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Chapter 263: Sin and Retribution

Gu Fengzhu paused briefly as if she was deciding whether to tell the truth about Harris or not. After all, it was Xia Fei who recruited the old man with a strange temper into the company, and the two seemed quite close to each other.

Xia Fei said when he noticed Gu Fengzhu’s hesitation. “Harris is only an employee of the company, but you are the manager; you shouldn’t hesitate to report any issue with the employees here.”

Gu Fengzhu was a bit more confident upon hearing Xia Fei’s hint. She let out a sigh and said, “Harris is flawless academically, but his temper is too strange. He will scold and beat his colleagues at the slightest disagreement, just like how a slave master treats his slaves in the movies. Many employees already have enough of it, but they can’t afford paying a hundred million for terminating the contract they signed with the company, or else I’m afraid that many will have resigned by now.

“Actually, the colleagues aren’t really asking too much from him. They just hope that he will stop hitting and scolding them. After all, everyone knows how brilliant Harris is. They can learn a lot by working with him, and the pay is good, too. We are satisfied if he can change a bit.

“The situation is only going to worsen at this rate. It’s only a matter of time for the others to lose it if this keeps going,” Gu Fengzhu said helplessly as if she too was a victim.

Treating colleagues like slaves? Xia Fei was quite amused. Harris was meant to be his slave, yet he was suddenly playing the role of a dictator in this wasteland. It was Xia Fei’s fault for not keeping Harris in track even though he already knew about Harris’s weird temper. The man might not dare to cross the line in front of him, yet he was blatantly behaving like his old self in front of others.

Xia Fei had a way to control Harris; hence, he was not too bothered by the incident. He proceeded to ask about other things.

“How many workers are there in Alpha Base?” Xia Fei asked.

Gu Fengzhu sighed in her heart when she saw that Xia Fei had no intention to condemn Harris. She was quite disappointed that Xia Fei had taken Harris’s side because of his talent.

“We have three research teams, each with twelve researches. The company is in charge of the security here, too. There are 163 workers. If we include the receivers, logistics, and other departments, there are 231 workers in total. Everyone signed a long-term contract, so they’re pretty much permanent staff here,” Gu Fengzhu said, sounding a little down.

Xia Fei nodded. “The number of employees is still too low, especially the researchers. We should at least have double the number of researchers. The workload is only going to increase from here as the company grows. Come, it’s time to meet the bad-tempered Harris.”

Gu Fengzhu nodded. She brought Xia Fei to B17. The base had eighteen floors underground. The last floor was being used for dangerous experiments, and only certain people could access it. The other seventeen floors were open to everyone.

They could hear Harris’s voice from outside the room. It sounded as if he was scolding someone for being too clumsy. He was extremely harsh with his words. He even cursed with the languages of other planets. Xia Fei had the translation microchip in his head; thus, he could understand every single word. That being said, the others knew he was far from being nice.

Xia Fen entered the lab with a frown. The room was already in a mess. Harris had smashed countless glass vessels on the floor. Colorful liquids were spilt all over the room. Some were even having chemical reactions after they were mixed with one another. Bubbles were rising together with pungent smells lingering in the air as if they had entered a storage full of chilli sauce.

A young man with glasses was cowering, his two hands covering his forehead. Fresh blood was running down and staining his white lab coat as he glared at Harris with a pale face and lips.

Harris was about to throw another tantrum but immediately behaved himself when he turned and saw Xia Fei standing at the entrance. He was well aware of Xia Fei’s character; he would not want to mess with his master.

Harris took two steps back and murmured under his breath, “These guys were too stupid. How could they never learn about the Poly-geometry Theorem before? They’re so dumb and useless. They may be useful if we feed them to the pigs, and they think they’re capable of doing research.”

Harris shivered when he saw Xia Fei glaring at him. A great chill ran down his spine as if someone had just poured a bucket of cold water on him in the middle of a blizzard. He was cold from the head to the feet.

Xia Fei did not bother talking to Harris. He went to the young man with glasses and patted him on the shoulder. “Head to the infirmary and treat your wounds. Rest for a few days. Everyone here is entitled to a three-day leave. You will also receive three times the bonus at the end of the year.”

The young man had no idea who Xia Fei was. He stared at Xia Fei with a confused look. Gu Fengzhu quickly went up to him and said, “He’s Xia Fei, the director of Quantum Holdings. Everyone, let’s get some rest. The director will handle the rest.”

Everyone suddenly looked at Xia Fei passionately. His name had long been spreading across the world, but most of them had only met the legendary man for the first time. They did not expect the owner of the biggest corporation of the Earth Federation to be so young and approachable. He was totally different from what the rumors had mentioned.

“Tell everyone to gather in the meeting room an hour later. I have something important to announce,” Xia Fei said.

The people left the room in order. Gu Fengzhu took one last glance at Xia Fei before closing the door after her sensibly.

Only Xia Fei and Harris were left in the lab. Xia Fei turned to Harris and smiled. “Hehe, what a surprise; aren’t you impressive? You’ve turned such a nice lab into a mess. I’d never know how capable you are if I didn’t come here.”

Harris was terrified. He tried to explain himself, yet the words got stuck in his throat. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that Xia Fei was controlling him

‘Crap! He didn’t even give me a chance to explain myself,’ Harris thought.

...

“Is that man really Xia Fei?” asked the young man who was bleeding.

Gu Fengzhu nodded. “That’s right; it’s him. I’ll bring you to the infirmary first.”

The young man grunted. “I wonder what he’s going to do about that stubborn, old man. We seriously have had enough of him.”

Another researcher with freckles said, “Don’t even think about it. Harris might have a bad temper, but he’s very useful to the company. I bet Xia Fei is only going to scold him at most. He’s not going to do anything to Harris for our sake. I thought I would finally have a chance to show my skills after joining the company, but in the end, I’m still being ordered around. I’m just waiting for my contract to end, so I can leave this place.”

Strong disappointment was spreading in the group. Gu Fengzhu tried her best to comfort them, yet even she was not feeling confident, too. She could not help but wonder when it was all going to end. She did not have high hopes in Xia Fei. She assumed that he would merely go through the motions like most directors of a company. It was likely that he would promise to pay the employees extra, considering how rich he was.

An hour later, the meeting room in B3...

The employees of Alpha Base entered the room orderly. They saw Xia Fei and Harris seated in front of the room. Harris had a painful expression. He was rubbing his chest with one hand; the smile on his face was worse than crying.

A moment later, the thirty-six researchers and four administrators led by Gu Fengzhu had all gathered in the room. The workers in charge of security were directly under the main company; hence, they did not attend the internal meeting for the research department.

Xia Fel cleared his throat and said with a deep voice, “Since everyone is here, we’ll now hold a brief meeting. I’m Xia Fei. From today onward, I’ll be working together with you in the lab. I might need your help at times.

“However, the focus of this meeting isn’t about me, but the lack of respect of a certain researcher among us. He has severely disrupted the teamwork in the lab; he is the current chief research officer, Harris.”

The crowd began murmuring among themselves. They did not expect Xia Fei to name and shame Harris right at the start of the meeting.

Xia Fei added after a brief pause, “I wasn’t here before, so I’m unaware of many things here, but now that I’m here, I will be very strict with the punishment for those who disrupt the discipline of the company. It has always been the same for Quantum Holdings.”

“I now declare that the chief research officer is demoted to a probationary researcher. He will lose three years worth of wage and bonuses. From today onward, he will be responsible for cleaning the labs in B17.”

The group was astounded; to think that the brilliant Harris would be demoted to a probationary researcher and lose three years worth of wage and bonuses. On top of that, the man who was extremely full of himself would have to take care of the cleaning.

It was completely out of everyone’s imagination.

The truth was the others had no idea that Harris was not paid even a cent. He was working for Xia Fei for free. The rest of the punishment was insignificant, too. Why would a slave need a title?

Following it, Harris rose to his feet and surprisingly apologized to everyone. His sincere attitude and tone were unheard of. The group was struggling to understand why the arrogant Harris would completely lose his temper and let Xia Fei punish him as he pleased, like a mouse in front of a cat.

Either way, the employees were happy with the outcome. They were no longer holding a grudge against the company, too. They were willing to work for Quantum Holdings as long as they were not bullied. After all, it was the biggest company of the Earth Federation with handsome pay and attractive benefits. It would not sound good if the matter was disclosed to the public.

According to Xia Fei’s plan, Quantum Holdings must be independent in their research and development, so the expansion and growth of the lab was his first priority.

Xia Fei had clearly expressed his stance with this speech. He knew that it was time to lay the bait after seeing the crowd’s reaction.

Xia Fei cleared his throat and said, “Everyone, Quantum Holdings doesn’t only aim to provide you with handsome wages and good working environments. It is the company’s intention to give everyone here an opportunity to display their talent, too.”

Everyone’s heart skipped a beat. They immediately gathered their attention and listened carefully.