Chapter 518: TCL’s Outrageous Contract Deal (1/2)

“I’ll be reaching Suzhou at around nine in the morning, so how about we meet at that cafe in Shiquan Street at ten? Can you also bring Lu Chen and Beiming Xue along as well?”

“Okay!” He Yi didn’t waste any time in agreeing to the meeting, but she added something after that. “However, if you want to sign us to a contract, you’ll need to sign Murong Mingyue as well.”

The other party hesitated for a moment before she laughed and said, “That’s fine as well. A party needs at least four people after all. I agree to that condition.”

“Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow!”

……

He Yi ended the call and looked up to see the three of us staring at her with shocked expressions on our faces.

“Lenovo wants to sign us?” I asked.

He Yi’s laughter tinkled in the air as she nodded her head and said, “However, I have this feeling that they really only want to sign two people, and that is you, Lu Chen, and Beiming Xue. Mingyue and I are merely the extras that come in this package deal.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Eve, you’re already among the top 20 players in the champion arena, so no one is carrying you into the team. Sis Mingyue, on the other hand, is definitely being carried onto the team..”

“Bloody hell! You ass!” Murong Mingyue punched me from behind before she laughed and said, “Can’t you leave me some dignity!?”

He Yi and Beiming Xue covered their mouths and laughed at that.

The four of us quickly drove to the nearest buffet place and started our feast. After we finished off the seafood, we began to talk about what we were going to do next as we nursed our drinks.

“We should go and participate in the team arena later. Don’t bother with your ranking in the champion arena for now. We need to prioritize getting our team arena rankings up as well.”

I looked at He Yi and Murong Mingyue and said, “Mingyue, your ability to win 1v1 duels is very limited, so you should focus on your 2v2 battles with Eve. Once the both of you have established a deep understanding of each other's quirks, tendencies, and idiosyncrasies, you’ll be able to display the full might of the Priest + Magic Knight pairing, one of the most ridiculous pairings in the game. Eve, you just need to be able to pull the opponent’s fire without dying yourself. Given your attack power, most teams in the team arena won’t be able to do anything to you and even breaking into the top 10 of the champion arena isn’t a pipedream for you.”

He Yi laughed and nodded her head. “Mmm, I got it. I’ll work hard. I won’t go to any of the meetings over at the GGS Shanghai branch over the next few days. I’ll just focus on grinding the arena. It’s time to go for broke! I’ll just ask them to send me the meeting minutes afterwards.”

He Yi simply laughed at that comment.

It was at this time that Beiming Xue, who had been flipping through the news on her phone, suddenly let out a soft yell. “Woah! Did you guys see the news! Something big has happened in the gaming world!”

“Oh? What happened?” The three of us were taken aback by her sudden yell.

Beiming Xue’s eyes were fixed on her phone as she read it out to us. “TCL, one of the premier companies in China, has decided to create a gaming club. They’ve signed the CGL Hall of Famers Candlelight Shadow, Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God’s Dance for an outrageous amount of money…” (I’ll have to apologise here. In my previous uploads, I actually thought that TCL was a korean company. I’m not allowed to edit my previous mistake, so I can only say it here~)

I sucked in a deep breath before saying, “Damn, TCL really knows how to make an entrance. Oh man, I didn’t think that a huge corporation like TCL would actually make their move this fast. No wonder Lenovo called us just now. Tsk tsk, TCL swallowed up the five heavenly kings of Candle Dragon just like that. I wonder just how much money they spent to accomplish such a task. But with this signing, TCL squad will have many powerful warriors and skilled generals, so they’ll definitely be one of the invincible battleships in the tournament scene.”

Beiming Xue pursed her lips before she smiled and said, “Let me check just how much money TCL spent to sign Candlelight Shadow and his gang…”

“Okay.”

After a few minutes, Beiming Xue laughed and said, “I got it. According to a small but reliable news site, TCL signed them to a one year contract. Candlelight Shadow’s annual salary is twenty million RMB a year, while Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Transient Smoke and Clouds were all signed to ten million RMB deals. God’s Dance managed to get a slightly better deal than the rest of the and her salary is at twelve million a year…”

He Yi’s small mouth dropped open as she said in an incredulous voice, “TCL really does know how to make a splash! Just recruiting those five professional gamers will cost them a cool sixty-two million dollars a year! That’s insane…”

I shook my head before I replied, “Perhaps, spending this money is worth it. After all, Candlelight Shadow is the most popular gamer in China and he even has the moniker ‘Martial God’. Just the money they will make from a year of tournaments and marketing will be enough to recoup their outlay. Furthermore, when Candlelight Shadow went to South Korea to study, he was originally known as South Korea’s ‘Starcraft Emperor’, so he’s really famous in that country too. So TCL has actually killed two birds with one stone here. It was an excellent piece of business, really.”

Murong Mingyue nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, Lu Chen is right on the money. TCL’s move to sign the five heavenly kings of Candle Dragon can definitely be considered a masterstroke.”

I cleared my throat before saying, “So it honestly looks like Lenovo is very serious about signing the four of us to a contract. I mean, they’re even willing to send someone down from Beijing just to meet us tomorrow. So what kind of terms should we ask for? What should be the deal breaker for us? Because this concerns how much we will earn in a year as professional gamers.”

He Yi let out a silvery laugh and said, “We should support state corporations like Lenovo, so we won’t ask for a ridiculous amount of money. But we can’t shortchange ourselves too much either. Lu Chen’s price on the open market definitely won’t be any less than ten million on the open market. Any less would be putting his title as Little Heavenly King to shame. Beiming Xue’s contract also can’t be any less than eight million, because I honestly don’t think you’re inferior to Transient Smoke and Clouds in any way. As for Mingyue and I, we don’t really care.”

“Yeah, let’s finish grinding the team arena and talk about it again. Let’s win as many matches as we can before going to sleep. Let’s get up at nine and discuss this again.”

“Okay!”

……

We had returned home from dinner, so it was about time to challenge the team arena with Beiming Xue!

Woosh!