Chapter 1

Adeline’s disdainful smile froze on her face.

“Valerian, have you lost your mind?”

The eyes of dozens of employees across the office instantly turned toward us.

I snapped my laptop shut, unplugged my external hard drive, and remained completely silent.

The access rights were gone.

Whether next week’s Mid-Year Mega Sale went off without a hitch was their problem now. It wasn’t mine anymore.

Seeing my reaction, Adeline’s eyes turned bright red, and tears started streaming down her face on cue.

“How can you treat me like this? What did I ever do to offend you that you’d shut down the company’s entire gateway…”

A few colleagues from administration and logistics immediately swarmed around her like sharks smelling blood.

Someone handed her a tissue while others spoke to her in soft, comforting voices.

Adeline’s favorite trick was using tears to paint herself as the innocent victim.

“Valerian, you’re a grown man. Is there really any need to make things so hard for a young woman?”

The head of logistics pointed a finger at me, acting like a knight in shining armor.

“Exactly. The industry is down right now. What’s wrong with the company cutting salaries a little so we can all pull through together? Pulling the network cord like this is straight-up sabotage!

“If you’re unhappy with the pay, we can discuss it. What kind of person takes it out on the company’s project?”

Adeline slumped over her desk, sobbing uncontrollably.

“I work overtime every single day managing employee relations. I’m worked to the bone, and he still revokes his authorizations…”

I watched the farce with cold eyes.

“Worked to the bone doing what? You stalled my approval for over half a month, only to insult me with a garbage contract that cuts my salary by forty percent?”

Her sobs grew louder, as if she were the most wronged woman in the world.

“Valerian, let’s talk this through reasonably. Don’t play around with the company’s lifeline!”

The speaker was Tristan from the Operations Department. He loved hovering around Adeline, and he glared at me now with a face full of rage.

The chorus of accusations swelled around me.

Nobody cared how ridiculous that forced forty percent pay cut was. All they saw was a tech guy driving a delicate HR manager to tears.

I didn’t bother defending myself. In the workplace, once you fall into the trap of defending yourself, there’s no getting out.

I walked straight back to my desk and began packing my personal belongings.

Less than five minutes later, my desk phone rang. It was an internal call from my boss, Leonidas Sterling.

“Valerian, come to my office.”

Leonidas was a shrewd businessman who constantly babbled about “wolf mentality” and aggressive work culture.

He sat behind his massive executive desk, his brow deeply furrowed.

“Adeline told me you threatened her in public and tried to paralyze the company’s servers just because you’re unhappy with your pay?”

“I didn’t threaten anyone. I simply revoked my personal code authorizations.”

“But doing that caused the client’s staging environment to crash instantly!”

“Right. Is there a problem?”

Displeasure flashed in his eyes. He tossed a printed disciplinary warning onto the desk.

“Company regulations state clearly that any resignation requires signatures from your supervisor, HR, and me before handovers can take place.”