Li Xiaohui had never felt such satisfaction from gaming in a rival internet cafe's establishment.
In fact, it was the most enjoyable time she'd ever had in any internet cafe.
Of course, a big part of that was because she hadn't been to one in quite a while.
Back when her father strictly controlled her living expenses, she had to scrape together a little from her pitifully small allowance just to afford some internet time.
Later, after joining the Wanlong Society and having her own income, she had more than enough money for the cafe, but strangely, her enthusiasm for going had waned.
After all, all the brothers and sisters in the Wanlong Society were so driven and hardworking; it felt a bit wrong if she just slacked off all the time.
She wanted to work hard too! She wanted to strive!
This time, being able to play games to her heart's content was entirely because her Phoenix Power Esports was organizing the first University Esports Championship.
Liu Yutong had suggested to her that since they were going the esports internet cafe route, why not hold a tournament to attract attention.
Li Xiaohui loved playing games herself, whether it was dance games or FPS games, she had tried them all.
Hearing Liu Yutong's suggestion, she got incredibly excited.
Wasn't this exactly what she most wanted to do and loved doing?
Li Xiaohui was extremely proactive in preparing for this event.
She even roped in a few classmates like Lin Tao to form a tournament team with her as the captain.
For this first Esports Championship, the final game chosen was CF, a popular FPS competitive game in internet cafes at the time.
She had considered other games too, like the dance game AU, kart racing games, and so on.
But after a comprehensive evaluation, in terms of watchability, FPS games came out on top, which is why they chose CF.
As for whether to consider holding esports tournaments for other games later, that would depend on how this first one turned out.
After a period of intense preparation, the event plan was basically finalized. All that was left was to do the promotional warm-up, and the championship could officially launch.
Apart from the event preparations, Li Xiaohui hadn't been idle in her daily life either.
She had also taken people to select sites for chain internet cafes at various branches of the Wanlong Supermarket in Bright Pearl City and in other counties. The construction teams had already started work.
As long as they defeated Yanwang Internet Cafe this time, Qixing Capital would have to invest the money into their internet cafe chain according to the bet. Then they could pay off the remaining balance in one go and get all the chain cafes up and running.
As for cafe staff, that was the easiest position to fill within the Wanlong Society. Once internal recruitment opened, they'd probably be fully staffed in no time.
After everything was arranged, Li Xiaohui took advantage of Yanwang Internet Cafe's free promotion period to bring her team members over to practice their coordination and, incidentally, annoy the cafe owner a bit.
"We lost that one. The opponents were pros!"
In this best-of-nine demolition match, Li Xiaohui's team actually lost.
Her classmates, Lin Tao and the others, naturally didn't dare to say that the captain dragged them down. In fact, Li Xiaohui's skills weren't bad at all. Her gaming talent was definitely top-notch among girls her age, and she was not weaker than most boys in the class.
Li Xiaohui wasn't very satisfied with the result because her goal was to win the championship, and it had to be a proper, fair-and-square victory.
Currently, her team only had four members and was missing one main player.
Among the five people teamed up today, one was a Wanlong Society member temporarily recruited.
According to the championship rules, a team must be composed of students from the same university, forming the "XX University XX Team." That meant their squad was still short one official teammate from their own school.
Of course, a single university wasn't restricted to just one team.
"Boss Hui, what about trying to get Fang Haoran?" Lin Tao suddenly thought of something and said.
Li Xiaohui took a lollipop and gave it a suck. "But I heard he never plays games. What's the point of asking him?"
Lin Tao: "He's my roommate. It's not that he doesn't play; he can't play."
Hearing this, Li Xiaohui was instantly curious. "Why? Afraid his parents would come to the university to give him a beating?"
Lin Tao shook his head. "I don't know why either. But Fang Haoran's gaming skills are absolutely undeniable, especially his sniping. He's incredibly skilled, like a god."
Li Xiaohui: "Really? 'Like a god'? Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
Lin Tao scratched his head. "How to put it... I only had a one-on-one with him in the dorm once, and I barely lost."
Li Xiaohui looked at him suspiciously, her eyes seeming to say, if that's all the skill level we're talking about, it's not worth your hype, is it?
Lin Tao's face reddened. "Alright, I admit it. I got slaughtered!"
Li Xiaohui: "........"
She was just about to say she'd go get Fang Haoran to test him out later when a familiar voice sounded right by her ear.
"Li Xiaohui, what are you doing in my internet cafe?!"
Suddenly interrupted, Li Xiaohui turned her head impatiently, the lollipop still in her mouth. "What? Can't you see I'm in the middle of a game? It's very rude to disturb your own customers like this!"
Deng Zheyan pointed at her screen. "What kind of customer are you? Did you top up your card?"
Li Xiaohui rolled her eyes and said righteously, "Top up what? Deng Zheyan, it's written right outside your own cafe: 'Bring a team, get ten free hours per person, valid permanently!'"
Then she pointed at all the people playing games in the main hall. "See? I brought you all these people directly! Ten hours each, the internet fees are free. Why would I top up? Am I stupid?"
Lin Tao, sitting beside her, immediately chimed in, "Exactly, boss! We came as a team. Why should we top up? Ten hours is enough for us to play!"
Deng Zheyan was furious. "Who told you it was ten hours? It's one hour! Someone altered it! And that 'permanently valid' is fake too!"
"Pfft!"
Li Xiaohui curled her lip disdainfully, pointing outside the main door. "It's written in black and white outside your cafe, on the notice you posted yourself. Trying to welch on the deal? Or do you think we're easy to bully?!"
As soon as she finished speaking.
The Wanlong Society members in plain clothes scattered throughout the internet cafe stood up one after another, all looking unfavorably at Deng Zheyan.
Deng Zheyan: "........"
Damn, that's shameless! Bullying with numbers!
Even though the pressure from being stared down by so many people was immense, he still firmly refused to admit it. "That notice outside was maliciously vandalized! It doesn't count!"
"If you don't believe me, I can check the surveillance. My cafe has cameras inside and out. They definitely caught who did it! If you know what's good for you, leave now. Otherwise, I'm calling the police!"
Li Xiaohui looked completely unfazed. "You don't think we did it, do you? Then go ahead, check the cameras, call the police. We'll keep you company!"
Right at that moment.
A student from the Law School of the University of Finance and Economics, wearing black-framed glasses, stepped forward.
"Boss, don't say I didn't warn you. According to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, this promotional notice posted outside your shop constitutes a public commercial advertisement and an invitation to offer. We registered as members and came here to use the internet based on our trust in this notice. Now, you are unilaterally declaring it invalid, which constitutes a breach of contract. We have the right to report this to the relevant authorities. In serious cases, it might even lead to your internet cafe being suspended for rectification for a period of time."
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaohui's eyes lit up, and she gave the student a thumbs-up. "Wow, Qiao Qiao, well said! That was so professional! I think you have real potential to join our Wanlong Hui Law Firm."
"Hear that, Boss Deng? This is a top student from the Finance and Economics University's Law School giving a professional interpretation! This is a breach of contract, consumer fraud!"
"Of course, if you insist on breaking the contract, then let's see if you can handle the consequences!"
"..."
Deng Zheyan was practically fuming with rage. "Cut the crap with all that legal talk! I'm going to find the evidence right now! Just you all wait!"
Then, like a madman, he rushed into the nearby surveillance room and began operating the main console roughly.
After reviewing all the surveillance footage from yesterday to today with bloodshot eyes, he found nothing.
Only a brief blackout in the surveillance feed around ten o'clock last night.
"What's going on? Where's the footage?!"
Soon, Deng Zheyan remembered something.
"Yellow Light, Green Light! Where are those three bastards? Tell them to get their asses over here and see me NOW!!!"
