Several guys wearing DGE team uniforms shouted excitedly, immediately triggering a chorus of “DGE” cheers from those around them.

This scene could happen at any GOG match—no matter which two teams were playing, someone would inevitably end up cheering for DGE.

It just showed that although DGE hadn’t participated in any official or unofficial competitions for a long time, its legend still lived forever in the hearts of the audience.

Seeing the DGE uniforms these people were wearing and the DGE support items they were holding up, Pei Qian felt a twinge of pain.

A team that wasn’t even competing anymore was selling more uniforms than the current championship team—it was fucking ridiculous!

How much money must the DGE club be making from selling these uniforms and merchandise?

“No, wait, the uniforms aren’t the main issue.”

“Could today be the GPL Spring Finals?!”

Pei Qian suddenly realized the key to the problem.

If it were just a regular match, there wouldn’t be so many spectators here!

And the number of people now gathered at the entrances of Jinsheng Plaza and Yuanda Tiandi malls clearly far exceeded the capacity of the multi-function hall at the GPL venue.

But even if there was a final today, why would everyone gather here?

The venue couldn’t fit them all anyway?

Looking toward Jinsheng Plaza, Pei Qian instantly understood.

Because on the big screen was an enormous promotional poster for the two teams competing today!

The big screen was actually divided into three parts. The center was the giant glass curtain wall of the Tenda Experience Store. The screen itself didn’t block the glass wall but extended as a long strip above it, connecting to the large screens on both sides.

The screens on both sides covered the entire outer wall of the second, third, and fourth floors, with a design that extended slightly outward, somewhat like a pair of wings, though more structured.

At present, the two side screens were red and blue respectively, featuring the battle flags of the two teams and photos of all team members, creating quite a tense atmosphere.

And on the long strip screen above the experience store’s glass curtain wall was a countdown to the start of the match.

Moreover, this display wasn’t static—it was dynamic. After a period of time, it would play various promotional videos, such as trailers for the GPL Spring Season, new GOG version promos, player interviews, and so on.

The promotional video for this final also included highlight reels from the previous quarter-finals and semi-finals. Both large screens played simultaneously, presenting the enormous game footage to the audience.

The open area between the two exterior walls of Jinsheng Plaza had directly transformed into a perfect offline viewing venue. Even the street-facing side of the Yuanda Tiandi building had a view of the screen!

These people had obviously gathered here for an offline viewing event!

Seeing this scene, Pei Qian was utterly speechless.

This was such a setup!

I had you install big screens, but not for this purpose!

Little Sun said, “Mr. Pei, please go in and look around first. I’ll park the car in Jinsheng Plaza’s underground parking lot.”

Pei Qian shook his head. “No need.”

With that, he opened the car door and sat back down.

“Let’s go. I’ve seen enough.”

What was the point of looking further when things had already come to this?

It was obviously a complete loss!

Pei Qian didn’t want to waste any more time going into the experience store. Anyone could guess that it must be packed to capacity right now.

Although the weather wasn’t particularly hot or sunny today, it was still summer. Who wouldn’t prefer to enjoy the air conditioning inside the experience store rather than standing outside?

Wasn’t it normal to visit the Tenda Experience Store before the match started, and then go up to the top floor for some good food?

So Pei Qian felt there was no need to waste time making himself uncomfortable. Wouldn’t it be better to go home, eat some chilled watermelon, and play games in this hot weather?

There was no point in dwelling on the experience store issue anymore. It was better to look forward to something more realistic.

For instance… Finger Company must have seen Tenda’s summer promotion by now, right?

This weekend plus Monday, a total of three days, was enough time for them to react.

What kind of summer promotion would Finger Company come up with in response?

He couldn’t wait to see!

…

…

June 25th, Monday.

Longyu Group, conference room.

Eric’s expression was extremely troubled.

Zhao Xuming tried his best to shrink his neck and lower his head, minimizing his presence as much as possible.

As early as Saturday when GOG’s official website updated the specific details of this summer promotion, both Finger Company and Longyu Group had taken notice.

Everyone had been forced to work overtime this weekend.

Although the final decisions were made by the company’s senior management, in such critical moments, if the higher-ups were working overtime, how could lower-level employees justify sleeping in at home?

So everyone came in to work overtime!

This was the typical corporate mindset.

As the person in charge of IOI in the Greater China region, Eric had held several conference calls with Finger Company headquarters in the US and Dayak Group headquarters in Europe over the two days.

No one knew the content of the meetings, but Zhao Xuming could see that Eric’s face was looking increasingly grim.

Zhao Xuming was somewhat puzzled.

Logically speaking, Tenda Group’s summer promotion this time was far less generous than the one during the May 15th Game Festival, right?

During the May 15th Game Festival, they had activities and pure giveaways—as long as players spent a little time and effort playing the game, they would definitely get something in return.

But Tenda’s summer promotion this time was merely discounted sales and commemorative items given with purchases, which were very conventional approaches.

The discount was indeed greater than what Finger Company had originally planned for their summer promotion, but they wouldn’t officially announce their summer promotion until Tuesday. Couldn’t they just lower their discount a bit more?

Why was Eric so angry?

Zhao Xuming asked softly, “From what we can see of the current summer promotion plan, I don’t see any major threat?”

Eric glanced at him and said with some resignation, “On the surface, they do all seem like very ordinary promotional strategies.”

“But this summer promotion completely contradicts Mr. Pei’s usual style.”

“Don’t you wonder why?”

Zhao Xuming blinked and thought carefully.

Indeed, this activity didn’t quite match Mr. Pei’s style.

In the past, when Mr. Pei ran promotions, especially money-burning ones, they were always earth-shaking and surprising.

The May 15th Game Festival operation was a classic “Mr. Pei move.”

But this summer promotion merely adjusted the discount slightly on the basis of conventional operations, with no fundamental change.

This indeed didn’t seem like something Mr. Pei would do.

Zhao Xuming pondered, “Then… is it possible that Mr. Pei wasn’t in charge of this promotion?”

Eric looked at him. “When you start thinking like that, you’re already close to falling for it.”

Zhao Xuming suddenly became alert.

That’s right!

How clever, how vicious was Mr. Pei?

GOG and IOI had been fighting openly and secretly for so long—when had IOI ever suffered a major loss that didn’t have Mr. Pei’s scheming behind it?

During the May 15th Game Festival, Mr. Pei had just personally directed a money-burning war, almost selling buildings, and now for the summer promotion, he suddenly let go, handing over all the promotional plans to his subordinates without any personal involvement?

Was that reasonable? No, it wasn’t.

The only explanation was that Mr. Pei did this deliberately.

Therefore, this plan that didn’t match Mr. Pei’s usual style must contain a huge problem!

Zhao Xuming humbly asked, “But… what kind of trap could there be?”

Eric explained, somewhat exhausted, “Let’s not talk about conventional activities like discounts. Although 70% off is already pushing our limits, that’s the least damaging option.”

“Have you noticed Tenda’s promotion plan for the international market? Regional operators can conduct promotions according to their actual situations, and regardless of what promotional methods they adopt, Tenda will reimburse half the cost.”

“Just this point alone is enough to give us a headache!”

“GOG and IOI have chosen completely different promotion models. GOG cooperates with local operators, while IOI is uniformly operated by Finger Company’s subsidiaries established around the world.”

“GOG’s current promotion method is essentially splitting the cost—local operators pay one part, and Tenda pays another part. The more money operators spend, the better the promotional effect, and the more Tenda compensates.”

“So local operators will definitely try their best and invest the most promotional resources to maximize their benefits in this summer promotion.”

“But for IOI, we must pay both parts, and we need to choose different response strategies for the different promotional plans proposed by GOG’s regional operating companies…”