Chapter 23: Now That Is What You Call Initiative!

The next morning.

Jiang Ming turned on his computer and played a few placement matches, waiting until noon before leisurely taking a car to the meeting place agreed upon with "Old Xu" from YY.

There was no helping it; the domestic server was full of grinders, and if you weren't careful, you would easily be left behind.

At twelve noon, the old gate of Laomendong was steaming with the moisture of last night's rain on the bluestone path.

"JM!"

"Mr. Xu!"

"Just call me Xiao Jiang."

"Haha, then you might as well call me Old Xu."

The two met in front of a private kitchen restaurant in Jinling with a decent reputation. Xu Tao stepped forward to greet him, his smile warm and cordial.

Guided by the staff, the two entered a private room.

"Shall we order first?"

"I think we should talk about the contract renewal for the new season first. You all should be more anxious than I am!"

"Haha, that’s fair enough. After all, securing the title of the season's first Challenger is a good thing for both you and the platform."

Chen Ming smiled and handed over a document. They were indeed anxious; otherwise, they wouldn't have rushed from Guangzhou to Jinling overnight.

"Xiao Jiang, we've known each other for a year or two. Honestly, I'm very optimistic about your prospects. I sincerely hope this is a win-win partnership."

"I hope so too!"

Jiang Ming took the document and began to read it carefully; pleasantries were sometimes best taken with a grain of salt.

Although he and Old Xu had met during a professor's open lecture and shared that connection, no matter how good a personal relationship might be, it often grew thin when interests were at stake.

Huh?

Amid the rustling of pages, Jiang Ming's pupils contracted slightly.

The "sincerity" Old Xu spoke of was truly no lie.

What Old Xu handed over was not just a contract, but a proposal regarding his livestream channel and team sponsorship.

He was somewhat surprised, not expecting to see such an advanced plan from a 2013 livestreaming platform.

Had the YY platform suddenly received help from an expert, realizing that this wave of esports led by Tencent would be massive, or was this another "all-in" decision by a gambling executive?

Funds were actually the least important part of this document.

First was the resource investment plan, which the YY planning department described as "three heavy punches": 1. A Traffic Nuke (creating a [Challenger Rush] special section on the YY homepage for his channel instead of the previous scrolling banner, updating Challenger points in real-time, adding exclusive channel gifts, reducing the revenue split from 50% to 30%, and prioritizing server bandwidth for his stream, even if other channels lagged like a slideshow). 2. Brand Binding: The signing fee was raised to 500,000 per year (with an additional bonus for successfully qualifying for the LPL), customizing the NXG team's livestream overlay, and having viewers' chat messages automatically carry the hashtag #YYWitnessTheRiseToTheThrone#. 3. Ecosystem Expansion: Once the sponsorship for NXG was confirmed, they would dispatch a professional team to provide comprehensive branding for the esports team, just like they did for WE.

Next came the technical upgrades for the livestream, with the YY platform making a major move.

Chat latency was compressed from 6 seconds to 2 seconds to ensure "god-tier plays" had real-time feedback. They also developed an automatic OB tracking feature (temporarily named "Hunter Mode") and embedded a combat stats lookup plugin into the stream, allowing viewers to see the streamer's rune configurations in real-time.

...

"Indeed, full of sincerity."

After a long time, Jiang Ming looked up with a complex expression and said to Xu Tao across the table, "I'm curious what suddenly made you all so determined."

His initial goal in communicating with them was to use the massive traffic generated by his channel's climb to the top to trade for an NXG sponsorship and platform support, effectively capturing the massive surge of users Tencent was driving to League of Legends for S3.

Although it was all for the sake of the bounty mission, the value of a professional streamer with hundreds of thousands of fans and inherent attention was entirely different from that of an ordinary Challenger player.

Clearly, the other party had understood this and provided a perfect response.

"What made us determined?"

Xu Tao suddenly pulled a yellowed photo of a newspaper from his bag—it was the jam-packed audience at the 2005 WCG Grand Finals, looking somewhat nostalgic. "It's a story from many years ago. Back then, YY was just a small plugin providing voice-chat services for gamers..."

"..."

Although he didn't understand why this sudden moment of reflection on life had been added, Jiang Ming didn't dampen his enthusiasm.

In his past life, he hadn't been recognized by his parents and eventually faded into obscurity; he, too, would occasionally let out a howl at the sky after getting drunk just to vent.

After listening to the story and finishing all the details in the document, Jiang Ming reached out.

Xu Tao was puzzled. "What is this?"

"I think, since the platform has offered such sincere terms, I have no reason to refuse. Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation!"

Xu Tao, instantly returning to his professional state, hurriedly stood up and extended his right hand.

Just as he had determined at first glance that the livestream channel of this person, JM, could succeed.

A person with gaming talent, a sharp mind, a certain level of education, who knew exactly what he wanted, and understood how to stream, could not fail.

Facts proved that he hadn't misjudged him. In just one year, the name JM had become widely known throughout the entire LOL gaming circle.

To think that JM was once just a freshman at Jinling University who shared some insightful views on game streaming during an open lecture.

However, just as Xu Tao was reminiscing about their first meeting, Jiang Ming continued, "I wonder, besides being the 'oxygen' of the domestic esports scene, is our platform interested in expanding overseas?"

Jiang Ming: "For example, having a YY streamer be the number one on both the Chinese and Korean servers, or creating a platform-exclusive team in the OGN!"

Xu Tao: "???"

Wait, why does this kid have so many strange ideas in his head!

His own region's league was still in the preparation stage, and Jiang Ming was already thinking about getting another team in someone else's region. Xu Tao didn't know what to say.

However, it did sound quite tempting.

An esports team in the OGN region belonging to the YY platform... maybe just call it Huya—the ROX Tigers sounded pretty good.

...

Inside the room, Jiang Ming finally reached an agreement with YY on the new contract. After signing the papers at the dining table, he personally experienced what it meant to have the efficiency of a future giant in the livestreaming industry.

During the time it took for the two to eat, while the ink on the contract was barely dry, the YY homepage was already lit with blood-red banners, and the exclusive channel for the "Challenger Rush" had already gone live.

The channel, which had already seen a surge in popularity from playing with the WE squad, ushered in even further expansion.

The various resource investments described in the document were launched simultaneously that very second.

"YY Platform, Top National Server Player, Veteran LOL Tutorial Video Creator—the National Server Challenger Rush Support Event is here!"

First, within the YY platform, anyone with a registered YY account, whether a regular viewer or a streamer, received this notification in their backend.

In short, the event meant that while Jiang Ming was streaming his climb, viewers who entered the channel, followed him, and sent certain gifts would receive benefits like increased YY experience levels, themed avatar frames, and exclusive custom profile art.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of a building in Shanghai, the CEO of a certain fish-themed platform saw the event banner on the YY homepage, realized they were a step behind, and angrily knocked over the exquisite ornaments on his desk.