Master of micromanagement

They soon came up with a way to talk to Zhang Youzhi face-to-face.

A video call!

Although they couldn't see Zhang Youzhi in person, they could see him on video.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the group began discussing the massive trafficking case that had shocked the entire nation a week earlier.

By piecing together their different accounts and interpreting the intelligence that had surfaced afterward, they soon established a rough outline of the incident:

This was an unprecedented human trafficking case, with the criminals belonging to two separate groups.

One was an enormous domestic trafficking ring operating mainly north of the Yellow River. Judging by the accents of the children intercepted and rescued, the survivors came from different regions, all of them economically underdeveloped.

It had also been confirmed that most of these children came from impoverished mountain villages and similar places, accounting for around two percent of all missing-child cases.

Given the sheer size of the population, even two percent was a staggering number.

This was also the largest human trafficking case cracked in recent years.

But how could a child-trafficking organization get its hands on guns? That brought them to the other criminal organization. The two groups had colluded and joined forces.

As for the organization supplying the weapons, however, the Songjiang City authorities remained tight-lipped, and Si Weizhe said he didn't know much either.

In short.

The White Jade Capital Company had partnered with the Songjiang City government to carry out the operation.

The sentry map Wen Xuanjing had risked his life to get out had played a major role, effectively preventing casualties among the assault forces.

The police chief had also explained why the main police force had moved so slowly: "We let the traffickers move the children out to prevent heavy casualties among them during the assault."

The main force had already been deployed half an hour earlier, but before Zhang Youzhi arrived, only one assault team had broken away from command and gone in ahead of schedule.

That was Li Fei's squad. Apparently, he was still in disciplinary confinement.

It was painful to hear, but that was the truth: the people inside the hideout, including Li Douyu, Nanmen Yingyun, and Wen Xuanjing, had all been "abandoned."

But the White Jade Capital Company hadn't simply left its employees inside to die. Besides Si Weizhe, who had charged in on his own to rescue his teammates, the company had sent several elite combat-team members to infiltrate from every direction.

The company's objectives were simple: keep Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu alive, and rescue the missing Hypnotist.

But when they fought their way into the center, this was the scene they found.

The "resurrected" Zhang Youzhi had used the lingering effects of the drug, while he was still in his "invincibility window," to save Li Douyu and kill every one of the dozens of men who approached.

As the drug wore off, however, Zhang Youzhi's figure gradually began to flicker and fade, leaving only Li Douyu floating eerily in midair in his arms.

They established a makeshift defensive position around Zhang Youzhi and also found the Hypnotist, who had been shot in the abdomen. Someone injected him with a drug, removed the bullet fragments, and stopped the bleeding, barely managing to keep him alive.

Apparently, he was still recuperating in the company's medical ward.

Then the main police force stormed in, supported by a swarm of drones. With overwhelming force, they wiped out the criminal hideout, killing or arresting every criminal in sight.

All the children being transported along the roads were intercepted and rescued. As for one of the prime suspects-the thug in a suit who had shot Li Douyu-he was eventually found in a reservoir lake on a tributary of the Songjiang River.

According to the roadside surveillance footage, the Mercedes had suddenly caught fire. Its fuel tank had probably been hit during the earlier gunfight, and the car had finally plunged straight into the lake.

Not even his remains were left.

Afterward, before the main force fought its way in, the White Jade Capital Company had moved Li Douyu and the flickering Zhang Youzhi out ahead of time.

Later still, once it was confirmed that neither of them was in mortal danger, orders from the company's senior management had seen them kicked out of its medical ward and transferred to the city hospital.

The group returned to discussing the White Jade Capital Company itself.

"You're employees of the company, aren't you? Don't you know anything about this side of it? It's obviously no ordinary company," Zhang Youzhi asked over the video call.

Si Weizhe said, "We know it's not a normal company, but they just pay too much."

The others all agreed.

"Exactly! Social insurance and a housing fund, nine-to-five hours, weekends and public holidays off, year-end bonuses, and even company-paid trips from time to time."

They eagerly talked over one another as they explained the company's benefits to Zhang Youzhi.

Even Li Douyu was tempted.

"Youzhi, how about I quit my job as an elementary school teacher? We could apply to this company together."

Li Douyu's eyes sparkled as she spoke.

Nanmen Yingyun added fuel to the fire. She took out her phone, opened the company's internal Points Mall page, and introduced Li Douyu to all the beauty pills and complexion-enhancing medicines the points could buy.

The way Li Douyu stared at them, she was practically ready to place an order on the spot.

Zhang Youzhi ignored the two women and turned to Si Weizhe. "Don't you have any thoughts about the company now?"

Si Weizhe shook his head frankly. "We're just employees in the Emotions Department. It's supposedly the most important department in the entire company, but we're also the employees who know the least. Our everyday work is just making friends and falling in love. We don't really think about much else."

Zhang Youzhi gave him a thoughtful look.

"Who's your immediate supervisor?" Zhang Youzhi asked.

"Our immediate supervisor is the head of the Emotions Department, but when we're out on assignments, we generally fall under the regional manager's authority. For instance, here we answer to the person in charge of Songjiang City. During that big battle a week ago, he was also the one who mobilized all the nearby Combat Department members."

"Then do you recognize this guy?" Zhang Youzhi grabbed a sheet of A4 paper and sketched an abstract portrait in pencil.

The person in the drawing had deeply sunken eye sockets and wore sunglasses, with a huge character for "white" written across his face. His body was a stick figure, but drawn tall and thin.

"Isn't that our second boss?" Si Weizhe asked, puzzled.

"You recognize him?" Zhang Youzhi was delighted.

"Sure. He's always tricking us into working nine to nine, six days a week, without giving us a raise. But he's a pretty good guy. He works tirelessly for the company. I heard that a month ago, he even went all the way to the Yimeng region himself to recruit someone and waited there for over two months. No idea if he ever managed to hire that big shot."

That sounded a little familiar to Zhang Youzhi.

"If I wanted to find him, how would I do it?" Zhang Youzhi asked.

"Go to company headquarters. The second boss is usually there. He's pretty strange. The company's other bosses stay out of everyday affairs, but he spends every day meddling in the lowest-level operations."

"For example, two years ago, there was an armed conflict overseas. The second boss flew there himself and told the company's mercenaries to move their machine-gun position five meters forward. The result was that the machine gunner got his head blown off, and the company had to pay a huge amount in compensation."

"That's why all of us employees know him so well. Pretty much everyone has been ordered around by him. He's especially good at micromanaging and getting personally involved. He's famous for being the company's king of overwork."

"And the second boss is good at self-hypnosis, too. He almost never takes time off and toils away for the company without complaint. Even a dog would shake its head at his schedule, and high school seniors would cry if they saw it," Si Weizhe added with an admiring sigh.

"For instance, because of what happened with your girlfriend, he even bailed us out a few days ago. Something that minor should've been handled by the person in charge of the Songjiang City branch..." Si Weizhe showed no sign of stopping.

Zhang Youzhi interrupted him. "Where's your company headquarters?"

"You want to join us?" Si Weizhe's eyes lit up.

"No. I want to beat him up," Zhang Youzhi said with a cold laugh.