November 1, Tuesday.

Zhang Yuan wasn’t supervising the DGE Club players’ training today. Instead, he was busy handling the tasks Mr. Pei had assigned him.

The legal department was working urgently to produce the intermediary agency contracts, which could be signed with various clubs once completed.

Once signed, neither party would have a way out.

Tenda would have to cover the bottom line for these clubs at the agreed-upon prices, or they would be in breach of contract; the other clubs would also have to sell their GOG divisions, or they too would be in breach.

Of course, this didn’t mean they absolutely couldn’t change their minds—they would just have to pay a penalty for breaching the contract.

The penalty was 30% of the club’s intended price, a percentage both parties could accept.

For example, if a club’s intended price was 10 million, then the penalty would be 3 million.

If Tenda breached the contract, they would compensate the club 3 million; if the club breached the contract and decided not to sell, they would compensate Tenda 3 million.

But just as they were about to sign the contracts, something interesting happened.

Two clubs, like H4 Club, had changed their minds and wouldn’t sign!

After these two club managers went back and discussed with their bosses, they realized they didn’t want to sell their GOG divisions. Signing this contract would mean no turning back—either sell the GOG division or pay the penalty, both quite painful.

So they secretly called Zhang Yuan to say they no longer planned to sell and would fully accept all GPL regulations.

Some clubs also privately probed Zhang Yuan, trying to find out Mr. Pei’s true intentions.

Was he truly prepared to cover the bottom line for all clubs, or was he simply putting on a show to scare the clubs into backing down?

Zhang Yuan kept his mouth tightly shut and said nothing.

Of course, even if he wanted to say something, he had nothing to say, because he also didn’t know what Mr. Pei was thinking!

Mr. Pei’s thoughts were too deep.

Even Zhang Yuan himself was confused, so how could others possibly extract accurate information from him?

Of course, some clubs, such as Manager Li’s SUG Club, still decided to sign this contract.

Zhang Yuan took a look and saw that six clubs had ultimately decided to sell, including SUG Club and EK Club, both familiar faces.

The EK Club had previously won the runner-up position, yet they still wanted to sign this contract, which surprised Zhang Yuan.

But thinking inversely, it was precisely because the EK Club had won the runner-up position that their selling price was the highest, reaching 13.5 million.

Just selling a GOG division for such a high price, in the current underdeveloped domestic e-sports circle, was already a very eye-catching astronomical figure.

These clubs’ thinking was quite realistic: whether or not there was third-party bidding, the price for selling the GOG division was already very high, and selling wouldn’t result in a loss.

At worst, after selling, they could establish a new GOG division and fight their way back to GPL.

Making a few million with a simple handover—wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Take SUG Club for example: they were selling their GOG division’s players, transferring their rented training base and the GPL spot that Tenda had given them for free. They weren’t selling the SUG Club brand.

After other clubs bought SUG’s GOG division, they would certainly establish a new club with SUG’s original team.

Meanwhile, SUG could find some new internet-addicted teenagers to fight their way back. Although their performance would plummet in the short term, there was still a year until next year’s World Invitational, so there was no rush.

Moreover, these clubs didn’t think Tenda would cover the bottom line.

If no one bought, then Tenda would have only two choices: either dig into their own pockets to buy them all or just pay the 30% penalty.

These clubs thought the latter was more likely, as the penalty would be a smaller loss.

They believed that Mr. Pei’s offer of this contract might be a “bluff,” and if they caught him in this “bluff,” they could make a big profit and win a complete victory.

So, in their view, this move carried little risk but offered great rewards, making it worth trying.

Zhang Yuan sighed lightly. Experience told him that Mr. Pei’s plans were not as simple as these clubs thought.

These clubs had been cooperating with Mr. Pei all along, experiencing friendly treatment as allies, which was why they instinctively underestimated Mr. Pei’s ruthlessness.

Now they dared to stand on the opposite side from Mr. Pei? Then they would experience enemy treatment.

That version of Mr. Pei would no longer present a friendly image of “good for me, good for you, good for everyone.”

Of course, Zhang Yuan knew it was useless for him to say this, as these clubs wouldn’t listen.

People don’t always believe it until they see it themselves.

So Zhang Yuan quickly organized all the materials for these clubs’ GOG divisions, including player profiles, player values, previous World Invitational results, base addresses, etc., along with the clubs’ expected prices, creating a detailed table.

Mr. Pei had said that this information should only be circulated within a small range.

How exactly to define this “small range” was a rather troublesome question.

Zhang Yuan thought that as long as they didn’t deliberately buy hot searches or let the news spread across the entire network, making all GOG players aware that these clubs were for sale, it shouldn’t count as a wide range, right?

That being the case…

He might as well send a notice to all departments within the group company, while telling everyone not to deliberately hype it up. This way, companies with close relationships with Tenda would get the news.

This should meet Mr. Pei’s requirement for a “small range,” right?

…

That afternoon, at Fuhui Capital.

Li Shi and a group of investors each held a copy of the detailed information and pricing for the e-sports clubs up for transfer.

Li Shi was definitely among the first to receive this information.

He placed the table on the desk and said, “I sent someone to inquire about the situation. Currently, this information is only circulating within Tenda, and hasn’t attracted much attention online.”

“This is likely Mr. Pei’s deliberate intention.”

The other investors looked at each other, their faces showing confusion.

“Mr. Li, this doesn’t make sense, does it?”

“It clearly states here that there will be competitive bidding. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better if the news spread more widely, with more people participating in the bidding?”

“For the clubs, this would allow for higher transfer prices; for Mr. Pei, it would bring heat and attention.”

“Shouldn’t both parties’ interests align in this matter?”

“Yet Mr. Pei only circulated it within Tenda Group’s small circle. What does this mean?”

Li Shi chuckled: “Doesn’t this perfectly match Mr. Pei’s consistent style? Only those who follow most closely get to drink the soup. This is obviously a screening process, filtering out those who closely follow him, allowing them to get this news in advance and prepare for bidding early!”

“I think this matter can’t possibly be kept secret. Even if Mr. Pei doesn’t promote it, these clubs will spread the word to sell at higher prices.”

“But Mr. Pei’s behavior is equivalent to giving us an information gap, a time gap, allowing us more time to raise funds and prepare early. Doesn’t this mean we can pick the best club?”

Hearing Mr. Li’s analysis, the investors suddenly understood.

So that’s how it was!

Although knowing this information in advance wouldn’t save money, at least they could pick a satisfactory club early!

Because there were six clubs here, with prices not too different. For example, the EK Club was priced at 13.5 million, while the SUG Club was priced at 12 million. The former was the runner-up, the latter was in the top four, so the former seemed more cost-effective.

And each bid couldn’t be raised just one yuan at a time. For transactions at the ten-million level, it would have to be in increments of at least 1 million.

This meant that if Mr. Li and others set their sights on the EK Club first, they could buy it for 13.5 million. Later bidders would have to offer 14.5 million, which would seem very uneconomical compared to SUG at 12 million.

This was equivalent to giving Mr. Li and others a chance to move first.

It was still Mr. Pei’s consistent style: giving those who closely followed him a small benefit, but not to the extent of making the bidding unfair.

But soon, someone raised new concerns.

“Wait, Mr. Li, what Mr. Pei is selling are e-sports clubs!”

“I’ve heard that domestic e-sports clubs are purely money-burning operations that can’t make any profit. What’s the point of spending 10 million to buy a club that doesn’t make money?”

“Also, Mr. Li, what if someone bids up to 20 million or even higher? We can’t keep up with that.”

“Yes, there are too many uncertainties here.”

The investors fell into a dilemma again.

If it were other projects, they could believe in Mr. Pei’s business acumen.

But what was being sold this time were e-sports clubs, which were famously unprofitable, and they were being transferred by other clubs.

If they could really make money and were truly worth so much, why would other clubs want to transfer them?

There were too many suspicious points!

Li Shi cleared his throat: “Haven’t you noticed that your viewpoints are self-contradictory?”

“On one hand, you’re worried about making a bad purchase; on the other hand, you’re worried about others raising the price.”

“If others raise the price to 20 million, that means it’s worth 20 million!”

“As for what you said about e-sports clubs not making money, indeed, previously, only a few e-sports clubs could be profitable.”

“But after Tenda entered the field, all of this could very well change. GOG’s Global Invitational was so successful, and Mr. Pei has more plans for the future. Mr. Pei himself even runs DGE Club…”

“Looking at the long term, this is a very promising emerging industry, and Mr. Pei himself has entered the field so resolutely. Do we still need to worry about whether it makes money?”

The investors nodded in agreement.

That made sense!

As expected, Mr. Li saw things!

Seeing that everyone had unified their opinions, Li Shi proposed: “I think, based on our current funds, we can consider dividing into two batches and buying two clubs.”

“Let’s pick two that are relatively satisfactory. As for the rest, whether someone will raise the price and to what extent, that’s beyond our control.”

“Let’s quietly wait for Mr. Pei’s next move!”