Zhao Xuming’s words left Cretian in silence.
Indeed, they couldn’t just sit and wait for doom.
Looking at the current situation, FV Team had shown incredibly powerful strength. Whether it was their tactical reserves, player condition, or public opinion environment, everything had reached unprecedented peak state.
Although it was unclear exactly who comprised FV Team’s data analysis team, there was no doubt they had support from GPL league and even Tenda Group’s game designers!
Otherwise, they couldn’t have made such rapid progress in version and tactical understanding in such a short time.
Judging by current trends, FV Team would maintain absolute advantage even in the finals.
If FV Team actually won the championship, it would be an absolutely terrible situation for both Cretian and Zhao Xuming.
By rights, as the tournament organizer, Finger Company shouldn’t care much about which team won the championship.
But ioi Global Finals had lost its original flavor. FV Team represented not just domestic ioi esports circles, but also Tenda Group.
In other words, Tenda Group’s designers and data analysts were using ioi Global Finals as a battlefield to engage in silent competition with ioi designers and all teams!
Therefore, Finger Company couldn’t lose.
Yet as the host, Finger Company couldn’t resort to underhanded tactics. No walls are impervious – if such tricks were discovered, it would become a world-shocking mega-scandal. Not only would it turn the Global Finals’ fairness into a joke, it would ruin Finger Company and even Dayak Group’s reputation.
This created a dilemma.
Not acting would definitely be painful; acting had a slim chance but carried huge risks. One wrong move could be worse than doing nothing.
From Finger Company’s perspective, this was a difficult choice.
But for Cretian himself, there were additional considerations.
If FV Team won the championship and all Global Finals’ popularity was captured by FV and Tenda, then Cretian, as the direct responsible party for this series of decisions, would definitely be ousted by upper management.
At least if FV Team stopped at runner-up, Finger Company would save face, the Global Finals wouldn’t be wasted effort, and Cretian’s position could be preserved.
So from Cretian’s personal angle, he didn’t have many choices.
With his position as head of Greater China region at stake, Cretian couldn’t be careless. After careful consideration, he lowered his voice: “You make sense. I’ll have two of our company’s balancers analyze FV Team’s tactical playstyle, combine it with new version game data, and provide it to FRY Team for tactical support behind the scenes.”
“No matter what, we cannot let FV Team win the championship!”
After much deliberation, Cretian felt this risk had to be taken.
As long as he found two trustworthy balancers and coordinated with FRY Team, if both sides kept quiet, this information shouldn’t leak.
As long as the outside world remained unaware, it should be fine.
With only one week left until finals, time for FRY Team’s preparation was limited.
Cretian suddenly thought of something else, looking at Zhao Xuming: “Can you get any materials from FV Team?”
Obviously, simply sending two balancers might not necessarily work.
While Finger Company’s official data balancers far exceeded ordinary people in data mastery and game understanding, they might not be able to integrate data and tactics effectively.
From data to tactics required extensive detail filling, plus consideration of players’ playstyle habits, proficiency with key heroes, etc.
So Cretian felt if they could obtain some materials from FV Team, they’d have better odds.
Zhao Xuming grimaced: “Can’t get any, neither soft nor hard approach works.”
“Before leaving the country, I’d already fallen out with FV’s owner Wu Yue. If I approach them now, they’ll definitely suspect something. Intelligence gathering is even more impossible – they hired four bodyguards, usually train on the second floor of an internet cafe, exclusively their own people practicing, not leaking any information.”
“They’re like an iron barrel – can’t pierce with needles, can’t splash with water. They don’t even rank. No one knows what heroes FV players are practicing recently.”
Cretian thought, then asked: “I heard FV Team is scrimming with SUG Team. SUG Team’s owner Ding Gan, don’t you know him? Could you somehow get intelligence from there?”
Zhao Xuming’s expression became more awkward: “This… I’m afraid he won’t give me a good reception now either.”
Zhao Xuming had self-awareness.
Previously he had promised SUG Team would definitely have a World Championship spot, but FV Team emerged and snatched it away. Zhao Xuming felt Ding Gan and SUG Team had no value, so he ignored them. Ding Gan must be upset about this.
And when Mr. Pei personally paid for SUG to come to Los Angeles, seeing Ding Gan chatting happily with Wu Yue at the airport, clearly Ding Gan had already sided with Mr. Pei.
If Zhao Xuming went to find Ding Gan now with fake courtesy, would he get a good reception?
Ding Gan would probably turn around and tell Mr. Pei and Wu Yue, making FV Team more vigilant.
Of course, as just a club owner, Ding Gan might not dare openly break with Zhao Xuming, but being polite on the surface while doing things behind his back was hard to predict.
Zhao Xuming had zero confidence in this.
Cretian was somewhat agitated: “What’s wrong with you! How did you fall out with every useful person, making everyone unreliable!”
Zhao Xuming was angry but opened his mouth, powerless to refute.
Indeed, if Zhao Xuming had treated Ding Gan better, or hadn’t chosen to abandon FV Team earlier, the current situation might be different.
But Zhao Xuming couldn’t predict the future – how could he foresee this!
One wrong step leading to all wrong steps. A seemingly trivial decision made in momentary anger and heated emotion had produced severe consequences now.
Cretian couldn’t say much more, only sighing: “In that case, never mind. Let’s hope FRY Team can stop FV.”
…
…
January 16, Monday.
Mr. Pei woke up as usual, came to the company, checked various businesses’ situations, while considering where to start his emergency spending plan.
The intrigue in Los Angeles was completely unknown to Mr. Pei.
After seeing FV 3-0 defeat their opponents to reach finals last weekend, Mr. Pei had already strategically given up on them.
After exam week ended, classmates had all gone home for winter break. Thinking about still needing to frantically spend money, Mr. Pei felt inexplicably melancholy.
Just two minutes into reviewing, there was a knock on the door.
He Dasheng reminded: “Mr. Pei, regarding the street food competition I mentioned, it starts this afternoon. Do you have any instructions?”
Mr. Pei was startled: “This afternoon?”
He Dasheng nodded: “Yes, this afternoon. Oh, I didn’t set this time – it was in Meng Chang’s original planning. Maybe he intended it as a recording. If you think it’s unsuitable, Mr. Pei, postponing to the weekend is fine.”
Mr. Pei raised his hand: “No, today is perfect. Proceed as planned.”
Earlier when He Dasheng mentioned “next week” having a street food competition, Mr. Pei assumed it would be on the weekend.
After all, such competitions need viewership, and weekends attract more viewers.
But Meng Chang’s original idea wasn’t live streaming but recorded broadcast.
Because Meng Chang’s fundamental goal in organizing this competition was to have street food vendors nationwide praise Cold Noodle Girl.
The program would first introduce how delicious and unique street foods were across the country, then highlight how outstanding Cold Noodle Girl’s taste was, completely surpassing the nation’s finest street vendors.
Live streaming risked broadcast accidents. Recording was much more controllable – any emergencies could be edited out and re-shot.
After completing edits, Meng Chang would spend big money promoting on video sites like AiLiDao to further boost Cold Noodle Girl’s awareness.
Before Cold Noodle Girl’s collapse, this would be an effective marketing campaign.
Though some questioned whether Cold Noodle Girl’s roasted cold noodles were truly as amazing as Meng Chang claimed, overall the taste wasn’t particularly bad, so whether Cold Noodle Girl was “delicious” remained subjective.
In such situations, marketing could guide public opinion.
Like many food brands, as long as taste reached acceptable standards and marketing was effective with everyone saying it’s delicious, many customers would try it.
But now after Cold Noodle Girl’s bankruptcy storm, the situation was completely different.
Due to excessive marketing, public opinion had completely reversed. Most people would lean toward heavily criticizing it. No matter how the roasted cold noodles tasted, they’d find it disgusting.
As He Dasheng was about to leave, Mr. Pei called him back.
“Wait, you just said this street food competition is recorded?”
He Dasheng nodded: “Yes recorded, mainly worried about live streaming having unexpected situations.”
“According to Meng Chang’s original plan, judges were already hinted at. When rating taste, Cold Noodle Girl’s roasted cold noodles must place first.”
Mr. Pei frowned: “That’s unacceptable!”
“Change recording to live streaming.”
“Also, tell the judges rating must be factually honest, don’t save face for Cold Noodle Girl!”
“Everything else is street food, while Cold Noodle Girl benefits from fast food industrial processes. Taste standards should be stricter.”
“Harshly criticize Cold Noodle Girl’s roasted cold noodles then. Point out any problems severely, absolutely no mercy!”
He Dasheng was momentarily stunned but didn’t ask further: “Yes Mr. Pei, I’ll call the person in charge immediately to implement your instructions.”
Mr. Pei’s two requirements didn’t conflict with the overall street food competition flow and were easy to implement – just brief the judges.
This street food competition’s venue was at a luxury hotel in the capital. Meng Chang’s intent was likely elevating the competition’s prestige to better highlight Cold Noodle Girl’s mid-to-high-end positioning.
Though Cold Noodle Girl was fast food, in Meng Chang’s vision it mainly targeted young professionals and white-collar workers, needing certain prestige to distinguish from ordinary street roasted cold noodles.
Cold Noodle Girl hosting a street food competition at a luxury hotel with roasted cold noodles winning – such topics naturally generated buzz.
Mr. Pei couldn’t be bothered making a special trip to the capital for this, so he’d skip it and just watch the livestream from Jingzhou.
Honestly, this street food competition was quite intriguing and might actually generate some popularity.
But Mr. Pei wasn’t worried at all.
Directly telling judges to harshly criticize Cold Noodle Girl’s roasted cold noodles would make its already poor reputation even worse! Let everyone know Cold Noodle Girl’s roasted cold noodles weren’t as amazing as hyped!
This way, everyone would definitely detest Cold Noodle Girl more. No one would visit Cold Noodle Girl stores to consume. Over time, this brand would keep burning money…
Wasn’t this perfect?