267: Chapter 266 What a pity

Everyone followed Factory Manager Wei Qingyun's gaze, only to see an excessively young man standing behind a very beautiful woman, looking extremely low-key.

"Director Wei, don't tell me the new boss is him?!"

The young employee wore an expression of disbelief, his voice filled with skepticism.

"How old is he? How could the Group possibly hand the factory over to him?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the employees nearby chimed in one after another.

"General Manager Wei, did you make a mistake?"

A middle-aged man who had been standing next to Factory Manager Wei Qingyun also spoke up.

After two months of training, Wang Shuo had actually matured a lot, but his handsome face and clear temperament still betrayed the fact that he was not very old.

At this age, in many people's eyes, he was still just a child.

What could a child do?

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun did not speak, simply looking at Wang Shuo quietly.

Wang Shuo sighed silently in his heart.

If he had known it would be like this, he would have brought Liu Yemei; she handled these situations with ease and was like a fish in water when dealing with them.

Seeing that Zheng Yi seemed inclined to step forward and speak, Wang Shuo took two steps forward, secretly giving Zheng Yi a look that said 'leave it to me,' and met Factory Manager Wei Qingyun's gaze, saying in a deep voice, "It is me."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun's heart sank; although he had gathered as much from Zheng Yi's attitude, hearing Wang Shuo admit it himself was still hard to accept.

Wang Shuo looked at the silent Factory Manager Wei Qingyun, then turned his gaze to the gathered employees.

"I am the new boss you speak of, the one about to take over the factory."

As soon as he finished speaking, the scene fell into silence; the workers, who had just been filled with righteous indignation, looked at each other in dismay.

This young man actually admitted it?

The new boss?

If he is the new boss, wouldn't this factory have no hope of ever getting ahead?

young man who had spoken earlier clenched his fists, his face flushed red, and he roared, "What right do you have? What qualifications do you have to take over our factory? What right do you have to make our factory make way for you?"

"What right?"

Wang Shuo smiled slightly; he had always presented himself as gentle, but he could not show weakness at this moment.

"By the fact that I have the ability to double your compensation, or even multiply it several times over! By the fact that I can bring your factory back from the dead!"

Wang Shuo's gaze sharpened, immersing his mind into the hundreds of thousands of years of history of the Humanoid Race, and a deep, unsettling aura suddenly radiated from his entire being.

Zheng Yi, standing behind Wang Shuo, narrowed her eyes slightly, then looked at Wang Shuo's back, which seemed to have changed, lost in thought.

The others did not have senses as sharp as Zheng Yi's; they only felt that young man before them seemed different, his figure becoming imposing, and at this moment, age no longer seemed to be an issue.

"I am very clear about the situation of your factory, but do you have the ability to change it?"

"You do not!"

"You cannot even see where your direction forward lies, living in a daze, waiting for so-called funding to keep you alive, waiting for others to pity you and toss you some scraps, and you are even smug about it!"

"Continuing on like this will only bring shame to this factory's former glory; in you, I see no future."

"So today, I, Wang Shuo, tell you this."

Wang Shuo raised his voice, his tone resonant and powerful.

"I have decided to take this factory, and that cannot be changed!"

"I do not know why you have gathered here or what your purpose in doing so is. If you intend to protest in this manner, then I can only say you have miscalculated."

"If anyone is not satisfied, you can immediately submit a report to the Personnel Department, and I will approve your resignation. But do not say I am bullying you; I will pay you your severance in full, based on a fifty percent increase over the salary stipulated by your Group, and from then on, the world is vast, and we owe each other nothing."

The scene was dead silent; everyone was stunned.

They had not expected this new boss to be so tough; they had only just revealed a slight intention to protest, and the possibility had been cut off at the source.

Everyone present was educated, and no one failed to understand the meaning behind the new boss's words.

If you are not satisfied, get out.

Clear and explicit.

Wang Shuo glanced at Factory Manager Wei Qingyun standing nearby and finished calmly: "Everyone, those who wish to resign can go to the Personnel Department to register now."

After saying this, he turned and returned to Zheng Yi's side.

Zheng Yi looked at him with a strange expression.

Wang Shuo gave a wry smile: "Sister Zheng, don't look at me like that; I don't want to either, but I don't have time, and I must cut through the Gordian knot quickly."

Zheng Yi nodded; in fact, she had gone to such great lengths, with helicopters and private jets—what was it for?

It was just for time.

Time was not something only Wang Shuo was anxious about.

"By the way, Sister Zheng," Wang Shuo whispered, "I might need to borrow your zero egg in a moment."

"You may," Zheng Yi replied.

Seeing Wang Shuo and Zheng Yi walk into the building, the workers, who had been stunned by Wang Shuo's words, came to their senses one after another and cast pleading looks toward Factory Manager Wei Qingyun.

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun scanned them, his tone low: "Everyone, disperse."

With that, he led Old Zhou and the others to follow Zheng Yi and Wang Shuo into the building.

The conference room was on the third floor.

After entering the room, everyone sat down, separated into groups.

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun sat with his eyes closed, wondering what he was thinking.

The other high-level executives of the factory also looked displeased.

Wang Shuo's impassioned speech just now had practically pointed at their noses in front of the employees and called the executives useless sacks of rice and cowards, acting as if they were solely responsible for the factory becoming what it was today.

How could anyone be happy about that?

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

After a long time, Zheng Yi spoke: "Since no one has anything to say, I will speak."

She looked at Factory Manager Wei Qingyun opposite her.

"Factory Manager Wei, you have received the order; you don't need me to teach you what to do, right?"

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun opened his eyes.

"Colonel Zheng Yi, I am no longer a soldier; you should go tell your Defense Department about obeying orders. I only want to know one thing now..."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun looked at Wang Shuo.

"Who is he?"

The Group headquarters would not send him such a document for no reason, and Zheng Yi, as an active-duty Colonel, would not personally accompany a nobody.

Therefore, the crux of everything lay with this young man.

But he had thought about it the whole way and could not figure out Wang Shuo's identity or background.

The grandson of some high-ranking official?

That didn't seem right either; even if he were a high-ranking official's grandson, he couldn't just do whatever he pleased.

At the very least, a high-ranking official's grandson could not, and would not dare, interfere in matters like the ownership of a Weapon factory.

Power and obligation are always two sides of the same coin.

While enjoying power, one must accept stricter rules.

If he dared to target the Weapon factory today, tomorrow the higher-ups would find various reasons to bring him down.

So... this kid was not a member of the military.

Seeing Factory Manager Wei Qingyun's piercing gaze, Zheng Yi said calmly: "Don't ask what you shouldn't know; knowing too much will do you no good."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun's eyes narrowed.

These words...

Although Zheng Yi had said nothing, she seemed to have revealed something.

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun was silent for a moment, then spoke to those behind him: "Old Zhou, hand over the factory's documents to them."

Old Zhou hesitated.

"Factory Manager, shouldn't we try to fight for it a bit more..."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun was noncommittal, only saying: "Give it to them."

Old Zhou felt helpless and reluctantly took a thick document out of his bag, handing it to Wang Shuo opposite him.

Wang Shuo flipped through it roughly and already had a general understanding in his mind.

"Your factory even established a research institute?"

Wang Shuo looked up and asked with some surprise.

Old Zhou gave a proud snort and said: "The 171 Research Institute, founded along with the factory; it has been decades now."

Wang Shuo nodded, looking at the information in the document.

That explained it.

When he was touring earlier, Wang Shuo had been thinking about a question.

The hardware strength of Yunsheng Equipment Factory was not weak; judging from the types of equipment, they could produce many things, and with some effort, they could even produce some heavy-duty Weapon.

With such strength, they should not have fallen to the point of relying on relief to survive.

Now he understood.

It was this 171 Research Institute.

Even during the most difficult times for Yunsheng Equipment Factory, they had still taken almost all their profits to maintain the operation of the 171 Research Institute; it was their persistence that allowed this research institute, which had existed for over fifty years, to still exist today.

Looking at the nearly 40% of financial expenditure each year on the accounts, Wang Shuo sighed; this Weapon factory did not seem as useless as he had thought.

Had he been too harsh just now?

Wang Shuo reflected on himself, silently said sorry in his heart, and then asked: "I heard from Sister Zheng that your factory has an important research project; is it being handled by this 171 Research Institute?"

It would have been better not to mention it; when this was brought up, the scene became even quieter.

After a while, Factory Manager Wei Qingyun said: "The 171 Research Institute was always in the charge of Professor Luo, and the project was also fully directed by him, but... he has passed away."

"The project has been cancelled; if you want to see the detailed project information, I will have someone fetch it for you."

Wang Shuo nodded: "Sorry for the trouble."

It was not that he had any intention of prying into this project; he was purely curious about what a project that an academician-level figure had researched for several years actually looked like.

The information was quickly brought over.

Looking at the words "Declassified" written on the envelope, Wang Shuo already felt its heavy weight.

When a person dies, it is like a lamp going out; nothing could be more true than this.

Opening the file and glancing through it, Wang Shuo quickly understood what was going on.

After a long time, Wang Shuo put down the document folder and shook his head slightly.

"What a pity."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun looked at him.

"General Manager Wang, can you understand it?"

There was no emotion in his tone, but Wang Shuo still heard the mockery in it.

So he nodded and said: "I have dabbled in it slightly. Professor Luo must have been designing a new type of sniper rifle, adopting a semi-closed bolt-action structure; the expected value was good, but it is a pity."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun was silent for a moment and also sighed: "Yes, it is a pity; Professor Luo passed away too early. If he could have held on for two more months, perhaps this sniper rifle could have been put into production."

Wang Shuo was slightly stunned.

"Ahem, that is not the pity I meant. I mean, it is a pity that Professor Luo researched in the wrong direction; even if this sniper rifle were produced, it would be of no use, as its power and precision would not have any advantage compared to new types of firearms."

Factory Manager Wei Qingyun paused slightly, then said: "General Manager Wang may not see it clearly; if this sniper rifle could be produced, I dare say that there is no sniper rifle in China with better data than it."

Wang Shuo nodded, not denying it.

"There was indeed none before, but now there is."

"That is why I said, it is a pity."