After pulling three consecutive all-nighters, I was resting my head on my desk during my lunch break when the boss's daughter, who had just returned from studying abroad, viciously kicked my desk. "The company is full of employees like you. No wonder we're barely turning a profit." She turned up an alarm and woke up every single employee who was resting. "From now on, the hour-and-a-half lunch break is canceled. You get ten minutes to eat. "Also, you are required to work five days of unpaid overtime every week. If profits don't triple by next month, you're all fired." I just smiled. Firing your most critical talent? Brains are a wonderful thing, it's just a shame she didn't have one. 01 Hearing the boss's daughter say this, everyone started whispering, expressing their intense dissatisfaction. HR Manager Sarah walked over to her and whispered, "Ms. Sterling, this violates regulations. Besides, this is the tech department—the absolute core of our company!" She pointed at me and added, "Like Chloe here, we spent a fortune to recruit her. We should probably inform your father about this." Evelyn Sterling scoffed and looked me up and down with absolute disdain. "Her? A highly-paid talent? Dressed like a peacock, she looks more like she's here to seduce people. No need to tell my dad. I'm in charge here now. Implement the rules immediately!" Naturally, I couldn't accept such tyrannical terms. I worked incredibly hard; dressing nicely was at least a small comfort to myself. Who was she to judge me? But many people had already sat up straight and started working. After all, jobs were hard to come by these days. So, I naturally got to work too. Seeing everyone get back to work, Evelyn lifted her chin proudly. However, I directly called our biggest client. The phone rang for over a minute before someone answered. It was obvious they were also on their lunch break. The voice was incredibly impatient: "What is it?" I smiled. "Manager Davis, we need you to review that proposal. We can't move forward until you give it the green light." "Yeah, yeah. Let's talk after lunch." Manager Davis hung up on me. I called right back. Manager Davis raised his voice: "I said we'll review it after lunch! Do you people not sleep?!" I shrugged. "I'm so sorry, Manager Davis, but our boss's daughter just canceled our lunch breaks. We'll probably be bothering you a lot around this time from now on. Could you try to get used to it?" 02 Manager Davis completely lost it upon hearing this. "What?! It's going to be like this every day?! You're going to kill me!" To finalize this proposal, our team and Manager Davis's team had stayed up for three entire nights. Even a body made of iron would collapse under that strain. Manager Davis started cursing profusely over the phone. I put him on speaker: "We are the clients! How dare you make things this difficult for us?! And your boss's daughter is out of her mind! I need to talk to your boss." Evelyn's face turned bright red from Manager Davis's scolding, but since he was a major client, she had to swallow it. She pointed at me and started yelling, "Couldn't you do other work first?!" I spread my hands helplessly. "We can't proceed to the next step until the proposal is approved, right?" Hearing my cue, everyone else chimed in: "Exactly. We can't start working until Manager Davis approves it." "Yeah, maybe I should give Manager Davis another call." Evelyn clenched her fists tightly in anger, but she had no choice but to stop us. The very next second, her phone rang. Our boss's piercing scream erupted from the speaker: "Evelyn, what the hell are you doing?! Manager Davis is our biggest client, you absolutely cannot offend him!" Looking incredibly awkward, Evelyn covered her phone and ran into a private office to take the call. Everyone gave me a thumbs up. I was a highly sought-after talent that the boss had spent a whole month negotiating with HR to recruit. Plus, I had brought along several other skilled tech personnel. If we hadn't worked so hard, the company would still be drowning in debt. Right now, the company had four active projects. Two of them were brought in specifically by my former partners who found out I had jumped ship. In other words, if they fired me, this company could just wait to go bankrupt. 03 Last month, I heard the boss mention he was bringing his daughter into the company to gain some experience. I didn't pay much attention at the time. As long as I did my job, it didn't matter to me who the boss was. But the very next day, Evelyn joined the company group chat. As soon as she got in, she started ordering us around and even demanded we call her "Miss." When we discussed work matters in the group, she had to interject, claiming we were incompetent because we couldn't solve minor issues, spouting absolute nonsense. Her comments were completely irrelevant because she majored in marketing; she knew nothing about tech. She even said that when she got back to the States, she was going to "rectify" us and show us how Gen Z cleans up the workplace. No one else in the group dared to say anything, so I was the only one who fired back at her. I guess she held a grudge against me from that moment on. So, on her very first day, she wanted to establish her dominance by making an example out of me. But did I look like someone who was easy to bully? After finishing the call with her dad, Evelyn looked terrible. With a dark expression, she walked over to us and said, "Rest for now. Contact Manager Davis after lunch." Everyone held back their laughter. After all, she was the boss's daughter; we had to give her some face. As Evelyn walked past me, she shot me a vicious glare. The message was clear: Just you wait. Sure enough, by the time afternoon work hours started, everyone had received the new regulations sent by Evelyn. 04 The new regulations were as follows: Everyone must work unpaid overtime until 12:00 AM every week. Violators will be fined $100. Everyone must submit a daily work report of exactly 1000 words. A $1 fine will be applied for every missing word. Everyone must complete 5 projects every month. Failure to do so will result in immediate termination. Bathroom breaks must not exceed 10 minutes, or a $100 fine will be applied. If profits do not triple by next month, the entire tech department will be fired. Everyone in the office was complaining. Suddenly, Lily clutched her stomach and sprinted into the bathroom. 15 minutes later, we heard Lily's plea for help in the group chat: [Help me, the bathroom door won't open.] We rushed over only to discover that timed locks had been installed on the bathroom doors. If facial recognition showed you had been inside for more than 10 minutes, the door automatically locked. You had to pay the fine; otherwise, the person inside couldn't get out, and people outside couldn't get in. This infuriated us. We all agreed to tell Lily not to pay and stay put. If worst came to worst, we'd just use the public restrooms outside the office. Suddenly, Evelyn posted another message in the group: [Leaving your workstation for more than 30 minutes is considered absence from work. This month's performance bonus and half your salary will be deducted.] This threw Lily into an absolute panic. She had a two-year-old at home and desperately needed the money. Ignoring my advice, she pulled out her phone to pay the fine. As the minutes ticked by, Evelyn started announcing in the group: [All members of the tech department have been away from their workstations for over 20 minutes. If it exceeds 30 minutes, it will be considered an absence.] She also tagged HR Manager Sarah: [From now on, go check on the tech department every 10 minutes.] Just as we were all grinding our teeth in anger, two new hires from the sales department walked toward the bathroom. The facial recognition system announced: "Identified as a member of the sales department. No time limit for restroom use." We were all stunned. A few colleagues who really needed to use the bathroom tried to push their way in while the door was unlocked, but the two sales girls blocked them. Refusing to accept this, our team started arguing with them. Surprisingly, the sales girls sneered, "Ms. Sterling said the sales department is the core of the company, so we aren't subject to any restrictions." I completely lost it. I took a screenshot of Evelyn's new rules and posted it online, captioning it: [Great news! Death-sentence regulations! Everyone, hurry up and apply to our company.] 05 I graduated from MIT, the most prestigious university in the country. During my time there, I won numerous programming awards and was heavily recruited by top tech companies before I even graduated. I spent six years working at major tech giants, gaining a wealth of experience. But the corporate grind at those massive companies was too intense, and new talent was constantly pouring in. So, I made a bold decision to return to my hometown to build my career. The day I moved back, I started a social media account to document my life and began posting free, basic programming tutorials. Over the past year, I had amassed over a million followers. So, shortly after I posted the screenshot, it caught the attention of many people. Within half an hour, my followers had pushed it onto the trending list. Everyone started tearing the regulations apart. [Corporate drones are humans too!] [I give this company a month before it goes bankrupt!] [This boss's daughter is out of her mind. Go to hell!] People swarmed the company's official website, leaving a barrage of insults. The site eventually crashed from the sheer volume of traffic. Even the websites of merchants we previously collaborated with were flooded with comments from netizens: [Are products built on the blood and sweat of corporate slaves actually any good?] Terrified, the merchants immediately pulled that line of products from their shelves. Even the clients who were planning to renew their contracts with us issued statements suspending all collaboration. Our boss had always wanted to take the company public. But an IPO requires a stellar reputation. Right now, there wasn't a single positive review on our site; it was all one-star reviews. Watching the trending topics climb higher, I smiled in satisfaction. Listening closely, I could hear agonized wails coming from Evelyn's office. It turned out many reporters were calling to interview her. Given Evelyn's personality, she naturally cursed right back at them: "They're just a bunch of lowly workers! If they don't want to work, they can get the hell out!" She wasn't just insulting our tech department; she was insulting every working-class person out there. I hid outside her door, recorded that sentence, and posted it online. This time, the backlash was even bigger because her target audience had expanded exponentially. 06 Netizens who were just watching the drama unfold were now absolutely furious. [What the hell? I'm just surfing the web and I get insulted?!] [Everyone, follow me! Let's tear down this capitalist dog's daughter!] In the information age, a casual deep dive by netizens exposed everything about Evelyn. They revealed that while studying abroad, she had slept around constantly, practically changing boyfriends every week. Someone even found a video of her grinding against several large men at a frat party. On top of that, it was exposed that she had been arrested for bullying on campus abroad, and the boss had to pay a massive bail to get her out. The online vitriol against her reached a fever pitch. And that wasn't even the worst of it. Someone leaked that Evelyn was actually the boss's illegitimate child from an affair. The internet completely exploded. What started as insults directed solely at Evelyn now dragged the boss down with her. Evelyn had personal social media accounts, originally used for flaunting her wealth and posting selfies. Now, they were overrun by angry netizens. Shortly after, the boss arrived at the office. He screamed at Evelyn, tearing her a new one for a solid hour. It wasn't until right before closing time that HR Manager Sarah notified the tech department to head to the conference room for an emergency meeting. Evelyn sat to the side, her head hanging low. The boss immediately walked up to me when he saw me. "Chloe, if there's a problem, we can resolve it internally. Why did you have to take it to the internet?" I signaled for everyone to sit down and replied to him with absolute seriousness: "I am the team leader. I have to take responsibility for my team members. Furthermore, when you recruited me, you promised me absolute autonomy." When the boss recruited me, he offered me triple my previous salary and explicitly exempted me from mandatory clock-ins. However, out of fairness and to lead by example, I still clocked in and out on time every day. The boss pushed up his glasses to hide his embarrassment. "It's true my daughter acted inappropriately. That's why we're having this meeting to resolve it. How about this: you propose a solution." 07 To be honest, our project deadlines were incredibly tight. We simply didn't have time to deal with Evelyn's nonsense. After a brief discussion, we proposed a resolution. First, all the regulations Evelyn introduced must be abolished immediately. Second, she must apologize to every single one of us. Finally, the company must distribute the bonuses for our current projects in advance. The boss hesitated. Seeing this, I stood up, ready to leave. Our tech department was full of young, elite professionals. We had no fear of not finding new jobs elsewhere. The boss immediately grabbed my arm and agreed to the terms. Right in front of all of us, Evelyn bowed deeply and apologized. The boss also immediately instructed finance to distribute a $5,000 bonus to every member of the tech department. Seeing the money hit my account, I kept my promise and posted the final resolution online. But there was no way I was going to let it go that easily. I continued using my burner account to steer the narrative online. [It's ending just like this? We haven't even forgiven her yet!] Left with no choice, Evelyn had to issue a public apology via live stream: "The workers are the soul of the company. Everyone, I was wrong." I used my burner account in the live chat: [If you want our forgiveness, get on your knees!] As soon as I posted that, a massive wave of people copied and pasted it. In an instant, the live stream with 100,000 viewers was flooded entirely with comments demanding she "kneel." I was the one who suggested this live stream apology method. The boss was standing right next to me, anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof. He naturally didn't notice me frantically typing on my phone hidden in my pocket. "Chloe, what do we do? I can't actually make my daughter kneel, can I?" I shrugged, indicating there was no other way. "If you want the netizens to forgive her, this is the only way. Otherwise, forget about the IPO; the company might actually go bankrupt next month." The boss loved his daughter, but this company was his life's work. He couldn't let it fail. He had no choice but to order Evelyn to kneel. Evelyn's eyes were bloodshot, but she was powerless to resist. She obediently knelt down. "I'm sorry, everyone. I was wrong." That video was reposted across the entire internet and even remixed into countless memes. Evelyn didn't show her face at the office for a whole month. Pathetic. She thought she could take me down with those pathetic little tricks? We enjoyed a month of peace. But a month later, Evelyn returned in a highly ostentatious, bright red pantsuit, a man standing by her side. 08 During the month without Evelyn causing trouble, we smoothly pushed through more than half of our current projects. Many of them were already operational. Most notably, the companion robot—our most highly anticipated project—was already capable of performing basic movements. Just as we were discussing the next phase, Evelyn walked into our office, holding her boyfriend's hand. "Let me introduce everyone. This is William. From now on, he will be the team leader of Tech Group Two. Please welcome him." William stepped forward, took off his sunglasses, and gave us a gentlemanly bow. "I look forward to working with you all. Even though I studied abroad and my skills are undoubtedly superior to yours, I still hope you can look at me as an ordinary person." Cue a collective eye roll from the entire room. What a massive poser! Lily raised her hand and asked, "Since when did the tech department have a Group Two?" Evelyn smiled and replied, "Starting today. I am announcing that the eight members of the tech department will be evenly divided between the two team leaders. After a month, we will evaluate performance. Only one group will remain." Everyone gasped and looked at me. This Evelyn had gotten smarter. Instead of using ridiculous rules, she was trying to dismantle us from the inside. But why did this William look so familiar? I remembered. He was the underclassman who confessed his feelings to me back in college. I also remembered completely eliminating him in the very first round of a programming competition. Back then, his name was Bill Zhang. William clearly recognized me, freezing for a second before returning to normal. However, a newfound trace of hatred flashed in his eyes. Great. Another person in this company who wants me dead. But I wasn't scared. 09 Evelyn wanted the team to voluntarily choose four people to join William, but no one wanted to go with him. After all, over the past year, not only had I secured excellent benefits for them, but I was also very generous with approving time off. I immediately contacted the boss. However, he was currently vacationing in the Maldives with his mistress. Over the phone, he gave me nothing but non-committal answers. "William studied abroad, you know. I brought in a talent like him to share your burden! Let him participate in all your projects; it'll make things easier for you." I understood the boss's true intentions now. He simply wanted William to take over all my projects, and then he would fire me. Seeing that complaining to the boss was useless, Evelyn flashed a smug smile. Finally, she came up with an idea: drawing straws. Everyone reluctantly drew straws, and the two groups were finally formed. William swaggered into the conference room with his four team members, even pulling down the blinds as if I were going to spy on them. I immediately turned around and texted the headhunter who had contacted me before: [Hey Brenda, please set up a meeting with Horizon Group, the one that tried to poach me last time. I'm very interested now.] Brenda replied instantly: [You finally figured it out! I'll contact them immediately.] After the whole fiasco with Evelyn, I realized that sometimes, you truly have no control over your circumstances. I just wanted to coast in this small company, but there was always someone trying to sabotage me. Since I was still young, I might as well throw myself back into the ultra-competitive corporate grind. Horizon Group was the largest conglomerate in the city, and their robotics division ranked among the top in the nation. Their tech department was full of elites. Once you were in, how much you earned depended entirely on your own abilities. That evening, Brenda replied: [I've set up a lunch meeting for you tomorrow. Make sure you bring your A-game.] [Received!]
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