Chen Dong was puzzled. 'Is this the latest way to welcome a new colleague? I really have fallen behind the times up on that mountain.'
He nodded slightly. "That's me."
Wang Hao's expression hardened. "Then there's no mistake! Get him, boys!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a baseball bat swung straight for Chen Dong's face.
'Damn, what a warm welcome!' Chen Dong thought, but his hands were already moving.
With a move that deflected a great force with a light touch, he redirected the oncoming baseball bat, sending it smashing into another colleague who was charging forward.
The colleague who got hit was instantly a bloody mess. His nose bleeding freely, he let out a pained cry, "Aiyo~! Wang Hao! You're supposed to be hitting him, you motherfucker! Why are you hitting me?!"
Before Wang Hao could respond, he—the first to charge in—was also sent flying back.
A red five-fingered handprint was emblazoned on his face, which was swollen like a steamed bun, and one of his eyes was now a black eye.
He mumbled indistinctly, "I was hitting him! Who knew you'd run into it yourself!"
Another person was knocked back beside them. It was Xu Qing, the only girl among the six, sporting spring-green hair and heavy smoky eye makeup. At this moment, even the smoky makeup couldn't hide her pair of dark black eyes.
Tears welled up in Xu Qing's black eyes. "Brother Hao, what do we do? This guy fights too dirty!"
Wang Hao said viciously, "What else can we do?! This is a mission that Sister Huiran gave us personally. No matter what, we have to beat him until he's half-paralyzed! Go!" With that, he charged forward again.
'So I'm the one they're supposed to beat until I'm half-paralyzed?' Chen Dong thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. 'But for Li Huiran to expect these weirdos to complete such a difficult task... isn't she underestimating me a little? I haven't even used a shred of True Qi.'
After a chaotic brawl in the General Affairs office, six fashionable youths with faces swollen like pigs' heads were lying scattered on the floor, their groans rising and falling one after another.
The only one left standing, Chen Dong, was curious. Why would a department in the massive Li Group have so many clowns? He casually sat down in a chair, crossed his legs, and asked.
"So, talk. What's all this about?"
Wang Hao hurriedly said, "Bro! My dearest bro!"
Chen Dong interrupted with a smile, "Don't call me 'bro.' I preferred your wild and defiant look from before. What's with this meek and submissive act?"
With his face swollen like a pig's head, Wang Hao couldn't look defiant even if he tried. He could only say awkwardly, "We just wanted to give you a show of force! Let you know who calls the shots in this General Affairs office!"
"So who calls the shots now?"
"You do, of course!"
Chen Dong continued asking, "Didn't you just say this was a task from Li Huiran? And what's the deal with this General Affairs office? You guys don't look like proper white-collar workers."
Only then did Wang Hao realize he had just let it slip. Betraying someone wasn't his style, so he could only downplay the important parts and said, "We're all just here to slack off. Our families are all old shareholders of the group. They saw us loafing around and made us come work at the company."
"So you're all a bunch of crown princes?"
"No, no! We're useless at scholarly pursuits and martial arts. Our families have given up on us, so they just tossed us in here."
Chen Dong pretty much understood now. The General Affairs office was a department for rejects, specifically for housing useless employees.
Just then, Wang Hao's phone rang. He took it out and saw the caller ID: Sister Huiran.
Chen Dong smiled. "Go on, answer it. You know what to say."
Wang Hao nodded and answered the call.
"Wang Hao, how did it go?"
"Sister Huiran, don't worry! Mission accomplished! We beat that kid up badly. He's crying his eyes out, snot and tears everywhere, and he even pissed and shat himself!"
"Ah~! That's disgusting! Did you guys go too far?"
Hearing this, Chen Dong suddenly felt that Li Huiran did have a bit of a conscience. He also found it disgusting, and thought Wang Hao deserved another beating.
"Not at all! We're still a little ways off from the 'half-paralyzed' state you wanted, Sister Huiran. Should we put some more muscle into it?"
"No, no! Is he okay? If Grandpa finds out, we'll all get a lecture! Hurry and send him to the hospital! Just let him know how formidable I, Li Huiran, am. That'll be enough to make him more careful in the future!"
Wang Hao suddenly realized that Chen Dong was connected to the Old Chairman. Not only were his skills formidable, but his background was too.
"He's fine! He's kneeling and begging for mercy right now! If he dares to snitch, we'll just beat him again! Alright, Sister Huiran, I'm hanging up!"
Under Chen Dong's menacing gaze, Wang Hao quickly hung up the phone.
'It's only been a few sentences, and I'm already kneeling and begging for mercy? I had to cut him off. If he kept going, who knows what I would've become in his story?'
"Wang Hao! Is that what you call 'knowing what to say'?"
Instantly, Wang Hao became the very person he had just described. He dropped to his knees. "Brother Dong, I was wrong! I was just trying to fob off Sister Huiran!"
'These rich kids are going to be a pain,' Chen Dong thought. He then asked, "When you go back, are you going to snitch?"
Wang Hao and the others quickly replied in unison, "We won't! We won't!"
"You really won't?"
"The Old Chairman is backing you! Even if we snitched, our families wouldn't offend the Old Chairman for our sakes. Besides, there were six of us against just you, and we still got beaten into this sorry state. We'd be too embarrassed to say anything!"
Only then did Chen Dong retract his menacing gaze. He smiled, "Good that you won't. Come on over, I'll treat your injuries."
The group was hesitant and didn't dare to step forward. A smiling Chen Dong seemed even more terrifying!
Chen Dong's face immediately turned cold as he barked, "Get the hell over here!"
The group chuckled nervously. "Okay, Brother Dong!"
With a simple application of True Qi to disperse the bruises, their injuries quickly healed, returning them to their original state. They were just superficial wounds, so it took Chen Dong no effort at all. It was just that walking around with faces swollen like pigs' heads wouldn't look good, and he was afraid it might stir up more trouble.
Chen Dong disliked trouble, so it was better to just heal them.
And so, the General Affairs office was filled with a succession of "HOLY SHIT!"
"HOLY SHIT! Brother Dong, you're so fucking awesome!"
"We've been in plenty of fights before, but we've never healed this fast or this cleanly! It's practically a miracle!"
"It's just like a healing spell in a video game! One heal and your health bar is full!"
Chen Dong found them noisy and told them to shut up.
But they just kept grinning foolishly at Chen Dong, their eyes shining as they surrounded him.
Chen Dong grabbed Wang Hao by the collar, half-annoyed and half-amused. "What are you guys doing? I told you, I prefer your wild and defiant look. Right now, you all look like a bunch of creepy fanatics!"
Wang Hao said with adoration, "Brother Dong! You're just too amazing! You're a great fighter, and you have such incredible medical skills! We want you to be our boss!"
Chen Dong said impatiently, "Get lost. You're just a bunch of dumb slackers. What would I want with you guys?"
The few rich kids, who weren't valued at home, once again felt the sting of being despised, and their expressions fell.
Xu Qing, the only girl, felt a sting in her nose, and her voice choked up. "We're not idiots! If we had a choice, nobody would want to be a slacker!"
Seeing their dejected expressions, Chen Dong changed the subject. "Alright, alright. What exactly do we do at this General Affairs office during work hours?"
"Play on our phones, play games, read novels."
"The idea from our families is that they'd rather we do nothing than make a mistake!"
Chen Dong was speechless.
"Let's go. Since there's nothing to do, take me out for a look around."
He hadn't had a good look around Jiangzhou since he'd arrived, and this group would make for pretty good tour guides.
Plus, he had over a million yuan on him now. When you have money, of course you have to spend it.
Hearing that they were going out, the clowns perked up again. They all started saying it was time for some team building!
Wang Hao even suggested that since they were a group, their clothes and style should be uniform. He started a commotion, trying to get Chen Dong to match their look.
Hair color was the top priority. Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple—as their boss, they insisted Chen Dong had to dye his hair into a rainbow.
What they got in return was a flick on the forehead each, which made them grimace in pain. At the same time, they also dyed their hair back to black.
Chen Dong also bought the latest model phone and changed into a nice set of clothes.
Now, the group actually looked a bit like white-collar workers.
After a hotpot meal, Wang Hao suggested going to a bar.
In Jiangzhou's famous Golden Glow Bar, the group had just sat down when two men in black brought over two bottles of The Macallan in Lalique whisky.
They said to Chen Dong with deadpan expressions, "Mr. Chen, our Xiao Shishou heard you were here and specially sent this small gift. Also, all of your expenses today have been taken care of."
Chen Dong smiled. "Thank your Xiao Shishou for me!"
"To thank you for your kindness, our Shishou has a message for you." As he spoke, he made a gesture of invitation.
Chen Dong had no choice but to say a word to Wang Hao and the others before following the two men in black upstairs.