Huang Sibo sighed: “Alright, Mr. Pei, I’ll start planning the itinerary when I get back.”
Pei Qian suddenly thought of something: “Wait.”
Huang Sibo couldn’t help but feel delighted: “Hmm? Mr. Pei, have you changed your mind?”
Pei Qian shook his head: “No.”
“You still have to go, but you can designate someone to accompany you.”
“Of course, all expenses will also be reimbursed by the company, with the same paid vacation!”
Pei Qian pondered that previously, when people traveled abroad alone, they could only spend money for one person.
With two people traveling abroad, wouldn’t they be able to spend twice as much?
Last time when Li Yada and Bao Xu went together, it worked out well, and the system didn’t stop it.
Now that this spending channel was open, though not large, there was no way he would close it again!
Since the system didn’t prevent it, from now on, all those who won second place for outstanding employee would be forced to bring someone else along when they traveled. Arranging two people at once would bring double the joy, wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Huang Sibo was stunned: “Designate someone to accompany me?”
Pei Qian nodded with a smile: “Yes, for example, you could designate Zhu Xiaocai to travel with you.”
This way, even if the promotional video for Sloth Apartments could be made, its quality would certainly decline greatly, wouldn’t that make me safe?
Huang Sibo fell into a dilemma.
Asking Zhu Xiaocai was not an option; the promotional video wasn’t finished yet. He couldn’t take the blame for delaying Mr. Pei’s Sloth Apartment promotion!
But looking at others, Huang Sibo also felt awkward about inviting them.
Everyone had work to do!
Huang Sibo’s friends at Tenda Group were all department heads.
These department heads all had very important matters to handle. If they were to travel with him, they would need to arrange their work in advance, which would be very troublesome.
Delaying anyone’s work seemed inappropriate.
Putting himself in their shoes, Huang Sibo felt it was better not to bother them.
Regular employees in the departments didn’t have this problem, but Huang Sibo wasn’t very familiar with them. It seemed somewhat inappropriate to invite them abruptly.
Moreover, if he chose an ordinary employee, some might feel discontented—why should this person get a paid vacation without any achievements? That’s unfair!
So it was best to find someone who:
Had a good relationship with him, a good friend;
I was not a department head and wasn’t responsible for very important work;
Preferably had some seniority so that nobody would feel it was unfair for them to get a paid vacation.
This way, they could satisfy both conditions.
Huang Sibo’s gaze quickly scanned around and suddenly brightened, discovering someone who perfectly met the criteria!
“Brother Bao! How about coming with me?” Huang Sibo sincerely extended an invitation to Bao Xu.
Everyone looked at Bao Xu in unison.
Bao Xu was seen seriously playing with his phone, head down.
Only after being pierced by everyone’s gaze did Bao Xu raise his head, looking at everyone with a bewildered expression.
“What is it?”
After seeing that the best employee selection was complete and the top three had nothing to do with the game department, Bao Xu had relaxed and decided not to watch the subsequent award ceremony, happily playing with his phone instead.
Now with everyone staring at him, his bewilderment was accompanied by a hint of bad premonition.
Huang Sibo very sincerely repeated his request.
“What did you… Just say?” Bao Xu’s face showed utter disbelief.
Huang Sibo smiled and said, “Brother Bao, come travel with me. You’re not responsible for any important work, and you’re very familiar with the travel process. I think you’re the most suitable person!”
“We brothers haven’t caught up in a long time. This is a perfect opportunity to have a good chat!”
“Here’s the deal—to show my sincerity, you can plan the itinerary! Wherever you go, I’ll go too! No matter how arduous, I won’t complain!”
Bao Xu’s expression changed from bewilderment to shock, and then from shock to despair.
In his despair, there was a glimmer of hope, and that hope came from Mr. Pei.
Now, only Mr. Pei could save him.
Bao Xu quickly pleaded: “Mr. Pei! This is different from the time with Li Yada! Huang Sibo is fully capable of traveling by himself; he doesn’t need me to accompany him!”
Pei Qian patted Bao Xu’s shoulder very sympathetically: “I know.”
“But this is Huang Sibo’s choice, and it fully complies with the rules. There’s nothing I can say.”
Though Pei Qian’s words were comforting, his expression clearly said: You see, this isn’t my fault, it has nothing to do with me, Huang Sibo specifically named you!
Everyone applauded, expressing warm congratulations.
Indeed, an outstanding employee selection without Brother Bao traveling abroad would be incomplete!
Everyone had been feeling something was missing, and now it was finally filled!
People inexplicably felt a sense of completeness.
After a long silence, Bao Xu said with a stern face: “Mr. Pei, then this time I want to go to the East African Rift Valley, the Sahara Desert, and Mount Kilimanjaro!”
Pei Qian was delighted: “Fine!”
You’re choosing these places voluntarily? That’s wonderful! Just what I wanted!
Huang Sibo’s smile froze on his face, with a question mark slowly floating above his head.
?
East African Rift Valley, Sahara Desert, and Mount Kilimanjaro?
Are these places where normal people go to have fun?
Why would anyone want to go to such places?
Bao Xu chuckled.
Brother Huang, although we’re like brothers, if you start this, don’t blame me for finishing it!
If you set this precedent and spoil the atmosphere, what then? Soon, everyone who gets second place for outstanding employee will name me to accompany them. How am I supposed to live?
I can only make an example of you, to serve as a warning to those who come after!
Whoever dares to make me, Bao Xu, accompany them, be prepared to suffer in the East African Rift Valley, the Sahara Desert, and Mount Kilimanjaro!
As the saying goes, short-term pain is better than long-term suffering.
Although Bao Xu himself didn’t want to go to these places either, if he could endure this one month, he would never have to suffer the pain of accompanying others on trips again!
…
…
August 16, Tuesday.
At noon, the team members gathered to eat and discuss recent events.
The ZZ Cup Entertaining Competition had been going on for three days, and the two teams had accumulated 600,000 in prize money.
There was no other way; the variety was too extensive, and the viewers were all conquered. The entertainment index was maxed out.
Both teams received the full prize money, to the extent that no one had been doing extra practice these past few days.
After splitting the money with the club 50-50, each team took 300,000, meaning each team member was earning 10,000 a day.
This quick money was so thrilling!
They would continue entertaining this afternoon, and everyone was a bit impatient.
Huang Wang was scrolling through the news when suddenly his eyes lit up.
“Everyone, look at the news I’ve shared in the group chat. GOG World Server is already making big moves!”
Everyone clicked on the link Huang Wang shared to check the details.
After reading it, they all gasped.
Mr. Pei’s gesture was grand!
An entire street of billboards in Times Square had been booked. At a specific period, all the billboards displayed GOG promotional posters, which were extremely spectacular!
The billboards in Times Square rotated advertisements, showing each for a few seconds at intervals. Ye Zhizhou and his team specifically booked the same time slot, ensuring all billboards displayed GOG advertisements simultaneously, creating this magnificent spectacle.
The mobile version of GOG was advancing rapidly in overseas mobile application markets. Since IOI didn’t have a mobile version, GOG was like a tiger among sheep in the mobile gaming field, unstoppable.
GOG advertisements could frequently be seen on the largest overseas video websites.
They could also be seen at subway and bus stations.
Most impressively, several veteran esports clubs abroad had all been sponsored by GOG, with each club’s uniform bearing the GOG logo!
It was particularly awkward for clubs that had established IOI divisions; when their members streamed, the logo on their uniforms was advertising for GOG, creating a very surreal effect.
And all these promotional materials were binding GOG with one image: the new hero, Multi-Faced Warrior!
This character, which had swept the globe twenty years ago but had long faded from most people’s view, appeared on a large scale again, making many foreign players marvel and inadvertently bringing them closer to the game GOG.
The low price of skins in the overseas version of GOG formed a stark contrast with IOI.
There was also big news that next month would see a global invitational tournament, which could be considered GOG’s top global event of the year, with a championship prize of 1 million dollars!
Of course, other teams would also receive prize money according to their rankings, just not as much.
The officials also promised that during the competition, a tournament skin would be sold globally, with all proceeds from that skin over three months going into the prize pool of this competition as a supplement!
This figure directly refreshed the prize pool ceiling of all esports competitions to date.
There were rumors that Fingertip Company was also considering hosting their first global finals, but the prize pool seemed to be only 100,000 dollars, about ten times less than GOG’s prize.
Of course, Fingertip Company had not responded to this rumor. When IOI’s first global finals would be held and how much prize money there would be remained unknown.
Huang Wang sighed: “I feel like GOG is about to go global. 1 million dollars! And it’s going to be globally broadcast. I want to go.”
No one responded because everyone else wanted to go too.
As a professional player, who wouldn’t want to stand on the world stage and enjoy the moment of lifting the championship trophy?
But everyone also understood that DGE Club had a vested interest relationship with the organizers and couldn’t participate. That was the rule.
Old Zhou comforted: “Don’t think about it. Mr. Pei has other arrangements. We should just focus on training.”
Huang Wang felt a bit dejected: “But Mr. Pei hasn’t been here for a long time. Since he’s so busy with work, could he have forgotten about our club…”
Just as he finished speaking, footsteps were heard from outside.
Zhang Yuan stood up to look and exclaimed with delight: “Mr. Pei? Why are you here?”
The team members all turned around, and indeed, it was Mr. Pei!
Pei Qian smiled: “I heard you’re playing in the streaming platform’s competition, so I came to take a look.”
To be precise, to check how far along your backstabbing has progressed, so I can prepare in advance.
However, Mr. Pei’s words sounded quite different to the team members.
“Mr. Pei hasn’t forgotten about us and is very concerned about our situation!”
“He’s come to watch us play despite being so busy!”
“We must put on a great show this afternoon to perform well for Mr. Pei!”
All the team members were fired up!