115: Chapter 115 By the mandate of Heaven, may your life be long and prosperous.

Lin Ning was "stifled" awake in the morning by his "heaven-propping pillar."

Damn, I need to take a break from kidneys and leeks; I should stop eating them for a while. My body's in such good shape, it's almost like when I was in my teens.

Habitually, he glanced at his phone and scrolled through the missed calls; there was a long list of numbers from Fatty Zhang and Liu Jian.

It was annoying to look at.

Lin Ning felt it was very inconvenient; keeping the ringer on led to frequent interruptions, but if he turned it off, what if he missed an important call from someone else?

Just as he was thinking, a call from Fatty Zhang popped up on the screen.

Lin Ning pressed answer.

"F*ck, pick up the damn phone..."

"F*ck your mother!! Wash your mouth before you call me, you idiot!"

After cursing him out, Lin Ning hung up the phone immediately.

After Lin Ning finished washing up, he picked up his phone again to find several more missed calls. As the screen lit up once more, he answered it leisurely.

"...Hello? Hello? Lin Ning! Lin Ning!"

Lin Ning let him shout on the other end for a good while before lazily responding, "Yeah."

Fatty Zhang's voice was a bit shaky. "Lin Ning, what exactly do you want? You've already resigned, yet you're still harassing the partner company..."

Playing dumb?

Ha! Lin Ning had overestimated this guy's IQ and integrity after all. He interrupted him impatiently, "Do you think I'm an idiot like you? You're really trying this crap on me?"

After saying that, Lin Ning hung up immediately and blacklisted his number.

On the other end, sweat was pouring down Fatty Zhang's face. Hearing the beeping of the hung-up call, he cursed loudly and hurriedly dialed again.

Blacklisted.

His face turned pale, and his sweat flowed even more heavily.

Bouts of palpitations gave him the sensation that he was about to die.

Liu Jian's face looked even more like a corpse's, pale with a bluish tint. His lips trembled as he asked, "What's wrong? Is he not picking up again?"

"He blacklisted me, f*ck!"

Liu Jian's fear, mixed with resentment, suddenly exploded. "I told you to talk to him properly!! Why the f*ck were you putting on an act..."

Lin Ning had intended to take his time anyway, so he simply ignored them and blacklisted Liu Jian's number as well.

Just then, the phone screen lit up again—Chen Zhi.

"Are you free?"

"Brother Chen, did you miss me?" Knowing it wasn't anything urgent from Chen Zhi's tone, Lin Ning teased him in a good mood.

"...Come to the small building." After stating his request, Chen Zhi hung up immediately, really not wanting to deal with this cheeky brat.

The small building.

Lin Ning sat at the desk and took a thick stack of documents handed to him by Chen Zhi, glancing at them.

On the cover, there were only three large words—Proposal.

A proposal? Why give me this thing?

Lin Ning was a bit dazed.

Chen Zhi opened his thermos, took a slow sip, and said, "Regarding the matter of lifting regional restrictions for certain apps and going overseas to attract traffic, the United Front has come up with a specific plan. See if you have any suggestions."

Lin Ning looked up in bewilderment, pointing at himself.

"Me? Asking me for suggestions, are you serious? What do I know about United Front work? Asking me about this, isn't that like putting salt in your crotch—are you that bored?"

Chen Zhi paused, almost throwing the thermos in his hand, but managed to restrain himself after a moment.

Gritting his teeth, he said, "Wasn't this the plan you suggested?"

Lin Ning was blank for a moment before remembering—it really seemed like something he had just been bullsh*tting about.

He almost blurted out, "I was just f*cking bragging," but the words stopped abruptly at the tip of his tongue.

Wait... the people from the United Front Work Department have already produced a proposal, which means... it's feasible!

Holy crap! Did I actually manage to pull off this bluff?!

Having figured it out instantly, Lin Ning tried his best to keep a straight face. He looked at Chen Zhi, cleared his throat, and said pretentiously, "Ahem, well... I believe in the wisdom and ability of our comrades..."

Seeing Chen Zhi raise his hand as if to strike him, Lin Ning shut his mouth in dissatisfaction.

He lowered his head to read the proposal.

His eyes went dark just looking at the table of contents on the first page. What the hell could he understand?!

Things like market research circle penetration rates, cultural dimension deconstruction...

Omni-channel touchpoint matrix construction and touchpoint value quantification for promotion, KOL/KOC/PM...

Technical matters like global deployment of CDN nodes and access latency optimization...

Lin Ning closed it after reading only the first few lines of the table of contents; he understood even less of the United Front value analysis that followed.

His eyes were spinning like incense coils.

Forget it. This was a proposal created by the collective efforts of professionals and countless geniuses; he couldn't even understand it.

Lin Ning threw the proposal back onto the desk.

Staring straight at Chen Zhi, he asked, "Are you trying to make a fool of me? Don't you know what my major was?"

Chen Zhi rubbed his forehead helplessly.

The United Front side took this idea quite seriously and wanted the person who came up with it to contribute more. Looking at Lin Ning now, he just hoped he wouldn't lead them into a ditch.

Lin Ning leaned back. "Anyway, just push whatever young people like. And it should have high traffic, something that's stood the test of time. Like life-sharing apps, or entertainment ones are fine too."

He added with emphasis, "But forget about those with biased stances. Yeah, I'm talking about those two apps that automatically give foreigners a higher or lower rating."

"The fact that they still exist is your responsibility," Lin Ning grumbled like an angry youth.

Chen Zhi gave him an unfriendly look. Lin Ning chuckled sheepishly and made a zipping motion over his mouth.

Lin Ning knew the reason was still the same: because we need a mirror.

As long as it doesn't cross the line, multiple voices are allowed to exist. Because even if the original intention is good, distortions due to human nature, desire, and various interests are bound to happen in the end.

Different voices sometimes still offer constructive suggestions, even if they don't always wish us well.

Lin Ning didn't want to deal with Chen Zhi's mood anymore. He stood up and said, "Help me push for the money you guys owe me. If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."

Chen Zhi gritted his teeth and said helplessly, "There's something else. Given your special circumstances, the Director has given special approval for you to learn some things here. Weren't you clamoring to learn the Eighteen Black Dragon Strikes and firearms?"

Lin Ning's eyes lit up instantly. "Really?"

Chen Zhi nodded and pushed a box on the desk toward Lin Ning. "An anti-eavesdropping secure phone, also specially approved for you."

Chen Zhi was very busy. Seeing Lin Ning grinning foolishly at the phone box, he waved him away.

"Training ground. I've had the action team arrange an instructor for you."

Upon hearing this, Lin Ning jumped for joy, said his goodbyes, and scurried off to the training ground.

At the entrance of the training ground.

Lin Ning looked at Li Chao, feeling a bit of a headache, arm ache, leg ache...

Li Chao stood tall with a clear gaze, slightly puzzled as to why Lin Ning was standing still.

Lin Ning asked, "Are you the instructor the action team arranged for me?"

Li Chao: "Yeah! The captain said I'm the face of our team, this kind of external assignment..."

Lin Ning sighed. Fine.

Although he wasn't as seasoned or experienced in teaching as an older person, Li Chao was powerful.

Li Chao swiped his card and led Lin Ning directly to the firearms area, where they picked up a manual and had to fill out some forms.

After finishing the paperwork, Li Chao took Lin Ning to select a gun. "Lin Ning, we usually start training with the Type 95 semi-auto. Never mind, you're not going to be a soldier anyway, so try the Type 92 first."

Someone walked past them and turned to look at Lin Ning upon hearing that.

Lin Ning's brow furrowed, his excitement cooling down a bit as he gave Li Chao a perfunctory response.

In a deserted spot outside, Lin Ning said to Li Chao, "Don't call me by my name from now on."

Li Chao: "Huh?"

Lin Ning couldn't explain the sensitivity of his name, so he thought for a moment and said, "Don't you all have codenames?"

"Yeah, but I can't tell you."

Lin Ning rolled his eyes.

"I'll pick a codename too. Call me by my codename from now on."

"Huh?" Li Chao was puzzled; usually, codenames are supposed to be kept secret.

Lin Ning ignored him. At the thought of picking a codename, his inner chuunibyou spirit, belonging to a young soul, began to burn fiercely.

What should it be? It had to be cool and domineering, yet not too out of place in daily life... and preferably have some deep meaning.

Countless classic names from novels and movies flashed through his mind, but they all felt a bit lacking.

Until eight words that could make any Chinese person's blood boil flashed through his mind.

His voice wavered with excitement as he said solemnly to Li Chao, "'Mandated by Heaven, May He Have Longevity and Eternal Prosperity.' My codename will be 'Tianchang'!"

Reversed, "Changtian" sounds like "Cangtian," which is also incredibly imposing!

Man, I really am a genius!

Li Chao didn't know what Lin Ning was so excited about; he just wanted to quickly complete the task the chief had given him.

Two hours of firearms training, one hour of physical techniques.

Lin Ning no longer had the energy to think about anything else. Dragging his aching body, he only wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

After Lin Ning left, Li Chao went to Chen Zhi's office to report.

"Reporting!"

Chen Zhi was also a bit surprised to see Li Chao. "Why is it you? Never mind... Did Lin Ning go back?"

Li Chao: "Yes! We trained..."

After finishing his report, he remembered something. "Lin Ning gave himself a codename and told me not to call him by his name anymore, but to use his codename."

Chen Zhi was curious and put down his pen. "What codename?"

Li Chao's eyes rolled upward as he tried to recall. What was it again?

Oh, right.

"Shouji."

"Scrawny Chicken?"