My capital is quite large.

Across the ocean in Seattle, a silent clash of capitalism quietly concluded at Valve's headquarters.

With a whopping $100 million in cash and the tens of millions of daily active users on Haofeng Weibo as a traffic backing, even the notoriously stubborn Gabe Newell finally signed the heavy international agreement after three days of back and forth.

15% strategic stake in Valve! And the permanent exclusive distribution rights for the Steam platform in Greater China!

After acquiring this game-changing sword that will dominate the global PC single-player and online game market in the future, Li Feng personally led a team to Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou.

The biggest barrier to bringing Steam to China is not localization or servers, but payment channels!

In 2009, Chinese gamers had no habit of using Visa or Mastercard credit cards.

To encourage Chinese players to readily spend money on games on Steam, it is essential to connect to the most convenient domestic payment gateway.

At this very moment, there is only one absolute leader in the domestic electronic payment market.

Hangzhou, Alibaba headquarters executive meeting room.

When Li Feng presented Alibaba's executives with the grand vision for Steam China and the estimated tens of millions of active gamers in the future, he was prepared to be ripped off by Alibaba for a hefty channel fee.

After all, it's an ironclad rule of the internet that channel providers take a cut when they cross over to payment interfaces.

However, the reaction of Alibaba's top management and the final solution they offered shocked Li Feng, a reincarnated individual who had lived two lives!

"Mr. Li, Alipay will take on your project!"

Alibaba's vice president in charge of Alipay waved his hand and, instead of making any demanding commission requests, presented Li Feng with a cooperation agreement that was essentially a loss-making venture.

"To promote the application of Alipay in non-e-commerce sectors and cultivate the usage habits of young internet users, Haofeng Network will designate Alipay as the sole and preferred exclusive payment channel for its Steam China region, Weibo, and all game products..."

"We at Alibaba will not only waive all transaction fees for the first three years, but will also allocate an additional 50 million RMB annually as a subsidy for expanding payment scenarios, which will be deposited into Haofeng's account!"

Looking at the contract in front of him, which not only didn't charge him any money but actually gave him a real bonus, Li Feng signed it without showing any emotion on the surface. But the moment he walked out of Alibaba's headquarters building, his heart was filled with turmoil.

"Damn... Alibaba really lives up to its name. These giants in e-commerce and finance are fucking rich!"

Sitting in the back seat of the car on the way to the airport, Li Feng looked at the contract in black and white that was essentially a pay cut, and couldn't help but curse under his breath.

In order to seize a payment scenario and cultivate user habits, they spent tens of millions without batting an eye!

This deep financial foundation and the boldness of its ecological layout deeply stimulated Li Feng.

"Since e-commerce and payment are so profitable, with such terrifying cash flow..." Li Feng's mind started racing, "Could I take advantage of the traffic I have now and invest in Jingdong? Or even develop Pinduoduo's model ahead of time?"

Jingdong is currently in a phase of frantically burning money to build its logistics network and is extremely short of funds.

Pinduoduo, a social e-commerce platform targeting lower-tier markets, is nowhere to be found.

If Haofeng's Weibo traffic pool were combined with JD.com's logistics or Pinduoduo's "cut-one-cut" model, it would definitely be a wealth storm sweeping the whole country!

However, this tempting idea only survived in Li Feng's mind for a few minutes before being ruthlessly extinguished by his business acumen.

"No, this won't work."

Li Feng rubbed his slightly swollen temples and let out a long sigh.

The first issue is funding.

In order to acquire the full copyright of Japanese anime, to buy out Valve's shares and the Steam distribution rights, and to keep pouring money into Lei Jun's bottomless pit of making mobile phones every month.

Haofeng Network's originally abundant cash pool has been almost completely depleted.

Currently, the company's corporate bank account has a maximum of just over 100 million RMB in working capital.

This amount of money might be enough to make waves in the gaming and film industries, but if you throw it into the e-commerce logistics industry, a meat grinder that burns through tens or hundreds of billions of dollars at a time, you won't even make a ripple!

Secondly, and most fatally, he did not have an electronic payment license!

Whether you're working with JD.com or Pinduoduo, you can't avoid the payment system if you want to create a closed business loop.

In China, electronic payment licenses are a crucial financial instrument that is strictly controlled by the state!

Without a powerful background or unfathomable political and business resources, it's simply a pipe dream for a purely private internet entertainment company to obtain this license!

Unless... he is willing to hand over absolute control of Haofeng Network to the state, or introduce a super giant with state-owned capital.

"That's absolutely impossible."

Li Feng snorted coldly.

Haofeng Network is a private empire he built from scratch. Even if he earns less money from cross-industry ventures, he will never allow his company to become a joint venture that is subject to others' constraints.

"Moreover, the reason why JD.com and Pinduoduo were able to rise in their previous lives was actually inseparable from a common driving force - Tencent's WeChat Pay and social traffic support."

With this thought in mind, Li Feng's mind suddenly cleared up, and the arrogance that came with his rebirth subsided at this moment.

He had always wanted to destroy the penguin, and occasionally, subconsciously, he felt that with Haofeng's current size, he might be able to kill this behemoth.

But now he understands.

The structure of a penguin is too complex. Its social base, its intricate investment network, and its deep-rooted relationships that are beyond its reach have long made the penguin an unkillable monster.

Completely wiping out penguins is an unrealistic and false proposition in this era.

"Since I can't kill you, I won't try to be all things to all people."

"My Haofeng Networks can't be too conspicuous. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Let Alibaba fight Tencent in the core competition!"

"I just need to focus on my own pan-entertainment sector! In areas like gaming, film, and streaming, I'll squeeze Tencent's living space out bit by bit! I'll kick it off its throne as the most profitable gaming company!"

Having figured this out, Li Feng stopped dwelling on those unrealistic cross-industry ambitions and refocused his attention on the fundamentals at hand.

There is currently over 100 million RMB in cash in the account.

They may not be able to handle large projects, but they're more than capable of stirring things up.

Although the Chinese version of League of Legends is still pending and the Steam China region will take time to develop, he doesn't want to wait a moment longer for the gap in the PC game market!

We must take advantage of the fact that Tencent hasn't reacted yet and drive a nail into the PC platform!

This "nail" doesn't need billions in revenue, but it must have extremely strong social sharing capabilities, firmly grasping the PC-based social circles of college students!

"Investment opportunities may not seem fatal right now, but games that can quickly go viral on social media..."

Li Feng quickly searched his mind for the hot topics in the domestic game industry in 2009.

Suddenly, a name that had become a sensation in university dormitories and internet cafes popped up.

"Three Kingdoms Kill!"

In 2009, the board game "Sanguosha" was gaining popularity offline, and the online PC version of "Sanguosha OL" was just beginning to be tested!

This game perfectly aligns with Haofeng Network's current DNA—strong social attributes, natural appeal based on the Three Kingdoms IP, and extremely high engagement among university students!

If the account system of "Three Kingdoms Kill Online" is strongly linked with Haofeng's Weibo, it will not only boost the number of online players on the PC, but also allow Haofeng to break into the PC casual game hall dominated by Tencent!

"Old Chen!"

As soon as Li Feng returned to the Shenzhen headquarters, he called over the technical director, Lao Chen, without even entering his office.

"Mr. Li! Did your trip to Hangzhou go smoothly?" Old Chen quickly came up to greet him.

"It went very smoothly, and Alibaba's payment interface will be connected soon."

As Li Feng walked towards his office, he gave the order: "Old Chen, go check out a company in Beijing called Yoka. They have a game called 'Three Kingdoms Kill,' and they're currently working on an online PC version."

"Yoka Games? 'Three Kingdoms Kill'?" Old Chen paused for a moment. As the technical director, he had naturally heard of this card game that had recently become very popular among young people. "Mr. Li, should we become the distributor for this game?"

"We do not act as agents."

"These people who started out making board games have no idea what real internet game operation is. They must be short of money right now to build servers and online marketing."

"Take the legal and investment departments, 20 million RMB in cash, and head to Beijing!"

"I'm going to acquire Yoka Games completely! I'll take back the physical copyright and absolute control of the online PC version of 'Three Kingdoms Kill'!"