From Today On, Elevators Are No Longer Needed

Seeing the new notification pop up on his Attribute Panel, Chen Jue was slightly taken aback.

"Climbing stairs counts as climbing? Seriously?"

"Is it because of the upward-climbing motion?"

Chen Jue pondered for a moment, looking back at the steps he had just ascended.

The staircase wasn't actually steep, and although there was a handrail, Chen Jue hadn't touched it once, reaching this point quite quickly.

However, since the panel recognized stair-climbing as a climbing exercise, it gave Chen Jue plenty of motivation for his future stair-climbing endeavors.

"Just started at this new job, and the first thing I do is climb stairs to grind proficiency."

"Isn't this just forcing me to slack off in broad daylight?" Chen Jue grinned, stopped dwelling on the reason, and turned to continue his ascent.

The building housing Hengtong Group was a Grade A office building, with each floor having a standard height of 4.2 meters.

The fire escape stairwells in such buildings were typically designed in a double-run layout, meaning the stairs turned once per floor, resembling the symbol "|z|".

There were about 15 steps per half-flight, with a small landing at the corner for resting, and another 15 steps after the turn to reach the fire exit of the floor above.

That meant 30 steps per floor, totaling 480 steps to reach the 17th floor.

On flat ground or a downhill slope, such a step count would be a breeze, taking mere minutes.

But once it turned into stair-climbing, it was truly exhausting.

By the time he reached the 7th floor, Chen Jue was already panting, his heart racing and his body beginning to sweat, his hand subconsciously reaching for the railing.

"This... it doesn't look high, but it's really tiring to climb. Feels more strenuous than practicing Tai Chi." Chen Jue slowed his pace; the sensation of climbing these stairs felt like he was submerged in water.

Every time he lifted his leg, his thighs and ankles throbbed with muscle soreness.

By the time he reached the 12th floor, Chen Jue's speed had slowed to a crawl.

He had to take a deep breath and pause for a moment after every two steps.

Unexpectedly, just as he rested for a few seconds, the panel gave another notification:

[Ding~]

[Completed a high-intensity aerobic exercise. Your leg muscle groups have been trained, and your body's dynamic balance has slightly increased.]

[Warning: Your cardiopulmonary function is under continuous strain, blood circulation is accelerating, and oxygen consumption is intensifying. Please ensure adequate oxygen intake to avoid physical injury.]

[Constitution +0.01]

[Strength +0.01]

[Free Attribute +0.01]

"Climb... climbing stairs actually triggered a critical hit!"

"And it only took 3 minutes!"

Chen Jue stepped onto the 13th floor, looked at the red-highlighted warning, and hurriedly pushed open the fire door to the office area to take a few deep breaths of fresh air.

Although stair-climbing was high-intensity and incredibly efficient for grinding proficiency and attribute points, the air in the stairwell was truly foul.

Chen Jue figured the building management had intentionally turned off the ventilation fans to save electricity, leaving the air smelling stagnant.

It was likely exhaust from the basement parking garage mixed with the smell of cigarette smoke, which was nauseating to inhale for too long.

"As expected, property management companies are stingy everywhere!"

"It's just a fan; how much electricity could it cost in a day?" Chen Jue couldn't help but grumble.

He had finally found a new way to grind attributes, only to be hindered by such man-made factors.

If it weren't for the fact that he was new and still unfamiliar with the environment, he would have wanted to call 96119 to report the building for failing fire safety standards!

He stayed on the 13th floor for about 7 or 8 minutes, and the time passed 9:00 AM sharp.

This was considered a normal start time, but Chen Jue wasn't in the slightest hurry, as he had already clocked in downstairs.

To be cutting it this close on his first day of work—he really had some nerve, and his boldness was growing.

Of course, this was mainly due to a shift in his mindset.

He was nearly 30; who still cared about that nonsense attendance record?

However, to Chen Jue's surprise, just past 9:00 AM, the ventilation ducts in the stairwell began to hum.

He poked his head into the stairwell to sniff; it wasn't as stifling anymore. Once he caught his breath, Chen Jue slowly dragged his body up to the 17th floor.

Pushing open the fire door once more and walking toward the grand entrance of the Risk Control Department at Hengtong Group, Chen Jue's sportswear was completely soaked in sweat.

"Including the rest time, it took about 12 minutes."

"Climbing like this feels even more effective than an hour at the gym!"

"No wonder, with a floor this high, I've never heard of anyone taking the stairs to work." As Chen Jue sighed to himself, he took a glance at his Attribute Panel:

Character: Chen Jue

Strength: 0.87+

Physique: 1.09+

Spirit: 1.07+

Skills: [Hidden Weapon Throwing Lv5 (24/20000)] [Climbing Lv0 (35/100)] [Twelve Taiji Forms (Mastered)]

Available Free Attribute Points: 0.01

(Character Evaluation: You are a working professional with your own ideas. Although your hard work hasn't yielded 100% returns, it will no longer be wasted in vain like before, letting your time go completely down the drain.)

(However, please take note! While being self-disciplined, you must also pay attention to your underlying health issues. Balance work and rest, maintain your health, and only then can you go further.)

"Almost there!"

"Just a few more days of persistent effort, and all three dimensions should cross the 1.0 mark."

Chen Jue looked at the updated character evaluation on the panel, frowned slightly, and then touched the small inner pocket of his backpack where he kept his medicine.

After his previous hospital check-up, he had a general idea of his ailments; most were chronic conditions.

During this period, in addition to sticking to his daily exercise, he had been taking targeted medication after every meal.

He took Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid regularly, as mentioned by the chief physician, to treat his gallstones.

This medicine was quite expensive, and since it was imported, it wasn't covered by medical insurance, costing him over 600 a month.

If one had a predisposition for stones, it was a long-term commitment, costing even more than Chen Jue's previous smoking habit.

"I wonder if this medicine can actually dissolve the stones."

"If it doesn't, I'll have to make a trip to Shanghai specifically for treatment." With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Chen Jue stood at the entrance of his new workplace for a moment before heading inside.

He had already completed the onboarding process, registered his facial data, and confirmed his workstation.

Although the young lady at the front desk found Chen Jue's face unfamiliar, she saw the employee ID information pop up on the entrance monitor, so she smiled, nodded, and greeted him with an enthusiastic "Good morning."

"As expected of a top-tier company; even the front desk of the Risk Control Department is leagues ahead of Taisheng Finance in terms of looks!" Chen Jue mused, feeling a bit of the novelty that comes with starting a new job.

He walked through the spacious office area and arrived at the Risk Control Department at the very back.

The space was large, with nearly a hundred workstations divided into six groups. Chen Jue was the newcomer, assigned to the fifth group.

According to General Manager Luo, Luo Lezhi, the head of the Risk Control Department, the fifth group was responsible for the refinancing business of existing vehicles, commonly known as car-collateral loans.

Compared to the more common new car or used car installment businesses, the volume of car-collateral loans wasn't massive, but the client qualifications varied wildly, and there were many fraudulent applicants, which really tested the personal vetting capabilities of the risk control staff.

However, Chen Jue had been demoted from a supervisory level, so he had been exposed to all sorts of business and was naturally no stranger to car-collateral loans.

He sauntered over to his workstation, where the people at the surrounding desks were already busy.

Some were logging into systems, some were reviewing documents, and a few were analyzing the approval data from the previous week.

As soon as Chen Jue, a fresh face, appeared, everyone glanced his way.

Seeing this, Chen Jue smiled slightly and waved at his new colleagues: "Hello everyone, I'm the new guy, Chen Jue! We met briefly last week!"

Seeing that he looked scholarly, wore glasses, and had that slightly flabby physique with a receding hairline, they pegged him as a veteran risk control officer at a glance. They smiled and greeted him back, marking a preliminary introduction.

At this moment, Li Mo, the leader of the fifth group sitting at the end of the row, smiled and said to him: "Chen Jue, General Manager Luo already went over your onboarding process during the meeting last week."

"Today is your first day, so first familiarize yourself with the logic and data models of our risk control system, then study the client classification strategy for our front-end products. This afternoon, I'll try to push a few Class A clients for you to review."

"I'm the group leader, so I'll be double-checking your work for a week. Once there are no issues by next week, you'll be on your own! Does that arrangement work for you?"

"No problem!"

Chen Jue nodded upon hearing this, his first impression of these new colleagues being quite positive.

No one was looking at him through colored glasses or whispering behind his back, which he assumed was due to the good atmosphere cultivated by Group Leader Li Mo.

After taking his seat and arranging his personal items, Chen Jue went to the restroom to change into his business attire.

He had climbed 17 floors and was drenched in sweat; he was glad he'd brought a towel, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to sit comfortably and slack off.

Just as he sat down in his chair, a chubby man sitting right next to him leaned in.

"Hey buddy, my name is Shen Shikun, let's get to know each other! We're neighbors now."

"You haven't joined the group chat yet, right? Let me add you on WeChat and pull you into our group."

Shen Shikun had a portly build and looked rather simple-minded; he was clearly a professional who weighed over 200 pounds and wasn't particularly fond of exercise.

"Thanks!"

Seeing the other man's enthusiasm, Chen Jue politely took out his phone to add him on WeChat.

When starting at a new workplace, the first and most important step to integrating into the group is adding everyone on WeChat.

After Chen Jue was dragged into the Group 5 chat, he added every member one by one, and to liven up the atmosphere, he sent a "lucky draw" red packet containing 200 yuan.

Seeing the chat flooded with all sorts of silly memes and hearing the colleagues sitting nearby wailing about not grabbing the largest share, Chen Jue knew this new job wouldn't be too boring.

It seems everyone is quite easy to get along with.

Chen Jue smiled slightly, turned on his computer, and logged into the Hengtong system using his employee ID.

The interface was incredibly high-end; the risk control models and strategies integrated into it were the most cutting-edge on the market. It also featured a host of paid query portals, covering almost all data related to vehicle financing businesses.

From vehicle repair records, 4S shop maintenance, and insurance claims to a client's legal enforcement status, credit debt, and negative records—everything was consolidated into a single system.

Doesn't checking a single client's data here cost over a hundred bucks?

Truly worthy of a big company! They've got money to burn!

After just a rough browse, Chen Jue couldn't help but drool.

Compared to a makeshift outfit like Taisheng Finance, only a major enterprise like this could confidently thump their chests in front of investors and claim they had risk control.

If Chen Jue had possessed this system before, he could have handled the workload of an entire team by himself, with no need to hire three subordinates to handle the grunt work.

This was the benefit of an integrated software system!

Everything was automated with one-click operations; he could finish all his work just by clicking the mouse.

It was just that this kind of thing wasn't something a small company could afford. Chen Jue estimated that just building this system would cost tens of millions; no small boss or minor investor could cough up that kind of money.

But that's fine too!

The more powerful this risk control system is, the less work I'll have to do later.

Isn't it great to use the saved time to slack off and exercise?

Having figured this out, Chen Jue grinned, reached into his bag, and placed his Grip Strengthener openly on his desk.