"Trash! Utter trash!" Ou Ming roared furiously.
Feng Jie silently let out a sigh. As expected, it was the same old tune!
Ou Ming had been enjoying a smooth ride lately with financial backing from the Cen family, and it had been a long time since he’d lost his temper and cursed at Feng Jie like this. Suddenly being berated, he felt a little unaccustomed to it.
"So, what do you know?" Ou Ming asked impatiently.
"Mr. Ou, aside from the competition, Taoxun's new game will also have exciting server-launch events with generous rewards, including many physical prizes. Ye Zhi places great importance on this game; she seems determined to pour money into it to make it popular..."
"Pour money, pour money! Is that the only trick she knows?" Ou Ming interrupted him, agitated.
Feng Jie was speechless. A trick doesn't need to be new, as long as it works!
Ou Ming was clearly in a hurry. If Ye Zhi was spending money, he would have to consider following suit, otherwise, all the hype would be completely seized by Ye Zhi.
But Ye Zhi was spending Taoxun's money. Unlike Ou Ming, if he wanted to spend money, he had to go through a lot of effort.
Of course, Ou Ming was just complaining and didn't expect an answer from Feng Jie. He continued his agitated questioning, "What's the championship prize money for Taoxun's competition this time?"
"That's confidential; only Shi Fan and Ye Zhi know. However, I estimate it's definitely no less than one million, likely between three to five million, or even higher..."
"How is that possible?!" Ou Ming interrupted him furiously. "No matter how rich Ye Zhi is, there's no need for her to invest so much! One million is already a lot, two million is the absolute limit. How could it be three to five million? And that's in US dollars! Feng Jie, could it be that they suspect you and deliberately fed you false information to trick me into spending more?!"
Feng Jie fell silent. Every time he revealed the truth to Ou Ming, he wouldn't believe it. However, this time, Ou Ming's outburst suggested his funds were indeed very tight.
"Mr. Ou, actually, we don't need to rush. When the game launches, Ye Zhi will reveal the amount, and then we can strategize accordingly," Feng Jie said placatingly.
"What do you know? If I make my move then, how can I catch her off guard? Forget it, let's leave it at that for now!" Ou Ming irritably hung up the phone.
However, his mood didn't improve much after ending the call.
He summoned all the employees from the game distribution department and ordered them to work overtime through the night.
Since Taoxun Games was launching with promotional activities, they had to do the same, and their scale had to be even greater than Taoxun's to firmly suppress them!
Also, regarding the competition's championship prize money, after much thought, he still believed it should be two million, not three to five million.
If it were one million, Ye Zhi wouldn't have added a question mark for no reason. Three to five million was too much; it was just a newly launched game, and there was no need for her to set such a high prize.
Therefore, as long as the prize money for 'Star Conquer' was higher than that of 'Cosmic Heroes', all of Taoxun's hype would then become theirs.
Of course, the competition hosted by Feilong Live was only for the national server, and a prize of five hundred thousand was already quite substantial. As long as the world championship prize money organized by yd exceeded two million, they could naturally dominate Taoxun!
After figuring this out, Ou Ming called Yifan from yd and suggested setting the world championship prize money to three million.
Upon hearing Ou Ming's suggestion, Yifan refused without hesitation. "Ou, the championship prize for 'Star Conquer' this year is one million, higher than in previous years. There's no need to set it at three million..."
"No, no, no, it's absolutely necessary!" Ou Ming immediately explained to him about Ye Zhi, who, unable to secure the game agency, had become embittered and was preparing a new game to compete with 'Star Conquer'.
Yifan listened, but was dismissive. "It's just a new game that hasn't been released yet; it's not qualified to be a contender for 'Star Conquer'. Ou, aren't you being a bit alarmist with these words?"
"No, no, no, you don't know how narrow-minded Ye Zhi is, and how insidious her methods are!" Ou Ming said hatefully. Then, he spoke volubly to Yifan about Ye Zhi's terrifying nature, and how increasing the prize money would not only catch Ye Zhi off guard but also allow 'Star Conquer' to gain a larger market share domestically.
After listening to him, Yifan said somewhat helplessly, "Alright, alright, I can accept your suggestion. But we can only offer one million to the championship team; the remaining money will have to be covered by you. Of course, we are partners, and I won't take advantage of you. Consider this two million as sponsorship from your Feilong Live. I'll provide you with a good advertising spot during the world championship."
Ou Ming's mouth hung open, as if he were a duck with its neck squeezed, but he couldn't utter a sound.
What a joke!
If he was willing to pay the extra two million himself, would he have made this call? He wanted yd to bear this expense!
And that advertisement, he didn't care for it either!
Feilong Live only had a presence in China; what was the use of advertising during a world championship? How could Yifan even mention they were partners? What partners? This was clearly a leech sucking on him! He had invited a parasite!
Ou Ming quickly said, "Let's discuss this further..."
"No need to discuss, it's settled. Ou, the prize money can't be any higher, or I'll feel too embarrassed to accept your money. For the remaining matters, please discuss them with my assistant."
After saying that, Yifan hung up the phone.
Ou Ming stared at the phone that had been hung up, so angry he almost smashed his phone! How did one call result in two million disappearing? And that was in US dollars!
It wasn't that he couldn't afford it, but he felt incredibly stifled!
He was the one providing the money, but in the end, everyone would praise yd for its generosity, and yd would get all the good reputation.
What's more, things were different now. With large financial transactions, Ni Na always had to be consulted. The company had considerable expenses lately with little return, and Ni Na was already somewhat dissatisfied with him.
But Yifan's attitude was firm, clearly leaving no room for negotiation. He could only swallow this loss and had to spend this money.
Soon, the launch date for 'Cosmic Heroes' arrived.
Just past midnight, Ou Ming immediately had new promotional advertisements displayed. [Star Conquer World Championship Prize Money: $3,000,000]
This batch of promotional ads did indeed cause quite a stir. Many people were moved, and yd's reputation also saw some improvement.
Many netizens were surprised. Was yd really that generous this time? Does this mean that domestic teams, after participating in the national server competition, could get a prize of five hundred thousand, and then compete for three million US dollars in the international competition?