At the same time, in another room within the H4 Club, Team Leader Pang Ling was hosting a live stream and chatting with his fans.

  The club had a very tight training schedule. Ordinarily, they would only get to host live streams after their daily training or on weekends. What’s more, the live streams could not eat into their regulated rest times.

  However, the club generally encouraged its members to host live streams.

  For the members, their career as professional esports athletes was short. Hosting live streams was a hobby that they could continue to cultivate for retirement. Thus, they could host more live streams now to make a name for themselves, gather a fan base, earn additional income, and plan for retirement early.

  Simultaneously, the members’ live streams could improve the club’s visibility and fame. Furthermore, if the live stream platforms wanted to enter any contracts with the members, they would have to seek the club’s approval first. Often, the contracts would include all the team members, which would also be in the club’s interests.

  Although the H4’s team had only obtained second place in GOG’s competition, Team Leader Pang Lin had played an extraordinary wanderer. As a result, he won over a significant number of fans.

  If the team’s midlaner had not been so messed up, perhaps they would have won.

  Thus, thanks to the competition’s fame, Pang Ling rapidly won over a group of fans. After that, thanks to his work on the live streams, his fan base continued to grow.

  All the professional players used to be skilled masters in GOG, but once they started playing professionally, they improved rapidly in terms of their individual skills and understanding of the game. The gap between them and ordinary players was only getting wider.

  There was a saying: never compare one’s hobbies with another’s career. For any career—once someone works at it full-time, they would only become increasingly better than those who were taking part in it as a mere hobby.

  Ever since Pang Ling became a professional player, his understanding of the game far surpassed ordinary players in the game’s ‘professional rounds’. Even as a wanderer, he could easily kill those in all three lanes and have additional energy to taunt them. Of course, it was easy for him to grow his fan base.

  After playing two rounds, Pang Ling chatted with his viewers in the bullet screen comments while waiting for the next game.

  “Someone says it’s a pity that we didn’t win the championship. It really is a pity. We were so close to winning at the end.

  “Someone else asks if we felt helpless. I wouldn’t take it that far. How helpless can we be?

  “At the most, engaging in a fierce battle for five rounds is a pity. Helplessness is being trashed 0-3 and being pushed around for fifteen full minutes without having any chance to fight back.

  “Hehe, don’t talk about it. I have really experienced that before. Even with six members against four, our team could not defeat the other. That’s helpless.

  “We’ve been tortured so much that we think coming in second place is not bad. At first, we thought we would be kicked out of the competition really early on, but in the end, we realized that the other teams were just as bad as we were.”


  “Taunting? I’m not taunting anyone. Those are the facts.”


  Pang Ling shared his personal experience with everyone, but comment after comment just showed his audience’s utter disbelief.

  “What the h*ll? You came in second place, and you’re saying you were tortured before? You even claim that you were pushed around for fifteen minutes straight and couldn’t even win with six players against four? Who are you trying to kid?

  “The best clubs in the country participated in the competition. Could you be referring to a foreign club? Oh, I’m sorry—GOG doesn’t even have an international server yet!”


  “Exactly which team are you referring to? That’s so awesome?!”


  “DGE? Weren’t those the teams competing at Tengda’s Live Esports Museum? They do look pretty good, but saying that they could beat you with four members against six would be a bit overboard, wouldn’t it?”


  “I won’t believe you unless you ask some of those team members to prove it to us!”


  Pang Ling began to feel helpless while reading those comments.

  Yet, he had no other choice. Everything that he was saying sounded like a fantasy. Who would have thought that a veteran club that came in second place during a competition would have been tortured by a club from a random internet cafe?

  Pang Ling knew very well that DGE was not just a club from a random internet cafe. Instead, they were from the wealthiest and most legitimate club in the country!

  “Forget it. You wouldn’t take my word for it.

  “I’ll ask the second team leader of DGE to come and play a ranked game with me. Just take a look at his standard, and you would be able to tell just how twisted he is. All I can say is that only nine other people are just as scary as he is.”


  Pang Lin called Huang Wang over, and they both started playing a ranked game as a pair. Tons of question marks instantly appeared in the bullet screen comments, because Huang Wang’s account was titled ‘Extraordinary Grand Master’.

  It was too bad that DGE Club spent too little time playing ranked games individually.

  Unlike members in the other clubs, Huang Wang and the rest had to spend two additional hours practicing independently, two hours working out, some time on mock competitions, and some time analyzing their competitions. That would leave them with a little over two hours to play ranked games on their own.

  On the other hand, Pang Ling and the others could play ranked games five or six hours each day. Of course, there was a wide gap in their points.

  Still, in the world of professionals, high points did not necessarily mean better skills. Some people accumulated points as if they were drinking water. Yet, they would not have that many points, only because drinking too much water wouldn’t be beneficial.

  Others would think that their opponents were as poorly skilled as Great Masters and that playing with them would cause one’s own skills to deteriorate. Thus, ranks were just a matter of entertainment.

  Pang Ling: “Let me fly?”


  Huang Wang: “Go!”
……

  An hour later, the bullet-screen comments on Pang Ling’s live stream were exploding. There was a 180-degree change in what they were saying.

  The pair was too cruel!

  The best midlaner and jungler from the competition was taking part in a top-tier ranked game, thus fully embodying what it meant to do whatever he wanted.

  The bullet-screen comments continued to be filled with question marks, but this time, it was not about because of Huang Wang’s tier. Instead, it was because of his taunts.

  “I thought that Pang Ling taunted a lot already. Yet, compared to this midlaner, he seems more like an introverted child!”


  “‘How dare this midlaner come up here and destroy his own experience level’? Is that something a human would say?!”


  “How are you able to talk non-stop while attacking the other side relentlessly?”


  “Holy sh*t, this midlaner is too ruthless, isn’t he? Who is he? Does he have a live stream account?”


  “He’s doing whatever he wants. Has the other side completely given up after fifteen minutes?”


  “If this midlaner had taken part in the competition, would he have lost?”


  “I’m starting to understand why Pang Ling is always cursing at his own midlaner now. They’re really not of the same standard……”


  “This midlaner is a bullet train! How can he keep talking without resting?!”


  “Does he have a live stream account?! Quickly, get him to create one! I want to see his first-person’s view!”


  Huang Wang conducted a massacre and won several times in a row, causing the number of viewers in Pang Ling’s live stream room to shoot through the roof. Obviously, the live stream platform had intentionally recommended his room as well.

  After all, it was highly entertaining to watch one pair slaughter everyone else in a top-tier ranked match. As both of them continued to taunt each other comically, more and more people stuck around, and the increase in their viewership became unstoppable!

  When he saw that everyone in the comments was talking about Huang Wang and not him, Pang Ling felt frustrated.

  Fans! How fickle they could be!

  After winning five consecutive rounds, Huang Wang prepared to leave.

  “Alright, I’m not playing anymore. I’m going to work out. We lose every day in our mock competitions, and so we have additional training every day. I want to puke.”


  Pang Ling quickly said, “Wait! A lot of my viewers are asking if you would start a live stream. They want to see your first-person’s view.”


  “Live stream?” Huang Wang pondered for a moment and said, “Forget about it. I have to train every day, and I don’t have time to host live streams.”


  Pang Ling: “It doesn’t matter. You can do it for fun. So many people with live stream accounts don’t host live streams regularly. You can always switch it on when you feel like playing ranked matches on your own. It wouldn’t be that troublesome.”


  After some thought, Huang Wang decided that what Pang Ling had said made sense. “Alright, I’ll look into it when I get back from working out.”
……

  August 1st, Monday……

  As usual, Pei Qian arrived at the office. However, today, he did not hum while walking. In fact, he looked quite worried.

  What should he do about Fish-Catching Take-Out?!

  Last week, Pei Qian had not much energy for anything else but observing Fish-Catching Take-Out. The longer he watched, the worse the situation seemed!

  Fish-Catching Take-Out’s client base looked like it was rapidly expanding. What’s more, many households that had been cooking their own meals were now ordering from Fish-Catching Take-Out!

  That was because cooking their own meals would generate a lot of kitchen waste, which would then have to be sorted before being disposed of.

  Many households that were used to cooking their own food got lazy and started ordering from Fish-Catching Take-Out instead. That way, they would not have to deal with their kitchen waste.

  Many office buildings also generated a lot of waste by ordering take-out each day. To save themselves the trouble, companies started to encourage their employees to order from Fish-Catching Take-Out instead.

  Coincidentally, Food Harmony matched a portion of the customer’s needs perfectly.

  At first, many people discriminated against ordering take-out because it was seen as unhygienic and unhealthy. However, with a twist of fate and a better understanding of Food Harmony and Fish-Catching Take-Out, all of those prejudices were knocked down one by one!

  The worst thing was that Fish-Catching Take-Out seemed to be harming Deposit Fitness as well.

  There were fitness meals available in Fish-Catching Take-Out, and those were meant for Deposit Fitness. Many people started getting curious and finding out more about Deposit Fitness.

  Although this was not happening on a large scale, Pei Qian could already see bad signs, and he could not help but become cautious.

  In short, the situation was becoming harder and harder to salvage!

  They were still purchasing the microbial waste processors. Since the quantity was large, Pei Qian guessed that they would only start arriving from next week onwards. Still, after spending all that money, Pei Qian felt a little more relieved.

  It wasn’t a lot of money, but it still meant that every Fish-Catching Take-Out branch that he opened from now on would cost an additional hundred thousand yuan or so.

  That was probably the only piece of good news that had come out of all this.

  Pei Qian was sorrowful. He could feel the impending danger, but he could not think of any way to help himself.

  Knock, knock.

  Just as he was worrying, he heard a knock on the door. Pei Qian looked up to see He Desheng. Instinctively, he frowned.

  “Eh? Is there something wrong with the Fully-Automated Bickering Machines?”


  Those were Pei Qian’s precious, hidden treasures! He could not allow anyone to find out about them!

  Pei Qian was not asking for much. He only wanted to keep them hidden for this cycle, so that he would be able to lose a few million yuan. As for whether he could keep it hidden until the next settlement…… he would not think about it for now.

  He Desheng looked like he was momentarily at a loss for words. “Er, Zhang Wang should have told you about the problems with the Fully-Automated Bickering Machines, right?”


  Pei Qian nodded. “Oh, that means everything is fine. Is there anything else?”


  He Desheng was very eager. “Of course! Boss Pei, Dayak Corporation wants to buy all of our shares in Finger Games, including the management rights for IOI’s local server!”


  Pei Qian frowned.

  They really came knocking?

  Logically, they did not need a hundred percent of the shares. Moreover, what did they want management rights of IOI’s local server for?

  Pei Qian had already decided to turn IOI’s local server into its loss-incurring machine. It was fine if he didn’t have enough money to interfere in Dayak Corporation’s acquisition of Finger Games, but were they really coming after his loss-incurring machine now? That was overboard!

  Pei Qian frowned and asked, “Why does Dayak want management rights for IOI’s local server?”


  He Desheng hesitated and then answered, “Dayak Corporation and Finger Games both think that we have been doing a bad job of marketing IOI so……”


  Pei Qian was speechless. “Nonsense!”


  Pei Qian had no intention to sell the shares from the start, but he became even more adamant after hearing about their attitude.

  “We won’t sell the shares or the management rights of the server!”


  Pei Qian could not be bothered to waste his time arguing with those foreigners.

  He Desheng paused and then said, “Er…… Boss Pei, Dayak Corporation is willing to offer fifty million US dollars. That’s a lot more than we had bought the shares for. They also said that we’d be better off taking the money and leaving before they blow the matter up and turn ugly……”


  Pei Qian: “?”


  What did this mean?

  Pei Qian calculated in his head. Fifty million US dollars…… he had only bought it all for over four hundred thousand yuan back then. If he held onto IOI’s local server and treated it as a loss-incurring tool, he would easily be able to get rid of millions or tens of millions of yuan.

  Did Dayak Corporation expect him to give up just for four hundred thousand yuan?

  Go to hell!

  Pei Qian’s expression darkened. “Tell them this: ‘F*ck off’!”


  He Desheng started and quickly answered, “Alright, Boss Pei!”
……

  As he walked out of Boss Pei’s office, He Desheng patted his chest to calm himself down. He had indeed gotten a bad scare earlier. He had never heard Boss Pei cuss.

  Yet, speaking of which, Boss Pei was no ordinary person.

  Anyone else would have been shaken by the offer of fifty million US dollars. They would probably also have been afraid of an international giant like Dayak Corporation.

  However, Boss Pei had turned them down without a second thought. In fact, he had used the f-word to Dayak Corporation on the spot.

  He was really daring and impressive!

  Yet, He Desheng was worried because he knew that Dayak Corporation would be equally stubborn. It was obvious, judging from how rare it was for companies to escape its clutches after it expressed an interest in acquiring.

  Dayak Corporation would not let the matter rest after being cussed at like that. Then, it would not be up to either party to decide how the story would develop.

  “I rarely see Boss Pei this angry. This seems like a logical and ordinary business tactic, and Boss Pei is such a magnanimous person. It doesn’t seem like he has any reason to get angry.

  “Perhaps…… he has a back-up plan?

  “Could it be that me using the f-word on Dayak Corporation is part of that plan?”


  He Desheng pondered for a long time but still could not figure it out. In the end, he decided to follow Boss Pei’s instructions obediently and stick to the reply, word for word. He was better off remaining a by-stander in this war between celestials, instead of trying to interfere.

  In any case, he could not go wrong following Boss Pei’s instructions.