Noon.

Downtown Jingzhou, Yuanda Paradise.

Pei Qian, Lin Wan, Zhang Yuan, and Min Jingchao, the four of them, arrived at the plaza outside the shopping mall.

From a distance, they could already see a massive promotional poster hanging on the Yuanda Paradise building. The original poster advertising the GOG Global Finals had been taken down and replaced with a promotional poster for the GPL League.

The previous GOG Global Finals poster mainly featured GOG’s signature heroes, such as Modiste and the Wind Calligrapher Ruan, along with text identifying it as the First GOG Global Invitational.

But now, the main portion of the GPL poster had become all the teams’ battle flags. Sixteen battle flags displayed the logos of each club, and naturally, most of these logos were also related to their parent companies’ brands.

For example, the SHG team of Shenhua Real Estate had made slight modifications to Shenhua’s logo, making it more stylish with the essence of an esports club.

Yet through the logo and team name, people could still see the connection between the club and Shenhua Real Estate, effectively promoting the company’s brand.

The sixteen battle flags were arranged neatly in two rows, like two armies facing each other on a battlefield, flags flying, imposing and majestic.

Although the entire promotional poster didn’t feature various flashy heroes, it still conveyed a powerful atmosphere.

Currently, GOG has already established an extremely strong influence in the domestic market. Especially for customers who frequently visited Yuanda Paradise, they had associated this poster with GOG.

So there was no longer a need for those flashy heroes to maintain appearances. Now the protagonists were the various GPL clubs, and the main stage should be left to them.

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this poster.

Finally, they hadn’t hung up another oversized Modiste—what a relief!

The four entered the shopping mall, which was filled with all sorts of restaurants, beverage shops, and stores—everything one could need.

The mall’s Manager Zhang was already waiting inside. Seeing the four arrive, he hurried over to greet them.

After introductions, Manager Zhang suggested, “Mr. Pei, it’s almost lunchtime. There are quite a few upscale restaurants here. Where would you like to eat? I heard there’s a new high-end buffet that costs over a hundred yuan per person. Why don’t I treat you? Would you honor us with your presence and try it out?”

Tenda had signed a long-term agreement with Yuanda Paradise, and with the GPL League having attracted so many major companies to form clubs and participate, from any perspective, it was important to maintain good relations with such a major client.

Pei Qian waved his hand. “No need, anything simple will do.”

Manager Zhang quickly responded, “That won’t do, Mr. Pei. You’ve come all this way, and it happens to be mealtime. If you just eat something simple, it would seem like I’m being a poor host.”

Lin Wan smiled. “Manager Zhang, no need to be so formal.”

“You don’t interact with Mr. Pei very often, so you might not know his personality.”

“Mr. Pei has always been an extremely practical person who doesn’t like superficial things. Otherwise, someone of Mr. Pei’s status wouldn’t constantly be eating Slackin’ takeout.”

“For this visit, Mr. Pei wants to check the preparations for the GPL League. We’ll just act like ordinary spectators—whatever ordinary spectators would eat, that’s what we’ll eat.”

“You don’t need to accompany us; we’re just looking around.”

Manager Zhang didn’t insist further. “I see. Well then, Mr. Pei, please feel free to arrange as you wish. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to find me.”

The four of them strolled through the mall, heading up to the higher floors. The areas around the escalators had also been transformed with various materials promoting the GPL League.

By the time they reached the last escalator, battle flags of each club hung on both sides, as if they were passing through a corridor lined with banners, heading toward a brutal battlefield.

The GPL competition venue on the top floor had also been completely renovated according to relevant requirements, including accompanying areas like the official fan support customization zone that had received strong feedback from previous audiences, as well as various GOG game merchandise like custom figurines and props.

These open spaces had existed before, but now they were being fully utilized, enhancing the gaming and competitive atmosphere of the entire venue, making it more immersive.

Upon entering the venue, Pei Qian noticed significant changes inside as well.

First, the two areas in the front rows of the venue had been transformed into blue and red zones, representing the fans of the red and blue sides of the matches, who could cheer and support their respective teams.

As for other areas, such as the back rows, they were prepared for neutral spectators. However, the back rows in the red area still leaned slightly toward the red side, which helped create a certain level of distinction.

The battle flags of each club hung high on the walls surrounding the venue, with the corresponding team’s flag illuminating during matches.

Moreover, various details on the stage also seemed to have been completely redesigned. It appeared that the people responsible for the GPL League had put in considerable effort.

Lin Wan said, “I specifically had Liang Qianfan come over. Although we couldn’t completely change the overall decoration style, adding some embellishments wasn’t a problem.”

“Liang Qianfan adjusted the stage, seats, and walls. Compared to the Global Invitational, the atmosphere of the entire venue has improved significantly.”

“Additionally, our broadcasting platform and various on-site camera equipment have also been reconfigured. For example, this jib crane was just purchased and can help us capture overhead angles, showing the fully packed audience.”

“Mr. Pei, do you see any areas that need improvement?”

Pei Qian silently shook his head. “No, everything is good.”

Sometimes what made Pei Qian most melancholic was that without his management, his employees would spontaneously handle matters efficiently.

There were quite a few people inside the venue.

Since Yuanda Paradise was a shopping mall in Jingzhou’s core district, it had high foot traffic. The GPL esports competition venue on the top floor had been completely renovated and looked brand new. Even without ongoing matches, many people came to visit out of curiosity.

Pei Qian didn’t want to attract a crowd, so he just casually walked around in the corner, keeping a low profile.

However, at that moment, Lin Wan suddenly spotted a familiar figure.

A Western man with a slightly balding head stood out quite prominently among the Chinese crowd.

Lin Wan quickly said, “Oh? Mr. Pei, isn’t that Eric?”

Although Lin Wan had only met Eric once, his beard-longer-than-hair and look-down-on-everyone demeanor had left a deep impression on her, so she quickly recognized him.

Following Lin Wan’s finger, Pei Qian also saw Eric.

Eric had been facing sideways, observing the battle flags on the wall. Then he found a seat and began to examine the player seats on the stage and the large screen equipment.

This was the first time Pei Qian had seen Eric in person; previously, he had only heard his voice but never seen his face.

Pei Qian was puzzled. “Huh? Wasn’t he supposed to no longer be in charge of IOI’s domestic server?”

Lin Wan thought for a moment. “That intelligence should be accurate. He’s no longer responsible for IOI’s domestic server work. But from the looks of it, he hasn’t rushed to leave and has instead come to gather intelligence.”

Pei Qian nodded. “That makes sense.”

Lin Wan suggested, “Mr. Pei, since he’s an old acquaintance, should we go over and say hello?”

Pei Qian thought for a moment. Eric was in such a miserable state; he must be in dire need of support and comfort. So he nodded, “Sure, let’s go say hello.”

Min Jingchao noticed Eric taking out his phone to take photos and slightly furrowed his brow. “Mr. Pei, should we stop him? After he takes these photos and goes back, what if Dayark Company copies us?”

Pei Qian raised his hand. “No, let him take pictures!”

…

Eric, holding his phone, carefully photographed the main stage setup and panoramic shots of the entire venue, his expression quite complex.

Nearly four months had passed since he began overseeing IOI’s domestic server operations.

Looking back on these four months, if he had to describe it in one word, it would be despair!

Eric had applied all the operational experiences from other regions around the world and racked his brains to come up with various methods, but no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t take any market share away from GOG!

The top executives at Dayark Company were extremely dissatisfied with this, believing it was due to Eric’s work failures and incompetence. Eric had grievances but couldn’t express them.

No matter how he explained the objective situation, the company wouldn’t understand and would only see it as Eric making excuses.

So, on one hand, Eric was unwilling to take the blame, and on the other hand, he had developed a strong interest in Tenda and GOG.

He was puzzled about how Tenda had managed to achieve this level of success.

Therefore, after completing the handover of his work, Eric hadn’t left but had flown to Jingzhou for a comprehensive investigation and research, especially conducting detailed studies on GOG’s various operational activities.

The Global Finals and GPL League were naturally the focus of his research.

Finger Company had previously wanted to organize a Global Finals, but they were scared off by GOG’s Global Invitational.

Eric felt that after returning, if he could provide a detailed report to Finger Company’s senior management about GOG’s operational strategies, he could both share his responsibility and help Dayark Company better organize the Global Finals they were preparing. Regardless of whether the failure of IOI’s domestic server was his fault or not, at least he could make up for it with achievements.

Eric was no longer responsible for IOI’s domestic server work; he still needed to survive at Dayark Company and couldn’t just give up.

After taking another photo, Eric’s peripheral vision caught several people walking toward him.

Seeing Lin Wan at the front, he was startled.

This was bad!

He was secretly taking photos and had been caught!

Although the GPL competition venue was completely open, and anyone could freely take photos—it wasn’t confidential—Eric was, after all, a senior executive at Dayark Company. Being caught doing this wasn’t a good look.

However, Eric was indeed battle-hardened and had seen a lot. As a multinational company executive, what major situations hadn’t he encountered? He couldn’t be intimidated by these young people in their twenties.

So, Eric quickly composed himself and put away his phone. “Miss Lin, what a coincidence to see you again.”

Lin Wan smiled slightly. “Mr. Eric, since you’ve come to Jingzhou, you should have let us know. We at Tenda should fulfill our duty as hosts.”

“By the way, Mr. Eric, this is Mr. Pei, whom you’ve been eager to meet.”

Eric was a bit stunned.

He hadn’t watched “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” and didn’t follow Tenda’s gossip news, so he was just surprised at how young Mr. Pei was.

The more he thought about it, the less it didn’t made sense. Throughout Tenda, employees over thirty seemed to be as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Yet somehow, this group of young people had managed to inflict such a significant loss on Dayark Company?

Eric now didn’t dare to underestimate Mr. Pei at all and extended his hand. “Mr. Pei, pleased to meet you.”

He had been worried that Mr. Pei would adopt a condescending attitude as the victor and mock him, especially since Mr. Pei was only in his twenties. Being young and vigorous, and having achieved such a tremendous victory, it would be normal to say a few sarcastic words.

However, Mr. Pei didn’t do that at all. Instead, he smiled and shook Eric’s hand. “Mr. Eric, pleased to meet you. I’m sorry that when you came to Jingzhou last time, I was too busy with work to receive you. How about this—if Mr. Eric has time, let me treat you to a meal?”

Looking at Mr. Pei’s sincere expression, Eric’s face showed fluctuating emotions. He couldn’t quite figure out what Mr. Pei’s intentions were.

Was this the characteristic politeness of Eastern people? Or was it a characteristic form of Eastern irony?

The cultural gap left Eric feeling somewhat confused.