Chapter 555 - I’ll Give You Some Insider Information (1/2)

At Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch…

After lunch, Pei Qian sipped his coffee and continued smoothing out the mind map. He also added Tengda Games, Shang Yang Games, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and DGE Esports Club on the map; noting down the connections that they had just made.

The number of lines was increasing as the days went by. Pei Qian felt like each line was a stab in his back.

“Think on the bright side. This mind map is still coming in useful. At the very least, I have successfully predicted something using this very mind map!

“…although, I was two hours late.

“Still, I’ll do better next time!”

Pei Qian closed his laptop and suddenly felt the urge to walk around the internet area in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. After finishing his round, Pei Qian realized that something was amiss.

On further thought…

It seemed like more gamers were playing GOG than IOI in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. The former’s figures seemed to be crushing the latter’s!

It didn’t make sense at all.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment. Shang Yang Games seemed to have reached out to more internet cafes and offered more money. Why was this still happening?

“Was it because of Xiao Peng?

“Now that I’m thinking about it, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 seemed to be tailor-made for GOG. It seems only natural that more people were playing GOG. “Perhaps Xiao Peng is offering more support to GOG because he views it as Tengda’s own game. On the other hand, IOI is another company’s game that Tengda is only managing as a godson. “Yes… that’s most likely the case. “However, the situation would probably be the opposite in other internet cafes, right?”

Pei Qian immediately stood up and walked to another bigger chain internet cafe nearby, Xing Le Internet Cafe. Speaking of which, Boss Li had invested in Xing Le Internet Cafe. At first, it was set up to steal customers from Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

Now, instead of stealing customers, it was just enjoying Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s leftovers.

Pei Qian wondered what exactly had happened.

In short, from the looks of the current situation, the Xing Le Internet Cafe chain of internet cafes was a close second to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe in Jingzhou. On the whole, its facilities were more luxurious than smaller internet cafes. The situation inside should have been representative of what it was like in other internet cafes as well.

A few minutes later, Pei Qian arrived at a nearby Xing Le Internet Cafe. He made a huge round inside, acting as though he was looking for someone. Once he finished his round, he sat at a computer at the back of the internet cafe and fell into deep thought.

Why did GOG still seem to be doing better? It was not right. The script seemed wrong. Wasn’t the one with money supposed to be able to do whatever it wanted?

Did Shang Yang Games fail to get Xing Le Internet Cafe on board?

That didn’t make sense.

Pei Qian could clearly see the poster at Xing Le Internet Cafe’s entrance. It said that all gamers who played GOG or IOI there could use a portion of the in-game skins for free and enjoy discounts on their per-hour charges.

What’s more, between both games, IOI was offering a higher discount.

What was the meaning of this? Was money no longer working?

Confused, Pei Qian walked to the front desk and asked the cashier this question.

The cashier happened to be free. Smiling, she answered, “Just one look at you, and I can tell you don’t know much about games.”

Pei Qian: “?”

The cashier explained, “Gamers can enjoy discounts if they play IOI, but the same applies to GOG! IOI offers higher discounts, but most people have heroes and skins on GOG. Why would they convert to IOI for the sake of saving a few dollars on er-hour charges?

“What’s more, people only come to internet cafes to play with their friends and have a better time. Why would they scrimp on a bit of money to learn another game from scratch?

“On top of that…”

The cashier kept Pei Qian on tenterhooks and lowered her voice. “Let me give you an insider’s tip. Don’t spread it around.”

Pei Qian quickly nodded. “Yes, I definitely won’t.”

The cashier continued speaking in hushed tones. “Both of those games belong to Tengda, but there’s a world of difference between them!

“GOG is the company’s biological child, and IOI is just a godchild. From any angle, one would be able to see that Tengda’s true intention is to support GOG.

“GOG would surely be the main income generator for internet cafes in the future. For the sake of long-term profits, we will naturally have to recommend GOG!”

Pei Qian was confused. “Where… are you getting this insider’s tip from?”

The cashier proudly answered, “That’s what our boss told us!”

Pei Qian: “And who did your boss hear that from?”

Even prouder now, the cashier answered, “An employee of Tengda approached our boss and told him so!”

Pei Qian: “…”

He understood now.

Min Jingchao had sent a messenger! It was no wonder that all the bosses of internet cafes had been bluffed! There was no need to guess what it was like in the rest of the internet cafes now; they were probably not much better.

This bunch of people was way too stingy!

They knew that they couldn’t burn more money than Shang Yang Games, and so they were resorting to lying? Was that even humane?!

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment and then asked, “Has your boss considered that this might be a mere business tactic that should not be trusted?”

The cashier grinned knowingly. “You don’t believe it? Have you seen yesterday’s news?

“Why is GOG all that the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s newest esports live museum talked about? The live competition was in GOG, and all the gamers present played GOG. There wasn’t even a single mention of IOI.

“The esports club that Tengda put together contained only GOG players, right?

“Even Boss Pei’s hero appeared in GOG!

“You tell me: don’t all of this prove that Tengda’s higher management, including Boss Pei, is behind GOG? They’re only burning money in IOI to create a dog-eat-dog competition and give GOG more pressure. How could they truly be rooting for IOI?” Pei Qian: “…”

For some reason, the cashier was starting to make sense! Indeed, many people had discovered that Modest was Boss Pei. If he did not like GOG that much, would he put himself in the game? Of course not! Pei Qian really wanted to ask whether the cashier would believe him if he said that he had no idea about any of this or not…