Chapter 1363 Eric and Zhao Xuming's Victorious Reunion

Thursday, December 13th.

Pei Qian, with his hair a disheveled mess from sleep, sat on his sofa, clutching his laptop, completely absorbed in what he was doing.

An outsider witnessing this scene would undoubtedly think, "President Pei is truly working hard!"

He gets up early in the morning, without even washing his hair, and immediately starts pondering work matters.

However, Pei Qian's mind was occupied with only one thought: "What exactly is going on with this Suffering Travels? Can you media outlets please agree on a single, correct answer for me?"

Yesterday, Suffering Travels was the subject of heated discussion across the entire internet, trending on various websites. Naturally, various self-media platforms, always eager to capitalize on trending topics, jumped on the bandwagon at lightning speed, making it difficult for Pei Qian to avoid seeing it.

And this situation might continue for several more days, considering that the video creators were still editing their videos and waiting for approval!

Trusting in the collective wisdom of the internet users, Pei Qian read through many online discussions and analytical articles from self-media outlets, hoping to discover the truth behind Suffering Travels' sudden popularity.

But the more he read, the angrier he became.

These internet users are unreliable!

Either their analyses were aggressive at first glance but couldn't withstand scrutiny, or they abandoned analysis altogether and resorted to blindly praising President Pei.

They said things like this was yet another of President Pei's brilliant schemes, another revolution in the travel business model, and that Suffering Travels had a bright future.

Reading such comments, Pei Qian's heart burned with anger.

He felt conflicted.

On one hand, he was hoping that someone like Qiao Laoshi would step forward and analyze the success of Suffering Travels in the same way that he analyzed games, allowing him to fully understand the situation, even if it meant misinterpreting his original intentions. At least it would explain why the market was reacting this way.

On the other hand, he was worried that if such an explanation emerged and more internet users agreed with it, Suffering Travels would become even more popular.

After a long while, Pei Qian put the laptop aside and reluctantly gave up.

"Forget it, this is a complete waste of time…"

The self-media outlets had proposed many shocking ideas in order to attract attention, but these ideas couldn't withstand scrutiny and had no reference value for Pei Qian.

He still didn't understand why Suffering Travels was so popular.

He could only put it aside for now.

Pei Qian calmed himself down and turned his attention to another matter.

Today, the promotional campaign for *The Successor* was about to begin in full force!

Huang Sibo had already finalized the specific cooperation plan with Aili Island, and the intensive pre-launch publicity would begin today. Not only would Tengda promote it, but Aili Island would also provide ample promotional resources.

The first three episodes of *The Successor* would be released together this Sunday at 8 PM, followed by two episodes every week, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday nights.

The final two episodes would be released together, so that the entire series would be completed by Sunday, January 13th.

Pei Qian had considered releasing the premiere on Saturday night, as it coincided with the final of GOG and IOI, which would steal a lot of the attention.

However, Aili Island obviously didn't want to compete for viewers, especially since they were providing *The Successor* with many in-site promotional resources.

Pei Qian didn't say much and agreed to Aili Island's schedule.

Anyway, the failure of *The Successor* would be entirely due to its own merits, and the release time wouldn't make much of a difference.

On the Aili Island website, the trailer for *The Successor* had already been released, and various promotional materials had been posted. The drama section also featured a large scrolling banner and a prominent listing for *The Successor*.

The words "New Work by Fei Huang Studio" were particularly eye-catching on the promotional materials.

In short, the drama was being given all the support it deserved.

Pei Qian clicked on the trailer. Because it was released by the official Fei Huang Studio account and promoted by Aili Island's algorithm, it had already attracted many comments and bullet comments shortly after its release.

"Is *The Successor* finally coming out? The second adaptation of a book from Qidian Chinese Website, looking forward to it!"

"As a fan of the original, the drama seems to be quite faithful to the source material. Good job!"

"Is this a superhero movie? I don't see any superheroes anywhere?"

"Just saying, the scared blonde guy who peed his pants is the main character."

"He's the main character? Then why isn't there a single fight scene in this trailer? The first half is all about getting beaten up, and the second half is all about scheming and plotting… This…"

"I have a feeling this show might be a bit of a disaster. It's too unconventional and niche, not to my taste…"

"As a fan of the original, it's normal not to like it. The genre itself is a niche one that takes a risky approach. And the original author, Ge Zi Jing, deliberately portrays the protagonist in an unflattering light. If you actually like the protagonist, then there's probably something wrong with you."

"Original fans, no spoilers! Let the viewers who haven't read the original enjoy the story from the beginning."

At a glance, the trailer's comment section contained all kinds of opinions. There was no consensus, and not even two opposing viewpoints could form a clear conflict.

The audience had at least several different attitudes.

On the one hand, Meng Chang had deliberately created an air of mystery when preparing the promotional plan, making it impossible for new viewers to discern the true nature of the film from the promotional content. On the other hand, the spoiler-givers had restrained themselves.

Many people who hadn't read the original would inevitably have all sorts of interpretations after seeing the title and the trailer.

And those who had read the original didn't spoil or explain too much in the comments, as that would obviously be a very unrefined thing to do.

Some original fans wanted to explain, but explaining would inevitably involve spoilers, so they held back.

Moreover, the original novel of *The Successor* wasn't exactly a mainstream success on Qidian Chinese Website. At best, it was a niche work of high quality. The original fan base online was too small to have any significant influence.

The original fans and new viewers had formed two different attitudes, and there were many variations among the new viewers, some coming for the superhero genre, some liking unconventional stories, and some simply being fans of Fei Huang Studio…

In short, although the promotion was quite extensive, the hype wasn't very high.

Because there were only two ways to create explosive hype: either it was critically acclaimed, with most people enthusiastically promoting it organically, or it was divisive, with both sides fiercely arguing and refusing to concede.

*The Successor*'s current situation fell into neither category.

Seeing this, Pei Qian finally nodded in satisfaction and temporarily put the Suffering Travels matter aside.

It seemed that Meng Chang's initial promotional strategy had been successful.

Once *The Successor* was released, many viewers would cry foul and criticize it, which would make it even more secure!

…

…

Saturday, December 15th.

Europe, IOI World Finals venue.

"President Zhao, over here!"

Eric smiled broadly as he accurately located Zhao Xuming in the surging crowd.

The two gave each other a high-five, symbolizing a victorious reunion.

Since the start of the GOG Global Invitational Tournament, Eric had been stationed in Europe, while Zhao Xuming was responsible for domestic offline events and broadcasts.

Now that the competition was finally nearing its end, with GOG making great strides and IOI seemingly declining, the two could finally relax.

After the semi-finals last weekend, two domestic GOG teams fought their way through, and although the process was a bit difficult, the results were good.

Since it was an all-Chinese battle, GOG didn't have to worry about it. Either way, it was a win-win situation.

Moreover, from the current situation, GOG had already seized the majority of the attention with its new viewing features. Its domestic popularity could be said to be completely dominant, and its global popularity had also completely eclipsed IOI. They could pop the champagne early.

Eric and Zhao Xuming had booked tickets for the IOI finals in advance, just in time to watch the final match.

This side was obviously more suspenseful.

Of course, no one could guarantee whether the FV team would win or not, but this was only a local battle. After the entire battlefield was almost settled, even if the FV team lost, it wouldn't have much impact on GOG's overall victory.

Of course, it would be best if they won.

Zhao Xuming looked at the time. The match was about to start, and it was time to enter the venue.

Unfortunately, Eric and Zhao Xuming had bought their tickets separately, and their seats weren't together, so they had to find their own seats and sit down.

Zhao Xuming had just sat down when he heard someone say in surprise, "President Zhao?"

He looked up and saw his old partner from Longyu Corporation, Jin Yong.

"Oh, you're here too?"

Zhao Xuming realized there was something wrong with his question after he asked it, and he laughed.

Jin Yong had taken over his position and was now the person in charge of IOI's domestic server. What was so strange about him appearing at the IOI World Finals?

On the contrary, it was more of a problem that he, the traitor, had come!

Jin Yong nodded, "Yeah, I'm sitting over there, about a dozen seats away."

He didn't say much, after all, he was his old boss, and their friendship was still there.

The seat next to Zhao Xuming was empty, as the person hadn't arrived yet, so Jin Yong temporarily sat down and chatted with Zhao Xuming.

"President Zhao, this viewing feature you guys came up with is really amazing! It completely caught us off guard!"

"And after meeting and researching for a long time, we really couldn't find a way to counter it. The little bit of popularity we managed to build up was silently eaten away by you."

"Did you come up with this idea, or Eric?"

"Or… did President Pei come up with it?"

Jin Yong had always been very curious about this and was finally able to ask.

Why were Eric and Zhao Xuming always passively defending when they were on the IOI side, being beaten black and blue by Tengda, but suddenly became enlightened on the GOG side, coming up with all sorts of tricky ideas?

Could it be that you two were acting the whole time?

Happy to play games when you're on my side, but launching a heavy attack when you're on the opposite side?

Although Jin Yong instinctively felt that he shouldn't speculate about his old superiors like this, the current situation was too suspicious to ignore.

Zhao Xuming smiled, "Neither."

"It was the former head of Tengda Games who was transferred to Rabbit Tail Live who came up with it."