Chapter 1 The Shock of the H4 Club

Team Leader Su and Zhang Yuan were chatting in the lobby, while Huang Wang took the team members to look around.

"This is the massage room. People come regularly to help with full-body massages to prevent cervical and lumbar problems."

"You can occasionally come to the rooftop to catch some wind and have a few drinks. But we can't drink too much, just a little."

"This is our conference room, mainly for analyzing tactics..."

Huang Wang casually introduced the facilities, and the H4 Club members were filled with envy and jealousy.

A massage room? Drinking on the rooftop?

We've never even thought about such things!

Pang Ling stopped in front of the whiteboard in the conference room, showing great interest in the training schedule written on it.

"So early in the morning?"

"So early to bed at night?"

"Extra meals too?"

"Two hours of fitness every day???"

Pang Ling looked at Huang Wang, seemingly understanding where his muscles came from.

This training schedule completely subverted Pang Ling's understanding.

After touring the DGE Club, Pang Ling's desire to compare had vanished.

Not because he'd become enlightened or understood life, but because he was too shocked to even try to compete!

Before, the only thing Pang Ling felt proud of was that the H4 Club was an old club with better conditions and more standardized operations.

Now, seeing the situation at the DGE Club, he instantly felt that the H4 Club was just a bunch of amateurs.

They even have a massage room and several extra meals a day to supplement nutrition!

It looks very professional, with a training schedule created by a specialized nutritionist!

As for some details in the training schedule, such as why they need to work out for two hours every day, Pang Ling didn't quite understand.

But since it was a training schedule specifically designed by them, there must be very deep reasons behind it.

Pang Ling silently memorized the training schedule.

Thinking about it, it wasn't unfair that they lost the scrimmages.

We weren't defeated by talent; we were defeated by science!

"Lunch is here! The takeout has arrived!" Zhang Yuan shouted from downstairs.

Huang Wang had almost finished introducing the entire training base and immediately beckoned everyone to go downstairs for lunch.

Pang Ling breathed a sigh of relief, silently saying in his heart, "At least we can make up for it with food."

The H4 Club used to order takeout, but in the past two weeks, the boss felt that ordering takeout all the time wasn't good for the players' health, so they had just hired a cook.

The DGE Club seemed to still be in the takeout phase.

In this regard, it seemed that the H4 Club had taken a step ahead.

However, when Pang Ling went downstairs and saw the neat rows of food containers in the dining room, with their exquisitely portioned, colorful, fragrant, and delicious dishes, he realized a problem.

It turned out that even with takeout, the difference could be so great...

After taking a bite, Pang Ling felt that there was no need to play the afternoon's scrimmage.

After being completely crushed in every way, his mentality had completely collapsed!

...

...

July 23rd, Saturday.

The GOG and IOI competitions were held simultaneously!

The two venues were located in the east and west, about half an hour's drive apart, both being rented indoor mid-sized venues.

Small venues weren't grand enough, and large venues were difficult to rent and took too long to prepare, so both sides had chosen this compromise.

Although the venue was a compromise, the spending was not.

The venue's facilities and publicity went without saying. They definitely spent a lot of money to make everything look beautiful.

Both sides were also spending lavishly on promotion!

IOI, in particular, was using the name "International Invitational Tournament" and frantically advertising on various channels such as games and websites. Headshots and posters of domestic and foreign players were everywhere, gaining a great deal of attention.

GOG, on the other hand, didn't have the gimmick of a China-foreign showdown, so they couldn't capitalize on this aspect. They could only rely on their huge player base.

In short, both sides had made full preparations and were waiting to see the results on the day of the competition.

At 1 PM, Pei Qian arrived at the IOI International Invitational Tournament venue on time.

According to the schedule, there were four matches today to determine the top four. Shang Yang Games had cleverly arranged each match to be a domestic team versus a foreign team, obviously to throw out the concept of China-foreign confrontation from the very beginning, in order to attract as many viewers as possible.

Tickets for both sides were sold very cheaply, practically free. After all, they weren't trying to make money at all, but solely to grab attention.

Pei Qian also bought a ticket in the back row to supervise the battle.

As for the movements on the GOG side, he could only observe them through the live broadcast.

This time, Tenda Games and Shang Yang Games had coincidentally arranged live broadcasts, and the live broadcast platforms had also provided ample publicity.

The live broadcast industry was visibly heating up.

If the live broadcast was still in its infancy in the past two years and hadn't attracted much capital, then recently, the data in the live broadcast industry had been changing day by day.

Moreover, live broadcast platforms had basically learned from Aili Island and developed the danmu (bullet comments) feature, further enhancing the live broadcast viewing experience.

Currently, the two largest domestic live broadcast platforms, ZZ Live and Waiwai Live, had already shown some tension, and as more and more live broadcast platforms entered the market, this tension would obviously intensify.

Pei Qian also had the idea of ​​burning money on live broadcasts, but this had to wait for a suitable time.

The main reason was that it was too early to enter the market now. If he accidentally monopolized the market with a first-mover advantage, wouldn't that be terrible?

Therefore, Pei Qian wanted to wait for other live broadcast platforms to develop first, let the bullets fly for a while, and then enter the market when the industry had become a red sea with basically no profits to be made. Wouldn't that guarantee losses?

Pei Qian arrived right on time. There were already many people at the venue, and basically all the seats were filled.

This was certain. If the seats weren't full, they would lose half their momentum from the start. Even if they hired actors, they had to fill the seats.

Pei Qian also opened the live broadcasts on his phone to check the difference in popularity between the two sides.

Hmm...they didn't seem to be too far apart.

The popularity of the GOG competition was obviously higher, but the popularity of IOI was also good.

Pei Qian wasn't sure if this popularity was fake, but judging from the number of bullet comments, the IOI International Invitational Tournament did have a lot of viewers.

"China-foreign confrontation" was indeed a big selling point.

Well, it seems that the idea of ​​holding a competition was correct. IOI had a chance to turn the tables!

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel a little smug, after all, this idea was his own.

The opening ceremony included simple cosplay and song and dance performances, followed by the teams entering the venue, introductions, warm-ups, awkward banter from the commentators, and the official start of the competition.

The earlier segments weren't too complicated, because most people were there to watch the competition. A little song and dance performance was just for a change of pace, and too much would bring a screen full of question marks.

Soon, the China-foreign teams started playing. The two commentators were passionate and very professional, and the audience was also very supportive, erupting in applause and cheers from time to time.

Pei Qian watched for a while, then silently took out his phone.

The most embarrassing thing was that he couldn't understand it!

Because he hadn't played IOI much, and IOI released new heroes very quickly, he didn't recognize more than half of the heroes in the competition.

At the same time, Pei Qian was also very curious about the situation on the GOG side, so he secretly checked it on his phone.

"I'm definitely not defecting to the enemy, my heart is still with IOI!"

"I just want to see the miserable failure of GOG."

Pei Qian found the GOG live broadcast room on his phone and clicked to enter.

The first game on both sides had already entered the most intense period, with the situation changing rapidly, and the bullet comments were very dense.

However, seeing the content of these bullet comments, Pei Qian felt a shock.

That's not right...

Why weren't people discussing the competition itself, but instead were instigating arguments?

"GOG's competition is better to watch, it's so exciting!"

"Yeah, all kinds of operations, routines, and teamwork, it's very cohesive, completely different from high-end games, is this the strength of professional teams?"

"Much better than IOI, IOI is just a bunch of rookies fighting each other!"

"The tactical level is completely on a different level. I also watched the IOI side's competition. It's said to be a China-foreign showdown, but it's actually just like a high-end pub game, a complete mess."

"That's right, I feel that the entertainment value is not as good as the internet cafe competition at Moyu Internet Cafe! The opening battle of the Moyu Internet Cafe Esports Life Hall last time was better than this China-foreign showdown!"

"Let's watch GOG, the other side is just a bunch of rookies fighting each other, it's boring."

Pei Qian felt a sense of unease and quickly opened the IOI live broadcast room again.

Although watching the live broadcast of the competition at the competition venue was very strange, Pei Qian didn't care about that.

However, the bullet comments on this side were not as good as the GOG live broadcast room.

"What are they playing...is this the level of foreign teams?"

"A bunch of rookies fighting each other."

"Are you guys playing in the Silver division promotion match?"

"Really boring, I'm leaving."

"Is that it? Is that it? Is that it? Is that it?"

"What are you talking about? I think it's very good?"

"Hehe, I feel sorry that you haven't seen the world, come and watch the GOG competition, see what is called a professional team, what is called entertainment value!"

Pei Qian was very angry.

Where did all these argument instigators come from!

Everyone, don't be tempted!

However, looking back at the room list on the live broadcast website, the popularity of the two sides was rising and falling!

The number of viewers on the GOG side was obviously increasing, while the number of viewers on the IOI side was decreasing.

Pei Qian instantly panicked.

Everyone, don't do this, this is just the first Bo3 of the first day, watch more before you leave!

"I must stick to the IOI position and not waver."

"Hmm? A team on the GOG side selected Ruan and Modest?"

"No, I have to control myself, I'm on the IOI side!"

"I'll just take a look, it should be fine, right?"

"..."

"Strange, why does it really feel like the GOG side has a higher level and is more exciting to watch..."

Pei Qian still couldn't resist and started watching the GOG competition. As he watched, he found the problem.

Although most of the viewers were not in high divisions, they could easily tell whether the competition was a bunch of rookies fighting each other or immortals fighting, and whether the competitive level was high or not.

GOG and IOI were the same type of game, so they could naturally be compared.

Whether the players' basic skills were solid;

Whether there were exciting operations such as extreme counter-kills;

How well the team's tactics and overall coordination were done;

How many low-level mistakes there were;

Whether the team fights were good-looking...

All of these could show the difference in competitive level.

Now, the GOG competition had completely surpassed IOI in terms of both competitive level and entertainment value. In addition, GOG had a higher reputation, so many people defected after watching half of it.

"What's going on?"

Pei Qian scratched his head, completely puzzled.

Logically speaking, the major veteran clubs established GOG and IOI divisions around the same time, right?

Some clubs even established IOI divisions earlier.

Why was the difference so big after they really started playing?