December 18, Sunday.
Wu Yue was counting people on his fingers with Manager Lu in the office.
“Once we get to Los Angeles, we’ll hire a local guide, four bodyguards who can also serve as drivers, and rent a minibus.”
“FV Club’s first team, second team, SUG Club’s five main players, plus you, me, the team leader, coach, and analyst—that’s 20 people total. Add two interpreters and three photographers for the documentary, and we have 25 people.”
“Still five short.”
“We could also bring a team doctor to ensure the players’ health, who can also lead simple physical training sessions at the hotel to maintain their physical condition.”
“That’s still four people short.”
Wu Yue counted again and again on his fingers, but couldn’t reach 30 people.
The main issue was that Mr. Pei had allocated too many spots. Wu Yue had already included three dedicated photographers and all necessary logistics personnel, including interpreters, team leaders, coaches, analysts, and team doctors, but they were still four people short. He truly didn’t know who else to bring.
Although Mr. Pei hadn’t specified any requirements for personnel identities, this was still a business trip, so the people brought along should at least have some connection to the competition, right?
Mr. Pei had been extremely generous, making it seem like he was sending everyone on an all-expenses-paid tour of Los Angeles, but Wu Yue didn’t dare turn it into a company-funded vacation. On the contrary, he felt enormous pressure.
With several million provided, what if they couldn’t deliver good results?
Manager Lu suggested, “Mr. Wu, our club only has this many people at most, and I really can’t think of any more candidates. How about this—why don’t you ask Mr. Zhang if he has any suitable candidates?”
“Since Mr. Pei is funding this, bringing people from Tenda would make more sense on the surface. Besides, with such a high-standard, fully-funded trip, Tenda employees would probably be quite interested in coming.”
Wu Yue nodded in realization: “You’re right, I should ask Mr. Zhang.”
“So, I’ll call Mr. Zhang, and you call Mr. Ding Gan of the SUG Club.”
…
DGE Esports Club.
Zhang Yuan: “Four spots left? No one else to choose? Hmm… we could provide four people from our side, that shouldn’t be a problem. Let me think…”
After hearing Wu Yue explain the situation over the phone, Zhang Yuan fell into deep thought.
FV Club was heading to battle, with Mr. Pei personally overseeing the matter, providing high accommodation standards, and insisting they bring a full 30 people!
And that didn’t even include the locally hired guide and bodyguards in Los Angeles.
Why bring so many people?
Currently, not just domestically but even on a global scale, the esports environment is still quite informal. Not to mention other issues, but just two years ago, domestic professional players often paid their way to competitions, and stories of sleeping on the street and eating instant noodles with cold water were commonly heard.
Especially for international competitions, because expenses increased significantly once abroad, expenditures were kept to a minimum wherever possible—the fewer people, the better.
But Mr. Pei had offered treatment far exceeding standards. Why?
After brief consideration, Zhang Yuan immediately thought of two points: First, to showcase Tenda’s financial strength and commitment to esports through FV Club; Second, to ensure logistics support at all costs to maximize the chances of good results!
Since FV Club was now bound to Tenda, the better FV Club performed, the better Tenda looked, which would correspondingly make Fingertip Company and Dragon Universe Group look bad.
Whether they won prize money was secondary; the key was publicity and advertising effect.
Therefore, the accompanying personnel on this trip certainly weren’t going for tourism—they all needed to serve a purpose.
Zhang Yuan said, “Looking at the entire Tenda Group, there are indeed four rather suitable candidates, but I don’t know if they’re willing to go.”
“Ye Zhizhou, Min Jingchao, Bao Xu, and Zhou Pengyuan.”
Ye Zhizhou is the head of Shangyang Games and a game designer who was previously responsible for IOI’s domestic server operations. He’s very familiar with IOI’s various data, though his knowledge is limited to the previous older versions.”
“Min Jingchao is a GOG designer who has been responsible for game design and numerical balance work since GOG’s launch.”
“Bao Xu is a senior veteran designer at Tenda Games, a hardcore gamer proficient in most games, including GOG and IOI. He also has extensive travel experience, good physical fitness, and strong resilience.”
“Zhou Pengyuan was formerly the DGE Club’s second team commander position player, though he’s admittedly quite old and his condition has deteriorated significantly. He recently decided to retire and return to the DGE Club as head coach. He has rich gaming experience and is skilled in various GOG tactics.”
“These four people’s understanding of GOG and IOI is top-tier, and they should be able to guide tactical planning and data analysis.”
“The only issue is… I need to check with Mr. Pei about this.”
“Aside from Zhou Pengyuan, who’s now DGE’s head coach and I can arrange, the other three are either Tenda veterans or department heads at my level, so I can’t order them around.”
Wu Yue, on the other end of the phone, was stunned: “Mr. Zhang, that’s not necessary! This is too much of a mobilization!”
“Our club is just going to Los Angeles for a competition, but we’re bringing along the heads and lead designers of Tenda Group’s two core game departments? This… seems somewhat inappropriate, doesn’t it?”
Zhang Yuan said, “Don’t worry about that. Whether it’s appropriate or not is for Mr. Pei to consider. If Mr. Pei is concerned about disrupting work and doesn’t let them go, then I’ll consider other candidates.”
Wu Yue thought about it and agreed, so he nodded: “Alright, Mr. Zhang, I’ll await your news.”
Zhang Yuan hung up and immediately called Mr. Pei to explain the situation.
On the other end of the phone, Pei Qian had just gotten up not long ago and was having brunch at Slackin’ Internet Café.
When he heard Zhang Yuan wanted to send away Ye Zhizhou and Min Jingchao, Pei Qian’s eyes lit up, and he readily agreed.
“No problem! Let them go! And this is mandatory—no excuses!”
Pei Qian had been worried about how to arrange for them.
Currently, Ye Zhizhou is responsible for GOG’s overseas version operations, and Min Jingchao is responsible for GOG’s new version updates and domestic operations. These two could be considered Pei Qian’s greatest threats.
If they put in a little more effort, GOG’s market share would increase significantly!
The better they did their jobs, the harder it would be for Pei Qian to lose money.
And this time, Pei Qian had arranged for the entire FV Club team to stay until the end of next month, which was when the IOI Global Finals would conclude.
Pei Qian didn’t believe at all that FV Club could win the championship. After all, European and American teams had started earlier, trained more, and adapted to the version first. How could FV Club, a team reorganized less than a month ago, compete with established European and American powerhouses?
They would likely be eliminated in the top eight, or at most, the top four.
But being eliminated didn’t prevent them from continuing to tour Los Angeles!
Other clubs typically booked flights home the day after elimination, which was inhumane. The players trained hard normally, and after finally getting a visa to go abroad, shouldn’t they enjoy a few days?
So, regardless of FV Club’s performance, Pei Qian would require them to stay in Los Angeles until after the IOI Global Finals ended before coming back.
With Ye Zhizhou and Min Jingchao, these two major threats, going to Los Angeles for a whole month, wouldn’t GOG’s work completely slow down or stagnate?
Even if these two wanted to work remotely, there was a time difference of over a dozen hours between Jingzhou and Los Angeles—when one was daytime, the other was night. By the time they woke up, Tenda’s office would be closing.
Perfect!
So Pei Qian didn’t think much about it and readily agreed.
As for Bao Xu and Zhou Pengyuan on the list, Pei Qian thought they were dispensable, but since Zhang Yuan had asked for them, he’d let them go too. Filling the quota would mean spending more money.
Zhang Yuan was quite touched.
Mr. Pei trusted him, giving away such important department heads just like that!
He immediately called these four people, asking them to arrange work handovers and prepare for expedited visas.
A few minutes later, Bao Xu, who was happily playing games at his workstation, received a call from Zhang Yuan.
His expression changed from contentment to shock, then to bewilderment and confusion.
After hanging up, Bao Xu froze at his workstation, contemplating life, and remained motionless for a long time.
…
Meanwhile, at the SUG Club, Ding Gan also received a call from Manager Lu.
“What? Taking SUG Club’s IOI division’s five players to Los Angeles???”
Ding Gan almost thought he had misheard.
After Manager Lu explained the whole story, Ding Gan still couldn’t recover from his confusion.
Never had he imagined that although his team was eliminated in the domestic qualifiers and didn’t secure a spot in the IOI World Championship, they would still be going to Los Angeles!
This time, SUG Club’s players would serve as sparring partners.
This team was considered one of the domestic top-tier teams, with strength comparable to the other two teams heading to the World Championship.
Being swept 3-0 in the final match wasn’t entirely about skill; it was mainly because their mentality collapsed, and they lacked tactical preparation.
Since the qualifiers, the IOI division players had been dejected for a long time.
Originally, they had a chance to appear at the World Championship, but they missed by a step—a world of difference. Who could handle that?
But now, things seemed to have taken a turn.
Although they couldn’t compete in the World Championship, such a high-standard, fully-funded tour would be great for the players to clear their minds!
Ding Gan thought about it and realized he truly had no reason to refuse.
The only question was, why was Mr. Pei doing this?
Ding Gan racked his brains.
“Could it be… this is some kind of hint from Mr. Pei?”
“Mr. Pei has always been clear about his likes and dislikes, with appropriate rewards and punishments. Previously, SUG had friction with Mr. Pei over the GPL slot and was expelled from GPL, but Mr. Pei didn’t pursue it to the end and gave us a GDL slot instead.”
“It’s the same this time. After reorganizing FV Club, Mr. Pei squeezed out SUG’s World Championship slot, but this wasn’t specifically targeting SUG Club. Mr. Pei is humane, spending money to send our players to Los Angeles as sparring partners, but treating them to good food and accommodation in five-star hotels—this treatment is better than tourism.”
“Mr. Pei is so magnanimous! SUG Club offended him, yet he still doesn’t hold grudges… In contrast, Dragon Universe Group, after all their nice talk, immediately discarded SUG like worn-out shoes once we were eliminated…”
“The difference is clear!”
Thinking of this, Ding Gan immediately nodded and said, “Good, then thank Mr. Pei for his kindness!”
“But I have one small request.”
“Could I join you in Los Angeles? I’ve been wanting to travel for a few days. Don’t worry, I’ll cover all my expenses; you just need to manage the costs for the five players. Once in Los Angeles, I’ll do my own thing and won’t interrupt your daily training.”
Manager Lu thought about it: “If you want to come, Mr. Ding, of course you can.”
Since Ding Gan was paying his way, there was nothing to discuss. If he wanted to go to Los Angeles, how could Manager Lu and Wu Yue stop him?
They were already bringing thirty people; one more wouldn’t matter.
Moreover, SUG’s players were helping with sparring, and Ding Gan was the SUG Club’s owner—they had to give him this courtesy.
…
After settling matters with the SUG Club, Manager Lu returned to Wu Yue’s office.
“Mr. Wu, everything’s arranged with SUG Club!”
Wu Yue nodded: “Yes, and we have the remaining four slots filled too.”
“Mr. Pei is taking the FV Club’s expedition to Los Angeles very seriously. Our team can now be called the ultimate dream team!”
“Look at these four new additions: a GOG designer, the former operations director for IOI’s domestic server, a senior game designer from Tenda Games, and a former star commander player from GOG… Plus, our coaches, analysts, and players from three teams—our reserve strength is off the charts!”
After hearing Wu Yue introduce the four new members, Manager Lu’s face was also filled with shock.
Even GOG’s lead designer was personally going?
It was too surreal!
This was equivalent to the chief designer of Fingertip Company personally doing data analysis for a club at the GOG Global Invitational—even saying it was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut wouldn’t adequately describe this situation!
Now, FV Club’s data analysis team could be described as ultimately glamorous.
More importantly, Ye Zhizhou and Min Jingchao weren’t fighting alone—they had Shangyang Games and Tenda Games backing them. If they encountered any problems, they could directly pass them to the designers of both departments to solve together.
Manager Lu couldn’t help but sigh: “If that’s the case, we don’t even need accounts on IOI’s world server!”
“Why bother with high-ranked games? We brought three teams, fifteen people—playing against ourselves is enough!”
“First team players can play practice matches with the second team and SUG players. Then, when the second team and SUG are playing practice matches to test lineup strength, first team players can listen to analysts review and explain tactics.”
During free time, players can split into groups to practice lane matchups and maintain their feel for the game. Isn’t this efficiency much higher than high-ranked games?”
Previously, Manager Lu and Wu Yue had hesitated about going to Los Angeles, mainly worried about not getting high-ranked accounts there, which would compromise training effectiveness.
They couldn’t start from scratch and solo queue, could they?
But now that wasn’t necessary. As long as they brought enough people, the training schedule would naturally be filled, and whether they had high-ranked accounts or not was irrelevant.
Wu Yue immediately became spirited: “Everything is ready. We must train well this time. If we don’t achieve good results, we would be letting Mr. Pei down!”