Who Says Darts Can't Pierce People?

Chen Jue previously thought that only those professional video creators could pull off such abstract stone skipping.

Who would have thought that after practicing for only five days, he could do the same!

"It really is a low-level sport."

"The skill ceiling is quite low!"

Chen Jue recalled the foreign research paper on [Stone Skipping] he had seen online earlier.

The paper mentioned that the number of skips and the distance a stone travels depend on the material of the stone, the angle of entry, and the initial velocity after hitting the water.

In terms of physical technique, Chen Jue had already reached the max level, putting him on par with those professional athletes.

To eventually achieve the over-100-meter skips and 300+ bounces held by world record holders, he would have to start focusing on the hardware.

First, buy those petal-shaped clay skipping stones online.

Second, work on the physical foundations—wrists, fingers, and arm strength—to increase the initial velocity of the stone upon release.

However, Chen Jue didn't rely on [Stone Skipping] to make a living; even if he filmed it and posted it online, the traffic probably wouldn't be as high as that world record holder's.

Because this is a very niche recreational sport, few people pay attention to it, and aside from the industry leader, no one cares about the second or third place.

Unless Chen Jue practiced for a while longer, snatched back the world record, and created some hype for himself.

But thinking about his socially anxious personality and his low-key nature—where normal people don't want to face the camera—Chen Jue felt he wasn't really cut out to be an attention-seeking content creator or a TikTok influencer.

Although the term "influencer" is synonymous with making big money these days, only a tiny fraction of society can actually put aside their pride to eat from that bowl.

Most people either avoid it out of fear or look down on influencers, only scrolling through videos online for a bit of fun.

"Sigh!"

"To have a max-level stone skipping skill but nowhere to use it."

"This really is a useless skill." Chen Jue sat on the lawn to rest for a moment, then picked up a small stone from beside his feet and flung it hard at a large tree in the distance.

He used his right hand again, applying the techniques of his max-level [Stone Skipping].

"Thud!" The stone rotated at high speed in mid-air before slamming heavily into the tree trunk with a dull, heavy sound.

And in his field of vision, that panel actually popped up with a notification again!

[Ding~]
[Action meets requirements]
[Darts proficiency +1]

"What?"

"Throwing stones can also increase Darts proficiency?"

"This... it works without a target or needle-style darts?" Chen Jue was stunned and hurriedly scrambled up from the lawn.

He picked up another stone, aimed at the same tree, and threw it again.

"Thud!" It hit the trunk.

This time, the panel gave an [Excellent] rating, and his Darts proficiency increased by +2.

Chen Jue didn't believe it and tried a few more times. As long as he stood further away and aimed accurately, even when throwing stones with his right hand, the panel consistently gave him +1 or +2 proficiency notifications.

"Wait... let me wrap my head around this..."

"Was I wrong all along? Is this [Darts] skill on the panel not just for the internationally popular needle-style darts?" Chen Jue's mind clicked, and he went online to search again.

He discovered that the definition of [Darts] varies across the world.

Especially in China, the former hegemon of ancient cold weapons, the term [Darts] is deeply linked to self-defense and martial arts.

There are countless types, such as Plum Blossom Darts, Swallow Darts, Meteor Darts, Tassel Darts, and so on.

There are also things like the Little Li Flying Daggers or Shaolin Plum Blossom Needles that appear in literature.

Of course, there are also those who use stones as darts.

Like Zhang Qing, nicknamed "Featherless Arrow" in Water Margin, who used flying stones to strike fifteen heroes of Liangshan in a row before eventually taking the sixteenth chair on Liangshan.

Chen Jue using the [Stone Skipping] technique to throw stones was essentially the same principle as Zhang Qing's flying stones.

However, in the eyes of the panel, it seems that whether it's throwing stones or throwing other types of darts, they are all categorized under the [Darts] skill.

Just like the British needle-style darts Chen Jue practiced before, they are also just a branch within the broad category of [Darts].

It's just that the needle-style has been promoted better, has become professionalized, and has its own set of competition rules.

Unlike Chinese dart techniques, which very few people ever come into contact with.

After all, in this day and age, it's hard to promote a niche sport without some financial incentive.

"Does that mean stone skipping should also count as a variant of darts?"

"No wonder it triggered the [Skill Merge] notification earlier." Chen Jue closed his phone and sighed softly, feeling that he had mastered some more useless, interesting knowledge.

After figuring out a new way to play, Chen Jue began to enjoy himself. He practiced for a while, ambidextrously using trees as targets and stones as darts.

Feeling too exhausted to move afterward, he returned to Changhe Residential District to rest.

Wednesday arrived, and it was time for work as usual.

Since he had already taken leave yesterday, it would be hard to justify skipping work again.

Chen Jue had no choice but to arrive on time, clock in, and take his seat.

Coincidentally, his body needed to adapt to the high-intensity exercise from the past few days, so Chen Jue planned to balance work and rest by slacking off during office hours.

Although the company's liquid funds had been embezzled, making it impossible to pay salaries for the time being.

There were still plenty of shareholders, executives, and a large pile of high-quality assets; after waiting for a period of time, the money would eventually be recovered.

However, this naive thought didn't even last through the morning before Chen Jue saw his colleagues being called into the general manager's office one by one for "talks."

Even his young apprentice, Jiang Lin, was summoned to the general manager's office by name.

When he came out, Jiang Lin looked dazed and rushed over to tip Chen Jue off: "Brother Jue! The company doesn't plan to pay the N+1 severance package anymore!"

Through his embellished description, Chen Jue roughly grasped the situation.

The executives had put their heads together and, taking advantage of the empty accounts, decided to lay their cards on the table with the employees.

Because Taisheng Finance was originally scheduled to liquidate and dissolve next month, and now that Chairman Zhang had run off, it was impossible to get the shareholders to inject more capital.

So, the executives conspired to target the employees' severance pay, changing it from an N+1 package to just one month's salary.

With over 50 people in the company, the original N+1 plan would have required millions in compensation.

But with Taisheng Finance out of money, where would they get it?

Thus, Zhou Yong and the others resorted to both soft and hard tactics, hypocritically offering to help employees find new jobs while threatening that if they didn't sign the revised severance agreement, they could forget about both the job referrals and the one-month salary compensation.

Since the company was dissolving anyway and had hit a crisis, they didn't care about dragging out unpaid wages for years; they were washing their hands of it entirely.

"Did you sign it?"

Chen Jue looked at his naive young apprentice and saw him nodding like a frightened deer, clearly having encountered the dark side of the corporate world for the first time.

"Everyone who went in signed it! And President Zhou said if we don't sign, he'll make sure we can't survive in this industry," Jiang Lin replied with a bitter expression.

He only earned 7K a month, so losing a month's salary naturally put a lot of pressure on his life.

"You, oh you! Still too young!" Chen Jue shook his head, not knowing how to comment on this mess.

After waiting for about half an hour, it was Chen Jue's turn to enter the general manager's office.

Zhou Yong was sitting on the sofa brewing gongfu tea, with Sister Li from HR keeping him company.

Taking one look at the stack of thumb-printed and signed severance agreements on the coffee table, Chen Jue knew that most of the company had been hoodwinked by the executives' schemes.

"Chen Jue, you should know the situation by now, right?"

"You're a veteran of the company and usually a reasonable person. Now that the company accounts are empty and we can't pay the severance, we've had to revise the agreement."

"Take a look. If you agree, just sign it, and I'll help you find a partner guarantee company to refer your resume to. You'll be able to start work immediately," Zhou Yong began playing the emotional card.

Chen Jue took the agreement, glanced at it, and said with a helpless look: "President Zhou, forget about finding me a job. I need to take some time off to recover from an illness."

"Recover from an illness?"

"Oh, right! I heard from Li yesterday that you took sick leave to get a check-up. How did it go?" Zhou Yong frowned at first, then began to feign concern.

"The results aren't optimistic. The doctor says I need to have two organs removed. The treatment costs a lot, so I was just waiting for the N+1 to pay for the surgery," Chen Jue shrugged.

If the boss plays the emotional card, he would play the "pity" card.

In any case, Chen Jue was telling the truth; whether they believed him or not was their problem.

"It's that serious?"

Zhou Yong showed a hint of worry, then put on a difficult expression: "Chen Jue! The company really doesn't have the funds right now, and the subsequent liquidation and settlement will cost a fortune. After the shareholders discussed it, we definitely can't pay the N+1."

"Unless the money Chairman Zhang embezzled can be recovered, but that's a matter for the authorities, and we can't guarantee anything."

Watching Zhou Yong's evasive demeanor, Chen Jue really wanted to spit in his face.

When the incident happened the day before yesterday, the authorities were present, and the executives had sworn that salaries would be paid as usual.

But the moment they turned their backs and the authorities were gone, they flipped the script and refused to acknowledge their promises.

It truly lived up to the principle that financial firms put profits above all else.

Forget about work relationships or sentiments; once you sign the resignation and walk away, it would be hard to ever cross paths again in this lifetime.

"President Zhou! If there is no N+1, I definitely won't sign this severance agreement."

"The company having no money is something you shareholders should worry about. If I don't get my compensation, I'll file for labor arbitration. I have my employment contract, and you can't run away just because the company is dissolving," Chen Jue spread his hands, looking equally helpless.

"Labor arbitration?"

"If you don't pay the N+1, you're going to sue us?"

"Chen Jue, we've worked together for nearly four years; is it really necessary to be this heartless?" Zhou Yong furrowed his brows, feigning surprise.

At this moment, Sister Li, who was standing nearby, chimed in to help, saying that the company's executives were also in a tough spot. She claimed that since the chairman had embezzled the funds, being able to scrape together one month's salary was already doing their utmost, and she hoped Chen Jue, as a veteran employee, could be understanding.

Unfortunately, Chen Jue wasn't buying it, maintaining throughout that he was in a tough spot himself.

Of course, Chen Jue could roughly guess that Sister Li had certainly secured her N+1 severance, and had likely even been promised more benefits privately by the executives; otherwise, she wouldn't be helping them speak like this.

"Since that's the case, there's nothing left to talk about. Go ahead and sue!"

"With the company's current situation, a lawsuit could drag on for years or even a decade, and you won't see a single cent."

"If you dare to sue us, we shareholders have a bit of influence in Hang City. I guarantee that no guarantee company in the city will ever hire you again!"

Seeing that Chen Jue was impervious to reason and dead set on his original severance package, Zhou Yong simply stopped pretending and dropped the mask, resorting to threats.

His tone was extremely heavy, as if he wielded immense power and could, with a single word, blacklist Chen Jue from the entire industry.

If it had been anyone else, they likely would have been so intimidated that they would have signed the agreement immediately.

But Chen Jue had been grinding in the workplace for nearly 30 years; he had seen it all and wasn't afraid of mere verbal threats.

"Director Zhou, it's just a few tens of thousands of yuan; there's no need to make things this ugly."

"Besides, a person should be like this pen—smooth when necessary, and sharp when the time calls for it." After saying this, Chen Jue picked up the signature pen from the coffee table, held it in his left hand, and toyed with it.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you agreeing to sign?"

Seeing this, Zhou Yong frowned, his train of thought momentarily stalled.

But the next second, with a sharp "thwip" sound, Zhou Yong felt his hair stand on end as if he had been struck by something, and the teacup in his hand instantly overturned onto the coffee table.

The signature pen Chen Jue had been holding had been thrown like a needle-style Darts, flying past Zhou Yong's cheek and embedding itself directly into the leather sofa behind him.

The tip of the pen pierced through the sofa's upholstery, with half of the barrel buried inside.

The force and accuracy of that throw were evident!

Not only was Zhou Yong stunned, but Sister Li, who had been chiming in from the side, also shuddered and let out two shrill screams.

"You... you..."

"What are you trying to do?"

Zhou Yong had, after all, clawed his way up from the bottom and was over forty years old; he had experienced quite a lot, so he quickly regained his composure, though his voice trembled as he questioned him.

He had never expected that Chen Jue, a seemingly honest and introverted employee, would dare to take direct action against him.

If that pen had been just a little bit off, it would have pierced his face!

At the thought of this, Zhou Yong felt a chill run down his spine.

This wasn't just a signature pen.

It was a deadly dart!

"I'm not trying to do anything, I just want the severance pay that belongs to me."

"Since you threatened me just now, Director Zhou, I thought I'd scare you back once. Besides, this didn't hurt you, so we can call it even."

Chen Jue spread his hands and even leaned back on the sofa, crossing his legs.

He felt much more refreshed after throwing that dart.

Even the Proficiency +4 notification that popped up on his panel looked quite pleasing to his eyes.

"..."

Seeing Chen Jue speak this way, Zhou Yong's expression remained somewhat dazed, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He was indeed afraid that Chen Jue might actually hit him.

After all, Zhou Yong had a large family and a fortune of tens of millions; as an executive, it wasn't worth it to risk his life fighting with a low-level employee like Chen Jue.

Even if he didn't lose his life, getting injured or maimed would be a terrible deal.

"Heh!"

"It is just as you said, it's only a few tens of thousands of yuan; no need to make things this ugly." Zhou Yong squeezed out an awkward smile and hurriedly cleaned up the coffee table.

"But the company really doesn't have the cash right now."

"Chen Jue, how about this? I'll come up with a compromise for you. Why don't you go to the post-loan department and take one of our inventory cars of similar value?" Zhou Yong changed his attitude and began discussing the severance pay properly.

Upon hearing that the severance would be replaced with a vehicle, Chen Jue was stunned for a moment, then nodded in understanding: "Fine! Let's go with that plan! Sister Li, call me back to sign once you've revised the contract."

Sister Li, still shaken from the fright, didn't dare to say another word and nodded in fearful agreement.

After leaving the executive office, Chen Jue suddenly remembered his conversation with Lin Ling at the gym earlier.

Who said darts could only be used for hitting targets?

By casually using a pen as a dart to bluff, hadn't this guy become obedient?

It was much more effective than playing the victim!

As for Zhou Yong and Sister Li, after watching Chen Jue leave, they both stood around the signature pen embedded in the sofa with lingering fear, staring at it for a long time.

"That's wicked!"

"Truly wicked!"

Zhou Yong pulled the signature pen out and tried throwing it twice himself, but it just bounced off the sofa's leather both times.

Seeing this, Zhou Yong felt even more convinced that Chen Jue was hiding his true capabilities: "Xiao Li, when we hired Chen Jue, did his resume mention that he knew martial arts?"

"Knows martial arts? I've never heard of such a thing!"

"We've been working together for four years..." Sister Li shook her head, looking completely bewildered.

First update~

This chapter counts as a two-in-one, and by the way, I'm asking for votes!