Qatar.
It was an obscenely wealthy country.
In 2022, to host the World Cup, they had essentially built a city from scratch in the middle of the desert.
They had even built a 75-kilometer-long subway line.
And riding the subway during the World Cup had been completely free.
To prepare for the World Cup, they had not only renovated their existing stadium but also built seven new ones.
The largest and most central one, Lusail Stadium, had been built by China.
To combat the scorching heat, every seat in every stadium had an air-conditioning vent beneath it. There were even air-conditioning vents along the streets.
Now, all eight stadiums would serve as venues for this Basketball World Cup.
On the evening Wang Yi and the others arrived in Qatar,
King Tamim of Qatar invited Wang Yi to dine with the royal family.
Tamim's father had decided long ago that his older brother would inherit the throne, but his brother had repeatedly told their father that he did not want it.
Then, when Tamim was thirty-three, his father, who was not even sixty, suddenly abdicated. So the thirty-three-year-old Tamim had no choice but to take the throne.
Tamim was also a sports fan.
Of all sports, he was probably most interested in soccer. He had once tried to buy Manchester United, but the deal fell through. In the end, he bought Paris Saint-Germain.
So he was now the big boss of Paris Saint-Germain.
But thanks to Wang Yi's outstanding performance in basketball, Tamim's attention had shifted more toward the sport.
He had even approached the Kings' owner about buying the team, but the owner had no intention of selling for the time being.
When he spoke with the Kings' owner, he had offered far more than the Kings were worth.
The