For Eric's "achievements" over the past few months, Pei Qian was extremely envious.

Clearly he had been burning money the whole time, but after burning it for so long, he hadn't made any money or grabbed any market share, let alone stirred up any waves. It could be said that he had burned it silently.

This level of achievement was beyond Pei Qian's reach.

Pei Qian had considered poaching Eric, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

Could someone who had reached a high level in a multinational corporation be a useless bum?

The possibility was actually very low.

So why had Eric suffered such a complete defeat after coming to China to oversee the IOI national server?

Pei Qian felt that this probably had little to do with his personal ability, and mainly depended on the current market situation.

The current situation of the IOI national server was already beyond saving.

Wasn't Shang Yang Games also beaten to a pulp by GOG when they operated the IOI national server? Even Pei Qian himself had rolled up his sleeves and joined the battle, and Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou had racked their brains and worked hard to launch a series of marketing activities, but in the end, it was still useless.

The root cause of the failure was that the IOI game itself was already behind GOG, and GOG had already occupied most of the domestic market share. Under such circumstances, no amount of good marketing plans could reverse the situation.

This couldn't be crudely attributed to Eric's lack of ability.

What if, after being poached, Eric released all his suppressed energy and became unstoppable?

Moreover, Eric was a high-level executive in a multinational corporation. Dake Corporation had an absolute advantage in terms of salary, shares, non-compete agreements, cultural background, and so on. The possibility of poaching him was extremely low.

Therefore, Pei Qian didn't plan to poach him, but had other plans.

Eric was no longer in charge of the IOI national server. With his qualifications and status, he wouldn't be completely dismissed after returning, and would still be a high-level executive in Dake Corporation, with a high level of say in the operation of IOI.

This time, when he went back, he would definitely report to the senior executives of Dake Corporation, and he might also be held accountable.

In any case, Eric would report all the situations during his time in charge of the IOI national server, including the information he had collected about GOG and Tengda Corporation.

In this way, wouldn't Eric be equivalent to a messenger between Pei Qian and the senior executives of Dake Corporation?

Before leaving, Eric made a special trip to Jingzhou and took pictures like crazy at the GPL league venue, obviously to collect information to use as a bargaining chip for his comeback.

The richer and more detailed the information he collected from Tengda Group and GOG's promotion, the more he could reduce his responsibility, and even influence the decisions of Dake Corporation's senior management.

Pei Qian felt that since this was the case, why not use Eric to help him pass some information to the senior executives of Dake?

He was currently worried about Dake Corporation's belated awareness.

Not to mention the domestic market, the IOI national server was almost dead, and the few remaining players were losing every day. GOG was also making rapid progress in the overseas market. If Pei Qian hadn't deliberately split half of Shang Yang Games' people to slow down the expansion speed, the situation of overseas IOI wouldn't be optimistic.

From Pei Qian's point of view, the situation of IOI was already very dangerous, which made him very worried.

But even so, Dake Corporation was still slow to react and hadn't come up with any reliable solutions.

In the final analysis, it was because Dake Corporation was too arrogant and looked down on Tengda, a "small company" in China, just like Eric when he first came to Jingzhou.

The difference was that Eric had been beaten awake, but the senior executives of Dake Corporation had not.

Therefore, Pei Qian hoped to use this dinner to let Eric become his megaphone and influence the policies of Dake Group's senior management to some extent.

Eric appeared calm on the surface, but his brain was working fast.

President Pei's behavior seemed a bit redundant. To say it was for personal relationships was absolutely impossible.

There was no such thing as personal relationships in business.

Or was it simply to enjoy a moment of pleasure at the dinner table, say a few sarcastic remarks, and have his say?

Eric didn't think President Pei would be so naive.

Then, the only possibility was that President Pei also wanted to use this opportunity to obtain some information from him!

Now that the person in charge of the IOI national server had changed, it meant that Tengda Group was about to face a new opponent, and President Pei should also want to obtain some information about this, which was why he was treating him to this meal.

At present, although Tengda Group was winning one victory after another, its company size was still relatively small. Overall, it was still in a state of uncertainty with Dake Corporation.

Therefore, it made sense that President Pei was planning ahead and wanted to obtain some information from him about Dake Group's next move.

Both sides had the desire to obtain information from each other, but who would obtain true information and who would obtain false information? That was hard to say.

Eric hesitated for a few seconds, then immediately put on a smile and nodded, "Of course, it's my honor to have dinner with President Pei."

...

Ten minutes later, the group arrived at a high-end restaurant in the mall.

Although Yuanda Tiandi was a large shopping mall in the core area of Jingzhou, the overall price level of the restaurants was still quite different from places like Wuming Restaurant or Mingfu Family Banquet. The more expensive restaurants were only around 200 yuan per person.

After all, it was 2011, and the overall price level hadn't inflated so much yet.

The reason why they didn't go to Mingfu Family Banquet was because Eric had to take a plane in the afternoon and didn't have much time, so they set the dinner at a restaurant in the mall.

They casually ordered a few more expensive dishes and a bottle of the most expensive XO, but they still couldn't spend much money, which made Pei Qian feel a little regretful.

However, everyone's purpose wasn't to eat in the first place.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries and a few toasts, Eric decided to get down to business.

He was very clear that dealing with a smart person like President Pei, trying to get close or hoping for "a slip of the tongue after drinking" were meaningless behaviors.

If he wanted to obtain information from President Pei, he had to actively release some information. This was the game mode to play with a more sophisticated opponent.

So, Eric gently shook the glass in his hand: "President Pei, we are all smart people, so I won't beat around the bush."

"We are all very clear that the other party has information that they want, otherwise we wouldn't be eating at the same table at this time."

"Since this is the case, we might as well be more direct and save each other's time."

"I have to report to the senior management of Dake Group after I go back. In the worst-case scenario, I may be demoted or marginalized. Once I am transferred to a marginal department, it will be almost impossible for me to climb back up and be responsible for important business."

"Therefore, I must save myself. And the way to save myself is to obtain more information."

"We take turns asking each other three questions and answering them in turn, exchanging information that we are both interested in. If the questioner finds the question difficult to answer, then the questioner can change the question. What do you think, President Pei?"

Pei Qian originally wanted Eric to be a mouthpiece between himself and Dake Group, but he was afraid that starting the topic too bluntly would arouse Eric's vigilance.

Now that Eric had taken the initiative to propose it, Pei Qian was of course overjoyed and immediately nodded and said, "Okay."

Seeing President Pei agree so readily, Eric was even more certain of his deduction.

He didn't emphasize that they should give truthful answers to each other, because even if he emphasized it, it wouldn't be binding on either side. Saying it was the same as saying nothing.

But since the two sides were taking turns asking questions, then if one side didn't give an answer that satisfied the questioner, this game wouldn't be able to continue.

Therefore, the optimal solution was to release some real information that had little impact and mix in some false information to mislead the other party.

This depended on both sides' ability to identify information.

Even false information was valuable to Eric. Because false information could be identified, screened, and used to deduce correct information.

Eric felt that President Pei must also be aware of this, which was why he agreed so readily.

Zhang Yuan, Lin Wan and the others pricked up their ears, feeling a little nervous.

Sure enough, President Pei had a special purpose for treating Eric to dinner!

There weren't so many fancy tricks for masters, they were all smart people, and this communication efficiency was too high.

Asking each other three questions, to put it bluntly, was a form of information warfare. But Eric looked like a cunning old fox, could President Pei win?

Although they were full of confidence in President Pei, everyone couldn't help but sweat.

But Pei Qian wasn't nervous at all at this time.

Because he didn't need to be nervous at all.

Pei Qian didn't expect to get any useful information from Eric at all. Anyway, no matter how Dake Corporation acted in the future, Pei Qian would still spend money as usual and adapt to all changes.

Moreover, Pei Qian wasn't afraid of leaking real information to Eric at all, because there was nothing secret about him except for the system itself.

Pei Qian even wished he could reveal some inside information so that he could stimulate Dake Corporation to continue burning money.

If Dake Corporation started a price war with Tengda, Pei Qian would be too happy!

However, in order not to arouse Eric's suspicion, Pei Qian still had to put on a very serious expression.

Eric said, "To show my sincerity, President Pei, you can ask first."

Pei Qian thought about it. He didn't seem to have any good questions, so he casually asked, "What's the name of the person Dake Group sent to replace you? Tell me about his information."

Eric didn't consider it for too long: "Christian, former senior executive of Fist Company, has been responsible for the promotion and marketing business in the European market, has a relatively high say within Fist Company, can make certain changes to the game content, and is more professional than me."

"His personality is relatively conservative, he attaches importance to the localization of the game, and this time he is in charge of the IOI national server, he may cooperate with local game companies for promotion."

Eric was very clear that this information was information that President Pei could collect, so there was no need to hide it. Saying it would make him appear more sincere.

Pei Qian nodded: "It's your turn to ask."

Eric thought for a while and said, "I have collected some information about Tengda. I know that a very key reason why GOG has been able to maintain its leading position is that President Pei, you are really willing to spend money on it."

"Even now, even though GOG has occupied such a huge market share, it is still fluctuating between a small profit and a loss due to the low pricing strategy and the large amount of marketing expenses."

"I roughly know how much money you have burned on the GOG game, but what I find puzzling is, why are you so dare to burn money?"