The Boss Transforms into a Pressure Monster

"Huh?"

"Ah!"

"Chairman Zhang ran away?"

"And Finance Director Wang, too?"

"What on earth is going on!"

Chen Jue was completely stunned when he heard the news!

With thousands of enterprises stationed in the Binjiang Industrial Park, one always heard about some genius in a unit who gambled online, racked up a mountain of debt, and then suffered social death the moment debt collectors showed up, only to quit on the spot and run for the hills.

He never imagined that he would just go home for a simple weekend, only to return on Monday to find that his own boss had vanished.

Although Taisheng Finance had poor performance this year and revenue was so low it was on the verge of liquidation and dissolution.

Still, this was an auto finance guarantee company, and one registered with several provincial banks at that!

With a staff of over 50 people, offline branches across eight major cities in the province, tens of thousands of active, unsettled car loan clients, and hundreds of vehicles waiting to be processed, the business volume was at least over a billion.

Even if they fired everyone in the company and kept only the loan recovery and finance departments, they wouldn't even need to generate new business; the interest spread from ongoing client repayments would be enough for the shareholders and executives to live very comfortably.

How could they just run away like that?

Most importantly, even the authorities had been alerted; it seemed this matter was no small affair!

"The Economic Investigation Division is here too?"

"Just how big of a bomb is this?" Chen Jue glanced at the uniformed officers at the entrance, swallowed hard, and muttered to himself.

When a financial firm implodes, it isn't as simple as a real estate company going under. The larger the capital pool, the greater the impact of the collapse, and once things go wrong, it must be investigated and filed by the specialized authorities.

"I heard they arrived around 7:00 AM and are inside collecting evidence now."

"The executives are all in there giving statements, and it looks like it will be our turn soon."

"Brother Jue! What do you think we should do?" Jiang Lin was a college graduate fresh to society and had never experienced such a storm.

Seeing Chen Jue, his workplace mentor, he instinctively leaned closer to him, hoping to find some sense of security.

"What can we do?"

"Just let it be!"

"This matter is too big; it has nothing to do with us employees. Don't worry too much—just answer whatever they ask you truthfully." Chen Jue shrugged his shoulders.

He had entered the financial loan industry right after graduating from college and had experienced the crazy wave of online lending years ago.

Back then, all sorts of predatory loans and P2P schemes were popping up everywhere. The interest rates were stacked higher than a Mejai's Soulstealer in League of Legends—starting at 20 stacks immediately. Any small lending company you picked out had a volume of tens or hundreds of billions.

Because the impact was so massive, after things went south, the authorities swept every single P2P lending company clean.

The scale of that collapse was far more terrifying than this "little" incident at Taisheng Finance!

Standing at the entrance like spectators, they drew so much attention that even people from the medical aesthetics company across the hall kept coming out to watch.

After waiting at the door for about an hour, the authorities began using the company roster to call people in one by one to give statements and make on-site records.

By the time the evidence collection was finished, it was already 1:00 PM.

On the way, Chen Jue grabbed a quick meal with a group of colleagues, most of whom were completely baffled by the boss running away.

Once most of the officials withdrew and the police tape at the company entrance was taken down, the crowd entered the conference room, filled with confusion.

The remaining shareholders and executives, including General Manager Zhou Yong, were all gathered together, their faces dark as they held a collective meeting for the entire company.

The meeting focused on two main points.

First, it was briefly explained that Chairman Zhang Chi'an, in collusion with Finance Director Wang Nan, had used illegal means over the weekend to transfer all the funds from the company's accounts.

This sum included the capital for advance payments, security deposits from partner stores, the salary and performance bonus pool, shareholder dividends, bank prepayments, and mid-year rebates, totaling 120 million yuan.

Second, starting this month, the company would temporarily be unable to pay employee salaries or contribute to social insurance.

The first piece of news was fine—it wasn't the employees' money being stolen, after all.

But the moment they heard there would be no salaries, the entire conference room exploded!

"What the hell!"

"What about the promised N+1 severance?"

"Not even paying social insurance? Is there really not a cent left in the company!"

"I have to pay rent soon, are you telling me to sleep on the street?"

"Damn it, I still have mortgage and car payments to make!"

The room was filled with righteous indignation. They looked at the executives and shareholders sitting at the front as if they were looking at a group of villains.

If not for the official standing nearby, a full-blown brawl might have broken out right then and there.

"Everyone, quiet down!"

"Listen to me!"

"The wages are only being withheld temporarily, not permanently; it's just a delay for a period of time."

"As long as the authorities track down the destination of Zhang Chi'an's funds and freeze his accounts, this money will be back soon!"

"Plus, there will be a batch of profit rebates from client repayments on the 20th of every month, and we can liquidate the repossessed vehicles in the warehouse to recover capital. Give the company a few months, and everything will be back to normal," Zhou Yong said, attempting to take charge of the situation.

He was the general manager; although not the legal representative, he had to be the first to step up when the company hit a crisis.

However, all the investors and shareholders, including him, were currently red-eyed, wishing they could tear that Chairman Zhang limb from limb.

Because of the 120 million that had been siphoned off, the vast majority belonged to these executives and shareholders!

The employees' wages only accounted for a tiny fraction, at most a few million.

Chen Jue looked at his colleagues beside him, each of them worried and cursing the company behind its back, and felt quite a sense of irony.

Having stayed at Taisheng Finance for over four years, he had expected a bright and promising career path, never imagining it would end in such a dramatic fashion.

After the meeting, the crowd dispersed and returned to their desks.

Right now, apart from the post-loan, HR, and finance departments who still had work to do, no one in the business or risk control departments had the heart to keep working.

With all the money in the company's accounts gone, and even subsequent wage compensation impossible to pay, who would be willing to work for free?

Most people were slacking off, chatting and speculating about the reasons why the boss and that Director Wang had fled.

Some said it was a failed investment that left him drowning in debt.

Others claimed they had seen the boss posting on social media about frequent trips abroad, fearing he might have picked up a bad habit and gone to some casino to bet it all on a single hand.

There were even rumors that the boss and the financial director were having an affair; in short, all sorts of gossip were flying everywhere.

Of course, while some were anxious, there were also some indifferent rich kids and young masters who were simply playing games or scrolling through short videos at their desks.

As for the stairwell outside the office, a group of heavy smokers were also there, puffing away and discussing their future job prospects.

Chen Jue sat at his desk for a moment, chatted briefly with the restless Jiang Lin, and then tossed his old phone used for clocking in to him.

"Clock me out later."

"If any of the bosses ask, just say I took leave," Chen Jue instructed before packing his things to leave.

He had been observing for a while and had already seen several old hands slipping away.

Staying any longer would just be a waste of time.

"Brother Jue, why go back so early? Aren't you waiting for news?" Jiang Lin was a bit naive, thinking the authorities could successfully recover the money.

Little did he know that if the boss was willing to take such a huge risk to run away, he certainly had ways to evade capture.

According to Chen Jue's estimation, Chairman Zhang was likely already abroad, laughing and lounging on some beach with a young model or mistress.

As for why he wanted to leave early.

Naturally, it was to use this free time to continue his stone skipping and darts practice!

These two hobbies were truly addictive; having not played for half a day, Chen Jue felt his hands itching uncontrollably.

"Work?"

"With things as they are, who the hell wants to work!"

First update~

I was writing at high intensity for the past few days, so I took it easy today and the update is a bit late~

Still asking for recommendation votes~