Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead-Chapter 409 - 221: Came Knocking on the Door

At the end of the corridor stood a door.

Aside from the office near the elevator designated for secretaries and assistants, the entire 99th floor belonged to the chairman’s office.

Wu Chang was about to meet the chairman of Hymn Company, one of the Federation’s wealthiest and most influential individuals who elevated Hymn Company to its current status.

"Chairman of Hymn Company: Schultz"

Looking at the name beside the door, Wu Chang took a deep breath, adjusting his expression to make himself appear less composed, like the original owner of the body—nervous, constrained, and uneasy.

Wu Chang stood at the office entrance with a wry expression that seemed caught between laughing and crying, looking up at the camera above the chairman’s office door.

Beep.

With the sound of authentication passing, the office door opened.

Wu Chang slightly bent at the waist, controlling the sound of his footsteps as he entered the office.

Schultz chose such a large office not solely for material enjoyment, nor to decorate it in a lavish palace-like manner. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Quite the opposite, the office was very minimalist, with ninety percent of the space filled by one thing: books.

Countless bookshelves were neatly arranged within the office, making it seem more like a large private library than a chairman’s office.

Here, tens of thousands of books were stored, with new books brought in every week.

The original owner of Wu Chang’s body often privately wondered whether Schultz really read so many books.

Perhaps, like him, they were treated more as furniture or decorations, bought to be seen rather than read.

Passing through the massive bookshelf area, he arrived at Schultz’s actual workspace, an open office space surrounded by a large circular desk occupied by a group of people.

These were the federation’s top-tier wealthy individuals and the major clients of Hymn Company, previously engaged in a quarterly purchasing meeting.

On the innermost side of the table, sitting upright, with an unsmiling face, was the middle-aged man Schultz.

Seeing Wu Chang for the first time, Schultz frowned.

"Stand up straight."

After hearing this, Wu Chang obediently straightened his back, standing so upright that even a ceremonial guard from the army would praise his standard posture.

This was the original owner’s method of testing Schultz; whenever he felt he had done something wrong, he would deliberately hunch over when meeting Schultz.

If Schultz told him to straighten his back, it indicated that Schultz wasn’t very angry.

The contrary would indicate he truly messed up.

Seeing Wu Chang’s comical appearance, the attendees held their expressions, recalling recent sad events, not daring to laugh out loud.

If it were any other level-eight employee, they wouldn’t be so dismissive because every level-eight employee rose from level one or six, possessing both capability and skill.

Except for Wu Chang.

Because he was a connection—a cousin of Schultz from the hometown.

Relying on the friendship of growing up together, this useless person parachuted to become an eighth-level department manager, even taking charge of the vital Automatic Defense System department.

All along, Hymn Company’s promotion mechanism symbolized absolute efficiency and fairness, and Wu Chang was the greatest stain on that mechanism.

By the time Wu Chang arrived, the meeting was nearing its end, and people gradually began to leave.

A skinny, bald man wearing glasses approached Wu Chang, speaking in a tone as if mentoring a junior:

"Manager Sean, compared to other managers, I actually quite enjoy dealing with you. I hope to see you at the next quarterly meeting."

The speaker was named Moritz, a mogul in both the financial and media industries, ranking third in wealth among those present.

More importantly, he resided in Vildo City, making him one of the easiest and most premium customers to engage.

Moritz continued:

"These things shouldn’t be for me to tell you; Schultz has his ideas, and I shouldn’t interfere. But as an investor, when I spot potential stocks, I can’t help but want to invest.

"Sometimes, when doing business, especially in the arms business, we can’t adhere to too high moral standards. The automatic defense system concerns public safety, and the current Vildo City is too peaceful, making it difficult to receive new orders. But you might find a way."

"I suggest you see how Manager Farrell does it, as the most promising department manager currently. He jumped from a level-three employee to level-five, relying on selling defense insurance and bulletproof backpacks to schools—a rare success story."

After everyone left, only Schultz and Wu Chang remained in the office.

The atmosphere felt heavy. Schultz was organizing his words as Wu Chang sneakily glanced around, searching for useful information.

His gaze grazed past the center of the giant round table, noticing a number at its center.

"34."

Sean, the original owner of Wu Chang’s body, often saw similar numbers, knowing it was a countdown but not absolute decrement.

After each quarterly meeting concluded, sometimes this number decreased more, sometimes it remained unchanged or even increased.

Sean once wondered what the numbers represented, but Schultz never told him what they meant.

The two grew up together, so Sean understood Schultz’s temperament very well; if Schultz wanted him to know, there was no need for Sean to ask—Schultz would tell.

Schultz not proactively mentioning it meant he didn’t want Sean to know.