Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

In the afternoon, Shanghai.

The boss of the FV Club, Wu Yue, was raging in his office.

"Ding Gan's group is too much!"

"His own team was torn down, so he came to tear down my team?"

"They even worked together to put pressure on a small club that is not strong enough to be easily controlled by them?"

"Zhao Xuming, that b*stard was also pushing it. Disgusting!"

Manager Lu of the FV Club also felt indignant. "Boss Wu, these people are birds of a feather!"

"Zhao Xuming and Ding Gan are obviously in cahoots."

"They said that they were going to fight for a spot in the qualifiers for the international competition, but what are they going to fight for? The team has basically been decided internally after the selection!"

"Our team's strength had been preserved relatively well, but we were not as famous as those clubs. That was why Ding Gan worked with the other clubs to pressure us to sell our players. The most infuriating thing was that even though Zhao Xuming looked like he was mediating, he was actually on their side."

"To put it bluntly, they want to choose the three most famous clubs with the most fans. They are willing to tear down small clubs like ours in order to form a team.

The boss, Wu Yue, was even angrier now. "The worst thing is that these people poached our players and it's a win-win situation since we earned a transfer fee. Win-win situation, my a*s! Dammit!"

Since he was in his own office and Manager Lu was one of his own, Wuyue couldn't care less about his image and started cursing.

Last week, Long Yu Corporation and Finger Games had decided on various cooperation matters. Zhao Xuming had also started organizing domestic teams to participate in the qualifiers and select teams to participate in the IOI global finals overseas.

However, they encountered a very serious problem: the teams of the veteran clubs had been torn apart!

Take the SUG Club for example. There were only three members left in the IOI branch. How could they compete?

The other veteran clubs were about the same. The good seedlings with potential had all been poached by Lin Chang and GOG's clubs. Most of the teams were not complete anymore.

It was just like playing mahjong. How could he play when they were short of one player?

While Zhao Xuming was cursing Tengda for using such a strategy. He did not have any good ideas and could only try his best.

This was going to be a world tournament. They could not possibly promote new players to start from scratch, right? They would definitely be tortured. They might as well not go.

Thus, in order to make up for the shortcomings of a few teams so that they could play in the international competition, they had no choice but to dismantle the other teams.

The question was, which teams should be dismantled to supplement which teams?

Obviously, they could only dismantle small clubs and to supplement larger clubs.

From Zhao Xuming's standpoint, even if he did not consider from the point of funding, he had to consider fame and popularity.

A veteran club like SUG had a large number of fans in the country and a certain degree of fame internationally. Only such teams could represent the local IOI E-Sports circle if they went to the international competition.

As for a small club like the FV Club, its reputation was too low. It did not have much fame both domestically and overseas. It was far from being popular.

After all, Zhao Xuming knew very well that the main aim of the IOI World Finals was to bring traffic to the local server, IOI. If the traffic could not be brought up, everything would be for naught.

Results were important, of course, which teams should be dismantled so that it would produce the best results? Take the current competition level for example. No team could win the championship.

Since that was the case, it was only natural for the big clubs to try to attract more attention.

Thus, Zhao Xuming and the other big clubs worked together to find small clubs like FV to buy players.

Of course, the sales of players were voluntary, but the pressure was still there.

FV Club was a small club. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was an internet cafe team. The boss, Wu Yue, was a personal sponsor. He was maintaining this club out of interest. How could he win against the collaboration of Longyu Corporation and these big clubs?

Of course, Wuyue could also choose not to sell anyone and let the team compete in the qualifiers. However, if they offended these big clubs and Long Yu Corporation, would they still have a good time in the future?

What's more, Wuyue himself did not have 100% confidence in his own team. If he could not win the qualifiers and his team members were not sold, that would be even more of a loss.

Thus, Wu Yue could not come up with any good ideas after much consideration. He could only unwillingly dismantle his own team and sell his team members to other established clubs to make up for lost time.

GOG's club demolished IOI's old club, and IOI's veteran clubs dismantled IOI's small club. It became a vicious cycle.

Wuyue was extremely reluctant to sell his team members. That was why he flew into a rage in the office.

However, there was nothing he could do. Small clubs had no say.

After Wu Yue vented his anger, it dissipated. "Forget it, let this matter pass. Go out first. I want to be alone for a while."he said as he waved his hand.

Manager Lu nodded and left.

Wu Yue leaned back in his chair, pondering whether he should continue with this club.

The FV Club was only maintained because of his own funding. It was purely for his interest. He did not dare to think about GOG's quota as he could not afford it. He could only play IOI if he wanted to maintain his lifestyle.

However, IOI's team had been mostly dismantled.

Of course, he could recruit more people and build a new team, but anyone with eyes could tell that there was no chance for the qualifiers this time.

Zhao Xuming had given FV Club a spot to participate in the qualifiers out of respect, but the problem was where to find good players?

After all, Zhao Xuming felt that it would be embarrassing to tear down these small clubs, thus he gave them a spot in the qualifiers. These small clubs would not be able to qualify anyway.

Even if they managed to gather enough teams to participate in the qualifiers, they would probably be defeated by teams such as SUG.

Once they missed the IOI world competition, they would probably end up with no competition to play.

Wu Yue's current situation was: the team that he had painstakingly built up had been dismantled and only had three members left. Reorganizing the team would be very troublesome; there would be no competition to play in the short term, and burning money would not generate any popularity. Selling members to earn a transfer fee seemed to be a good choice.

Therefore, Wu Yue was a little discouraged and did not want to play anymore.

He was still struggling when someone knocked on the door.

Knock, knock.

Wu Yue looked up to see Manager Lu return

"Boss Wu, there's something very important." Manager Lu looked to be in disbelief. "Boss Pei of Tengda Corporation wants to come to Shanghai personally to meet you."

Wu Yue was stunned. "Who?"

Manager Lu repeated, "Boss Pei of Tengda Corporation."

Wu Yue was completely stunned.

Boss Pei?

Wasn't that the designer of GOG and the big boss of the GPL league?

He wants to come here… to meet me…?

Wu Yue even suspected that this was fake news because the gap between the two parties was too huge. What was so important that Boss Pei had to personally make a trip?

The price of the slot of the GPL league had already been sky-high. Many traditional giants and enterprises had also joined in. It could be said that GOG was currently the most popular e-sports circle in the country and even the world.

On the other hand, Tengda Corporation was the organizer of all of GOG's competitions. The contractual incident a while ago had also sent a message to the outside world: Tengda Corporation held absolute power in GOG's E-Sports scene.

On the other hand, the FV Club was a private club. It was purely for fun. It was neither famous nor powerful.

Originally, the IOI branch's strength was barely passable. However, two outstanding members had been poached away, leaving only an empty shell immediately.

Why is Boss Pei coming here personally?

Wu Yue could not figure it out.

However, he did not dare to be negligent. He quickly asked, "When will Boss Pei arrive?"

Manager Lu answered, "He said that he'll reach Shanghai's high-speed rail station in an hour."

Wu Yue quickly stood up. "Drive my seven-seater commercial car over to pick them up at the high-speed rail station immediately!"

…

Two hours later, at a high-end restaurant near the FV Club…

Wu Yue, Manager Lu, Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan took their seats.

Both parties had already exchanged pleasantries along the way. Now, they sat down and sipped their tea while waiting for the dishes to be served. It was about time to get down to business.

It was the first time that Wu Yue and Manager Lu met Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan. They found it hard to believe that these two were the top figures in GOG's E-Sports circle.

Boss Pei was ridiculously young. What's more, his real identity was the actor in the short film. This surprised both Wu Yue and Manager Lu. Zhang Yuan, on the other hand, could not look more ordinary. It was hard to imagine that he was the person-in-charge of Tengda's E-Sports scene.

Wu Yue personally poured a cup of tea for Boss Pei and Zhang Yuan. Smiling, he said, "Boss Pei, Boss Zhang, your presence brings light to our FV Club. Everything happened so suddenly that we didn't have time to prepare a proper reception. We could only make do in this restaurant. Please don't take any offense."

"I'll arrange for a meal tomorrow with a few friends. Boss Pei, please do me the honor."

Pei Qian quickly waved his hand. "There's no need for that. Boss Wu, please don't stand on ceremony. I'm here to discuss something today. I'll leave tomorrow morning."

Wu Yue nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei, feel free to ask. If you have any requests, I'll do my best to fulfill them!"

Pei Qian could not be bothered to keep them in suspense. "It's not a big deal. I want to invest in the FV Club."

Wu Yue was stunned. He almost thought he heard wrong. "Huh?"

Invest in the FV Club?

Do you think I don't know how lousy my club is? Is there a need to invest?

Wu Yue looked at Boss Pei. "Boss Pei, are you serious?"

Pei Qian nodded. "Of course!"

After some consideration, Wu Yue said, "Boss Pei, if you like the FV Club, I'll sell it to you directly at 1.5 million yuan. What do you think?"

Wu Yue did not dare to ask for too much, because he knew very well what the FV Club was like.

This was a negative asset without any profitability. Team members' salaries and rental fees were purely burning money. What's more, the FV Club did not have any results. They did not even have play in competitions or traffic flow, not to mention that the traffic had changed now. It was impossible.

The only useful thing now was that the FV Club could play in the IOI qualifiers. However, there were many teams with this qualification. What's more, Boss Pei had the GPL league all to himself. He would not be interested in this.

The remaining three players were slightly more valuable, but if they could not be sold, they would not be able to earn a transfer fee. What's more, the strength of these three players were not good enough. Otherwise, they would not have been left behind while the others were poached.

Wu Yue did not know why Boss Pei was interested in the FV Club either. In any case, he could just take it all away if he wanted it. He would be happy to sell it and take the opportunity to leave the E-Sports circle.

Pei Qian shook his head. "I don't buy clubs, I only invest."

Wu Yue was confused. What was the meaning of this? Wouldn't it be better to buy it if he was really interested?

Could it be that Boss Pei was willing to pay far less than 1.5 million yuan?

Wu Yue asked, "How much do you plan to invest?"

Pei Qian: "Three million yuan."

Wu Yue :"…"

Three fu*king million?!

I offered you the entire club for 1.5 million yuan, Boss Pei counter proposed to invest three million yuan? That was unnecessary, right?

Wu Yue was confused. "Are you planning to change the team name? Change the management team? Or add advertisement spots to the team uniform? Do you have any other requirements?"

fWu Yue was a little flustered. This sum of money was too much for the FV Club. Could Boss Pei want to arrange something like a valuation adjustment mechanism agreement?

Pei Qian shook his head. "I don't want any of them. I just want to invest and get some shares. I don't have any other requests."

Wu Yue blinked, completely confused.

Boss Pei could have bought the entire club for 1.5 million yuan however, he refused and insisted on investing for a higher amount?