668 There's No Hope for the DGE Club!
At that thought, Pei Qian clapped his hands and stood up. "Alright, I think we've discussed enough. That's all for now. We'll prepare and gather for a meal tonight. It's on me!"
He had been worried that Zhang Yuan would turn him down because going out for a meal would take up the nighttime training time. However, to his surprise, Zhang Yuan was elated and all for the idea. At once, he waved over the internet addicts who were reluctant to leave.
In his heart, Zhang Yuan exclaimed that Boss Pei had noticed the problem as well!
Those team members were all too excited now. They needed time to calm down. At the same time, having a meal together would build team spirit. One could say that it would be a step in the right direction!
…
Soon, DGE's members arrived at Ming House.
Pei Qian had already reserved the biggest private room well in advance. The two huge tables inside could seat more than ten people each.
Even if Pei Qian could not fill all the seats, it did not matter. They could eat to their heart's content!
Pei Qian cut straight to the chase and chose all the most expensive dishes. He tried to use delicacies to attack the team members' willpower and cause them to forget about the mock competition earlier.
All the newbies had never been to the nameless restaurant. Just the food served at Ming House was enough to whet their appetite. One by one, they wolfed down the food in front of them.
As Zhang Yuan ate, he could not help but feel comforted and worried at the same time.
He was comforted because Boss Pei was making use of delicacies to motivate the team, and it was bound to prove very effective!
As far as he could recall, each time Boss Pei treated a department to a meal, the department would achieve a breakthrough soon after. It seemed superstitious, but Zhang Yuan preferred to see it as a special skill of Boss Pei's.
This meal would serve to motivate DGE's newest members and cause them to feel a sense of belonging in the DGE Club. At the same time, they would calm down and not feel anxious about having to improve as quickly as they could.
Yet, Zhang Yuan also felt worried because this meal would not solve the root of the problem.
At the moment, the DGE Club's training method was falling behind everyone else's. While other clubs were improving rapidly, DGE's two teams were remaining so lousy. The gap would only widen as time went by.
As for this… how was Boss Pei intending to solve the problem?
Zhang Yuan thought that the best solution would be to hire a professional coach and a team of analysts.
Yet, who could they hire? That was the biggest question.
As he was worrying about this, Zhang Yuan's cell phone vibrated.
He picked it up and found a message from Huang Wang. "Brother Zhang, why isn't there anyone at the club?"
…
At the entrance of the DGE club…
Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and the ten other old members of DGE were gathered together. As they looked at the locked entrance to the club, they felt confused.
After H4 won the championship yesterday, Huang Wang had gone to celebrate his job well done in the afternoon. He could not escape live-streaming at night either to share his joy with his fans.
His team members had also gone back to their respective clubs to rest. They had been working and training so hard during this period, and so it was time to take a break.
This afternoon, after everyone settled down, they decided to reunite and catch up back at DGE.
However, they arrived to find the door locked.
It was supposed to be dinner time, and Fish-Catching Take-Out normally provided food for the club. That meant members would not have needed to go out.
For fear that they would interrupt the team's training, Huang Wang and the others purposely came at this time.
They had intended to give Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling a surprise, but they were not in. Thus, he had no choice but to send a message to Zhang Yuan, asking where they were.
Soon, Huang Wang's cell phone vibrated. Zhang Yuan had replied.
Huang Wang glanced at the message from Zhang Yuan. "Ah, Boss Pei brought them out for a meal! They're at Ming House. Brother Zhang has invited us over because there are enough seats!"
Old Zhou was elated. "That's great! We haven't seen Boss Pei for a long time! Let's go!"
…
At Ming House…
Looking at the members happily wolfing food down, Pei Qian could not help but feel excited as well.
He had to say that the food Boss Li served here was getting better day by day.
After all, with the nameless restaurant as the benchmark and with Ming House being the second-best high-end restaurant in Jingzhou, it could not fall too far behind. Of course, its food had to keep getting better.
Pei Qian himself could not eat at the nameless restaurant every day. Having important gatherings at Ming House instead more than made up for it.
As they ate, Zhang Yuan kept his phone and happily announced, "Boss Pei, Huang Wang, and the others want to come over and eat with us!"
"Oh?" Pei Qian was stunned but soon nodded. "Alright, Waiter, serve more food!"
There would be more than ten more mouths to feed, and Huang Wang and the others were very well-built. They had big appetites, and so Pei Qian could expect to spend thousands of yuan more. It was quite worth it.
Although Pei Qian did not really want to see them, there was no harm in welcoming them because they would help him to spend more money.
Soon after, Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and the others arrived.
The empty seats at the two big tables were all filled up. Once Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and the other members sat down; they wanted to catch up and exchange pleasantries. However, Boss Pei stopped them almost immediately.
"Stop talking so much. Eat!"
For fear that the members would boast so much that the new members would become renewed with a fighting spirit, Pei Qian stopped them and hoped that they would sit down, lower their heads, eat, and not say anything more.
Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and the others exchanged a confused look. However, since Boss Pei had spoken, they had no choice but to eat.
One by one, they began to wolf down their food as well.
The new members of the DGE Club could not help but stare at them.
It was one thing for their gaming skills to be incomparable to their seniors, but now their eating skills were proving incomparable as well!
We have to work harder!
Soon, everyone had eaten to their heart's content.
Pei Qian looked at the table covered with empty glasses, bowls, and plates and then nodded, satisfied.
Yes, there's a benefit to making these men train until they're so muscular. At least their appetite has grown considerably!
Now that their appetites were bigger, they could eat more, and the bill would be more expensive.
Others would have felt heartache upon seeing such a huge bill, but Boss Pei would be elated.
The DGE Club's new and old members leaned back on their chairs, looking like corpses. They rubbed their full bellies and began to chat.
Huang Wang burped. "Boss Pei, Brother Zhang, and Coach Yaling; Jiang Huan and I, along with the other team members, want to thank you for your support in getting us to where we are today.
"As the saying goes, we have to thank those who got us to where we are.
"We might be in other clubs now, but we will always belong to the DGE Club!
"The club is not lacking in money so I'm thinking that its biggest problem is the talent gap. The two teams are failing to grasp their main flaws and are making terribly slow progress.
"That's why we decided to conduct special training for DGE's new members, so that they can catch up with the pace of their current competitors as soon as possible!"
Pei Qian nearly spat out the mouthful of tea that he had just drunk.
What the hell?
The ten-odd of you are going to conduct special training for the teams?
Before Pei Qian could say anything, Zhang Yuan excitedly nodded. "Of course, that's a good idea!
"But… you are members of other teams now after all. Would it be appropriate for you to return to DGE and train the members?"
Huang Wang smiled. "No problem. Our clubs have all agreed to the arrangement!"
Jiang Huan sipped his tea and explained, "The DGE Club is not their competitor, but their ally.
"If this had been another club, both would be fighting for the same prizes. Naturally, we would not be allowed to help out.
"However, since the DGE Club is not allowed to take part in any competition, there's no conflict of interests.
"That's not all. The DGE Club's members' only method of succeeding is to achieve good results, become outstanding, and then be sold to other clubs. That's why helping DGE would be akin to helping all the major clubs conduct a youth training camp that everyone can benefit from.
"Then, if any team requires a certain position, they could purchase a member from the DGE Club at any time. Wouldn't that be much more worth it than conducting our own youth training camp or poaching someone from some other club?
"What's more, Boss Pei was very fair in distributing the members earlier, and so every club is willing to submit to him. All of them only have good things to say about him.
"That's why our clubs are so supportive of us coming back to help DGE!"
A realization dawned on Zhang Yuan. "I see!"
He instinctively turned to Boss Pei, inwardly exclaiming how amazing Boss Pei's plan was.
He had not expected DGE to be able to reap such benefits despite not being able to take part in competitions.
In fact, it was precisely because DGE was not able to take part in competitions that it did not have conflicting interests with other clubs. Instead, it could continuously produce talents for the other clubs, and thus cause other clubs to depend on the DGE Club to maintain its standard and skills. That would be beneficial to them as well!
Zhang Yuan did not have to expend any effort looking for coaches or choosing new members anymore. The club had already found its place in GOG's Esports Ecosystem, and it could function on its own!
Young people who wanted to enter the esports industry would have three options:
Joining DGE Club would be their best option because they would be able to hone their skills and be snatched up by other clubs…
Joining other clubs would be their second-best option…
If that failed, they could form their own team to play in internet cafes. As long as they had the skills, they would not need to fear being buried.
DGE Club did not even need to worry about training its members because other clubs would be happy to allow the DGE Club's old members to make time and train the DGE Club's newer members.
That way, Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling could take on a supervisory role!
As time went by, a virtuous cycle would form between DGE Club's newer and older members. New batches of talents could be cultivated and replaced, and strong athletes would keep being produced by the club.
In fact, once the first batch of players couldn't play anymore and retired, they could return to the DGE Club to coach. Whether they became main coaches, analysts, or fitness trainers; they would be infinitely valuable to DGE!
Zhang Yuan could not help but gaze at Boss Pei, amazed.
The DGE Club was like the perfect chain that bound GOG, esports, various clubs, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and other important parts of the Esports Ecosystem tightly together.
Wise! Boss Pei was really wise!
However, the hand that Pei Qian was using to hold his teacup halted in midair as his expression became blank.
Finished. Everything is finished!
He had thought that DGE Club would be able to start afresh after the international invitational tournament.
Now, it looked like he had been completely wrong.
There was no hope for DGE Club anymore!
