Because H4 Club already had runner-up level strength, and their mid lane was their weak point, replacing it with Huang Wang instantly strengthened them, causing their combat power to soar.

These clubs were crushed for five days before they finally realized that H4 Club’s purchase of Huang Wang, though expensive, wasn’t a loss at all—it was extremely profitable!

If things continued this way, H4 Club would likely win the championship at the Global Invitational in two weeks.

That meant a huge reward of one million dollars plus skin revenue sharing, as well as extremely high visibility!

But no one wanted to be a supporting character; everyone wanted to be the star.

With only two weeks left, intensifying training now would certainly be too late. The only solution was to quickly spend money and buy players, just like H4 Club had done!

Other clubs’ prized players definitely wouldn’t be sold, as everyone was thinking about competing in the world tournament.

But DGE Club’s players couldn’t participate in the world tournament, and they were all incredibly strong—this was simply the perfect talent trade market!

There was also another piece of good news: with the flourishing development of streaming platforms and capital investment, these clubs could consider cooperating with streaming platforms to buy players together.

As long as the streaming platform was willing to sign a trilateral contract and bear part of the cost, the financial pressure of buying players would be drastically reduced.

So during this time, other clubs were being destroyed in practice matches while desperately raising funds.

It was like an arms race had begun. If others were burning money and you weren’t, you were destined to be at the bottom, eliminated from the circle!

The clubs present were either well-established veteran organizations or ambitious, well-funded newcomers. None wanted to be eliminated.

If only a few clubs came to buy players, what if one club bought three or four DGE players at once? The competition would be over before it began.

Since that was the case, everyone might as well buy together!

Conveniently, DGE Club still had nine veteran players, and with seven clubs sitting together to bid, each team could at least get one player.

When the time came, each team would have one or two foreign aid players. No single team would dominate, and whoever won the championship would do so through genuine skill!

Therefore, no club would give up this opportunity.

Everyone waited somewhat anxiously.

Finally, footsteps were heard outside, and a young man walked in.

Zhang Yuan immediately stood up: “Mr. Pei!”

The managers from the other clubs all rose as well, greeting Mr. Pei while feeling a bit surprised—this Mr. Pei was as young as the rumors said.

Zhang Yuan began introducing the identities of these club managers to Mr. Pei one by one.

Pei Qian couldn’t distinguish or remember who was who; he just felt overwhelmed.

Why were there so many clubs?!

How many esports clubs were there in the country? Could it be that every club in the nation wanted to buy players from DGE?

The very thought was depressing.

Pei Qian sat down in an empty seat with a somewhat lifeless expression.

Just looking at the number of clubs made things much worse than he had originally imagined!

Seeing Mr. Pei’s expression, these club managers all had some conjectures.

Mr. Pei didn’t look very happy.

Why? Shouldn’t he be happy that we’re coming to buy players and give him money?

Was he reluctant to part with these players?

Or did he think we came too late, not showing enough regard for his players, unlike H4’s sincerity?

This was bad.

Whatever the case, they would all have to pay more!

Seeing Mr. Pei’s slightly unhappy expression, several club managers became nervous and silently raised the minimum offers they had prepared.

They hoped that by showing more sincerity, the deal would be easier to conclude.

Everyone knew that Mr. Pei wasn’t short on money. What if he refused to sell because he was unhappy? Having money ready but being unable to buy players would be a huge loss!

This situation absolutely could not be allowed to happen!

Seeing the scene before him, Pei Qian could sense that these players would have to be sold, whether he wanted to or not.

Almost all major club managers in the country had arrived, showing how sought-after DGE’s players had become.

Even if they weren’t sold this time, streaming platforms would likely come knocking eventually.

If these players were all mediocre and couldn’t play in the world tournament, it wouldn’t matter—Pei Qian could consider keeping them to play casually.

But now, these players all had the potential to compete for the world championship. Keeping them bottled up and not letting them play in tournaments would be highly inappropriate.

They were all good kids. Although they had each backstabbed him quite painfully, they truly deserved to gain experience on the world stage.

However…

Selling was one thing, but he absolutely couldn’t let the price be driven up accidentally like when selling Huang Wang!

Pei Qian decided that regardless of how much these people bid, he would close the deal immediately!

Zhang Yuan cleared his throat: “I’ve already consulted with the players, and they still want to compete in the world tournament, so they’re willing to follow my arrangements.”

“As the manager of DGE Club, I raised these players; they’re like brothers to me. Our club can take a loss, but they cannot—they deserve the best treatment.”

“So, next I’ll announce the names of these nine players, and everyone can bid. The highest bidder gets the player. I believe no one will have any objections to this method?”

Pei Qian: “?”

Wait, they were going straight into the bidding phase?

These clubs would surely bid like crazy!

Pei Qian was dizzy. He had originally wanted to keep the transfer fees low this time, to avoid the fiasco with H4 Club, but now they were going straight to an auction!

Pei Qian remained silent, his mind racing to come up with a countermeasure.

Think of something, quick!

If he couldn’t think of a solution, they might end up earning tens of millions in transfer fees!

Zhang Yuan continued: “First is our Team One captain, top laner Jiang Huan. Those who have played practice matches know he’s the strongest among all our players, and he’s the Team One captain and shot-caller—the player who practices the least in our entire club.”

“Please place your bids.”

As soon as Zhang Yuan finished speaking, several club managers raised their hands.

“Transfer fee 3 million, signing bonus and annual salary 1.2 million!”

“Transfer fee 3.5 million, signing bonus 1.2 million, annual salary 1.5 million!”

“Damn, Old Zhang, you’re offering so much right away? Other players are coming up—are you not saving any money?”

“Hehe, don’t try to fool me. I came specifically to buy Jiang Huan. If you want to save money for later, that’s your business!”

“Transfer fee 4 million, signing bonus and annual salary 1.6 million!”

Pei Qian hadn’t even thought for two minutes, and these club managers were already bidding frantically.

Who knew Zhang Yuan would play this way? Starting with the most valuable player, Jiang Huan, right from the beginning?

Pei Qian realized the situation was extremely unfavorable. Zhang Yuan’s move—whether coincidental or deliberate—was too insidious!

If they had auctioned the weaker players first and left Jiang Huan for last, many clubs would definitely save money for the end. Since no one knew how much money the others had prepared, it would ultimately be the highest bidder who won, and others might not get to spend their money.

But by putting Jiang Huan first, the competitive atmosphere erupted immediately, with everyone desperately spending money and driving up the price!

It was a bit like buying vegetables. If the good vegetables were at the end, everyone would wait and observe, only scrambling at the very end. If the good vegetables were at the beginning and quality decreased toward the end, people would compete from the start.

Pei Qian was dumbfounded. Zhang Yuan, Zhang Yuan—who would have thought that someone so straightforward in appearance would be playing such mind games!

Watching these clubs add increasingly ridiculous amounts, already reaching a 5 million transfer fee, Pei Qian felt he had to stop them.

If they sold at these prices, it would be too difficult for him!

The clubs could pay the players higher salaries—he had no objection to that—but the transfer fees couldn’t go any higher!

However, these clubs weren’t raising the signing bonuses and annual salaries much; instead, they kept increasing the transfer fees.

They probably felt that the annual salaries were already close to the maximum, and if they wanted to secure players, they needed to pay higher transfer fees to make DGE Club happy!

How could Pei Qian tolerate this?

He hurriedly raised his hand, interrupting everyone’s bidding.

“Stop!”

“This bidding method isn’t appropriate.”

Zhang Yuan was stunned. What was inappropriate about this method? Wasn’t this just the normal highest-bidder-wins approach?

“Mr. Pei, what are your thoughts?” Zhang Yuan asked.

Pei Qian thought for a moment and said, “Get some paper. Managers, write down the amounts you’ve prepared and which positions you most urgently need to strengthen, then give them to me. Don’t worry, I won’t disclose this to others.”

The managers looked at each other, confused.

Zhang Yuan quickly brought paper and pens to distribute. The managers secretly wrote down their club names, amounts, and positions they needed to strengthen, then handed them in.

Pei Qian then said to Zhang Yuan: “Give me a brief rundown of these clubs’ performances.”

Zhang Yuan brought over the practice match results and reported each club’s record one by one.

Pei Qian listened while examining the amounts these clubs had offered.

The differences were truly significant!

The highest-bidding club had prepared 25 million. Pei Qian almost thought he had misread. This club wasn’t short on money and had come intending to buy three or four players, determined to win the Global Invitational championship.

The lowest-bidding club had only prepared 6 million, barely matching H4’s bid for Huang Wang. They probably couldn’t raise any more money.

Pei Qian took the paper and pen and began quickly allocating players to clubs, while noting the transfer fees, signing bonuses, and annual salaries.

All transfer fees were set at 3 million, with 2.2 million of that allocated to improving the club’s training environment, the same as with H4 Club.

The signing bonuses and annual salaries were determined by the players’ abilities, as well as the financial capabilities of each club.

The player allocation wasn’t entirely based on the highest bid, but rather on which positions each club most needed to strengthen.

For example, SUG Club, which had bid the highest at 25 million, had already won the GOG championship in the previous tournament and was the strongest. They were now prepared to buy three players at once. Their top lane was already strong, but they were still determined to buy Jiang Huan.

For this club, Pei Qian just asked Zhang Yuan a few questions, then assigned them a jungler for reinforcement.

Pei Qian’s goal was clear: to ensure that DGE’s players would undoubtedly become starters on their new teams.

Although DGE’s players were stronger than the original players on these clubs, if the original players were also strong, the clubs might consider rotation if they lost matches or if DGE’s players didn’t integrate well.

So Pei Qian quickly distributed the players, setting prices similar to Huang Wang’s previous deal. Each club had its most needed position strengthened, and none of them had spent their entire budget.

Especially the SUG Club, which had prepared 25 million but only spent 7 million.

For transfer fees, Pei Qian collected only 0.8 million × 7 = 5.6 million.

Pei Qian handed the final allocation and contract amounts to the club managers: “Let’s do it this way.”

The club managers looked at these figures and were all stunned.

What did this mean? Why were the final prices determined by Mr. Pei much cheaper than they had expected?

What was Mr. Pei’s intention?

They had all prepared to bleed heavily, but Mr. Pei had merely given them a small injection and considered it done.

Many clubs weren’t particularly satisfied with this allocation. For instance, SUG had been dead set on getting Jiang Huan, but now they couldn’t buy him even with money, which was a bit frustrating.

But soon, these managers accepted the outcome.

Because for each club, it might not be the best result, but it was definitely the least bad result.

Every club had strengthened the position they needed most without spending too much money.

Although everyone had prepared a lot of money, that didn’t mean they wanted to spend it all. Saving some was ideal.

Since Mr. Pei had made his decision, they couldn’t force their way—they could only accept the result.

After all, Mr. Pei wasn’t just the owner of DGE Club; he was also the owner of the GOG game. The future hosting rights for all competitions, including the transfer rules for various clubs, were all in Mr. Pei’s hands.

Going against Mr. Pei—wasn’t that asking for a quick death?

Having arranged everything, Pei Qian felt a bit mentally exhausted. He stood up: “Alright, let’s sign the contracts quickly. But let me say something first: our players are precious to us, and I don’t want to hear about them being mistreated at your clubs.”

“That’s it, then.”

Pei Qian waved his hand, preparing to leave.

However, at that moment, a manager from one of the clubs said: “Thank you so much, Mr. Pei! Our club will ensure the players’ training environment! We’ve decided, like H4 Club, to immediately prepare to relocate to Jingzhou!”

Another manager also said, “Yes, to thank Mr. Pei, our GOG division has also decided to relocate to Jingzhou!”

“Us too!”

This statement immediately received widespread agreement. Only two very established clubs didn’t immediately commit, saying they needed to discuss it with their management.

After all, large established clubs with extensive operations couldn’t relocate easily. But if so many clubs were clustering in Jingzhou, these two veteran clubs would certainly consider moving their GOG divisions there as well.

Pei Qian looked at these overwhelmingly grateful club managers, a question mark slowly floating above his head.

?