ryethenovel Chapter 1: Angrily Resigning from a Ruthless Factory, Zhang Cun's Rampage Nearly Causes Him to
Chapter 1: Angrily Resigning from a Ruthless Factory, Zhang Cun's Rampage Nearly Causes Him to
Shanghai, 2:30 AM, at the headquarters of Photon ByteDance.
The densely packed workstations were illuminated by stark white screen lights, and the incessant clatter of keyboards sounded like a death knell.
The Mediterranean-looking manager, heavily pregnant, slammed a thick stack of documents onto Lin Xian's keyboard.
"Finish refactoring this code tonight."
"The client wants to see the demo version at 8 a.m. tomorrow."
Lin Xian stopped typing and looked up at the other person's shiny bald head.
He stayed up for three nights in a row, and his heart began to ache slightly; he even experienced double vision at the edges of his vision.
"This was a last-minute requirement from the product department, why should I have to work all night fixing it?"
The supervisor sneered, spitting onto the LCD screen.
"Get out if you don't want the extra pay! There are plenty of recent graduates lining up to do it!"
"You're not going to pay your mortgage or car loan anymore?"
Normally, Lin Xian might have just bowed his head and endured it.
But at that moment he felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if he could see his great-grandmother waving to him in mid-air.
To hell with blessings, to hell with involution!
Lin Xian took a deep breath and ripped off his employee badge from around his neck.
With a sharp "smack," the hard plastic name tag was slapped hard across the supervisor's round face.
"I quit. You can stay and be buried with this lousy company."
The supervisor covered his swollen cheek and stood there stunned for a full three seconds before he reacted.
He pointed at Lin Xian's nose, his fingers trembling.
"Lin Xian, are you crazy!"
"If you walk out this door, you won't get a single penny of your salary this month!"
"Our industry is tiny. Believe me, one phone call and you'll be unable to survive in Shanghai!"
Lin Xian didn't even take the thermos on the table; he just grabbed his car keys and headed out.
"Buying pork ribs to feed the dog is better than working for you."
The entire office area was deathly silent; all the fingers typing on the keyboards were suspended in mid-air.
Lin Xian's colleagues stared wide-eyed at his departing figure, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.
"Damn, Brother Xian's got guts!"
"Did you really resign?"
"Didn't he just receive an outstanding employee award?"
"That's a real man. I can't stand working this lousy job for another day."
"The supervisor's face turned green. Brother Xian's move was truly top-notch."
Lin Xian shut out his supervisor's angry curses behind the glass door and strode towards the elevator.
As the elevator descended, he felt a sense of weightlessness, as if the invisible mountain that had been pressing on his shoulders for three years had instantly shattered.
At three in the morning, a used Volkswagen sped along the ring road leading out of the city.
Lin Xian lowered the car window, letting the night wind rush into the car and mess up his hair that hadn't been washed for days.
The car stereo was blasting deafening heavy metal rock music.
He glanced at the sea of neon lights of Shanghai gradually receding into the distance in the rearview mirror.
The prosperity belongs to others; working people are only fit to endure endless overtime and the anxiety of losing all their hair.
His hometown is in Qingshui County, a small, obscure mountain village where even food delivery apps can't get you many customers.
Going back to farming or lying down is better than dying suddenly here.
He slammed on the gas pedal, the engine roared, and the vehicle sped off like a wild horse onto the dark national highway.
After driving for about three hours, the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.
The scenery along the roadside has changed from high-rise buildings to rolling barren mountains and wilderness.
This place is 30 kilometers away from Qingshui County, and you can't even see a ghost here normally.
Lin Xian gripped the steering wheel with one hand and took out a cigarette with the other, putting it in his mouth.
"Where's the lighter?"
He bent down and rummaged through the glove compartment in the passenger seat.
The instant his gaze left the road, a white shadow suddenly flashed out from the darkness ahead.
Under the blinding high beams, a white figure was stumbling across the road.
Lin Xian's scalp tingled, and the hairs on his body stood on end instantly.
Holy crap!
He instinctively slammed on the brakes and gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands.
The tires screeched as they rubbed against the rough asphalt, leaving two long black tracks.
The anti-lock braking system of the used Volkswagen engaged violently, causing the car to shake intensely.
A burnt rubber smell drifted into my nostrils through the half-open car window.
The front of the car came to a complete stop less than ten centimeters from the white shadow.
Lin Xian gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his chest heaving violently, cold sweat dripping from his forehead onto his thighs.
In the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere, if you encountered someone wearing white, anyone would be terrified.
He took a few deep breaths, pushed open the car door, and jumped out.
"Are you blind?!"
"Are you looking for your next life in the middle of the road in the middle of the night?"
He froze on the spot as soon as he finished speaking.
Standing in the headlights was a living, breathing person.
To be precise, she was a woman so beautiful that Lin Xian forgot all about swearing.
The woman wore a pure white strapless wedding dress, the hem of which was torn to shreds by the thorns by the roadside.
She stood barefoot on the cold asphalt, with a few small bloodstains on her ankles.
That face seemed to have been sculpted by God, with cool and three-dimensional features, exuding an aloofness that kept strangers at bay.
However, she is in a rather disheveled state right now.
Her long, seaweed-like hair was disheveled over her shoulders, and her fair arms were crossed over her chest as she shivered from the cold.
Su Qinghan pursed her red lips tightly; the blinding headlights had made her close her eyes.
She almost thought she was going to die there.
She opened her eyes and looked at Lin Xian, who was walking down angrily, and took a half step back warily.
Lin Xian looked her over with a strange-looking outfit and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Hey lady, is this some kind of new honey trap?"
"Wearing a wedding dress in this godforsaken place to stage an accident, your team has a pretty creative choice of location."
Su Qinghan took a deep breath, enduring the stinging pain in her feet.
"I'm not trying to scam you."
"I've run into some trouble, could you give me a ride?"
Her voice was beautiful, with a cool quality, like jade striking shattered ice.
Lin Xian leaned against the car door and glanced at her from head to toe.
"trouble?"
"Running away from the wedding or hiding from debt collectors?"
"Judging from your outfit, it must cost at least tens of thousands. You don't seem like someone who's short of money."
Su Qinghan turned her head away, avoiding his scrutinizing gaze.
Those greedy and scheming elders in the family, for their own benefit, actually wanted to force her to marry off to a playboy.
She slipped out of the hotel through the back door while changing clothes and ran along the mountain road for half the night.
"If you take me to the train station in the city, I can pay you 100,000 yuan for the fare."
Su Qinghan raised her chin, trying to project the CEO aura she usually exuded when negotiating at the company.
But with her bare feet and trembling all over, this aura seemed somewhat comical.
Lin Xian curled his lip, thinking that this woman must have read too many domineering CEO novels.
"I only drive this car back to the village, not to the city."
"Besides, you don't even have a cell phone, so what are you going to give me 100,000 yuan with? Are you just making empty promises?"
"I'm already full enough from the promises my boss makes to me at work, and I don't want to have any more late at night."
Lin Xian opened the car door, ready to get in and leave.
All he wants now is to get back to his old home and lie down on that broken wooden bed; he doesn't want to cause any trouble.
Just as he stepped one leg into the carriage, a long string of car lights suddenly lit up on the mountain road in the distance.
Five or six black Mercedes-Benz G-Class cars sped toward this place like a pack of wolves, their hazard lights flashing.
The roar of the motor could be heard clearly in the quiet night.
Su Qinghan's face turned deathly pale, and she even stopped breathing for a moment.
She suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Xian's arm, her nails digging into his shirt.
"Take me away!"
Lin Xian looked down at his wrinkled shirt, then glanced at the approaching convoy in the distance.
"Were those the people who arrested you?"
"Do you really enjoy provoking law-abiding citizens like me?"
Su Qinghan bit her lower lip and nodded forcefully.
Lin Xian sighed. He hated being bossed around, but he hated this kind of bullying behavior even more.
"Get in the car, don't step on my seat in the mud."
Su Qinghan felt as if she had been granted a pardon. Lifting the tattered hem of her wedding dress, she unceremoniously climbed into the passenger seat.
Lin Xian closed the car door, floored the accelerator, and the secondhand Volkswagen sped away, leaving a trail of black smoke.
The Mercedes convoy behind spotted the target and immediately gave chase, honking their horns loudly.
Su Qinghan sat in the passenger seat, clutching her chest, panting heavily, still shaken.
She looked through the rearview mirror at the approaching pursuers, gripping the seatbelt tightly with both hands.
Lin Xian held the steering wheel with one hand, while skillfully taking out the unlit cigarette with the other and biting it.
Just as Su Qinghan leaned her tense back against the seat...
A cold, mechanical electronic notification sounded out of nowhere deep in Lin Xian's mind.
"Ding! Detected that the host has achieved the 'Refuse to Coil' achievement. Absolute Comfort Zone System is now bound!"