Working Overtime and Asked to Pay the Electricity Bill

After working all-nighters for a full week, the company's new game was finally launched successfully.

Seeing the flood of positive reviews online, the other four team members and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The new VP said we're having a celebration at lunchtime today, everyone in the company will be there, so let's wash up and head over now," someone said.

Everyone cheered.

Westley, who sat next to me, rubbed his neck and turned to me with a smile.

"Jane, with so many players online and such high frame rates, the game still ran smoothly—it was all thanks to the servers you built."

"If you ask me, your servers are even more stable than those used by the largest industries in this industry."

"That's why Ms. Lawson is the lifeline of our operations department," another colleague chimed in.

"The general manager even emphasized before that Jane's the only person in this company who should absolutely not be mistreated."

Everyone began flattering me one after another.

I waved modestly while still staring at the rapidly changing backend data and typing to patch another loophole.

When I stood up, I noticed that Jennifer Shaw, who was also sitting beside me, looked pale and was sweating lightly.

She was 24 weeks into her pregnancy, and in order not to delay the project, she had been forcing herself to work overtime with us for 2 weeks.

She had clearly reached her physical limit.

I hurriedly helped her lie down on the sofa and told her to go home when she was feeling a little better and rest instead of attending the celebration.

She nodded gratefully.

The remaining four of us washed our faces quickly and took a cab to the hotel.

On the way, the three younger teammates excitedly discussed how they would spend their bonus.

I couldn't help but smile and felt quite relaxed.

My phone buzzed—it was a group chat notification for work.

"This must be the reward notice for our team," someone said excitedly.

Everyone eagerly took out their phones.

I opened the message and froze instantly.

The notice accused us of wasting electricity by working overtime late into the night and demanded that we pay the company's electricity bill for that month.

The car fell into a strange silence.

Someone stammered, "What's the meaning of this?"

"We worked our asses off for the company, and they decide to charge us for working overtime?"

I was completely stunned, then furious.

When the car stopped at the hotel, I pushed open the private room door with a dark expression on my face.

I walked straight through the crowd and slammed my phone onto the VP's face.

"What's the meaning of this announcement?"