Righteousness Often Comes from the Lowly

After the commotion in the office just now, the last shred of sentiment Chen Jue held for Taisheng Finance had been ground to dust.

He used to be just as naive as his apprentice, Jiang Lin, believing that one could grow and progress alongside a company to realize one's life value.

But reality is often more absurd than a soap opera.

You treat the company like a home, but the company treats you like a burden, eager to kick you out without spending a single cent.

"Once the compensation arrives, I'll resign as soon as possible!" Chen Jue sighed.

He returned to his workstation and looked around.

Since most of his colleagues had been coerced into signing unequal resignation agreements, many were already leaving early, cursing under their breath.

There was no work on hand anyway, so wasting time here was pointless.

It would be better to head out early and find a suitable new employer.

Time to go for interviews, time to set himself free.

Even Chen Jue's apprentice was packing his things, clearly intending to walk away as well.

"Brother Jue, are we still coming in for the next two days?" Jiang Lin asked in a low voice.

As a fresh graduate, he still retained a bit of the discipline from his school days, feeling it wasn't right to just leave like this, so he wanted to ask his mentor, Chen Jue, for a decision.

"Probably not."

"Coming in is just a waste of time." Chen Jue waved his hand, urging him to head home early.

"Then... then I'm off!"

"If anything comes up, Brother Jue, just send me a WeChat message." Jiang Lin hesitated for a moment, then shouldered his bag and fled as if escaping the clutches of a monster.

Whether he was off to a date with his girlfriend or to report back to his parents, who knew.

In any case, with the company inexplicably stripping away their compensation, no one present was in a good mood.

Except for Chen Jue, of course.

Because he was one of the few employees who had used forceful means to secure his legal interests from the boss.

He spent some time at his desk researching knowledge related to Darts and watching videos online.

Chen Jue realized his perspective had been too narrow, focusing only on competitive needle-style darts.

He had never imagined that the art of throwing in China was so profound and vast!

Standing at a distance of 2.44 meters to hit a target like needle darts was just weak.

It was nothing more than effective marketing, high accessibility, and a larger base of players.

The experts in the videos were throwing everything: custom-made throwing knives, short swords, daggers, throwing needles, playing cards, and even axes, wrenches, and chopsticks!

They had reached a level where almost anything could be used as a projectile.

Most importantly, these experts threw from great distances, with many exceeding ten meters.

They could hit exactly what they aimed at, which was incredibly impressive.

"This is a real eye-opener!"

"You can play with darts like this?" Chen Jue watched the videos, intending to learn the grip and power-generating techniques of these masters.

His [Darts] skill had already been upgraded to Lv3; although it was still at an amateur level, he could roughly discern the body posture adopted by the experts in the videos after just a few glances.

This was the so-called ability to draw inferences; once he saw it, his brain had essentially mastered the theory.

As for whether he could hit his mark from ten meters away like these experts, that would only be possible with frequent, hands-on practice.

After slacking off for a while, Sister Li came over.

She handed a brand-new resignation agreement to Chen Jue.

He took a look, and seeing that the N+1 cash compensation had been changed to equivalent inventory vehicles, Chen Jue signed it with satisfaction and pressed his thumbprint.

Resignation agreements were in duplicate; the company kept one for their archives, and the individual took the other.

With this agreement in hand, it would prevent any unpleasantness between the two parties later on.

Seeing Chen Jue sign the agreement obediently, Sister Li, the HR manager, breathed a sigh of relief.

The scene from earlier, where a ballpoint pen had pierced through the sofa, had left her with psychological trauma; she figured it would be hard to sleep soundly for the next few nights.

Fortunately, the last thorn in the company's side had signed, finally completing the task assigned by the bosses.

With this, her own N+1 compensation was secure, and she had even turned a misfortune into a blessing by receiving an offer with equivalent salary and a signing bonus, leaving her feeling quite pleased.

After signing the resignation agreement, Chen Jue had no desire to continue wasting time at Taisheng Finance.

Just in the time he had been slacking off, the company's staff of over 50 people had dwindled to just a dozen or so.

Those remaining were mostly from finance and post-loan departments who still had work to do.

I packed up my things and hurried over to the post-loan department office.

Inside, several burly young men were shouting into their phones, busy with debt collection calls.

When they encountered customers who had accidentally missed a payment by a day or two, these men were usually very careful and polite.

Because those types of customers were good clients who rarely defaulted.

But once they called the "old oil-slick" types—those who frequently missed payments or had been dragging out their arrears for several cycles—the tone of the conversation would turn incredibly nasty.

They would spew a torrent of profanities, sometimes even getting into full-blown shouting matches with the customers over the phone.

In short, it was a very high-stress department.

"Chen Jue, you've come at the right time! President Zhou just gave the word; he said you should go to the warehouse and pick out a car to take." Hu Liang, the post-loan supervisor, hung up his collection call, greeted Chen Jue, and pulled a metal box out of the safe.

The box was filled with car keys of every brand imaginable.

Each key had a customer ID number attached, which could be used to pull up vehicle information in the company system.

"See any models you like?" Hu Liang handed the metal box to Chen Jue.

"Brother Liang! Help me find a domestic SUV for commuting. Something with a bit more space, a recent model year, ready to drive, and preferably something that doesn't require expensive maintenance," Chen Jue requested.

Although he had never bought a car himself, after working at the company for so long, he had picked up enough to be considered half an expert.

"Then pick this 2020 Geely Haoyue. 1.8T, National VI emissions."

"The original owner defaulted after driving it only 30,000 kilometers. The court just closed the case, and the green registration book and paperwork are all in order."

"This car has been sitting in the warehouse for a few months. Let me take you to jump-start it and test drive it." Hu Liang winked at Chen Jue, signaling him to keep it quiet, then grabbed the keys and led Chen Jue out of the office.

We headed down to the basement and took Hu Liang's car to a warehouse in the suburbs, over ten kilometers away.

Among a sea of dusty, parked inventory vehicles, Chen Jue spotted the black Haoyue.

On the way over, he had already logged into the company's backend system to check the car's residual value. The wholesale price for used car dealers was over 80,000, which was clearly nearly 20,000 more than his N+1 severance package.

Chen Jue inspected it from every angle; there wasn't even a scratch or a dent. The original owner had maintained it well, and it would be ready to drive after a quick wash.

"Brother Liang, this car is great!"

"Are you really transferring the title to me?"

Chen Jue touched his pockets, feeling a bit awkward. He had quit smoking, so he didn't even have a cigarette to offer to butter him up.

"Damn it, Zhou Yong and those old bastards are always squeezing us; I've hated them for a long time. It's rare to have someone like you make them bleed a little."

"Don't worry, I'll inflate the mileage in the backend later so they won't be able to find any faults!"

"I don't have time to go to the transfer office, but I can call an acquaintance to help you handle it. Just give him a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes when the time comes." Hu Liang waved his hand, looking indifferent.

As the head of the post-loan department, Hu Liang basically had the final say on vehicle disposal.

Besides, the company's executives and shareholders were all too pampered to come out to this wilderness to inspect assets, making it very easy to pull a few strings.

"Brother Liang, you're a stand-up guy!"

Chen Jue knew the other man had his ways, so he hopped into the car with a grin.

After jump-starting it and taking it for two laps, the engine felt powerful and the space was sufficient.

He drove out to a small shop in a nearby village, bought a carton of Zhonghua cigarettes, and handed them over.

They say that loyalty is often found among the humble; after witnessing the cold calculations of the executives, Chen Jue finally found a glimmer of humanity within the company.

Naturally, Hu Liang didn't refuse.

After accepting the cigarettes, he chatted with Chen Jue all the way back to the company.

It took an entire afternoon to go to the vehicle management office with Hu Liang's acquaintance to handle the transfer, though it couldn't be registered with a Hang City license plate.

Because Hang City had traffic restrictions and a lottery system, Chen Jue didn't have a quota.

Since the car was a gas vehicle, he had to entrust a scalper to register it in his hometown of Wen City.

Hu Liang had many connections in this area, so he pushed a WeChat contact over; after transferring 500 yuan, the matter was settled.

"Temporary plates are the best—no need to worry about traffic violations or driving restrictions."

Chen Jue drove his new SUV back to the Changhe Residential District. On the way, he spent 400 yuan to fill the tank and another 450 yuan at the security booth to pay for a month of temporary parking.

Although the day had been a triumphant one—not only had he gotten back at the company executives but he had also secured a car perfect for his needs—the moment he looked at the day's expenses, Chen Jue felt a massive headache coming on.

"I need to find a way to make money!"

Without a job and with a car to maintain, Chen Jue felt a sense of crisis creeping in.

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.

"Number Four! Good news!"

"I have a big client's company that's hiring! I even went out of my way to ask for you; it's a finance firm, and it's a perfect match for your major!"

"How about it? Want to meet up tonight and chat?"

Jiang Zhe's tone in the WeChat message was incredibly excited.

Upon hearing that it concerned his career, Chen Jue became interested as well.

After thinking it over, he sent a location pin for Jingtanghui, along with a meme that read: (Tonight's bill is on Young Master Zhao).

As soon as Jiang Zhe saw the address, he immediately replied with three exclamation marks: "!!!"

He followed that up with three silly reaction memes: (Evil smirk), (The boss is generous), and (Does the boss want on-site service?).

Men, after all!

Happiness is always this simple~

Second update~ Still asking for recommendation votes~

PS: This is a story about true "solipsistic magic," exploring the mysteries of the human body and using scientific methods to break through limits.

It's not about suddenly adding points to become a Superman, only for a bunch of hidden masters to pop out of nowhere.

You could call it a "realistic point-adding" genre. Since I started it, I didn't quite grasp it before, but now I've figured out how to write it.

As for the protagonist wanting to stay in the corporate world at the beginning, it's because he had just obtained the panel and his mindset hadn't shifted yet; he needs a process.