The few people stood there frozen, as if struck by lightning, their faces full of shock.
“So, so, does Xu Chi seem a little different today?” a girl said.
“He, he looks kind of handsome in that trench coat,” another girl said.
“Handsome? Did you forget what he used to look like? Like a dead person? And you call that handsome?” a boy snapped.
“Well, even so… could we have mistaken him? That wasn’t Xu Chi, right?”
“…Twins???”
As they talked, they became more and more certain that the person just now was not Xu Chi. They had worked with Xu Chi for three years; there was no way they wouldn’t recognize a person.
That person must have just been a random passerby who looked exactly like Xu Chi! Not Xu Chi!
The elevator descended.
“Have you ever heard that Xu Chi has a twin?”
“No. Maybe he never told anyone.”
“How can Xu Chi’s twin be so handsome??”
“I never thought Xu Chi’s face looked handsome before.”
“No idea. Maybe it’s not a twin. Maybe they just look alike.”
The elevator arrived. After they stepped out, one girl suddenly thought of something…
“That was Xu Chi, don’t you remember? He just answered us and said he would finish the work.”
The atmosphere went stiff and silent for a moment.
A girl in the lobby could not hold it in and blurted out:
“Holy shit!”
Another girl quickly covered her mouth and apologized to the passerby.
“There’s a fine. Be careful.”
“Okay.”
…
Xu Chi had just arrived at the office when he ran into Cheng Zhangwen, who was coming out of the manager’s office.
Cheng Zhangwen was short and fat, always used to resting both hands in front of his pants pockets without actually putting them in. His chin was always lifted, and he looked at people with contempt.
Before he became manager, he liked to talk behind people’s backs. After becoming manager, his ugly nature was even more obvious, like a street thug, cursing over the tiniest things and speaking even more harshly.
A lot of people in the office had been scolded by him. If it were not so hard to find a job in Salt City, almost no one would be willing to work under him.
The only option was to find a way to transfer to another floor.
Cheng Zhangwen looked like he had just finished eating and come out for a patrol. The moment he saw Xu Chi, his whole body jerked, as if he were about to explode with anger. He grabbed a folder from someone else’s desk and threw it at Xu Chi.
“You still dare to come!”
Just seeing Xu Chi made his face and ears flush red with anger.
Xu Chi frowned in disgust, steadily caught the folder, and strode toward Cheng Zhangwen.
There were other people in the office, but no one dared say a word. They only dared to watch secretly.
His trench coat lifted slightly in the wind of his steps. The young man had long legs, a sharp and agile frame, and a kind of domineering, untamed aura that brought with it a sense of oppression.
After only a few steps, Cheng Zhangwen involuntarily backed up. This was clearly the cowardly Xu Chi who used to be casually scolded and bullied, but now, facing those eyes, he actually felt fear.
After three or four steps, Xu Chi stood in front of him and looked down at him.
He first reached out and put the colleague’s folder back on the desk, then turned to look at him coldly. Cheng Zhangwen was almost scared to his knees.
Xu Chi curled the corner of his mouth and said in a very sincere tone, “Manager, something happened two days ago. I got sick and couldn’t come to the company.”
If it had been the original Cheng Zhangwen, he would have already been cursing at him. He wanted to do that right now too, but somehow his voice trembled when he spoke.
“If something happened, why didn’t you ask for leave? What kind of nonsense is it to just not come?”
Xu Chi rolled his eyes. “I did ask for leave. I sent you a message. You forgot.”
Cheng Zhangwen immediately retorted, “When did you send me a message?”
Xu Chi took out his phone, tapped it twice, and showed Cheng Zhangwen.
The record showed that on 3039/3/23, two days ago, he really had requested leave.
Cheng Zhangwen could not remember receiving that message at all. He took out his phone again and opened the inbox…
Among all the read messages from two days ago, there was an unread one…
And it was exactly Xu Chi’s leave request text message.
Cheng Zhangwen could not believe it. He tapped it open and saw that it really was from two days ago, and it clearly stated the reason and time for the leave.
Cheng Zhangwen refused to admit that he had simply failed to see it. He immediately swiped to delete it, then turned off his phone and looked at Xu Chi.
Xu Chi withdrew his gaze from the phone and said calmly, “Even if you delete it, I still saw it.”
“…”
Cheng Zhangwen froze for a moment. The next second, he was almost furious to the point of exploding. When had anyone ever exposed him for doing something like this? None of those people dared say a word! He just did not want Xu Chi to take leave, and Xu Chi actually dared to embarrass him like this!
How dare he?!
How dare he even speak up?!
Xu Chi acted as if he could not see Cheng Zhangwen’s enraged face. He brushed nonexistent dust off his shoulder and said casually, “Manager, you know, I work for the people above. The people above want me to keep a low profile, so I do not dare be too high-profile. Now that I am working under you, you can be high-profile, but do not drag me into it.”
After saying that, he reached out and patted Cheng Zhangwen on the shoulder a few times. They were light taps, but Cheng Zhangwen looked as if he were being pressed down.
His eyes were wide with disbelief as he stared at Xu Chi.
Xu Chi walked past Cheng Zhangwen and sat down at his own desk.
It was the very corner, with a bird of paradise plant beside it.
The moment he sat down at the white desk, with the data computer, mouse, and countless scattered files, Xu Chi instantly felt a strange sense of belonging.
It was just like the company he had worked at before.
He turned on the computer, took off his trench coat, draped it over the back of the chair, straightened his back, and rolled his white shirt sleeves up to his elbows, revealing clean, fair, slender forearms with visible veins.
You could faintly sense the muscles and strength hidden beneath.
Xu Chi had graduated a year earlier. If he were dealing with other leaders, Xu Chi naturally knew to keep his head down a little, say a few nice things, hold onto his own position while also flattering the leader so he could get by. But having read the manga, he knew that Cheng Zhangwen had to be crushed.
He could not be given even a little bit of respect.
Otherwise, he would shit on your head.
After looking through the computer and the files beside it, Xu Chi rubbed his forehead and sighed.
The original host was a very pure assassin and knew nothing at all except murder.
Although the people above had given him a position here, he really did not understand anything and adapted very slowly, which was why the people in the company were unhappy with him.
Everyone knew he had support from above. At first they did not dare say anything, but after spending enough time with him, they realized that this person was truly numb. Even if they complained to him or scolded him for not finishing his work, he had no reaction at all, and he would never report it to the people above.
As time went on, the office staff no longer feared him, nor worried that he would say anything to the people above. They spoke to him more and more rudely and vented their anger on him.
Of course, part of it was Xu Chi’s own fault, because he could not finish anything well. So the tasks assigned to him were eventually mostly taken over by his colleagues, and they naturally had a lot of resentment toward him.
Thus, Xu Chi was in a state where everyone was angry with him, wanted to drive him away, but could not get rid of him.
In three minutes, Xu Chi finished reading the computer data. In another three minutes, he sorted through the computer data and the messy files scattered across the desk.
Xu Chi did not have many strengths. His only strengths were speed: fast eyes, fast work, reading ten lines at a glance, and photographic memory.
That was why, just one year after graduation, he could rely on his outstanding ability to take on more than three times as many projects as his colleagues and still earn a salary of fifty thousand.
Before leaving, five or six companies had even tried to recruit him. He had still been considering whether to switch companies, and then he entered the manga.