Chapter 99: Old Song Becomes a Lackey

After some people realized that this meeting was just a show, their nerves only grew tighter.

Right now, it was the Copywriting Team being held accountable, and it seemed no one else was involved?

As for why the Planning Team was also called in, it was probably not just for accountability—they likely wanted to use the Copywriting Team’s troubles to intimidate the Planning Team, making an example out of them.

The supervisor started playing a PPT, selectively showing scenes of faction-building and cliques forming in the office area, all neatly organized by the younger staff.

They even used work efficiency as a pretext, accusing the younger employees of deliberately forcing a palace coup to make the company submit.

Then a video clip from the office was played, showing those young people conspiring.

Finally, witnesses were called to speak—the trio of Xiao Liu, Xiao Zhao, and another.

Seeing this, the young leaders finally understood everything: they had been betrayed.

This meeting was a trap set by the old timers to teach them a lesson, and before the meeting even started, the punishments were probably already decided.

Xiao Liu and the others testified that there was palace intrigue, faction-building, and attempts to raise work conditions.

A lie was told here—the real motive was never mentioned, and Song Wuli was cleared of blame.

The young leaders immediately stood up to refute this, claiming they were unhappy with an old-timer like Song Wuli and therefore banded together to push the company to fire him.

Ah, youth—those words were basically an admission of faction-building and attempts at a palace coup.

The Director’s face didn’t change, probably because he already knew.

He waved his hand, signaling that the matter was closed.

Then he looked at the Planning Team and began to question: “Who is responsible for this incident in the Planning Team?”

No one spoke.

The Director’s expression darkened: “Planning Team, dead.”

Just as he was about to get up and leave, someone finally stood up—the Planning Team leader—and pointed out a few people: “It’s them.”

And so the meeting continued.

The culprits in Planning were the Numerical Design and Combat Design groups.

This company’s planning department was a bit different from others, subdivided into Level Design, Combat Design, System Design, Numerical Design, and so on.

This time, both Combat Design and Numerical Design were at fault.

Court is now in session!

Judge: “Defendants, please speak.”

Defendant: “We were thinking about the company too. Players just couldn’t farm any rice; if we didn’t push them, revenue wouldn’t rise. So we set the boss’s stats a little high.”

Judge: “Second defendant, speak.”

Second defendant: “We thought the boss design was cool. Think about it: a boss that can silence, stun, launch aerial combos, be invincible and heal when low on health. Also, to curb healers, there’s a one-hit kill mechanism to deal with players bringing healers. It’s pretty awesome, don’t you think?”

Judge: “Judgment begins—guilty!”

The meeting lasted into the afternoon.

Most of Copywriting Team Two were fired, and all the Numerical and Combat Designers in Planning were booted out immediately without handover.

Unexpectedly, there were also personnel transfers.

Huang Yijun was moved and became the Assistant to the Director.

And the vacant Copywriting Team leader position was surprisingly given to Song Wuli.

The 34-year-old old man finally rose from a basic position to a semi-management role.

The Director enjoyed firing people thoroughly but brought about follow-up troubles: with no one to take over their work, many tasks stalled.

Copywriting Team Two was still okay; Xiao Liu and the others who had aligned themselves with the powers-that-be remained.

Planning had bigger problems, with many tasks unable to continue.

The Director was resolute—no matter how much Planning stalled, the cuts had to be made.

In the office area, the young employees were packing up.

Their leader’s eyes were bloodshot, staring daggers at Song Wuli and the traitor Xiao Liu and company.

“You backstabbers, someday I’ll make you kneel down and admit your mistakes.”

The young leader dropped the harsh words.

Song Wuli, of course, heard it but was unfortunately not a villain.

If he were a villain, he’d have killed them all on the spot and not let them get any stronger.

As the embodiment of justice, the beautiful messenger, and humanity’s hope, Song Wuli couldn’t bring himself to commit such violent acts.

He sighed and could only watch them leave safely.

In the next two days, Huang Yijun handed over his work to Song Wuli and taught him what a team leader should do.

After stepping into this position, Song Wuli found himself actually freer—not having to mechanically rewrite copy.

Usually, he just reviewed the copy, made some edits, then submitted the drafts to the supervisor.

Sometimes, the supervisor gave feedback for further revision until the final draft was done.

Two days later, the handover was complete.

Huang Yijun went to his new post; Song Wuli sat in the new team leader’s seat.

The desk was already cleared out—Huang Yijun took all his personal belongings, leaving only work-related materials.

Copywriting Team Two was down to just four people.

Even if they worked seriously all day, even overtime, their output only kept Song Wuli busy for about an hour before he was done reviewing.

What to do with the rest of the time? He was unexpectedly free and could only zone out.

No wonder Huang Yijun was often seen wandering around during work hours.

No wonder the supervisor was rarely around—it was clear they were idle.

That evening, Song Wuli wanted to invite Huang Yijun and Qian Dehao out for dinner.

Old Qian was busy, saying he had a date with his wife and needed to get intimate.

Huang Yijun also declined, saying he was still busy familiarizing himself with the new role.

Song Wuli temporarily became a lonely soul.

With nothing else to do, he decided to use the free time to train and see if he could develop any new abilities.

On the way, he saw messages in the group chat of the three sisters—Jin, Yin, and Hong.

It was Huanhong posting: she was at the City Boundary and had received intel that several Abyss Demons had crossed the boundary into the Suburb Buffer Zone.

For some reason, the Abyss Demons were unusually aggressive today.

Huanhong was struggling to deal with the demons that crossed the boundary and asked in the group chat if Jinluan and Yinlin wanted to come help.

The boundary was far away.

If it were the Urban Area, Old Song would have considered going to check it out.

Besides, those words from the bespectacled Huang Yi still echoed in his mind—something was commanding the officer-level Abyss Demons.

The enemy was also an intelligent species.

Could it be possible that the Abyss Demons were playing a bait-and-switch, luring the Magical Girls to the boundary, while intending to do something evil in the crowded Urban Area?

Old Song wasn’t sure if he was just making excuses to slack off.

He went alone to an empty lot and began training various combat techniques.

It had been a few days since he last fought, but his skills were far from rusty—whether it was aerial charge, charge cancellation, or firing midair, he had no problems.

Still no progress on breaking free from the magic rod to fly—it seemed not a skill easily mastered.

He pondered deeply: what other uses could his vast ocean-like mana have?

Mana cannon couldn’t deplete the Blue Bar, magic shields couldn’t deplete it either, and even maintaining the Magical Girl’s physical form seemed indefinitely sustainable.

So how could the Blue Bar ever be drained? It couldn’t be an R18 scenario where monsters suck out the Blue Bar until you’re helpless, right?

If not, then this thick Blue Bar must have some other purpose to avoid being wasted.

Maybe, he thought, he should shamelessly ask the Contract Goddess—the future version of himself—who must have developed some useful skills by now.

With this in mind, he took off, flying toward the deserted Cemetery.

Without the Diamond’s assistance, he wasn’t sure if he could still see the Contract Goddess.

But Song Wuli wasn’t worried; during their last meeting, she had mentioned the matter of the Genesis Artifacts.

Since he was supposed to gather those for her, she would naturally have a way to meet.

Sure enough, upon arriving at the Cemetery, he closed his eyes and sensed her presence.

Soon, he entered Soul Projection once again.

Meeting the Contract Goddess was surprisingly easy.

Upon entering the false space, the first thing he saw was his favorite Magical Girl’s Tentacle Monster, marching back and forth in perfect step, looking somewhat divine.