In the afternoon, in Shanghai.

Kristian had just landed and opened his phone, immediately receiving a bombardment of messages.

Looking at the series of English and Chinese messages, Kristian, who had been pulling his suitcase, stopped in his tracks with a furrowed brow.

All bad news!

His expression instantly turned grim, and his mood worsened.

“Mr. Kristian! Hello, we meet again.”

“Welcome back!”

People were already waiting at the arrival gate.

Kristian looked up and recognized this person—Jin Yong, who was previously one of Zhao Xuming’s capable assistants in ioi’s Operations Cooperation Department.

Since ioi’s Operations Cooperation Department was considered a key department within the Long Yu Group, Jin Yong’s position was actually not low. Though not at Zhao Xuming’s level, he was still a senior manager.

When Finger Company and Long Yu Group first reached an agreement on ioi’s domestic server operation, Kristian was already the Greater China Region Director, so he had interacted with these people before.

“Let’s get in the car first and talk on the way. A lot has happened in the past six months…” Jin Yong’s tone was clearly quite emotional.

Kristian nodded and followed Jin Yong and the accompanying driver to the parking lot, getting into the business car.

He had only received his appointment a few days ago, becoming the Greater China Region Director once again.

But for Kristian, there was nothing to be happy about.

The situation was even worse than when he had previously served as director!

When he first replaced Eric as the Greater China Region Director, he was at least in a state of high ambition. Cooperating with Long Yu Group to host the first ioi Global Finals, as well as a series of measures implemented as a result, were all because he firmly believed that his successful experience in the European market could revive ioi’s domestic server.

But now?

He had no such illusions at all.

Since the ioi Finals’ lackluster performance led to him being replaced by Eric, Kristian had returned to Finger Company to continue his original job, responsible for the game’s ongoing development.

For him, this outcome was not unacceptable. After all, the back-and-forth battles with GOG in the domestic server had left him somewhat physically and mentally exhausted.

Of course, in his eyes it was a battle back and forth, but in the eyes of upper management, it might have been a one-sided beating.

So for Kristian, going back to quietly designing games was actually more comforting.

But gradually, he found that something wasn’t right.

He began to frequently receive development requirements directly from Dayak Group’s upper management, such as new paid content, operational activities, and so on.

Following that came a series of bad news from ioi.

Although Kristian and Eric had different philosophies, he was very clear that Eric was definitely a capable person.

If Eric had studied Tenda for so long yet still couldn’t turn things around, then there probably wouldn’t be any turnaround in the future either…

Dayak Group’s increasingly frequent interventions, revealing ever-stronger profit motives, also made Kristian uneasy.

This time, taking on the role of director was not a promotion at all—it was entirely because everyone knew that ioi’s domestic server had become a mess, and the position of Greater China Region Director had become a scapegoat role, so no one else wanted it.

Kristian was very clear that as the Greater China Region Director, he would likely have no say in matters. He would definitely just be executing whatever tasks Dayak Group’s upper management assigned.

Just like this recent activity.

Tenda’s 1024 Digital Festival related game promotional activities were synchronized globally. Dayak Group, Finger Company, and Long Yu Group were all watching, so they received the news immediately.

Since the position of Greater China Region Director was temporarily vacant, and Kristian hadn’t yet taken office, this decision was made jointly by the upper management of all three parties.

After remote communication between the three parties, they immediately decided to seize this opportunity to launch new skins that had been in preparation for a long time, and raise prices in the process.

Of course, in this decision, Dayak Group’s upper management’s opinion probably accounted for more than 70%.

Kristian instinctively felt that there might be a trick, after all, he had dealt with Mr. Pei before, and Mr. Pei’s style of unconventional yet lethal moves had left a very deep impression on him.

But he had been away from operations for some time and wasn’t clear about the current situation, nor could he guess what specific trick Tenda was playing.

Moreover, even if he had expressed concerns, his suggestion would have been dispensable to Dayak Group’s upper management. They wouldn’t have given up the precious opportunity to raise prices just because of Kristian’s concerns.

As a result, things had turned out like this.

Kristian found that even before he got off the plane, the black pot was already hanging over his head, which made him somewhat desperate.

Sitting in the business car, Kristian sighed lightly.

Regardless, he would have to make the best of it.

If his fate was to be a scapegoat, then he would just have to carry that pot and move forward with the burden.

He looked at Jin Yong, and was quite satisfied with this person.

From his previous experience working together, Zhao Xuming was clearly a slippery old fox. Although he was smart, he was also quite skilled at shifting blame.

Kristian came from a designer background and naturally had differing philosophies with Zhao Xuming. After working together, he had even stronger opinions about him.

Jin Yong, on the other hand, was more practical and efficient, leaving a good impression on Kristian during their previous collaboration.

With this in mind, Kristian said, “There’s something I’m hesitant to mention.”

Jin Yong was slightly taken aback: “Just say it, we’re old acquaintances now, no need to be so formal.”

After considering for a moment, Kristian said, “I want to talk to the upper management of your Long Yu Group about having you take over as the head of ioi’s Operations Cooperation Department. To be frank, my collaboration with Mr. Zhao doesn’t seem to be very smooth. Continuing to work together might be a burden for both of us and would not be conducive to our work.”

He was being quite diplomatic—he actually just found Zhao Xuming ineffective.

Although Zhao Xuming was skilled at shifting blame, that was mainly for the eyes of those above him.

From management’s perspective, Zhao Xuming had successfully shifted all blame away from himself, keeping himself clean, without issues; but for his partner Kristian, that pot of blame had been shifted onto him!

So Kristian had major issues with Zhao Xuming, and his first order of business was to replace him.

This wasn’t an overly excessive request.

Previously, Long Yu Group had been very accommodating toward Finger Company, basically fulfilling all requests, since ioi was a project that Long Yu Group valued highly, and Finger Company had significant influence in this game.

Kristian wasn’t suggesting demoting Zhao Xuming completely; he simply hoped to change his position to one more suitable for him.

This small request, Long Yu Group’s upper management should be willing to fulfill.

After hearing this, Jin Yong fell silent.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Mr. Kristian, there’s something I’m also hesitant to tell you.”

Kristian couldn’t help but smile: “Didn’t you just say we’re old acquaintances and shouldn’t be so formal? Just say it.”

After choosing his words carefully, Jin Yong said, “I am now the head of ioi’s Operations Cooperation Department.”

Kristian’s face showed a hint of pleasant surprise: “Is that so? Then what about Mr. Zhao? Has he been transferred to another department?”

From his perspective, this outcome wasn’t particularly surprising.

How many times had Zhao Xuming been defeated?

He had made so many mistakes, yet he was still sitting comfortably in the position of director without being replaced—that was absurd.

He didn’t know what exactly the Long Yu Group’s upper management saw in him to protect him so steadfastly.

But now things were better. The Long Yu Group had finally come to its senses.

Replacing Zhao Xuming wouldn’t fundamentally change the situation, but just thinking about Jin Yong becoming the director made Kristian happy. He could work together comfortably and save himself the trouble of having to approach Long Yu Group’s upper management.

This was the only piece of good news recently.

Jin Yong’s expression was a bit awkward: “Uh… let me just say it directly. Mr. Zhao was poached by Tenda and is now the domestic server operations director for GOG…”

Kristian’s eyes widened in disbelief, and his entire body froze.

He even doubted his own ears.

What the hell?!

Zhao Xuming was poached by Tenda and became GOG’s director?

Tenda wanted that kind of person?

Why would Mr. Pei poach his defeated opponent? And not just any defeated opponent, but one who had been defeated multiple times and had never won?

If Jin Yong’s expression hadn’t been so serious and solemn, he would have thought Jin Yong was joking with him.

To prevent further misunderstandings, Jin Yong quickly added: “It seems Eric was also poached by Mr. Pei.”

Kristian fell into a prolonged silence, seemingly slowly processing this information.

It was so unreasonable that he instinctively resisted accepting it.

After a long while, he weakly asked, “Don’t they have non-compete agreements…”

Jin Yong explained: “I only know that Mr. Zhao’s non-compete agreement was properly resolved. Mr. Pei certainly wouldn’t poach people forcibly; he wouldn’t ignore things like non-compete agreements.”

Kristian fell silent again, his expression complex.

He had been criticizing Zhao Xuming, but now Zhao Xuming had gone to GOG to be a director!

What’s this supposed to mean? Was I actually reaching above my station?

Did I hold Zhao Xuming back?

Am I the real clown here?

Otherwise, why am I forced to come here as a receiver while Zhao Xuming keeps rising, even becoming GOG’s director?

Anyone with eyes could see that being the domestic server director for GOG was much more promising than for ioi.

After all, one was thriving and winning continuously, entering a perfect virtuous cycle with an ever-expanding user base; the other was on its last breath.

After a moment of silence, Kristian decided to change the subject and stop discussing this.

The more they discussed it, the more disheartening it felt.

“Actually, as the Greater China Region Director now, there’s not much that can be done, but the tasks that need to be completed still must be completed. We should work well together and fulfill our duties responsibly.”

“Of course, to be honest, it’s probably a bit difficult to fundamentally turn the situation around. We can only hope for some action from the upper management.”

Kristian knew that to reverse the current situation, it wasn’t just about game quality keeping up; more crucially, Dayak Group had to be willing to provide resources and continue to spend money.

Otherwise, with GOG’s level of spending, this kind of disaster was likely to happen more than once.

It was like military warfare—beyond the combat capability of the army, what mattered was the logistical supply. Tenda had always heavily tilted resources toward GOG, willingly giving up huge profits to seize the market, which was a perfect counter to Dayak Group’s urgent desire for profits.

“Wait a minute.”

“Could this activity have been orchestrated by Eric and Zhao Xuming?”

Thinking about this activity and combining it with the news of Zhao Xuming being poached, Kristian suddenly had a flash of insight about this possibility.

He wasn’t very clear about the specific details of this activity yet, since he was on the plane when it happened.

But after briefly looking at the messages, he understood the cause and effect.

Having to clean up this mess as soon as he took office made him feel quite desperate.

The key was that there was no way to clean it up. What could be done now? Apologizing and lowering prices was absolutely impossible, as the damaged reputation would be hard to recover, and after lowering prices, it would be absolutely impossible to raise them again in the future.

Once players got a taste of sweetness, they would furiously criticize any future price increases—what could be done then?

If he really did that, he absolutely couldn’t justify it to Dayak Group’s upper management.

Besides, he didn’t have the final say on price reductions.

The most likely outcome of this incident was to pretend nothing had happened—no apology, no price change, just taking the criticism.

At least the skin prices had been raised.

The most Kristian could do was run some activities to compensate the players; he had no other options.

Realizing that such a fatal blow had come from Eric… Kristian’s mood was extremely complex, even a bit sour.

Jin Yong thought for a moment and said, “I’m not sure about that, but Mr. Zhao only went over there a week ago, he shouldn’t have taken over the work so quickly.”

Kristian felt slightly more balanced.

If he knew it was Mr. Zhao dominating the battlefield, his mental state would collapse!

Jin Yong continued, “As for our side, don’t worry, I understand the current situation very well and will definitely do my utmost to cooperate with your work.”

In reality, both of them were very clear about ioi’s current state, but some things, even if true, couldn’t be said aloud.

Although Jin Yong couldn’t feel the changes in Dayak Group’s upper management’s attitude like Kristian could from Finger Company, he could feel the changes in Long Yu Group’s upper management’s attitude.

Currently, ioi’s Operations Cooperation Department wasn’t actually valued as much anymore.

Because ioi’s domestic server was clearly failing, investing more resources and energy would be meaningless!

This time, GOG could be said to have struck a heavy blow against ioi, and ioi’s domestic server was greatly affected.

Logically, Long Yu Group, as the party whose interests were damaged, should have been gritting their teeth in hatred over this matter, especially since ioi’s domestic server revenue was likely to be severely impacted again.

But Long Yu Group’s upper management was indifferent to this.

Even if they were angry, what could they do? In the current state, ioi’s domestic server was already beyond saving.

That being the case, it was better to save resources and prepare to give them to the new game being jointly developed by Tianhua Studio and Tenda.

So, trading Zhao Xuming for a new game—as long as this new game could succeed and replace ioi’s domestic server’s position within Long Yu Group—would be very profitable.

If the data for this new game looked good, Long Yu Group would divert most of the resources from ioi over there.

Jin Yong knew this too, so like Kristian, he was working with the mindset of “doing his duty for the day,” methodically completing his tasks.

Kristian nodded: “Alright, let’s go to the company first. I need to familiarize myself with the work here.”