Lu Hong gulped audibly, his eyes wide with shock.
A hundred billion?
They had to remember, their original expectation for Yunshan Club was simply to acquire the remaining shares of Wanhui Youxuan, push for an IPO in about two years, and consider cashing out once the valuation reached around ten billion. At that point, after splitting it evenly, each of them could have walked away with several hundred million.
Making several hundred million each in two years was already an incredibly lucrative deal.
It wasn't that they lacked ambition and wanted to exit so early, but based on their current business judgment, Wanhui Youxuan's potential and scale were far inferior to e-commerce platforms like Ali.
Ali's market cap post-IPO was around sixty billion, which they considered the ceiling.
So, expecting Wanhui Youxuan to reach ten billion was already an ideal scenario for them.
And that was without considering potential future competitors.
But now, Zhou Muchen was saying the Wanlonghui Group's overall valuation could exceed a hundred billion in the future. If they could secure even a 10% stake, each member of Yunshan Club could get over a billion.
If they could control even more shares...
That was almost unimaginable.
"Brother Chen, what should we do then?" Lu Hong was eager and ready.
Zhou Muchen pondered for a moment before speaking. "When it's time to collect on the bet, we'll give her another chance. This time, we'll relax our terms; we only want a portion of the shares."
If it were his old self, he would have insisted on a controlling stake.
But now, he honestly admitted he couldn't possibly pull off a strategic layout like Liu Yutong's—mainly because his abilities weren't on par with hers.
Moreover, after this encounter, he knew she would never agree to play second fiddle. Forcing her would likely lead to a lose-lose situation.
In short, as long as they could make money, he was willing to take another step back.
This time, surely that Liu Yutong wouldn't refuse again, right?
No matter how capable Liu Yutong was or how sharp her vision, she had one weakness: she lacked substantial backing.
This was also why Wanlonghui still hadn't expanded beyond Mingzhu City. For instance, despite Wanlong Supermarket's explosive growth last year, not a single new branch had opened this year.
Of course, Liu Yutong's lack of background was a good thing for them.
Just as they were contemplating how to make Liu Yutong give up group shares the next time they met her, the match in the internet cafe had reached a fever pitch.
Mu Yang, captain of the Haoyang Team, nicknamed "AK Madman," truly lived up to his reputation. His gunplay was fierce and precise, repeatedly single-handedly tearing open the defenses of the Purple Lady Team.
On the Purple Lady Team's side, besides captain Li Xiaohui, the sniper with the ID [Ran] also stepped up multiple times.
His AWM usage was masterful, repeatedly making crucial long-range kills on Haoyang Team members at critical moments, stubbornly dragging the match into a deciding round.
Final round, Desert Dust.
Mu Yang, wielding an AK47, made a powerful push through mid, scoring consecutive headshots to take down two Purple Lady members, his momentum unstoppable.
Simultaneously, the Purple Lady Team's sniper [Ran] took out a Haoyang player attempting a flank with a single shot.
The situation instantly became a 2V2!
After a brief tactical chat with his teammate, Mu Yang and his partner began to spread out left and right, aiming to first eliminate [Ran].
After all, [Ran] posed the biggest threat to them. As for their captain, she'd be easy to handle.
They almost simultaneously swung out from cover. [Ran] indeed scoped in and took down one, but before he could pull back into cover, bullets from Mu Yang's AK were already flying towards him.
"Nice!"
Lu Hong slapped his thigh excitedly. "They're going to win! Haoyang Team is awesome!"
At the same time, all the Haoyang Team supporters in the venue erupted in cheers.
With the sniper [Ran] dead, they all felt victory was assured for Haoyang Team.
After all, Mu Yang was clearly more skilled than the purple-haired girl who was the captain of Purple Lady.
Just as everyone thought Haoyang Team was about to claim the championship, a dramatic turn of events occurred.
[Zi], who had been missing in action, had just quietly crawled out of the vent in the B tunnel, planning to sneak to the bombsite to plant the bomb, muttering to herself about how all her teammates were dead.
But just as her character poked half its head out, the face of Mu Yang's in-game character suddenly appeared, almost pressed against her screen.
"Whoa! A ghost!"
Li Xiaohui was startled, her hand jerking violently, nearly throwing the mouse.
Bang!
The USP pistol in her character's hand fired a shot.
Immediately after, a kill notification she never dreamed of seeing popped up on her screen.
[Zi] killed [Sun] with a USP headshot!
Victory!
???
Purple Lady Team... won?
"Uh..." The entire audience was dumbfounded.
What just happened?
The AK Madman got headshotted just like that?
After a few seconds of silence, the entire internet cafe burst into roars of laughter.
"Hahaha... you've got to be kidding me."
"Got scared and headshotted the enemy by a flinch... Mu Yang must be in shock."
"Purple Lady's luck is just too good."
"........"
At the player station, Li Xiaohui stared blankly at the golden victory symbol on her screen. First confused, then, realizing she had actually won, she immediately puffed up with pride. Planting her hands on her hips, she shouted to the crowd,
"Your grandma here took down the AK Madman with one shot! Who else?!"
"Whoo-hoo..."
After the teasing died down, the venue erupted in cheers once again.
"Let's congratulate Purple Lady on winning the championship!"
"Purple Lady rules!"
"........."
Even the thousands of spectators gathered outside the internet cafe broke into waves of cheering.
The scene even attracted many passing citizens to stop and watch.
For many people in Mingzhu City, this was their first real taste of the excitement of an esports competition.
On the other side, Mu Yang looked at his suddenly greyed-out screen, silently took off his headphones, rubbed his face, and revealed a bitter smile uglier than crying.
This way of losing... was just too theatrical.
Then he looked towards the celebrating, cheering members of the Purple Lady Team. Though he felt disappointment, what stirred more within him was a strange sense of excitement.
Is this esports?
He thought he might be starting to like this feeling.
Just then, the Purple Lady Team's sniper, the "Sniper God" Fang Haoran, came up to him.
"Mu Yang, interested in going out to make a name for ourselves together? To play real professional esports!"
Mu Yang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. "Alright!"
.........
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Damn! Blind luck catching a dead mouse, huh?"
"How the hell did they lose like that? That Purple Lady captain must have stepped in dog poop today!" Lu Hong grumbled indignantly.
He had spent thirty thousand supporting Haoyang Team, and now this?
Zhou Muchen was also speechless; he hadn't expected such a dramatic ending either.
At that moment, the organizers invited the champion team to the outdoor award podium to receive their prize.
The members of the Purple Lady Team excitedly rushed onto the stage.
Li Xiaohui also walked to the center of the stage, hands on hips, striking a pose as if she were second only to the heavens.
Perhaps because she was too excited, she accidentally tripped over something, sending the baseball cap flying off her head and revealing a head of dazzling purple hair extensions.
Although she still wore a face mask, the entire outline of her face and those large eyes were now completely exposed under the stage lights.
Lu Hong, who had just walked outside and was still ranting furiously about Purple Lady's unfair victory, suddenly fell silent the moment he saw the eyes and brows of the purple-haired girl on stage, his expression gradually freezing.
When he finally snapped out of it, he grabbed Zhou Muchen's arm and pointed at the stage, saying, "Chen-ge, look! That purple-haired... ahem, ahem... doesn't she look like that little demon Li Xiaohui from Uncle Li's family, the one who always set the dog on us?"
Prompted by him, Zhou Muchen took a closer look at the purple-haired little punk girl on stage who was flusteredly picking up her hat.
She did look more and more like that straightforward yet particularly vindictive Li Xiaohui from Uncle Li's family.
"Oh crap, it really is her!"
The next second, both of them almost simultaneously remembered what they had just done.
We're done for!
"Run!"
Just as they turned to flee, they were blocked by over a dozen members of the Wanlong Hui.
This was all arranged in advance by Li Xiaohui.
Not long after, Li Xiaohui walked over, trophy in one hand and hat in the other, and began mocking them.
"Well, well, look who's throwing their money around so lavishly. If it isn't the fine sons of the Zhou and Lu families?"
"You've really grown some guts today, haven't you!"
Zhou Muchen and Lu Hong, these two second-generation heirs who feared nothing, instinctively felt a pang of guilt at this moment.
"Um... Xiaohui, what if we said we came specifically to watch your match? Would you believe us?"
"Right, right! We actually wanted to support you, but we accidentally said the wrong thing!"
"We really didn't mean it..."
"Didn't mean it? Then let me apologize first, I didn't mean it either."
Li Xiaohui waved her hand: "Beat them up for me. Beat the crap out of them!"
Zhou Muchen: "!!!"
Lu Hong: "!!!"
The next second, two blood-curdling screams rang out.
