Chapter 287 Consummation

Bao Xu was very moved.

As expected of President Pei, he didn't want me to contribute and sacrifice silently but found a win-win solution!

Now Bao Xu had no regrets, and he happily hung up the phone.

Afterward, he relayed President Pei's arrangement to Yu Fei.

"The matter is resolved!"

"I'll briefly arrange the work here first. The suffering-themed trip is still on schedule. Tomorrow or the day after, I'll go to Tengda Games to research the design plan for *Ghost General 2* with you."

Yu Fei was overjoyed and immediately went back to organize the relevant information, waiting for Bao Xu's arrival.

...

After Yu Fei returned to the Tengda Games department, he found that Hu Xianbin was still there, seemingly waiting for the news of his triumphant return.

Sure enough, upon seeing Yu Fei, Hu Xianbin immediately stood up expectantly, "How did it go? What did Brother Bao say?"

The action and expression were exactly the same as when Yu Fei had seen Hu Xianbin return earlier.

Only, their roles seemed to have been reversed.

Yu Fei's face was beaming with a smile: "Brother Bao agreed to help!"

"Really? That's great!"

Hu Xianbin almost jumped up with joy. Obviously, he was genuinely happy.

Because this game would take at least half a year to develop, and if Bao Xu was here to help, it meant that they wouldn't have to suffer as much under Sa Ziran in Shennongjia.

Yu Fei added, "But it might be a *little* different from the script you expected."

Hu Xianbin's smile froze on his face: "Huh? What's different?"

Yu Fei said, "Brother Bao will only stay in Jingzhou for a week, and after helping me complete the design, he'll go to Shennongjia."

Hu Xianbin stiffened.

But then, he patted his chest lightly and breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, it was worth it to skip class for a week.

This trip to Shennongjia would consist of two weeks of wilderness survival followed by two weeks of sightseeing.

In other words, in the two weeks of wilderness survival, at least the first week would be relatively easy.

Yu Fei continued, "Originally, Brother Bao had already resigned himself to giving up going to Shennongjia, but President Pei said that this was also a legitimate job and that the suffering-themed trip shouldn't be compromised because of the game department's matters. So, although Brother Bao will be a week late, he'll make it up in the end."

"That is to say, the wilderness survival content has been extended to three weeks. The first two weeks, and then the last week, with the time for visiting scenic spots remaining unchanged."

Hu Xianbin froze completely.

It was over, all over!

He tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice!

He originally thought that it would be easier if Bao Xu didn't go, but he never expected that President Pei would directly add it back!

Compared to before, there was an extra week of wilderness survival content!

What did it mean to lift a rock only to drop it on your own feet?

After a long time, he finally came back to his senses and said to Yu Fei, "Bro, let's discuss this. You must keep this matter a secret for me. Don't let the other team leaders know..."

If others knew that an extra week of wilderness survival content had been added for no reason because of Hu Xianbin's suggestion, the consequences would be unimaginable!

Hu Xianbin didn't want to be beaten to death directly in Shennongjia by the angry team leaders...

...

...

October 11th, Thursday.

Like a routine, Pei Qian refreshed the official website of IOI and once again voiced that soul-searching question.

"What the hell are these people doing!"

"What are Eric and Zhao Xuming thinking?"

"No, I have to make a phone call and ask."

Pei Qian really couldn't sit still anymore.

The "Fantasy Gods, Together to the Peak" event was originally scheduled to last for two weeks, and now it was coming to an end.

The first week was during the holidays, and Eric and Zhao Xuming might have been on vacation, or not very sensitive to data changes, so they didn't come up with any solutions, which was fine.

But the second week had already started with normal work, right?

It was already Thursday, and there was still no movement at all. Was something wrong?

The original intention of this event was to send some fresh blood to IOI, but because of the problem with that loophole, it turned into a mutual flow between the two games.

A large number of die-hard IOI players registered for GOG accounts to get rewards and had to go through the novice process to participate in the event and get rewards.

During this process, they inevitably played with some friends in real life.

Many of the die-hard IOI players had friends in real life who played GOG. Although completing the novice matches was required to start the event, there were no level restrictions for teaming up in the early stages.

Grinding alone was still grinding, so why not play online with friends?

As a result, the problem with this event grew bigger and bigger.

On the GOG side, fewer and fewer players were going to the IOI event. Although the event still had two or three days left, those players who insisted on going online to get rewards were just one step away. Various requirements such as online time had been met, and they were just waiting to go online on the last day to get a reward.

On the other hand, on the IOI side, those players who came to play GOG showed signs of being hooked and seemed a little reluctant to go back.

Although the prizes for both sides in this event were not that different, the daily benefits of GOG were much better than IOI!

In addition, there were more players, and the matching mechanism could be better utilized, so overall, the gaming experience was better.

All of these situations were reflected in the data.

It could be clearly seen that although the data on the IOI side was still relatively high compared to before the event, it was gradually declining. It was estimated that when the event really ended and the GOG players successfully received their rewards in GOG, there would be a significant drop in the IOI data.

On the other hand, GOG's data had already caught up with the original data a few days ago. If the return of some players after the event was taken into account, the diversion effect of this event was actually quite obvious.

In other words, it successfully converted a group of players who were extremely loyal to IOI and resolutely refused to touch GOG...

What a mess.

Pei Qian was spitting blood. It was all messed up!

He originally wanted to give blood to IOI, but why was the blood flowing towards him after the blood vessels were connected?

So many preventive measures seemed to have no effect at all!

The most outrageous thing was that IOI had a loophole, but they still didn't care. This slow reaction was simply incomprehensible.

Pei Qian really couldn't wait any longer. After hesitating again and again, he finally dialed Eric's number.

Even if he was misunderstood by the other party, it didn't matter. This phone call had to be made.

If he couldn't figure out the truth, Pei Qian would be restless and die without knowing why.

The phone rang for a while before it was answered.

"Hello? President Pei." Eric's voice on the other end of the phone was calm.

Pei Qian: "Uh..."

If Eric had cursed directly or his voice had been filled with confusion, Pei Qian would have had something to say. But now Eric's attitude seemed indifferent, which made Pei Qian not know what to say for a while.

The two were silent on the phone for a few seconds.

Pei Qian thought about it. He couldn't let it get too awkward, and he still had to ask the questions he had planned.

"Have you not realized that this event is different from what was planned before? Isn't that a little too strange?"

Pei Qian regretted it as soon as he said it.

His words seemed to carry some ambiguity...

Pei Qian's intention was to ask sincerely, but these words seemed to carry a sense of smugness after victory in the other party's ears.

It was as if he was saying, "I buried a trap in the event. I thought you could find the trap and add some fun to our battle, but you just stepped into it?!"

But the words had already been spoken, and there was no way to explain it clearly.

Sure enough, Eric misunderstood.

"President Pei, your move is indeed very clever. You deliberately induced us to change an event setting, causing the entire event to produce results that were completely opposite to expectations."

"However... I noticed this problem as early as the second day of the event."

Pei Qian was puzzled: "Then why didn't you change it?"

Eric smiled helplessly: "Because I was powerless."

"Didn't I already say after my last job report that although I am still nominally the head of IOI in Greater China, I am actually just a puppet?"

"The Dayak Group wants to further strengthen its control over Finger Company and obtain more benefits from IOI, and this event is in line with the expectations of the higher-ups."

"Moreover, the situation in IOI's national server is completely different from other servers."

"Although there are also loopholes in other servers, the difference in the number of players is not that great. In the process of two-way flow, IOI's local data is also growing."

"For the higher-ups, although this event has some small loopholes, it is running well. The cost and negative impact of plugging this loophole are too great, and it is not worth the loss."

"Everything data during the event is good. Who can predict that the data will plummet after the event ends?"

"What's more, President Pei, not all companies have the same structure as Tengda."

"If someone insists on plugging this loophole, then once a problem occurs during this process, he will bear all the responsibility. No one will do such a stupid thing."

"If you don't do anything, this is a decision made by everyone. Even if there is a problem, everyone will share the responsibility."

"Judging from the situation in other regions, doing nothing is the best option."

"Of course, the only exception is the Greater China region, because the number of players on both sides is too different, so the consequences are serious."

"But as I said before, I am just a mouthpiece, and I can only choose to report such problems. Moreover, this is a global event, and it is definitely impossible to change the event in the Greater China region alone, as that would make players feel discriminated against."

"So, after I reported this problem, the higher-ups did not give a clear answer, and they could not reach a unified opinion."

Pei Qian: "..."

Speechless.

Maybe this is the so-called "big company disease"...

After being in Tengda for a long time, Pei Qian always had the illusion that the will of a company was actually transferred by the will of the leader.

In Tengda, although Pei Qian's meaning was often misinterpreted by the employees, he still maintained absolute control over the entire company.

If he wanted to do something, he could basically promote it very smoothly, even if it was a relatively outrageous thing.

But the Dayak Group was different. They were a large group company, and the higher-level leadership would not pay attention to a certain activity of a certain subsidiary;

The higher-ups who were directly responsible saw that the data in other places was okay and lacked motivation. They did not want to be held responsible for rash actions;

Eric might have realized the problem, but he couldn't do anything in the process of going through the procedures.

In short, those who understood the problem might not have the power to make decisions, and those who had the power to make decisions were too far away and could not realize the seriousness of the problem.

So, it was dragged on and on, and it was stuck here.

This reminded Pei Qian of that famous joke.

The first stage: We declare that nothing has happened;

The second stage: We say that maybe something has happened, but we shouldn't take action;

The third stage: We say that maybe we should take action, but because of the existence of various problems, we actually can't do anything;

The fourth stage: We say that maybe we could have done something in the beginning, but it's too late now.

Pei Qian found this matter very absurd: "So, this matter just passed? No one is going to be responsible for this?"

Eric: "Yes."

Pei Qian: "Who?"

Eric's voice was filled with some helplessness: "Me."