Nie Yunsheng’s pivot left everyone a bit stunned.

However, since it was a conference call, everyone remained silent, waiting for Nie Yunsheng to continue.

Nie Yunsheng hadn’t passed the buck but had frankly admitted his strategic error. Though it was somewhat embarrassing, his attitude was sincere.

This added credibility to his subsequent analysis.

“The reason for my failure can be summarized as: I tried to understand Boss Pei using ordinary thinking, which is why I fell into his trap.”

“The facts prove that Boss Pei is indeed a business genius who doesn’t play by the rules, which makes him especially difficult to deal with!”

“But that’s not the most dangerous thing about him.”

“The most dangerous thing is that others never know just how many cards he still has up his sleeve!”

“Take this incident—the surface reason for our failure is that we didn’t grasp Boss Pei’s thinking pattern and underestimated his complexity. But the question is, we can’t infinitely elevate our estimation of Boss Pei’s complexity, can we?”

“Every decision we make is based on the information currently available to us, to make decisions with relatively low risk and relatively high success rates.”

“That is to say, most people would make the same decisions.”

“The opportunity is right in front of us. Should we not seize it just because there’s a 1% chance it might be Boss Pei’s trap?”

“If that’s our mentality, then I suggest we disband right here and stop struggling. If we treat Boss Pei as a god rather than a human, then we’ve already lost mentally.”

“So while this is one reason, it’s only a surface reason, not the deeper reason, and certainly not the root cause.”

“The root cause of our failure is that Boss Pei had already laid out his plans early on and holds many cards in his hands!”

“We don’t know what these cards are, but Boss Pei can neutralize our offensive by casually playing just one of them.”

“And this precisely demonstrates that all of us are in extreme danger.”

“Do you think that Boss Pei had laid plans in the gaming sector so far in advance, but hasn’t planned for other sectors?”

“Express delivery, food delivery, industry, digital products, entertainment… in which of these sectors does Boss Pei not have cards to play or plans in place?”

“If Tenda truly enters your sector and industry, do you think you can win?”

“You’ll only lose more miserably, with no suspense!”

“That’s why I say, it’s precisely because of this failure that the necessity of our alliance is highlighted.”

“Because at this stage, a single company, even one with substantial size, is completely no match for Tenda. Only by truly uniting do we have any hope of winning!”

“Boss Pei indeed won very beautifully, but this also reveals Tenda’s formidable strength: its power hidden beneath the surface is definitely much stronger than we imagined!”

“If everyone is so easily frightened and retreats, then all the battles to come will probably become meaningless.”

“I’m not trying to scare anyone; you can all think about it and see if what I’m saying makes sense.”

Nie Yunsheng said all this in one breath, then muted himself.

Although it was a conference call and he couldn’t see the expressions of representatives from other companies, Nie Yunsheng felt that his words should have had an effect.

On the other end of the phone, the CEOs, founders, or executives of other companies indeed showed shocked expressions as they seriously considered what Nie Yunsheng had said.

This beating from Tenda was indeed quite miserable, and could even be described as somewhat humiliating.

But hand on heart, if someone else had taken the lead, could they really have seen through Boss Pei’s trap?

Hardly!

How could a person with normal thought processes possibly imagine that Boss Pei had been investing countless amounts of money in domestic games all along, and had deliberately kept it secret until now?

Is such foresight and persistence really something a person could possess?

This also meant that while everyone else was unaware, Boss Pei had already completed all his behind-the-scenes planning.

If they really waited until the knife was revealed at the end of the scroll, until the day Boss Pei actively declared war on a company in a certain industry, without overthinking it, the result would definitely be a one-sided slaughter.

Now, no one knew exactly how far Boss Pei’s plans had progressed in various industries. At least in the gaming sector, Tenda was already invincible, with no vulnerabilities.

If a weakness appeared, it would definitely be a trap.

But at least other sectors should not yet be impenetrable, after all, gaming was Tenda’s strongest sector!

Retreating now and fighting alone would be waiting for death.

But if they truly recognized the crisis now and united to make a stand, perhaps there would still be a glimmer of hope.

Moreover, Tenda’s nature was fundamentally different from other companies.

Take food delivery platforms for example. Zhaiju Food Delivery had several other competitors, but who won or lost was just a matter of earning more or less.

Other food delivery platforms, even if they couldn’t emerge as the ultimate victor in the final competition to become the biggest winner, would definitely be acquired by Zhaiju Food Delivery. As long as they sold themselves successfully, they would still profit—after all, they would eventually achieve the goal of making money while lying down.

But if Slackin’ Food Delivery became the ultimate victor, that would be a big problem!

Slackin’ Food Delivery would absolutely not acquire these platforms; it would only steal all their users, merchants, and delivery personnel, rendering their platforms and data useless digital garbage, making them completely disappear from the river of history.

Because all of Tenda’s businesses operated differently from current internet platform companies.

This point had actually been made very clear in the debate between Lü Mingliang and Nie Yunsheng.

So losing to other companies might still allow them to sell themselves for a good price, but losing to Tenda would leave them with nothing, not even bone fragments.

Cutting off someone’s livelihood was like killing their parents. Facing a parent-killer, how could they not unite?

So, not long after Nie Yunsheng finished speaking, Gao Ming, the vice president of Zhujia Group, was the first to speak up: “We completely agree with President Nie’s view.”

“Though this failure was painful, it also taught us a lesson, which is: given Tenda’s current power, and considering Boss Pei’s ruthless and cunning business methods and strong planning ability, a single company is already very difficult to stand against it.”

“Tenda is a company spanning multiple sectors. It has extended countless tentacles, shown its fangs, and has already tasted blood.”

“This is a business war of Tenda against all our companies, and all our companies against Tenda. Retreating a step will not bring lingering survival, but complete destruction!”

“We propose two suggestions.”

“First, we hope to establish this meeting as a regular event, where companies periodically discuss the situation, share resources, and properly arrange subsequent plans.”

“When a company directly faces pressure from Tenda, other companies should immediately extend a helping hand.”

“Second, we hope each company can form a think tank to serve as a decision-making body.”

“One person’s wisdom is ultimately limited, and Boss Pei is a natural genius—so far, no one has been able to best him by even half a move. Therefore, only by gathering our smartest people together to plan collectively do we have a chance of winning!”

Soon, other companies also expressed their positions.

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

“Fully support.”

Hearing this, Nie Yunsheng finally let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he had almost thought this alliance would collapse as soon as it was formed!

It was his quick thinking that saved the day. If someone unclear-headed hadn’t promptly convened this meeting, or had spent the meeting complaining frantically and passing the buck, then this anti-Tenda alliance might truly have collapsed at light speed.

If that had happened, all these companies would have become laughingstocks online.

But thankfully, they had stabilized!

From the current situation, it was clear that the gaming sector couldn’t be touched for now.

Touching it would be suicide.

They had originally thought they had found a weakness in Boss Pei’s gaming sector layout, but unexpectedly, Boss Pei had already made this sector impenetrable, like a solid iron plate that neither needles nor water could penetrate.

The two emerging forces in the gaming industry that Nie Yunsheng had his eye on—one being the “Millet Departure” production team and the other the Morning Dew Gaming Platform—turned out to both be Tenda’s!

Fortunately, Morning Dew Gaming Platform had directly refused to meet him and sent him away; otherwise, if they had actually met, how awkward would that have been!

Nie Yunsheng felt uncomfortable all over just thinking about the scene where he had earnestly persuaded Yan Qi to accept investment, so embarrassed that he wanted to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes.

Fortunately, Morning Dew Gaming Platform hadn’t gone for a second round, preserving his last bit of dignity.

Anyway, what’s past is past.

Taking a major loss in the gaming sector had at least helped everyone understand the gap between themselves and Tenda in this field.

Next, they needed to pick fields where they were skilled and had advantages to launch attacks against Tenda!

……

In the evening.

Pei Qian stretched lazily, then let out a long breath.

“Ah! Brilliant results!”

“I’ve completed about two-thirds of my thesis. Isolation has indeed been effective—after cutting off all those unnecessary external information sources, my efficiency has clearly improved.”

“At the current rate, maybe I can even submit it a bit early?”

“Um… that’s not really necessary either. Let’s stick to submitting it on time. I’ll revise it a bit; can’t entirely rely on others to edit it for me.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve found the reason why my academic performance has always been poor—it’s mainly because I’ve been dragged down by Tenda!”

“Once free from Tenda’s constraints, I’m actually an excellent student with both good character and academic performance!”

Pei Qian was a bit smug and self-satisfied.

The progress of his thesis was promising, allowing him to experience a joy completely different from losing money during settlement periods.

Moreover, by studying others’ research on himself, Pei Qian strangely developed a small sense of pride: So I’m actually this amazing?

He had to stand tall with his hands on his hips for this.

“Hmm… Assistant Xin still hasn’t contacted me.”

“So there’s still nothing urgent happening? Let me see…”

Pei Qian turned off his phone’s airplane mode, reconnecting with the real world.