After the meeting ended.
Everyone left the conference room one after another.
“Mr. Song, about the meal…” The Outsider Woman was still hung up on this, stopping Song Wuli.
Song Wuli originally wanted to refuse, but suddenly remembered he was now a team leader, half a manager.
“Alright, but it’s not you treating us. Let’s have a dinner for Team Two to celebrate your joining,” he decided.
The woman’s expression changed several times, looking rather awkward.
The newly joined Chang Kaihuai and Chang Yong, on the other hand, jumped up with joy.
They went to grab their bags and clothes, leaving the office area together with Old Song.
They noticed something odd—Team Leader Song didn’t bring a handbag or backpack, nor did Qian Dehao, Xiao Liu, or Xiao Zhao.
They didn’t think much of it, just found it a bit curious.
“Where should we eat? I know a buffet six kilometers away that’s really good!” Chang Kaihuai was delighted, introducing a place.
“Too far. Let’s stick to somewhere close, just find a spot downstairs,” Song Wuli rejected the idea.
Why stick close by? The two newbies didn’t give it much thought.
So, they picked a nearby restaurant and ordered a few dishes, keeping it simple.
Even though it was simple, they still had a great time eating.
Everyone chatted happily, talking about themselves, which deepened their bond.
After the meal, they split the bill evenly.
The newbie, Chang Kaihuai, walked to the door, waved at Song Wuli, and said, “Team Leader Song, I…”
“Go buy some energy drinks. It’s probably your first time working overtime, your bodies might not be used to it,” Song Wuli kindly reminded them.
“If you don’t like energy drinks, bottled coffee works too. Just my two cents,” Qian Dehao chimed in, pointing across the street. “That Supermarket over there sells them. By the way, grab me two bottles when you go, would you?”
Chang Kaihuai’s smile gradually faded.
Song Wuli looked at him. “What did you just say?”
Chang Kaihuai shook his head. “Nothing, I was just going to ask what you wanted to drink, Team Leader Song.”
Song Wuli replied, “I’m good. I’m used to burning the midnight oil.”
The members of Copywriting Team Two returned to the company and started working overtime.
With three new people, Song Wuli’s workload increased noticeably.
Those youngsters could write twice as much in a day as Xiao Liu and the others. Young people just had more energy, more ideas, and really liked to write.
Especially those fresh out of school, just entering society, who hadn’t yet had their edges smoothed by reality.
Song Wuli had to spend a lot of time checking their drafts and making corrections.
Although they turned in twice as much as Xiao Liu’s group, the errors were also several times more, making editing quite a hassle.
Xiao Liu and Xiao Zhao kept glancing hopefully at Old Song, but he was too absorbed in work to notice.
Finally, at 8:30 p.m., Xiao Liu couldn’t hold back and messaged to ask if they could leave for the day.
Song Wuli didn’t hold them back and let them go.
By 9:00 p.m., the newbies were also eyeing him, but didn’t have the nerve to say anything.
None of them were bold enough to speak up.
Qian Dehao noticed this, took the initiative to bring up leaving, and once Old Song nodded, he led the newbies out as well.
“Thanks so much, Brother Qian,” Chang Kaihuai and Chang Yong both expressed their gratitude.
“No problem,” Qian Dehao replied as they were about to part ways downstairs.
The Outsider Woman suddenly asked, “Mr. Qian, isn’t the Team Leader leaving yet?”
Qian Dehao explained, “Old Song will work a bit longer. Sometimes he even sleeps in the office. You’ll get used to it. You don’t need to match his overtime. If you want to leave, just let him know.”
Old Qian knew Song Wuli well; Song Wuli liked working late but never forced others to do the same.
Song Wuli kept working late into the night.
The only one left in the copywriting group was him, so it was peaceful.
When he got tired, he’d take out his phone and scroll for a bit. Unconsciously, that silver phone had become part of his life, taking up some of his time.
Jin Luan sent him a private message, asking why he hadn’t come to work at the milk tea shop.
The manager had asked the same thing.
Song Wuli answered them both at once, saying he was busy with studies and had exams coming up.
He originally wanted to say “final exams,” but forgot when students even had their finals.
Jin Luan filled in the blanks herself and guessed there was an exam coming up.
She asked, [Are you taking the college entrance exam? Or the high school entrance exam?]
Song Wuli didn’t dare answer directly and just replied vaguely, [So it’s been pretty busy.]
After working for another half hour, he checked his phone again and found that the Jin Yin Hong sisters’ group was sharing some rather private things.
Huan Hong asked Jin Luan for some photos, and Jin Luan posted some pictures of herself injured, taken at the time, in the group.
It was getting a bit inappropriate for children.
He asked what she was doing.
Huan Hong said she wanted to use her own humiliating defeat as motivation to grow, to remember the shame and train hard.
Song Wuli originally wanted to cheer her on and praise such a girl for knowing shame and then rising to courage. But his Little Demon Girl Personality wouldn’t allow it.
So he typed, [Although hard work can help you grow, talent is what matters most.]
[Most things can’t be achieved through effort alone.]
[Some people work hard their whole lives, only to reach the starting line for others.]
[You have been muted by Guild Leader Jin Luan for 1 hour]
Tch, can’t take a joke—power abuser.
Song Wuli put his phone down and went back to work.
He worked overtime until the last subway home.
And so, another two days passed, and the newbies gradually got used to the overtime life.
Xiao Liu and Xiao Zhao would check with Song Wuli at 8:00 p.m. each day before leaving, while the three newbies could hold out longer, staying until 9:00 p.m. before heading home.
The city was quiet, with no Demons able to break through into the city. They were basically all stopped at the borders.
The Special Task Force and the Failed Team had new assignments—searching the city for the [Portal] facilities reported by Huang Yi. They even found an extra portal, which had already been removed.
Since there was no way to detect such facilities, the search was slow.
As a last resort, a reward was announced on TV today—any citizen who discovered a portal and reported it to the Eastern Union would be rewarded, in order to speed up the search.
The bigshots of the Witch Faction had already started trying to help Huang Yi, describing the portal incident as extremely serious and claiming it was a terrifying technology that could break through humanity’s defenses and stab right into the heart of the Human Alliance.
Therefore, Huang Yi, who discovered the portal, should be rewarded.
With this kind of narrative, they were helping Huang Yi out of trouble. Before long, he’d probably be reinstated, maybe even promoted.
However, the Human Alliance wasn’t about to let the Witch Faction be, either. Using the recent attack on the Eastern Union headquarters as an excuse, they wanted to strengthen surveillance and install more sensors to detect magic.
They also wanted to push forward the Real Name Act.
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