During the massive layoffs at the Tech Giant, the company offered two options. One was to take the Severance Package and leave; the other was to take a pay cut and go to that godforsaken new department to "pioneer." In my previous life, I chose the new department. It turned out to be the company's secret base for laying out the AI track. Three years later, everyone's Stock Options skyrocketed, and I achieved financial freedom. My best friend took the severance pay to speculate in stocks, lost everything, and finally dragged me to die together. Reborn, just as HR finished speaking, my best friend slammed the table and shouted: "I want to go to the new department! No one fight me for it!" She looked at me, eyes vicious: "Take your little severance pay and get out, the future trend is mine." I took the severance pay, signed without looking back. Chapter 1 Colleagues' gazes pricked like needles. Someone whispered: "Is Ava stupid? Heard the new department is personally watched by the boss, just suffer for two years, later all original shares." "Short-sighted, women, long hair short knowledge." Bella listened to these words, chin lifted higher, like a victorious rooster. In the previous life, it was this rooster. When I got the options ready to cash out, she owed huge loan shark debts due to stock speculation, drove a car and knocked me off the overpass. That pain of shattered bones seemed to still remain on my body. I smiled. "Fine, Bella, this overwhelming wealth, I yield to you." I slapped the signed agreement on the table. "Severance package, not a cent less, arrive today. Also, I'm taking that money tree plant on my desk." Bella sneered: "Poor look, even want a broken pot of grass." She didn't know, buried under that tree was a hardware dongle I casually wrote in my previous life, which was the physical key to start the core code. Without it, those so-called "core assets" of the new department were just a pile of garbled characters. I started packing. Just halfway through packing the cardboard box, Bella suddenly walked over and kicked over my box. Crash. Keyboard, mouse, notebook scattered all over the floor. "Oops, sorry, foot slipped." Bella said sorry, eyes full of provocation. She then screamed: "Supervisor! There seems to be the company's confidential hard drive in Ava's box! I saw it just now, she wants to steal things!" HR manager and security guards surrounded instantly. Manager frowned: "Ava, open bag, check." Everyone around was watching the joke. Being laid off and publicly searched, this is the biggest humiliation in the workplace. I looked at Bella's triumphant face, no anger in my heart, only pity watching a clown. "Check is fine, if not found, what then?" Bella crossed her arms: "If not found I kneel down and apologize to you! But if found, you wait to go to jail!" Just now she secretly stuffed a file marked "Top Secret" into the interlayer of my bag during the chaos. Action fast, but still too tender. I took out my phone directly, connected to the office's smart surveillance—this was a small plugin I installed privately to test visual algorithms, no one knew. Phone screen projected onto the big TV in the conference room. In the picture, Bella sneakingly stuffing the file into my bag, high definition uncoded, even that cakey pimple on her face was clearly visible. Dead silence in the venue. Bella's face instantly turned liver-colored. HR manager's face black as pot bottom. "Bella, explain?" Bella trembled: "I... I was joking with her..." "Kneel." I looked at her coldly. Bella gritted her teeth, tears swirling in eyes, refused to move. I picked up the phone: "Not kneeling is fine, I send this video to the entire industry HR group now, by the way call the police, this counts as framing right?" Thud. Bella's knees went soft, knelt on the ground. "Sorry..." Voice small as mosquito. I lifted the box, stepped over her body. "Save your knees, days of begging for mercy are long ahead." Walking out of the building, sunlight dazzling. Phone vibrated, bank card arrival text came. Severance, $50,000. This is my startup capital. Passing the smoking area, several security guards were pushing a man. Man with stubble, hair oily and knotted, wearing a yellowed white T-shirt, eyes dead silent. Ethan Sterling. In the previous life, he was the company's technical director. Because he offended the boss, he was marginalized, finally fired for "serious violation of discipline", and had to pay the company $70,000 penalty. No one knew, this man looking like a homeless now, was the real AI architect. The core logic of that project in the new department was all built by him. In the previous life, he became completely decadent after leaving, whereabouts unknown. And the company relied on the semi-finished code he left, ate dividends for three years. "Go go go! No money to pay then go sell kidney!" Security guard cursed. Ethan lowered his head, fists clenched white, but said nothing. I walked over, blocked the security guard. "His penalty, I pay." Security guard stunned: "Engineer Ava, are you crazy? This person is a waste..." Ethan looked up sharply, a trace of astonishment flashed in those dead eyes. I took out the bank card just arrived not yet warm, swiped $70,000 directly. That was my entire fortune, even subsidized with savings. But I didn't even blink. After procedures done, Ethan stood by the road, holding termination letter, voice hoarse. "Why?" "What do you want?" I looked at him, patted the card with only a few hundred dollars left in his hand. "I don't want your body, nor your money." "Ethan Sterling, I want your brain." "Work with me." Upstairs in front of French windows, Bella was looking down with binoculars. She took a photo and posted on Instagram, caption: "Trash matches dog, lasts forever. Picking up a rag as treasure, laughing to death." I put away phone, smiled at Ethan. "Let's go, poke a hole in the sky." Chapter 2 I rented a shabby two-bedroom apartment, serving as both dormitory and studio. Living room piled with second-hand server cases, buzzing of cooling fans like a swarm of tireless bees. Ethan sat on the sofa missing a leg, staring at me. "You have no money." He used a declarative sentence. To pay his penalty, and rented these equipment, I don't even have next month's rent now. I took out a bucket of instant noodles from bag, tore open the lid. "As long as servers don't stop power, I won't starve to death. What, Young Master Sterling can't suffer?" Ethan didn't speak, just stared at that bucket of noodles in a daze. In the previous life, I only knew his tech was awesome, but didn't know he was actually the runaway young master of the Sterling Dynasty in Beijing. Because didn't want to inherit family business, insisted on tech, cut ties with family. This life, I want to let this hidden dragon, out of abyss early. "New department's project, is a pit." Ethan spoke suddenly, tone cold. "I wrote that architecture, but left a backdoor. As long as concurrency exceeds ten million, whole system will crash." I smiled, pushed the cooked noodles to him. "I know. And I also know, your backdoor is actually an infinite loop, once triggered, even hardware will burn." Ethan's pupils shrank sharply. He looked at me like looking at a monster: "How do you know? I haven't finished writing that algorithm..." I didn't explain, sat directly in front of computer. Fingers dancing on keyboard, lines of code pouring out like running water. That was the algorithm he spent three years to complete in previous life, also the core technology that made countless giants bow later. Ten minutes later, I hit enter. A green "SUCCESS" popped up on screen. Fork in Ethan's hand fell to ground. He rushed over, staring dead at screen, breathing rapid like a bellows. "This... this is the logical closed loop I couldn't figure out for half a year..." I pointed at screen, "This project, I want to make into SaaS platform, go online within a month. Any problem?" Ethan licked cracked lips, raging fire ignited in eyes. "As long as electricity bill enough, I can finish in half a month." Days following, we were like two lunatics. Except eating sleeping, just writing code. To save money, I sold all designer bags bought before. Ethan saw it, said nothing, just typing speed faster. In ex-colleague group chat, Bella live streamed her "highlight moments" daily. "Another day of overtime today, new department's coffee so good." "Boss says I'm company's future, pressure so big." "Heard someone went to pick trash after leaving? So pitiful." Picture was her sitting in spacious bright office, posing with computer. Actually I knew, displayed on her computer screen, was outsourcing website order page. She was finding ghostwriters. Because before I left, I formatted the computer completely. She couldn't find even a decent document. This day, a graphics card of server burned. No way, must change. Ethan and I went to Tech Shop. Enemies cross narrow path. Just entered a shop, heard Bella's sharp voice. "Boss, I want this A100 graphics card, company reimburses, no lack of money!" She held a balding man, that was her simp boss Brad, also the one backing her in this new department. I looked at that graphics card, it was the best condition second-hand card in shop, also what we urgently needed. "This card, I saw first." I walked over, spoke lightly. Bella turned, seeing me, face immediately piled up mocking smile. "Yo, isn't this Ava? What, picking trash to Tech Shop?" She looked up and down at my T-shirt worth tens of dollars, then looked at stubbly Ethan beside. "Tsk tsk, still bringing your homeless boyfriend? This card is ten thousand dollars, can you afford it? Selling you isn't worth this price right?" She deliberately lifted foot wearing high heels, stepped on that graphics card, crushed hard. "Oops, sorry, stepped dirty. But since it's thing I fancied, even if crushed, I won't give to beggar." That balding man also followed laughing: "Bella, don't bother with this kind of low class people, call security to kick them out, don't affect mood." Shop owners and customers around were watching the show. I clenched fists, just about to explode. Ethan who stood silently behind me all along, suddenly moved. Chapter 3 Ethan moved, fast like a black lightning bolt. He pushed away that security guard wanting to come up, force so big made that two-hundred-pound strong man stumble back several steps. Then, he bent down, ignoring Bella screaming dodging, directly reached out and pulled that graphics card from under her foot. Action rude, but carried a dominance. He wiped dust on graphics card with that yellowed T-shirt, eyes gloomy. "This thing under your foot, that is insulting technology." He looked up, gaze swept coldly over Bella and Brad. "Touch her again try?" Voice not loud, but revealed a ruthlessness. Bella was scared, shrank into Brad's arms. Brad felt he lost face, pointed at Ethan cursing: "You stinking beggar, know who I am? Believe I make you unable to mix in this industry?" "Oh? Who are you?" Ethan sneered coldly, "Brad, ex-company operation department deputy manager, the one rose by washing boss's car?" Brad face changed greatly: "How do you know..." Ethan ignored him, turned to shop owner. "Old Chen, I want this card. Also, give me those two servers at bottom of your chest." Shop owner was a middle-aged man with glasses, originally watching show, hearing this voice, shivered fiercely. He leaned close looked at Ethan, glasses almost fell. "God... God Ethan?" In this circle, Ethan Sterling these three words, are legend. Although fired by company, but in eyes of real geeks, he is god. Shop owner excited hands shaking: "God Ethan, why you... Aiya! This card free for you! Those two servers I give you 50% off! Just take little brother along if you have good projects later!" Bella dumbfounded. "Boss, you crazy? I pay double price!" Shop owner rolled eyes at her: "Rich amazing ah? Get out get out, don't dirty my place. God Ethan's friend, is also for you to bully?" Bella angry trembling all over, pointing at me: "Ava, you good! You wait for me! Product launch in two days, I want to let you know what is despair!" She pulled Brad left in disgrace. On way back, Ethan held that graphics card, like holding a treasure. I looked at his side face, suddenly felt this man much more pleasing to eye. "Just now, thanks." Ethan snorted: "I was saving that card, not saving you." Back to studio, atmosphere became urgent. "Product launch" Bella mentioned, is new department's debut. According to previous life timeline, they couldn't produce decent product at all. Reason Bella dared to be so arrogant, must be she found "shortcut". Sure enough, that night 3 AM. Our firewall red light flashed madly. Someone attacking our intranet. Ethan's fingers tapped fast on keyboard, code on screen flowing like waterfall. "It's ex-company IP, they are scanning our ports." Ethan sneered, "Want steal code? No way." He just about to press enter to counterattack, I pressed his hand. "Don't stop." Ethan frowned looking at me: "You crazy? This is our blood and sweat." I stared at that constantly probing red dot on screen, a trace of cold light flashed in eyes. "Let them steal." I opened a hidden folder, inside lay a code package looking perfect, actually full of logic bombs. "Put this into honeypot, open a gap in firewall." Ethan froze a bit, then reacted. "You woman, heart really black." "Same to you."
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