Chapter 318: The Traffic Brought by the Tournament

The speech was a hit!

Chen Mo was a little dazed. Looking at Chen Cong’s excited expression, he had a sinking feeling in his gut.

“What do you mean by ‘the speech was a hit’ exactly?”

“Just what it sounds like. Right after you finished your speech, the live stream chat blew up. They really liked what you said. Especially the line ‘In esports, being bad is the sin’—that one went viral.”

Chen Cong grinned as he spoke, completely oblivious to the way Chen Mo’s expression was shifting.

This…

Went viral?

Are these netizens okay? I was literally calling them bad at games!

Listening to Chen Cong, Chen Mo was utterly speechless. That was supposed to be a speech to discourage people, not inspire them.

“I’m a bit tired. I’ll be heading out first.”

He glanced at the grinning Chen Cong, then at Wei Yan and the others walking over with the same excited expressions.

These people really had no idea how much he was suffering inside.

In this massive company,

Not a single soul understands me.

He felt a wave of disinterest wash over him.

“President Chen, let me have someone escort you.”

Seeing that President Chen was leaving, Chen Cong quickly offered.

“No need, I’ve got a driver.”

Chen Mo waved his hand and walked slowly toward the exit.

Shen Rou quickly followed after him.

“President Chen, why are you leaving so suddenly?”

Wei Yan and the others came up to Chen Cong, watching the lonely figure of President Chen walking away, puzzled.

“President Chen said he’s tired.”

Chen Cong replied.

“Well, that makes sense. President Chen handles so many things every day, and he still came to watch the match tonight. He must be exhausted.”

Fang Chang looked at Chen Mo’s retreating figure and spoke slowly.

“It’s just… his back looks kind of lonely. Like he’s all alone in the world.”

Wei Yan sighed, echoing Fang Chang’s sentiment as he watched Chen Mo’s solitary figure disappear.

“Kings are always lonely. Let’s not overthink it. We should just work harder and try to take some of the pressure off President Chen.”

Chen Cong and Du Ziteng exchanged a glance, thoughtful expressions on their faces.

No wonder…

Their father often stood by the window with a teacup in hand, staring out dramatically. They used to think he was just putting on airs.

So this is what the aura of a true king looks like.

…

The next day,

Mingri Group,

CEO’s Office.

Chen Mo sat in silence, staring at the detailed data Shen Rou had just obtained from Cangxue Games for Extreme Survival and Tianlong.

The offline tournament for Extreme Survival had just wrapped up.

He had wanted to see how much traffic the tournament had actually brought to the game.

One look at the numbers, and his face turned to despair.

Tomorrow would be May already. Spring was in full bloom, but he felt no warmth at all.

According to the current data, Extreme Survival now had over 8 million players.

That figure was already about to surpass the previous top shooter game, 【God of Guns】.

A quick calculation showed that Extreme Survival’s monthly revenue had reached around 85 million yuan.

Even more baffling, Tianlong’s player count had also jumped significantly.

It was Extreme Survival’s offline tournament, so how did Tianlong benefit from it too?

Chen Mo couldn’t figure it out. But looking at the 4.2 million players now in Tianlong, he was at a loss for words.

While Tianlong had fewer players than Extreme Survival, the paying users in Tianlong were far more active.

With a base of 4.2 million players, the game was pulling in around 50 million yuan a month.

Adding it up, Cangxue Games’ monthly revenue had now reached an astonishing 135 million yuan.

Which meant…

For the upcoming month of May, he was looking at a revenue of at least 135 million.

He sank into thought, eyes fixed on the System Panel in his mind. The System Funds now showed 130 million.

That 130 million was what remained after deducting all expenses for May—employee salaries, taxes, and other costs.

It wasn’t supposed to be this much. He had planned the budget carefully. But the sudden addition of live streaming authorization fees had thrown everything off.

So, based on the current projections, with May’s game revenue and the existing System Funds combined, he had a spending allowance of 265 million yuan this month.

The real kicker was that the end of May was the settlement date for a special mission. He had to bring the System Funds down below 15 million before settlement, or he’d fail the mission.

Time was tight. The pressure was on.

Chen Mo rubbed his temples in frustration and began scribbling in his notebook.

Based on the current construction plan for the clothing factory, it would require about 80 million yuan this month.

Next month’s purchases, taxes, daily expenses, and employee salaries will total around 20 million. It used to be 16 million, but with changes and additions to the company staff—especially the increase in streamers under Boring Short Video—expenses have gone up significantly.

Around mid-May, the five coffee shops in Beijing will be wrapping up, and by then, they can move forward with opening five more. That alone will cost 17.5 million.

Adding it all up,

The fixed expenses for May alone come to 117.5 million, which means he still needs to spend another 147.5 million.

Looking at the final figure,

Chen Mo fell into deep thought. It seemed that setting up the gaming club had to be pushed forward.

Since it was going to be a gaming club, the computers and other equipment definitely couldn’t be the same ones used in the office. They would need better, more expensive gear.

After all, this was about gaming. The computers had to run smoothly, no compromises.

If a machine lagged during a match, it could seriously affect a player’s performance. So when it came to equipment, there could be no cutting corners.

Then there was the matter of recruitment.

He had already thought it through: he would recruit players who were decent but not top-tier—mediocre enough to ensure the team wouldn’t win any championships.

And absolutely no minors. Underage players had lightning-fast reflexes and hand speed. If they happened to recruit a prodigy with real potential, that would be a problem.

Besides, minors should be focusing on their studies. What business did they have playing games?

After thinking it over, he confirmed his plan.

He picked up his phone and called Chen Cong from the Sky Pavilion Club.

Chen Cong ran a club himself, so he would definitely be familiar with the details of setting one up and the kind of people that needed to be hired. Chen Mo wanted to get the information he needed and get the club up and running as soon as possible.

In a hotel in Jiangcheng,

Chen Cong and Du Ziteng were in the middle of discussing the day’s work.

“This offline tournament was a huge success. With Extreme Survival gaining popularity, our club’s name is starting to get recognized too. Just after the match ended yesterday, several sponsors reached out to us,” Du Ziteng said excitedly.

Right now, aside from the livestreams by Jiang Jiu and a few others bringing in some income, the club had no other revenue streams.

Since its founding, they had been pouring money into it nonstop.