Chapter2

I was forcibly dragged by two security guards to the lobby on the first floor of Eve Technology.

The air felt oppressive, as if all the oxygen had been sucked out. The circular staircase in the lobby was filled with executives, their gazes fixed on me as if I were a lump of foul-smelling garbage.

Evelyn stood in the center of the lobby, wearing red-soled high heels, her eyes as cold as if she were looking at a dead person. Julian, who had just returned from abroad, stood beside her, holding a security audit report highlighted in red, his face full of heartache.

“Three hours ago, the source code of the company’s core ‘Divine Revelation’ project was put up for sale on the dark web.”

Julian turned the tablet screen toward the executive group, his voice firm and resolute: "The technology department tracked the internal data flow, and after all the physical IP disguises were removed, the source pointed directly to Arthur's private terminal on the second floor. Furthermore, we found a Cayman Islands account registered under his name that had just received £20 million less than three days ago."

A suppressed murmur of discussion immediately erupted from all around.

"They eat and drink for free at Eve's house every day, and somehow they've raised a thief."

"He's just a gigolo; he'll lose all sense of decency when it comes to money."

Looking at the so-called "flawless" code records on the tablet, I just felt it was absurd.

That forged system log was so crudely made it looked like a pile of mud smeared on a Leonardo da Vinci painting. As the person who wrote the underlying framework of "Divine Revelation," I could see thirteen irreconcilable logical conflicts with my eyes closed, as well as that utterly clumsy IP inducement.

I didn't look at Julian, but looked straight at Evelyn.

"Do you believe in this stuff?" I asked.

Evelyn's response was swift and decisive. She grabbed the three-hundred-page damage assessment document from the table and slammed it into my face with all her might.

"Bang!"

The sharp edge of the paper sliced across my left brow bone like a steel knife. I didn't flinch.

A sharp pain was accompanied by a sudden gush of warm liquid, and blood slid down the corner of his eye and dripped onto the floor.

"Caught red-handed, what else do you expect me to believe?!" Evelyn's chest heaved violently, her voice shrill and ripping apart her proud elegance. "Besides a good-for-nothing like you, who would betray me for such a small amount of money? You eat my food and use my things, you disgust me!"

Julian sighed at the opportune moment, stepped forward and patted Evelyn on the shoulder, then turned to me and said, "Arthur, you were just being foolish. As long as you hand over the complete code now and don't let Evelyn's hard work be ruined, we can let you off the hook for the sake of our past relationship."

He's forcing me to "confess." If I just nod, this ironclad case will be completely sealed.

I casually wiped the blood from my eyes with my thumb, looking at Julian's hypocritical face with an extremely calm gaze.

“Julian, if you’re going to frame a hacker, at least learn some basic common sense first.”

My voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible in the deathly silent lobby: "An offshore financial node in the Cayman Islands, processing cryptocurrency transactions of 20 million requires at least 24 hours of cold wallet cleansing. Your forged transaction records show the funds arrived two hours ago—unless you can turn back time, this is just a pile of data excrement."

Julian's feigned expression cracked instantly, a hint of panic flashing in his eyes: "You...you stop trying to argue!"

I couldn't be bothered to expose him anymore, so I turned to Evelyn. Three years had passed, and I still wanted to see if she would believe me, if she would stand up for me . But all I saw in her eyes was a surge of rage from being publicly defied. She didn't care about the flaws in Julian's evidence; she just wanted a target to vent her anger on.

“Evelyn, you will regret this.” I looked at her, each word clear.

If I still had pity and hope for her over the past three years, then from the moment these three hundred pages of paper hit my face, everything was completely wiped out.

"Regret?" Evelyn sneered, her eyes sharp as knives. "Arthur, my biggest regret is that I even glanced at you. Letting someone like you step into my company is the greatest disgrace of my life."

She turned around and loudly delivered her final verdict to the receptionist and all the senior executives:

"Immediately freeze all of Arthur's privileges within the company! Deactivate his internal card. Prohibit him from leaving London until the code backup is recovered! If he dares to step outside the city limits, call the police immediately!"

As soon as the verdict was handed down, Evelyn walked towards the private elevator in her high heels, not even sparing me a glance.

Julian followed behind her, and just as the elevator doors were about to close, he turned around and, through the glass, mouthed a smug look to me:

"Loser."

Ding. The elevator is going up.

The executives in the lobby, fearing trouble, quickly dispersed. I was left standing alone in the vast space.

Blood was still trickling down my brow bone, dripping into the cracks in the marble. No one stopped, and no one dared to offer me a tissue.

I stood there for a moment, then took my phone out of my pocket and turned on the screen.

There was only one unread text message in my inbox, from the family contact person:

"The training period is about to end. Please give instructions as soon as possible."

I coldly turned off the screen.

Freeze my access? Prevent me from leaving London?

Evelyn will probably never know that for the past three years, it was my authorized account that repeatedly blocked overseas capital from hunting down "Divine Revelation." She thought she had personally removed a malignant tumor, but in reality, she had just personally pulled out the company's last remaining life support system.

I don't need to retaliate. The moment I lost my protection, the digital empire that should have belonged to me was destined to be buried with her and Julian.