After the commotion in the office, whatever little affection Chen Jue still had for Taisheng Finance had been ground away.
He used to be just as naïve as his apprentice, Jiang Lin, believing he could grow and improve alongside a company and realize his worth in life.
But reality was often even more melodramatic than a TV drama.
You treated the company like family, but it treated you like dead weight and couldn't wait to kick you out without spending a penny.
"Once I get my compensation, I'll leave as soon as I can." Chen Jue sighed.
He returned to his desk and looked around.
Since most of his coworkers had been coerced into signing unfair resignation agreements, quite a few had already left early, cursing under their breath.
They had no work to do anyway. Staying there would be a waste of time.
They might as well head out and look for a suitable new job.
Those who needed interviews could go to interviews, and those who wanted to let loose could do just that.
Even Chen Jue's apprentice was packing his things. It looked like he wanted to get out of there, too.
"Brother Jue, are you coming in over the next two days?" Jiang Lin asked quietly.
Fresh out of college, he still had a little of the discipline he'd learned at school. He didn't think it was right to just leave, so he wanted to ask Chen Jue, his mentor, before deciding.
"Probably not."
"Coming in would just be a waste of time." Chen Jue waved him off, urging him to head home.
"Then... then I'm leaving!"
"If you need anything, Brother Jue, message me on WeChat." Jiang Lin hesitated, then fled with his bag as if escaping the clutches of an evil demon.
Who knew whether he was going on a date with his girlfriend or going to report the news to his parents?
In any case, no one there was in a good mood after the company had inexplicably cheated them out of their compensation.
Chen Jue, of course, was the exception.
He was one of the few employees who had secured his legal entitlements from the boss through sheer forcefulness.
After spending a while at his desk looking up information about darts and watching videos online, Chen Jue realized his horizons had been a little narrow. He'd only been thinking about competitive steel-tip darts.
It hadn't even occurred to him that China's dart-throwing arts were so vast and profound!
Standing 2.44 meters away and throwing a dart at a target was pathetically weak by comparison.
It was nothing more than good publicity, widespread availability, and a larger pool of people who played.
The dart experts in the videos threw all kinds of things: custom-made throwing knives, short swords, daggers, needles, playing cards, even axes, wrenches, and chopsticks!
They'd practically reached the point where anything could be used as a dart.
Most impressive of all, these experts could throw from a long way off. Distances of more than ten meters were everywhere.
They could still hit exactly where they aimed. They were incredibly good.
"Now that's an eye-opener!"
"You can do that with darts?" Chen Jue watched the videos, planning to learn the experts' grips and throwing techniques.
His Darts skill had already reached Lv3. He was still an amateur, but after watching only a few clips, he could roughly make out the stances the experts in the videos were using.
That was the so-called ability to apply what you'd learned to new situations: just one look, and his brain could figure it out.
Whether he could throw like these experts from more than ten meters away and hit exactly where he aimed was another matter. He'd have to practice a lot to have even a chance.
He'd been sitting around slacking for a while when Sister Li came over.
She also handed Chen Jue a fresh copy of the resignation agreement.
He glanced at it and saw that the N+1 cash compensation had been changed to an equivalent value in company inventory vehicles. Satisfied, he signed it and pressed his fingerprint onto the document.
Resignation agreements came in two copies: one for the company's records and one for the employee to take home.
With this agreement in hand, neither side would have to worry about a dispute later.
Seeing Chen Jue sign without a fuss, Sister Li, the HR manager, breathed a sigh of relief.
The image of that pen piercing through the sofa had left her with a psychological scar. She probably wouldn't sleep soundly for the next few nights.
Fortunately, the company's last troublemaker had signed. She'd finally completed the task the bosses had assigned her.
That meant she was certain to get her N+1 compensation. On top of that, she'd unexpectedly received an offer with equivalent salary and benefits, plus a signing bonus. She was over the moon.
After signing the resignation agreement, Chen Jue didn't want to waste any more time at Taisheng Finance.
While he'd been slacking, more than fifty employees had dwindled to just over ten.
The ones left were mostly in finance and post-loan services, departments that still had work to do.
He packed up his things and slipped over to the post-loan department's office.
Inside, several burly young men were making debt-collection calls in gruff voices.
When they reached customers who were only a day or two late on their payments, the men generally spoke carefully and politely.
Those customers were reliable and almost never defaulted.
But when they called the old hands who were constantly late or had missed several payments, the conversation could get downright nasty.
They'd spew out a string of censored obscenities, and sometimes even argue with customers over the phone.
It was a department that could really get your blood boiling.
"Chen Jue, perfect timing! General Manager Zhou just told me to have you pick a car from the inventory and drive it away." Hu Liang, the post-loan department supervisor, hung up the collection call he was on, greeted Chen Jue, then pulled a metal box out of the safe.
It was full of car keys from all kinds of brands.
Each key had a customer number attached. Entering it into the company system brought up the vehicle information.
"Got a particular model in mind?" Hu Liang handed the box to Chen Jue.
"Brother Liang, help me find a domestic SUV for everyday use. Something spacious and relatively new that I can drive right away, preferably without spending a fortune on maintenance." Chen Jue listed his requirements.
He'd never bought a car before, but after working at the company for so long and absorbing what he'd seen and heard, he was practically a seasoned driver.
"Then take this 2020 Geely Haoyue. 1.8-liter turbo, China VI emissions."
"The original owner stopped making payments after driving it just over thirty thousand kilometers. The court only recently closed the case, and the registration documents are all in order."
"It's been sitting in the warehouse for a few months. I'll take you to jump-start it and give it a test drive." Hu Liang winked, signaling Chen Jue not to tell anyone, then grabbed the keys and led him out of the office.
They went down to the underground garage, got into Hu Liang's car, and drove to a warehouse in the suburbs more than ten kilometers away.
Among the rows of inventory cars gathering dust, Chen Jue spotted the black Haoyue.
On the way over, he'd already checked its residual value in the company's system. Wholesale prices from used-car dealers were over eighty thousand yuan, clearly almost twenty thousand more than his N+1 compensation.
Chen Jue inspected it all over. There wasn't a single dent or scratch. The previous owner had taken good care of it, and it was ready to drive after a car wash.
"Brother Liang, this car's great!"
"You're really transferring it to me?"
Chen Jue patted his pockets, feeling a little awkward. He'd quit smoking, so he couldn't even offer the man a cigarette to build rapport.
"Damn Zhou Yong and his crew of old bastards. They've been squeezing us dry every day, and I've been sick of them for ages! It's not every day I get to make them bleed a little."
"Don't worry. I'll change the mileage in the system to a higher number. They won't find anything wrong with it!"
"I don't have time to handle the transfer myself, but I can get an acquaintance to take care of it. Just give him a carton of Huazi afterward." Hu Liang waved it off, not bothered in the least.
As the person in charge of the post-loan department, Hu Liang had the final say on how the vehicles were handled.
Besides, the company's bosses and shareholders were all too precious to come out to the middle of nowhere to inspect the assets. It was easy to pull a few strings.
"You really are a stand-up guy, Brother Liang!"
Chen Jue knew Hu Liang had his own way of doing things, so he grinned and climbed into the car.
He jump-started it and drove it around twice. The engine had plenty of power, and there was enough room inside.
On his way out, he stopped at a small shop in a nearby village, bought a carton of Huazi, and handed it to Hu Liang.
They said the righteous were often found among the common folk. After seeing the bosses' scheming over their own interests, Chen Jue had finally found a little goodness left in the company.
Of course, Hu Liang didn't refuse.
He accepted Chen Jue's cigarettes, chatted with him, and drove him back to the company.
He spent the afternoon going with an acquaintance Hu Liang had arranged to the vehicle registration office to transfer ownership, but he couldn't get a Hang City plate.
Because Hang City had license-plate restrictions and a lottery system, Chen Jue didn't have a quota.
The car he'd picked was still a gasoline vehicle, so he could only ask a broker to get it a plate from his hometown, Wen City.
Hu Liang had plenty of connections in that area. He sent Chen Jue a WeChat contact, and after Chen Jue transferred five hundred yuan, the matter was settled.
"Temporary plates are the best. No need to worry about traffic violations or driving restrictions."
Chen Jue drove his newly acquired SUV back to Changhe Residential District. On the way, he spent four hundred yuan to fill the tank, then paid another 450 yuan for a month of temporary parking at the security booth by the entrance.
It had been a triumphant day.
He'd not only reclaimed some dignity in front of the company's bosses, but also gotten a car that suited his everyday needs.
But when he looked at the day's expenses, Chen Jue felt a headache coming on.
"I've got to figure out how to make money!"
He was out of work and had a car to maintain. Chen Jue couldn't help feeling a little anxious.
Just as he was worrying about what to do next, his phone rang.
He picked up and listened to the voice message. It was from his roommate, Jiang Zhe.
"Fourth Bro! I've got good news!"
"One of the companies belonging to a big client I work with is hiring! I even asked about it for you. It's a finance company, too, and the position matches your background!"
"What do you think? Want to meet up tonight and talk?"
Jiang Zhe sounded excited in the WeChat message.
When Chen Jue heard that it had to do with a job, he got interested, too.
He thought it over, then sent a location pin for Jingtanghui, along with a sticker saying, "Tonight's bill is on Young Master Zhao."
Jiang Zhe saw the address and immediately sent three exclamation marks: "!!!"
Then he followed up with three silly reaction stickers: an evil grin, "Boss, you're generous," and "Boss, would you like home service?"
Men, after all!
It was so easy to make them happy~
Here's the second update~ I'm still asking for your votes~
P.S. This is a real "only I can use supernatural powers" story, about exploring the mysteries of the human body and using scientific methods to break through human limits.
It's not one of those stories where the protagonist adds a few points and turns into a superhero, then a bunch of hidden experts suddenly appear.
You could call it a realistic stat-boosting story. I came up with the idea, but I didn't fully understand it at first. Now I do, and I know how to write it.
As for why the protagonist was initially so set on staying in the workforce, it's because he'd only just acquired the panel. His mindset hadn't changed yet, and he needed time to adjust.
Before you continue