Pei Qian skimmed through the online comments and couldn’t help but worry for Finger Company.

“We didn’t even hire any internet commenters to influence public opinion, so why are these players arguing among themselves?”

“The public opinion situation doesn’t look good. What can be done?”

“Should I hire some internet commenters to say a few good words about Finger Company online, praise them a bit to boost their reputation?”

“No, that behavior might seem like reverse trolling and could trigger even greater resistance…”

From the bottom of his heart, Pei Qian was definitely on Finger Company’s side, sincerely hoping they could perform better in both the domestic and world servers, creating as much threat to GOG as possible.

But in the current situation, Pei Qian could only worry without being able to exert any influence.

If he joined players in criticizing Finger Company, it would be like attacking an opponent who was already down; if he spoke up for Finger Company, it would seem like sarcastic mockery, fanning the flames.

Pei Qian thought it over from every angle, and it seemed inappropriate to say anything.

If that was the case, he’d better stay silent!

If he didn’t say anything, there wouldn’t be any problem, right?

However, as Pei Qian casually refreshed the page, he saw another post that had been upvoted.

“Tenda still hasn’t taken any position. Who knows what their attitude is?”

“What attitude could they have? They’re probably on their knees in the living room, laughing out loud! They didn’t do anything, yet IOI self-destructed.”

“I’m not so sure. Given IOI’s tiny market share in China, almost lower than ‘Divine Revelation,’ if you were Mr. Pei, would you even spare such a competitor a second glance?”

“That’s true. No matter how big GOG is, it’s just one of Tenda’s industries. Mr. Pei has so many other things to worry about. He probably wouldn’t care about such insignificant news, like a fly dropping.”

“Well, let me rephrase—GOG’s operations team is on their knees in the living room laughing. Better?”

“Yes, that works.”

Pei Qian looked at these casual commenters’ discussion, a question mark slowly forming above his head.

?

What did they mean by “on their knees in the living room laughing”?

He was very worried about them!

What did they mean by “wouldn’t spare a second glance” or “wouldn’t care”?

He cared very much!

Ever since Lin Wan had reported Finger Company’s actions, Pei Qian had been constantly concerned about this matter, more attentive to it than any other business.

The reason he hadn’t taken a position was that he feared accidentally influencing the situation, causing it to develop in an even more unfavorable direction.

It was like a weak flame—Pei Qian wanted to blow gently to make it stronger, but what if he accidentally blew too hard and extinguished it?

Yet even his silence was being creatively interpreted by internet commenters, leaving Pei Qian feeling desperate.

Who could truly understand Mr. Pei’s inner anguish?

Pei Qian silently sighed. What he could do now was very limited. To protect IOI’s domestic server—this last spark—he could only cautiously observe from the sidelines.

…

Meanwhile, at Longyu Group Headquarters.

Longyu Group’s full name was Shanghai Longyu Network Development Co., Ltd. Their main business included various online interactive entertainment content and services. Self-developed and licensed games were their primary business and biggest source of revenue.

However, Longyu Group was a company with a mixed reputation in China.

Longyu Group’s self-developed games were mainly pay-to-win online games. Among all gaming companies, their transition to mobile games was the slowest and most sluggish. However, with their accumulated experience in client-side games, they still ranked at the forefront of China’s gaming industry, undoubtedly a giant enterprise.

The reason for their mixed reputation was that their self-developed games were heavily monetized online games with questionable business practices. While they made a lot of money, they also received plenty of criticism.

At the same time, Longyu Group had licensed many successful foreign games, but quite a few of them had failed under their operation. When operations failed, they often resorted to a desperate approach—increasing monetization to squeeze out the last drops of profit—which also earned them much criticism.

But to be fair, Longyu Group wasn’t that bad, and their reputation was even better than “toxic” companies like Dayak Group. After all, while many of their licensed games had failed, some had succeeded. Compared to domestic publishers whose every license failed, they were doing relatively well.

With such contrast among peers, many players still had expectations for Longyu Group.

As for why Dayak Group and Finger Company finally selected Longyu Group as the domestic server operator, there were multiple reasons.

First, an important reason Dayak Group decided to find an operator was that they realized they couldn’t handle IOI’s localized operation in China.

Finding a local agent, especially a large company with financial resources and rich licensing experience, did have advantages in localized operations.

Second, among many companies, Longyu Group offered the highest price and made the most concessions, showing what Dayak Group considered the best sincerity.

When seeking operating companies, different operators requested different levels of authority.

Dayak Group and Finger Company were quite strict about this aspect. Although they sought an agent, they were unwilling to relinquish too much authority, so they preferred an operating company like Longyu Group that didn’t demand as many rights.

Finally, there were other considerations, such as Longyu Group having an existing account system that could directly channel users from their own games to IOI, and the fact that IOI’s Greater China headquarters was in Shanghai, as was Longyu Group’s headquarters, making timely communication more convenient.

Regardless of how players viewed it, both Dayak Group and Longyu Group were very satisfied with this cooperation.

For Longyu Group, although IOI was being challenged by GOG worldwide, it was far from defeated and still had considerable influence. As for the domestic IOI server, although it had cooled down, this was precisely a good opportunity to buy at the bottom.

Longyu Group indeed needed a good enough PC game project as the focus of their next phase of operations.

So, the two parties hit it off, both attaching great importance to this cooperation.

At this moment, at Longyu Group’s headquarters, representatives from both sides were engaged in friendly discussions.

Zhao Xuming, Senior Vice President of Longyu Group, had previously served as Longyu Group’s Marketing Director and was promoted to Vice President two years ago due to outstanding work performance.

For this cooperation between Longyu Group and Dayak Group, a dedicated IOI Operations Cooperation Department was established, with Zhao Xuming as the person in charge, fully managing IOI operations and coordinating with Finger Company.

As for Finger Company, the meeting representative was, of course, Christian, who had recently taken office and strongly promoted this cooperation.

The main content of this meeting was to discuss IOI’s domestic server operation strategy and matters related to IOI’s first World Championship.

Zhao Xuming smiled, “We’ve been monitoring the current online public opinion. We don’t know how foreign opinion is—that’s not within our responsibility. But purely regarding domestic players, I can guarantee that it’s not a major issue.”

Currently, those reacting most strongly are mainly veteran players. According to our questionnaire survey data, casual players have a positive attitude toward these changes.”

Considering IOI’s market share is already very low, our main goal is definitely to attract more new players. If we only satisfy veteran players and lack fresh blood, veteran players will eventually leave anyway.”

“Conversely, if we serve new players well, veteran players, despite complaining, have relatively high tolerance and won’t leave in large numbers immediately. As new players increase, veteran players will naturally come around.”

“Of course, we’ll consider public opinion, at least to save face. For instance, some people suggest compensating veteran players, which I think is a good idea. Specifically developing a skin exclusive to veteran players, or a commemorative avatar, should effectively calm public opinion.”

Christian nodded, “Yes, we trust Mr. Zhao and Longyu Group’s capabilities, and we can fully cooperate with developing skins. So, what are Mr. Zhao’s plans regarding the World Championship?”

Zhao Xuming smiled, “That’s easy to address. GOG’s Global Invitational was held more than two months before ours. Although they’ve seized the initiative, we also have an advantage: we can fully learn from their experience.”

“Regarding the prize pool, it must be larger than theirs—it’s a matter of face. And using champion skins for prize pool revenue sharing is quite good; we can adopt that too. Moreover, our skin prices are higher, with greater revenue sharing, so the prize pool will look better.”

Christian nodded, “Yes, we’re considering this as well. There’s no need to worry about money.”

“Previously, cash flow was somewhat tight, but it has eased considerably now. Moreover, since both our companies are funding this together, there’s no reason to provide fewer resources than Tenda.”

“However, our current concern is about participating teams.”

Christian paused briefly, adding, “The European and American regions won’t be a problem.”

Zhao Xuming immediately understood his meaning.

He meant that domestic clubs and IOI teams were problematic!

Indeed, due to IOI’s severely compressed market share in China and lack of fertile ground, plus many IOI division players recently transferring to GOG, even if the World Championship was organized, whether there would be enough domestic teams participating was questionable.

Zhao Xuming quickly said, “Yes, that’s what we’re worried about too.”

“But according to our recent survey, the situation is relatively optimistic.”

“Because Eric previously provided certain subsidies to various clubs to promote IOI, some clubs still maintain IOI divisions.”

“Moreover, many former IOI players who transitioned to GOG haven’t integrated well, and many still want to return to IOI.”

“These players can’t play as starters in GOG’s first-tier teams and don’t have many opportunities to play. If they could participate in the IOI World Championship, they would be very willing.”

“I’ve already arranged the itinerary and will contact various domestic clubs in the next few days. There won’t be any problems with the teams.”

“However, I hope we can accommodate them in the tournament schedule. Try to arrange relatively weaker opponents for these teams in the group stage, otherwise, the situation might look rather embarrassing.”

Christian nodded, “That’s not a problem. However, these teams can’t perform too poorly, or even grouping won’t help.”

Zhao Xuming smiled, “Of course! I’ve already sent people to investigate and have identified some promising candidates. We’ll be able to field several teams with decent strength!”