Chapter 218 An Oolong

2 PM.

Everyone was present in the DGE Club's conference room on the second floor.

Among them were several bosses participating in the bidding, many of whom, like Yao Bo, were visiting Jingzhou for the first time.

Originally, their decision to participate in this bidding was solely due to the entry of Shenhua Group and the good reputation of Tengda, believing that snatching a GPL spot would be profitable.

However, after arriving at the scene and observing DGE Club's training situation, they all realized a crucial point.

President Pei was genuinely serious about the e-sports industry!

It could be said that the scene at the DGE training base completely overturned their long-held prejudices about the e-sports industry.

Previously, when mentioning e-sports clubs, most people would subconsciously think of keywords such as: large internet cafes, internet addicts, instant noodles, unkempt appearance, and lacking presentability.

While operating on passion was noble, a commercialized league still needed some decency.

Otherwise, if a reporter came to the training base for an interview, the interview footage would be too embarrassing to broadcast.

Moreover, this "decency" was also a manifestation of the industry's standardization.

But seeing the appearance of DGE Club completely reversed the previous stereotypes of the e-sports industry. From the players' physiques and mental states to the environment of the entire training base, everything was impressive.

Therefore, these bosses unconsciously raised their psychological expectations for the price of the GPL league slots.

Because bidding was inherently uncertain; it all depended on confidence.

If everyone felt that the GPL would not be successful, then the slots would be worthless. If everyone felt that the GPL would be successful, then the slots would be very valuable.

Currently, everyone felt that the GPL league not only would be successful but, in the long run, was highly likely to become a benchmark league for the domestic e-sports industry.

The higher the psychological expectation, the higher the value of the slots naturally became.

Many club owners made up their minds and raised their expected prices.

Pei Qian checked the time and signaled Zhang Yuan to begin.

After a brief and polite introduction, Zhang Yuan went straight to the point.

"Everyone should have received the detailed information, conducted investigations, and paid the deposit. I won't elaborate further. Let me reiterate the specific rules of this bidding."

"The transfer of three GOG divisions with GPL slots and six GPL slots will all be bid on together."

"Numbered 1 to 9, 1, 2, and 3 are the three GOG divisions, and 4 to 9 are the GPL slots. If you want to bid, simply call out a price in a format like 'Number 1, 5 million.' Our staff will record it in real-time."

"The minimum increment is 500,000 each time. The starting prices for the three GOG divisions are 12 million, 10.5 million, and 10 million, respectively. There is no starting price for the six GPL slots. In principle, each company can only own one GPL slot. There are a lot of slots this time, so everyone doesn't need to rush. Bid in an orderly manner."

"Alright, everyone can begin."

Zhang Yuan finished speaking somewhat nervously and glanced at President Pei.

These bidding rules seemed a bit farcical, clearly President Pei's doing.

Pei Qian sensed the confusion in Zhang Yuan's eyes but pretended not to notice.

As for why such bidding rules were arranged, it was obviously to minimize making money as much as possible.

If each slot was auctioned individually, there might be some companies maliciously driving up the price.

For example, Lin Chang or President Li could raise the price every time, then give up when the price was high enough, stirring up the flames, which would inflate the price of all the slots.

This was commonly known as a shill.

The difference was that Pei Qian had no intention of arranging any shills, but he couldn't stop President Li and Lin Chang from voluntarily becoming shills.

By auctioning all the slots together, if Lin Chang was already the highest bidder for a certain item, then he couldn't raise other prices, which would make everyone more rational.

Hearing these auction rules, Lin Chang's expression noticeably froze.

Auctioned together?

In that case, the prices of all the slots would likely be fixed at a very similar value, making it difficult to make trouble.

Actually, Lin Chang had come with the intention of helping President Pei raise prices; after all, it wasn't his own money.

But he didn't expect President Pei to come up with such bidding rules.

How could he raise the price now?

On the other side, President Li wore a smile, seemingly expecting this, and whispered to the investor next to him, "It's just as I predicted."

"President Pei's auction only gives three days to prepare, which clearly has the nature of sharing the spoils. Everyone who came today is wholeheartedly committed to working with President Pei on the GPL league, so President Pei is very kind and doesn't intend to inflate the prices."

"This further illustrates that President Pei's sale of GPL slots is not a one-off deal, not just thinking about making a quick buck and leaving, but planning for the long term and continuing to run it!"

The investor next to him nodded, deeply agreeing.

Xue Zhebiao happily said after hearing the bidding rules, "Good, these rules are simple and easy to understand. I like it."

"I'll start. Number 6, 7 million!"

Soon, the others present also began to raise their hands to increase the prices.

"Number 1, 13 million."

"Number 4, 8 million."

"Number 6, 8 million."

"Number 2, 11.5 million!"

The staff diligently recorded the prices, and the prices on the projection screen also began to change continuously.

Originally, the prices for the six GPL slots were all 0, but they quickly jumped from 7 million, then rapidly increased by 500,000 and 1 million.

No one was deliberately inflating the prices yet because there were too many slots. After inflating the price of one slot, others wouldn't compete with you and could completely go for other slots.

The price of the clubs had temporarily stabilized at around 14 million, while the price of the GPL slots had also temporarily stabilized at around 10 million.

It could definitely continue to rise, but the pace would slow down because the higher the price, the more carefully everyone had to calculate.

Once the price of the GOG divisions was raised, everyone would start snatching the GPL slots.

Pei Qian breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Good, good. It seemed that everyone was relatively rational and there weren't any particularly impulsive situations.

Li Shi and Lin Chang weren't causing trouble or maliciously inflating the prices, which was good.

The current price hadn't reached Pei Qian's bottom line.

Actually, Pei Qian didn't care how much these clubs sold for, since the money from selling the clubs wouldn't go to Tengda. The key was to see how much these GPL slots sold for.

Pei Qian's bottom line for the GPL slot prices was 15 million, which meant a total price of about 90 million.

Now that it had only reached 10 million, the pace of bidding had already slowed down, which was good news.

So Pei Qian's expression gradually relaxed.

On the other side, Lin Chang stroked his chin, secretly observing President Pei's expression.

Hmm... President Pei didn't have any particular expression. What was he thinking?

Maybe President Pei really didn't care whether it sold for more or less? He didn't even care if each slot sold for two or three million less?

That wouldn't do. President Pei didn't care, but as President Pei's friend, he couldn't not care!

Lin Chang had made a special trip this time to help!

Lin Zhou had already told him that the funds prepared were at least 20 million. Whether he slowly raised the price or directly quoted a lump sum from the start was up to Lin Chang.

Spending a little more didn't matter, after all, he was an old friend of President Pei.

Lin Chang's original plan was to actively raise the price, increasing the price of each slot by two or three million, so that President Pei could earn an extra ten million or so, right?

But with this current bidding method, it was difficult to raise the price.

What should he do?

How could he spend money and also make a good impression on President Pei?

Lin Chang quickly thought of a solution, raised his hand, and said, "Number 4, 16 million."

Pei Qian, who had just relaxed and taken out his phone to play for a while, instantly froze, a question mark slowly appearing above his head.

?

Not only Pei Qian, but everyone in the conference room had question marks above their heads.

???

What did President Lin mean by this?

Even the staff recording the prices were stunned and didn't immediately write it down, but looked at Lin Chang to confirm. After Lin Chang nodded, they typed on the keyboard to record it.

Thus, a rather magical scene appeared on the projection screen.

Numbers 1 to 3 were the GOG divisions of the three clubs with GPL slots, and numbers 4 to 9 were the individual GPL slots.

Obviously, the prices of 1 to 3 would definitely be higher than the later ones, because in addition to the GPL slot, they also came with an existing GOG division!

Each player had a certain value, and buying them would directly produce results, unlike those clubs that only bought slots and had to slowly break them in.

However, now the price of SUG's GOG division was only at 14 million, but Lin Chang directly quoted 16 million for a pure GPL slot!

Why was that?

Lin Chang crossed his arms, smiling without saying a word.

Pei Qian looked at him with a confused expression.

Seeing President Pei's gaze, Lin Chang winked his right eye at him again.

Pei Qian: "?"

Although everyone in the conference room was stunned for a moment, this little episode quickly passed because the bidding was still in progress, and it wasn't a good time to ask directly.

Since the Number 4 GPL slot had been directly raised to a high price of 16 million, others could give up on this slot, and everyone could continue bidding on the other quotes.

The investor who came with Li Shi was very puzzled and whispered, "President Li, what's going on?"

The two of them were representatives of the "Jingzhou Investment Group," and their goal this time was to buy two GPL slots.

Li Shi frowned. He had seen Lin Chang wink at President Pei.

Something must be going on!

Li Shi pondered for a long time, then suddenly realized and said in a low voice, "Give up bidding on those existing GOG divisions and bid on the GPL slots!"

The investor was confused: "Why? The former is more cost-effective!"

Li Shi shook his head: "You don't understand!"

"The existing GOG divisions are indeed cost-effective, but can President Pei receive the money?"

"Think about it carefully, why are these three clubs selling their GOG divisions? Obviously, they had a falling out with President Pei! Can President Pei give these three clubs a good face?"

"Now, no matter how high these three clubs bid, it's all the club owners who profit. President Pei won't get a single penny."

"Do you think President Pei would be happy to raise the prices of these GOG divisions?"

"What is our purpose in coming here? That's right, we're here to buy GPL slots, but the reason why we're buying these slots is ultimately because we believe that President Pei can lead us to get rich!"

"So, why is President Lin buying slots and not buying GOG divisions? And why did he specially raise the price of a slot directly to be higher than the GOG division?"

"Obviously, it's to hope that this money can be effectively handed over to President Pei, instead of benefiting these three clubs!"

The investor suddenly understood: "Oh! I understand, I understand!"

"But... President Li, buying like this is a big loss."

Li Shi shook his head: "What loss? Can you do the math?"

"Have you forgotten that we're aiming for long-term goals?"

"If you buy the GOG division now because you're greedy for small advantages, you can indeed achieve results quickly, but the money goes directly into the hands of those club owners. What will President Pei think?"

"Spending money and making President Pei unhappy?"

"On the contrary, if you buy a GPL slot at a high price, the money goes directly into President Pei's hands. Even if you have to build a GOG division and recruit players, which seems troublesome, but think about it, can President Pei stand idly by?"

"When buying DGE players and building a club, wouldn't President Pei have to take care of you?"

"What's more, leaving a good impression on President Pei will bring more implicit income in the future."

"Think about it, which is more cost-effective?"

"So, quickly follow me and bid on the GPL slots. Don't raise the prices for those three clubs anymore!"

The investor instantly understood.

"Number 5, 15 million!"

"Number 6, 15 million!"

The two of them raised their hands one after another. The atmosphere at the scene had just recovered, but instantly froze again.

Xue Zhebiao looked at President Li with a confused expression, a little unsure of what was going on.

Li Shi took out his phone and secretly sent a message to Xue Zhebiao.

After reading the text message, Xue Zhebiao's expression changed, and he quickly lowered his head to whisper to Yao Bo next to him, starting to pass on the intelligence.

Lin Chang was very happy and secretly gave President Li a thumbs up.

Good, this boss understood very quickly! It seemed that he could contact him more often in the future.

Even the dumbest of the other bosses who came to bid should have seen that something was wrong.

Lin Chang represented Shenhua Group, which had the strongest financial resources, while Li Shi represented the local investment group in Jingzhou, who was very familiar with President Pei and had cooperated many times.

The two of them completely ignored the three GOG divisions in front and instead stared at the GPL slots behind, desperately raising the price, even higher than the existing GOG divisions.

Why was that?

Everyone fell into deep thought, and soon, many people showed expressions of realization.

The bosses were all very smart. How could they not see such an obvious thing?

Even if some individuals couldn't see it, they could roughly feel that the three GOG divisions in front didn't seem to be very popular, and there must be some problem behind it.

So, many people also changed their strategies and were more inclined to bid on the GPL slots behind.

Pei Qian couldn't help but stare in disbelief. He looked at Lin Chang, Li Shi, and then at Xue Zhebiao and Zhou Muyan.

You... are messing with me???

The front was selling existing GOG teams and GPL slots together! The back was only GPL slots!

Why are you all desperately snatching the slots behind?

Are you out of your minds?

The confusion at the scene was obviously not just Pei Qian himself, but also the managers of those three clubs.

Originally, Manager Li was in a good mood, watching the price of his GOG division rise all the way to 14 million.

At this rate, selling it for 20 million wouldn't be a problem!

If he could sell it for 20 million, he could at least brag to the boss when he got back today. After all, he had spent a lot of money to hire internet trolls to create momentum online, raising the price of the GOG division a lot.

But with Lin Chang's shout, he didn't know what happened, but everyone tacitly stopped raising the price!

They all went to raise the price of the GPL slots behind!

Seeing that the GPL slots behind were being raised to 15 million and 16 million, his own GOG division with the GPL slot was still stuck at 14 million.

The other two clubs were even worse, both at 13 million.

Cold sweat instantly ran down Manager Li's head.

What would happen if all the GPL slots were raised to 15 million, but his own GOG division and GPL bundle only sold for 14 million...?

What phenomenon would occur?

How would he explain it to the boss when he got back?