My capital is quite large.

Chapter 142 City Heroes Tournament

Late at night, in Nanjing Xianlin Science and Technology City.

The headquarters building of Haofeng Networks is like a brightly lit city that never sleeps. The huge LED screen on the exterior wall has been replaced with a giant countdown poster for the open beta of the Chinese server of "League of Legends".

The black Rolls-Royce Phantom came to a smooth stop in the underground parking garage with a screeching sound of brakes.

The car door opened, and Li Feng, with a sharp edge carried by the night wind, stepped into the private elevator, heading straight for the game development command center on the top floor.

He had long since forgotten the enchanting and violent moments he had just experienced at the Purple Mountain Manor.

In the face of real capital competition and expansion, the tears and humiliation of female celebrities are nothing more than insignificant interludes.

"Mr. Li! You've arrived!"

As soon as I stepped into the command center, Technical Director Chen and several core programmers quickly came to greet me.

"How's the situation? What underhanded tricks did Tencent pull?" Li Feng walked straight to the central data monitoring console, pulled out a swivel chair, and sat down.

Old Chen pulled up a real-time competitor data monitoring chart, pointed to the two rapidly rising red curves on the screen, and said through gritted teeth:

"Mr. Li, Pony Ma is really desperate this time; he's revealed all of Tencent's secrets!"

"First, let's talk about the casual side! Tonight at midnight, they launched a public beta of a card game called 'Hero Kill' using a QQ pop-up ad to attract users! Both the UI and gameplay logic are a complete pixel-perfect copy of our 'Three Kingdoms Kill Online'!"

"Thanks to Tencent's massive user base and various QQ coin giveaways, the number of online players for 'Hero Kill' has surged dramatically, diverting users from our 'Three Kingdoms Kill' game's existing user base in internet cafes!"

Upon hearing this news, Li Feng merely gave a cold sneer.

"Hero Kill? Let him copy it."

Li Feng leaned back in his chair, his eyes full of disdain: "The ceiling for card games is what it is. This is just an appetizer that Penguin is using to disgust us. If Pony Ma thinks he can stop Hao Feng's progress with a reskinned card game, he's too naive."

Old Chen's expression turned serious as he opened the second data chart.

"Mr. Li, this is the most lethal move! Tencent has unleashed its ultimate weapon in the hardcore PC game market!"

"Tonight, they not only aggressively promoted their self-developed game across all channels, but also partnered with Dianhun Network, investing massive resources to drive traffic to a 3D-MOBA PC game called 'Dream of the Three Kingdoms'!"

"Mr. Li, this game, 'Dream of the Three Kingdoms,' poses a huge threat to our 'League of Legends'!"

Old Chen's concerns were not unfounded.

In 2011, although League of Legends was dominating Europe and America, Chinese players still found it somewhat difficult to immerse themselves in the game, especially with its Western fantasy-themed heroes like Garen and Ashe.

"Dream of the Three Kingdoms" precisely hit the pain points of Chinese players!

"Dream of the Three Kingdoms uses the Three Kingdoms IP that Chinese people are most familiar with! Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Lu Bu... players will feel a natural sense of familiarity as soon as they start playing! With Tencent's channel support behind the scenes, the number of players playing Dream of the Three Kingdoms in internet cafes is expanding rapidly!" Old Chen reported with a worried expression.

"The elements of the Three Kingdoms period did have a natural cultural advantage in the early stages."

Li Feng nodded in agreement.

He knew very well in his previous life that before LOL dominated Chinese internet cafes, Dream of the Three Kingdoms did indeed have a glorious period of warlordism.

But so what?

"Old Chen, you only saw the IP advantage of 'Dream of the Three Kingdoms,' but you didn't see through their inherent shortsightedness and greed!"

Li Feng stood up, his eyes fixed intently on the competitor analysis on the screen.

"The essence of 'Dream of the Three Kingdoms' remains the same disgusting logic of traditional Chinese online games: 'Pay to Win, you can win by spending money!'"

"They sell VIP status, wings, and equipment with stat boosts in the game! As long as players spend money, their starting stats will be higher than those of regular players! This kind of game might make a fortune in the early stages by having whales spend money, but it definitely won't last long!"

"The League of Legends series, which Haofeng distributes, must, from its very foundation, absolutely adhere to the principle of 'fair competition'!"

"The base game is absolutely free! All heroes can be obtained through in-game currency! As for the in-game store..."

A cold glint flashed in Li Feng's eyes: "Only skins are allowed to be sold in the store! Moreover, all skins are absolutely not allowed to have any attribute bonuses!"

"Even the most dazzling skins and the default skins of ordinary players must have the exact same health and attack power! Whoever has the better skills and stronger game sense is the boss in the Rift!"

Old Chen and the main programmers present gasped in shock.

Not selling stats?! Making money solely from selling skins—things that have no real function or visual appeal?!

In today's domestic PC game market, this is undoubtedly a heretical move that cuts off its own source of revenue!

"Mr. Li... if we don't sell numerical values, will those rich players who are used to spending money to win over customers be willing to pay? How can we guarantee our revenue?" Old Chen hesitated.

"How can you guarantee that?"

Li Feng sneered, "When tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of ordinary Chinese netizens discover that there's finally a game where they don't need to compete on their parents' wallets, but only on their individual skills and teamwork to achieve ultimate enjoyment, the resulting user engagement and sheer number of players will create a massive tsunami of traffic capable of destroying everything!"

"As long as the base number is large enough, even if each person only spends ten yuan to show off in front of their friends and for the vanity that skins bring, it's enough for Haofeng to make a fortune!"

This is the secret to the wealth that allowed League of Legends to dominate the world for more than a decade in its previous incarnation!

"Not only is it free and absolutely fair."

Li Feng unleashed his ultimate weapon prepared for League of Legends:

"Dream of the Three Kingdoms wants to take over our internet cafe market? Then I'll escalate the battle!"

"Old Chen, is the proposal for the nationwide internet cafe league that I asked you to prepare ready?"

Upon hearing this, Old Chen perked up and quickly pulled out a proposal from his folder.

"Mr. Li, it's done! As you instructed, our ground sales team has covered 50,000 internet cafes in first- and second-tier cities across the country!"

Li Feng took the proposal, his eyes gleaming with a formidable ambition.

"Listen up! From the very first day of the official launch in China, Haofeng's Weibo, iQiyi, and Bilibili platforms will launch a full-scale, blitz-like promotional campaign!"

"Officially announcing to the entire internet: Haofeng Network will invest tens of millions to launch the first-ever [City Heroes Championship]!"

"I want to bring the competition to every internet cafe in every city! Internet cafe competitions, city competitions, provincial competitions, and the national finals!"

"As long as you know how to play games, even if you're just a loser eating instant noodles at an internet cafe, you can still gather four buddies, form a team, and sign up for a competition!"

"I'm going to use this nationwide grassroots esports league in internet cafes to ignite an esports revolution in China!"

Old Chen listened with great enthusiasm: "Mr. Li, what's the ultimate goal of us organizing such a large-scale internet cafe competition?"

"The goal is selection! It's about creating gods!"

Li Feng's pen slammed down on the last page of the proposal, where a huge pyramid apex was drawn.

"The internet cafe competition is just a preliminary round! I want to sift through this grassroots frenzy of hundreds of thousands of participants and select the eight strongest teams in all of China!"

"Once these eight teams emerge victorious from the carnage of the City Heroes Championship, Haofeng Network will create China's first professional esports league: LPL!"

In Li Feng's mind, a magnificent picture of e-sports is slowly unfolding.

He knew what kind of chain reaction would occur once the fire was lit.

This grassroots competition with no entry barriers will definitely attract shrewd wealthy second-generation investors!

Young Master Wang assembled a team with real money, and countless talented teenagers rose from internet cafes to legendary status...

WE, iG, OMG, Royal Never Give Up, PE, TL, WOA: Dawn of the Wings, Huayi Spider...

These eight legendary first-generation teams, which will leave an indelible mark on the history of esports, will surely be born in the baptism of this City Heroes Championship and become the first batch of Yuanxun to enter the LPL Hall of Fame!

Those eight top-tier LPL slots will be speculated on by capital and become worth hundreds of millions in the future!

Midnight.

"drop--"

As Li Feng personally pressed the Enter key on the main control panel.

Amidst a sea of ​​green code scrolling, the Chinese servers of League of Legends officially opened their doors to hundreds of millions of internet users across China!

An epic storm that is about to dominate internet cafes across the country and sweep across the global e-sports scene for more than a decade has begun its prologue under the night sky of Nanjing!