The room had been full of people listening to the VP, Mr. Foster, boast about the future.

My sudden intrusion shattered the harmonious atmosphere.

Mr. Foster glanced at the phone and quickly regained his superior expression.

He said the announcement was already very clear.

He claimed that staying in the company outside working hours caused a waste of resources that employees should bear themselves.

“The company isn’t a free hotel, and neither are we your parents. We don’t take freeloaders,” he said.

I laughed angrily. “We worked overtime and did all-nighters to help the company save costs. We brought the launch date forward by two months, and you call us freeloaders?”

I pointed out that a pregnant employee had nearly collapsed.

“It’s exactly because of what you’ve accomplished that we went easy on you with the punishment. You’ve been occupying company resources without permission and should have been fined half of your monthly wages. But because you’ve brought forward the launch date of the new game, we decided to just give you a little punishment by paying the electricity bill this month.”

At that moment, my anger turned into calm.

I immediately called the CEO, Ian Yates.

The call was repeatedly hung up.

Mr. Foster said smugly, “Don’t bother. It’s Mr. Yates’ decision as well.”

I felt as if cold water had been poured over my head.

I realized they were using overtime as an excuse to kick me out and monopolize the achievement.

Seeing that I failed to contact Ian, Mr. Foster became even more smug.

He mocked, “So what if you founded this company with Mr. Yates? The company is about to be listed, and it has multiple branches as well. Mr. Yates is already way out of your reach. You’re just a technical director at one of the branches, that’s all. Who do you think you are? You’re just a 35-year-old woman who only knows how to type code. You’d better know your place. You’re the one who can’t survive without the company and not the other way around!”

I trembled with rage as I stared Mr. Foster in the eyes.

The latter sat there with a big belly and fancy clothes. He squinted his eyes as he looked at me slyly.

My colleagues and I were all wearing dirty clothes and had dark circles around our eyes. We were practically a mess.

Other colleagues started pointing fingers at us and laughing mockingly.

This made us look like clowns.

I continued to call Ian, but he kept declining my calls.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Then I stopped calling Ian.

After that, I logged on to the company’s system in front of everyone and submitted my resignation.

It was approved almost instantly.

When I saw Ian approving instantly, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I was laughing at myself for being so stupid and wasting 15 years of my life.

I was also laughing at myself because I failed to see a person’s true colors.

I nearly cried in the end, but I forced back the tears.

Such a company was not worth my tears.

I took another deep breath before turning on my heels and leaving the private room.

Since the company decided to be heartless, I would do the same.

It was time to settle the scores between us.

To prevent me from taking anything important—and also just to disgust me—Mr. Foster had assigned a newly arrived intern to watch me as I returned to the company to pack up my things.

On the workstation, sheets of A4 paper printed with all kinds of requirements from the clients.

In a disposable paper cup at the corner of the desk was instant coffee that had already gone cold.

Everything testified to a week of working day and night, yet in such a short time, everything had completely changed.

The tip of my nose stung again, so I rubbed it hard and blinked a couple of times.

On the screen, the backend user data was still constantly jumping, with several places flashing error alerts.

I only watched coldly, with no intention whatsoever of stepping in to fix anything.

None of this had anything to do with me anymore.

I packed up my own belongings and counted out each piece of company equipment, lining them up neatly on the desk.

Finally, without the slightest hesitation, I reached out, unplugged a portable hard drive that had been connected to the main unit for fifteen years, and stuffed it into my pocket.

The intern panicked instantly, his whole body going stiff, and he asid with a trembling voice, “Jane...”

I calmly met his gaze.

“This hard drive contains a server that I built and developed myself. It is my personal property and has nothing to do with the company.”

The intern looked utterly stunned. His lips moved slightly, but in the end he lowered his head and did not try to stop me again.

As we brushed past each other, I saw his fingers trembling as he pulled out his phone and logged into the company system. The screen looked like the resignation application page.

I could not help but curve my lips into a smile.

No wonder people said that fresh brains were quick and sharp.

The biggest highlight of our current games company was that it could run high-definition games smoothly and steadily, and all of this relied on the server I had built with my own hands.

No matter how explosively the number of users increased, my server never lagged or crashed and always ran smoothly.

This was something many major game companies found difficult to achieve.

Because my technology provided solid backing, the company’s focus in recent years had been on pursuing more refined visuals in casual games, as well as shooting and combat games that demanded extremely high precision, all in the aim of giving players a more perfect, ultimate experience.

But they had forgotten that all that refinement and sophistication depended on the server platform I had built—that it was me, constantly watching the backend, almost online around the clock, predicting and diverting traffic, applying patches in time, and solving every problem before they happened.

Without me, everything in the company became a castle in the air, a tree without roots.

As I signed the paper resignation certificate with HR, my thoughts wandered off.

In recent years, the company had become bigger and bigger, and was about to go public, yet in the past two events it had been overshadowed by another newly risen company called the Conquest Group.

The Conquest Group’s server technology was far inferior to mine, so they had changed strategies, no longer pursuing high frame rates and graphics but instead innovating in gameplay, which had also attracted countless fans.

The two companies had been secretly competing with each other all along, and when they learned that the Conquest Group was about to launch a new game, our company immediately made a decision to hold an offline selection tournament for its oldest competitive game on the same day.

The company had built up hype months in advance and cranked the graphics to the highest settings, wanting to thoroughly crush the rival company.

Calculating the timing, when I unplugged the server, it should have been right around the time of the finals. If it had been before, I would definitely have watched the entire time, afraid that even the slightest mishap would embarrass the company.

But now, what the hell did it have to do with me?

I shrugged and flung those thoughts out of my head.

After confirming with HR that all compensation would be directly transferred to my account, I logged into my work phone one last time, left all work group chats, and deactivated my work account.

After thinking it over, I simply removed the SIM card from the work phone, snapped it in half, and threw it away.

Since I had resigned, I might as well sever ties completely. The company had better hold on and not come looking for me again.

As I left the company lobby, I took off the badge on my chest and casually tossed it into the trash.

Weren’t they in a hurry to maintain client relations? Well, the CEO could handle things personally now.

When I returned to the small rented apartment, I slept blissfully and lost all sense of time.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already the early hours of the morning, and I had been woken by loud banging at the door.

Yawning, I went to check the door camera and saw that it was Ian, the CEO of the company that I just resigned from. During the company's hardest startup phase, he had once used my apartment as an office, so he knew this place.

He looked travel-worn and exhausted, his face haggard and his eyes bloodshot. It was obvious that he had rushed back after booking a flight the moment the incident happened.

Seeing that I had not responded for a long time, he grew more and more agitated, and he knocked harder and harder.

"Open the door, Jane! I know you're in there! If there's some misunderstanding, let's talk it out!"

I could not be bothered to deal with him. I stretched lazily, went into the kitchen, and slowly poured myself a glass of milk. As I drank, I took out my phone and scrolled through the trending searches.

Not even a day had passed since I resigned.

Online discussions about my former company had already exploded.

The topic of the company's game crashing and lagging had surged onto the trending list.

In order to build hype, the company had livestreamed the entire tournament both online and offline. As a result, in full view of everyone, hundreds of thousands of viewers watched as two teams of characters that had been locked in a back-and-forth battle suddenly froze in place.

No matter how the players swiped their screens, the game lagged frame by frame.

The company made a complete fool of itself in front of everyone and was mocked online.

In contrast, the rival company, the Conquest Group, held its ground steadily. The quality of its new game remained solid, and it even used this wave of attention to attract a large number of new players.

Outside the door, Mr. Yates' knocking grew louder and louder, and quite a few neighbors had already opened their doors to curse at him.

In order not to disturb the neighbors, and as a final show of respect for the more than ten years we had struggled together, I still opened the door.

Ian walked into the living room with his head lowered, muttering to himself, his expression anxious.

"Jane, don't rush into taking leave just yet. Something big has come up in the tech department. That bunch of useless idiots caused a massive disaster during a global livestream. We still need you to go back and take charge of the situation..."

I keenly caught the key point and interrupted him in time.

"Taking leave? Mr. Yates, you must be mistaken. I've already resigned."

Ian froze for a moment, then his expression shifted into a confused look that was obviously fake.

"Resigned? What happened? If there's anything at work that upsets you, tell me. You built the company from scratch with me. We've been partners for over 10 years, how could you... Don't joke with me. The tech department is still counting on you. Who upset you? I'll fire them immediately!"

Watching his over-the-top acting, I sneered.

I spread the resignation report out in front of him and pointed my finger at the final column labeled "CEO's Opinion," where a large handwritten "Approved" stood out clearly.

"You're forgetful, aren't you? Didn't you personally sign and approve this?"

"Oh, right, didn't the company also say that because I'd pulled all-nighters for a whole week, I should pay the company's electricity bill this month, and that I was already 35, too old, and should know my place? I assumed people in your esteemed company don't live past 35, so I resigned."

Ian's expression finally cracked, growing more and more awkward.

"This... this is all a misunderstanding..." he stammered and grasped at excuses, pulling things left and right, but I no longer paid him any attention. I simply opened my laptop and started working on my own matters.

Ian watched as I clicked into the official websites of rival games companies one by one and sent out emails one after another. Before long, notification sounds rang nonstop from my phone, and his expression grew increasingly grave.

"Jane, what are you doing?"

I cocked my brows indifferently.

"Job hunting and renting out my server. The server I built myself is definitely better than theirs. I'll just rent them out. If problems come up, they can maintain themselves. I can even rent the server to several companies at once. Collecting rent from renting my server to others isn't bad at all."

Watching the enthusiastic responses from various rival companies, with some already starting to bid and book time slots, Ian's face became darker than ever.

"Jane! You know how valuable technology is as a company asset. Are you really going to hand a knife to our competitors like this?"

My expression did not change in the slightest.

"Mr. Yates, the server is my private property. I have the right to dispose of them. In the past, I allowed your company to borrow it out of personal sentiment. But now, Mr. Yates, do you really think there's any sentiment left between us?"

Ian's face turned pale. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

He probably also suddenly remembered that back when I graduated, with a bright future ahead of me and offers from countless established companies, I had resolutely chosen his small, poor company with no money and no connections.

When the company was at its hardest, I had gone for months gnawing on instant coffee with bread, complaining about nothing as I worked with him on improving and optimizing the games. Yet when the company grew bigger and bigger, he chose to stab the comrade who had walked this road with him all along in the back.

I didn't owe the company anything, so Ian had nothing else to say.

At that moment, another company called. I ignored him and went to answer the call on the balcony.

When I returned to the living room, Ian had already left. However, I noticed that someone had touched the hard drive disk I left on the table, which contained my server.

I squinted my eyes, but wasn't surprised.

On the morning of the next day, as soon as I looked at my phone, the pop-up of the latest news caught my attention.

"Shock as Startup Game Studio's Core Tech Secrets Stolen; Vows Legal Action"

I was expecting it.

Someone knocked on my apartment door again.

Police officers showed me their IDs with a serious look on their faces.

"Ms. Lawson, someone reported you for stealing their company's core technology. You'll have to come with us."