Chapter 215: 41,843 Threads of Human Dao Ember, 38,000 Employees, Spiritual Power

Late at night, Faculty Apartment 0418 of Xu Yuan.

Chen Yansen glanced at his phone screen, witnessing the verbal brawl between Zhou Hongyi and Leiyi Army, which gave him a glimpse of Weibo's environment in 2012.

They dare say anything at all!

In a decade and a half, the Weibo posts Zhou Hongyi made tonight, if spread out over half a month, would trend daily.

Chen Yansen put down his phone, summoned the system panel, and added the remaining 73 threads—he discovered January's Human Dao Ember count had reached 41, 43 threads.

The total employee count of subsidiaries under Senlian Capital had surpassed 38, 00, with the Orange Phone Factory and Yunsu Express accounting for 92% of that number.

"Combine!"

Chen Yansen focused his mind and issued the command to the panel.

In an instant, the 41, 43 threads of Human Dao Ember transformed into 418 threads of Divine Dao Ember; golden mist materialized out of nowhere and shot straight into his brow.

A massive, pure energy surged and enveloped his brain.

Blood, neurons, glial cells, and cerebrospinal fluid greedily devoured the golden mist.

The contours of a ten-meter radius scene appeared in his mind—still sketch-like, but now with added detail.

"This damn system is truly pay-to-win!"

Chen Yansen exhaled deeply, muttering under his breath.

A spiritual value of 18. 6 made his brain more active than ever, his thoughts like they'd entered overdrive—he could now complete in one minute what an ordinary person needed five to six hours for.

"Huh? What's this?!"

Chen Yansen sharply sensed an anomaly in the room: a flood of ants suddenly surged onto the bedroom floor, scrambling frantically out through cracks around doors and windows.

A gecko burst out from behind the air conditioner unit, then dashed straight into the living room and escaped from Apartment 0418 without looking back.

Only when the gecko vanished beyond his perception range did Chen Yansen frown.

Without doubt, these anomalies were tied to him!

He stood up, stepped out, opened the door to 0418, and locked onto the gecko with his spiritual sense.

As expected!

The moment he perceived it, the gecko reacted as if seeing a natural predator and kept fleeing.

What is this?

An insect predator?

Chen Yansen chuckled silently, but then recalled the martial arts realm described as "not even a feather could be added, not a fly could land"—yet he hadn't trained any martial arts at all.

Ah, this must be due to his overwhelming spiritual power exerting mental pressure on surrounding insects and pests, triggering intense fear in them.

Like deer, wild cattle, or cheetahs in the wild sensing a tiger's scent—immediately tense, anxious, and desperate to flee.

In short: biological suppression.

Chen Yansen pondered for a few seconds, closed the door to 0418, and walked downstairs.

He wanted to test the scope of this biological suppression ability—what animals it could affect.

At the base of the faculty apartment building, darkness surrounded him; only a dim yellow streetlamp hung four meters above.

The midges and moths that had been resting on the lampshade vanished instantly.

Standing in place, Chen Yansen clearly perceived field mice, wireworms, flies, and sparrows rapidly fleeing within a ten-meter radius.

Ten minutes later, only one cat, its fur standing on end, remained on the lawn five to six meters away, staring fixedly at Chen Yansen.

"Meow—!"

After a fifteen-second stare-down, the cat suddenly meowed, slowly retreated, and finally stopped eight to nine meters from Chen Yansen.

"At 18. 6 spiritual value, this effect already exists—if I raise it to 100, 200, even 1000, tigers and lions would flee the moment they sensed me."

Chen Yansen frowned slightly, musing inwardly.

What use is this to me?

Never getting bitten by mosquitoes for life?

But I already have the 【Rhino Skin, Tiger Bone】 talent—my skin can't be pierced by a fruit knife; even if a mosquito shattered its proboscis, it couldn't draw a drop of my blood.

Does it affect humans too?

Chen Yansen sighed—if everyone turned and ran the moment they saw me, how was I ever going to flirt with girls?

It was too late at night to find a suitable test subject—he turned and walked back upstairs to sleep.

Lying in bed, Chen Yansen sensed his neighbors—no signs of agitation or abnormal behavior.

But he couldn't tell if it was because his spiritual value was still too low, or if humans were simply unaffected.

The main issue was that this ability was uncontrollable—more like a biological instinct, impossible to turn on or off at will.

Before falling asleep, Chen Yansen's only thought was: Am I still human?

The next morning.

Chen Yansen drove to the Tech Park; as he entered Building 6 where Pinbei was located, Xu Xingxing, who was chatting with Zhang Yi at the front desk, suddenly felt a pang of unease and instinctively glanced toward the entrance.

"Class monitor, good morning!" Xu Xingxing greeted as usual.

Chen Yansen's heart skipped—he clearly caught Xu Xingxing's unusual demeanor.

"There's still some effect—even if slight—what if my spiritual value rises again?"

Chen Yansen thought silently, nodded absentmindedly, and walked straight toward the elevator.

"Xingxing, don't you think the boss looks different today?"

Zhang Yi whispered.

"More handsome?" Xu Xingxing joked, not taking Zhang Yi's remark seriously.

Zhang Yi assumed it was just her imagination and quickly forgot about it.

On the other side.

Chen Yansen walked into his office, rested briefly, then summoned the heads of all Pinbei departments for the morning meeting.

"Boss Chen!"

"Director Chen!"

Zhang Yifeng, Wang Zihao, Zhang Wenbo, Fei Qiwén, and Song Yuncheng arrived one by one on the eleventh floor.

"Director Chen's aura is growing heavier."

Cai Qiming from the Design Department flickered a look of uncertainty—he'd met many big bosses, but Chen Yansen was the first entrepreneur who made him feel actual pressure.

Chen Yansen swept his gaze over them, absorbing every reaction.

Song Yuncheng was least affected—as if he felt nothing at all.

"Everyone's here. I'll start: starting in February, the Business Development Department and Category Operations Department will merge into a single entity—the Major Client Business Development Department. From now on, Pinbei's commercial structure will align with Ali's, adopting an integrated business-operation model."

Chen Yansen spoke slowly.

At these words, Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, and Li Hui immediately panicked.

They each earned substantial commissions—over 100, 00 yuan monthly—and merging with Category Operations would likely eliminate their commission structure.

They exchanged glances; after a few seconds, Zhang Yifeng stepped forward: "Boss Chen, what happens to our commissions?"

"Cancelled. There will be no more Business Development positions. Instead, we'll have Merchant Operations Managers—salaries tied to rank. Your income will decrease compared to before, but it'll be far more stable."

"Of course, I respect your choices—if you don't want this, you can transfer to the Major Client Business Development Department."

Chen Yansen smiled faintly.

In his view, Pinbei's growth was now on track—A, B, and C-tier merchants would come to them without any outreach.

All that remained was handling merchant customer service and review operations—no need to waste manpower on repetitive, tedious tasks.

Zhang Yifeng fell silent, weighing his options: join Operations or Major Client Business Development.

The former offered stable income; the latter relied entirely on commissions.

"Boss Chen, I'll join Operations."

Within seconds, Zhang Yifeng made his decision and looked up at Chen Yansen.

He knew that as long as Song Yuncheng remained in Major Client Business Development, he'd never rise above him.

But the merged Operations Department was different—Chen Xu was only a nominal team leader, meaning Director Chen hadn't yet chosen the Operations Department head.

Staying in Operations offered greater future potential.

Yuan Wei and Li Hui exchanged glances, hesitant and unsure.

"No rush. Take your time," Chen Yansen said casually.

"Understood, thank you, Boss Chen," they replied quickly.

"How did Three Squirrels perform with the billion-yuan subsidy?" Chen Yansen changed the subject.

"Three Squirrels has 14 flagship products. They joined the billion-yuan subsidy program on January 13 and were online for a total of 18 days—but express delivery was suspended from January 21 to 28, so the actual sales period was only 10 days. Total sales reached 26. million yuan, primarily from New Year gift boxes, which accounted for 40% of revenue."

Song Yuncheng replied.

"The average daily sales per slot in the billion-yuan subsidy channel is 200, 00 yuan. Three Squirrels' products didn't even meet the average—if not for special approval, they would have been removed long ago."

Chen Yansen frowned, asking as if in doubt, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes," Song Yuncheng replied.

"Tell Zhang Liaoyuan: either slash prices or optimize the product mix. If Three Squirrels can't hit 300, 00 yuan daily output per slot within a month, kick them out."

Chen Yansen spoke bluntly.

Though Senlian Capital holds 40% of Three Squirrels' equity, he wouldn't endlessly pump traffic into them.

If they don't meet targets, they get cut.

Song Yuncheng nodded, planning to call Zhang Liaoyuan and Hu Li, who oversees the food category, for an online meeting to boost per-slot output.

"By the way, about the Chunshen agricultural support—I heard a grain and oil factory has moved in. Have any products been listed yet?"

Chen Yansen continued to ask.

"There's currently a five-kilogram package of Shao Bei rice online, priced at 12. yuan with free shipping; it sold 73, 00 orders yesterday, generating 940, 00 yuan in revenue."

Song Yuncheng blurted out.

During the Spring Festival, when she visited Chunshen, Chen Yansen had specifically mentioned this project, so she naturally paid extra attention to its output data.

"Not bad. I hope to create a classic case to attract more agricultural and sideline product companies to join Pinbei. The platform must have Xiyue's navel oranges, lychees, and pineapples, Sichuan's kiwifruit, baba citrus, and lemons, Shandong's greenhouse vegetables, and Northeastern rice…"

Chen Yansen emphasized again.

"I understand," Song Yuncheng replied.

"Zihao, new user traffic has declined recently. I know part of it is due to the holiday, but we must boost the numbers in February—daily new user growth must not fall below three million."

Chen Yansen instructed.

"Don't worry, I'll get it done," Wang Zihao gave an "OK" gesture.

Although traffic from WeChat and QQ entrances keeps shrinking, he wasn't worried—powerful new-user acquisition tools like Zero-Yuan Bargain, Money Printer, and Cash Wheel could instantly boost new user growth if they increased investment.

Additionally, they could supplement new user traffic by adjusting the scale of paid acquisition.

Next, Director of Human Resources Xiong Li reported progress on campus and social recruitment; by the end of Q1, Pinbei's total staff would exceed one thousand.

Director of Design Cai Qiming introduced Pinbei's next UI design, planning to begin small-scale group testing this week to select the version with the highest user retention and order conversion rate.

The morning meeting ended at 9: 0.

Zhang Yiming, Li Hui, and Yuan Wei returned to their desks, somber, and announced the upcoming restructuring to the rest of the sales team.

That afternoon, the HR department spoke individually with each salesperson and presented new employment contracts.

Anyone who signed would see their base salary rise from 6, 00 yuan to over 20, 00 yuan; for sales team leaders like Zhang Yiming, the base salary would reach over 50, 00 yuan.

That level would also qualify as P8 at Ali.

Although this adjustment caused considerable upheaval, nearly all team leaders chose to re-sign the contract—only Li Hui opted to transfer to the Major Client Sales Department.

Among sales members below team leader level, three requested to leave.

After all, they had joined solely for commissions; now that commissions were gone, they naturally had no reason to stay at Pinbei.

However, this merger and adjustment benefited most sales staff, as their income became more stable.

The company's future salary adjustment plans would no longer exclude sales personnel.

Before leaving work, Chen Yansen received a report from Gao Weilin.

Zhang Yiming had established a new company in Yancheng; during financing discussions, he insisted on including Yuanma Capital, Jinri Capital, and Ethereum Capital together.

"Boss, should we still invest in ByteDance?"

After speaking, Gao Weilin asked softly.

(End of Chapter)