Volume One, Chapter Nine: I'll Help You Escape

“Ah Dong, what are you doing?”

Startled, I suddenly stood up, and Max, Old Ma, and a few others looked up, staring at me.

“Is there a battle going on? Didn’t you hear the cannon fire?” I asked.

They burst into laughter, rolling with mirth, leaving me utterly confused, unable to grasp what was so funny.

“What are you laughing at?” I inquired.

Just then, Ah Long, who had returned from a stroll, asked casually, “What’s going on?”

“Brother Long, your junior brother says there’s a battle outside, hahaha…” someone replied.

Ah Long chuckled as well, sat down beside me, and said, “Ah Dong, let me make this clear: if you can make a sound like that, I’ll buy you a BMW.”

“You’ll buy it for me outright? No cost to me?” I asked, surprised.

“Exactly, a BMW 7 Series, fully paid by me,” Ah Long said earnestly.

Nothing in this world falls into one’s lap, so I pressed, “Why is that?”

“Listen carefully to the sound,” he said.

One boom after another echoed. After a moment’s thought, it dawned on me—they were fireworks.

It turned out someone was setting off fireworks outside. Because the office had no windows, we couldn’t see, which made me mistake it for gunfire.

“Do you know why they’re setting off fireworks outside?” Ah Long asked, looking at me.

I shook my head.

Then he began to explain, and I felt a chill run down my spine.

This sound, in Meng Bo’s circle, is called the “Ten Million Salute,” meaning a ten-million-yuan deal has been made, celebrated with fireworks.

The so-called ten million isn’t the group’s total revenue but a single client bringing in ten million—only then would they celebrate.

Securing ten million from one client is exceedingly difficult, yet in Meng Bo’s sphere, someone encounters such a “fat pig” every so often.

Ah Long added that if an employee lands a ten-million deal, their commission can reach twenty percent, meaning they could earn two million.

If I could land such a “fat pig,” as the boss, he would receive a handsome share, so buying me a BMW 7 Series outright wouldn’t pinch him.

It’s hard to believe that such a careless project could cost someone ten million—it’s something you have to see to believe.

Max said that everyone who comes here to make money dreams of landing a ten-million deal.

If they succeed, they wouldn’t have to endure the grind anymore—they could return home in style.

However, luck plays a huge role in landing such a deal. In our current group, it’s said it only happened once last year.

With that, the topic died down, and everyone returned to their work.

After I finished polishing the character profile, I showed it to Ah Long, who nodded approvingly.

“Truly, you’re a college graduate—your thinking is more comprehensive than ours. Everyone, take a look at Ah Dong’s character packaging and learn from it. Look at your own; they’re full of holes. If a client notices inconsistencies and asks, you won’t be able to explain.”

Once the character profile was ready, Max guided me through hands-on practice logging into social accounts.

Since it was the same gender, and the greetings immediately turned to “wanna meet?” and “what for?” I felt a wave of disgust. My initial enthusiasm to make money evaporated instantly—I doubted I could earn a dime this way.

By eleven o’clock, almost quitting time, everyone packed up their phones. Suddenly, Ah Long called for a meeting and led us to a small room nearby.

He said a new group of people would arrive tomorrow, and the upper boss assigned him a few. Along with our current staff, we would form two small teams.

They would select two of the best conversationalists to be team leaders.

Team leaders wouldn’t add people on social platforms but would handle customers who were ready to “cut in” or had already done so.

Simply put, employees would handle the early stages—finding “suckers” and building rapport. When the “sucker” was ready to invest, their phone would be handed over to the team leader, who would manage the later stages and aim for bigger gains.

The team leader’s performance would be the sum of all team members’ achievements, and besides basic wages, they would get a fixed three percent commission.

Additionally, someone would be appointed supervisor, responsible mainly for training newcomers, teaching them quickly what to do and how.

The supervisor would also work with team leaders on strategies to extract more money from clients who joined the platform.

They would monitor everyone’s work, checking employees’ phones after work to see if chats with clients followed the proper process. If an employee was found chatting frivolously and not working seriously, they’d be fined two hundred yuan once caught.

They would also guide those who performed poorly and enforce discipline.

The supervisor would receive five percent of the company’s total performance.

Ah Long added that as more companies entered the market, competition had grown fierce, but the market size remained fixed. To earn more, one must work harder than others.

Therefore, every employee was required to add at least ten “suckers” as friends daily. Those who completed the task could leave on time; those who didn’t had to keep working until they did.

Max and the others visibly frowned upon hearing this demand, clearly displeased.

But as the boss, Ah Long didn’t care. Sternly, he said anyone who failed to meet the target three days within a week would have five hundred yuan deducted from their salary.

The reason for such strictness was that the boss had exploded in the group chat, complaining about lax management.

By mid-month, the entire group had only made twenty million yuan in sales.

Such poor performance demanded a crackdown; the monthly target was at least sixty million yuan.

Twenty million in half a month was still considered insufficient?

Only sixty million a month would satisfy the boss.

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how ruthless the upper boss’s heart was.

With debts weighing on me, I deeply understood how tormenting it was to owe money.

Sixty million—that would require how many “suckers” to be slaughtered?

I could already picture countless people suffering unbearably.

Because Ah Long and the other operators were going to eat, I left the company with Max and Old Ma.

The cafeteria served late-night snacks—egg fried rice and rice noodles.

Max said the fried rice was made from leftover rice and tasted bad, so he recommended I try the rice noodles.

Never having eaten rice noodles before, I tried some but couldn’t get used to it. Without a security guard watching, I just ate a little and then gave up.

Because of the late-night meal, we missed the shuttle bus arranged by the casino to pick us up, so Max, Old Ma, and I walked back to the dormitory.

On the main street, we saw shopfronts glowing with pink lights, filled with scantily clad women. Curious, I asked Max, “Are these places legal?”

In my home country, such establishments hid discreetly in alleys, never so openly.

“Legal!” he replied.

“The service is pretty good, and it’s not expensive. Five hundred yuan gets you a session. Want to try?”

I’ve always felt uneasy about such matters and shook my head.

“I’m going to have some fun; you guys go ahead!” Old Ma said as he headed into one of the shops and started talking with one of the women inside.

Max and I continued walking, and suddenly he said, “Ah Dong, let me help you run away.”