Li Shi’s eyes lit up with interest.
Boss Pei was investing again?
Previously, Li Shi had told Xue Zhebin that Boss Pei could very likely enter the game again like the ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ project. That would be the best time to invest.
Now that Boss Pei had invested, didn’t that mean…
However, on further thought, Li Shi realized that something was amiss.
If Boss Pei really wanted to copy the ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ project, he would not only invest in a ‘small sum’ but buy over the entire Cold-Faced Lady and completely control it.
That was because only by completely controlling it could he modify it according to his own ideas.
The meaning of a ‘small sum’ was very intriguing.
Li Shi realized that Boss Pei was investing first, then selling, and then continuing to invest. It looked like he was investing time and again, but in fact, every step seemed to be poking on Meng Chang’s soft spot.
Boss Pei would pour a bucket of cold water over Meng Chang every time he was getting the investors’ attention and was about to succeed. Boss Pei would invest another sum of money to continue the project every time Meng Chang was about to run out of money and could not hold on any longer.
Did that mean…
Boss Pei actually thought highly of Meng Chang’s ability but not his character?
Did Boss Pei think that Meng Chang’s thoughts were not on the right path, so he wanted to use this method to beat him up?
Li Shi had many thoughts on it in that instant. Boss Pei’s previous actions seemed to have a relatively reasonable explanation.
Meng Chang knew nothing about this. However, judging from Li Shi’s expression, it was obvious that Li Shi had successfully gotten the hidden message he wanted to convey through the information he gave.
Since that was the case, it meant that there was still a possibility of Li Shi investing!
Indeed, after some consideration, Li Shi said, “I have the intention to invest a sum of money into the Cold-Faced Lady, but…”
Meng Chang was originally very happy when he heard the first half of the sentence. However, when he heard the word ‘but’, he was instantly splashed with cold water.
Li Shi did not finish his sentence immediately. Instead, he kept him in suspense and asked, “Boss Meng, do you have confidence in the Cold-Faced Lady model?”
Meng Chang nodded. “Of course I’m confident. However… there’s still a chance of failure when it comes to entrepreneurship.”
Li Shi considered for a moment and said, “Xue Zhebin and I can invest eight million yuan into you. However, there is a condition. You have to sign a supplementary agreement: You must personally bear unlimited joint and several liability for the company’s debts.”
Meng Chang could not help but raise his eyebrows slightly when he heard that.
Unlimited joint and several liability. Any literate primary school student who heard these words would feel a chill down their spine.
The so-called unlimited joint and several liability meant that as the founder, he had to bear the company’s loss of money with his own finances.
Logically speaking, most companies were limited liability companies. Even if Meng Chang messed up the company, it would be nothing more than the company going bankrupt. He would not take on the debt personally.
However, if it was unlimited liability, the company’s debt would be transferred to Meng Chang.
There were many situations like this in the entrepreneurial circle. The founders would often have hundreds of millions of yuan of debt on their backs and become executives because they had signed a valuation adjustment mechanism agreement, share buyback agreement, or taken unlimited liability.
The reason why Meng Chang did not get much investment was because he insisted on not signing any valuation adjustment mechanism agreement or agreeing to share buyback.
That was because once he signed the agreement, it was very likely that he would end up with a huge debt no matter how much investment he took. The risk was too great for him to bear.
However, Boss Li’s condition was different from other investors’. To be fair, it was obviously much more benevolent.
That was because Boss Li did not request for a valuation adjustment mechanism from Meng Chang, nor did he ask Meng Chang to buy back all his shares in the future and spit out all the investments he had obtained. Instead, he had only asked Meng Chang to bear unlimited liability to the company’s debt.
In other words, Meng Chang would have to pay back the debt that the company owed, but the shares would still rot in the hands of the investors.
Meng Chang fell into deep thought.
If the company did not have a debt problem and successfully obtained more investors’ money, he could find someone to buy over his shares and cash out. Everyone would be happy.
If there was really a problem with the company, the amount of money they owed would at most be the rent, employee salary, suppliers’ payment, and the like. At most, it would be millions or tens of millions.
There would not be a situation where a person would be in debt for hundreds of millions of yuan and become a beggar for life.
He should not take this sum of money if he had to avoid any risks. However, to Meng Chang, this was the most cost-effective investment he could get in the near future apart from Boss Pei.
It would be fine if the Cold-Faced Lady could not succeed at all, however, it had already reached this stage. How could he give up?
As a gambler, Meng Chang really could not make such a cruel decision.
In fact, Meng Chang had been increasing the stakes continuously during the process of operating the Cold-Faced Lady. The more he increased the stakes, the harder it was to give up. He was originally just an ordinary employee who had no right to participate in such a capital game. He did not even have the right to play cards.
He got here one step at a time There might be some twists and turns along the way but chips were gathering on the table. It seemed he would be able to take away most of the chips as long as he persevered a little longer…
Under such circumstances, Meng Chang’s heart, which had always been firm, could not help but to be a little shaken. He was willing to take a certain amount of risk for the chips that he had already bet.
After much consideration, Meng Chang said, “Boss Li, I can consider your conditions, but I have to look at the specific investment contract first.”
Li Shi smiled and nodded. “Of course.”
…
It was 2 PM in Los Angeles.
The three clubs were training in the internet cafe. However, FV Club was on the second floor while the other two clubs were in the corner of the first floor.
The members of the two clubs had just used Finger Games’ super account to play a few rounds of RANK with their high ranking accounts. At that moment, they were waiting to compete in training competitions with the European and American teams.
The two teams might be training together but they maintained a certain distance on the first floor of the internet cafe.
The reason was simple. They had to be wary of each other.
While they would definitely not be assigned to the same group, they might run into each other once they left the group stages. Both sides had to reserve some trump cards just in case.
One of the team leaders looked at the time anxiously. “He’s not here yet? Is the room number wrong?”
The team member shook his head. “It is correct.”
“He’s here, he’s here!”
Five new players entered the custom rooms one after another. Their IDs were all starting with FRY.
These players did not say anything after entering. They only typed: “GO?”
The leader was a little unhappy but still said, “Yes, let’s go.”
The training competition officially began after the team members replied with a ‘GO’.
FRY Club was considered a veteran foreign club.
The GOG team that they had previously formed had made it to the semi-finals of GOG’s international invitational tournament and obtained fourth place. That was already the best result that foreign teams had achieved.
To be able to achieve such results in a project that started late showed the strength and foundation of FRY Club.
Currently, FRY was also recognized as a top-tier team in the IOI circle.
It was not easy to invite them to the training tournament this time. Zhao Xuming had only managed to invite them through the official connections of Finger Games. If they were to contact them privately, FRY Club would probably decline.
That was because the international competition was about to start. Every team’s time was very precious. There were only a few training competitions they could play in a day. It was equivalent to wasting their time and dragging themselves down if they did not improve after fighting a weak team.
FRY Club was more inclined to compete in training competitions with European and American teams. They were not very interested in domestic Chinese teams.
The club’s leader was well aware of this. Thus, they did not say much even though the FRY Club was a few minutes late and had no intention of apologizing. They only started the training competition as per normal.
…
An hour later, the training competition ended.
The team members were obviously at a loss. They looked at the game settlement interface and the output data on the screen, frowned, and began to contemplate life.
They had played two training competitions in that hour. They had been cleanly beaten 2: 0, which included 15 minutes of intermission.
After that, the members of the FRY Club left the customized gaming room without even saying goodbye. It was as if they would be dragged down if they stayed a second longer.
The team leader was just like the other team members, completely lost.
After that, the coach and team members began to discuss intensely.
“What kind of playstyle is FRY using? Why can’t I understand it at all? It’s so different from the previous version!”
“They have obviously started to choose the modified heroes in terms of lineup. We are still playing on the same tactics as before. How are we going to play this?”
“I said at the start that heroes who cannot be defeated should be banned!”
“Can you not say such useless things after the fact? Do you think we can ban so many heroes?”
“I feel like the style of the European and American teams is not countering us. It doesn’t feel like they are playing seriously either. Our side collapsed as we played…”
“What’s there to counter? It’s just the difference in strength…”
The team members were arguing.
Losing a competition was not scary. What was scary was losing so easily and completely that they did not even know where they had gone wrong.
From the lineup selection, version understanding, to the tactical execution and improvisation in the game, they were totally outdone by FRY Club!
There was not much difference in the basic operations of the players on both sides, but FRY Club could always easily obtain an advantage through some small tricks in the early stages. Then, they could use better tactics to increase their advantage. Once the equipment gap was widened, it would be useless no matter what they did.
All the team members felt that they were not personally to blame. However, they had lost so badly. It was not easy for anyone to push the blame away.
That was the easiest way to generate internal strife.
The coach clapped his hands to calm everyone down.
“Alright, stop arguing!”
“There’s still some time before the international competition begins. Since everyone has already recognized the gap between us and the European and American teams, we should make use of the time to change.”
“From now on, we will study the tactics of the European and American teams. We have confirmed that the international competition will be a new version. Given our current situation, we will definitely be beaten badly if we cannot adapt to the new version.”
“Now, let’s review the training competition and learn from FRY’s tactics…”
The players finally calmed down a little with the coach’s guidance.
They might not be able to analyze much in a competition with such a huge gap, but coaches and players did not have a good solution either. They could only do things bit by bit.
The development environment of the IOI clubs in China was not good to begin with. It was making things worse for them now that Finger Games had decided to use the new version for the international competition.
However, he had no other choice. He could only bite the bullet since things had already come to this.
The team leader saw that the atmosphere was still gloomy and quickly comforted them. “It’s alright. Everyone, do your best and let nature take its course. Our goal is to qualify for the top eight in a small group. We would have reached our goal as long as we work hard to get into the top four.”
“FRY is a veteran strong team in Europe and the United States after all. There are many weak teams from other regions in the international competition this time. We can also qualify in teams as long as we win the weak teams steadily.”
“What’s more, FV Club doesn’t have the same conditions as us. They don’t have high-end game accounts, and they don’t have any channels to contact these strong European and American teams. They can’t compare to us if they rely solely on themselves.”
“FV Club is the first seeded team. We’ll start from the top eight directly. If we’re lucky enough to meet them, we’ll be able to fight for the top four. Even if we don’t meet them and both get eliminated in the top eight they’ll attract ninety percent of the firepower since they are the first seeded team.”
“Therefore, don’t feel pressured. Just prepare well. FV Club will be the first to be criticized even if we are criticized. Our public opinion environment will definitely be very tolerant.”
The team members looked at each other and felt that the leader’s words made sense.
What was there to worry about with FV Club at the bottom?
They were the first seeded team. They travelled overseas in business class and stayed in luxury hotels. Then, they would start directly in the quarterfinals. They would not even have a chance to warm up.
Judging from the current situation, they would most likely be eliminated in the first round of the quarterfinals.
Even if they lost the competition, FV Club would be the first to be criticized.
At the thought of this, the atmosphere in the venue became livelier. The players began to review the previous training competition and learn the playing style of FRY Club.
…
At the same time, on the second floor of the internet cafe, FV Team One and SUG Club were having a training competition. The members of FV Team Two were working with the stats analysis team to research the new version of tactics and hero strength.
There was a form on Ye Zhizhou’s computer. Various data were densely written on it. They were all changes to the new version.
“These heroes are still unpopular. That’s because they are still weak in terms of the game’s timeline after the modification. What’s more, passersby are less familiar with them. That’s why their chances of winning seem very low in terms of official statistics.”
“However, after the new version was equipped with specific equipment, their ability to fight in the later stages is greatly improved based on pure data.”
“If we choose a lineup with it as the core, we have to pay attention to the protection of the lines at the other locations. At the same time, the user has to be very proficient. At the very least, they have to be strong enough to resist the pressure of the lines. That’s because if the hero we choose collapses, it would definitely cause a chain reaction and the other paths would collapse together…”
“On the other h
and, if we can stabilize our development in the early and mid stages, the team battle would be stable in the later stages. Our chances of winning would obviously increase…”
FV Club brought along a huge data team this time, including designers like Ye Zhizhou, Min Jingchao, Bao Xu, DGE Club’s coach, and FV Club’s original tactical team.
These people might have been researching GOG before, but they adapted to IOI in no time.
These two games were of the same genre after all. What’s more, IOI had made the gameplay more similar to GOG.
Min Jingchao, in particular, was in charge of the balance of GOG’s games. Thus, he was more sensitive to data. He could roughly estimate the strength of the heroes that IOI’s new version had adjusted.
Of course, this pure data estimate was very inaccurate.
Some heroes’ stats looked beautiful, but in reality, they could not produce results. Even the official statistics guy could not guarantee that the actual adjustment of the game would be as perfect as he had expected.
However, FV Club’s tactical team was not just doing a paper exercise. Instead, they were divided into three steps to ensure that the strategies developed could be implemented.
First, Ye Zhizhou, Min Jingchao, and the other stats analysts used their analytical data to determine the strong heroes and playstyles of the new version. They roughly determined a vague range.
After that, DGE’s coach, Zhou Pengyuan, would combine the more mature tactical system in GOG with these strong heroes and playstyles. He would propose a prototype of the strategy and wait for verification.
Lastly, the players of the three teams would test the strength of this tactic repeatedly in the first, middle, and later stages through the Solo and mock competition.
If the strength did not meet the standard, the tactical team would analyze the reason for the failure and modify it. If the strength still did not meet the standard, they would give up. If there was a certain tactical effect that was good, they would continue to look for the replacement hero of the key heroes and continue to deepen the changes in playstyles under different conditions.
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