2 PM.

In the conference room on the second floor of the DGE Club, everyone had arrived.

Among the bidders were many bosses like Yao Bo, who were visiting Jingzhou for the first time.

Originally, they had decided to participate in this bidding merely because of Shenhua Group’s entry and Tenda’s good reputation, believing that grabbing GPL slots would be profitable.

But after arriving at the scene and seeing the training conditions at the DGE Club, they all realized a crucial point.

Mr. Pei was genuinely serious about the e-sports industry!

It could be said that the scene at the DGE training base completely changed their long-held prejudices about the e-sports industry.

Previously, when e-sports clubs were mentioned, most people would instinctively think of keywords like: large internet cafes, gaming-addicted teenagers, instant noodles, unkempt appearances, disreputable, and so on.

While working with passion was noble, a commercialized league still needed a certain level of respectability.

Otherwise, when reporters came to the training base for interviews, they would be embarrassed to release the footage.

Moreover, this “respectability” was also a reflection of the industry’s standardization.

But seeing the appearance of the DGE Club, the stereotypical impressions of the e-sports industry were completely overturned. From the players’ physiques and mental outlook to the environment of the entire training base, everything was impressive.

So, these bosses unconsciously raised their psychological expectations of the GPL league’s price.

Bidding was inherently intangible, and confidence was the key.

If everyone thought GPL couldn’t be run well, then these slots would be worthless; if everyone thought GPL could be run well, then these slots would be very valuable.

Currently, everyone feels that the GPL league could not only be run well but also, from a long-term perspective, is very likely to get better and better, becoming a benchmark league for the domestic e-sports industry.

The higher the psychological expectation, the higher the value of the slots naturally became.

Many club bosses made up their minds and raised their expected prices.

Pei Qian looked at the time and signaled to Zhang Yuan that they could begin.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Zhang Yuan went straight to the point.

“All bosses should have received detailed information, conducted investigations, and already paid the deposit. I won’t repeat much. Let me just emphasize the specific rules of this bidding.”

“Three GOG branches with GPL slots for transfer, plus six GPL slots, all bidding together.”

“Numbered 1 to 9, with 1, 2, and 3 being the three GOG branches, and 4 to 9 being the GPL slots. If you want to bid, simply call out like ‘500,000 for No. 1’ or similar, and our staff will record in real-time.”

“Each increment must be at least 500,000 yuan. The minimum prices for the three GOG branches are 12 million, 10.5 million, and 10 million yuan, respectively. The six GPL slots have no minimum price. In principle, each company can only own one GPL slot. There are many slots this time, so there’s no need to rush; please bid in an orderly manner.”

“Alright, you may begin.”

Zhang Yuan finished with a slight lack of confidence, glancing at Mr. Pei.

These bidding rules seemed somewhat childish, clearly also Mr. Pei’s handiwork.

Pei Qian sensed the confusion in Zhang Yuan’s eyes but pretended not to see it.

As for why he arranged such bidding rules, it was obviously to minimize earnings as much as possible.

If they were auctioned one by one, there might be instances of companies maliciously inflating prices.

For example, if Lin Chang or Mr. Li kept raising the price each time and then gave up when it got high enough, frantically stoking the fire, it would raise the prices of all slots.

Commonly known as shills.

The difference was that Mr. Pei had no intention of arranging shills, but he couldn’t stop Mr. Li and Lin Chang from voluntarily becoming shills.

With all slots being auctioned together, if Lin Chang was already the highest bidder for one item, he couldn’t go and raise prices for others, which would make everyone a bit more rational.

Upon hearing these auction rules, Lin Chang’s expression froze for a moment.

All together?

This way, the prices of all slots would likely be fixed at very similar values, making it difficult to manipulate.

Lin Chang came to help Mr. Pei raise prices, as it was a bidding after all, and it wasn’t his own money being spent.

But unexpectedly, Mr. Pei had arranged such bidding rules.

How could he raise prices now?

On the other side, Mr. Li smiled, seemingly having anticipated this, and whispered to the investor beside him, “Just as I expected.”

“Mr. Pei’s auction only gave three days of preparation time, clearly intended to share the pot. Those who came in person are all determined to work with Mr. Pei on the GPL league, so Mr. Pei is very kindly not planning to raise prices.”

“This further proves that Mr. Pei’s sale of GPL slots is not a one-time deal. He’s not looking to make a quick profit and leave, but planning for the long term, to keep running it!”

The investor beside him nodded, deeply convinced.

After hearing the bidding rules, Xue Zhebin happily said, “Good, these rules are simple and easy to understand. I like it.”

“I’ll go first, 7 million for No. 6!”

Soon, other people present also began to raise their hands to increase bids.

“13 million for No. 1.”

“8 million for No. 4.”

“8 million for No. 6.”

“11.5 million for No. 2!”

The staff diligently recorded the prices, and the figures on the projection screen began to change constantly.

Originally, the quotes for the six GPL slots were all zero, but they quickly jumped from 7 million and then rapidly increased by 500,000 or 1 million at a time.

No one was deliberately inflating prices yet, because there were too many slots. After raising one slot high, others would stop competing for it and could go after other slots.

The club prices temporarily stabilized at around 14 million, while the GPL slot prices temporarily stabilized at around 10 million.

They could certainly continue to rise, but the pace would slow down now, because the higher the price, the more calculating everyone would become.

As the GOG branch prices went up, people began to compete for the GPL slots.

Pei Qian breathed a slight sigh of relief.

That’s good, it seemed everyone was still quite rational, with no particularly impulsive situations.

Li Shi and Lin Chang weren’t playing tricks either, no malicious price inflation, which was good.

The current prices had not yet reached Pei Qian’s psychological bottom line.

Pei Qian didn’t care how much these clubs sold for, since the money from selling clubs wouldn’t reach Tenda’s hands. The key was to see how much these GPL slots would sell for.

For the price of GPL slots, Pei Qian’s psychological bottom line was 15 million, which would be a total of about 90 million.

Now it had only reached 10 million, and the pace of bidding had already slowed down, which was good news.

So Pei Qian’s expression gradually relaxed.

On the other side, Lin Chang rubbed his chin, secretly observing Mr. Pei’s expression.

Hmm… Mr. Pei didn’t have any particular expression. What was he thinking?

Perhaps Mr. Pei didn’t care whether he sold for more or less? He wouldn’t mind if each slot sold for two or three million less?

That wouldn’t do. If Mr. Pei didn’t care, I, as Mr. Pei’s friend, couldn’t not care!

Lin Chang had specifically come this time to help!

Lin Zhou had already agreed with him, the funds prepared this time were 20 million as a base. Whether to gradually raise the price or to directly bid a lump sum upfront, it was all up to Lin Chang to decide.

Spending a bit more didn’t matter, after all, they were old friends with Mr. Pei.

Lin Chang’s original plan was to actively raise prices, pushing each slot’s price up by two or three million, so that Mr. Pei could earn an extra ten million or more.

But with the current auction method, it was difficult to raise prices.

What should he do?

How could he both spend money and make his presence felt in front of Mr. Pei?

Lin Chang quickly thought of a strategy.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and raised his hand, saying, “16 million for No. 4.”

Pei Qian, who had just relaxed and taken out his phone to play for a while, instantly froze, with a question mark slowly floating above his head.

?

Not just Pei Qian, but everyone in the conference room had question marks floating above their heads.

???

What did Mr. Lin mean?

Even the recording staff froze, not immediately recording it, but looking to Lin Chang for confirmation, only typing it in after Lin Chang nodded.

So, a rather strange scene appeared on the projection screen.

Numbers 1 to 3 were the three clubs’ GOG branches with GPL slots, and numbers 4 to 9 were the standalone GPL slots.

Obviously, the prices for numbers 1 to 3 should be higher than the rest, because besides the GPL slot, they also came with a ready-made GOG branch!

Each player had a certain value, and buying one meant you could immediately get results, without having to slowly build cohesion like those clubs that only bought slots.

But now, the SUG’s GOG branch was only bid up to 14 million, yet Lin Chang directly bid 16 million for a pure GPL slot!

Why was that?

Lin Chang folded his arms and smiled without speaking.

Pei Qian looked at him in confusion.

Seeing Mr. Pei’s gaze turn to him, Lin Chang winked his right eye at him again.

Pei Qian: “?”

Although everyone in the conference room was stunned for a moment, this small interlude quickly passed, as the bidding was still in progress, and it wasn’t appropriate to ask directly at this time.

Since the No. 4 GPL slot had been directly topped at the high price of 16 million, others simply abandoned this slot, and everyone continued bidding on other prices.

The investor who came with Li Shi was very puzzled and asked in a low voice, “Mr. Li, what’s going on?”

They were representatives of the “Jingzhou Investment Group,” and their goal this time was to buy two GPL slots.

Li Shi frowned, having witnessed Lin Chang winking at Mr. Pei.

There must be something going on!

Li Shi pondered for a long time, suddenly had an epiphany, and said in a lowered voice, “Give up bidding on those ready-made GOG branches, go bid on the GPL slots!”

The investor was confused, “Why? The former are more cost-effective!”

Li Shi shook his head, “You just don’t understand!”

“The ready-made GOG branches are indeed cost-effective, but will Mr. Pei get the money?”

“Think about it, why are these three clubs selling their GOG branches? They’ve fallen out with Mr. Pei! Would Mr. Pei be nice to these three clubs?”

“Now, no matter how high these three clubs bid, all the profits go to the club owners. Mr. Pei won’t get a penny.”

“Do you think Mr. Pei would be happy if these GOG branches were bid up to high prices?”

“What’s our purpose for coming? Right, we’re here to buy GPL slots, but ultimately, we’re buying these slots because we believe Mr. Pei can lead us to make money!”

“So, why is Mr. Lin buying slots instead of GOG branches? And why is he deliberately setting a price for the slots that’s even higher than the GOG branches?”

“He hopes that this money will go into Mr. Pei’s hands, rather than benefiting these three clubs!”

The investor suddenly realized, “Oh! I understand now!”

“But… Mr. Li, buying this way is very unprofitable.”

Li Shi shook his head, “Unprofitable? Don’t you know how to calculate?”

“Have you forgotten that we’re aiming for long-term goals?”

“If you take the small advantage now and buy a GOG branch, you can indeed get results quickly, but the money goes directly to those club owners. How will Mr. Pei feel about that?”

“You spend money and still make Mr. Pei unhappy?”

“Conversely, if you spend a high price to buy a GPL slot, the money goes directly to Mr. Pei. Even if you still have to build a GOG branch and recruit players, which seems troublesome, but think about it, will Mr. Pei just stand by and do nothing?”

“When you go to buy DGE players and build a club, won’t Mr. Pei take care of you?”

“Moreover, leaving a good impression on Mr. Pei means more implicit income in the future.”

“Think about it, in the grand scheme of things, which is more profitable?”

“So, quickly join me in bidding for the GPL slots, and stop adding to the prices of those three clubs!”

The investor immediately understood.

“15 million for No. 5!”

“15 million for No. 6!”

The two raised their hands one after another, and the atmosphere at the scene, which had just recovered, instantly froze again.

Xue Zhebin looked at Mr. Li in confusion, not quite understanding what was going on.

Mr. Li took out his phone and secretly sent Xue Zhebin a message.

After reading the text message, Xue Zhebin’s expression changed, and he hurriedly bent down to whisper with Yao Bo beside him, starting to pass on the intelligence.

Lin Chang was very pleased and secretly gave Mr. Li a thumbs up.

Good, this boss understood quickly! Looks like they could collaborate more in the future.

Even the most obtuse of the other bidding bosses should have noticed something was off by now.

Lin Chang represented the Shenhua Group, with the strongest financial backing, while Li Shi represented the local investment group in Jingzhou, who was quite familiar with Mr. Pei and had collaborated many times.

They completely ignored the three GOG branches at the front and instead fixated on the GPL slots behind, frantically raising prices, even bidding higher than the ready-made GOG branches.

Why was that?

Everyone fell into contemplation, and soon, many people had expressions of enlightenment.

The bosses were all very clever; how could they not see such an obvious thing?

Even if a few individuals couldn’t figure it out, they could roughly sense that the three GOG branches at the front didn’t seem very popular, and there must be some issue behind this.

So, many people also changed their strategies, tending more towards bidding for those GPL slots behind.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but stare in astonishment. He looked at Lin Chang, looked at Li Shi, then looked at Xue Zhebin and Zhou Muyan.

Were they… messing with him???

The front items were ready-made GOG teams sold together with GPL slots! The back ones were just GPL slots!

How come they were all desperately competing for the slots at the back?

Had they all lost their minds?

Obviously, it wasn’t just Mr. Pei who was confused at the scene, but also the managers of those three clubs.

Originally, Manager Li was very pleased to see the price of his GOG branch rising to 14 million.

At this rate, selling for 20 million wouldn’t be a problem!

If he could sell for 20 million, he could at least boast to his boss when he returned today, especially after spending quite a bit of money hiring internet trolls to create buzz online, raising the GOG branch’s value considerably.

But following Lin Chang’s outburst, something unknown happened, and everyone very tacitly stopped raising the price!

They all went to raise prices for the GPL slots behind!

Watching as the GPL slots behind were each raised to 15 million, 16 million, yet his own GOG branch with a GPL slot remained at 14 million.

The other two clubs were even worse off, both at 13 million.

Cold sweat instantly flowed down Manager Li’s forehead.

If all the GPL slots were raised to 15 million, but his GOG branch and GPL bundle only sold for 14 million…

What phenomenon would occur?

How would he explain this to his boss when he went back?