Afternoon, Dragon Yu Group.
Christian, Jin Yong, and the IOI Operations Partnership team were holding an emergency meeting.
Everyone took their seats, and the atmosphere in the meeting room was quite solemn.
Jin Yong had a strange sense of déjà vu.
This scene… seemed to happen frequently before.
Except back then, Eric sat in the main seat with Zhao Xuming beside him, while Jin Yong merely attended without expressing opinions.
Now Eric and Zhao Xuming, that good pair, were gone, replaced by Christian and himself, yet the seating arrangement remained identical.
However, one thing was different from before.
Previously, they were often resting at home when urgently called to the company for meetings, as Tenda seemed to enjoy creating major developments on holidays.
But this time, everyone had already been working overtime on Saturday to monitor the IOI Global Finals, so the meeting was quite convenient to arrange.
Hard to tell if this should be considered lucky or unlucky…
At this moment, just like back then, even Christian’s furrowed brow and worried expression seemed cast from the same mold as Eric’s had been.
After a long while, Christian sighed deeply: “This move is truly brilliant!”
He looked at Jin Yong: “How are our subsequent marketing plans arranged?”
Jin Yong answered truthfully: “The current arrangement remains unchanged. We’re still focusing on FV Team’s popularity, stirring up their relationships with other teams, thereby driving online discussions about the entire tournament.”
“What should we do? Should we change the plan?”
Christian was somewhat irritated: “The key question is how to change it!”
Building hype around FV Team was their only viable option.
FV Team was the defending champion, skilled at creating buzz, with extremely high attention both domestically and internationally.
If they bypassed FV Team to market other teams, it would be too obvious, as if deliberately targeting them, and the effect might not be better.
That’s why Finger Company decided to adopt the current marketing approach after research: center marketing around FV Team to drive other teams’ popularity, then weaken FV Team’s strength through version updates. This way, the new champion could completely inherit the attention from FV Team.
With this marketing strategy, as long as FV Team didn’t win the championship, they would become the most excellent supporting character, only making the protagonist appear more legendary.
To use a metaphor, if the IOI Global Finals were a mountain range, FV Team would be the highest peak among them.
Now, if they wanted to elevate the entire mountain range, attempting to raise another peak higher than FV would be foolish. It would be better to elevate FV Team as much as possible, which would bring up the entire mountain range, allowing other peaks to share in the attention.
But unexpectedly, an unforeseen situation had emerged!
GOG’s newly launched feature fundamentally enhanced the discussion and popularity of the GOG Global Invitational.
And internet attention was limited—if one took more, the other got less.
It was like a great flood coming in. The mountain peaks were rising slowly, but the water level was rising quickly.
Gradually, the lower peaks would be submerged, leaving only the highest peak above water.
Wouldn’t that mean only FV Team’s popularity would remain?!
Christian called this meeting because it was a procedural necessity—he had to.
They couldn’t just remain unmoved when the problem was right in front of them, could they?
But as for finding a solution, how could they solve this?
Remove FV Team’s popularity? Prevent FV Team from benefiting?
That would affect the popularity of the entire IOI World Championship, and all the marketing expenses invested earlier would be wasted.
Develop a similar spectator function on their side?
But the key issue with this function wasn’t technology but having a cooperative platform.
Based on Christian’s understanding of Finger Company, trying to come up with a plan during the World Championship, negotiating with platforms, and developing this function…
It was almost impossible.
Let alone during the World Championship—even completing this function within six months would be a miracle.
Not to mention a similar function—they couldn’t even think of a comparable approach to comprehensively enhance IOI match popularity.
Maintain the current state?
Then even if they gained some popularity, it would all benefit FV Team.
Unless a team other than FV Team won the championship—that would be a more acceptable outcome for Finger Company.
Everyone looked at each other, falling back into a familiar pattern.
The implication was clear: don’t look at us, what can we do?
Christian also wanted to say: what can I do either?
Everyone was silent. Jin Yong suggested: “Let’s just call and report upstairs.”
“We can only hope that other teams will put in some effort to defeat FV Team, then everything would be fine.”
Christian nodded with resignation: “Fine, that’s all we can do.”
…
…
November 26th, Monday.
Suffering Journey Special Training Base.
Qiao Liang, looking at the impressive facility before him, suddenly had second thoughts.
Something felt off!
Making mental preparations beforehand was one thing, but seeing the indoor climbing wall that was several stories high was quite another!
Qiao Liang’s head was now filled with question marks.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Why am I here?
Such a high climbing wall—am I really going to climb it?
Am I worthy?
I’m not worthy!
And this is just indoor training? The formal suffering journey is even harder than this?
Qiao Liang now particularly understood why there were so many deserters who had numerous chances to escape before reaching the battlefield but chose to flee only after arriving, resulting in being shot on the spot.
Because no matter how much mental preparation you do for some things, you’re still not prepared when you actually face them!
Thoughts of fleeing the scene involuntarily appeared in Qiao Liang’s mind, and his legs began to retreat uncontrollably.
“Lao Qiao! You’re here too, and so early.”
“I can see you’re eager as well.”
Qiao Liang looked back to see Ruan Guangjian smiling as he got out of the car.
Like Qiao Liang, he hadn’t brought much luggage, just a small backpack.
According to the suffering journey rules, participants only needed to show up—they didn’t need to bring anything. Everything from clothes and food to training equipment would be provided by the suffering journey organizers.
Qiao Liang’s mouth twitched slightly.
Eager, my ass!
The reason I arrived a bit earlier than the agreed time was mainly to scout the situation and make a timely escape if things didn’t look right!
Although this approach might be a bit improper, survival was the priority.
At worst, I could apologize to Mr. Pei and the fans later, maybe even pay some compensation!
Everyone would understand.
“Ahem, you go in first. I don’t think I’m mentally prepared yet,” Qiao Liang unconsciously took another step back.
Ruan Guangjian was somewhat surprised: “Not mentally prepared? Don’t worry, I’m not mentally prepared either.”
“Actually, I’m just like you—I didn’t want to come at all. Except for being afraid of ghosts, I’ve been pampered since childhood and haven’t experienced much hardship. But since I was selected, it would be a shame not to come.”
“Come on, let’s support each other, encourage each other, and persevere together!”
As Ruan Guangjian spoke, he moved to pull Qiao Liang inside.
Qiao Liang was nearly fuming.
You have the nerve to bring up your fear of ghosts!
Is that even fear?
You were clearly excited beyond measure!
This time is probably the same—claiming you haven’t experienced hardship while in reality, if there’s rock climbing or swimming, you’ll probably be faster than anyone else.
Liar! I’ll never believe you again!
Qiao Liang remained unmoved. His survival instinct allowed him to resist Ruan Guangjian’s pulling, still struggling to move outward.
At that moment, another car stopped at the entrance, and Yao Bo got out.
“Oh, are you both here for the suffering journey too? I’m Yao Bo, and you are…?”
Ruan Guangjian and Qiao Liang paused their tug-of-war and briefly introduced themselves.
The three instantly hit it off.
Yao Bo was delighted: “I’ve long heard of your illustrious names. What a pleasure to meet you! What a coincidence.”
“Ah, I’ve been privileged and pampered since childhood and haven’t experienced much hardship. I heard both of you have been tempered by Tenda’s Thrilling Lodge. I hope you can help me overcome these challenges.”
“Shall we go in?”
Ruan Guangjian nodded: “Sure, let’s go!”
The two pulled Qiao Liang inside without further discussion.
Qiao Liang had been quite resistant, but seeing Yao Bo arrive, his resolve wavered, and he was half-pushed, half-dragged inside by the two.
This was because he had previously familiarized himself with the people on the list and knew that Yao Bo was the young master of Jin Ding Group. When Yao Bo said he was pampered and hadn’t experienced much hardship, Qiao Liang found it much more credible than Ruan Guangjian’s claims.
Especially when Yao Bo said, “I heard you both have been tempered by the Thrilling Lodge,” it made Qiao Liang hesitate to take a step.
Someone had just praised him, and if he immediately ran off, how would that look?
Plus, looking at the team composition—a pampered young master and girls—Qiao Liang thought about how embarrassing it would be if he became the only one to flee from this team!
So his sense of shame temporarily overcame reason, and he was dragged into the hall.