Chapter 50 - 43: From Today On, No Longer Need an Elevator

Chen Jue was a bit stunned by the new notification that popped up on the panel.

’Climbing stairs counts as Climbing? I can work with this!’

’Is it because it’s an upward climbing motion?’

Chen Jue pondered for a moment, turning to look back at the steps he had just climbed.

The staircase wasn’t actually steep. And while there was a handrail, Chen Jue hadn’t used it at all on his quick ascent.

But since the panel recognized stair climbing as a Climbing activity, Chen Jue was now filled with motivation for the climb ahead.

’I just started at this new company, and right off the bat, I get to grind Skill Level by climbing stairs.’

’Isn’t this just giving me a free pass to slack off?’ Chen Jue grinned. He stopped worrying about the reasons and turned to continue his climb.

The building housing Hengtong Group was a Grade A office building, with each floor at a standard height of 4.2 meters.

The fire escape stairwells in this type of Grade A office building were usually designed in a double-flight style. This meant the stairs made a turn on every floor, in a shape similar to a "|z|".

Half a flight was about 15 steps, with a small landing at the turn for people to rest. After the turn, another 15 steps led up to the next floor’s fire door.

That was 30 steps per floor. Climbing to the 17th floor would be a cumulative 480 steps.

That many steps would be nothing on flat ground or a downhill path, taking only a few minutes.

But when it came to climbing stairs, it was a real stamina drain.

By only the 7th floor or so, Chen Jue was already starting to pant. His heart raced, sweat beaded on his skin, and one hand subconsciously reached for the handrail.

’This... It doesn’t look that high, but it’s exhausting to climb. Feels much more tiring than practicing Tai Chi.’ Chen Jue slowed his pace. The sensation of climbing the stairs was like being submerged in water.

With every upward step, his thighs and ankles throbbed with a dull ache.

By about the 12th floor, Chen Jue had slowed to a snail’s pace.

He had to pause for a heavy breath after almost every two steps.

He had only been resting for a few seconds when, unexpectedly, the panel chimed in with another notification:

——————

[Ding!]

[You have completed one high-intensity aerobic exercise. Your leg muscle groups have been trained, and your dynamic balance has slightly improved.]

[Reminder: Your cardiopulmonary function is under continuous exertion, your blood circulation has accelerated, and oxygen consumption has intensified. Please maintain sufficient oxygen intake to avoid bodily harm.]

[Constitution Attribute +0.01]

[Strength Attribute +0.01]

[Free Attribute +0.01]

——————

’C-climbing stairs actually triggered a critical hit!’

’And it’s only been three minutes!’

Chen Jue staggered up to the 13th floor, and seeing the red notification, he quickly pushed open the fire door to the office area outside and took several deep breaths of fresh air.

Although climbing stairs was a high-intensity exercise, and the efficiency of grinding Skill Level and gaining attribute points was absurdly fast, the smell in the stairwell was truly awful.

Chen Jue figured the building’s management had turned off the ventilation fans to save electricity, leaving the air smelling stale and murky.

It was most likely car exhaust rising up from the basement garage, mixed with the smell of smoke. Breathing it in for too long was enough to make one nauseous.

’Figures. Property management companies are all a bunch of cheapskates, no matter where you go!’

’It’s just a ventilation fan. How much could the electricity possibly cost for one day?’ Chen Jue couldn’t help but grouse.

He had finally found a new way to grind Attributes, only to be thwarted by such a man-made problem.

If he weren’t brand new and still unfamiliar with his surroundings, Chen Jue would have been tempted to call 96119 and report the building for fire code violations!

...

He rested on the 13th floor for about seven or eight minutes, and the time ticked past 9:00 AM sharp.

This was now the official start of the workday, but Chen Jue wasn’t the least bit worried, because he had already clocked in downstairs.

Showing up borderline late on his very first day—he was certainly getting bold, his nerve growing.

Of course, this was mainly due to a shift in his mindset.

He was almost thirty; who still gave a damn about some bullshit attendance policy?

To Chen Jue’s surprise, however, just after 9:00 AM sharp, the ventilation ducts in the stairwell began to whir to life.

He poked his head into the stairwell and took a whiff. It wasn’t as unpleasant now. After waiting to recover his strength, Chen Jue slowly dragged his body the rest of the way up to the 17th floor.

He pushed open the fire door once again and walked slowly to the impressive main entrance of Hengtong Group’s risk control department. His workout clothes were completely drenched in sweat.

’Including the break, it took about twelve minutes in total.’

’A single climb like that feels more effective than an hour at the gym!’

’No wonder I’ve never heard of anyone taking the stairs to get to such a high floor for work,’ Chen Jue thought with a sigh, glancing at his attribute panel.

——————

Name: Chen Jue

Strength: 0.87+

Constitution: 1.09+

Spirit: 1.07+

Skills: [Hidden Weapon Throwing Lv5 (24/20000)], [Climbing Lv0 (35/100)], [Tai Chi Twelve Forms (Perfection)]

Assignable Free Attribute Points: 0.01

(Character Evaluation: You are an office worker who thinks for himself. Although your hard work has not been 100% rewarded, it will no longer be wasted as it was before, with your time going completely down the drain.)

(However, please be aware! While maintaining self-discipline, you must also pay attention to your underlying health problems. A balance of work and rest is key to maintaining your health and going the distance.)

——————

’Almost there!’

’With a few more days of hard work, all three of my main Attributes should break 1.0.’

Chen Jue looked at the updated character evaluation on the panel. His brow furrowed for a moment before he reached into his backpack, feeling for the small pouch containing his medication.

From his previous hospital check-up, he already had a general idea of his conditions, most of which were chronic.

Lately, in addition to his daily exercise, he had been taking targeted medication after his meals.

For example, he was regularly taking the ursodeoxycholic acid that the specialist had mentioned for treating his gallstones.

The medicine was quite expensive. Since it was an import, it wasn’t covered by his health insurance, costing him over 600 a month.

Someone with a predisposition for stones had to take it continuously, an expense even greater than what Chen Jue used to spend on cigarettes.

’I wonder if this medicine can actually dissolve the stones.’

’If it can’t, I’ll have to make a special trip to Shanghai to see a doctor.’ The thought ran through Chen Jue’s mind. He lingered at the entrance of his new workplace for a moment before heading inside.

...

He had already completed his onboarding, registered his face for security, and had his desk assigned.

Although the young woman at the front desk didn’t recognize him, she saw his employee ID pop up on the entrance monitor. She gave him a smile, a nod, and an enthusiastic "Good morning!"

’As expected of a top company. The receptionist for the risk control department alone is leagues prettier than anyone at Taisheng Finance!’ Chen Jue marveled internally, still feeling the novelty of his new job.

He walked through the spacious open-plan office, making his way to the risk control department at the very back.

The space was huge, with nearly a hundred workstations divided among six teams. As the newcomer, Chen Jue was assigned to Group Five.

According to what the head of the risk control department, President Luo Lezhi, had said before, Group Five was in charge of existing vehicle refinancing—what was commonly known on the market as auto title loans.

Compared to the more common new and used car financing businesses, the volume for auto title loans wasn’t as high. However, the quality of clientele varied wildly, and fraudulent applicants were common, which put a risk control officer’s personal assessment skills to the test.

However, Chen Jue had taken a step down from a supervisory role and had dealt with all kinds of business, so he was certainly no stranger to auto title loans.

He slowly made his way to his desk, where several of his neighbors were already hard at work.

Some were logging into the system, others were reviewing files, and a few were analyzing last week’s approval data.

As this unfamiliar face appeared, everyone glanced over in his direction.

Seeing this, Chen Jue smiled faintly and waved to his new colleagues. "Hello, everyone. I’m the new guy, Chen Jue! We met briefly last week."

Seeing his mild-mannered, bespectacled appearance, coupled with his slightly pudgy build and thinning hair that revealed hints of his scalp, they instantly recognized him as a veteran risk control officer. They smiled and greeted him back, a preliminary welcome.

Just then, the man at the end of the row, Group Five’s leader Li Mo, smiled at him. "Chen Jue, President Luo already went over your onboarding plan in last week’s meeting."

"Since it’s your first day, start by familiarizing yourself with the logic and data models of our risk control system. Then, learn the customer tiering strategy for the front-end products. This afternoon, I’ll try to push a few A-list clients to you for review."

"I’m the team leader, so I’ll supervise your work for the first week. If everything looks good, you’ll be on your own starting next week! Does that arrangement work for you?"

"No problem!"

Chen Jue nodded. His first impression of his new colleagues was pretty good.

No one was giving him strange looks or whispering about him. He figured it must be a reflection of the positive environment that Team Leader Li Mo had fostered.

...

After taking his seat and arranging his personal belongings, Chen Jue went to the restroom to change into his office attire.

He had worked up a major sweat climbing seventeen floors. Thank goodness he’d brought a towel; otherwise, it would have been too sticky to sit comfortably and slack off.

He had just settled into his chair when the heavy-set man right next to him leaned over.

"Hey, man. I’m Shen Shikun. Nice to meet you! Looks like we’re neighbors now."

"You’re not in the group chat yet, are you? I’ll add you on WeChat and pull you into our team’s chat."

Shen Shikun had a portly build and a somewhat simple-looking, honest face. You could tell at a glance he was the type of office worker who weighed over 200 jin and wasn’t exactly athletic.

"Thanks!"

Seeing how enthusiastic the man was, Chen Jue politely took out his phone and added him on WeChat.

When starting a new job, getting added on WeChat was the first and most important step to integrating with the group.

After being pulled into the Group Five chat, Chen Jue went through and added every member one by one. He also sent a 200-yuan "lucky draw" red packet into the chat to liven things up.

Seeing the chat fill up with all sorts of ridiculous sticker memes and hearing a few nearby colleagues wail that they hadn’t gotten the biggest portion, Chen Jue knew this new job wouldn’t be too dull.

’Looks like they’re all pretty easy to get along with.’

Chen Jue smiled faintly, turned on his computer, and logged into Hengtong’s system with his employee ID.

The interface looked incredibly high-end. The integrated risk control models and strategies were the most advanced on the market, and it was also connected to a pile of paid query portals, covering virtually all data related to the vehicle financing business.

From a car’s auto repair history, 4S dealership maintenance, and insurance claims, all the way to a client’s court records, credit liabilities, and blacklists—everything was consolidated into one system.

’Just processing a single client’s data must cost over a hundred, right?’

’This really is a big company! So rich and powerful!’

Just a quick browse was enough to make Chen Jue practically drool.

Compared to a slapdash outfit like Taisheng Finance, only a major corporation like this could confidently beat its chest and tell investors that it truly had risk control.

If Chen Jue had possessed this system before, he could have handled the workload of an entire team by himself. He wouldn’t have needed to hire three subordinates to delegate miscellaneous tasks to.

This was the beauty of an integrated software system!

Everything was a foolproof, one-click operation. You could get all the work done with just a few clicks of the mouse.

But this kind of thing wasn’t something a small company could afford to play with. Chen Jue estimated that building this system alone must have cost tens of millions—money that no small-time boss or investor could possibly fork over.

’But this is good, too!’

’The more powerful this risk control system is, the less effort my job will be.’

’And I can use the saved time to slack off and work out. What’s not to love?’

Having come to this realization, Chen Jue grinned, reached into his bag, and brazenly placed his grip strengthener right on his desktop.