Chapter 215: 41,843 Strands of Human Dao Torch, 380,000 Employees, Mental Power

Late at night, in the Virtual Courtyard faculty apartment, room 0418.

Chen Yansen glanced at his phone screen; the mudslinging match between Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yi had given him a glimpse of the Weibo environment in 2012.

They really dared to say anything!

If this were more than a decade later, the Weibo posts Zhou Hongyi released tonight, split up and posted over half a month, would hit the trending list every single day.

Chen Yansen put down his phone, summoned the system panel, and adding the 73 strands remaining from before, the Human Dao Torch for January had reached a staggering 41,843 strands.

The total number of employees in the holding companies under Senlian Capital had surpassed 38,000, with Sister Chengzi's mobile phone factory and Yunsu Express accounting for 92% of that figure.

"Synthesize!"

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

In an instant, the 41,843 strands of Human Dao Torch converted into 418 strands of Divine Dao Torch; golden mist materialized out of thin air and shot straight into his brow.

Massive, pure energy instantly enveloped his brain.

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

The outline of the scene within a ten-meter radius floated in his mind; it still resembled a stick-figure sketch, but now contained a few more details.

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

Chen Yansen let out a long sigh and couldn't help but mutter softly.

A mental attribute value of 18.96 made his brain increasingly active; his thinking was like an overclocked mode, capable of completing five or six hours of deep thought by an ordinary person within a single minute.

"Huh? This is!?"

Chen Yansen keenly sensed an anomaly in the room; he saw a massive swarm of ants suddenly surge out onto the bedroom floor, fleeing madly outward through the narrow cracks of the doors and windows.

A gecko suddenly darted out from behind the wall-mounted air conditioner, then, without looking back, rushed straight for the living room and escaped room 0418 from there.

Only after the gecko vanished from his perception range did Chen Yansen helplessly frown.

Needless to say, these abnormalities were absolutely related to him!

He stood up, walked out, opened the door to room 0418, and used his 'Divine Sense' to lock onto that gecko.

As expected!

The moment he sensed it, the gecko, as if seeing a natural enemy, continued to flee for its life.

What is this?

An insect nemesis?

Chen Yansen let out a helpless laugh, but he soon recalled the martial arts realm of "not even a single feather can be added, not even a fly or insect can land," yet he hadn't practiced martial arts at all.

Right, this must be because his mental power was too strong, creating mental pressure on the mosquitoes, flies, and ants around him, causing them to experience extreme fear.

Just as deer, wild oxen, and cheetahs in the wild smell a tiger and immediately become tense and uneasy, seeking any opportunity to escape.

Simply put, it is biological suppression!

After pondering for a few seconds, Chen Yansen closed the door to room 0418 and immediately headed downstairs.

He wanted to test exactly which animals this biological suppression ability could affect.

Arriving downstairs at the faculty apartment building, the surroundings were pitch black, with only a dim street lamp hanging four meters high in the air.

The midges and moths that had originally been clinging to the lampshade vanished completely in an instant.

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

Ten minutes later, only a cat senior, its fur bristling all over, remained standing on the lawn five or six meters away, staring straight at Chen Yansen.

"Meow—!"

After staring at each other for over ten seconds, the cat senior suddenly let out a cry, then slowly backed away, finally stopping at a distance of eight or nine meters from Chen Yansen.

"Mental power of 18.96 can produce such an effect; if it were raised to 100, 200, or even 1,000, I'm afraid even tigers and lions would flee at the mere sight of it."

Chen Yansen frowned slightly, pondering silently.

What use is this thing for me?

Never having to worry about insect bites for the rest of my life?

But I already possess the 【Rhino Skin Tiger Bone】 talent; even a fruit knife can't cut my skin, and even if a mosquito breaks its proboscis, it won't be able to suck a drop of my blood.

I wonder if it has any effect on humans?

Chen Yansen sighed; if everyone turned and ran upon seeing him, how would he ever flirt with girls in the future?

In the middle of the night, there were no suitable test subjects to be found, so he could only turn around, head back upstairs, and go to sleep.

Lying in bed, Chen Yansen sensed the nearby neighbors; it seemed no signs of restlessness or abnormality had appeared.

Yet he couldn't be sure whether it was because the mental attribute value wasn't high enough, or if humans were simply unaffected.

Mainly because this ability was uncontrollable; it felt more like a biological instinct, impossible to control at will.

Before he fell asleep, only one thought remained in Chen Yansen's mind: Am I still human?

The next morning.

Chen Yansen drove to the Technology Park; when he walked into Building 6 where Pinba was located, Xu Xingxing, who was chatting with Zhang Yi at the front desk, suddenly felt a pang of unease in her heart and instinctively looked toward the entrance.

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

Chen Yansen's heart gave a "thump," and his gaze clearly captured Xu Xingxing's abnormal expression.

"There is still some effect, although very slight; but what if the mental attribute value rises again?"

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

"Xingxing, don't you feel that the boss looks a bit different today?"

Zhang Yi asked in a low voice.

"He's gotten more handsome?" Xu Xingxing joked with a smile, not taking Zhang Yi's words to heart.

Zhang Yi assumed it was just a trick of the light and quickly put the matter out of her mind.

On the other side.

Chen Yansen pushed open the door and entered the office. After resting briefly, he summoned the heads of each department at Pinba to hold the morning meeting.

"Brother Sen!"

"President Chen!"

Zhang Yifeng, Wang Zihao, Zhang Wenbo, Fei Qiwen, Song Yuncheng, and others successively arrived at the eleventh floor.

"The aura of President Chen seems to be growing heavier and heavier."

Cai Qiming from the Design Department flashed a look of surprise and uncertainty in his eyes. He had seen many big bosses, but he had never encountered an entrepreneur like Chen Yansen who made people feel such oppression.

Chen Yansen's gaze swept over them, taking in everyone's reactions.

Song Yuncheng was affected the least, appearing as if he felt nothing at all.

"Everyone is here. I'll say something first: starting in February, the Investment Department and the Category Operations Department will merge. Only the Major Client Investment Department will remain. In the future, Pinba's business structure will align with Mama Ali, changing to an integrated investment and operations model."

Chen Yansen spoke slowly.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, and Li Hui immediately panicked.

Relying on generous commissions, the three of them earned at least over a hundred thousand per month. If they merged with the Category Operations Department, the commission mechanism would likely be cancelled.

The group exchanged glances. A few seconds later, Zhang Yifeng stepped forward: "Brother Sen, how will the investment commissions be calculated?"

"Cancelled! There will be no investment positions in the future. They will be replaced by Merchant Operations Managers. Salaries will be linked to rank. Your incomes will definitely decrease correspondingly, but compared to before, they will be more stable."

"Of course, I respect your choices. If you are unwilling, you can also transfer to the Major Client Investment Department."

Chen Yansen said with a faint smile.

In his view, Pinba's development had already gotten on track. Merchants of A-grade, B-grade, and C-grade brands would come to them proactively without needing investment outreach.

The rest could be handled by merchant customer service and audit operations. There was no need to waste manpower on repetitive and tedious work stages.

After listening, Zhang Yifeng remained silent, calculating in his mind whether to join the Operations Department or go to the Major Client Investment Department.

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

"Brother Sen, I'll go to the Operations Department."

In just a few breaths, Zhang Yifeng made his decision and looked up at Chen Yansen.

He knew clearly in his heart that as long as Song Yuncheng remained in the Major Client Investment Department for a day, it would be very difficult for him to rise to power.

But the Operations Department formed by merging the Investment Department and the Category Operations Department was different. Chen Xu merely held the title of team leader in the category group, which indicated that the big boss had not yet decided on the person for the Operations Department director position.

Staying in the Operations Department offered greater room for future growth.

Yuan Wei and Li Hui exchanged a glance, showing difficulty on their faces, unsure how to choose.

"No rush. Take your time to consider," Chen Yansen said indifferently.

"Okay, thank you, Brother Sen," the group hurriedly replied.

"How is the output of Three Squirrels in the Hundred Billion Subsidy program?" Chen Yansen changed the subject and asked.

"Three Squirrels has 14 mainly promoted products. They entered the Hundred Billion Subsidy channel on January 13th. They were online for a total of 18 days, but from January 21st to January 28th, express delivery was suspended. Therefore, the total selling duration was 10 days. The total sales volume was 26.8 million, mainly driven by New Year gift box output, accounting for 40% of the performance."

Song Yuncheng answered immediately.

"The daily average output per slot in the Hundred Billion Subsidy is 200,000. That means Three Squirrels' products haven't even reached the average line. If there hadn't been special approval, they would have been dropped from the pool long ago, right?"

Chen Yansen frowned. It seemed like a rhetorical question, but he already had the answer in his heart.

"Yes," Song Yuncheng replied.

"Tell Zhang Liaoyuan: either lower the price or optimize the product structure. If Three Squirrels' daily average output per slot does not reach 300,000 within one month, kick them out directly."

Chen Yansen said without any courtesy.

Although Senlian Capital held a 40% equity stake in Three Squirrels, he could not give them traffic without restraint.

If they failed to meet the requirements, they would still be taken offline.

Song Yuncheng nodded, planning to find Zhang Liaoyuan and Hu Li, who was responsible for food category operations, later to set up an online meeting and see how to increase the output per slot.

"By the way, regarding the agricultural product support in Chunshen, I heard a grain and oil factory has completed its onboarding. Are there any products launched?"

Chen Yansen continued asking.

"Currently, there is a 5-jin package of Shaobei Rice online. The price is 12.9 yuan with free shipping. Yesterday, 73,000 orders were sold, with a sales volume of 940,000."

Song Yuncheng blurted out.

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

"Not bad. I hope to create classic cases to attract more agricultural and sideline product companies to join Pinba. The platform must not only have Xiyue's navel oranges, lychees, and pineapples, but also Sichuan's kiwis, babagan oranges, and lemons, as well as Qilu's greenhouse vegetables and Northeast's rice..."

Chen Yansen emphasized again.

"I understand," Song Yuncheng replied.

"Zihao, new customer traffic has declined recently. I know the holiday accounted for part of the reason, but in February, we must pull the data up. The daily new customer increase cannot be lower than 3 million."

Chen Yansen instructed.

"Don't worry, I guarantee it will be handled," Wang Zihao made an 'OK' gesture.

Although the entry traffic from WeChat and QQ was decreasing, he was not panicking. Powerful new customer acquisition methods like zero-yuan bargaining, money-printing machines, and cash big spin wheels could immediately boost new customer increases as long as the investment cost was increased.

Additionally, the scale of paid traffic acquisition could be adjusted to supplement new customer traffic.

Next, Human Resources Director Xiong Li reported on the progress of campus recruitment and social recruitment. It was estimated that before the end of Q1, Pinba's total number of employees would exceed 1,000.

Design Department Director Cai Qiming introduced the next version of Pinba's UI style. They planned to start small-scale group testing this week to select the version with the strongest user stickiness and the highest order conversion rate.

It was not until 9:30 that the morning meeting ended.

Zhang Yifeng, Li Hui, and Yuan Wei returned to their workstations, Burdened with worries, and announced the upcoming restructuring to the other investment staff.

That afternoon, the HR department talked one-on-one with the investment personnel and presented new labor contracts.

As long as they signed, the original base salary of 6,000 yuan would rise to over 20,000. For investment team leaders like Zhang Yifeng, the base salary was as high as over 50,000.

Even at Mama Ali, this would reach P8 level.

Although this adjustment caused quite a stir, people at the team leader level basically all chose to re-sign the contract. Only Li Hui chose to transfer to the Major Client Investment Department.

Among the business development members below the team leader, 3 have submitted their resignations.

After all, they had originally come for the commission, and now that it's been cancelled, naturally they don't want to stay at PinBe anymore.

However, this merger and adjustment is good news for most of the business development staff, because their income is now more stable.

The company's future salary adjustment plan will no longer exclude business development personnel.

Chen Yansen, before getting off work, received Gao Weilin's work report.

Zhang Yiming has established a new company in Yanjing, and when discussing the financing plan, he insists on having Source Code Capital, Today Capital, and Ether Capital all join together.

"Boss, should we still invest in ByteDance?"

After Gao Weilin finished speaking, he asked softly.

(End of chapter)