The people in charge of the various clubs seemed to have misunderstood.

  Those who spoke up first, saying that they wanted to come to Jingzhou, were small clubs with minimal funds prepared.

  They had thought that they would not be able to raise enough funds to buy a core player even if they sold everything. At the most, they expected to get a support that also played the commander. They never would have expected that Boss Pei would give them a core player to make up for their shortcomings!

  What’s more, Boss Pei was not asking for much. He was giving all the clubs roughly the same price: a transfer of membership fee of three million yuan with a return of 2.2 million yuan for the clubs to improve their environment.

  To the clubs that were lacking money, Boss Pei was showing them additional grace and care! They were so grateful that they did not know how to repay his kindness.

  Boss Pei’s Tengda Corporation was huge and not lacking in money. How could the clubs repay him?

  They could only move to Jingzhou and support him with their actions!

  What’s more, ever since the H4 Club moved to Jingzhou, it seemed to be getting better and better. That made them wonder if Jingzhou was that magical to begin with.

  If they had to spend the 2.2 million yuan that Boss Pei returned to them, it would be best if they spent it on Tengda’s related businesses in Jingzhou.

  What’s more, they would be very close to Tengda if they moved to Jingzhou. The DGE Club was under Tengda as well, and Manager Zhang was Boss Pei’s right-hand man. The clubs in Jingzhou would definitely be the first to receive news of any policy changes Tengda would make to GOG’s gameplay.

  The clubs in Jingzhou would also be able to gather and organize offline mock competitions more frequently. Playing games offline would be more effective than playing online after all.

  After considering all those factors, the small clubs decided that moving to Jingzhou would be a good choice.

  Now that the small clubs had expressed their views, the bigger clubs began to hesitate.

  If the small clubs moved to Jingzhou and they chose not to, would they run into any problems? Would they fall behind in participating in mock competitions and receiving news about updates?

  Would they fail to get Boss Pei’s approval or the officials’ attention?

  At the moment, the esports industry was still at the beginning stages of development. They were still a long way from having one club in every city. For the clubs that had already been established, it was best to gather in places with the richest resources.

  With the cluster effect, all the clubs would stand to benefit. Thus, those clubs quickly made a unanimous decision to move to Jingzhou!

  Pei Qian was confused, but he could not put his worries into words.

  What was the meaning of this?!

  The H4 Club had moved to Jingzhou because they had been cheated by Huang Wang. What was everyone else doing?! They had not even signed the contract, but everyone was already rushing to move to Jingzhou?

  That’s crazy!

  Pei Qian looked frustrated as he said, “Nevermind. I think that Shanghai is not bad as well. It’s the same no matter where you are; you don’t have to move to Jingzhou.”


  Moved, the managers of the clubs began to express their resolution.

  “Don’t worry, Boss Pei! This is our own choice!”


  “That’s right. We’ve already thought about this very carefully. Nobody can chase us away from Jingzhou now!”


  “Boss Pei, we will deal with the moving on our own. You don’t have to trouble yourself!”


  Pei Qian: “.……”


  He was finished. The misunderstanding had deepened. They were all getting excited.

  Looking at the managers’ determined expressions, Pei Qian knew that he couldn’t say anything to change their minds now. He helplessly sighed inwardly.

  Pei Qian could not do anything else. He turned to Zhang Yuan and said, “You can settle the signing of contracts. I have to leave to attend to something else.”


  Zhang Yuan nodded. “Rest assured, Boss Pei. I’ll arrange it!”
……

  In the evening……

  Zhang Yuan had already signed the contracts with the various clubs. According to Boss Pei’s requests, he also had arranged accommodations for the other nine members. This time, however, none of the members had to leave Jingzhou.

  The two major clubs also spoke to their bosses. After detailed discussions, the bosses were moved by Boss Pei’s sincerity as well. At last, all seven clubs unanimously decided to move their GOG teams to Jingzhou!

  Thus, the DGE Club’s nine old members could stay in Jingzhou and wait for the rest of the clubs to move before claiming them.

  After learning that everyone was to go their separate ways, Jiang Huan and the others felt sad.

  However, after Zhang Yuan counseled them, the sadness quickly became diluted by their excitement. They could finally take part in the international invitational tournament!

  Before this, only Huang Wang had been bought over by H4 and could take part in the international invitational tournament. The other members had felt slightly envious of him.

  As professional esports athletes, who did not want to prove themselves on the biggest stage?

  Thus, although everyone could not bear to leave the DGE Club, they were simultaneously hopeful about becoming like Huang Wang and being able to stand in the global arena.

  The current outcome was already the best one.

  All the team members had found new teams whose shortcomings they could make up for. When they got there, they could sit firmly as the main members. At the same time, all their teams would move to Jingzhou.

  In the future, it would be convenient for them to meet frequently or even return to the DGE Club for a visit. Everyone’s living and training habits would also remain largely the same.

  They had the best of both worlds!

  As Zhang Yuan comforted the team members, he had mixed feelings inside. He had just finished interviewing new members for one position, and he had not thought that he would need to find nine more replacements so soon.

  After the huge ‘clearance sale’ this time, there would be a complete change in DGE’s ten members. Zhang Yuan feared that they would lose their stronghold for a long time to come.

  Actually, the best solution would be to sell a few of the members and keep the rest. The old members would then be able to teach the new ones. Once the latter became mature enough, the older members could be sold, thus forming a cycle that could carry on forever.

  However, Boss Pei had been adamant about selling all of them at one go.

  Zhang Yuan pondered about it and realized that it made sense as well.

  Even if they wanted to keep old members to teach the new ones, who would they have picked? All the old members were like family; who could they stop from taking part in the international invitational tournament?

  It didn’t seem like there would have been a correct choice.

  Thus, Zhang Yuan gave up his original beliefs, put his members’ futures first, and decided to transfer all of them to other teams.

  As for the shortfall in talents…… he could figure things out as he went along.

  Zhang Yuan walked out of the villa, intending to smoke a cigarette to ease his mind. Just as he put a cigarette in his mouth, he saw Team Leader Su from H4 Club rushing towards him.

  “Boss Zhang, is this a convenient time? Can we have a chat?” Team Leader Su looked very anxious.

  Zhang Yuan could guess what he was going to say. He kept his cigarette back in its box and nodded. “Alright.”


  Both men walked towards the small garden in the villa.

  Team Leader Su looked embarrassed, but after hesitating for a moment, he still spoke up. “Manager Zhang, the other clubs formed a group to buy your members, right? How did that go?”


  Obviously, the H4 Club would be the most nervous about other clubs buying DGE’s members. They had given up everything to buy Huang Wang over, thinking that they would have the best chance of winning the championship title.

  Yet, what if the other clubs bought two or three members from DGE simultaneously?

  That would be the end of it.

  Thus, in a sense, how GOG’s international invitational tournament would turn out depended on how the purchase of DGE’s members had gone.

  After the transactions were complete, the power balance among the various clubs would change significantly. In fact, any training that the clubs could go through before the competition might even be meaningless.

  Zhang Yuan smiled. “Team Leader Su, don’t worry.”


  He briefly explained Boss Pei’s plan to Team Leader Su. Simply put, everyone paid the same transfer fee for a member from DGE. Price-wise, there was no difference between the clubs. Every team was also sold a member based on their own shortcomings. No team became overwhelmingly stronger compared to the other teams after the transaction.

  After hearing this, Team Leader Su was both surprised and thankful.

  He was surprised because the clubs’ strengths still remained largely the same on paper, even after the transaction. The H4 Club also had a strong foundation. If they could work harder on their teamwork during this period, they could still stand a good chance to win the championship.

  He was also grateful because Boss Pei had not sold stronger members in a package just because the other parties had offered higher prices!

  Team Leader Su had heard from the grapevine that SUG had prepared more than twenty million yuan to buy members from DGE. All things aside, if they had bought Jiang Huan at a high price and used the remaining money to buy two weaker members, would H4 still be able to compete?

  Yet, Boss Pei had sold DGE’s members at a fixed price. Whether he had other considerations or not did not matter—at the end of the day, Team Leader Su was sure that one consideration was the protection of the H4 Club’s interests!

  After all, the H4 Club had been the first to buy a member from DGE. One could say that it was one of DGE’s oldest business partners. Although Boss Pei would not have been wrong to sell his members to those who offered a higher price, Team Leader Su was still moved by his decision to take care of the H4 Club’s interests.

  “Thank you, Manager Zhang and Boss Pei! We will always remember your kindness in our hearts!” Team Leader Su was beyond excited. The outcome of the mass transfer of membership had achieved the best result for their club as well.

  Zhang Yuan smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Team Leader Su. You might think that Boss Pei had considered your interests in doing this, but that’s not the case. I think that Boss Pei is considering the entire ecology and the bigger picture!”


  Team Leader Su was stunned. “What do you mean?”


  After some consideration, Zhang Yuan said seriously, “I think that Boss Pei did this to regulate GOG’s Esports Ecology. There are three aspects to this!

  “First, the international invitational tournament is approaching. The outcome of the mass transfer of membership would determine whether there is any suspense during the competition.

  “Boss Pei’s main purpose of organizing the international invitational tournament is definitely to offer a series of exciting competitions to the rest of the world. If any team is overwhelmingly strong, the competition would merely become abusive and meaningless!

  “Ensuring that there would be back and forth and keeping the competitions filled with suspense would be the only way to maximize discussions among other gamers. That way, GOG would also achieve the best publicity effect.

  “Second, he wants to prevent the Matthew effect[1] among the clubs.

  “Money is not everything in the esports industry. However, clubs can hardly do anything without money. Depending on spending and poaching members alone would not create a champion, but having no funds would achieve nothing.

  “Still, whether a club has money or none is only a relative concept.

  “If wealthy clubs could poach players at will, they could gather the most outstanding players in their clubs by poaching alone. Then, the smaller clubs with no money would fall into the vicious cycle of having no money, having no attention, and generating no results!

  “Once the Matthew effect caused the strong to become stronger, the bigger clubs would be overjoyed because they would be able to monopolize the entire league’s resources and attention. However, smaller clubs would gradually become increasingly unsustainable.

  “The gap in the league would only grow bigger and bigger, and it would slowly collapse. Alternatively, we could cause an imbalance in the domestic and international scene. Bigger clubs could feel invincible at home, but they would be tortured overseas.

  “Now that the strengths of the various clubs are similar, every club must work hard to manage their teams and train their members to win. They must also analyze any updates in the game. The ecology would only be healthy because there are no absolutely strong or weak teams.

  “Finally, he wants to prevent excessive capital intervention, which would affect the entire esports industry.

  “Spending money excessively would not only influence clubs, but also members. Many members used to be young internet addicts, but they are now earning one or two million yuan in annual remuneration and sign-on fees. Actually, their pay is dependent on fame and capital.

  “However, those members might not recognize this. They may become complacent and lost as they start comparing their salaries with one another.

  “Members might realize that some could easily obtain contracts with high prices while others were only being paid one-tenth of the former’s salaries. How good could the atmosphere in such a team be?

  “Boss Pei only allowed the members’ salaries to fluctuate within a certain range to prevent their salaries from getting out of control. He didn’t want clubs to invest all of their funds into poaching.

  “Instead, he wanted them to invest those funds into creating good training environments and building better supporting facilities. That would be much more beneficial to the clubs and the members. In the long-term, it would also help GOG’s entire Esports Ecosystem significantly!”


  A realization dawned on Team Leader Su. As he listened to Zhang Yuan’s explanation, he nodded profusely.

  Yes, that made so much sense!

  Esports was still developing recklessly at the moment, and there were two types of clubs. The first was the veteran clubs that used love to generate electricity. Those clubs lacked funds but had better atmospheres, heritage, and management.

  The other was the wealthy clubs filled with second-generation heirs. They had funds, but their management was a mess, and members were impetuous.

  Both types of clubs had their own problems. If left to develop on their own, the wealthier clubs would get into the destructive habit of wasting money and poaching talented players. In the end, their rubbish management would waste the talent of their members, and all clubs would suffer.

  If this type of uncontrolled competition was allowed to continue, the road to regularization of esports would be a long and difficult one.

  However, Boss Pei’s actions were akin to preventing wealthy clubs from engaging in price wars. Instead, he was forcing them to work on their management and training of members.

  In the short-term, he was giving up on profits. However, in the long-term, it would create a much better environment for the GOG League to flourish!

  Team Leader Su could not help but raise his thumb. “I understand now! Boss Pei is really looking far into the future!

  “Nevertheless, even if Boss Pei did not intend to take care of our club’s interests, he still managed to achieve this objectively. So, we will always remember his kindness!”


  Zhang Yuan smiled and said, “Training hard and achieving good results would be the best reward for Boss Pei.”


  Team Leader Su nodded. “Don’t worry, we will fight with everything we have!”
……

  September 2nd, Friday……

  The day before the release of Struggle……

  Everyone at Tengda Games was busy preparing for the game to be released for sale.

  The official platform had already done a great deal for the company. Not only had they commenced negotiations with Tengda Games and given it the best recommendation position in advance, but it had also allowed Tengda Games to prepare its own promotional materials.

  Struggle’s initial promotion campaign to build anticipation was already complete, and gamers were all looking forward to the game’s release.

  However, some contents in the promotion created misunderstandings among the gamers about the game!

  Struggle’s promotional content contained the following: exquisite images with motions of real people captured; diverse choices and rich strategies; a complex and exciting plot; and dual protagonist modes.

  Apart from that, no images of the game were released, and no other details about the content were provided.

  Gamers read promotional content and conjured up images in their heads before they realized that something was up!

  What kind of game would need real people’s motions to be captured? Obviously, the game would be a large-scale RPG or action game!

  ‘Diverse choices and rich strategies’ probably referred to a complex combat system.

  ‘Complex and exciting plot’ with dual protagonist modes meant that the contents of the game would be ground-breaking.

  In sum, the game would be a huge production with an exciting plot and images akin to AAA action games?

  At once, everyone thought about classic works by major foreign game developers and became excited about Struggle.

  What’s more, the game’s name was not written in Mandarin, but in English. All the more, it made the game seem mystifying.

  In short, the effects of the initial promotional campaign had been maximized.

  However, before the game was officially released, nobody knew whether the promotional campaign would backfire or not……

  No one knew how the gamers would find the game after finding out what it was really like either.

  Recently, Hu Xianbin had been so worried that he lost a lot of weight. As the person in charge of Struggle, he was the most uncertain.

  Until now, Tengda Games had been an invincible legend. Every game that it released had reaped both profits and fame. If he single-handedly ruined such a reputable brand, wouldn’t he be blamed by everyone in the company?

  Of course, Boss Pei had interfered much more in the production of Struggle than any other game.

  Still, if the project failed, no one would blame Boss Pei.

  In fact, since Boss Pei had already given him so many additional instructions, if Hu Xianbin failed to deliver; he would only be more certain that the problem lay with him.

  Realizing that Hu Xianbin looked extremely worried, Li Yada sat beside him.

  “What’s the matter? Are you worried about the new game’s release?”


  Hu Xianbin nodded. “That’s right. I really don’t know whether this game will succeed or not! What’s more, I feel like the promotional campaign would backfire……”


  Li Yada smiled. “What a coincidence. Do you know about Game Designer? Before it was released, Lu Mingliang was as worried as you are now because everyone could not find the motivation to continue playing the game after playing it once.

  “After that, Brother Bao raised one point of view: we might think that the game’s not fun because we were too involved in the game’s production. We already knew its plot, and we knew the consequences of every single choice like the back of our hands. Since we had been bombarded with spoilers from the beginning, we could not fully experience every detail of the game.

  “However, the game would be very special to outsiders.

  “He said that it was an attempt by Boss Pei to be non-mainstream. He could either have been called a god, or he could have failed miserably. Boss Pei had used that game to express his own thoughts, and as a piece of work way ahead of its time, the game could either have succeeded or failed.

  “Even if it did, the failure would not be ours or Boss Pei’s. It would have been just that the game industry was not mature enough to accept such a futuristic concept.

  “What happened after Game Designer was released validated what Brother Bao had said. The games market and gamers of our time can match up to good games!

  “The market seems impetuous now, but we should have faith in Boss Pei and the gamers!”


  After listening to Li Yada, Hu Xianbin relaxed considerably. When Game Designer was released, he had not joined Tengda yet. That was why he did not know about any of this.

  Now, hearing that his senior, Lu Mingliang, had experienced the same struggle and internal conflict that he was going through but ultimately achieved success, Hu Xianbin felt more confident.

  He said, “Let’s quickly ask Brother Bao to play Struggle as an outsider, then! He can help us to analyze the game!

  “Er…… that’s right, Brother Bao has gone overseas……”


  Hu Xianbin had been clutching at straws, but on further thought, he recalled that his ‘straws’ had gone to Africa. He could not help but feel more resentment towards Huang Sibo.

  Brother Bao didn’t do much in the gaming department ordinarily, but having a senior in the house was akin to having a hidden treasure. At a critical moment like that, the entire department would depend on Brother Bao to ease their worries!

  What should he do now?!

  Li Yada smiled. “Don’t worry. I can guess what Brother Bao would say.

  “Struggle is very similar to Game Designer in a lot of ways.

  “Game Designer was Boss Pei’s expression of loneliness, but is Struggle any different? The former was made in his identity as an expresser, but the latter is made in his identity as a living being.”


  Hu Xianbin sighed. “Yet, the theme that Struggle is trying to express is sharper and more stinging. When I played Game Designer, the most I felt was frustration and annoyance at the narration. Yet, when I played Game Designer, I felt heartbroken. It felt like the helplessness and pain of real life had been blended together and shoved into my face.

  “Would gamers be able to accept it?

  “What’s more, at the core of it, this game is much harder to understand and more complex than Game Designer.

  “I think that, as Mr. Zhang Zuting said, the content would be much better suited as a movie. If we had turned it into a literary film, perhaps there would have been a market for it. As a game, the risk is much higher.”


  After a moment of silence, Li Yada said, “I think Boss Pei had his reasons for producing a game instead of a movie.

  “Maybe Boss Pei didn’t want to turn it into a movie because of Tomorrow is Beautiful’s overwhelming success. Maybe he wanted to use the game as a medium because of other considerations.

  “It must be because, with the game as the medium, he would be able to express ideas that he would not have been able to through movies!

  “Perhaps this is something that Boss Pei wants to achieve a breakthrough in.”


  Hu Xianbin was stunned. “What do you mean?”


  Li Yada pondered for a moment and answered, “He wants to achieve a breakthrough in the expression of thought.

  “Actually, every game of Boss Pei’s expresses a certain thought. For example, The Lonely Desert Road and Ghost General poked fun at the game industry, Game Designer expressed the reflections of a creator, and Repent and be Saved questioned every gamer’s character by breaking the fourth wall and causing them to become one with the protagonist in the game.

  “We will find the standalone games that Boss Pei creates getting deeper and deeper and increasingly hurtful. The level of understanding and patience required of gamers would only continue to increase.”


  Hu Xianbin pondered for a moment and realized that it was true.

  Boss Pei’s games were becoming increasingly repulsive. The Lonely Desert Road was boring, Game Designer was provocative, and Repent and be Saved was so difficult that it served to throw some gamers off.

  Now, Struggle seemed even more repulsive than Repent and be Saved!

  What did this mean?

  Li Yada said, “Obviously, Boss Pei is not trying to dissuade players. He’s just trying to test gamers’ tolerance with every expression and using his games as a means to convey his deeper thoughts.

  “On a deeper level, this would inevitably hurt and require stronger receptivity.

  “As an expresser, Boss Pei attaches great importance to the ‘degree’ of expression. Good methods of expression would invoke senses of being taught or philosophizing in recipients.

  “Take Repent and be Saved, for example. Boss Pei broke the fourth wall to cause gamers to become one with the protagonist in the game. Then, through the difficulty and other details in the game, he made the connection unbreakable. That way, gamers could empathize with the gaming world and understand what Boss Pei was trying to express.

  “The more repulsive Boss Pei’s games seem, the deeper the ideas that he’s attempting to convey through them are.

  “Boss Pei is cultivating the gamers with every piece of work!

  “If Boss Pei had produced Struggle at the start, the gamers would not be able to accept or understand it. However, Boss Pei has already paved the way with many other games before. The gamers are much more receptive now. Releasing Struggle at a time like that would greatly improve its chances of success!

  “All the more, this proves that Boss Pei is not a reckless man. He does not stubbornly shove his thoughts in gamers’ faces, but he carefully considers how receptive they would be. If gamers are not receptive enough, he would cultivate them until they are. Then, he would express whatever he wants to.”


  As Hu Xianbin listened, he nodded profusely. Then, he asked, “Big Sister Li, what do you think Boss Pei is trying to convey through Struggle, then? Class consolidation? The Matthew effect? Exploitation? The irrationality of society? Or could he just be describing a phenomenon?

  Li Yada shook her head. “About that, I’m not sure.

  “Even Brother Bao would not be able to immediately understand Boss Pei’s thinking after playing a game.

  “Boss Pei’s games are akin to large-scale social experiments. We need a good number of gamers with different opinions to discuss or even argue about the game. As they express their thoughts and bounce different ideas around, an answer would surface.

  “So, we will just have to wait and see!”


  [1] This refers to accumulated advantages like how the rich only get richer while the poor get poorer.