My capital is quite large.

Chapter 104 Tears of the Times

A week later.

Despite it being winter break, the internet cafes and surrounding areas of universities across the country have been buzzing with activity.

The "Haofeng Cup · Three Kingdoms Kill College Board Game Esports League", hosted by Haofeng Network, has launched its offline preliminary rounds in full swing.

There are no complicated barriers; simply log in to "Sanguosha Online" with Haofeng's Weibo account to be matched with university teams in the game.

This highly social game of "kill" and "dodge" quickly became the trendiest social currency in boys' dormitories and internet cafes.

Not only did they have a heated competition offline, but the topic also trended on Haofeng's Weibo hot search list online.

However, on Weibo's trending topics that day, the top spot wasn't for esports leagues, but for a term with a dark sense of humor.

#PenguinWeiboFadedCelebrityRetirementHome#

It turns out that in order to compete with Haofeng's Weibo for the public opinion front, Tencent went all out this month, announcing that a large number of "heavyweight" celebrities would exclusively join Tencent Weibo.

However, when young netizens clicked on the list, they couldn't hold back their emotions.

Because Haofeng Network had already secured exclusive agreements with all the top stars and popular actresses in the Chinese entertainment industry six months ago, Tencent had no choice but to settle for second best and spend a lot of money to bring back veteran artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China.

On Haofeng's Weibo, netizens' mockery was devastating:

"I'm dying of laughter! What kind of celebrities did Tencent hire? I sent the list to my mom, and she said that when these actresses were popular, the Soviet Union hadn't even collapsed yet!"

"Come on upstairs, have some confidence! These celebrities, who are probably grandmothers, probably even held your grandma when they were little!"

"Tencent Weibo now resembles a nursing home, filled with posts about 'peaceful times' and 'Buddhist-style health preservation.' The comments under a single post can't even break double digits, and there's not a single person actually arguing. It's so desolate."

Faced with this overwhelming ridicule, Li Feng didn't even need to hire an online army.

Without the support of new-generation idol stars, Tencent lost the race for social media dominance from the very beginning.

And the third spot on today's trending topics list is another item that has caused an uproar in the fan community.

#Lee Hsuan's leading role in the film "A Chinese Ghost Story"#

Haofeng Film & Television officially announced that the new version of the fantasy film "A Chinese Ghost Story" has officially started production and is being co-produced with a huge investment.

Li Xin, a pure and innocent young actress who had only made her mark in television dramas, will now leap onto the big screen to play the lead role of Nie Xiaoqian!

What drove fans even crazier was that the actor playing Yan Chixia alongside her was none other than Louis Koo, a pillar of the Hong Kong film industry!

Under the trending topic, fans and onlookers discussed it enthusiastically.

"My God! Li Xin's resources are incredible! Her TV series was a hit only a few months ago, and now she's getting to work with a superstar like Louis Koo for her movie debut?!"

"Boss Haofeng is really willing to spend money on his obedient artists! Yang Mi, Liu Yifei, Tang Yan, Ni Ni, and now it's Li Xin's turn! With a sugar daddy like that, even a pig can fly!"

"But I heard that NetEase is also releasing a PC game based on 'A Chinese Ghost Story' soon. Isn't Haofeng making a movie of this genre at this time a bit like giving their competitors free publicity?"

"Brother upstairs, you don't understand. I heard that Boss Li of Haofeng has a blood feud with Tencent, but Haofeng himself isn't currently focusing on large-scale PC games. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Tencent has also invested a lot of money in this movie. They're just teaming up to disgust Tencent!"

……

Jinling, Xianlin Science and Technology City, Haofeng Network Headquarters Building.

Inside the CEO's office, Li Feng closed the Weibo webpage.

Recalling the night at Zijinshan Manor a few days ago, Li Feng couldn't help but smile faintly.

That awkwardness and ingratiation amidst her naivety, and the resolute determination revealed after shedding her innocent facade, certainly have a unique charm.

The lead role in "A Chinese Ghost Story" was Li Feng's reward to this young actress who had finally "gotten her way".

"Mr. Li."

The office door was knocked open, and the technical director, Lao Chen, walked in carrying several documents, his face looking rather grim.

"What's wrong? You look like a wilted eggplant." Li Feng picked up his teacup and took a sip.

Old Chen sighed and placed a rejection letter on his desk: "President Li, the card game project we proposed earlier... is off the table."

"Blizzard rejected it?" Li Feng raised an eyebrow.

Two weeks ago, Li Feng saw the market potential of Hearthstone, the globally popular card game masterpiece from Blizzard Entertainment in his previous life.

Thinking that he and NetEase were currently in a honeymoon period, he asked NetEase to help him try to buy the IP license for "World of Warcraft" from Blizzard, and have Haofeng Network take the lead in developing this card battle game.

"They refused, and refused in a very arrogant manner!"

Old Chen said indignantly, "Those Americans are so arrogant! They say that although Haofeng has made a few profitable casual games, it's still just a fast-food workshop."

They believe that licensing such a prestigious epic IP as World of Warcraft to us for a card game is a serious desecration of Blizzard's prestigious brand!

"Even the pig farm's guarantee was useless. Blizzard's vice president declared that they would absolutely not allow any external company to touch their core assets."

Upon hearing this reply, Li Feng couldn't help but let out a sneer.

"The arrogant Blizzard really hasn't changed at all."

At the beginning of 2010, when World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King was at its peak, Blizzard certainly had the capital to be invincible.

They consider themselves the godfathers of the global gaming industry, so why would they look down on a Chinese company that started with "Fruit Ninja" and "Birds of Prey"?

"Mr. Li, are we still going to work on this new card game project?" Old Chen asked tentatively. "How about we just draw some fantasy or martial arts theme characters ourselves and put them on?"

"Just draw a leather suit? Not only will that prevent it from going international, but it will also make Haofeng look low-end."

"Since Blizzard has blocked the way, preventing us from standing on the shoulders of giants, then we'll build our own giant!"

"It's just a card game, right? If we're going to do it, let's make a groundbreaking masterpiece that will crush Blizzard's pride underfoot!"

Li Feng strode to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote four large characters heavily in the center:

Clash Royale!

Old Chen was stunned, staring at the somewhat domineering name, not understanding why.

"Old Chen, forget about those turn-based card games and those long-winded storylines!"

Li Feng's pen flew across the whiteboard, sketching a vertical battle map.

"This game doesn't need Blizzard's heavy epic baggage! Give it a globally popular [American 3D cartoon style] art style! We want a global vision; from the very beginning, we've aimed to dominate the entire European, American, and Asian markets!"

Core gameplay: Two towers and one main city! Each match is strictly limited to three minutes!

"A fusion of three major elements: card collection, real-time placement, and tower defense!"

Players can use "Elixir," which slowly regenerates over time, to drag and drop cards from their hand onto the battlefield, transforming them into physical minions to attack the opponent's towers!

As Li Feng described his revolutionary gameplay, Old Chen's eyes widened.

Three-minute real-time battles?! 3D tower defense with drag-and-drop units?!

This extremely fragmented yet highly competitive gameplay is a nuclear weapon tailor-made for future smartphones!

"Mr. Li... this... this game is too competitive! If there were a complete global ranked matchmaking system..." Old Chen said excitedly.

"That's right! This isn't just a game; it's Haofeng Network's trump card for dominating mobile esports in the future!"

Li Feng slammed his hand on the whiteboard and gave the instruction.

"Five years!"

"I'm giving you a five-year long-term R&D period! There's no upper limit to the budget!"

"Numerical balance, card counters, and underlying physics collisions—polish them like works of art! Every sound effect of a unit landing, every rubble falling from a collapsing tower, must be perfect!"

"Five years from now, when smartphones have matured and 4G networks are rolled out globally, that's when Haofeng Networks will take this game and teach Blizzard a lesson!"

Five-year long-term plan! Unlimited budget!

In the Chinese gaming industry, where the pursuit of quick profits is paramount, this decision seems like that of a madman!

But only Li Feng, who has memories of his past life, knows how Supercell made hundreds of millions of dollars in the first month of its release with this game and dominated the global best-selling charts for a long time!

Since we can't get Hearthstone from Blizzard, let's just bring out this real crown ahead of time!

"Understood, Mr. Li!"

Old Chen stood ramrod straight: "I'll immediately gather the company's top numerical designers and C++ architects to form the 'Royal Top Secret Project Team'! Within five years, we'll absolutely bring you this mobile esports nuclear bomb!"

Watching Old Chen rush out of the office to set up his team, Li Feng leaned back in his boss's chair and leisurely took a sip of hot tea.

As for investing in "A Chinese Ghost Story" to promote NetEase, he didn't care at all.

Currently, there is no direct conflict of interest between the two parties on the PC platform. NetEase has its large-scale PC game base, while Haofeng has its global mobile game and Steam distribution rights.

Under the overarching premise of jointly resisting Tencent's monopoly, the enemy of my enemy is the perfect ally.