The efficiency of both Dragon Yu Group and Rabbit Tail Live was quite high. After a brief communication, by noon the next day, the general contract was already completed.

The reason it was done so quickly was mainly because Dragon Yu Group was in a hurry.

The ICL League had already begun promotion, and the venue and other preliminary preparations were basically settled. Only the streaming arrangements had yet to be finalized.

Those few streaming platforms had clearly sensed that Dragon Yu Group was anxious, so they deliberately dragged things out, hoping to push the price down further.

But what kind of temperament did Eric have? How could he indulge these people?

Except for times when he had to endure Mr. Pei, in other situations, Eric basically never yielded.

After some consideration, Eric thought: since all you streaming platforms want to lower the price and show such little sincerity, then forget it!

In any case, selling to any streaming platform was the same. Mr. Pei was offering more money and guaranteed promotion, so cooperation wasn’t a bad option.

In terms of pure capability, Rabbit Tail Live certainly couldn’t compare with several established streaming platforms, but if Mr. Pei’s promise to utilize some of Tenda Group’s resources for promotion was true, then Rabbit Tail Live’s influence would absolutely be no less than other platforms.

Therefore, with Mr. Pei being very accommodating on price and conditions, both parties quickly reached an agreement.

The contract mainly stipulated the following points:

First, this was an exclusive broadcasting contract—only Rabbit Tail Live could stream the ICL League across the entire internet. The price remained the same as previously negotiated: 35 million yuan.

Second, the contract required Rabbit Tail Live to invest substantial resources to promote the ICL League, both on and off the website. Of course, Dragon Yu Group would also spare no effort in promoting the ICL League.

Third, if some force majeure or special circumstances occurred, such as insufficient website bandwidth, streaming lag affecting viewing experience, or major public relations incidents, the party at fault would bear certain losses, and the other party could unconditionally terminate the contract. Naturally, after termination, Dragon Yu Group would partially refund the payment based on actual losses, and the exclusive broadcasting rights would be dissolved.

Finally, there was a supplementary clause. Even if neither party was clearly at fault, but one party wanted to forcibly terminate the contract, they wouldn’t need to pay an exorbitant penalty, but only 20% of the price, which was 7 million yuan, to terminate the contract.

Logically speaking, they shouldn’t need to use this last clause, because if both parties strictly fulfilled the provisions of the contract, the broadcasting and promotion of ICL should be very successful, and there would be no need for forced termination.

The reason for adding this supplementary clause was mainly because of the adversarial relationship between the parties, which made Eric very distrustful of the cunning Mr. Pei.

For Pei Qian, this contract was completely fine. After both parties’ legal departments reviewed and approved it, Pei Qian sent Chen Yufeng with a team to Motown to formally sign the contract and discuss the detailed cooperation arrangements.

……

Guangzhou, ZZ Live headquarters.

The new feature that Liu Liang had previously assigned was being developed urgently in a 996 work schedule. A weight had finally been lifted from his mind, and he could take a bit of a breather.

Recently, he had also spoken with Zhao Xuming several times on the phone, briefly discussing the ICL broadcasting rights issue. Liu Liang’s thoughts were the same as Wolf Fang Live’s President Zhu—they both hoped to lower the price further.

The ICL League was about to begin, and Zhao Xuming didn’t have much time left, so he would most likely have to make some concessions in the end.

Of course, Liu Liang didn’t want things to become too tense, after all, they would still need to cooperate in the future. As long as Zhao Xuming’s side showed a little goodwill and reduced the price by a million or so, bringing the ICL League’s broadcasting rights back to their proper value, Liu Liang was prepared to buy.

However, while Zhao Xuming had been calling frequently before, today he hadn’t called once, which surprised Liu Liang slightly.

Just then, Liu Liang heard hurried footsteps outside his office, followed by a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Liu Liang looked up and saw the employee responsible for coordinating with Dragon Yu Group regarding the ICL broadcasting matters.

“What’s the rush? Take your time and explain.”

“In work, one must maintain a calm, natural, neither arrogant nor impatient attitude. If you panic first, how can you do a good job?”

“In the future, you must be like me, remaining unperturbed in the face of change.”

Liu Liang criticized the employee’s inability to stay calm as he saw that the fellow hadn’t even caught his breath.

The employee wasn’t in the mood to dwell on these details and said urgently: “Director Liu, something terrible has happened!”

“It seems that Finger Company is going to sell the exclusive broadcasting rights of ICL to Rabbit Tail Live!”

Liu Liang’s expression changed instantly as he jumped up from his chair: “Rabbit Tail Live?”

“Exclusive broadcasting rights?”

“When did this happen?!”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

Liu Liang’s barrage of questions left the employee bewildered.

“Director Liu, I just found out about this. The two companies seem to have negotiated very quickly, apparently finalizing things in just a day or two. The specific details aren’t clear yet, but it seems highly likely that the deal will go through…”

Liu Liang fell into a state of confusion.

This was completely beyond his expectations—he had never anticipated this!

Rabbit Tail Live and the ICL League seemed utterly mismatched in every way!

Previously, Mr. Pei had said that Rabbit Tail Live didn’t constitute direct competition with other streaming platforms, that it was a platform focusing on knowledge and education, and indeed, Rabbit Tail Live’s initial promotions and content had verified this.

Logically, if they wanted to enter game streaming, shouldn’t they first poach some GOG streamers or try broadcasting GPL to test the waters? What did it mean to immediately spend big money on exclusive ICL broadcasting rights?

As for the ICL League, wasn’t Finger Company supposed to be Tenda Group’s mortal enemy? Weren’t ioi and GOG supposed to be the biggest competitors?

Eric and Zhao Xuming had suffered so many setbacks because of Mr. Pei—shouldn’t they directly refuse to cooperate with him?

Liu Liang had actually considered whether other streaming platforms might compete for ICL’s exclusive rights, but after a few days of observation, he felt this possibility was extremely slim.

Because the price for ICL’s broadcasting rights was already inflated, and with uncertainty about whether the league would be successful, there was no need to take such a big risk to buy exclusive rights.

Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to join forces and push down the price of broadcasting rights, obtaining ICL’s rights at the lowest cost and minimal risk?

But he never expected that Mr. Pei’s Rabbit Tail Live would suddenly jump in!

This disrupted all of Liu Liang’s plans, leaving him somewhat at a loss, feeling helpless and confused.

Earlier, he had told his subordinate to stay calm and maintain a neither arrogant nor impatient attitude, but now he was more panicked than the employee.

The two looked at each other wide-eyed, and the employee hurriedly asked: “Director Liu, what should we do?”

Liu Liang’s brain worked rapidly: “I’ll call Zhao Xuming!”

If Dragon Yu Group and Rabbit Tail Live hadn’t signed the contract yet, there was still a possibility of intercepting the deal.

Everyone knew that Mr. Pei was always efficient and quick to act, so Liu Liang didn’t dare delay. He immediately called Zhao Xuming.

The phone rang many times before the other side leisurely answered: “Hello? Director Liu, what can I do for you?”

Zhao Xuming’s attitude was indescribably composed and at ease.

Liu Liang’s heart sank, sensing that the situation was not good.

Previously, Zhao Xuming had been eagerly trying to sell ICL’s broadcasting rights to him, with a very polite attitude and offering all sorts of preferential conditions.

But now, Zhao Xuming’s tone clearly conveyed a certain coldness.

Liu Liang quickly said: “Director Zhao, I heard you’re negotiating ICL’s exclusive broadcasting rights with Rabbit Tail Live?”

Zhao Xuming was noncommittal: “Ah, is there a problem?”

Liu Liang: “Director Zhao, this seems a bit unfair! We’ve been discussing the broadcasting rights issue for a while now, and we haven’t reached a conclusion yet. For you to suddenly sell the exclusive rights to Rabbit Tail Live without any notice—that’s a bit unreasonable, isn’t it?”

Zhao Xuming chuckled: “Oh, Director Liu, I was actually planning to tell you tomorrow after we formally signed the contract with Rabbit Tail Live. Well, you can’t really blame us. It’s mainly because you all showed little interest in the ICL League, so naturally, we had to find a more suitable buyer.”

Clearly, Zhao Xuming was now taking advantage of his position, and although he wouldn’t say anything too harsh, he couldn’t help but take a few jabs.

Because previously, Zhao Xuming had been begging these streaming platforms to buy the ICL broadcasting rights, but these platform executives had been pressuring him to lower the price and delaying the process, playing a masterful game of tai chi, which had left Zhao Xuming with a bellyful of anger.

If you can make the first move, why can’t I make the countermove?

In this situation, he definitely had to verbally vent his frustration from the past few days!

Liu Liang didn’t dare say much, and hurriedly continued: “The contract’s not signed yet? That’s good. Director Zhao, it’s not that we aren’t interested in the ICL League; we were just evaluating it. Now that our evaluation is complete, we want the ICL broadcasting rights too! Why not sell it at the price you proposed earlier?”

“10 million yuan, what do you think?”

Zhao Xuming laughed: “I’m sorry, but it’s really not possible. To be frank, the conditions offered by Rabbit Tail Live are extremely, extremely generous! I just can’t disclose the specific amount.”

“Actually, I can understand your thinking, Director Liu. After all, the ICL League is a newly established league, and no one can guarantee its success. Buying broadcasting rights at a high price is indeed risky.”

“Since that’s the case, perhaps you don’t need to bear these risks for now. After this season is over, we can discuss the broadcasting rights for the next season in detail!”

“I’m sorry, but I have work to attend to. I need to hang up now. Let’s talk again later.”

With that, Zhao Xuming hung up.

“Hello? Hello!”

Liu Liang was absolutely furious, pacing in circles around his office three times.

On one hand, he was angry at Zhao Xuming’s change in attitude, and on the other hand, he was angry at Rabbit Tail Live.

What was Mr. Pei scheming?!

On one hand, he said Rabbit Tail Live wouldn’t threaten other streaming platforms and would focus on educational content, but then he immediately spent big money on ICL’s exclusive broadcasting rights, catching us completely off guard!

But Liu Liang’s anger was useless, because in warfare, deception is expected, and business is like a battlefield—releasing false information is very normal behavior.

Mr. Pei was just such an unpredictable person, mixing truth and falsehood.

Liu Liang paced back and forth in his office, thinking about how to handle this situation.

Given Zhao Xuming’s resolute attitude, Rabbit Tail Live must have offered irresistible benefits and price.

This was also normal, after all, Mr. Pei was always willing to spend money, regardless of which industry he entered. To make arch-enemy Finger Company set aside their previous grievances and cooperate, the money offered must have been substantial.

In other words, unless ZZ Live, Wolf Fang Live, and other streaming platforms united and offered a much higher price than before—exceeding Rabbit Tail Live’s offer by 20% or more—there would be no chance of intercepting the deal.

But this created a very awkward situation:

Previously, they could have secured it for around 9 million yuan, but now they would have to add three to four million or even more, which felt like a huge loss and was difficult to accept;

The interests of various streaming platforms weren’t completely aligned, and if they wanted to jointly offer a high price for the broadcasting rights, if one platform didn’t join in, the cooperation would fail.

But what if they gave up the ICL broadcasting rights?

Although it might not seem like a significant loss on the surface, everyone knew how sensitive Mr. Pei’s industry instincts were and how well he understood the gaming and esports industries.

In the gaming and esports fields, Mr. Pei was considered a godfather-like figure. In China, if he claimed second place, few would dare claim first.

Mr. Pei had identified ICL’s potential and directly spent big money to secure its exclusive broadcasting rights. Didn’t this mean that ICL’s value far exceeded everyone’s imagination?

So, if they missed this opportunity, would they regret it bitterly later?

Adding three to four million yuan now still gave them a fighting chance, but what if later they couldn’t buy it even with five or six million more?

Liu Liang had never imagined that in just a day or two, the situation would take such a dramatic turn.

“Forget it. The contract is to be signed tomorrow. Even if we wanted to unite with other streaming platforms to intercept the deal, it’s too late now. For our company alone to compete for exclusive rights isn’t realistic—the price is too high, the risk too great, and moreover, Mr. Pei would certainly continue to outbid us.”

“I have to say, Mr. Pei’s move was truly precise and decisive. He accurately predicted the reactions of Finger Company and our streaming platforms, and seized the ICL exclusive broadcasting rights at this perfect opportunity.”

“We can only take it one step at a time. If ICL doesn’t cooperate well with Rabbit Tail Live, perhaps we’ll still have a chance…”

Liu Liang thought long and hard but couldn’t come up with a better solution. He could only reluctantly give up and wait to see how things would unfold.