu pushed the door open.

She looked somewhat travel-worn, probably having just rushed back to Jingzhou from the capital, and had come straight to see him.

“Senior, tomorrow is a rest day, and I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough time, so I came directly to report,” Tang Yishu said, her chest slightly heaving, obviously having jogged a bit on the way.

Pei Qian poured a cup of tea: “No need to rush. It’s not particularly important, and it could wait until Monday. Here, have some tea.”

Tang Yishu held the teacup and took a few sips, then began to share her observations in the capital.

“Senior, at the incubation base, those indie games have quite a lot of bugs, and their completion seems quite poor. But their work efficiency is not bad. As you instructed, I’ve made it mandatory for them to play games at least 10 hours per week.”

“As for Cold Noodle Girl, I… I couldn’t see anything wrong. Everything seemed quite good—the decor, the service, all acceptable, and business was booming. The only issue was that when I visited, there was a small problem in the kitchen, so the food service was a bit slow.”

“Oh, and when I was there, I happened to run into some people. The owner of Cold Noodle Girl seemed to be giving them an introduction, but I couldn’t quite hear what she was introducing.”

Following Pei Qian’s instructions before her trip, Tang Yishu observed the incubation base and Cold Noodle Girl’s store from her perspective, trying her best to recall and report the details she had noticed.

Pei Qian stroked his chin, his brows slightly furrowed.

The things Little Tang reported were both good and bad news for him.

Lots of bugs in the incubation base? Well, that was expected. Indie games were naturally bug-ridden, and with Little Tang’s aura, just fixing bugs would keep these indie game developers overwhelmed.

This way, the bugs would greatly distract their energy, and game development progress would slow down significantly—that was good news.

These developers’ high work efficiency wasn’t a good sign, but forcing them to play games for ten hours every week should, like the bugs, divert their energy from game development.

In other words, the incubation base only had some minor issues, all within his expectations, and they had been largely mitigated.

But the situation at Cold Noodle Girl was much less optimistic.

Tang Yishu, as an ordinary consumer, couldn’t find fault with the dining environment, service attitude, or food taste, which meant Meng Chang was doing well!

For a fast-food brand to reach this level was quite sufficient.

Like those large chain fast-food brands, their food was indeed tastier, but exceptionally delicious? Not really.

The essence of fast food was “fast” and standardized processes, ensuring all dishes maintained a relatively high quality level while prioritizing speed.

According to Tang Yishu’s description, evaluating Cold Noodle Girl by fast-food standards, it undoubtedly passed.

The only issue might be the serving speed, but that was likely due to Little Tang’s influence, not Cold Noodle Girl’s kitchen’s fault.

Even Mr. Li’s Ming Fu Family Banquet couldn’t withstand it, let alone an ordinary fast-food restaurant like Cold Noodle Girl.

Once Little Tang left the store, everything would probably return to normal.

Didn’t this mean… Cold Noodle Girl had essentially no major flaws in ordinary consumers’ eyes?

Decent food and service, plus Meng Chang’s outstanding marketing abilities, plus Dreamrealization Investment’s continuous funding…

This project was bound to cause trouble sooner or later!

Even if the stores weren’t profitable, under Meng Chang’s active fundraising, Cold Noodle Girl’s valuation would inevitably skyrocket. Since Dreamrealization Investment held many shares in Cold Noodle Girl, it was like holding a hot potato that only got hotter the longer you held it!

Little Tang also mentioned that Meng Chang was hosting some guests, introducing them to various details about Cold Noodle Girl.

Who were these people? If they were just ordinary friends, would Meng Chang personally receive them at the store and give introductions?

Most likely investors!

Cold Noodle Girl’s stores were doing well, and Meng Chang was articulate. She would probably convince other investors to join sooner or later.

Cold Noodle Girl’s valuation was going to skyrocket again!

After making this deduction, Pei Qian suddenly realized that the situation might be much more dangerous than he had imagined.

Of course, Pei Qian couldn’t be certain whether Cold Noodle Girl would become wildly popular, but considering his luck, he didn’t dare take the risk.

It seemed he needed to prepare mentally for an early exit to limit his profits.

However, in the current situation, trying to sell off the 8 million he had invested at a loss would be difficult. He could only reluctantly make some profit and cut his losses early.

Holding on longer would only mean more profit.

Pei Qian silently noted this down, planning to find He Desheng next week and have him sell all Cold Noodle Girl shares at an appropriate time. They couldn’t continue holding them.

After asking a few more detailed questions, Pei Qian became even more convinced of his assessment.

“You’ve worked hard these past few days. There’s no Loss-prevention Alliance meeting tomorrow, so go home, rest well, and study hard.”

…

…

December 10th, Saturday.

GOG’s GPL pre-season and IOI’s qualifiers kicked off simultaneously!

Though they started on the same day, the two tournaments had very different schedules.

The GPL pre-season would run until the end of the month, so only two to three BO3s were scheduled each day, starting at 1 PM and ending around 9 PM at the latest.

IOI’s qualifiers were different. With fewer participating teams and essentially being a formality to quickly determine World Championship spots, the schedule was extremely compressed.

Matches ran all day Saturday and Sunday, from morning to evening, completing the entire qualifier in just two days to decide the three World Championship spots.

This seemingly illogical schedule was deliberately arranged by Zhao Xuming of Dragon Yu Group, with several considerations in mind.

First, it created a traffic-drawing effect.

Compared to the GPL pre-season, though they started on the same day, the IOI qualifiers began in the morning. Many players waiting for GPL matches with nothing to do in the morning would naturally check out the IOI qualifiers, objectively achieving the goal of drawing traffic.

Second, it freed up time for teams to prepare for the World Championship.

Zhao Xuming had received internal information from Christian that the World Championship would use a new version of the game, with appropriate adjustments to gameplay to showcase IOI’s new features.

Currently, IOI’s new version is gradually gaining recognition from players worldwide, and internal research by Finger Company found that the new version did indeed speed up game pace and enhance competitiveness, thereby improving match spectator value.

Therefore, using the new version for the World Championship could demonstrate the interesting aspects of IOI’s new version to those “stubborn” old players while better attracting new players.

However, version changes greatly impacted teams, so Zhao Xuming wanted the qualifiers to finish quickly, allowing the three teams attending the World Championship to start training on IOI’s new version sooner.

Finally, it was about getting through the formalities quickly to prevent unexpected developments.

Unlike traditional sports, the skill gap between esports teams wasn’t that large. Often, slight changes in game versions could reverse team power dynamics.

If the tournament stretched longer, some teams might improve through the tournament experience.

Since Zhao Xuming wanted the three established clubs to advance, he naturally wanted to avoid such situations.

Compressing the schedule to finish everything within two days prevented weaker teams from improving through matches, making the results more predictable.

…

Zhao Xuming was backstage in the broadcast hall, supervising operations.

Staff members were preparing orderly, the director was testing equipment, competing players were discussing tactics in the backstage rest areas, and audience members were gradually taking their seats.

Though the venue for the qualifiers couldn’t compare to GPL’s facilities, after two days of rushed preparations, it now looked reasonably presentable.

Apart from being smaller with fewer spectators, there weren’t any major issues.

Zhao Xuming felt somewhat trapped. He hadn’t planned to spend so much money originally, but FV Club’s promotion had generated significant interest. As the tournament organizer, Dragon Yu Group couldn’t just stand by.

He could only silently pray that the qualifiers would be exciting, making the money well spent in terms of generating buzz, and strengthening cooperation between Finger Company and Dragon Yu Group.

After checking all operations and confirming everything was in order, Zhao Xuming breathed a sigh of relief, his tense nerves relaxing somewhat.

Just then, hurried footsteps approached.

Zhao Xuming turned to see Ding Gan, SUG Club’s owner, walking over with an ashen face, clutching a piece of paper and looking extremely angry.

Zhao Xuming was taken aback: “Mr. Ding? Why so angry? Shouldn’t you be in the SUG Club’s rest area preparing for the match?”

Ding Gan was indeed furious, but he didn’t dare vent his anger at Zhao Xuming. He extended the paper: “Mr. Zhao! Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

Zhao Xuming was confused. He took the paper from Ding Gan and saw it was the FV Club’s roster.

Since the qualifiers had been prepared in a rush, and many small clubs’ player rosters hadn’t been fully confirmed, the organizers had only finalized all club rosters yesterday.

Zhao Xuming wasn’t familiar with these players and didn’t notice any issues with FV’s roster. Since it was already very late, he hadn’t sent out any further notifications.

FV Club and SUG Club’s match was scheduled for this afternoon, so Ding Gan had just received FV Club’s roster and immediately came storming to find Zhao Xuming.

Zhao Xuming still didn’t understand what was happening. He scanned the FV Club’s roster but didn’t see anything unusual. “What’s wrong with this roster?” he asked.

Ding Gan was exasperated: “Mr. Zhao, these five players from FV Club are all star players from the IOI divisions of our established clubs! They were all bought by those GPL clubs!”

“These five players are individually very strong, and now they’ve all gone to FV Club—this is a dream team!”

“Mr. Zhao, do you understand what this means?”

Zhao Xuming was shocked, immediately grasping the severity of the problem.

It meant that one of the three established clubs, including SUG, might lose its spot!

Zhao Xuming frowned deeply, asking bewilderedly: “How could this happen? Where did FV Club get the money to buy so many star players?”

Ding Gan was equally baffled: “How would I know! I just saw this roster now. Mr. Zhao, you need to handle this! Our three clubs have spent large sums to buy players and strengthen our teams for this World Championship spot. If someone else snatches it away, that would be…”

Zhao Xuming was very frustrated: “What do you expect me to do?”

“Cancel FV Club’s qualification? Impossible! They’re participating through proper channels and buying players through normal means. If we forcibly cancel their qualification, wouldn’t that make Dragon Yu Group a laughingstock across the country?”

“Forget about cancellation—any small tricks that get exposed would ruin Dragon Yu Group’s reputation and even affect Finger Company’s reputation and the upcoming World Finals.”

“There’s nothing I can do. You’ll have to fend for yourselves.”

“Dragon Yu Group has already given your three clubs preferential treatment during player acquisitions. If you still can’t win the qualifiers, then you’re simply incompetent and don’t deserve to go to the World Championship!”

Ding Gan grimaced: “Mr. Zhao, think carefully. There must be something fishy here!”

“FV Club is just a small club. Where did they get the money to buy so many star players? These players’ transfer fees combined would reach millions, and those GPL clubs aren’t short on money—why would they sell? There must be a problem!”

“Mr. Zhao, aren’t you worried that GOG’s side is deliberately causing trouble?”

This statement gave Zhao Xuming pause, as it was indeed a significant suspicion.

But upon further reflection, Zhao Xuming realized there was still nothing he could do.

FV Club’s actions were all legitimate. Their qualification was granted by Dragon Yu Group; they purchased players through proper channels, and there had been no previous restrictions on team personnel. Even if they knew FV Club had some connection with GOG, they couldn’t just kick them out now.

Besides, if FV Club legitimately knocked out one of the predetermined clubs, they would still have three teams competing, and the overall strength of the national teams would increase.

The only downside would be damage to an established club’s interests, which wouldn’t affect the big picture. At worst, they could offer some compensation afterward.

With this in mind, Zhao Xuming waved his hand dismissively: “I can’t help with this. Figure it out yourselves. I’ve already done my best to pave the way for you. If you can’t win the qualifiers in the end, it only proves your incompetence, not someone else’s fault.”

“This…” Ding Gan opened his mouth but couldn’t come up with a more convincing argument, so he could only leave awkwardly.

Walking back to the SUG Club’s rest area, Ding Gan grew increasingly angry.

He couldn’t help wanting to confront Wu Yue, FV Club’s owner, but ultimately restrained himself.

There wasn’t much basis for arguing about this kind of thing.

He could only hope that SUG’s players would put up a good fight and protect their World Championship spot!

…

In the afternoon, after leaving Shanghai’s high-speed rail station, Pei Qian took the subway directly to the IOI qualifiers venue.

Between the GPL League’s opening ceremony and the IOI qualifiers, Pei Qian decisively chose the latter.

The reason was simple. Whether or not he watched the GPL League probably wouldn’t change much—its popularity was certainly not going to be low. Pei Qian wanted to check the situation at the IOI qualifiers, preferably to confirm that FV Club would be eliminated, after which he could watch the GPL matches with peace of mind.

This time, the IOI qualifiers were held in an auditorium on the top floor of a shopping mall in Shanghai. Though not very large, with a capacity of only 600 spectators, it was in a good location.

Pei Qian took just a few subway stops from Shanghai’s high-speed rail station to reach it.

The qualifiers had already started in the morning. Pei Qian had watched a few matches on the high-speed train, though since he didn’t play IOI much and wasn’t familiar with the heroes and abilities, he found it somewhat boring. He could only roughly tell that there was a clear skill gap between the teams.

The match schedule was quite peculiar. Eight teams were divided into two groups, completing group stages in the morning and afternoon to determine four teams, and then tomorrow, through BO5 elimination matches, one team will be eliminated.

FV Club’s matches were in the afternoon, and they were in the same group as SUG, an established club.

The entire schedule was packed, so for Pei Qian, the best outcome would be seeing FV Club eliminated this afternoon, which would put his mind at ease.

If by some stroke of luck they made it to the elimination stage, Pei Qian would book a hotel nearby and watch the elimination matches tomorrow before leaving.

Of course, Pei Qian thought such a possibility was extremely remote.

Considering that Shanghai had many young people, Pei Qian wore a black mask to cover his face and maintain a low profile.

Although Jingzhou was now called the “Esports Capital” by many netizens, attracting many young people, it still lagged far behind a super first-tier city like Shanghai.

The shopping mall was crowded with streams of young people chatting and laughing, with the escalators full of people going up.

Pei Qian glanced at the elevators, which were even more crowded, so he followed the flow of people up the escalators to the top floor.

“Hmm, could all these people be here for the IOI qualifiers? Dragon Yu Group’s promotion work seems pretty effective.”

“I was worried that the viewer numbers on streaming platforms might be fake, but now it seems that even if they’re inflated, it can’t be by too much.”

“Good! Hopefully, they’ll divert some attention from GPL!”

In the morning, Pei Qian had noticed that though IOI qualifier livestreams had decent viewership on various platforms, there weren’t many comments, making him worry that the numbers might be artificially inflated.

But seeing this lively offline scene reassured him.

Hopefully, Dragon Yu Group and Finger Company could take root in Shanghai and create another “Esports Capital” to compete with Jingzhou!

Pei Qian continued upward. Many people were just shopping, so the crowd gradually thinned out.

Pei Qian didn’t mind, keeping his head down, scrolling through his phone. Most people should be headed to the top floor anyway.

However, after several floors, the crowd suddenly split!

About half the people stopped taking the escalator up and stayed on this floor.

Pei Qian paused, suddenly feeling something was off.

He put away his phone and looked up. This was the 7th floor, but the IOI qualifiers auditorium should be on the 9th floor.

Looking carefully at where these people were heading, Pei Qian’s expression froze.

There was a Slackin’ Internet Café here?

Yes, the familiar Slackin’ Internet Café logo, and it was the Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 Esports Living Hall model.

The large screen outside the café displayed the same image as the livestream—the countdown to the GPL pre-season opening match between the EK and H4 teams, the champion and runner-up from the previous Global Invitational.

The GPL pre-season opener was certainly impressive.

All ten players’ promotional photos had been retaken. Huang Wang and Jiang Huan, as the core players of the two teams, struck cool poses, their muscular physiques visible beneath their team uniforms.

Besides these two, the other players also showed noticeable physical changes after this period of training, with increased muscle mass.

There was a large open area in front of the internet café with chairs already set up, most of them occupied by spectators.

Pei Qian was momentarily at a loss.

So all those people going upstairs weren’t interested in the IOI qualifiers—they were here for GPL!

More than half of them had come to watch matches at the Slackin’ Internet Café!

But wait, how did a Slackin’ Internet Café suddenly appear here?

When did this happen?

Long ago, after the success of the Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 model, Pei Qian had decided to let this business grow naturally, allowing Xiao Peng to open Slackin’ Internet Cafés wherever he wanted, as long as he ensured that all earned money was spent.

Now it seemed this Slackin’ Internet Café was the result of Xiao Peng’s expansion into Shanghai.

Pei Qian was speechless.

This Zhao Xuming from Dragon Yu Group really couldn’t pick a better location?

Couldn’t he choose a mall without a Slackin’ Internet Café? Did he have to compete directly with GOG?

But then Pei Qian realized another possibility.

Zhao Xuming must have carefully selected the venue for the IOI qualifiers, which couldn’t be too large or too small. There weren’t many suitable auditoriums in Shanghai, and most were in large shopping malls.

And Xiao Peng, when opening a Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 in Shanghai, would naturally prioritize large malls with heavy foot traffic.

So… this clash, seemingly coincidental, was in some ways inevitable.

One could even imagine a more terrifying possibility—perhaps all of Shanghai’s most famous, largest malls already had Slackin’ Internet Cafés?

Pei Qian shuddered, frightened by his thought.

Some things really shouldn’t be overthought. The more you think, the more disturbing it becomes.

After checking the time, Pei Qian decided to visit the Slackin’ Internet Café first, then head to the IOI match venue.

As soon as he entered through the main entrance, Pei Qian was startled.

Compared to the previous Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0, there were some subtle changes!

The most striking difference was that the entire café now displayed team flags identical to those in the GPL venue, with flags of the next match’s teams automatically lighting up.

The front desk was distributing various small support items and souvenirs for today’s competing teams. Behind the front desk, the wall displayed hero figurines, team uniforms, and other small items, with many people inquiring about prices.

Compared to the initial 3.0 model, the current model has greatly improved in terms of atmosphere.

When the Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 model was first created, although Xiao Peng claimed it was part of Tenda’s grand esports strategy, the GPL League hadn’t even started then. The Esports Living Hall model was just a concept without physical support.

But now the GPL League was running, participating clubs were confirmed, and even GDL and café tournaments were ready. The venue’s decoration style, team uniform coordination, star players, and other details had all been perfected.

So there were now many more materials available for decorating Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0, making it less monotonous than before.

The entire café was clearly designed as a miniature GPL venue, matching both style and details with the GPL site, allowing viewers who couldn’t attend GPL events to experience the match atmosphere.

For players participating in café tournaments, it also provided an early taste of offline competition, gaining fans and recognition within a small circle, which would support them on the difficult path to becoming professional players.

Most people in the café were playing GOG, while some were leisurely drinking milk tea while waiting for GPL to start.

Outside the café, some had come specifically to watch the matches, while others might have been tired from shopping and stopped to rest.

But seeing the foot traffic and enthusiasm outside the café, Pei Qian suddenly became concerned about the IOI qualifiers in the top-floor auditorium.

The atmosphere outside the café was very lively. A few young people, apparently together, were engaged in animated discussion.

“There seems to be an IOI match venue upstairs. Want to check it out?”

“Not interested. I don’t understand IOI, so what’s there to see?”

“I watched a bit on my phone this morning. The gap between teams is too large. Except for those two or three strong teams, the rest are all weak. There’s no suspense, and I don’t recognize most of the players. The matches aren’t exciting at all.”

“Watching the DGE battle is more interesting. Huang Wang versus Jiang Huan—wonder how well they’ve maintained their skills after not competing for so long.”

“If there’s a chance, we should go watch in Jingzhou in person. That should be more exciting.”

“Definitely. Matches are best watched in a group to feel the excitement. It’s already this lively watching outside an internet café—imagine how wild it must be at the venue! When I get the chance, I’ll go to Jingzhou for a few days, take photos outside the clubs, try to bump into pro players, check out the original hand-painted GOG hero phone booths, and watch some GOG matches. Perfect!”

Many shopping malls in Shanghai also had GOG hero shared phone booths, but the hero illustrations outside weren’t hand-painted.

So, most players still felt that the hand-painted hero illustrations in Jingzhou were the authentic ones.

From these young people’s conversations, it was clear that both the shared phone booths and Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 had objectively accelerated the spread of GOG culture.

Many people might not have been initially excited about GPL matches, but after watching matches with friends at a Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 and experiencing the thrill of watching live, they would naturally want to visit Jingzhou in person, buy a ticket, and see what a GPL venue felt like.

Pei Qian walked around and quietly left.

He had originally thought about leaving Jingzhou for Shanghai to relax and watch some matches, but instead found himself unexpectedly ambushed again!

This was too painful.

Reaching the top floor, Pei Qian followed the crowd and signage to the IOI match venue and found his seat.

Having watched the IOI qualifier livestream in the morning, Pei Qian already had a mental image of the venue, but seeing it in person, he still found it a bit small.

The GPL venue was 12 meters high, 4,500 square meters, and could accommodate up to 1,800 people, exactly three times the capacity of this venue.

However, perhaps due to camera positioning and livestream direction, the IOI qualifier director didn’t focus many shots on the venue itself, so the difference wasn’t so noticeable on the livestream, which was good news.

Since he had spent some time at the Slackin’ Internet Café, by the time Pei Qian sat down, the two commentators were already warming up the audience.

Meanwhile, players from FV Club and the SUG Club were entering the stage and beginning to set up their equipment.

The two commentators were professional and good at engaging the audience. After a simple opening and self-introduction, they briefly mentioned the morning’s matches, confirming that the other two established clubs had already advanced to tomorrow’s elimination rounds.

After the afternoon’s group matches, two more teams would advance to the elimination stage. Then, one of the four teams would be eliminated, and the remaining three teams would go to the World Championship.

After warming up the audience, the commentators naturally shifted to discussing the upcoming match.

“It’s surprising that the first match of the afternoon is already the highlight, with FV Club facing the established SUG Club.”

“Many viewers might not be familiar with FV Club and assume this will be a one-sided battle. I initially thought FV Club would be the weakest team in this group, but after seeing the participating players’ roster, I realized that’s not the case.”

“FV Club’s players are all former star players from the IOI divisions of various major clubs. They’re all IDs we’re familiar with!”

“Although we don’t know how long this team has been together or how well they’ve been coordinating, just looking at this lineup, it’s worthy of being called the current IOI all-star team that could be assembled domestically!”

“The first match of the afternoon might be even more exciting than this morning’s matches, so those of you who came to the venue this afternoon, you’re in for a treat! The exciting match is about to begin. Let’s wait and see!”

The two commentators were enthusiastic, clearly looking forward to the upcoming match.

However, after hearing the commentators, Pei Qian’s gaze became bewildered, with a question mark slowly appearing above his head.

?

All-star team?

Strong skills?

Is this describing the FV Club?

Is this describing the bottom-tier team I invested in, which only had three players?

Wait, is something wrong?