Chapter 2

A heavy, suffocating smell of mold hung in the air inside the storage room.

Propped against a stack of discarded cardboard boxes, I endured a sleepless night.

Early the next morning, I showed up right on time in the Rhodes Enterprises main conference room.

Sienna stood before the projector, hosting an all-hands staff meeting.

“Team, today we are carrying out a deep optimization of our organizational structure,” Sienna said, adopting her usual corporate jargon as her gaze swept across the room.

“The massive success of our photo-editing app proves the forward-thinking nature of our HR architecture. This is a victory for our tech, but more importantly, a victory for our underlying organizational logic. However, we have also identified certain disharmonious elements within our team.”

She suddenly locked her eyes on me.

“Evangeline, your work attitude is deeply problematic. You lack team spirit, you have no vision for the bigger picture, and you fail to complete effective business loops. To empower you and align your fundamental mindset, I have decided to send you to the front lines for training. Starting today, your workstation is reassigned to the janitorial department.”

Gasps erupted across the room.

A few coworkers who had always held a grudge against me covered their mouths, hiding quiet sneers.

Ignoring their mockery, I turned around and headed straight for the server room.

I needed to log into the servers to back up the underlying core logic code I had written. That code was my own sweat and blood—I could not leave it in the hands of this greedy family.

Yet, as my fingers typed my password into the terminal, a striking red window flashed across the monitor:

[ACCESS DENIED: INSUFFICIENT PRIVILEGES]

“Don’t waste your time,” a greasy voice called out from behind me.

Engineering Director William Hayes.

Sienna’s personal henchman—an incompetent engineer who couldn’t even write the code for “Hello, World.”

“Ms. Sienna Rhodes has already transferred the root administrator privileges to me,” William bragged, smugly waving a flash drive in his hand. “Evangeline, you’re nothing but a code monkey. Do you even understand what trade secrets are? Our core assets belong in reliable hands. Right now, you don’t even have the right to look at that code.”

I shot him an icy look.

“Do you even understand the architecture of that codebase? If a bug pops up, do you even know how to fix it?”

William scoffed softly.

“What a joke. The app is already live—what bugs could there possibly be? Even if there were, we could just hire a few cheap freelancers to handle it. Do you really think you’re indispensable?”

Just then, Delphine burst into the server room in a flurry, leading a middle-aged man behind her.

“Mr. Alexander Bennett, right this way, please! This is our core technical operations area,” Delphine introduced in her sweetest voice.

When she turned and caught sight of me, her face instantly soured.

“Evangeline, why are you still dawdling around here? Can’t you see Mr. Bennett is here? Go pour us some water!”

Mr. Bennett looked me up and down, his brows furrowing slightly.

“Ms. Rhodes, this is your technical backbone? She looks a bit dim-witted.”

Delphine quickly flashed an apologetic smile.

“Don’t mind her, Mr. Bennett; she’s just an errand girl. Oh, by the way, you mentioned earlier that the filter button’s color looks bad and you wanted to change it to a vibrant shade of black?”

Mr. Bennett nodded approvingly. “Exactly. Something low-key yet luxurious. A black that glows in the dark.”

Delphine immediately pointed a finger at me.

“Evangeline, did you hear that? Go alter the core code right now and run a demo for Mr. Bennett!”

I stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.

“A vibrant shade of black? That’s color theory nonsense,” I said flatly. “Besides, you can’t just modify the core codebase on a whim. It will crash the entire rendering engine’s stability.”

Delphine panicked and rushed forward, shoving me hard.

“What do you know! The client’s demands come first! Just do what you’re told—what’s with all the excuses? Are you intentionally trying to sabotage my business partnership?”

Mr. Bennett’s expression darkened as well.

“Ms. Rhodes, your company’s service attitude makes me seriously question your professionalism.”

Terrified of losing the deal, Delphine quickly tried to appease Mr. Bennett before pulling out her phone and dialing Leander’s number.

In less than two minutes, Leander stormed into the server room, furious.

“Evangeline! What trouble are you causing now?!”

Without a word of explanation, he lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face.

“The company pays you to do your job, not to put up with that attitude!” he bellowed. “If you don’t adjust that color for Mr. Bennett today, pack your things and get the hell out of my company! And you’ll owe us a hundred thousand dollars in damages for breaching the client contract!”