16: Chapter 16 League Broadcast

Chen Mo leaned back in his office chair, his fingertips tapping the desk casually, his expression utterly calm.

“If he wants to burn money, let him burn it. I don't have the spare time to waste on Baidu.”

In his eyes, Baidu wasn't even a real competitor.

In his previous life, Baidu Waimai was crushed by Meituan and Ele.me. In this life, with him, Chen Mo, around, cleaning them up would only be easier.

Furthermore, although Baidu looked aggressive, throwing over a hundred million a day into delivery subsidies, that was all their own cash flow being burned. It wasn't like Ride-hailing service or Fast Ride, which had capital and banks providing a steady supply of funds.

Chen Mo knew perfectly well that at this rate of burning money, Baidu wouldn't last long.

Conversely, Tianxing Technology’s revenue from League of Heroes for a single day was equivalent to more than half a month's profit for Baidu. Forget eighty million; even if they burned two hundred million a day, he could afford it.

The only reason he wasn't engaging was that he felt wasting money on Baidu wasn't worth it. He needed to save his ammunition for when the real opponents entered the arena.

“What about Tencent and Alibaba on the ride-hailing front? Is the battle still ongoing?”

Chen Mo looked up and asked Zhang Kai.

Zhang Kai flipped through the tablet in his hand and replied:

“They are still fighting, but clearly not as fiercely as before. I heard both sides are privately considering a truce, and they seem to be thinking about collaborating on something else.”

A cold smile curled the corner of Chen Mo's mouth, his eyes showing complete understanding:

“It’s not a truce; they’ve seen the sweetness of the takeout market and want to jump in to grab a piece of the pie. They’re afraid that if I fully secure the takeout market, there won’t be any share left for them.”

The artificial intelligence programs he edited constantly monitored the movements of Tencent and Alibaba. This little scheme couldn't be hidden from him. He only asked Zhang Kai to give him a heads-up and make him pay more attention.

However, Chen Mo hadn't expected these two giants to figure it out so quickly. It seemed his presence was indeed putting considerable pressure on them.

“CEO Chen, I will monitor the situation closely on my end. I’ll report to you immediately if there’s any movement!”

Zhang Kai immediately straightened up and guaranteed, secretly admiring Chen Mo’s foresight. No wonder he could build Tianxing Technology into such a massive enterprise; he calculated everything clearly.

Chen Mo nodded faintly and said no more.

Zhang Kai was efficient in execution; he was fine as an implementer. When it came to overall strategy and planning, he was still far behind. However, having him watch things would save a lot of trouble and also serve as a distraction.

He originally thought that even if Ride-hailing service and Fast Ride were going to merge, it would take at least a month of turmoil. He hadn't expected these two companies to be so efficient.

Just after the May Day long holiday ended, the subsidy war between Ride-hailing service and Fast Ride abruptly stopped. News of the two merging quickly spread online.

At the end of May, the merger was officially announced. Immediately following that, Tencent and Alibaba jointly released an announcement, officially entering the takeout industry.

But entering at this point was already too late.

As soon as Tencent and Alibaba made their announcement, Baidu Waimai couldn't hold on any longer.

Chen Mo set the subsidy for Tianxing Takeout at a steady fifty million per day, neither increasing nor decreasing it. This steady pace managed to exhaust all of Baidu’s three major moves.

Baidu Waimai’s order volume plummeted, and more than half of its riders left. In the end, it could only shrink back dejectedly, no longer daring to confront Tianxing Takeout head-on.

Although Baidu had lost, Chen Mo’s goal of unifying the takeout market wouldn't be achieved overnight. With Tencent and Alibaba entering the fray, there would be battles ahead.

However, Chen Mo wasn't worried at all. He would deal with whatever came his way; his Tianxing Technology never feared competition.

Just as he was contemplating future plans, the system notification suddenly sounded in his mind:

“Ding, this month’s lottery chances have been refreshed. Does the host wish to begin the drawing?”

“Draw,” Chen Mo silently commanded.

“Ding, congratulations to the host for drawing the Grandmaster Level Basketball Skill!”

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow, feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation. His luck was truly average. Given his current physical fitness and body control, even without this skill, beating NBA players would be a piece of cake. This skill, frankly, was just icing on the cake.

Ever since drawing the Grandmaster Level Manufacturing Skill, he had drawn twice more, obtaining the Grandmaster Level Screenwriting Skill and the Grandmaster Level Performance Skill, respectively. Now, his skill bar was already stacked with a full row of Grandmaster Level skills, covering everything from investment and programming to combat and firearms, from culinary arts and directing to performance and basketball—he was proficient in almost everything.

Time flew by, and it was now June 2012. The summer in Modu was already scorching hot. In the top-floor office of Tianxing Technology, cool air blew from the air conditioner. Chen Mo gazed out at the bustling traffic below, a smile of anticipation gracing his lips.

June 6th was an outwardly ordinary day, yet it became a day of celebration for all League of Heroes players:

The Dragon Country’s League of Heroes Professional League S2 Summer Split officially began its online broadcast, and the platform hosting this broadcast was the newly launched Tianxing Live.

In fact, the S2 Spring Split had concluded a month prior. At that time, Tianxing Live hadn't been fully prepared, so they could only release the videos on the forums after the matches. Even so, the match videos were flooded with views by players, and the powerful professional players had long since become celebrities among the player base.

At seven in the evening, the moment Tianxing Live officially launched, countless players flooded in. Both the website on desktop and the APP on mobile were completely packed. Everyone rushed into the exclusive league broadcast room at the first opportunity.

When the familiar faces of the professional players appeared on the broadcast screen, the bullet comments in the chat room instantly exploded. Dense lines of text covered the screen:

“Holy crap! It’s really a live broadcast!”

“No more waiting for post-match videos, this is awesome!”

“We can send bullet comments to interact too, this is too good!”

“This Tianxing Live APP is so smooth, not lagging at all!”

“The announcement said the players will also stream here when there are no matches, I’m so excited!”

“Not just players, ordinary people can apply to be streamers too? Can you actually earn a salary playing games?”

“How could that be? Would Tianxing Technology lie? I heard professional players earn annual salaries in the hundreds of thousands, plus prize money!”

“The Global Finals are in Modu this year, and the total prize pool is rumored to be tens of millions of US dollars!”

“Tianxing Technology is awesome, period!”

“Tianxing Technology awesome +1!”

“Tianxing Technology awesome +10086!”