Chapter 57: Corporate Culture, Driving the Sect Leader Crazy!
“Director Zhao, as the head of the new department, meeting the team for the first time — wouldn’t you say a few words?”
Chu Feng’s voice sounded again, full of encouragement.
“Give everyone a boost, look to the future, paint — ahem, portray our shared magnificent blueprint!”
Speak? He could speak his head!
Zhao Wuji silently cursed Chu Feng’s ancestors up and down.
He only wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. To have him, in front of his old subordinates, speak those nauseating and shameless “corporate culture” lines?
Kill him — kill him now!
“What’s the matter? Director Zhao nervous?”
Chu Feng smiled with understanding.
“It’s fine, the first time is always like this. Daniu, you have experience — give Director Zhao a demonstration.”
“All right, President!”
Zhang Daniu accepted the order, stepped forward, cleared his throat, and that fervor returned.
“Family members! Just now, the President appointed a new leader for us! Director Zhao is to be our guide into the future! But!”
Zhang Daniu’s tone shifted and his voice suddenly rose.
“At Ascension Group, we did not worship individuals! We worshipped the system! The culture! The great ideals that could lead us to glory!”
“Director Zhao was new, he might not yet be familiar with our culture! That was okay! We were one loving family, and we had the responsibility and the duty to help new family members integrate quickly!”
“Now, I proposed! Director Zhao would lead us in chanting our core values again! Everyone say, all right?”
“All right!”
Hundreds answered in unison, the roar overwhelming.
Zhao Wuji’s face instantly darkened.
Make him… lead the chanting?
He saw a jade slip handed to him by Zhang Daniu, the slip bearing with magical seals several lines of glittering large characters — the very slogans that had made his scalp tingle.
“Come on, Director Zhao, you’re the leader, you start!”
Zhang Daniu shoved the jade slip into his hand, his face honest and expectant.
Holding that jade slip, Zhao Wuji felt as if it weighed a thousand catties.
His hand trembled; his lips trembled.
He, Zhao Wuji, former Heishan Sect Master, a Golden Core stage cultivator, the undisputed local tyrant within a hundred miles, now had to stand there like a clown and lead his former subordinates in shouting these… these shameless things?
His dignity, his pride, were being ground into the dirt in that moment.
“What’s the matter, Director Zhao?”
Seeing that he did not speak, Zhang Daniu asked in puzzlement,
“Could it be… you do not recognize our Group’s values?”
That sentence was like a knife, stabbing into Zhao Wuji’s heart.
He jerked his head up and saw Chu Feng looking at him with a smile, as if to say:
“You could refuse to chant, but bear the consequences.”
He also saw the looks from the “employees” in the audience, a mix of expectation and appraisal.
He knew clearly this was Chu Feng’s first “obedience test” for him.
If he did not speak today, his position as “Regional Director” would instantly become a joke, and he would never manage anyone again.
Humiliation.
Endless humiliation.
But circumstances were stronger than the man.
Zhao Wuji closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, there was nothing but dead ash in them.
In a voice more painful than crying — hoarse, dry — he squeezed out the first few words of the slogan through his teeth.
“Today… you… sell your life for the Group…”
His voice was tiny, full of struggle and pain.
“Louder, Director! We can’t hear you!”
Zhang Daniu shouted from the side, like the strictest of drill instructors.
Zhao Wuji’s body trembled violently. He knew—there was no retreat for him anymore.
The veins on his neck bulged as he roared with all his might:
“Today, you work your life for the Group!”
“Tomorrow, the Group extends your life!”
Behind him, hundreds of people immediately followed with the second half of the slogan, their voices thunderous, momentum surging like a tide.
Once there was a first time, the second became much easier.
Zhao Wuji seemed to have given up all resistance, his entire being numb.
Mechanically, loudly, he shouted the slogans written on the jade slip, one line after another.
“As long as your thoughts don’t collapse! There will always be more solutions than problems!”
“There will always be more solutions than problems!”
“We work today for tomorrow! We rest today to better serve the Group tomorrow!”
“To serve the Group!”
……
By the end, Zhao Wuji no longer knew what he was shouting.
His throat burned like fire, his mind blank—only those demonic slogans echoed again and again.
He, a Golden Core cultivator, whose Dao Heart was once so steady, actually felt at this moment—a real sense of being “brainwashed.”
Chu Feng nodded with satisfaction.
Good. The first step—destroying old pride and establishing new obedience—was complete.
He clapped his hands, signaling everyone to quiet down.
“Very good! I’m quite satisfied with everyone’s spirit! Director Zhao has quickly integrated into our big family as well. That deserves praise!”
“Starting tomorrow, the Heishan Mining Area will officially resume operations! Director Zhao, your first task—or rather, your first KPI,”
Chu Feng raised a single finger.
“Within three days, I want the daily ore production restored to the peak level of Heishan Sect. Can you do it?”
Still dazed from the brainwashing chants, Zhao Wuji jolted when he heard this.
Three days? Restore to peak levels?
What kind of joke was that! The workers’ morale was scattered, tools were broken, and the most experienced foremen had long disappeared! It was an impossible task!
He was just about to object when he met Chu Feng’s gaze—those eyes, half-smiling, half-threatening.
In that instant, Zhao Wuji understood—this was the second test.
“I… I can do it!”
Zhao Wuji gritted his teeth, forcing out those three words from between them.
“Good.”
Chu Feng smiled. “I believe in Director Zhao’s ability. Of course, our Group will not let everyone’s hard work go unrewarded. As long as this KPI is achieved, all participating employees will have their bonuses doubled! And Director Zhao, your personal performance bonus will be tripled!”
“Boom!”
Double bonuses? Triple bonuses?
The employees below instantly erupted!
Greedy yet excited light burst in their eyes!
Zhao Wuji froze.
Only now did he remember—he was now someone who also received “salary” and “bonuses.”
That sense of humiliation… seemed to have faded, just a little, under the impact of those three words—“triple bonus.”
No! That’s wrong! How could I have such shameful thoughts!
Zhao Wuji screamed inwardly, struggling to hold on to his last shred of pride.
Yet, he had to admit—Chu Feng, that devil, understood human nature far too well.
A big stick, followed by a honeyed carrot.
After this one-two combo, not to mention a person—even a stubborn mule—would end up dancing in circles for him!