555 I'll Give You Some Insider Information

At Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch…

After lunch, Pei Qian sipped his coffee and continued smoothing out the mind map. He also added Tengda Games, Shang Yang Games, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and DGE Esports Club on the map; noting down the connections that they had just made.

The number of lines was increasing as the days went by. Pei Qian felt like each line was a stab in his back.

"Think on the bright side. This mind map is still coming in useful. At the very least, I have successfully predicted something using this very mind map!

"…although, I was two hours late.

"Still, I'll do better next time!"

Pei Qian closed his laptop and suddenly felt the urge to walk around the internet area in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. After finishing his round, Pei Qian realized that something was amiss.

On further thought…

It seemed like more gamers were playing GOG than IOI in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. The former's figures seemed to be crushing the latter's!

It didn't make sense at all.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment. Shang Yang Games seemed to have reached out to more internet cafes and offered more money. Why was this still happening?

"Was it because of Xiao Peng?

"Now that I'm thinking about it, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 seemed to be tailor-made for GOG. It seems only natural that more people were playing GOG.

"Perhaps Xiao Peng is offering more support to GOG because he views it as Tengda's own game. On the other hand, IOI is another company's game that Tengda is only managing as a godson.

"Yes… that's most likely the case.

"However, the situation would probably be the opposite in other internet cafes, right?"

Pei Qian immediately stood up and walked to another bigger chain internet cafe nearby, Xing Le Internet Cafe. Speaking of which, Boss Li had invested in Xing Le Internet Cafe. At first, it was set up to steal customers from Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

Now, instead of stealing customers, it was just enjoying Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's leftovers.

Pei Qian wondered what exactly had happened.

In short, from the looks of the current situation, the Xing Le Internet Cafe chain of internet cafes was a close second to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe in Jingzhou. On the whole, its facilities were more luxurious than smaller internet cafes. The situation inside should have been representative of what it was like in other internet cafes as well.

A few minutes later, Pei Qian arrived at a nearby Xing Le Internet Cafe. He made a huge round inside, acting as though he was looking for someone. Once he finished his round, he sat at a computer at the back of the internet cafe and fell into deep thought.

Why did GOG still seem to be doing better? It was not right. The script seemed wrong. Wasn't the one with money supposed to be able to do whatever it wanted?

Did Shang Yang Games fail to get Xing Le Internet Cafe on board?

That didn't make sense.

Pei Qian could clearly see the poster at Xing Le Internet Cafe's entrance. It said that all gamers who played GOG or IOI there could use a portion of the in-game skins for free and enjoy discounts on their per-hour charges.

What's more, between both games, IOI was offering a higher discount.

What was the meaning of this? Was money no longer working?

Confused, Pei Qian walked to the front desk and asked the cashier this question.

The cashier happened to be free. Smiling, she answered, "Just one look at you, and I can tell you don't know much about games."

Pei Qian: "?"

The cashier explained, "Gamers can enjoy discounts if they play IOI, but the same applies to GOG! IOI offers higher discounts, but most people have heroes and skins on GOG. Why would they convert to IOI for the sake of saving a few dollars on per-hour charges?

"What's more, people only come to internet cafes to play with their friends and have a better time. Why would they scrimp on a bit of money to learn another game from scratch?

"On top of that…"

The cashier kept Pei Qian on tenterhooks and lowered her voice. "Let me give you an insider's tip. Don't spread it around."

Pei Qian quickly nodded. "Yes, I definitely won't."

The cashier continued speaking in hushed tones. "Both of those games belong to Tengda, but there's a world of difference between them!

"GOG is the company's biological child, and IOI is just a godchild. From any angle, one would be able to see that Tengda's true intention is to support GOG.

"GOG would surely be the main income generator for internet cafes in the future. For the sake of long-term profits, we will naturally have to recommend GOG!"

Pei Qian was confused. "Where… are you getting this insider's tip from?"

The cashier proudly answered, "That's what our boss told us!"

Pei Qian: "And who did your boss hear that from?"

Even prouder now, the cashier answered, "An employee of Tengda approached our boss and told him so!"

Pei Qian: "…"

He understood now.

Min Jingchao had sent a messenger! It was no wonder that all the bosses of internet cafes had been bluffed! There was no need to guess what it was like in the rest of the internet cafes now; they were probably not much better.

This bunch of people was way too stingy!

They knew that they couldn't burn more money than Shang Yang Games, and so they were resorting to lying? Was that even humane?!

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment and then asked, "Has your boss considered that this might be a mere business tactic that should not be trusted?"

The cashier grinned knowingly. "You don't believe it? Have you seen yesterday's news?

"Why is GOG all that the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's newest esports live museum talked about? The live competition was in GOG, and all the gamers present played GOG. There wasn't even a single mention of IOI.

"The esports club that Tengda put together contained only GOG players, right?

"Even Boss Pei's hero appeared in GOG!

"You tell me: don't all of this prove that Tengda's higher management, including Boss Pei, is behind GOG? They're only burning money in IOI to create a dog-eat-dog competition and give GOG more pressure. How could they truly be rooting for IOI?"

Pei Qian: "…"

For some reason, the cashier was starting to make sense! Indeed, many people had discovered that Modest was Boss Pei. If he did not like GOG that much, would he put himself in the game? Of course not!

Pei Qian really wanted to ask whether the cashier would believe him if he said that he had no idea about any of this or not…

However, on second thought, he decided against it. If even this cashier didn't believe me…

He had been completely won over by this cashier! Pei Qian silently began walking out of Xing Le Internet Cafe as the realization dawned upon him: this was a very serious problem.

It seemed like… less than a week after he had raised the suggestion to Shang Yang Games, his plan was falling apart.

"This is ridiculous! How can you mindlessly follow the methods that your competitors are using?

"Is there no justice? Is there no law?

"Does anyone care?!"

Pei Qian was utterly speechless. It had not been easy for him to come up with this idea, but GOG had stolen it and left no room for IOI to fight back!

Now, he was finally beginning to understand how smaller companies who had been 'copied' felt like. He was furious but helpless!

The most frustrating thing was that, this time, he was both the one being copied and the one copying.

The gap between GOG and IOI was not shrinking during this cycle. Instead, it was getting bigger…

"No, I have to think of another solution as soon as possible. Shang Yang Games must be feeling as helpless as I am. I have to think of a way to turn the situation around for them…

"Otherwise, I could take the easy way out and transfer Lin Wan back to Tengda Games. That way, she would win lying down, wouldn't she?

"No, no, that might end up backfiring…"

Pei Qian knew full well that Lin Wan was a proud person. If he transferred her to GOG now, she would not think that she was winning while lying down. Instead, she would think that Boss Pei was telling her to 'watch and learn'.

Then, she would not leave for sure!

Pei Qian pondered hard, but it seemed like the more he wanted to win, the slimmer his chances became.

Actually, other people aside, he had not played IOI before either because the heroes and game mechanisms were completely different from LOL. He had been too lazy to learn…

On the other hand, GOG seemed more familiar.

Pei Qian was as good as other ordinary gamers. At most, he was only a bit better than Ma Yang, the slacker. Of course, GOG suited him better, given its simpler operations and its availability on cell phones.

"No, I cannot give up so easily…

"How else can I fight? I can't possibly change the game's mechanism. What's more, IOI's quick to update its content, and it has already partnered with internet cafes for publicity…

"It seems that the only difference between IOI and GOG is esports.

"That means I have to work on that. I don't believe that I can't give IOI more funds to make up for its shortcomings in esports.

"If I still lose this time, I'll… I'll let IOI crash and burn…"

Pei Qian sighed inwardly. He had no idea how things deteriorated to this stage. He had meant for GOG to lose money while doing nothing. Now, a few months had already passed, but nothing was going according to the way he had planned.

As Pei Qian quietly walked out of Xing Le Internet Cafe, he felt terribly alone. Just as he walked through Xing Le Internet Cafe's exit, Li Shi walked by.

"Eh? Isn't that Boss Pei? That's strange… am I seeing things? What's Boss Pei doing at Xing Le Internet Cafe?"

At first, Li Shi had intended to call out to Boss Pei. However, on second thought, he changed his mind. Instead, he walked into Xing Le Internet Cafe and asked the cashier, "Did that young man surf the net here?"

The cashier quickly stood up and said, "Hello, Boss Li. That young man just walked around the internet cafe and… asked me a couple of questions."

Boss Li was not the boss of Xing Le Internet Cafe, but as an investor, he had more authority than the boss.

At once, Li Shi's expression became serious. "What did he ask? Quickly, tell me. Think carefully, and make sure that you don't leave out a single word!"

Thinking that Li Shi was going to blame her for revealing the insider's information, the cashier's face drained of all color. "Boss Li, I-I-I-I… I didn't say anything…"

Li Shi frowned. "I didn't ask you what you said. I asked what he said."

"He?" The cashier tried hard to remember their conversation. "He… he only asked why more people were playing GOG than IOI. He also… also asked me if I had ever considered that 'Tengda favoring GOG' was a mere business tactic…"

Confused, Li Shi frowned even more deeply.

What did Boss Pei mean by that? Everyone out there knew that GOG was Tengda's biological child. Could it be…?

A realization dawned on Li Shi. Boss Pei was testing him again! Once again, he was releasing false information and trying to shake his partners' confidence!

He had done this for 'Top Student, Come Quick' and Thriller Hostel. On the surface, it seemed like he was trying to dissuade them. However, his intentions were actually the complete opposite!

Boss Pei wanted to test how determined Xing Le Internet Cafe was to partner with GOG!

Li Shi waved his hand and said, "Take down all the advertising material for IOI. From now on, Xing Le Internet Cafe will only promote GOG!"

…

At that moment…

Liang Qingfan was still seriously considering how he could revise his renovation plans. He had completed those plans last week. This week, the construction team officially started work.

As for filming, Liang Qingfan had reached out to another famous workspace last weekend and hired a reputable videographer.

He had looked through the videographer's previous works, which were not bad. Thus, he felt quite confident that the videographer would complete this task satisfactorily.

Liang Qingfan had already thought about it. First, he would let the videographer shoot all the material. After that, if Fei Huang Workspace resumed work, he would engage them to do the editing and post-production.

Before the construction team entered the site, the videographer had already filmed the entire building's original condition. After that, once construction work began, the videographer would film the place at regular intervals.

Renovations would take very long, and the total duration of the videos would probably add up to about half an hour. Thus, the videographer would not need to notify Liang Qingfan each time he went down. He would just have to ensure that he went down every once in a while and filmed for about ten minutes each time.

Liang Qingfan would not remain at the construction site either. That meant it would be very unlikely that they would bump into each other.

Liang Qingfan did not see the need to supervise the videographer anyway. After all, the latter was a professional who would know better than he did.

Now, he was more worried about the details of the renovation.

Sloth Apartments was a luxury brand, and all of its details had to be refined. More importantly, they were conducting hard renovation this time, and there was a greater pressure to protect the environment.

Liang Qingfan had decided to follow Boss Pei's instructions and choose the most environmentally-friendly wall paint in the market. As far as possible, he would also choose environmentally-friendly options for the few pieces of furniture that they would purchase.

Of course, he could not achieve zero formaldehyde for either the wall paint or the furniture. However, as long as the formaldehyde levels met national health standards, the windows were kept open for long periods, and a Fresh Air Ventilation System worked to keep the air fresh all year round, the paint and furniture would do minimal harm to the tenants' physical health.

Liang Qingfan was also quite satisfied with his own Management Trainee. The latter often helped him with running errands and doing chores, thus making his life a lot easier.

"Boss Pei's quite considerate; it's almost as if he hired an assistant for me. It's a pity that he has frequent classes and a lot of homework. Sometimes, he doesn't even have time to go down to the construction site with me when I want him to."