What an Eye-Opener

After a day of rest, Chen Xu arrived at the company full of energy, as if all the exhaustion from the past half month had been swept away. He was back at full health.

In fact, he had not realized it himself, but he had endured many hardships during those six months in the apocalyptic world of his dreams. Those days had tempered his mind and will, which was why he did not find half a month of nonstop overtime all that difficult.

When he went upstairs, he happened to run into Director He from the Personnel Department, who had brought over four or five people and said they were new colleagues in their department.

Everyone in the Electronic Sales Department applauded enthusiastically. They were only one step away from shouting, "Long live Director Liu!"

There was more work than they could handle in the department now. With several newcomers to share the burden, no one would be anything but welcoming.

Just as they were talking, Liu Kun came over. After offering them a few words of encouragement, he announced, "To help the new colleagues integrate into the team more quickly and strengthen everyone's sense of coordination, Director Luo and I have discussed it and decided to hold a Team Building event this week."

This time, the applause was far less enthusiastic than before.

Not everyone enjoyed Team Building activities. Chen Xu, for instance, preferred being alone. Even when he went out for fun, he did not want too many people around.

Since joining the company, he had attended two such events, both involving the entire company. Neither had been particularly pleasant. The company executives were generally older and somewhat out of touch with young people like them. Everything had been too formal and utterly lacking in a relaxed atmosphere.

Besides, the weather was quite cold now. Were they supposed to freeze outdoors? "Team Building, huh? I wonder where we'll be going." Dai Zixin spoke with anticipation. "I hope it's somewhere fun."

Chen Xu glanced at her and thought, The department is full of young people. Even Liu Kun, the oldest, isn't forty yet, and he's more open-minded. It should be more interesting.

The matter did not cause much of a stir. Soon afterward, endless work drowned them, leaving them no time to think about it.

On Wednesday, after the morning meeting, Liu Kun announced that the Team Building event had been scheduled for the next day, at a county more than a hundred kilometers from the city.

"The weather has turned cold, so it's the perfect time for a soak in the Hot Spring. This time, everyone can relax properly."

Chen Xu was somewhat surprised. Once again, he felt that a department backed by a powerful boss truly was different. They were actually going to a Hot Spring. This benefit left the previous Advertising Department miles behind.

Someone asked, "Director Liu, aren't you going?"

"I need to stay behind at the company. Director Luo will lead this event. Also, she planned this Team Building activity herself, and she chose all the locations." Liu Kun smiled as he finished speaking, then declared the meeting over and left.

The moment Chen Xu heard that Luo Xiyun would be leading the group, he knew this trip would not be easy.

In daily life, Luo Xiyun kept everything around her impeccably organized. She was the same at work, with extremely strict demands of her subordinates. Even the slightest flaw was unacceptable; everything had to be perfect. Over the past half month, she had worked them nearly to death.

Besides, he found it strange. Why was it scheduled for Thursday? Wasn't this sort of thing usually held on weekends? She really did whatever came to mind.

He could not help feeling somewhat dismissive of it.

On Thursday morning, Chen Xu arrived at the meeting point at the agreed time. Luo Xiyun had directly rented a coach bus, and once everyone had arrived, they set off.

Aside from people from their department, there were several unfamiliar faces on the bus.

Luo Xiyun introduced them as Team Building facilitators she had specially hired to host the event.

They were all experts at livening up the atmosphere. During the hour-plus ride, they got everyone to loosen up, and quite a few people had clearly gotten into the spirit. Laughter and chatter filled the journey.

In the end, the coach stopped outside a four-star hotel, and everyone got off.

Chen Xu could not help sighing again. Having a generous leader really was nice. Luo Xiyun had said yesterday that this Team Building event would last two days and one night.

He had not expected her to book them into a four-star hotel.

The rooms were assigned two people to a room. After everyone put down their luggage, they gathered downstairs again, and the event officially began...

It had to be said, hiring those facilitators had been well worth it. Professionals were professionals. After a few games, even Chen Xu was fully immersed. He actually began to feel that Team Building was not so bad after all.

That afternoon, they also played a basketball game, their department against the facilitators' team.

The facilitators all exercised regularly. Though they had no advantage in height, their skills were far beyond those of office workers like them, and they quickly crushed them.

Chen Xu could not stand watching any longer. He had only just developed a sense of team pride; how could he watch his department suffer a crushing defeat? After the other side scored, while his team was preparing to inbound the ball, he stopped the player holding it and said, "Let me play for a while."

"Sure." That colleague clearly did not exercise much normally and was already breathing hard. Hearing that Chen Xu wanted to take the court, he agreed.

"Substitution!"

Chen Xu called out, stood at the baseline, and inbounded the ball.

"Go, Chen Xu!" Dai Zixin was the first to cheer when she saw him take the court.

Chen Xu waved at her and ran toward the other half.

Back in high school, his only hobby outside class had been basketball. Of course, he had been an amateur among amateurs. By now, he had not played in a long time, and he probably could not even dribble steadily.

Still, that did not matter. As long as he could score, it was fine.

While everyone had been warming up earlier, he had gone over and taken a few shots. He had already found his range.

Standing outside the three-point line, he saw that his defender was giving him plenty of space. That was normal. On outdoor courts, not many people took threes. He called, "Pass it to me."

The teammate handling the ball was not particularly skilled either. Seeing the defender in front of him set his stance, he felt he could not drive past him, and he had no confidence shooting from that distance. When he heard Chen Xu call out, he passed the ball over.

Chen Xu caught it, took aim, and shot.

Swish. Nothing but net.

From then on, it was his show. Every time the other side made a basket, he answered with a three-pointer. After sinking three in a row, his team's morale immediately rose. Everyone began to trust him and passed him the ball every time.

The other side also recognized the threat he posed. When he received the ball for the fourth time, his defender pressed up close.

Back in high school, he could have driven past him. Now, he did not even dare dribble. He would lose the ball in seconds.

Under those circumstances, he could not even get into a proper shooting posture.

"Those three shots were all lucky, weren't they?" the defender could not help mocking. Judging from Chen Xu's reaction after receiving the ball, he was clearly a rookie who barely even knew how to dribble. But sometimes it was just that weird. When a rookie got hot, every shot went in.

"You think I won't shoot just because you're guarding me like this?" Chen Xu grinned. He braced the man with his left shoulder, then threw the ball up with a huge right-handed hook.

For a hook shot like that, the defender would need to be twenty centimeters taller to have any chance of blocking it. He could only watch helplessly as the ball flew away.

"Rebound!" Chen Xu shouted. A hook shot from outside the three-point line was no different from tossing it blindly. His first instinct was to fight for the rebound.

Swish.

The ball dropped cleanly through the net again.

"That went in too?" The man froze, dumbfounded.

For the fifth ball, the man still refused to believe it. He pressed up again. "I refuse to believe your luck is that good."

Chen Xu glanced at him and shot with the same motion.

Swish.

"Five!" Dai Zixin suddenly shouted, and everyone else began cheering as well.

The defender's mouth hung slightly open, his eyes dazed.

The sixth ball.

The man said nothing and closed in on him.

Another hook shot.

Swish.

"Six!" This time, all the colleagues shouted together.

"Damn, that's way too freakish, isn't it?" The man began questioning his life. Three difficult shots in a row? How was that possible?

After that, no one cared about winning or losing anymore. Everyone wanted to know how many Chen Xu could make.

"Seven!"

"Eight!"

"Ten!"

Other than the man still defending Chen Xu, the facilitators all looked at Chen Xu as though they were seeing a god.

"Today has really opened my eyes," one of them muttered.