Sure enough, DUdu once again lived up to expectations by returning a pile of useless webpages completely unrelated to the question.
Pei Qian silently lamented, if they showed a bunch of ads, he could tolerate it—after all, they need to make money, he could understand that. But these useless results had nothing to do with ads either, so what was even the point?
Of course, he couldn’t blame DUdu too much. To be fair, the other domestic search engines were ten times worse.
At this moment, Pei Qian instinctively wanted to turn to the almighty Bihu for help, but then realized that Bihu wouldn’t open for public registration for at least another two years.
Besides, even if he could post his question on Bihu, he probably wouldn’t get the answer he wanted.
He could only let out a quiet sigh, relegated to being the only invisible person in the venue.
On the projection screen, the two teams were pulling out all the stops, with various individual plays, teamfight coordination, and clever strategies emerging one after another, making for a spectacular match.
Pei Qian watched carefully and had to admit… it was pretty damn interesting…
“How can the entertainment value be this high? A single game with two or three reversals?”
“I see, this must be Zhang Yuan’s special instruction, telling them not to make it too one-sided and to keep it competitive, since this is an exhibition match meant to ensure entertainment value.”
“Look at them gritting their teeth after losing a teamfight—what a bunch of drama queens.”
“This Zhang Yuan, how could he so blatantly disregard the spirit of competition! I must criticize him properly!”
The excitement in the venue kept increasing. By the end, each spectacular team fight would trigger an outburst of exclamations from spectators both inside and outside the internet café, even more enthusiastic than soccer fans gathered to watch a match.
After a full three hours, the exhibition match finally ended. The result was a full five games, though who won didn’t matter anymore—the audience couldn’t tell which player was which anyway, as long as it was entertaining.
When the match ended, the ten players came to the front under Xiao Peng’s guidance. The winning team had happy smiles on their faces, while the losing team hung their heads in dejection; the difference in their expressions couldn’t be more obvious.
The audience below continued to marvel.
“Huh? Wasn’t this just an exhibition match? Everyone looks so serious.”
“I can tell both sides gave it their all, with basically no rookie mistakes. Otherwise, it couldn’t have been so exciting.”
“These players all look pretty good. Where did Slackin’ Internet Café find them? Did they pick high-ranked players from the Challenger tier and then filter based on physique? Rejecting those with poor physiques?”
“That’s impossible. Their coordination seems very smooth, not like a temporarily assembled team.”
Some spectators, seeing the exhibition match end, immediately rushed to enter the game and lock in some of the flashier heroes, eager to recreate the brilliant plays from the match.
Other spectators continued to focus on the stage, shifting their attention to the ten players.
After all, these ten people had completely conquered the audience with their performance, deserving applause and cheers.
At this moment, the five winners were thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being in the spotlight.
Meanwhile, the five losers hung their heads in dejection, though not entirely because of their defeat.
All they could think about was that they’d have to continue with extra training tomorrow!
Xiao Peng came to the front of the stage: “Next, please allow Slackin’ Internet Café’s former CEO and current DGE Esports Club manager, Zhang Yuan, to introduce the deep cooperation between DGE Esports Club and Slackin’ Internet Café!”
Many people didn’t recognize Zhang Yuan, but upon hearing the title “former CEO of Slackin’ Internet Café,” everyone began to speculate.
What did this mean?
Was DGE Esports Club Slackin’ Internet Café’s upstream strategic layout, so they promoted the original CEO to manage it?
Otherwise, why would they specifically have the person responsible for Slackin’ Internet Café become the manager of an esports club?
Could this be hinting at Tenda’s esports industry strategy?
Zhang Yuan smiled slightly: “Our DGE Esports Club is a special club that employs professional training methods. All our players come from high-ranking ladder players who, after joining the club, undergo rigorous training…”
“As for the results of this training… please look at the big screen.”
Zhang Yuan briefly explained the DGE Club’s training model, particularly emphasizing that the players undergo daily physical training. He also displayed the body transformation photos taken by Coach Yaling to showcase the difference between DGE Esports Club and other esports clubs.
Pei Qian’s heart immediately sank.
Body transformation comparison photos?
Aren’t these the same photos I had Coach Yaling take every day to monitor the players’ training?!
Now, the before-and-after physique comparisons of the players were being displayed on the big screen, showing extremely obvious differences.
Although the current DGE Club players hadn’t achieved the perfect physiques of fitness trainers, they were already very slim and healthy. Compared to their previous appearance, the results were truly remarkable.
The spectators below were once again shocked.
“These are internet-addicted teenagers? Forcibly trained to look like this?”
“Wow, the progress in these photos is too obvious! Are these the same people as before?”
“They should debut as a boy band right now!”
“Which gym is so amazing? I want to try it too!”
“Didn’t they just say? It’s the recent one, Tuoguan Fitness, opened by Tenda! There are already several branches in Jingzhou now!”
“The results are too obvious! I want to try it too!”
The gaming media also began to swarm in with cameras, flashes lighting up the area. These internet-addicted teenagers’ transformation would make excellent news material.
Meanwhile, Pei Qian sat in the lounge area, silently crushing the empty cup in his hand.
It’s fine to have an exhibition match, but why are you promoting Tuoguan Fitness?
Aren’t you just making trouble for me?
Besides, these are just a bunch of internet-addicted teenagers—what do they know about fitness? Everyone, please don’t believe them!
However, seeing many people taking out their phones to take pictures, Pei Qian was speechless.
There was nothing he could do—the comparison photos were too obvious!
Zhang Yuan, on stage, could feel the difference more clearly.
When he mentioned that these players underwent daily physical training, the audience’s reaction was lukewarm.
However, after he displayed the before-and-after fitness comparison photos on the projection screen, the audience immediately raised a dense forest of phones, and the gaming media reporters’ flashes began to go wild.
No amount of words could compare to a single comparison photo!
Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but marvel at Mr. Pei’s foresight.
Previously, when Mr. Pei had Coach Yaling take daily comparison photos of these players in tight training clothes, Zhang Yuan had wondered if it was necessary.
Now it seemed this action was killing two birds with one stone, providing an immediate boost to both DGE Esports Club and Tuoguan Fitness’s brand effectiveness!
This was literally a major transformation of internet-addicted teenagers, and the before-and-after comparison photos had an incredibly powerful impact!
“In the future, Slackin’ Internet Café will strive to develop its 3.0 model, opening Esports Life Halls in cities across the country. Teams or individuals who perform exceptionally in the Esports Life Halls will have the opportunity to compete against DGE Esports Club players, and even be selected to join DGE Esports Club and become professional players!”
“The highest glory in the GOG esports field throughout Jingzhou, the entire country, and even the world, awaits!”
Zhang Yuan’s speech was the final segment of the entire press conference.
The Grand Esports Ecosystem, the high-quality exhibition match, the joint promotion of DGE Club and Tuoguan Fitness…
The entire Slackin’ Internet Café opening ceremony didn’t have many segments, but each one was full of talking points, making the whole event content-rich and eye-catching.
Looking at Xiao Peng and the esports club members surrounded by media and enthusiastic customers, Pei Qian was speechless.
Illusions, these are all illusions!
After a couple of days, the hype will naturally die down!
Pei Qian was now very confused and wanted to go home and sleep.
However, just as he reached the entrance, a young man who looked like a gaming media reporter approached him. Obviously, there were too many reporters trying to interview Xiao Peng and the players, making it impossible to squeeze through, so he decided to change tactics and interview on-site customers first.
And Pei Qian was one of the few customers trying to squeeze out rather than in.
“Hello, I’m a reporter from Gaming Fun Times. May I take up your valuable time for an interview?”
Pei Qian looked at the crowd outside moving like the tide and then at the reporter’s sincere expression, so he silently nodded.
“May I ask your name?” the reporter asked.
“My surname is Ma,” Pei Qian said habitually.
The reporter nodded: “Alright, Mr. Ma, do you agree with CEO Xiao’s concept of Slackin’ Internet Café and the related Grand Esports Ecosystem?”
Pei Qian immediately shook his head: “I don’t agree.”
The reporter pursued: “But facts have proven that Mr. Pei’s layout in many industries has already achieved success, demonstrating his excellent vision.”
Pei Qian was speechless: “But I don’t think this is Mr. Pei’s layout.”
The reporter quickly took notes while changing the topic: “Then, do you think this will have a significant impact on your future life and become part of it?”
Pei Qian responded with a hmph: “…It has already had a ‘significant’ impact on my life.”
Reporter: “What do you think about the miraculous effects of Tuoguan Fitness?”
Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly: “I hope it won’t be overly mythologized.”
The reporter nodded: “Alright, thank you very much for your cooperation!”
However, just as he turned around, he saw a service staff running over, stopping the “Mr. Ma, who wishes to remain anonymous,” whom he had just interviewed.
“Mr. Pei, next we have…”
Before he could finish, the “Mr. Ma who wishes to remain anonymous” had already waved his hand and walked into the sea of people.
The young reporter was startled and quickly took out his phone to snap a picture, but only captured a back view.
“Was that person wearing the Modistel mask just now, Mr. Pei?”
“Has Mr. Pei been present at the venue all along???”
The young reporter was delighted by this unexpected discovery. He had randomly grabbed a passerby for an interview, completely at random since everyone was wearing masks, and he just happened to interview the main subject?
Thinking back to the questions he had asked earlier, it seemed that “Mr. Ma, who wishes to remain anonymous,” had given answers that now carried some new meanings…
“This will be a viral report!”