The moment I stepped into my office, it had already been cleared out.

Only my team remained, standing by the doorway.

Eva Langrose saw the guilt in my eyes and came over, patting my shoulder.

"Kylie, following you was our choice. Don't blame yourself. If you hadn't kept leading us all these years, we wouldn't be where we are today. Since those men think we're replaceable, let them try."

I gave a short laugh and brushed the tears from the corner of my eye.

"Everything's been wiped?"

They nodded.

"Don't worry, Kylie. All of our private code and encryption keys have been completely removed."

I smiled and patted their shoulders.

For ten years, as the company expanded, it demanded higher-quality games and smoother payment experiences for players.

For that payment system, I led the team through countless nights of overtime.

Back then, Preston had looked at me with rare seriousness.

"Kylie, this is the company's core. Your team must get it right. When it's done, I'll give your whole team time off and bonuses. And women with children will get extra subsidies."

And now—what had we received in return? Termination. And a notice saying we were replaceable.

I looked at our project files and suddenly laughed.

The payment system had been written by our team, line by line.

Later, as the company released more games, they demanded an anti-cheat system to keep gameplay fair.

Once again, my team and I worked through the nights.

In games, anti-cheat systems protected fairness. But in real life, what system protected fairness for us?

Eva had stayed on the job until the day she gave birth. She rested for less than half a month before rushing back to work. She hadn't fully recovered. Sometimes, exhaustion made her collapse in front of her computer. Preston said Eva was slacking off during work hours.

Wendy coded with a fever of thirty-nine degrees Celsius, forcing herself to finish the last line.

In the end, another team claimed the credit.

As for why our group had no social life—why we never attended company parties…

The first year, during the party, the company's security alarm went off. Not a single person volunteered to fix it.

Those men sent us back to work, saying we "couldn't drink and were killing the mood."

For the sake of the company's projects, I took my team back to the office.

The second year, during the party, hackers broke into the system. The person responsible for maintaining the payment platform was dead drunk.

By coincidence, my team hadn't left the company yet. We worked through the night and saved the company from losses worth millions.

And in return, we were labeled "unsociable" for missing the dinner. Our year-end bonuses were cut in half for "negligence". Meanwhile, the drunk man's bonus remained untouched.

In the third year, the team in charge of the anti-cheat system shut it down incorrectly because they were rushing to get off work.

That night, players flooded the game with complaints as massive cheating poured in.

I led my team through forty-eight hours without rest to clean the system.

We salvaged the company's reputation—and nearly 30 million in market value.

And what did we get? Our entire year-end bonus was canceled. The reason: we hadn't checked the system before leaving work.

From then on, our team never attended another company gathering.

All we gained was the label: outsiders.

I swept my gaze coldly across every corner of the company.

At that moment, I felt it wasn't worth it—for myself, or for my team.

When people saw us leaving, some sighed.

But far more sneered.

"So this is how capable their team really was."

"Turns out they were just bragging."

"And they even had the nerve to ask for bonuses—do they think they deserve them?"

"They're nothing but people AI can replace. AI doesn't take maternity leave. Those women took plenty of time off to have babies!"

"If you ask me, they should be grateful to us. If we weren't working, who would be paying them while they were on leave?"

I laughed coldly and deleted the unfinished code and unreleased projects from my computer.

Since they thought we were unimportant, then let them use AI to code their way to going public.

As we left, Preston's voice rang out in celebration.

"Today, the parasites in our company have been cleared out! Tonight, we're holding a banquet to celebrate!"

Listening to the cheers behind me, I found it almost amusing.

I'd like to see who would step in to fix things when something finally went wrong.

After leaving the company, I looked at my team and gave them a wistful smile.

"Tonight, we're going out too, to celebrate escaping a beast of a company. It's time we enjoyed life for once—my treat."

The team nodded in agreement.

That evening, the restaurant lights felt strangely unfamiliar. It was as if I hadn't been in a place like this for lifetimes.

Just as I was about to sit down and order, an offer letter slipped out from inside the menu and landed in my hand.

It was an employment offer from Mecha Games, the largest game developer in the world.

I looked around in shock, and finally spotted Leo Winters, Mecha Games's current CEO, seated in an inconspicuous corner.

He raised a hand to me naturally.

I returned a calm smile, then suppressed the joy rising in my chest and turned to my team.

"Looks like we've found a better job."

An hour later, when I placed the hundred-thousand-dollar annual salary offers in front of them, both my teammates and I burst into tears.

We had worked for ten years as core technical staff, yet our annual salaries had been less than 25,000 dollars. That was lower than what interns earned after becoming full-time employees.

I had once applied for a raise. But Preston always brushed me off with excuses.

Once, he even pointed at me and shouted, "Don't you have husbands? Won't your husbands give you money? Why do you have to keep eyeing the company's money?

"You women are just greedy! It's not like you've done anything extraordinary!

"Don't think you can threaten me with resignation. With so many married women in your team who haven't even had kids yet, what company would dare hire you?"

Back then, I truly began to doubt myself—to wonder whether I had really brought any value to the company.

Now that I thought about it, I had simply been foolish. Our worth had always been seen by someone.

Mecha Games had long been observing several of our company's outstanding systems, and Leo had noticed us a long time ago. So when we were just talking about getting fired, he decisively extended an olive branch.

After accepting the offer, we raised our glasses and drank happily.

Before we could even finish celebrating, employees from our former company walked into the restaurant.

When they saw us, their faces filled with shock. Preston even laughed in disdain.

"What's the point of having a party now? I'm not going to cancel your resignation just because you're out celebrating!"

I waved a hand.

"Of course. We're just here to eat. We have no intention of going back."

My words infuriated him. After seating his employees, he strode over to me.

"Don't think the company can't run without you! Without you parasites, our company will only get better and better!"

I nodded calmly.

"Then I hope AI leads your company to go public."

Preston sneered.

"Of course! We have expensive AI system and graduates from top universities. You useless women can't compare at all! And AI and graduates don't need to take frequent leave!"

An employee immediately echoed him.

"That's right! With AI, our company will only grow stronger!"

I gave a cold laugh.

"I hope so."

The sarcasm in my tone was not lost on Preston. His face flushed red.

"I have a PhD from Xaturn University! I know far more than a mere master's graduate like you!"

Before he could continue shouting, a company alert was broadcast through everyone's phones.

Hearing that familiar alarm, the corners of my lips lifted unconsciously.

It was the SSS-level high-risk alert. If the vulnerability was not patched within two hours, all confidential archives stored by the company would be stolen by hackers.

Our company was famous for its security systems. Not only did we have one of the world's most secure game payment platforms, but also one of the world's most secure virtual currency storage systems.

Many internationally known tycoons trusted our protection and appreciated the company's low profile. So they stored their virtual assets with us.

If the data were stolen now, not only would the accounts of players worldwide be compromised, those tycoons' fortunes would vanish overnight. By then, the company would be saddled with massive debt, and the project heads would land directly on the tycoons' revenge list.

Seeing my expression, Preston ground his teeth.

"Kylie, what are you gloating about? The company has had alarms like this before! Don't think only your team can handle it!"

I took a sip of red wine and smiled calmly.

"Then I wish you good luck, Preston."

One male employee, displeased with my attitude, snatched the glass from my hand.

"What are you being so arrogant about? Preston will fix everything in a moment! When that happens, you'll see how wrong you were!"

Others chimed in at once.

"That's right! Your leaving will only make the company better!"

Amid their flattery, Preston smugly took out his phone, pulled up a script, and clumsily began importing it.

As he entered the AI command, he looked at me with unmistakable triumph.

"Now I'll show you how powerful AI really is."

The next second, his phone emitted an even sharper alarm. Then came the AI's broadcast.

"Error! Unable to run.

"Error! Unable to intercept.

"Error! Data leakage detected."

The smugness in Preston's eyes instantly turned to panic.

He tried again, but it made no difference.

All that answered him was the cold, mechanical female voice.

When our eyes met, his face flushed crimson with rage as he pointed at me.

"Kylie, don't get cocky! Someone in our company can definitely fix this!"

He turned and looked at a male employee.

I remembered him well. From the day he joined, he had always looked down on our department and belittled us at every turn.

After I won the championship in the Information Security Competition, he even spread rumors that I had slept with a judge to get the result.

The job promotion that should have been mine was given to him instead.

When Preston called on him, the man quickly composed himself.

"Preston, I'm not like these parasites. I'm the technical director. Half an hour is all I need to fix these vulnerabilities."

Watching him leave, Preston turned to me with a smug smile.

"Parasites will always be parasites! Good thing I didn't give you the director position back then! A vulnerability he can solve in half an hour—some people need six hours. Ridiculous!"

Hearing this, someone shrieked, "What? Six hours? Overtime is twenty dollars an hour! Those shameless women—how dare they report that many hours!"

"Firing them was the right decision! They're tumors!"

"They never work properly—only think about cheating money by inflating overtime!"

Amid the clamor, Eva beside me suddenly burst out laughing and raised her phone.

"Oh my God, Preston—your company is on the news. Congratulations!"

He looked at her in confusion, then pulled up the news article.

[Dolce Group System Crashes: Tens of Millions of Accounts and Virtual Assets Lost—Who Will Pay for the Damage?]