The Real Hacker They Fired

A young intern named Jade boasted about her hacking skills by sending out mass resignation letters in everyone's name.

The company group chat exploded instantly.

The boss, Marcus, posted a laughing emoji in the group: Jade's got some serious tech skills! No need to panic, everyone. I'll withdraw all the resignation letters. Afternoon tea is on me!

Immediately after, I watched as everyone else's resignation requests were rejected---except mine, which was approved.

Out of 100 people in the company, he retained 99 of them but laid off only me, the core programmer.

Since that's how it was, there was no point in staying where I wasn't wanted.

Before leaving, I casually revoked my self-developed AI's authorization to protect the database.

By the time I was sitting in my new company's director's office, Marcus's desperate phone calls had gone completely insane.

...

A notification popped up on my computer screen about the mass withdrawal of resignation letters.

I scrolled to the bottom---only my approval form showed "Approved."

Lisa from HR slapped my resignation report on my desk.

"Adrian, you're the only one who got approved. Such a shame---the year-end bonus will be distributed in a few days, and you'll miss it."

My heart sank as I pleaded, "Lisa, I can't lose that $200,000. My family desperately needs that money to save a life..."

She shrugged indifferently. "I'm just an employee. You'll have to talk to Marcus and see if he's willing to give you any consideration."

I rushed into Marcus's office. He was fiddling with a cigar and waved his secretary out.

"Marcus, I need an explanation about the resignation approval."

Marcus exhaled a puff of smoke and brushed me off casually.

"Adrian, we need to give young people opportunities. You just can't keep up with the times anymore."

He propped his feet up on the desk, speaking with mocking sarcasm.

"If you want that year-end bonus, fine. I can withdraw the resignation letter, but..."

I forced out the words through gritted teeth.

"What's the condition?"

Marcus sneered and held up five fingers.

"Drop to Level 12, monthly salary at intern standard---$500. Consider it paid learning."

I stood there frozen, my head buzzing.

"$500? When you begged me to join your startup, that wasn't the price you offered."

Marcus's expression instantly turned cold, his voice icy.

"The company needs to optimize now. Your ability to stay is my gift to you. Take it or leave it."

I stood rooted to the spot, palms sweating.

My phone buzzed with a hospital bill notification. My wife had been diagnosed with ALS, and the daily hospital fees were a non-negotiable $5,000.

To get back that life-saving $200,000 year-end bonus, I clenched my teeth and nodded in agreement.

As I walked out of his office, Marcus made a public announcement.

"I'm appointing Jade as Technical Supervisor with Level 5 salary benefits, effective immediately!"

The income that should have been mine had just been handed to an intern.

Keith, the deputy manager, led the applause, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Jade is our company's future! Everyone should learn from Supervisor Jade!"

Afternoon tea arrived at the office, and cheers erupted throughout.

Jade carried the milk tea around, handing it out to everyone. When she reached me, she held up the empty bag mockingly.

"Adrian, we didn't count you in. Why don't you drink some tap water instead?"

Keith chimed in from the side, spitting maliciously.

"Interns should act like interns. You think you deserve afternoon tea?"

I grabbed my worn laptop bag and walked into the storage room, looking at the moldy walls with a self-mocking laugh.

I remembered the early startup days when Marcus and I carried servers while dodging the rain.

Back then, he personally promised to split everything fifty-fifty. That scene felt like yesterday.

Now, he was popping champagne with Jade to celebrate.

I wiped my face and my fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard.

Since they wanted a genius, I would withdraw all bottom-layer authorization for my self-developed AI.

I entered the command in the code terminal: Revoke upon resignation effective immediately.

I said nothing, just watched this absurd farce with cold eyes.

This place that didn't treat people like human beings didn't deserve the defense system I'd maintained for three years.

The next day, Jade sat at the core control console, pointing at a section of continuously erroring code on the screen and laughing.

"Oh my God, this infinite loop bug has been here for three years? No wonder the system runs as slow as a turtle."

Her finger hovered above the Enter key, her face full of disgust.

"I'm going to fix this bug and delete it completely."

My scalp exploded instantly. I rushed over and pressed down on her hand.

"Stop! That's not an ordinary bug---it's a logic compromise made to maintain compatibility with legacy hardware!"

I was so anxious my throat was hoarse, staring at her intently.

"This bug throws errors, yes, but it forces other control units to run at reduced frequency. Delete it and the system will overload and crash!"

Jade shook off my hand, looking at me with complete contempt as she brushed off her sleeve.

"Adrian, your skills are terrible. You write bugs you can't fix, then make up terms like 'logic compromise' to deceive people?"

The commotion grew loud. Marcus walked over with his hands behind his back, brows furrowed.

"What's all this noise? Can't people have peace in the morning?"

I grabbed at this lifeline, pointing at the screen to explain.

"Marcus, Jade wants to delete that load-balancing bug. This will cause serious problems---you have to stop her immediately!"

Marcus looked at Jade, then at me, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.

Jade immediately pouted, her eyes reddening.

"Marcus, Adrian is just jealous of me. Fixing this bug would improve speed by at least 20%. He doesn't want the company to progress."

The hesitation in Marcus's eyes gradually disappeared. He turned his head and looked at me coldly.

"Adrian, we need to give young people room to make mistakes. Don't always suppress them with your old methods."

He patted Jade's shoulder.

"Jade, go ahead and fix it boldly. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."

I stood frozen, watching helplessly as Jade pressed the Enter key.

In that instant, all the indicator lights in the server room suddenly went dark.

The mainframe let out a muffled hum, and the screens instantly went black.

The entire office area fell into deathly silence, with only the emergency lights casting a ghastly pale glow.

Jade's face turned deathly white as she jumped up from her chair.

"I... I only deleted one line of code..."

The red dedicated phone on the desk suddenly rang shrilly.

It was the direct hotline to DragonPeak Corporation, a major client.

Marcus fumbled to answer the phone, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

"Boss.... Boss, calling so early?"

An angry roar came through the phone, loud enough for even me to hear.

"Marcus! We're receiving red alert signals! What the hell are you people doing?"

Marcus's legs were shaking. Just as he was about to explain, the mainframe behind him suddenly beeped.

The power reconnected, the screen lit up again, and the glaring red warning disappeared.

Jade pointed at the screen, screaming excitedly.

"It's on! Marcus! System restart successful!"

A line of large green text appeared on the screen: [System Logic Optimization Complete].

Jade couldn't wait to hit Enter and run a performance test.

The progress bar flew through completion, finally settling on an astonishing number.

[Current System Comprehensive Operating Efficiency: Increased by 30%].

Marcus breathed a long sigh of relief and immediately switched to a fawning expression.

"Boss, you misunderstood. We were just performing a core technology upgrade. It's completed now."

He hung up the phone, pointing at the big screen, his face full of wild joy.

"See that? This is what they call 'breaking to rebuild'! 30% speed increase!"

Jade raised her chin proudly, looking at me provocatively.

"Adrian, I wonder who was fear-mongering just now. Does your face hurt?"

Keith led the applause, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Jade is amazing! Not like some people who just occupy space without contributing, always crying wolf!"

He glanced at me sideways, adding sarcastically.

"This is what they call technological dominance---the difference between genius and waste!"

The entire company erupted in cheers, everyone celebrating this so-called "technological breakthrough."

Only I knew that the seemingly perfect data flow was just the last flash of brilliance before death.

I returned to the storage room. My phone vibrated.

It was a familiar number. When I answered, a respectful voice came through.

"Mr. Adrian, this is HR from Skyward Tech. About the job offer we discussed last time---have you considered it?"

I looked at the group of people celebrating outside the door, gathered around Jade popping champagne.

"The job offer is fine."

I lowered my voice, speaking calmly.

"But I still have a $200,000 year-end bonus to collect. That's my hard-earned money."

The headhunter paused on the other end, then said.

"Understood. We'll wait for your good news."

I hung up the phone and laughed mockingly at myself.

Marcus, since you chose your "genius," I'll take back what belongs to me.

On the morning of the third day, the final deadline for handover arrived.

The company group chat suddenly exploded.

Messages about year-end bonuses arriving flooded the screen. Everyone was celebrating amounts much higher than previous years.

I opened my bank message, my fingertip trembling as I stared at that string of numbers.

[Deposit: $2,000]

Before I could catch my breath, my phone rang shrilly. It was the director of City First Hospital's emergency department.

When I answered, the sound of urgent monitor alarms came through.

"Mr. Adrian, your wife has suffered sudden respiratory arrest! We're performing CPR!"

The doctor's anxious voice came like thunder.

"The situation is critical. We must perform an emergency tracheotomy immediately. Please pay the $50,000 surgery fee at once!"

My head buzzed. I almost dropped my phone.

"Save her! Please, you have to save her! I'll transfer the money right away!"

I hung up and rushed into Marcus's office like a madman.

Inside, Marcus was stuffing a thick stack of cash into envelopes and handing them to Jade.

"Marcus! You have to give me that $200,000 commission! My wife is being resuscitated!"

I rushed to the desk, eyes bloodshot, voice hoarse.

Marcus leisurely sealed the envelope without even looking up.

"Adrian, what are you yelling about? That money has already been divided among everyone."

He pointed at the cheering employees, speaking righteously.

"Jade improved speed by 30%. Everyone worked very hard. This money should reward those who contributed."

My whole body trembled uncontrollably, blood rushing to my head.

"That's my life-saving money! How could you use it to buy favors?"

Marcus suddenly laughed, grabbed my collar, and physically dragged me out of the office.

"Come! Everyone, stop for a moment!"

He pushed me unceremoniously into the center of the office area, shouting loudly.

"Adrian says he wants back that $200,000 commission!"

The entire room fell silent instantly. Dozens of pairs of eyes stared at me in unison.

Marcus spread his hands, looking completely shameless.

"I've already distributed the money to everyone. If I give it to him, you'll all have to return the bonuses you just received."

He looked around, deliberately asking.

"Do you agree to that?"

Keith was the first to jump out, stuffing his envelope into his pocket and pointing at me while cursing.

"Why should we? Money that's already in our pockets, you want to claw it back out?"

"Adrian, you're shameless! Taking everyone's money to fill your family's bottomless pit?"

With someone leading, the jeering around me instantly erupted.

Jade giggled and raised her hand, shouting loudly.

"Marcus, since Adrian is leaving anyway, why not use his freed-up salary budget to give everyone a $500 monthly raise!"

The room fell silent for a second, then erupted in earth-shattering cheers.

Marcus waved his hand magnanimously.

"Approved! Jade is so considerate, unlike some people who only take and never give."

I stood in the crowd, my heart feeling like it was being stabbed with needles.

I remembered last year when I led the team through five days and four nights to overcome difficulties, everyone sleeping in the server room.

To fight for a $200 hardship allowance for my colleagues, I begged Marcus for three days.

At that time, he smashed a cup and shouted at me, pointing at my nose.

"Adrian! The company is in startup phase with no money! You need to understand my difficulties. Don't always focus on money!"

Now he was using my hard-earned money to buy loyalty, appearing extremely generous.

"Long live Jade! Supervisor Jade is our real mother!"

The employees' gazes toward me instantly changed from disgust to hatred.

As if I were the criminal blocking their path to wealth.

Suddenly, a figure rushed out from the crowd.

It was Ryan, whom I'd taught code to by hand.

Smack!

A resounding slap landed hard across my face.

Ryan's face flushed red as he pointed at me and roared.

"Adrian! Get out now! You almost cost us our raise!"

"Acting so high and mighty all this time---turns out you're a bloodsucker trying to cut off everyone's income!"

I covered my stinging cheek, looking in disbelief at this apprentice for whom I'd taken the blame countless times.

Marcus watched this scene, leaned close to my ear, his voice icy cold.

"See that, Adrian? This is human nature. Now you're the target of everyone's anger."

"You were always the high-and-mighty honor student in school. I've been annoyed with you for a long time."

"Controlling you---that's making you, the genius, bow to me, the poor student, for a few dollars."

Before I could recover, Jade walked over carrying a cup of scalding coffee.

"Adrian, still not awake?"

Her hand "slipped," and the brown liquid splashed directly onto my face and chest.

"Oops, my hand slipped."

The scalding pain made me gasp. Coffee dripped from my chin onto the floor.

The entire room erupted in laughter, whistles rising and falling.

Jade covered her mouth, looking completely gleeful.

"Awake now? Take your two thousand dollars and get lost."

Marcus clapped his hands, making his final summary statement.

"Adrian, the facts prove that both your skills and character are inferior to Jade's."

He pointed at the door, issuing his eviction order.

"Radiant doesn't need a waste who can't even fix bugs. You can leave with peace of mind."

"From now on, this is Jade's world!"

The humiliation burned through my entire body like fire. My nails dug deep into my flesh, drawing blood.

I wiped the coffee stains from my face without saying another word.

I didn't even look at them.

I turned and walked out the door. Behind me was unrestrained celebration.

In the hallway, I leaned against the cold wall and dialed the number I'd saved long ago.

The phone was answered after just one ring.

"This is Adrian."

I pressed down my voice, speaking with terrifying calm.

"The job offer from Skyward Tech---I accept."

An excited voice came through the phone.

"Excellent, Mr. Adrian. Salary and benefits as we discussed previously, doubled, with a $500,000 signing bonus transferred anytime."

"I need the money. Now."

"No problem. It'll be in your account within ten minutes."

I hung up the phone, looking at that tightly closed company door, listening to the cheering inside.

Cheer away. Cheer to your heart's content.

This is your last moment of happiness.

Through my phone, I entered a command on my personal terminal: Revoke Aegis AI virus protection function.

A red warning appeared on the screen: [Confirm revocation? After revocation, the system will lose AI virus protection function].

I pressed confirm.

Watching the error red dots gradually appear on the screen, I breathed a long sigh of relief.

Your tower is about to fall.