When the evaluation results were released, I was left completely stunned.

It wasn’t the low score that shocked me; it was the fact that my answers were identical to Belle's.

I froze for a moment, my breath catching in my throat.

How could this happen?

If I had suspected before that Ajax was behind the issue with the code, now it seemed the company itself was involved. Ajax’s influence couldn’t possibly stretch this far.

It might've made sense if Belle had accessed the system after I submitted my answers. But she’d submitted hers three minutes before me.

How could this be possible?

Belle looked at me, a heavy sigh escaping her lips, tinged with disappointment.

"Well, well... I didn’t mind when you were bragging earlier, but now you're stealing others' work?"

"It’s normal for young girls to have some pride, but you went ahead and copied every single thing, didn’t you?"

"I really can’t wrap my head around how someone like you even got into this company!"

The mocking voices of my colleagues grew louder around me.

"You were bragging just a moment ago, and now look at you, slapped right in the face!"

"If I were you, I’d find a hole in the wall to crawl through!"

Their jeers rang in my ears until the manager finally arrived and looked around. "What’s all this shouting about?"

One colleague quickly pointed at me, shouting, "Manager! She copied Belle’s answers, word for word!"

The manager's glare was fierce, his eyes wide with disbelief as he puffed out his cheeks and gritted his teeth. "What’s wrong with you? Do you have no shame? How dare you plagiarize? Pack your things and leave!"

He didn’t hold back, his voice rising, "We don’t need people like you here!"

I clenched my fists, my mind swirling with shock. I couldn’t form a single word in my defense.

As I opened my mouth to respond, Belle cut in, her voice loud and sure. "Don’t fire her!"

Belle, noticing the change in the room’s mood, casually touched her nose, playing the role of the understanding colleague. “I mean, we all make mistakes. She deserves another shot, don’t you think? We should give her that chance.”

Internally, I couldn’t help but sneer.

She was probably worried that there would be no one left to copy from once I was gone.

With Belle speaking up, the manager let out a reluctant sigh, rolling his eyes at me. “Apologize to Belle now! She’s being so understanding!”

“Coming to work with that bare face, no makeup, it’s downright disgusting!”

I shot Belle a cold, piercing look. “Who’s claiming I plagiarized? I wrote my birthdate in the comments section. Does Belle need to copy that, too?”