October 17th, Wednesday.

As the high-speed train approached Jingzhou, Zhao Xuming felt inexplicably nervous.

This whole affair had been far too sudden!

Just yesterday, he had been properly working at Longyu Group, but by morning his resignation procedures had been handled at lightning speed. After a brief handover of his work in the afternoon and informing his family, today he was already on the high-speed train to Jingzhou.

The distance from Jingzhou to Magic City wasn’t particularly far. Although flying would take much less time in the air, when you factored in the journey to the airport, security checks, waiting for boarding, and all the other procedures, it was more troublesome than taking the high-speed train. That’s why Zhao Xuming chose the train.

The entire process had been so fast and rushed that Zhao Xuming hadn’t mentally prepared himself at all.

Longyu Group was pushing quite urgently, and Tenda seemed to be in a hurry too.

Zhao Xuming received more attention during his resignation than he had while employed, which was quite absurd.

This time, Zhao Xuming hadn’t brought his family, only the most basic luggage as if going on a regular business trip.

He planned to first check out Tenda, get used to his work, and if things really stabilized and the timing was right, he would consider relocating.

“I wonder what it will be like to meet Mr. Pei…”

“It’s surprising that Mr. Pei actually traded a game design idea for me…”

Zhao Xuming was inexplicably anxious, fearing he wouldn’t live up to Mr. Pei’s expectations.

To make a somewhat inappropriate comparison, Mr. Pei’s ideas were like gold mines, inherently valuable, with the only issue being the need to invest some labor and time to extract the gold.

Now Mr. Pei was essentially handing over a gold mine, giving up on digging it himself, and instead letting others do the mining and sharing the profits.

That was no small sacrifice.

In Longyu Group’s eyes, Zhao Xuming was clearly worth less than a profitable game.

Zhao Xuming felt the same way about himself.

What if he didn’t achieve outstanding results after joining Tenda? Wouldn’t that be too embarrassing?

After all, Mr. Pei had traded an idea for him, and what if the results were disappointing?

Just thinking about it made him feel like he would die of social embarrassment.

Previously at Longyu Group, he could get by with minimal effort because there was a ceiling to what he could achieve anyway, and nobody would notice.

But at Tenda, the employees were the elite of the elite. If he slacked off, wouldn’t it be easily discovered?

This gave Zhao Xuming an inexplicable sense of crisis, like being a student from a regular class specifically selected by the teacher to join an advanced class—it was too much pressure!

While he was lost in these thoughts, his phone rang.

It was Eric calling.

“Huh? Is Eric back?”

Zhao Xuming calculated the time and figured that Eric should indeed be about done with his business over there.

“But… I’m no longer with Longyu Group!”

Zhao Xuming felt a bit awkward. He guessed Eric was probably calling about IOI matters, but he had already resigned and was about to defect to Mr. Pei’s side…

Yesterday’s partner had become today’s enemy. What should he do?

After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Xuming answered the call: “Hello?”

Eric said, “Mr. Zhao, I just got off the plane.”

“There’s something I need to tell you, so prepare yourself.”

“Mr. Pei might contact you soon about poaching you to Tenda.”

“I’ve decided to join Tenda and have already quit my job at Dyarch Group. I told Mr. Pei that I wanted him to poach you too so we could work together again, and he agreed at the time.”

“This might not be easy to arrange since you’re still bound by a non-compete agreement and aren’t a free agent. Anyway, when Mr. Pei contacts you, try to be cooperative. I really hope we can continue working together.”

Zhao Xuming’s mouth opened slightly, momentarily speechless.

“Mr. Zhao?” Eric thought Zhao Xuming was too shocked by the news to respond.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Xuming said, “To be honest, I’m already on the high-speed train and will arrive in Jingzhou in less than an hour.”

“Mr. Pei has already arranged everything.”

This time it was Eric’s turn to fall silent.

Even through the phone, Zhao Xuming could sense Eric’s shock.

It had all happened far too quickly!

In reality, after Eric returned to Dyarch Group headquarters, he did become the scapegoat. However, the headquarters’ disciplinary action was merely a reassignment and a mild reprimand without any salary reduction.

After all, the headquarters understood that Eric had already taken the blame, and reducing his position or salary would have been excessive.

But Eric immediately submitted his resignation.

The headquarters tried to retain him two or three times without success, and eventually had no choice but to let him hand over his work and complete the resignation procedures.

During this process, the HR department didn’t forget to remind Eric about his non-compete agreement.

But Eric didn’t care at all.

What about the non-compete agreement? It couldn’t reach the place he was going!

Although Dyarch Group was large and wouldn’t miss someone like him, Eric still had to go through a complicated bureaucratic process before finally completing all the procedures.

Flying directly to Jingzhou, and after landing, Eric only then remembered to call Zhao Xuming.

He estimated that by now, Mr. Pei should be about to make his move to poach Zhao Xuming, so he wanted to give him a heads-up to prepare.

But unexpectedly, Zhao Xuming was arriving in Jingzhou at almost the same time as himself…

And things had gone much more smoothly for him than for Eric.

This gave Eric mixed feelings—envy on one hand, and being touched on the other.

Had Mr. Pei really poached Zhao Xuming just because of his one comment?

That was real appreciation!

This level of appreciation was something he had never experienced at Dyarch Group.

After both were silent for a few seconds, Eric said, “Alright, then I’ll see you in Jingzhou.”

——

Over an hour later.

After Zhao Xuming and Eric had each settled into their hotels, they took a car to Tenda headquarters to meet Mr. Pei.

They looked at each other, speechless.

Just last week, they had been fighting side by side against the powerful Tenda Group, but this week they had both defected, which felt quite ironic.

When they arrived at the entrance of Shenhua Luxury View, as soon as they got out of the car, they saw Mr. Pei approaching with a smile on his face: “Welcome, welcome!”

“Having both of you join Tenda is truly heaven-sent!”

“I’ve arranged a welcome dinner for you two at the Nameless Restaurant on the 20th. You must honor us with your presence.”

“Today, I’ll first take you to hand over your work. If you need anything, feel free to let me know directly.”

Seeing Mr. Pei so enthusiastic, both men felt slightly overwhelmed by the honor.

In their minds, eight words appeared: “Defeated generals dare not speak of valor!”

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Pei Qian took Eric and Zhao Xuming directly to the seventeenth floor, which housed Tenda’s gaming department.

As they walked, Pei Qian explained: “Currently, Tenda’s gaming department is mainly divided into two parts. One part is responsible for developing new games, and the other part handles the operation and maintenance of GOG.”

“However, this floor has long been overcrowded, and workstations that couldn’t fit have been arranged on other floors. Only the core staff are on this floor.”

“I’ve been thinking about adjusting things a bit and moving the GOG project team out, but I haven’t found the opportunity.”

“This is a perfect chance. With some personnel changes, we can separate the people responsible for GOG development and operations.”

“When Tenda’s headquarters building is constructed, there will be enough space, but the building is only in the planning stages now and is far from completion.”

Looking at the sparse workstations, Zhao Xuming wondered if Mr. Pei’s definition of “overcrowded” might be slightly off.

Eric, seeing how few people were in the entire department, didn’t show contempt but instead became serious.

At Longyu Group, there were many people just handling the operations of IOI.

Yet at Tenda, the total number of people for development, operations, and everything else combined was only a few dozen!

This suggested that Tenda’s employees were exceptionally capable, with each one doing the work of two or three people elsewhere.

Working with such outstanding people and being their leader, Eric felt the pressure.

Pei Qian took the two of them directly to Min Jingchao’s workstation.

“Starting tomorrow, you won’t be responsible for the GOG project anymore. I have other arrangements for you.”

“Hand over your work and find a senior employee to be responsible for GOG’s continued development. As for GOG’s domestic and international operations, that will be handed over to these two.”

“They’re old friends, so no need for detailed introductions—Mr. Eric and Mr. Zhao Xuming.”

Min Jingchao: “Huh?”

His expression was full of surprise, clearly not mentally prepared at all.

He had just arrived at work not long ago, barely had time to warm his chair, and suddenly Mr. Pei came by to remove him from his position?!

But Min Jingchao didn’t say anything, just stood up and nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”

Pei Qian said, “Complete the handover as soon as possible, then come with me to Yangcheng.”

“Also, prepare a list of all current GOG project personnel, and we’ll arrange a new office location later.”

“Alright, go ahead with the handover. If you have any questions, come find me.”

With that, Pei Qian left very casually.

Eric and Zhao Xuming looked at each other, both clearly a bit confused.

Just like that?

Judging from Min Jingchao’s bewildered expression, Mr. Pei obviously hadn’t communicated with him about this matter beforehand!

He had directly reassigned his work, and most importantly, Min Jingchao hadn’t raised any objections or questions and had immediately gone to execute the order.

This level of execution and efficiency was truly frightening.

It also further confirmed that Mr. Pei’s control within Tenda was astonishing.

This control wasn’t merely power or pressure. It was clear that Min Jingchao had no complaints about the arrangement and seemed to accept Mr. Pei’s decision from the bottom of his heart.

This indicated that Mr. Pei’s prestige within Tenda was terrifyingly high…

Working in such an extraordinary company meant that much of their previous work experience, including interpersonal skills with colleagues, probably wouldn’t be applicable and would need to be relearned.

Min Jingchao had certainly heard the names of Eric and Zhao Xuming before, as they were old competitors, but he had no idea when Mr. Pei had mysteriously poached both of them.

“It’s an honor to meet you both,” Min Jingchao smiled.

Zhao Xuming quickly responded: “Not at all. We should be the ones saying it’s an honor. We’ve been consistently beaten and never won against you.”

Eric nodded: “Indeed. We’re primarily here with a learning mindset. Please guide us!”