Chapter 2

The words barely left my mouth when Blake, the self-proclaimed “Mr. Blake,” started cackling.

He eyed me up and down, his gaze full of scorn and contempt.

“Afraid she’ll get mad? I’m the *future* Mr. Blake!”

“You, a mere receptionist, are trying to tell me what to do?”

“Forget about some broken machine. Even if I set this entire island on fire, she wouldn’t bat an eye!”

Next to him, a young woman, flamboyantly dressed and looking utterly frivolous, aggressively kicked a suitcase towards my feet.

The hard corner of the case slammed into my ankle, sending a searing pain shooting through me.

“Hey! I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?”

She pointed her chin at me, her face full of impatience.

“My future sister-in-law adores my brother too much to get mad over a broken machine!”

“Say one more useless word, and I’ll make you vanish from this island!”

I was wearing the simplest, most basic white anti-static work uniform. For convenience, my hair was just casually pulled back.

My face, due to long nights of experimental work, showed signs of exhaustion.

This appearance certainly clashed with the vibe of a luxurious private island retreat.

I stared at the energy module’s master switch that he’d just pressed, my heart sinking inch by inch.

Chloe and I had poured twelve years of our lives into this project.

It wasn’t just about Sterling Corp.’s multi-billion dollar industrial blueprint; it was *our* shared dream, something we’d worked on since college.

Now, twelve years of our blood, sweat, and tears might be ruined in an instant, all because of some idiot’s clueless actions.

I forced down the fury boiling inside me, my voice dangerously cold.

“This is your last warning. Take your hand off that switch immediately, and get your people off this island!”

“Oh, still trying to act tough with us?”

Blake’s mother, Karen, pointed a finger at my nose and yelled:

“Blake, why waste your breath on this kind of lowly servant! An insolent lapdog who doesn’t know his place!”

“Just tell Chloe to fire him! People like him should be kicked out on their ass!”

Egging on by his mother, Blake grew even more arrogant. Not only did he not release the switch, he pressed it down even harder.

“I’m not taking it off. What are you going to do about it?”

“Let me tell you, from today onwards, I’m the man of the house here!”

“You’d better wise up, or you’ll have a world of pain coming your way!”

The words hadn’t fully left his mouth when the alarm lights at the top of the lab began to flash frantically. A piercing siren immediately blared across the entire island.

I watched, horrified, as the core temperature reading on the main control screen shot up like a rocket.

I didn’t have time to argue with these fools. I spun around and sprinted towards the backup coolant storage room.

A few more minutes, and this entire lab, along with the island, would explode violently due to core overheating!

“Shut up! What a terrible place!”

Skylar, annoyed by the screeching alarm, kicked a nearby instrument with full force.

A loud "BANG!" echoed, followed by the sound of shattering metal and sparking electricity.

My blood surged, and I almost coughed up a mouthful of it.

That was a superconducting data analyzer custom-made in Germany, worth thirty million dollars!

It contained all our experimental data from the past decade!

I glared at them, my eyes burning. “All of you, you will pay for what you’ve done today!”