Chapter 120 December 22nd, Thursday

Shanghai Airport.

Zhao Xuming and the team leaders and players from the other two clubs were waiting for their flight.

The dates for the IOI Global Finals had been finalized: December 31st, which was next Saturday, and would run until the end of January, lasting for a month.

The format was similar to the GOG Global Invitational Tournament, with sixteen teams, four groups, and two stages: group stage and knockout stage.

In terms of scheduling, the key matches in the group stage and knockout stage were mostly arranged on weekends and public holidays, while less important matches and rest days were arranged on weekdays as much as possible.

Although not perfect, the arrangement was relatively reasonable.

However, due to the time difference, the viewing experience for domestic audiences was quite poor. For the group stage, the viewing time in China was from 3:00 AM to 12:00 PM the next day, requiring people to stay up all night.

Since it was being held in Los Angeles, there was nothing they could do about the scheduling.

Finger Company would only provide hotels and accommodations one day before the start of the competition and would continue to provide them until the team was eliminated.

Therefore, most of the poorer clubs would arrive at the hotel arranged near the competition venue one or two days before the start of the competition.

In order for the two domestic clubs to play training matches with European and American teams in advance and adapt to the local environment, Zhao Xuming decided to go a week early and stay at the hotel arranged by Finger Company.

The air tickets and accommodation expenses for this week were fully reimbursed by Longyu Group.

There were a total of 20 people. The two clubs had five players plus a team leader and coach, totaling 14 people. In addition, Longyu Group had six staff members, including Zhao Xuming, accompanying them.

Zhao Xuming was going to Los Angeles purely to take this opportunity to have fun and watch the IOI competition. After all, the main task of the IOI Operation Cooperation Department of Longyu Group for the next period of time was to conduct publicity and promotion with the help of the IOI World Championship, so it was legitimate for him to go to Los Angeles.

After arriving in Los Angeles, in addition to settling down the members of the two clubs, Zhao Xuming would also visit and communicate with his colleagues from other IOI Operation Cooperation Departments at the headquarters of Finger Company.

A group of 20 people were waiting at the airport.

Currently, only a few cities in China, such as Beijing and Shanghai, have direct flights to Los Angeles, and the ticket prices are relatively expensive. Most other cities require a transfer, although the ticket prices are relatively cheaper, the entire journey takes much longer.

Zhao Xuming did not choose the cheaper transfer route, but chose the relatively small number of more expensive direct flights, which only took about 13 hours.

Zhao Xuming was a little proud, after all, the air tickets were reimbursed by Longyu Group. For these clubs, choosing direct flights was considered generous.

Most of the players in these clubs were video game addicts who had basically never been abroad or seen the world. Zhao Xuming felt that his sincerity was already very good.

As for the seating arrangements, Zhao Xuming, as a senior executive of Longyu Group, could of course choose business class for business trips, but after careful consideration, he chose economy class.

It wasn't that he was saving money for the company, but it wouldn't look good.

Because there were a lot of people this time, it would be too expensive for all 20 people to sit in business class. After all, the price of a business class ticket was three times that of an economy class ticket, and it would cost an extra 300,000 to 400,000 yuan to reimburse all of them, which was a bit non-standard.

And Zhao Xuming was too embarrassed to sit in business class himself and let these club members sit in economy class, so he had to wrong himself.

Of course, the team leaders and players of these two clubs didn't care about this. It was already very good that Longyu Group reimbursed direct flights, and it would be a bit too much to ask them to spend three times the money to sit in business class.

What's more, CEO Zhao himself was also sitting in economy class.

There was still a long time before boarding, so Zhao Xuming was chatting with the team leaders of the two clubs, briefly introducing the arrangements after arriving in Los Angeles.

"The hotel arranged by Finger Company this time is the Courtyard Hotel, which is about 200 meters away from the competition venue. You can walk there, which is very convenient."

"The environment of the hotel is also very good, anyway, it has everything you need."

"After arriving there, we will go directly to the hotel to check in. The hotel expenses before the start of the competition can be reimbursed by me. One day before the start of the competition, everyone should check out and re-check in to the rooms arranged by Finger Company."

"Our company has arranged a translator. At that time, the two team leaders will have to work hard to find nearby internet cafes and restaurants with our translator to see where it is more suitable to train and eat."

"Although Finger Company will also arrange training rooms and accommodations, it will not be officially in place until one day before the competition, so we have to rely on ourselves this week."

Zhao Xuming explained some details, and the two team leaders nodded frequently.

The other players were also a little excited, and some of them were flying for the first time and were a little nervous.

Zhao Xuming was chatting with the two team leaders when he suddenly heard footsteps in the distance.

"Come on, let's do it here. Everyone, stand according to your height, yes, stand in three rows, the main players stand in front and hold up the club flag, okay, I'm going to take a picture."

"One, two, three! Good, not bad, one more."

Zhao Xuming couldn't help but be stunned. He turned his head and his whole body froze.

Wasn't this FV Club?

Why were there so many people!

At this time, about thirty people were standing together taking pictures, and the FV Club flag was held up in the front row. Zhao Xuming recognized the five main players at a glance.

Two photographers were each holding long-barreled cameras and taking pictures of everyone, and a videographer was filming the entire process with a camera on his shoulder.

Zhao Xuming soon saw more familiar faces in the crowd, including Ding Gan, Wu Yue, Manager Lu, and the members of SUG Club.

Zhao Xuming was confused.

What was going on?

Since these people had arrived here, it meant that they were also here to take a plane, and since they were taking a plane, they must be flying to Los Angeles.

But even if the members of FV Club were flying to Los Angeles, it would be seven or eight people at most, right?

Why were there so many people?

Why were the people from SUG Club here too?

Zhao Xuming originally felt that his team was already very large with the players from the two clubs, but looking at FV Club, one club dwarfed him in terms of numbers!

Zhao Xuming was a little confused for a while. This unexpected encounter was completely beyond his expectations.

Wu Yue, who had just finished taking pictures, also saw Zhao Xuming waiting for the flight.

Wu Yue was also a little surprised. Although he didn't have a good attitude towards Zhao Xuming, it would be too much to pretend not to see him when they looked at each other.

So Wu Yue immediately stepped forward and greeted Zhao Xuming.

"CEO Zhao! I didn't expect to meet you here. What a coincidence."

Zhao Xuming barely managed to force a smile, stood up and said, "CEO Wu, are you also taking this flight to Los Angeles?"

Wu Yue nodded: "Yes, CEO Zhao too? Oh, isn't this a coincidence."

"But this is also normal. This flight is more suitable in terms of time. We can be considered to have the same idea."

Although Wu Yue had people like Min Jingchao and Ye Zhizhou living in Jingzhou, both FV and SUG clubs were in Shanghai, and there were no direct flights from Jingzhou to Los Angeles, so everyone chose to depart from Shanghai.

Considering various factors such as take-off and landing times, schedules, flight seats, and ticket prices, this flight was the most suitable, so Wu Yue and Zhao Xuming happened to meet.

This meeting was a bit awkward.

Because Zhao Xuming deliberately didn't take FV Club to Los Angeles, and both sides knew this very well.

In this situation, Zhao Xuming had no choice but to avoid mentioning it and pretended to be polite: "CEO Wu, there's still some time before boarding, let's find a place to sit."

Wu Yue smiled: "Okay, you don't have to worry about that, CEO Zhao."

After exchanging greetings, Wu Yue called out to the others: "Come on, everyone, come with me to find a place to rest."

However, to Zhao Xuming's surprise, Wu Yue and the others did not sit in the rest area next to them, but went straight into the VIP lounge a little further away.

A string of question marks instantly appeared above Zhao Xuming's head.

What was going on?

The VIP lounge was specially for business class passengers or high-end members to wait for their flights, with various supporting services such as TVs, newspapers, magazines, snacks, and drinks. It could also provide airline services such as changing flights and seats, and all the seats were single leather sofas, which were much more comfortable than the hard row seats in the rest area!

Seeing that all thirty people had entered, even the photographers and videographers behind them had all entered, Zhao Xuming was even more shocked.

What did this mean?

Could it be that all thirty of these people had booked business class?

Zhao Xuming knew the price of air tickets very well. Economy class was around 10,000 yuan, while the price of business class was close to 30,000 yuan. It would cost 600,000 yuan more for these 30 people to book business class compared to economy class!

That was outrageous!

Zhao Xuming quickly denied this idea.

Why would FV Club be willing to spend 600,000 yuan more on plane tickets? This didn't make sense at all!

Hmm, they must have paid to enter the VIP lounge to rest in order to show off in front of us!

Zhao Xuming knew very well that these business class lounges claimed to be for business class or high-end members, but you could also enter by paying a fee. The price was 100 yuan per person.

If that was the case, it would only be 3,000 yuan for 30 people, which was okay.

Zhao Xuming felt that he could also spend 2,000 yuan to show off, but then he thought that the plane wasn't delayed and would take off in a while, so it wasn't really necessary to spend this money.

It was better to pretend that nothing had happened.

Interrupted by Wu Yue and others, Zhao Xuming was not in the mood to chat with the club leaders anymore. Everyone was quietly waiting for the flight while browsing their phones.

For some reason, Zhao Xuming couldn't help but think of the scene in the VIP lounge.

The environment was quiet and no one was noisy, sitting on a comfortable single leather sofa, reading magazines, watching movies, with unlimited free snacks and drinks...

The more he thought about it, the more jealous he felt.

Zhao Xuming looked at his watch frequently. Fortunately, they would be boarding soon.

The group came to the boarding gate and waited in line.

The direct flight to Los Angeles was a large passenger plane that could seat nearly 500 people, divided into two levels, so there were quite a few people in line.

Zhao Xuming and the others got up early and stood relatively close to the front of the line, waiting patiently.

Seeing the line getting longer and longer, Wu Yue and others did not come out of the VIP lounge, and Zhao Xuming became more and more suspicious.

What was going on?

Were they not in a hurry to line up, or were they...

Finally, Wu Yue and Ding Gan led the thirty-odd people accompanying them out of the VIP lounge, but they did not go to the end of the line, but went straight to another boarding gate.

With the warm reception of the flight attendants, Wu Yue and others passed through smoothly.

In contrast, the long queue here formed a sharp contrast.

Zhao Xuming and the team leaders and players of the two clubs watched as Wu Yue and others began to board the plane, while the queue they were in was moving as slowly as a turtle.

This large passenger plane was divided into two levels, with two separate boarding gates, and neither boarding nor disembarking interfered with each other. Business class was on the upper level, and economy class was on the lower level. Business class did not need to queue.

Zhao Xuming: "..."

Looking at the backs of Wu Yue and Ding Gan and others, he silently shut himself down.