At this moment, the real Xue Chengyin let out a soft moan and slowly regained consciousness.
Wei Chi also returned to normal and quickly stepped forward to support her.
“President Xue, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.”
Xue Chengyin waved her hand and found Shi Pengpeng with her gaze, nodding in gratitude.
“I really have to thank you just now.”
Although Xue Chengyin had been possessed, she wasn’t completely unaware of what had happened.
According to her, as soon as she entered the Luojin Building, she felt a sudden sharp pain in her heart, as if it had been pricked by a needle.
She felt uncomfortable but assumed it was just due to overwork, so she didn’t think much of it.
However, her mood became inexplicably irritable, and she couldn’t help but pick on her assistant, even deliberately assigning her difficult tasks.
Because of this, the assistant didn’t accompany her later.
Unexpectedly, the discomfort in her heart worsened, and her consciousness gradually became blurry.
Realizing something was wrong, Xue Chengyin tried to resist, but she could no longer control her body.
What happened after that was what Yan Jing and Wei Chi had witnessed.
As she recounted the events, she seemed a little amazed and chuckled.
“I never believed in these things before. I never expected to experience it myself one day.”
Seeing that she was in a good mood and not overly frightened, Shi Pengpeng breathed a sigh of relief and finally retrieved the Four Symbols Talisman Formation.
The gray shadow had now shrunk to the size of a fist, looking like a small lump of coal.
Seeing no way to escape, it finally resigned itself, dragging out a thin, pitiful voice as it revealed its origins.
As Shi Pengpeng had suspected, this little “coal ball” was none other than the Heart Demon of the advertising company’s employee who had collapsed from shock.
The Heart Demon explained that the employee’s name was Zhang She.
He had originally been an outgoing person, but after graduating from university and entering the advertising industry, he frequently had to work overtime and deal with unreasonable clients.
The immense work pressure gradually took a toll on his mental health.
Two years ago, he was even diagnosed with mild schizophrenia, experiencing hallucinations, delusions, and perception disorders.
However, the schizophrenia diagnosis was actually a misdiagnosis.
In reality, Zhang She’s symptoms were caused by the formation of a Heart Demon within him.
Unaware of this, he mistakenly believed that the Heart Demon was a second personality.
Heart Demons are born from human mental stress and illusions.
After taking medication for some time, Zhang She’s mental state improved, and the Heart Demon was temporarily suppressed.
However, in the past two years, the economy had declined, and workplace competition had intensified.
With AI advancements in text and image processing, the advertising industry had become even more cutthroat, leading to greater exploitation of employees.
Feeling the pressure from AI, Zhang She secretly stopped taking his medication in an attempt to maintain his creativity and passion.
Under these combined factors, his Heart Demon re-emerged.
Last month, Zhang She encountered an extremely difficult client, and after enduring continuous torment, his Heart Demon grew stronger and fully took shape.
After several sleepless nights, Zhang She finally collapsed from exhaustion.
Fortunately, he was discovered by his colleagues in time and taken to the hospital, saving his life.
However, his Heart Demon separated from him and remained in the Luojin Building.
Since the Heart Demon had been born from workplace stress, it shared a common source with the grievances of overworked employees.
As a result, when it appeared, the resentment within the entire Xiluo CBD naturally gravitated toward it, gradually forming the current situation.
As a Heart Demon, it especially enjoyed targeting people with fragile mental states, sneaking into their minds and manipulating their emotions for amusement.
That was why She Manting rarely saw it and didn’t know where it was hiding.
Hearing this, Shi Pengpeng was puzzled.
“Then why did you choose to possess President Xue?”
Although it was her first time meeting Xue Chengyin, Shi Pengpeng could tell from their brief interaction that Xue Chengyin had an exceptionally stable mental state.
Even being possessed by an evil spirit didn’t faze her.
Logically speaking, she shouldn’t have been a target for the Heart Demon.
The Heart Demon responded awkwardly, “Because she has a strong aura of a ‘Client Party.’ I am a ‘Supplier Party’ Heart Demon, so of course, I wanted to experience what it feels like to be the client for once…”
Shi Pengpeng: “……”
Everyone else: “……”
Such a simple yet perfectly reasonable explanation.
As the head of Nian Guang Group’s marketing department, Xue Chengyin was undoubtedly one of the biggest clients for many advertising agencies.
Although her mental state was stable, she still instantly attracted the Heart Demon of a struggling supplier.
That was why, after successfully possessing her, the Heart Demon immediately adopted the attitude of a demanding client, making things difficult for Yan Jing, completely disregarding how unreasonable its actions appeared.
After all, a Heart Demon is inherently tied to the grievances that created it and finds it difficult to break free from them.
Xue Chengyin never expected that the reason she had been targeted by the Heart Demon was something like this.
She was caught between laughter and tears as she sighed, “Looks like I’ll need to pay more attention to our collaboration processes with suppliers in the future.”
Although she herself was not the type to mistreat suppliers, there were many people under her, and it was impossible to guarantee that none of them would abuse their power and throw their weight around outside.
Work-related issues were minor in comparison—what truly worried her was the potential birth of another Heart Demon.
Next time, they might not be as lucky.
Fortunately, this time, Yan Jing’s skilled friend happened to be present, allowing them to resolve the crisis smoothly.
Thinking of this, Xue Chengyin felt even more grateful to Shi Pengpeng.
However, since she still had work to handle, she couldn’t properly express her gratitude for now and had to settle for adding her on WeChat.
The conference room had accumulated a significant amount of materialized resentment, making it unsuitable for prolonged stays.
Yan Jing instructed Wei Chi to arrange a new room with the hotel staff and temporarily seal off the current conference room.
Once the day’s work was finished, they would speak with the management of the Luojin Building about the situation.
Ideally, a proper ritual should be conducted to dissipate the lingering resentment.
Fortunately, the building’s investors had always been strong believers in feng shui, so convincing them shouldn’t be too difficult.
Seeing that they were about to discuss work matters—clearly making it inconvenient for outsiders to stay—Shi Pengpeng took out a red string, tied up the Heart Demon like a bundle of pork, and casually carried it out.
In the distance, the Heart Demon’s pitiful whimpers could still be heard: “Big sis, can you let me go? I promise I won’t do it again!”
Shi Pengpeng: “Who’s your big sis?”
Heart Demon: “Oh, oh, I get it! Daddy! Mommy! Grand-Auntie! You are my god!”
Yan Jing: “……”
Truly worthy of being the Heart Demon of a struggling supplier—its humility was ingrained in its very essence…
***
Meanwhile, in a hospital ward at Xiluo City People’s Hospital, Zhang She, who had been in a coma for a month, slowly opened his eyes.
His lips trembled slightly as he murmured, “Mom…”
His mother, who had been keeping vigil by his bedside, shuddered in shock before quickly looking up.
The moment she saw his eyes open, her eyes widened with joy.
“Ah She, you’re finally awake! This is wonderful, truly wonderful!”
She immediately rushed out of the ward, shouting, “Doctor! Nurse! Ah She is awake! Come and check on him!”
Chaotic footsteps echoed down the corridor as doctors and nurses quickly poured into the room.
Over the past month, the doctors had conducted countless tests on Zhang She.
All his vital signs were normal, yet he remained unconscious.
As the days passed, his family grew more anxious, while the hospital remained helpless.
Just two days ago, they had begun considering transferring him to a hospital in the capital for further treatment.
No one expected that, out of nowhere, he would wake up without any warning.
The attending doctor stepped forward to examine him, but before he could begin, Zhang She spoke—his voice slow but firm, his expression filled with newfound relief.
“I… I want to resign…”
With the Heart Demon purged, the lingering obsessions that had once consumed him had also dissipated.
Having gone through such a harrowing ordeal, he now truly understood the fundamental truth of life—nothing is more important than survival.
Work, no matter how significant, was never worth sacrificing one’s health and life for.
***
Shi Pengpeng secured the Heart Demon and was just about to find a place to rest when Wei Chi caught up to her from behind, handing her an orange-bordered, white-background temporary work badge.
“Miss Shi, I almost forgot—President Yan asked me to give this to you. The training session in the main conference hall is about to start. You should find a seat first. Once President Yan and I finish signing the contract, we’ll join you.”
After briefly explaining the exact location of the event, Wei Chi hurriedly turned back and left.
Shi Pengpeng walked toward the conference hall, glancing down at the badge as she went.
Then—“…?”
She stared in confusion at the company name printed on it: MaoZhua Technology.
Only then did she vaguely recall a phone call from her grandfather, in which he had mentioned that Yan Jing worked at a rather large company in Xiluo.
But she had never paid much attention to Yan Jing’s affairs.
Even after taking on Old Master Yan’s commission, she never thought to ask further, assuming that whatever job Yan Jing had was irrelevant to her.
She never expected that Yan Jing worked for MaoZhua Technology!
Now that was a big deal!
Unfortunately, Wei Chi was already out of sight, and Yan Jing was still busy.
She’d have to wait until later to ask about it.
***
The MaoZhua Technology training session was specifically organized for the upcoming “Rural Support Initiative,” aimed at educating participating businesses about the event.
When Shi Pengpeng had first applied for MaoZhua’s traffic support, a company representative had informed her that there would be a follow-up training session like this one.
She had been looking forward to it at the time.
However, after her channel was snatched away by her company colleague Liu Yuguang, her contact at MaoZhua had also been replaced by one of Liu Yuguang’s subordinates.
After that, she never heard any updates.
Now, after all the twists and turns, she had still ended up at this training session.
For a moment, her emotions were complicated.
MaoZhua, as one of the country’s top video platforms, lived up to its reputation—the scale of this training session alone was massive.
The session was about to begin, and the hall was already packed with people.
Shi Pengpeng had to make her way toward a quieter corner where there were fewer attendees.
Just as she finally found an empty seat and was about to sit down, a voice suddenly called out to her:
“Shi Pengpeng? What are you doing here?”
She turned her head and saw a well-dressed middle-aged man—her company’s sales manager, Liu Yuguang.
Standing beside him was a tall, thin man in a blue suit, with a MaoZhua employee badge hanging from his chest.
The badge identified him as Kang Lu, Channel Department Manager.
The two were standing away from the crowd, seemingly deep in discussion.
Liu Yuguang had clearly not expected to run into Shi Pengpeng here, and his brows furrowed tightly.
Kang Lu, however, perked up slightly upon seeing that she was a young and attractive woman, his expression taking on a hint of interest.
“Manager Liu, who is this?”
Kang Lu asked.
Liu Yuguang responded, “Manager Kang, this is our company’s e-commerce department colleague, Shi Pengpeng.”
As he spoke, he leaned closer and whispered a few words into Kang Lu’s ear.
Kang Lu’s expression subtly shifted.
When he looked back at Shi Pengpeng, his tone had gained a hint of arrogance.
“Miss Shi, as far as I know, our company only sent one invitation to your firm—specifically to Manager Liu. How exactly did you manage to get in?”
Shi Pengpeng immediately picked up on the hostility in his tone.
Though she found it strange, she still remained polite and simply answered, “I came with a friend.”
“Oh?”
Liu Yuguang raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.
“Since when did you have such connections?”
This training session was technically open to external participants, but MaoZhua’s reputation alone made the invitations extremely valuable.
A small company like Fuxi only received one invite per company—and he had been the one to receive it.
Shi Pengpeng had just entered the workforce.
She barely had any professional connections, let alone someone who could pull strings for her.
Kang Lu chuckled lightly, his tone carrying a mocking edge.
“And which business is your friend from? I’d love to get acquainted.”
Shi Pengpeng did not like his attitude at all.
However, considering he was Yan Jing’s colleague, she decided to hold back and answered calmly, “He’s not from a business. He works at MaoZhua.”
She remembered Yan Jing’s instructions from earlier and added, “His name is Yan Jing.”
The moment she said this, both Kang Lu and Liu Yuguang froze—then immediately exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
Liu Yuguang laughed so hard he nearly cried, bending over in amusement.
“Shi Pengpeng, I never knew you were such a bullshitter!”
Kang Lu, though more composed due to his status, still smirked with undisguised mockery.
“Miss Shi, let me test you—do you even know who Yan Jing is?”
Shi Pengpeng, seeing their bizarre reaction, had a vague sense that something was off.
But she maintained a neutral expression and silently stared at them without responding.
Liu Yuguang, thinking she was embarrassed after being caught in a lie, became even more smug.
Adopting the patronizing tone of a superior, he said, “Pengpeng, don’t say I never gave you advice—MaoZhua only has one person named Yan Jing, and that’s Manager Kang’s direct superior, the Vice President of the E-Commerce Department.”
Shi Pengpeng: “……?!”
Huh?!
This bastard held such a high position?!