As the workday drew to a close, the first team’s office was already winding down. People packed up, stretched, and chatted casually, but at the very back, only the team leader’s desk still echoed with the sound of typing.
The others seemed not to notice, continuing their lighthearted chatter.
“I’m heading to the airport right after this, weekend grind with the special ops!” said Wu Tianjiao.
Gao Xiangri chimed in: “I promised my daughter I’d take her to that super-popular dessert place! Clock out, then we line up.”
Xiao Mu raised a hand: “I’m going home to rank up! Weekend grind time!” He glanced at a certain bespectacled figure, who slammed Enter with a sharp click—Yu Siba.
“Team leader, you really aren’t joining? I can take you!”
Yu Siba almost smiled, but he just twitched the corner of his mouth and suppressed it.
“No,” he said.
After all, even if he often missed shots in Mythical Duels, Xiao Mu’s rank wasn’t high enough to determine anything.
Besides, tonight, he—the team leader—was heading to a victory banquet with champion professional players!
Xiao Mu chuckled as his mentor dragged him up from his desk. He couldn’t help but sigh: “Our team is really something…”
“That’s because you’re smart and ambitious,” Gao Xiangri teased, flicking him on the head. “Team leader, we’re heading out first.”
The others echoed: “Clock out early!”
“Two minutes.” Yu Siba didn’t look up, methodically reviewing the drawings one last time before saving and exiting.
Those saying goodbye, laughing and carrying their bags, were startled as the frosted glass door slid open—and someone unexpected appeared.
“…Director Lu?” someone recognized him, still smiling, and asked casually, “Anything we can help with?”
Lu Jinren smiled faintly and sighed. Beside him, Qian Chong said, “Sorry to trouble you. Stay late with Team Leader Yu for a bit.”
The saying goes: If the leader isn’t upright, the subordinates won’t be either. A rebellious team leader doesn’t create soft subordinates.
The first team member out immediately frowned, speaking up:
“Director Lu just arrived—maybe you don’t know—but our team never works overtime on Fridays.”
Though he mentioned Lu, his gaze was on Qian Chong.
Didn’t he realize that Qian—team leader Qian—surely knew?
Qian raised his voice: “Team Leader Yu never refuses overtime. What, are you trying to target him just because Director Lu is new?”
“Target him?!” The team member nearly exploded but was nudged by a colleague to calm down.
Glancing to the back of the office, he saw their team leader walking toward them, and a heavy dread settled in.
“What if the leader agrees?!” he whispered.
The colleague sighed silently: “Then just go with it.”
Lu Jinren narrowed his eyes at the team member, a faint smirk forming as he turned to Yu Siba.
“Team Leader Yu, tonight’s overtime work is…”
Yu Siba, now close enough to the double glass doors, pushed the second door open without looking at Lu Jinren, simply walking past him.
“Team Leader Yu!” Lu Jinren barked, brow furrowed, while Qian stepped forward to block him.
“…Tch.” Yu Siba stopped.
He half-turned, about to speak, when Gao Xiangri patted his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, team leader. I’ll contact Director Ji…” he whispered.
Yu Siba raised a hand: “No need.”
If relying on the boss worked, Qian wouldn’t still be just a team leader after all these years.
Expecting the boss to back him up in a situation like this? How naive.
Lu Jinren forced himself to stay composed.
“This was originally supposed to be covered in this morning’s briefing. Before we had a director, Teams One and Two worked independently, leading to inefficiency and large gaps! That’s not good for the company’s healthy competition.”
He glanced at Qian, who immediately handed over a stack of printed drawings. Yu Siba received them and flipped through them, eyes down.
“These are some of Team Two’s recent difficult problems. There’s a brainstorming meeting coming up. Since Team One is the company’s ace, you can’t miss this meeting! Everyone will discuss innovations and collaborate…”
“How long?” Yu Siba asked, flipping to the next page.
Behind him, Team One’s members’ expressions shifted slightly. Across the room, Team Two members exhaled.
Lu Jinren’s lips curled slightly: “Everyone will work a little harder today. Teams One and Two together—both team leaders lead—the toughest problems must be solved, no matter how late!”
He fixed Yu Siba with a steady gaze: “Your team wouldn’t, of course, try to step on colleagues’ heads for achievements, right?”
Yu Siba flipped the last page, finally looking up. His gaze carried nothing but pure disdain.
“All for a workable plan? So much fuss?”
He lowered his eyes again, walked to the door of Team One’s office, and grabbed a pen from the sunflower-decorated desk.
Slamming the paper down, he clicked the pen tip into place and started writing without hesitation.
“Wait! Use a pencil!” someone from Team Two shouted.
Yu Siba ignored them. In less than a minute, he set the pen down.
Lu Jinren scoffed: “No ideas? Team Leader Yu, remember—it’s about cooperation…”
The next second, Yu Siba folded the paper in half and tossed it casually. Lu Jinren instinctively dodged, and Qian Chong ended up in front. The paper lightly hit his face—barely harmful, extremely insulting.
“See? Satisfied?” Yu Siba said, flipping to the next page.
Qian Chong froze for a moment before raising his voice: “What are you doing?! This is a company!”
“Too noisy.” Yu Siba frowned, pen still moving. The next drawing transformed in mere seconds.
Thirty seconds later—he picked up the pen, folded the drawing, and swiped it like trash across Qian’s face.
“Satisfied?”
Qian scrambled to catch it.
Third, fourth… all six drawings in under five minutes. Yu Siba finally set down his pen, like a sword returned to its sheath.
“Done. Team One, you’re finished. Go ahead with the meeting.”
Someone whispered “Woah” nearby, and like a spark hitting tinder, Lu Jinren immediately exploded.
“Yu Siba! These are the client’s trust in us! Six drawings in five minutes—you’re mocking us?”
Yu Siba met his gaze, calm as always—but that only tightened Lu Jinren’s frown further.
Until Yu Siba let out a small, sharp laugh.
“Six drawings. Organize and send them to the client yourselves. If three or more aren’t accepted, call me back for a meeting anytime. If they are accepted, each project goes to me—every single one.”
“Team Leader Qian, Director Lu, do you dare?”
The words fell like a hammer. The office went silent, including people in nearby rooms eavesdropping on the gossip.
Yu Siba lightly tossed the pen back into the cup. A hollow click echoed, coinciding almost exactly with the hour chime.
He strode past Lu Jinren, those typically lazy eyes flashing sharp.
“Team One, clock out.”
Immediately, Team One’s packed-up members filed out. Gao Xiangri, exiting, “accidentally” bumped Lu Jinren, sending him sprawling.
“You… stand still!” Lu Jinren slammed the low table at the office door. The sunflower figurines wobbled joyfully, as if mocking his incompetence.
“Yu Siba! In the past, you took projects at the cost of your team—did they know how much you harmed their interests?”
Snap! Wu Tianjiao, last to leave, turned off the office lights, her pink ponytail swinging like a whip.
“Team One was built two years ago by the team leader personally. Every decision involved consulting everyone. Do you think he’s like you, issuing orders from above and can call himself a leader?”
She started, and the other Team One members joined in.
“Our leader rarely makes us work overtime together.”
“We’re united—who are you to criticize?”
“Fine, Yu Siba. Refuse to cooperate, leave without completing work—you’re docking your pay!” Lu Jinren roared.
Behind Yu Siba, Team One moved as one, powerful and imposing, parting the onlookers like a tide.
At the end, the last member stepped back, revealing a man standing in the center, face icy.
Yu Siba froze, stunned, opening his mouth:
“Ka—”
Ji Wenze’s gaze met his, complex, before he lifted a faint smile and nodded.
Yu Siba blinked out of his daze.
No, not yet.
He bit his cheek hard, dropping his gaze to hide his emotions. In that brief pause, someone approached from behind.
“Director Ji!” Lu Jinren was first, concern in his voice. “Weren’t you in a meeting out of town? Why rush back…”
It was almost like a high-ranking concubine demanding justice from the emperor.
Yu Siba felt disgusted at the mental image—but realized, it was flattering to Lu and Qian.
Two against one, a director and a team leader with backing—today, Ji Wenze would only punish each half as much.
Or, more conveniently, just sell him out entirely.
Yu Siba pressed his lips, decisively lifting his head, finally meeting Ji Wenze’s face without flinching. His chest rose and fell as he asked coldly:
“Director Ji, is there something you need to say?”
Even if he was fired today, he’d accept it.
He could always be a streamer, a coach, an analyst… after all these years, he’d never had to choose just one path.
Ji Wenze met his sharp gaze, lowered his brow slightly, smiling faintly, a hint of helplessness in his expression.
He raised a hand, smoothing the wrinkles in Yu Siba’s clothes caused by the flying papers, then lightly guided him behind himself.
“Clock out as usual. I’ll handle this.” He leaned slightly, lowering his voice so that in the noisy office it was nearly a whisper:
“See you next week, Director Yu.”