Thursday, December 22.

Modu Airport.

Zhao Xuming and the leaders and players of the other two clubs are waiting for the flight.

The time for the IOI's World Finals has been finalized, which will officially start on December 31, that is, on Saturday of next week, and will last until the end of January, for a month.

The format is similar to GOG's Global Invitational, with 16 teams and four groups, divided into two stages: group stage and knockout stage.

In terms of schedule, the focus of the group stage and knockout rounds are basically arranged on weekends and statutory holidays, while the less important games and rest days are arranged on weekdays as much as possible.

Although the arrangement is not particularly perfect, it is relatively reasonable.

It's just that because of the time difference, the viewing experience of domestic audiences is relatively poor, take the group stage as an example, the domestic viewing time is from 3 o'clock in the morning to 12 o'clock at noon the next day, highlighting a cultivator.

After all, it was held in Los Angeles, and there was no way to arrange this time.

The Finger Company will only provide hotels and accommodations the day before the start of the tournament until the team is eliminated.

As a result, most of the poorer clubs arrive at the hotel arranged near the venue a day or two before the start of the tournament.

In order to let the two domestic clubs play training matches with European and American teams in advance and adapt to the local environment, Zhao Xuming decided to go over more than a week early and stay in the hotel arranged by the finger company.

The air ticket and the cost of room and board for the week are fully reimbursed by Longyu Group.

There are a total of 20 people in the two clubs, and there are five team members plus team leaders and coaches in the two clubs, a total of 14 people, and there are also six staff members from Longyu Group, including Zhao Xuming.

Zhao Xuming went to Los Angeles purely to take this opportunity to go out and have a look at the IOI game, after all, the work of the IOI Operation Cooperation Department of Longyu Group in the next period of time is mainly to use the IOI World Championship to publicize and promote, and it is justified for him to go to Los Angeles.

After arriving in Los Angeles, Zhao Xuming not only settled the players of the two clubs, but also visited and exchanged ideas with other colleagues from the IOI Operations Cooperation Department.

A group of 20 people was waiting at the airport.

At present, only a few cities in China, such as the imperial capital and the magic capital, can fly directly to Los Angeles, and the ticket price is relatively expensive. Most other cities require a connecting flight, and although the ticket price is relatively cheap, the journey takes a lot longer.

Instead of choosing a cheaper connecting route, Zhao Xuming opted for a relatively small number of expensive direct flights, which took only about 13 hours.

Zhao Xuming is still a little proud, after all, the air ticket is also reimbursed by Longyu Group, and for these clubs, it is more generous to choose direct flights.

Most of the players in these clubs are Internet addicted teenagers, and they have basically never been abroad or seen much of the world, Zhao Xuming feels that his sincerity is already very good.

As for the seats, Zhao Xuming, as an executive of Longyu Group, can of course choose business class for business trips, but he thought twice and chose economy class.

It's not that he saves money for the company, it's mainly that he doesn't look good on his face.

Because of the large number of people this time, it is indeed too expensive for all 20 people to take business class, after all, the ticket price of business class is three times that of economy class, and it will cost three or four hundred thousand more if all are reimbursed, which is somewhat substandard.

And Zhao Xuming was embarrassed to take business class and let these people from the club take economy class, so he had to grieve himself.

Of course, the leaders and players of these two clubs don't care about this, Longyu Group is already very good at reimbursing direct plane tickets, and it is a bit too much for people to spend three times the money to take business class.

What's more, Mr. Zhao himself is also in economy class.

There is still a long time before boarding, and Zhao Xuming is chatting with the leaders of the two clubs, briefly introducing the arrangements after arriving in Los Angeles.

"The hotel arranged by the finger company this time is the Courtyard by Marriott, which is about 200 meters away from the competition venue, which is very convenient."

"The environment of the hotel is not said, it is very good, anyway, there should be everything."

"When we got there, we went straight to the hotel to check in, and we could come to me for reimbursement for the hotel expenses before the game. Wait until the day before the start of the game, everyone checks out and checks in again, and lives in the room arranged by the finger company. ”

"Our company has assigned a translator here, and when the time comes, the two team leaders will work hard and go with our interpreters to find nearby Internet cafes and restaurants to see where it is more appropriate to train and eat."

"Although the company will also arrange training rooms and accommodation, it will not be officially in place until the day before the game, and this week will have to be up to us."

Zhao Xuming explained some details, and the two team leaders nodded frequently.

The rest of the team also had some excitement, and some of the team members were flying for the first time and were a little nervous.

Zhao Xuming was chatting with the two team leaders when he suddenly heard footsteps in the distance.

"Here, here it is. Everyone stands in three rows according to their height, yes, the main players stand in front of them and raise the club's team flag, okay, I'm going to take pictures. ”

"One, two, three! Okay, good, one more. ”

Zhao Xuming couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, turned his head to look, and the whole person was instantly stunned.

Isn't this the FV Club?

How many people!

At this time, about 30 people stood together to take pictures, and the front row was holding the flag of the FV club. The five main players stood at the front, and Zhao Xuming recognized them at a glance.

I saw two photographers each holding a long gun and a short cannon to shoot randomly at everyone, and a cameraman was carrying a camera to record the whole time.

Zhao Xuming soon saw more familiar faces in the crowd, including Ding Gan, Wu Yue, Manager Lu, and members of the SUG club.

Zhao Xuming fell into a state of confusion.

What's going on?

Since these people have arrived here, it means that they are also here to fly, and since they are flying, they must be flying to Los Angeles.

But even if everyone in the FV club has to fly to Los Angeles, there will only be seven or eight people who will die, right?

How could there be so many people?

Why are the people in the SUG Club also there?

Zhao Xuming originally felt that he was taking the players of two clubs, and the team was already very large, but looking at the FV club, one club crushed itself in terms of numbers!

Zhao Xuming was a little confused about the situation for a while, and this unexpected encounter was completely unexpected by him.

Wu Yue, who had just finished taking a photo, also saw Zhao Xuming who was waiting for the plane.

Wu Yue was also a little surprised, although he didn't have a good face for Zhao Xuming, but at this time, the two sides looked at each other, and it was a bit too much to pretend not to see it.

So Wu Yue immediately stepped forward and greeted Zhao Xuming.

"Mr. Zhao! I didn't expect to meet here, what a coincidence. ”

Zhao Xuming reluctantly pulled the corners of his mouth to show a smile, and stood up: "Mr. Wu, you also want to take this flight to Los Angeles?" ”

Wu Yue nodded: "Yes, so is Mr. Zhao?" Oops, isn't that a coincidence. ”

"But this is normal, this flight is more appropriate in terms of time, and we can be regarded as heroes who see the same thing."

Although Wu Yue has Min Jingchao and Ye Zhizhou and others living in Jingzhou, the two clubs FV and SUG are both in the magic capital, and there are no direct flights to Los Angeles in Jingzhou, so everyone still chooses to start from the magic capital.

Considering various factors such as take-off and landing times, schedules, flight seats, and ticket prices, this flight is the most suitable, so Wu Yue and Zhao Xuming happened to meet together.

This meeting, the scene was a little awkward.

Because Zhao Xuming deliberately did not take the FV club to Los Angeles, the two sides know this.

In this situation, Zhao Xuming has nothing to do, so he can only never mention this matter, and pretend to be polite first: "Mr. Wu, there is still a period of time before boarding, let's find a place to sit first." ”

Wu Yue smiled: "Okay, I won't worry about this." ”

After the greetings, Wu Yue beckoned to the others accompanying him: "Come, let's come with me to find a place to rest." ”

However, to Zhao Xuming's surprise, Wu Yue and the others did not sit in the rest area next to them, but walked straight into the VIP lounge a little farther away.

A string of question marks instantly floated on Zhao Xuming's head.

What's the situation?

The VIP lounge is dedicated to providing waiting services for business class passengers or high-end members, including TV, newspapers, magazines, snacks and drinks, etc., and can provide airline services such as changing bookings and changing seats, and all of them are single leather sofas, which are much more comfortable than the hard row seats in the rest area!

Seeing that all the thirty people had entered, and even the big brother who was following behind had all gone in, Zhao Xuming was even more shocked.

What do you mean?

Could it be that all 30 of these people have booked business class?

Zhao Xuming knows very well the price of air tickets, about 10,000 in economy class, and close to 30,000 in business class, all 30 people book business class, which costs 600,000 more than economy class!

It's outrageous!

Zhao Xuming quickly self-denied the idea.

Why should the FV club be willing to spend an extra 600,000 yuan to take a plane, this is not reasonable at all!

Well, it should be to pretend to be in front of us and pay to enter the VIP lounge to rest!

Zhao Xuming is well aware that although these business class lounges are claimed to be for business class or high-end members, they can also be entered for a fee. The price is 100 yuan per person.

If that's the case, 30 people are actually 3,000 yuan, which is okay.

Zhao Xuming felt that he could also spend 2,000 yuan to install this force, but after thinking about it, the plane was not delayed, and it was going to take off in a while, so there was no need for this money to be spent.

It's better to act as if nothing happened.

was interrupted by Wu Yue and others, and Zhao Xuming was not in the mood to chat with the club leader, everyone was silently waiting for the plane while swiping their mobile phones.

For some reason, Zhao Xuming still involuntarily conjured up the scene in the VIP lounge in his mind.

In a quiet and noisy environment, sit back on a comfortable single leather sofa with magazines and movies, and free snacks and drinks are available without limits......

The more I think about it, the more I feel like it's a bit of a lemon.

Zhao Xuming looked at his watch frequently, but fortunately, he was about to board the plane.

Everyone came to the gate and waited in line.

This direct flight to Los Angeles is a large passenger plane that can seat nearly 500 people, and it is divided into two floors, so there are more people in line.

Zhao Xuming and the others got up in advance, stood in a relatively high position in the team, and waited patiently.

Seeing that the line was getting longer and longer, but Wu Yue and the others did not come out of the VIP lounge, Zhao Xuming also felt more and more suspicious.

What's the situation?

Are they in a hurry to queue up, or are they ......

Finally, Wu Yue and Ding Gan led more than 30 people out of the VIP lounge, but they did not line up at the end of the line, but went straight to another boarding gate.

Under the courteous reception of the flight attendants, Wu Yue and others were unimpeded.

On the other hand, the long queue here is a stark contrast.

Zhao Xuming and the leaders and players of the two clubs watched as Wu Yue and the others had begun to board, and the queue they were in was as slow as a turtle crawling.

This large passenger aircraft is divided into two levels, with two separate gates, whether boarding or disembarking, it does not interfere with each other. Business class is on the upper deck, economy class is on the ground floor, and there is no queue for business class.

Zhao Xuming: "......"

Looking at the backs of Wu Yue, Ding Gan and others, he silently closed himself.