Losing Money to Be a Tycoon
chapter-720

It was 2 PM.

Everyone was present in the conference room on the second floor of DGE Club.

Many of the bidders, like Yao Bo, were coming to Jingzhou for the first time.

Initially, they had decided to participate in the bidding purely because of Shenhua Corporation’s participation and Tengda’s good reputation. They had felt that it was profitable to fight for the GPL spot.

However, when they arrived at the scene, and as they observed the DGE Club’s training, they all realized one crucial point.

Boss Pei was seriously working in the eSports industry!

It could be said that DGE’s training base had completely changed their prejudice against the eSports industry.

In the past, when the words ‘eSports Club’ were mentioned, most people would subconsciously think of other keywords: large internet cafes, internet addicts, instant noodles, slovenly appearances, unpresentable faces, and so on.

Pursuing passion without looking to gain from it was very noble, but a commercialized alliance still needed presentability.

Otherwise, even if reporters came to the training base for an interview, they would be too embarrassed to release the video.

What’s more, this kind of “presentability” would be a reflection of the regulation of the industry.

However, DGE Club’s style had completely reversed the stereotypes of the eSports industry. The team members’ physiques, mental states, and the environment of the entire training base were all completely different from what the investors had imagined.

Thus, the bosses subconsciously raised their expectations of the GPL’s value.

Bidding was a very superficial thing to begin with. The key was confidence.

If everyone felt that the GPL would not do well, the slots would be worthless. On the other hand, if everyone felt that the GPL would do well, the slots would be very valuable.

At the moment, everyone felt that not only could the GPL be done well, but it would also get better in the long term and become a benchmark for the domestic eSports industry.

The higher their expectations, the more valuable the slots became.

Many club owners had already made up their minds and raised their internal valuations.

Pei Qian looked at the time and gestured for Zhang Yuan to start.

After saying a few polite words, Zhang Yuan got straight to the point.

“All distinguished guests should have received detailed information and done some research. You have also paid the necessary deposit. I won’t go into more detail. I’ll just emphasize the specific rules of the auction once more.

“Three GOG teams and their GPL slots, as well as six additional GPL slots would all be sold today.

“They will take the serial numbers one to nine. One, two, and three would be the three GOG teams. The remaining four to nine are GPL slots. If you want to bid, you can say something like ‘five million for number one’. Our staff will record your bid in real time.

“Each increment is at least five hundred thousand yuan. The starting price of the three GOG teams is twelve million yuan, 10.5 million yuan, and ten million yuan respectively. There would be no starting price for the six GPL slots. In principle, each company can only have one GPL slot. There are many slots available this time, and so you don’t have to be anxious. Let’s bid in an orderly manner.

“Alright, everyone can begin.”

Zhang Yuan spoke without much confidence and glanced at Boss Pei once he was done.

The auction sounded like child’s play. Obviously, it had been Boss Pei’s doing.

Pei Qian noticed the confusion in Zhang Yuan’s eyes, but he pretended not to see it.

Obviously, he had put those rules in place to minimize profits for himself.

If they were to auction the items one by one, it was very likely that certain companies would raise the price maliciously.

Take Lin Chang or Boss Li for example. They would probably have raised the price each time and then given up when the price was just high enough. That would artifically increase the price of all the slots.

In other words, they would ‘shill’.

The only difference was that Boss Pei would not have arranged for them to shill. Boss Li and Lin Chang would have taken the initiative to shill on his behalf instead.

If all the slots were sold together, and Lin Chang had already bidded the highest price on a certain slot, he would not raise the price for the others. That way, everyone would be a bit more rational.

Hearing the rules of the auction, Lin Chang was obviously stunned.

Bid together?

In that case, the price of all the slots would be fixed at around the same value. It would not be easy to stir trouble.

In fact, Lin Chang had come with the intention to raise the prices for Boss Pei. After all, it was an auction, and he was not spending his own money.

He had not expected Boss Pei to set such a rule for the auction.

How could he raise the price now?

On the other side, Boss Li smiled as if he had expected this. He said to the investor beside him in a low voice, “As I expected.

“Boss Pei only gave us three days to prepare for this auction. Obviously, he was trying to split his profits with us. Everyone present is hell-bent on helping Boss Pei with the GPL league. That’s why Boss Pei’s so kind as to prevent people from raising the price.

“This further proves that Boss Pei is not selling the GPL slots at one shot to skin the sheep and earn a huge sum of money. Instead, he is in it for the long-term and is planning to make it sustainable!”

The investor nodded in agreement.

After listening to the rules, Xue Zhebin happily said, “Sure, these rules are simple and easy to understand. I like them.

“I’ll go first. 7 million for number six!”

Soon, everyone else raised their hands to raise the prices.

“13 million for number one.”

“Eight million for number four.”

“Eight million for number six.”

“11.5 million for number two!”

The staff at the side seriously noted the prices as the prices on the projector screen kept changing.

The starting price for the six GPL slots had been 0. However, it soon jumped to seven million with rapid increments of five million yuan.

At the moment, no one was deliberately raising the price because there were simply too many slots. If one of the slots became too expensive, the others would not fight for it. Instead, they would fight for the other slots.

Each club’s price had stabilized at about 14 million yuan, and each GPL slot’s price had stabilized at about ten million yuan.

They could definitely continue increasing, but they would increase much slower. That was because the higher the price became, the more careful and calculative everyone would be.

Once the GOG teams became more expensive, everyone began to fight for the GPL slots instead.

Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief.

Good, good, good. It seemed that everyone was still relatively rational and not acting rashly.

Li Shi and Lin Chang did not cause any trouble by raising the price maliciously as well. That was good.

The current price had not reached Pei Qian’s bottom line.

In fact, Pei Qian did not care how much the clubs sold for. After all, Tengda would not be receiving the money. The key was how much the GPL slots would be sold for.

Pei Qian’s bottom line for each GPL slot was 15 million yuan. That added up to about 90 million yuan.

Now, they were only going for ten million yuan, but the bidding had already slowed down. That was a good sign.

Thus, Pei Qian’s expression gradually relaxed.

On the other side, Lin Chang rubbed his chin and secretly observed Boss Pei’s expression.

Hmm… There was nothing special about Boss Pei’s expression. What was he thinking?

Perhaps Boss Pei really did not care if they sold for more or less? Perhaps he wouldn’t mind even if each slot sold for two or three million yuan less.

That wouldn’t do. Boss Pei might not care, but as his friend, I can’t not care!

Lin Chang had specially made a trip here to help!

Lin Zhou had already told him that he had prepared twenty million yuan. Lin Chang could freely choose whether he wanted to slowly raise the price or make a huge offer from the get-go.

It wouldn’t matter if he spent more since he was old friends with Boss Pei.

Lin Chang’s original plan had been to be more proactive in raising the prices. He had planned to increase the price of each slot by two to three million yuan. Wouldn’t that have made Boss Pei more than ten million yuan?

However, it was not easy for him to carry out that plan given the way the auction was being carried out now.

What should he do?

How could he spend money and make Boss Pei pay more attention to him?

Lin Chang quickly thought of a strategy.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. He raised his hand and said, “16 million for number four.”

Pei Qian had just relaxed and was about to take out his cell phone to play, but he immediately froze. A question mark floated above his head.

?

Not only Pei Qian, but everyone in the conference room was confused as well.

???

What was Boss Lin doing?

Even the staff who was recording the bids was stunned. He did not record Boss Lin’s offer down immediately. Instead, he looked at Lin Chang for confirmation. He only started typing on the keyboard after Lin Chang nodded.

Thus, a magical scene appeared on the screen.

Numbers one to three were GOG teams that carried GPL slots. Numbers four to nine were individual GPL slots.

Obviously, the prices for one to three should have been higher than four to nine because there were ready-made GOG teams on top of the GPL slots!

Every member carried a certain value. Anyone who purchased the teams would be able to see results immediately. They would not have to work to put everything together like those that only bought GPL slots.

Yet, while the price of SUG’s GOG team had only reached 14 million yuan, Lin Chang was offering 16 million yuan for a simple GPL slot!

Why?

Lin Chang crossed his arms and smiled without saying anything.

Pei Qian looked at him, confused.

Meeting Boss Pei’s gaze, Lin Chang winked at him.

Pei Qian: “?”

Everyone in the conference room was stunned for a moment, but this little episode passed quickly. After all, the auction was still ongoing. It would not be appropriate to question him directly at this time.

Since the GPL slot in number four had been raised to a high price of 16 million yuan, the others could just give up this slot and continue bidding for the others.

The investor who came with Li Shi was very puzzled. In a low voice, he asked, “Boss Li, what’s going on?”

Both of them were representatives of Jingzhou’s investment circle. They were here to buy two GPL slots.

Li Shi frowned. He had seen Lin Chang wink at Boss Pei.

There must be something going on here!

Li Shi pondered for a long time. Then, he suddenly realized something. He lowered his voice and said, “Give up on the ready-made GOG teams and bid for the GPL slots!”

The investor was stunned. “Why? The ones in front are more worth it!”

Li Shi shook his head. “You don’t understand!

“The ready-made GOG teams are indeed worth it, but will Boss Pei receive the money?

“Think about it carefully. Why would these three clubs sell their GOG teams? Obviously, they have fallen out with Boss Pei! Would Boss Pei continue being nice to these three clubs?

“Now, no matter how expensive these three clubs get, the bosses of these clubs would be the ones benefitting. Boss Pei would not get a single cent.

“Do you think Boss Pei would be happy to see the GOG teams being sold for such high prices?

“What are we here for? Yes, we’re here to buy GPL slots, but we’re buying these slots because we believe that Boss Pei can make us rich!

“So, why did Boss Lin bid for a slot and not a GOG team? Why did he purposely raise the price of the slot so that it was higher than the GOG teams?

“Obviously, he’s hoping to hand his money over to Boss Pei and not let the three clubs benefit from this!”

The investor suddenly understood. “Oh! I understand, I understand!

“But… Boss Li, we’ll incur losses if we bid like this.”

Li Shi shook his head. “What losses? Do you know how to calculate?

“Have you forgotten our goal for the long term?

“You can give in to your greed now, buy a GOG team, and produce results very quickly, but the money would go directly to the club owners. What would Boss Pei think?

“You’ll be spending money and making Boss Pei unhappy.

“On the contrary, if you pay a high price for a GPL slot, the money would go directly to Boss Pei. Even if you have to form a GOG team and recruit members, it would only look troublesome on the outside. Do you really think Boss Pei would just stand by and do nothing?

“Wouldn’t Boss Pei take care of your interests when you buy DGE members over and form your own club?

“What’s more, if you leave a good impression on Boss Pei, you’ll have more hidden sources of income in the future.

“Think about it, which one would be more worth it in the end?

“So, hurry up and bid for the GPL slots with me. Don’t raise the prices for those three clubs!”

The investor immediately understood.

“15 million for number five!”

“15 million for number six!”

Both of them raised their hands one after another. The atmosphere in the room had just returned to normal when everyone stiffened again.

Xue Zhebin looked at Boss Li in confusion, not understanding what was going on.

Boss Li took out his cell phone and secretly sent a message to Xue Zhebin.

After reading the message, Xue Zhebin’s expression changed. He quickly lowered his head and whispered the news to Yao Bo, who was beside him.

Lin Chang was elated and subtly gave Boss Li a thumbs up.

Alright, this boss is really quick to understand! It looks like we can keep in touch in the future.

Even the slowest bidders should have been able to tell that something was wrong by now.

Lin Chang was here on behalf of Shenhua Corporation, and he had the most financial resources. Li Shi, on the other hand, represented Jingzhou’s investment circle. He was very familiar with Boss Pei and had worked with him many times.

The two of them were not looking at the three GOG teams in front of them at all. Instead, they had set their sights on the remaining GPL slots and had rushed to increase their prices. What’s more, they had increased their prices so that they had become even higher than the ready-made GOG teams.

Why?

Everyone fell into deep thought. Soon, many people looked enlightened.

The bosses were all very smart. How could they not notice something so obvious?

Even if a few of them still couldn’t tell, they could roughly sense that the three GOG teams at the front were not very popular. There must have been problems hidden underneath.

Thus, many people changed their strategies and focused on bidding for the remaining GPL slots.

Pei Qian was tongue-tied. He looked at Lin Chang, Li Shi, Xue Zhebin, and Zhou Muyan.

Are you… messing with me?

The first three were ready-made GOG teams being sold together with GPL slots! The last few were only GPL slots!

Why are all of you fighting so hard for the last few items?

Are you out of your mind?

Boss Pei was obviously not the only one who was confused. The managers of the three clubs were also confused.

Initially, Manager Li had been quite happy when he saw the price of his GOG team rise to 14 million yuan.

He had thought that he could easily sell the team for twenty million yuan at the rate things had been going!

If he had managed to sell the team for twenty million yuan, he would have been able to brag about it in front of his boss. After all, he had spent a lot of money hiring fake reviewers to boost the GOG team’s reputation online.

However, one shout from Lin Chang had caused everyone to tacitly stop raising the price!

Now, they were all bidding for the remaining GPL slots!

The prices of the remaining GPL slots were increasing to 15 million yuan and 16 million yuan before his very eyes. On the other hand, his own GOG team was still going for only 14 million yuan.

The other two clubs were even worse off. They were both going for 13 million yuan each.

Manager Li broke out in cold sweat.

If each GPL slot was sold for 15 million yuan, and each GOG team coupled with their GPL slot were sold for 14 million yuan…

What would happen?

How would he explain this to his boss when he returned?