"Someone has been called to break down the door..." The speaker was likely from the logistics department, sweating profusely and apologizing.
"President Zhou, is this how you treat guests?"
Luo Chen approached, seeing the doors firmly shut, and felt a surge of anger. It was one thing for Director Huo to be marginalized at the company by Duan Rui, but to suffer the indignity of a small company's arrogance when out and about was another.
"Who do you think you are?" A sycophant, afraid of drawing everyone's ire, quickly stepped forward to block Luo Chen and his entourage, demanding.
Shen Sitong, accustomed to the overbearing nature of Xinyan Company, maintained her smile and stepped forward. "Brother, hello, we are from Yuda Security Company, and we've made an appointment to discuss business today."
"The access control system is broken, just wait!" Upon hearing they were here for business, the man offered a brief explanation before retreating to the sliver of shade remaining.
Huo Rou slowly sauntered over from behind, feeling irritated by the heat.
"Look! That beautiful woman, she's so cute." The Xinyan Company employees began whispering amongst themselves.
"She's not from our company, is she?"
"Definitely not. If our company had a beauty like that, wouldn't I know?"
"Didn't Xiao Ou just go to ask? Ask him!"
"Yuda Security is here to discuss business," Xiao Ou replied, fanning himself.
"Business, huh... I'll go ask," the young man in charge of business liaison said with a smug grin before walking away.
"Miss, may I know your surname?"
Huo Rou glanced up at him. Before she could speak, Luo Chen stepped in front of her. "Show some respect. This is Director Huo from our Technical Department."
"She's a Director in the Technical Department? My apologies, my apologies." A flicker of interest crossed the man's eyes.
"We can't open this door anytime soon. Miss, how about we go..."
"No," Huo Rou stated calmly. "What's wrong with the door?"
She asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if speaking to a subordinate.
The man, taken aback by her sudden aura, ignored her soft, sweet voice and replied honestly, "The access control system suddenly crashed this morning. The on-site maintenance personnel can't get in to optimize it. We contacted their superiors, but they haven't shown up."
"Stuck in a bug loop?" Luo Chen scoffed.
"What's a bug loop?" Shen Sitong asked curiously.
"The access control is broken, the programmers can't get in, and without the programmers, the system can't be optimized. If it can't be optimized, the access control keeps crashing," Luo Chen explained. Shen Sitong giggled.
Unbeknownst to them, the on-site maintenance staff was standing nearby. "What are you laughing at?"
"You won't let people in, and you won't let them laugh?" Shen Sitong pouted. What kind of logic was that?
"This access control system is designed for security. To protect everyone's information, optimization can only be done on specific equipment," he explained. "You don't know anything."
"Is it not connected to the network?" Huo Rou asked.
"Of course, it's connected! Are you stupid? And you call yourself a director?" The man found the question utterly ridiculous.
"Watch your mouth!" Shen Sitong couldn't stand to see the beautiful woman she admired being spoken to like that.
"How else would they clock in with their phones?" He rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed at being questioned.
Huo Rou, feeling the heat, rolled up her sleeves. After hearing his explanation, she took the laptop Luo Chen was carrying and walked towards the main door.
"Sister Huo, the door isn't open yet. Let's stay here to cool off!" Shen Sitong chased after her, looking at the sun-drenched, empty spot by the entrance, trying to stop Huo Rou.
"It's hot, let's go inside and get some air conditioning." Huo Rou walked to the door with leisurely grace, took out her laptop. Why should she suffer unnecessarily?
"Director Huo, what are you doing?" Luo Chen was also confused. What was she planning to do?
"Hey! What are you doing?" The logistics personnel, who had been berated by his boss to the point of being a subordinate, finally felt a surge of authority upon seeing someone approach the door. He yelled to stop them.
"Isn't the access control broken?" Huo Rou lazily raised an eyebrow.
"Are you here to break down the door?" The logistics man eyed Huo Rou's slender arms and legs suspiciously, shaking his head. "You sounded like a man on the phone, how did it end up being a woman?"
After saying that, he noticed the two people beside Huo Rou and added, "Oh, and you brought two skeletons."
"Little sister, you'd better go back and find someone stronger. This big door isn't easy to break down." The logistics man, seeing Huo Rou's delicate appearance, softened his voice with a touch of pity.
"Who said I was going to break down the door?" Huo Rou, while examining the access control lock, couldn't help but smile at the remark. Did she have the leisure time to break down doors and work out her strength?
Her smile was as radiant as the sunlight, dazzling. The logistics man was mesmerized.
It wasn't until Huo Rou's lips relaxed that he snapped back to reality, as if waking from a dream. "Then what are you doing? I'm warning you, don't touch anything randomly. If the access control breaks down, I'll hold you accountable."
"There's no network cable. Is it connected via Wi-Fi?" Huo Rou asked after inspecting the lock.
"What network cable, what not..." The logistics man, completely baffled, didn't understand Huo Rou's question.
Luo Chen seemed to grasp what Huo Rou was about to do. Although it felt a bit fantastical, a sense of anticipation stirred within him.
Huo Rou knew that asking further would be futile, so she opened her laptop and prepared to start typing.
Luo Chen remembered her one-finger typing skill and his body stiffened. He quickly stepped forward and took the computer. "Director Huo, tell me what you need. I'll do it."
If Huo Rou were to type it herself, half the day might pass.
Huo Rou assumed he just wanted to show off. Hidden behind the shadow of the portly boss, she dictated to him.
She cracked all the Wi-Fi passwords and then began searching for devices.
"You won't find it," the on-site technician sauntered over to watch them, sneering. "I told you we considered security. We're using..."
He stopped mid-sentence, frozen. In the harsh sunlight, he thought he was hallucinating!
He squinted again. Damn it! What were these people? That was their device name!
Luo Chen was also surprised by the ingenious method Huo Rou was using to scan.
"And then, Director Huo?" he asked, looking up with adoration in his eyes.
Huo Rou slowly continued dictating.
Other employees from the company also gathered around, observing this rapid "dictation" session.
In their eyes, Luo Chen's typing speed was so fast that his hands blurred into a single streak, impossible to follow.
"That young man looks very capable!" The boss of Xinyan Company, discarding his damp tissue, praised with a ruddy complexion. "We should talk to him about coming to our company for IT operations."
The HR representative beside him did not reply. She knew the name Luo Chen and had seen his photograph. Precisely because she knew, she didn't dare to respond. Such an important figure was not someone their small company could afford to host.
Huo Rou found Luo Chen's typing speed agonizingly slow. She propped her chin on her hand, waiting for him to "show off."
"Who called us to break down the door?" a gruff voice boomed from outside the crowd.