Genius Club-Chapter 36 Seal

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Tap tap tap tap tap...

Zhao Yingjun finished speaking and turned to leave.

The tapping of her high heels on the floor exerted a suffocating pressure, as if stepping directly on one’s ribcage.

It was only after Zhao Yingjun entered the elevator and the doors had closed... that everyone in the conference room finally exhaled:

"Phew... President Zhao’s look just now scared me to death. Brother Wang, you are the only person in the entire company who dares to talk to President Zhao like that. You’re awesome!"

"Yeah, Brother Wang, you really spoke our minds. I don’t understand either... why would we just give up on a perfectly good plan? Professor Xu Yun hasn’t finalized a deal with any other company, we still have a chance!"

"Ah, such a pity for the adorable Rhein Cat..."

The atmosphere in the conference room was gloomy and heavy.

It was evident that everyone was disappointed, bewildered, and felt helpless.

Morale plummeted.

They sighed and left.

...

After all the meeting attendees had left.

Lin Xian collected the Rhein Cat Dolls one by one from the table and stored them in his office.

Then he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the 22nd floor.

The elevator slowly ascended.

Lin Xian did not know what Zhao Yingjun wanted with him...

Most likely it was work-related.

22nd floor.

Standing in front of the familiar double-password door.

"Come in."

Zhao Yingjun’s weary voice came through the video intercom.

With a click, the heavy password door opened.

Lin Xian walked into the office and shut the door behind him.

The vast office was almost identical to his previous visits... Lin Xian even had a feeling of being trapped in an endless loop in a dream-world.

Passing by the sofa and coffee table, Lin Xian noticed a thin layer of dust on the glass surface.

It was clear... that Zhao Yingjun was a workaholic, treating everything in the office, except her desk, like a painting — mere decoration.

Zhao Yingjun was busy signing documents.

Lin Xian approached the desk:

"President Zhao, did you call me here for something?"

Zhao Yingjun finished signing the document she was working on.

Then she looked up at Lin Xian, gesturing for him to sit down.

"Lin Xian, I’ve looked at the 3D image of the Rhein Cat you designed earlier; there were no problems with it."

"But as for the character setting, voice setting, catchphrases, and dialogue... I’m not very satisfied. I feel it’s too childish, like something out of a children’s picture book."

Upon hearing this.

Lin Xian smiled wryly to himself.

It was originally copied from a children’s picture book... how could it not be childish?

In the Dream World, the Rhein Cat was indeed designed and developed as a children’s toy. All the books about Rhein Cat in that bookstore were either children’s literature or picture books.

As for the Rhein Brand and MX Company, they were long buried in the sands of history, not a trace of information to be found.

Even the fact that Lin Xian was the creator of the Rhein Cat was untraceable in various Rhein Cat settings collections and online... To this, Lin Xian had considerable objections.

"I’m not saying that a sense of childishness is bad."

Zhao Yingjun explained while flipping through documents:

"But after all, we’re not selling Rhein Cat dolls. Our main focus should be on having Rhein Cat endorse Rhein Cosmetics and act as a mascot. Therefore... in terms of Rhein Cat’s target audience, we should make her character and dialogue more youthful, lively, and beautiful."

"You definitely have to distinguish it from Kitty Cat. The customer base for the Rhein brand is women between 18 to 28 years old, so in terms of character and dialogue, we can be youthful but definitely not childish."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Lin Xian nodded:

"I understand."

Zhao Yingjun couldn’t find the document she was looking for and turned to another stack:

"I remember... I put your previous design draft here... I have it marked——"

Flurry flurry flurry!

Countless sheets of paper fluttered down.

The documents on Zhao Yingjun’s desk were too many and too messy.

As she searched, she accidentally knocked over another pile of documents next to her, causing an instantaneous collapse and scattering papers across the floor.

Lin Xian bent down to pick up the papers from the floor, stacking them neatly on his arm.

Suddenly.

He saw a little thing that made his heart race!

He paused for about 0.5 seconds.

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Lin Xian skillfully gripped it in his left hand, then carried on as if nothing had happened, continuing to tidy up the documents that had fallen to the floor.

After neatly stacking them on the floor, he placed them back on the desk. Then, quite naturally, he slipped his left hand into his pocket, tucking the "stolen" trinket away.

Zhao Yingjun pushed the papers inward:

"I’m sorry, my desk is such a mess, I haven’t had time to tidy up."

Lin Xian shook his head:

"President Zhao, actually, you could hire a secretary to do these trivial tasks for you."

Zhao Yingjun threw her hair back from her neck and gave a meaningful smile:

"Never mind, I can manage it myself."

"Ah, found it for you, Lin Xian, here you go."

Zhao Yingjun handed Lin Xian the draft, annotated with various comments, corrections, and suggestions.

It was the same one Lin Xian had previously given to her.

The document was covered with meticulous and earnest instructions and advice.

Lin Xian nodded and accepted it:

"Okay, I’ll make some more changes when I get back."

Bang.

The heavy, coded door behind him shut.

Standing outside the door, Lin Xian felt as though he and Zhao Yingjun were in two different worlds.

But now...

Through his trousers, Lin Xian felt the round object in his left pocket.

What a big catch!

He glanced back at the heavy dual-coded door, then turned towards the elevator.

Stepping into the elevator, he pressed the floor for his own office.

The elevator creaked as it descended.

Lin Xian, touching the object he had "stolen" in his pocket, felt his heartbeat gradually speed up.

Although he pilfered things in his dreams almost daily, this was his first time in reality, so it was unavoidable to feel a bit nervous.

Ding——

The elevator doors opened, and Lin Xian quickly walked back to his office.

Click.

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He locked the door from the inside.

Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief:

"Stealing something in reality for the first time is truly thrilling. And what I stole is something quite significant..."

He plunged his left hand into his left pocket and pulled out a red, flat, and round wax seal.

With his index finger, he twirled the red seal around his fingertip.

This wax seal was a bit bigger and thicker than a one-yuan coin, and its shape wasn’t a perfect circle.

Lin Xian had seen it before.

It was the seal on the folded page of the Genius Club invitation that he had held only for a few seconds, before Zhao Yingjun took it. But he had clearly seen the details on both sides.

"I can’t be wrong... The folded page of that invitation was sealed with this wax."

Known academically as a "lacquer seal", such seals are usually made by mixing rosin and paraffin with pigment. They melt upon slight heating, becoming sticky, and are used to seal letters and invitations.

To use it, one would melt it first, then drip a large blob onto the envelope’s flap, and press down a stamp.

The side of the wax seal Lin Xian was staring at was the one fixed to the cardstock, smooth as ever.

And on the other side of the seal, needless to say...

[It was the stamp of the Genius Club.]

Lin Xian’s heartbeat accelerated.

Perhaps flipping it over might reveal another mysterious and dark world, that vast, shadowy hand hidden in the mists of history.

This glance... might be the irreversible abyss, the entry into the impenetrable dark forest.

Lin Xian held his breath.

He recalled the words of Big Face Cat.

Recalled the gruesome scene of a truck running over an elderly person and a child.

Recalled the black hand that blotted out the sun and cast a shadow over the city.

Recalled the five heavy, hot-stamped golden letters on the back of the invitation.

With a grimace, he flipped the whole seal over!

...

On the front of the wax seal was a stamp of a standard circle.

Inside the circle, a right hand reaching out its index finger, pointing straight to the sky.

And below the circle, evenly inscribed were two words in English—

Genius Club