Chapter 1 Midday

Noon.

The center of Jingzhou City, Yuanda World.

Pei Qian, Lin Wan, Zhang Yuan, and Min Jingchao arrived at the plaza outside the shopping mall.

From a distance, they could already see the huge promotional poster hanging outside the Yuanda World building. The original poster promoting the GOG Global Finals had been taken down and replaced with a promotional poster for the GPL League.

The previous GOG Global Finals poster mainly featured iconic GOG heroes such as Modeste and Ruan, the Wind-Ink Painter, as well as the words "GOG First Global Invitational Tournament."

But now, the main part of the GPL poster had become the war flags of all the clubs. The sixteen war flags were emblazoned with the logos of each club, most of which were related to their parent companies' brands.

For example, SHG, the team of Shenhua Real Estate, had slightly altered Shenhua Real Estate's logo to make it more fashionable and esports-like.

However, through the logo and the team name, people could still see that the club was connected to Shenhua Real Estate, which could promote the company's brand.

The sixteen war flags were neatly arranged in two rows, like a battlefield where two armies were facing each other, with flags waving and a majestic aura.

Although the entire promotional poster didn't have any fancy heroes, it had a great atmosphere.

Currently, GOG had a strong influence in the country, especially among customers who frequented Yuanda World, who had basically associated this poster with GOG.

Therefore, there was no need for those fancy heroes to prop up the scene. Now, the main characters were the GPL clubs, and the main stage had to be left for them.

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this poster.

Finally, there was no longer a large Modeste hanging there. What a relief!

The four of them entered the mall, which had all kinds of restaurants, beverage stores, and shops.

Manager Zhang of the mall was already waiting inside. Seeing the four of them arrive, he hurried to greet them.

After introducing each other, Manager Zhang suggested, "President Pei, it's almost noon. There are many high-end restaurants here. Which one would you like to go to? I heard that a new high-end buffet restaurant has recently opened, costing over a hundred yuan per person. How about I treat you, President Pei, and you give it a try?"

Tengda had signed a long-term agreement with Yuanda World, and the GPL League had already attracted so many large companies to form clubs to participate. No matter what, they had to maintain a good relationship with such a major client.

Pei Qian waved his hand: "No need, just grab something casual."

Manager Zhang quickly said, "That won't do, President Pei. You've come all this way, and it just so happens to be lunchtime. If we just grab something casual, it would make me seem very inhospitable."

Lin Wan smiled: "Manager Zhang, you don't have to be so polite."

"You haven't had much contact with President Pei, so you don't know his personality."

"President Pei has always been an extremely pragmatic person and doesn't like this kind of superficial stuff. Otherwise, someone of President Pei's status wouldn't keep eating his own Take-Out Fish Touching all the time."

"This time, President Pei is here to check on the preparations for the GPL League. We'll just treat ourselves as ordinary viewers. We'll eat whatever ordinary viewers would eat."

"You don't need to accompany us, we'll just wander around."

Manager Zhang didn't insist too much: "I see, then President Pei, you can arrange things freely. If you have any problems, you can always contact me."

Pei Qian and the other three strolled around the mall and walked to the upper floors. The scenes around the escalators had also been transformed into various materials promoting the GPL League.

When they reached the last escalator, the war flags of the various clubs were hanging on both sides, as if they were passing through a channel lined with flags, heading towards the cruel battlefield.

The GPL competition venue on the top floor had also been completely renovated according to the relevant requirements, including the official merchandise customization area and other supporting areas that the audience had strongly requested, as well as various GOG game peripheral custom figures, props, and so on.

In fact, there had always been these open spaces, but they had been fully utilized to make the game and competitive atmosphere of the entire venue even more immersive.

After entering the venue, Pei Qian found that there had been obvious changes inside as well.

First of all, the two areas in the front row of the venue had become blue and red, representing the red and blue teams' fans, who could cheer and support their respective teams.

As for the other areas, such as the back rows, they were prepared for neutral viewers. However, the positions in the back rows of the red area were still slightly biased towards the red team, which could also play a certain role in differentiation.

The war flags of the various clubs were hung high on the walls around the venue, and the war flags of the corresponding teams would light up during the competition.

Moreover, all the details on the stage seemed to have been re-planned. It seemed that the group responsible for the GPL League had put a lot of thought into it.

Lin Wan said, "I specifically asked Liang Qingfan to come over. Although the overall decoration style can't be greatly changed, it's still okay to add some embellishments."

"Liang Qingfan has re-adjusted the stage, seats, and walls. Compared with the previous Global Invitational Tournament, the atmosphere of the entire venue has obviously been greatly improved."

"In addition, our broadcasting platform and various on-site camera equipment have also been reconfigured. For example, this jib is newly bought and can help us take a bird's-eye view to show that the scene is packed."

"President Pei, do you see anything else that needs to be improved?"

Pei Qian silently shook his head: "No, it's all very good."

Sometimes, what made Pei Qian most melancholy was that he didn't have to worry about anything, and his subordinates would spontaneously handle things properly.

There were many people in the venue.

Because Yuanda World was originally a shopping mall in the core area of Jingzhou, the flow of people was very large. And the GPL esports competition venue on the top floor had been completely transformed and could be said to be brand new. Even if there was no competition now, many people were curious and came to visit.

Pei Qian didn't want to attract the attention of the crowd, so he just casually walked around in the corner in a low-key manner.

However, at this moment, Lin Wan suddenly saw a familiar figure.

A Western face with a slightly balding head was quite conspicuous among a group of Chinese people.

Lin Wan quickly said, "Eh? President Pei, isn't that Eric?"

Although Lin Wan had only met Eric once, Eric's state of having a beard longer than his hair and an arrogant attitude had left a deep impression on her, so she quickly recalled it.

Following Lin Wan's finger, Pei Qian also saw Eric.

Eric was originally facing sideways, observing the war flags on the wall. Then, he found a seat and began to observe the players' seats and the large screens on the stage.

This was the first time Pei Qian had seen Eric. Before, he had only heard his voice but had never seen him in person.

Pei Qian was a little puzzled: "Eh? Didn't they say that he's no longer in charge of the IOI national server?"

Lin Wan thought for a while: "This information should be accurate. He must no longer be responsible for the work of the IOI national server. But it seems that he is not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he came to gather intelligence."

Pei Qian nodded: "That makes sense."

Lin Wan suggested, "President Pei, since he's an old acquaintance, do you want to go over and say hello?"

Pei Qian thought about it. This Eric was so miserable, he must need support and comfort very much now, so he nodded: "Okay, let's go say hello."

Min Jingchao frowned slightly when he saw Eric taking out his mobile phone to take pictures: "President Pei, should we stop him? What if he takes pictures and then Dayak Company imitates us after he goes back?"

Pei Qian raised his hand: "No, let him take them!"

...

Eric held his mobile phone and carefully photographed the layout of the main stage and the panoramic view of the entire studio, with a very complicated expression on his face.

Nearly four months had passed since he started to be responsible for the operation of the IOI national server.

Looking back at these four months, if there was one word to describe it, it would be despair!

Eric had used all his operating experience from other regions of the world and had racked his brains to think of all kinds of methods, but no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't bite off any market share from GOG!

The senior management of Dayak Company was extremely dissatisfied with this and believed that it was Eric's work error and lack of ability. Eric couldn't express his suffering.

Anyway, no matter how he explained the objective situation, the company would not understand and would only think that these were all Eric's excuses.

Therefore, Eric was unwilling to take the blame on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was very interested in Tengda and GOG.

He was puzzled, how exactly did Tengda do it?

Therefore, after handing over his work, Eric did not leave but flew to Jingzhou to conduct a comprehensive inspection and research, especially to conduct a detailed study of various GOG operating activities.

The Global Finals and the GPL League were naturally the top priorities of his research.

Finger Company had wanted to hold a global finals before, but it was scared back by GOG's Global Invitational Tournament.

Eric felt that after returning this time, if he could report GOG's operating strategy to the senior management of Finger Company in detail, on the one hand, he could share his responsibilities, and on the other hand, he could also help Dayak Company to do a good job in the global finals that were being prepared. Regardless of whether the failure of the IOI national server was his fault, at least he could make up for it.

Eric was no longer responsible for the work of the IOI national server, but he still had to work in Dayak Company and couldn't just give up.

After taking another photo, Eric saw a few people walking towards him.

He saw Lin Wan in the front and couldn't help but be startled.

Damn it!

He was secretly taking pictures and was caught!

Although the GPL competition venue was completely open and anyone could take pictures at will, it was not a secret, but Eric himself was a senior executive of Dayak Company. It was not good to be caught by others.

However, Eric had seen a lot of battles after all. What big scenes had the executives of multinational companies not seen? How could he be scared by these young people in their twenties? That was impossible.

Therefore, Eric quickly calmed down and put away his mobile phone: "Ms. Lin, what a coincidence, we meet again."

Lin Wan smiled slightly: "Mr. Eric, since you've come to Jingzhou, why didn't you say anything? Our Tengda should do its duty as a host."

"By the way, Mr. Eric, this is President Pei, whom you have always wanted to meet."

Eric was stunned.

He hadn't read "President Pei's Daily Life" and didn't pay attention to Tengda's gossip news, so he was just surprised that President Pei was so young.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. It seemed that most of the employees in the entire Tengda who were over thirty years old were rare. However, it was such a group of young people who were able to make Dayak Company suffer such a big loss?

Eric didn't dare to underestimate President Pei now and reached out his hand: "President Pei, it's a pleasure to meet you."

He was a little worried that President Pei would ridicule himself from a high position in a victorious posture. After all, President Pei was a young man in his twenties, who was energetic and had achieved such a great victory. It was normal to take the opportunity to say a few sarcastic remarks.

However, President Pei did not do this but smiled and shook his hand: "Mr. Eric, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm really sorry, I was busy with work last time you came to Jingzhou and didn't have time to receive you. How about this, if Mr. Eric has time, may I treat you to a simple meal?"

Looking at President Pei's sincere expression, Eric's expression was uncertain, and he couldn't figure out what kind of medicine President Pei was selling in his gourd.

Was this the unique courtesy of the Orientals? Or was it a unique irony of the Orientals?

The cultural barrier made Eric feel a little confused.