Lu Hong instinctively hunched his shoulders, feeling as if he had been targeted by something dangerous.
"Brother Chen, do you also feel a chill down your spine?"
Zhou Muchen also looked around suspiciously. Although he didn't immediately answer Lu Hong's question, his actions showed he felt the same way.
However, after scanning the area, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
How strange.
"Maybe the air conditioning is just set too low?" Zhou Muchen offered an excuse.
Although the weather wasn't as cold as winter anymore and air conditioning wasn't really necessary, the internet cafe still had it on to maintain an optimal temperature for the players' comfort and performance.
Lu Hong couldn't figure out why he had that strange feeling either, so he accepted Zhou Muchen's reason. "Probably."
Neither of them paid much more attention to the matter.
In a small place like Mingzhu City, who would dare to cross them?
Except for that particularly stubborn Liu Yutong, perhaps.
Not long after, the cheer support segment ended.
Team Haoyang completely crushed Team Zidaren with about 8,300 cups of milk tea votes versus a little over 3,000, gaining an overwhelming advantage in momentum.
The game then commenced.
Lu Hong focused all his attention on the match screen. He quite liked playing this game himself; to be precise, most guys didn't have much resistance to FPS games.
While Zhou Muchen was also interested in the esports match, more of his attention was on observing the internet cafe's operational model.
Aside from being a bit lacking in experience, his business acumen was quite sharp.
As he observed more and more, he gradually let go of his initial slight disdain and began examining this internet cafe more seriously.
He often visited high-end internet cafes to game as well. Those places were nothing more than just a bit better in terms of equipment and comfort, nothing particularly special.
Huangquan Esports was definitely the first internet cafe he had ever seen that pushed both hardware/software and marketing tactics to the extreme.
Whether it was the peripheral wall for casual selection, the exclusive membership system, or the highly conceptualized operational model... it was easily several years ahead of the high-end internet cafes they usually frequented.
Of course, what interested him the most was the owner behind this internet cafe.
Just what kind of person could run a popular entertainment venue like an internet cafe so well and so uniquely?
He even vaguely felt that the business thinking of the internet cafe owner seemed to come from a higher dimension, completely transcending this era.
Especially after trying out that membership system, that feeling grew stronger.
Huangquan's membership system was named 【Starsea】, completely different from ordinary internet cafe memberships.
Internet cafe memberships in this era basically only served the purpose of recharging for consumption, with a single simple functionality.
But when he just turned on the computer and casually clicked into the membership system, he discovered its functions were far more extensive than he imagined.
It integrated internet cafe consumption, match predictions, peripheral rentals, game accounts and asset hosting, and even included a points exchange system linked with surrounding shops like Wanlong Supermarket and Yuyuefang.
This was evidently an entry point to a localized lifestyle and entertainment ecosystem built around young consumers.
Proposing the concept of building an ecological circle in 2008 was simply shocking!
Even Zhou Muchen was completely shocked.
It was too ahead of its time.
Of course, what truly surprised and puzzled him was seeing two familiar prefixes "Wanlong" on the membership system. Combined with the fact that the system was linked with Wanlong Supermarket, the answer was almost obvious.
This internet cafe was actually also Liu Yutong's business?
"Ah Hong."
Zhou Muchen nudged Lu Hong beside him, who was fully absorbed in watching the match.
"Huh? What's up, Brother Chen? Look quick! Team Haoyang is about to win the first round. I told you supporting them was the right call," Lu Hong said, staring at the big screen without turning his head.
"Take a look at this first." Zhou Muchen pointed at the membership system interface on the computer screen, especially the prefix 【Wanlong】.
Hearing this, Lu Hong casually turned his head and glanced over, initially not paying much mind. But a few seconds later, it suddenly clicked.
"Wan... Wanlong?"
"This internet cafe belongs to that woman, Liu Yutong?"
Zhou Muchen nodded. He had been wondering who the owner of this internet cafe was earlier, never expecting it to be Liu Yutong.
It seemed this woman's business talent was even higher than he imagined.
He had long heard of Wanlong Supermarket. A newly established local brand actually beating those well-known national brands to a pulp, taking first place in local market share.
Later, they launched Wanhui Youxuan, becoming the first local lifestyle platform both domestically and internationally.
As for the internet cafe and restaurant, he hadn't paid much attention originally. After all, compared to the supermarket business and Wanhui Youxuan, these two ventures held no attraction for him.
Because he always felt the potential of these two traditional businesses was far less than that of Wanhui Youxuan and the supermarket.
But now, seeing with his own eyes the bustling scene and revenue of the internet cafe, he suddenly realized that he might have made a huge mistake.
He had severely underestimated Liu Yutong's ambition and ability to integrate offline traffic with a lifestyle service ecosystem.
Although what he saw now was only the rudiment of a local life ecosystem, once scaled up, the kind of behemoth it could grow into in the future was simply unimaginable.
Once Wanhui Youxuan grew large and had massive traffic for support, the local life ecosystem formed by the physical industries under the Wanlong Hui group would also create powerful synergistic effects, ultimately building an almost unshakable business closed loop.
"Ah Hong, we may have made a big mistake."
“We’ve only been focusing on Wanhui Youxuan, thinking that it was the most valuable asset in Liu Yutong’s hands. But it seems now that the supermarket, restaurant, internet cafe... these traditional businesses we looked down on are actually the cornerstones for building her moat. Wanhui Youxuan is just the amplifier that connects these cornerstones together.”
“We shouldn't have only thought about acquiring Wanhui Youxuan from the start. We should have aimed to acquire shares in the entire Wanlong Hui group.”
The fact that Zhou Muchen could see all this proved his business acumen was indeed sharp. Just from the investigation materials and what he saw with his own eyes now, he judged that Liu Yutong was planning to play a big game of chess.
And with her abilities, she really has the potential to achieve it.
To put it bluntly, in terms of business, Liu Yutong alone completely outperformed everyone in their Yunshan Hui.
No wonder Liu Yutong dared to show them no respect at all. A top-tier business genius like her was bound to have a proud personality, naturally unwilling to be subordinate to others.
Lu Hong also understood. "Brother Chen, you mean that by previously focusing on her platform, we were actually picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons?"
"Pretty much."
Zhou Muchen's expression was serious. "Wanhui Youxuan is indeed a platform with great prospects, but in the end, it also depends on who is running it. If Wanlong Hui's future layout succeeds, a conservative valuation would be in the hundreds of billions..."
