Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 360: There's Something Wrong with This Test…
Monday, December 20.
Over the past week, Tengda Group's administrative department had been fully occupied preparing for the annual meeting, while the R&D work of the other departments continued as usual.
As for Pei Qian, he didn't really have much to do. He casually slacked off a bit, and time passed just like that.
The 20th of every month was usually reserved for the Mingyun Private Kitchen group meal, but today was a special case.
Because the annual meeting was also scheduled for today, Pei Qian had transferred all the chefs from Mingyun Private Kitchen and Moyu Delivery to the annual meeting venue.
Tengda Group's annual meeting arrangement was slightly different from that of other companies.
Many companies liked to hold their annual meetings in the evening, only heading to the venue in the afternoon and often dragging things out until seven or eight at night—or even later—seriously eating into employees' personal time.
In Pei Qian's view, that was completely unacceptable.
So Tengda Group's arrangement was simple: everyone worked normally in the morning, the annual meeting was held in the afternoon, and everything was wrapped up before the end of the workday—absolutely no encroaching on employees' evening rest time.
At this moment, Wu Bin sat at his workstation, feeling completely idle.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do.
Looking around…
Why was everyone working so seriously?
If this were Hengtui Games, with the annual meeting coming up, most people would've already started slacking off—blatant loafing, full-on goofing around.
After all, in that kind of atmosphere, it was hard to focus on work.
But at Tengda Group, things were completely different.
Everyone was doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing—if anything, they were working even harder than usual!
Wu Bin found it baffling.
Wasn't the annual meeting today?
Shouldn't everyone be eagerly anticipating it?
Shouldn't they be distracted and unable to focus on work?
So why was everyone hammering away at their keyboards like maniacs, busier than ever?
Were they pretending?
That didn't seem to be the case. Wu Bin sneakily glanced at the colleague next to him and saw that he really was working—not chatting, not browsing the web.
Wu Bin whispered, "Why does it feel like everyone's working harder now that the annual meeting is coming up?"
The guy next to him took a sip of coffee and replied, "Isn't that normal?"
"The annual meeting takes up work time in the afternoon, so we just have to be more efficient in the morning and finish today's work as early as possible."
"It's the same amount of work anyway, finish it earlier and you get to rest earlier. If you drag it out… well, overtime quotas aren't easy to get approved."
Wu Bin: "..."
What the hell do you mean overtime quotas aren't easy to get approved?!
This was the first time he'd ever heard of overtime being something you weren't free to do—something that actually had limits.
Thinking about it that way, it suddenly made sense why everyone looked like they'd been injected with stimulants.
The workload was fixed.
In other companies, forced overtime was the norm. Employees were expected to complete the workload within ten hours. If they finished early, more work would immediately be assigned.
Under those circumstances, the optimal strategy was obvious: work slowly and finish right at the deadline.
But Tengda Group was bizarre.
With the same amount of work, they tried every possible way to shorten employees' working hours.
A rock-solid eight-hour workday.
Want to work one extra hour? Sorry, whether it gets approved depends on President Pei's mood.
And the workload was fixed. Even if you finished early, no new tasks would be assigned.
As a result, many people had gotten used to working with extremely high efficiency.
On the one hand, finishing early meant resting earlier and having more free time.
On the other hand, if you procrastinated, overtime approval might not come through later, and the task could end up unfinished.
And today was even more extreme—everyone had to complete all their work in the morning because the annual meeting took up the afternoon.
How could their efficiency not skyrocket?
Wu Bin couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Tengda Group was really something else…
Why did everything they did seem to run completely opposite to every other company?
It seemed that this company must have some special method for stimulating employees' enthusiasm for work.
If that was the case…
Then in order to better integrate into the company, he would definitely need to adopt this same efficient, passionate work attitude!
Wu Bin hurriedly engraved this thought firmly into his mind.
Because later that morning, he would be taking his first Tengda Spirit Compatibility Test.
This was the first attempt. If he passed, he could be officially confirmed as a full employee of Tengda Group right away.
If he failed, there would still be three more chances afterward.
Wu Bin knew very well that the more unconventional a company was, the harder its "spirit" was to grasp.
So what kind of questions would be on this test?
He honestly had no clue.
Soon, it was time.
At 11 a.m., Wu Bin arrived at the large conference room.
The room was filled with laptops, all of which already had the "Tengda Spirit Compatibility Test" program open.
This testing program could not be switched away from or exited, you had to finish all the questions and submit before it would close.
Moreover, staff from the administrative department were present to supervise. No whispering, no discussion, and no using mobile phones.
Wu Bin glanced around and saw that roughly twenty people were participating in this test.
Clearly, this wasn't the full number of new hires from the previous recruitment batch. Some newcomers were still handling resignation procedures at their old companies and hadn't officially joined yet.
These twenty-plus people were all like Wu Bin—those who had completed onboarding shortly after receiving their offer and just happened to catch this testing session.
Wu Bin noticed that the overall atmosphere in the conference room was fairly relaxed.
There was no chatting or laughter, but no one looked tense or panicked either.
Obviously, everyone regarded this test as something similar to the psychological health tests in university or the physical exams for civil servants, something that only filtered out a tiny minority.
As long as you answered normally, most people would pass. At worst, it was just a formality.
Soon, everyone took their seats and began the test.
Wu Bin took a deep breath, grabbed the mouse, and looked at the first question.
"It's already time to get off work, but you still have one task unfinished. What should you do?"
Wu Bin quickly scanned the answer choices and frowned slightly.
"Is it really this simple?"
"If the work isn't finished, of course you work overtime. No one would seriously choose 'leave it for tomorrow,' right?"
"Wait—there's even an option like 'argue logically with your superior'? If you pick that, do you get fired on the spot or something?"
Wu Bin felt a bit baffled—and even amused.
This question was way different from what he'd imagined.
He had assumed the test would be filled with complicated, difficult, highly conditional dilemmas—questions like "your wife and your mother both fall into the water, who do you save first?"
But now it looked… ridiculously straightforward.
Sure enough, this is just a formality.
With questions like this, any new employee with even a shred of emotional intelligence couldn't possibly answer wrong, right?
Wu Bin quickly selected the option "Work overtime to finish it."
But just as he was about to submit, something felt off.
Was it really that simple?
Was this worth making an entire test for?
Thinking back on what he'd seen so far…
Most Tengda Group employees worked with extremely high efficiency. Under normal circumstances, work shouldn't be left unfinished at all.
If it did happen, that probably meant his work efficiency was too low. In that case…
He should still work overtime to finish it, right?
Wu Bin thought a bit deeper—but the answer still seemed unchanged.
"…Maybe I'm overthinking this."
"It's only the first question. No need to stress over it. Let's keep going."
Wu Bin's answering speed grew faster and faster.
He wanted to think carefully about each question, but honestly… there wasn't much to think about.
No matter how he looked at them, the answers all seemed obvious.
But as he continued answering, Wu Bin suddenly frowned.
Something felt wrong.
"Huh? Haven't I answered this question already?"
"Is the question bank too small? Are they repeating questions?"
Wu Bin took a closer look and realized that this question was indeed very similar to a previous one—also about working overtime. The only difference was an added qualifier: a task assigned by President Pei.
"Hm? So it's not actually a repeated question."
"Then this one must be a little different from the earlier one, right?"
"A task personally assigned by President Pei… should I work overtime to finish it?"
"Hmm… this definitely isn't the same as the previous question."
"President Pei repeatedly emphasizes no overtime. If it's something he might find out about, then overtime is absolutely not allowed."
"So this question should be answered as not working overtime."
"In short, if the work isn't finished, it means my efficiency is too low, so I should work overtime to complete it—but only secretly."
"If President Pei knows about it, then I definitely shouldn't work overtime."
"Yeah, that should be it."
Wu Bin wasn't completely sure, but considering there were so many questions, even if he got this one wrong it probably wouldn't matter much. So he quickly moved on.
Before long, he had answered all the questions.
Wu Bin originally thought he'd have to wait a while to find out the result, but to his surprise, the completion screen showed a button: View Test Results.
Wu Bin froze.
"They give the result on the spot?"
Suddenly, he felt a bit nervous.
But then he thought—what was there to be nervous about?
This test was basically just a formality anyway.
Even if he got one or two questions wrong, it shouldn't be a big deal… right?
Just as he was about to click the button, he heard an exclamation from the guy sitting across from him.
"Holy crap?!"
Wu Bin looked up and saw the guy staring at his screen in disbelief.
Soon, similar exclamations began popping up one after another.
Since the questions themselves were very simple and easy to understand, no one took very long to finish. Everyone completed the test around the same time.
And just as quickly, the shock spread.
Many people didn't cry out loud, but the astonished, stunned expressions on their faces said everything.
Wu Bin suddenly realized that something was very wrong.
Weren't these supposed to be easy questions?
Then why did so many people look like they hadn't passed?
He hurriedly moved the mouse and clicked View Test Results.
A line of text appeared on the screen:
"We regret to inform you that you did not pass the Tengda Spirit Compatibility Test. Please keep trying!"
Wu Bin: "???"
He was completely stunned.
He never imagined the result would be this.
Weren't the questions extremely simple? How could he have answered them wrong?
And clearly, it wasn't just one or two wrong answers—he must have gotten many wrong.
Wu Bin felt utterly confused.
He carefully recalled the questions, but every single one still seemed correctly answered to him. How could they all be wrong?
He turned to look around and saw that everyone's reactions were different—but all of them were filled with surprise.
"Wow, I actually passed!"
"How did I fail? What's going on?"
"This hurts…"
Most people wore expressions of confusion and bewilderment. Only a small number looked delighted.
But whether they passed or failed, everyone had been completely thrown off by these questions.
Wu Bin really wanted to ask those who had passed how they managed to do it, but the administrative staff supervising the test were already ushering everyone out.
"Once you've finished the test, please leave immediately. Do not discuss the questions."
"It's okay if you didn't pass this time. You still have three more chances."
"Please spend the coming period better understanding the spirit of Tengda Group. We hope everyone can pass the next test smoothly!"
Still utterly baffled, Wu Bin returned to his workstation.
"So? Did you pass?" the guy next to him asked while typing away at his keyboard.
Wu Bin shook his head blankly. "No."
A large question mark practically appeared over the guy's head, but he still tried to comfort him.
"It's fine. You probably haven't been here long enough and don't fully understand Tengda Group's spirit yet. Keep at it, there'll be more chances."
Wu Bin: "…So what exactly is the spirit of Tengda Group?"
The guy fell silent for a long time.
"You've really stumped me with that one," he finally said. "I don't know either…"
Wu Bin: "..."
It seemed this test was nowhere near as simple as he'd imagined…
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