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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Two
Returning home, Chen Rui collapsed onto the soft bed, flipping over to check the time. It had been a full five hours since takeoff, and adding the few hours before departure, he realized that aside from the brief hour he had slept in the conference room, he hadn't rested for over thirty hours.
Although his body could receive signals from his brain to rest during dreams, it wasn't the same as real sleep. The brain was more active in dreams than it appeared, which meant it was mentally exhausting. As a result, Chen Rui felt a slight dizziness and fatigue.
"I'm becoming less resilient," Chen Rui thought to himself with a hint of self-mockery. He remembered that his physical condition used to be excellent; he could handle long hours of intense work without any issues. His record was over sixty hours without closing his eyes. However, ever since taking over A Group, his physical condition had begun to decline. Although he was still stronger than the average person, he could clearly feel that some tasks were becoming overwhelming. For instance, during the recent team meeting when Wang Conghui was speaking, he almost dozed off.
Chen Rui's residence was close to the company, and the Action Team enjoyed significantly better treatment compared to other teams at the same level, especially the Execution Team, which had the highest compensation within the entire Action Team.
This was only natural; on average, each team hosted a batch of people every month, with a minimum of six and a maximum of fifteen. Calculating an average of one person per month yielded a gross profit of fifty thousand Renminbi for Action Team. They could retain ten percent of that amount as salaries and emergency reserves—five thousand Renminbi. Even if evenly distributed among team members, it amounted to over sixty thousand per person. The company took more; after deducting this five thousand along with flight costs, equipment fees, and other miscellaneous expenses—since the airport hangar was arranged through higher-ups and didn’t incur costs—they would still net around forty thousand Renminbi.
This figure didn't even account for subsequent Member fees. Most individuals who joined as Members quickly upgraded to second-tier Members, and that income was pure profit. Adding in each person's monthly fees meant that the total income from Members over a year, combined with dream-related earnings, approached nearly one hundred million Renminbi! This didn't even include past monthly fees from Members!
At first glance, these numbers seemed substantial; however, extracting them from the pool of individuals with fortunes exceeding one hundred million was relatively easy. Moreover, this money represented just the tip of the iceberg for the entire operation plan. The largest shareholders were several permanent member states of the Security Council. To ensure the plan's successful implementation, governments worldwide were frantically gathering funds—targeting only those wealthy elites. If they were to impose on ordinary citizens, it would truly contradict their initial principles.
Even so, each participating country still had to front most of the funding. As for where this money came from, domestic leaders issued additional government bonds and discreetly moved portions of funds from the National Treasury and central banks.
The financial demands of this entire plan were unparalleled because it involved not only cutting-edge scientific research but also extremely costly equipment necessary for its execution.
Nevertheless, despite bearing risks that could lead to a global financial crisis, this plan received unanimous approval from the Security Council. If successfully implemented, it would not only be historically significant but also yield immense profits and a leap in quality of life.
The key issue remained profitability; as the saying goes: a businessman might gamble everything for three hundred percent profit, while politicians would fight tooth and nail for ten thousand percent returns. Furthermore, once this plan succeeded, participating governments agreed to lower taxes—ultimately benefiting ordinary citizens.
Politicians recognized the historical significance of this plan. If it successfully launched during their terms in office, their reputations would rival those of founding leaders!
Chen Rui's A Group, also known as the Action Team, primarily aimed to test the stability and safety of the plan after its implementation. To put it bluntly, the members of the Action Team and the wealthy individuals who came to experience the dream were merely stepping stones for this plan, potentially subject to unforeseen accidents due to instability.
Using people's lives for experimentation was chilling. Although previous adjustments had confirmed that there would likely be no accidents and none had occurred so far, such actions were truly unsettling.
However, only top decision-makers, technical personnel, and the leaders of each Action Team were aware of this matter. Ignorance breeds fearlessness; this saying was indeed applicable here.
There was no need to inform them; wouldn’t it be better for them to live in a beautiful dream?
When Chen Rui woke up, he instinctively checked his phone. It was 7:58 AM. He smiled foolishly, thinking, "My biological clock is still so accurate." Chen Rui had set his alarm for eight o'clock in the morning, and he usually woke up a few minutes before it rang.
As he got up, he realized he hadn't even taken off his shirt from the night before. It seemed he had really been tired. After taking a shower and changing into a set of sportswear, he headed out to the company. For some reason, Chen Rui disliked wearing formal or tight-fitting clothes; he preferred loose sportswear. Perhaps it was because he had a tendency towards hyperactivity or obsessive-compulsive behavior in the past that made him favor sports attire. He chuckled at the thought.
Chen Rui typically walked to work, as his residence was only about a fifteen-minute walk from the company—a fact that many white-collar workers envied.
"Boss." "Good morning, Boss." "Hey, Chief! Good morning!"
"Morning," Chen Rui replied with a smile while thinking: Although these people had become quite lax under his leadership, was it really okay to think about how things were downstairs? He couldn't help but imagine the scene of Jiang Ming, the leader of Nine Group on the first floor, starting work.
"Leader." "Leader." "Leader." "Leader."
The poker faces around him could almost show sharp angles. Chen Rui couldn't help but laugh; that certainly wasn't good, but it seemed he couldn't mock them either.
"What are you laughing at? Where's your uniform? Didn't bring it again?" Liang Yu's voice pulled Chen Rui back to reality. Looking at Liang Yu's nearly perfect face, Chen Rui thought: Why not grow it long?
"Chen Rui? Chen Rui! Are you daydreaming?" Liang Yu wondered about Chen Rui's lack of response—he seemed lost in thought.
Chen Rui usually would have made a sarcastic remark or smiled awkwardly at this moment, but today seemed different; he showed no reaction at all.
"Of course! Who wouldn't lose their mind upon seeing the beautiful Liang?" Wang Conghui walked over and delivered a punch directly to Chen Rui's abdomen, causing him to grimace instantly.
"Get to the point," Chen Rui said, rubbing his stomach and shooting Wang Conghui a glare. The grimace was due to the pain, but he actually had a good relationship with this group of people, especially with a few of the team leaders.
"Old Jia wants you over there. He tried calling you but couldn't get through, so he called me instead." Wang Conghui ignored Chen Rui and turned to leave. "Oh, and Xiong Kai has something for you too, but he seems busy right now, so you should head to Old Jia first."
"The more I hear you say that, the more it sounds like wherever I go, I'm just going to disrupt others' work."
"Isn't that the case?" Wang Conghui waved his hand dismissively. "If there's nothing urgent, don't come and bother me while I'm working."
"This guy," Chen Rui straightened up. "Then could you please go grab my uniform from my place? It's still over there." He pulled out his keys and handed them to Liang Yu.
"Making me sound like your personal maid. I think instead of 'team leader assistant,' it should just say 'team leader's maid,'" Liang Yu shot Chen Rui an annoyed look. Chen Rui didn't mind at all and laughed. "That works too; just submit your application for it. I can't bring myself to do something so embarrassing."
It wasn't that Chen Rui and Liang Yu were particularly close; it was just that in the past, Liang Yu had limited abilities and could only handle these kinds of tasks. Chen Rui still had to take care of the important work himself, which formed this habit over time. Although Liang Yu occasionally helped out now, it was mostly with simple tasks like gathering information and organizing documents.
Chen Rui arrived at the cafeteria on the third floor. Although it was early in the morning, many employees still preferred to have breakfast here since the cafeteria provided breakfast services, so it was quite busy.
He headed straight to the back kitchen and immediately spotted Jia Guang lounging in a chair with his eyes closed. Known as the "fake boss," Jia Guang appeared authoritative at first glance, but those who spent time with him soon realized he was quite approachable and lacked any pretentiousness. Chen Rui's team referred to him as Old Jia.
"You’re here?" Before Chen Rui could speak, Jia Guang opened his eyes and startled him.
"I'm here. How did you know I was coming? Do you have a third eye?" Chen Rui joked as he sat down in the chair next to him and offered Jia Guang a cigarette.
"No need, I have something to attend to later, just go ahead and tell you."
Chen Rui put away his cigarette and leaned back in the chair, waiting for Jia Guang to bring him information.
"That Zhang Shi, a national cadre, at the deputy ministerial level. The Jicheng Investment is also a state-owned enterprise. This time he came with orders from the highest level. That's all I know."
"Thanks!" Chen Rui didn't linger any longer; after expressing his gratitude, he hurriedly left.
Jia Guang watched Chen Rui's retreating figure and thought, "This guy really isn't polite, just like before." There seemed to be a hint of tears in the corner of his eyes.
Chen Rui quickly returned to the first floor and went to Xiong Kai. The information he received was similar to what Jia Guang had shared. In summary: Zhang Shi was sent by the highest level, but the specific reasons and tasks remained unclear.
It was truly frustrating. The highest level sent someone over, and it was an outsider at that. Although they were all part of the state, they were not from the same system. What could be the purpose of sending him here?
Not being able to grasp the key aspects of the situation left Chen Rui feeling troubled. He quickly asked Liang Yu to convene a team leaders' meeting.
The acting leader of the Execution Team, Peng Hao; the leader of the Support Team, Wang Conghui; the coordinator Yu Mingming; and Xiong Kai, the leader of the Recording Team, all rushed into the conference room. The Execution Team originally had no leader since Chen Rui usually led directly, making a leader unnecessary. However, for after-sales service considerations, an acting leader was added.
As soon as they sat down, the first thing Chen Rui said was, "Tomorrow! Go secure our first client, Zhang Shi."
Since they were all state personnel, rather than dragging things out and still not understanding his intentions, it would be better to respond immediately. After all, there wouldn't be any loss; no matter what happened, it would ultimately be a loss for the state.
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