Chapter 1

Right after the authorities issue the red flood alert, my boss, Bianca Larson, sends a message to our office group chat and tags everyone.

"Kindly remain in the office instead of heading home this evening, so you won't have any issues coming in to work tomorrow morning. There'll be an overnight stay charge of 100 dollars, which will be deducted from your salary."

All of my colleagues grumble about it, but no one dares to defy the boss.

But in the middle of the night, the river embankment gives way. The nasty floodwater fills up the first-floor office, and not a single one of the 100-plus employees survives.

Suddenly, my eyes open again. I've returned to the exact moment Bianca sends that message.

Anna Wheeler, whose desk is next to mine, sighs and asks me how I intend to spend the night.

I firmly declare, "I'm resigning!"

Chapter 1

At 3:14 pm, a new message popped up in the company group chat. It was from Bianca Larson, our boss.

"Kindly remain in the office instead of heading home this evening, so you won't have any issues coming in to work tomorrow morning. There'll be an overnight stay charge of 100 dollars, which will be deducted from your salary."

My eyes were fixed on the screen, and my fingers moved before my brain reacted.

"I'm resigning. I won't be staying tonight."

I hit send.

The group chat was silent for a full three minutes before Bianca replied, "Caleb's overnight stay charge is now 200 dollars. If anyone else is planning to quit, speak up now. I'll deal with the lot of you at once."

Three seconds later, the first message appeared.

"Understood, Ms. Larson. I have no issues with the arrangement."

The second and the third followed in rapid succession. Someone even tagged me in the chat. "Caleb Upton! Can you not cause trouble for the rest of us?"

In my previous life, these people had been just as compliant with Bianca's orders before eventually drowning in the muddy floodwaters.

At 2:00 am, the river embankment gave way. The rolling shutter couldn't hold against the current, and the water rushed into the first-floor office faster than anyone could wake up.

There were more than a hundred of us, and not a single one survived.

I watched the stream of messages pour in from all the other employees who readily abided by Bianca's demand before setting my phone down onto the desk.

Then the chat with Ryan Hayes, the HR executive, appeared. He didn't send me any text, just three scanned documents, one after another.

The first was a non-compete agreement I signed. If I left, I was prohibited from working in the industry for two years. If I broke that clause, I'd have to pay a penalty of 200,000 dollars.

Considering how my monthly salary was only 5,000 dollars, I'd have to save up every cent of my income for a little over three years to save up that much.

The second was a training agreement. The company's so-called pre-employment skills training had been valued at 38,000 dollars. If I left before serving three years in the company, I would have to reimburse the full amount.

And the third was my bachelor's degree certificate.

On my first day, Zachary Sullivan, the administration executive, informed me that the company had a policy of holding onto the original certificate for "safekeeping". Right now, my original certificate was still locked inside the company's filing cabinet.

As a fresh graduate, I had no idea that policy was illegal. I only found out much later on.

In my previous life, I'd told myself to just put up with Bianca's arrangement, but in the end, I lost my life in the flood at 2:00 am.

Ryan sent me a voice message.

"Caleb, you might feel good about yourself when you walk out of here today. But when tomorrow comes, how are you going to put food on the table? Are you going to get a job with just your high school diploma?"

I got up, the chair legs scraping across the floor with a harsh screech.

For a split second, the entire office went quiet. More than a hundred pairs of eyes looked up at me before lowering again.

I walked up to Zachary and held my hand out. "I want my degree back. Give it to me now."

Zachary didn't even look up. His fingers kept typing away as he filled in an expense report.

"Per company policy, all the employees' certificates are kept in a centralized storage for safekeeping. Employees are not permitted to retrieve them without authorization."

"It's my personal document!" I shot back.

At the neighboring workstation, Anna Wheeler leaned back in her chair.

"That's enough, Caleb. Quit making a scene. You're already out 200 dollars. What with your economic background, are you sure you're in a position to act this rashly?"

Peter Lane, whose workstation was directly across, snorted as well. He didn't even bother looking at me either as he remarked, "Maybe he's decided to start a livestream hawking goods. I hear that's a popular mode of income these days."

Anna chuckled along with him.

Zachary stood and snapped the folder shut. "Caleb, if you really want to leave the company, sure. Settle the training fee and the non-compete penalty first. Wyatt—"

Wyatt Chapman, the finance executive, answered without raising his head, "That'll be a total of 238,000 dollars."

Chapter 2

"230,000 dollars? Why would he have to work here if he has that kind of money lying around?" Anna snorted.

Peter didn't speak, but he glanced at me before sipping his water.

I continued to stand in front of Zachary's desk while he sat back down and returned to the expense reports. His back was to me. The crown of his head, with its perfectly centered hair whorl, looked almost unnaturally precise.

The keyboard clattered away at a steady pace, and no one said anything to me.

Just then, another message from Bianca appeared in the company group chat.

"Since no one has any objections, I'll consider tonight's arrangements confirmed. Zachary will be taking attendance. I don't want to see a single person missing."

After that, a stream of people began to acknowledge the message.

My phone buzzed with a private message from Ryan.

"Caleb, it's not too late to withdraw your resignation. Ms. Larson says she's willing to give you special treatment by waiving the 200 dollars. Don't be such an ingrate."

Without bothering to respond, I picked up my bag and headed straight for the main entrance.

In my previous life, the flood had swept my bag away. By the time my parents arrived, my body had already bloated from soaking in the water.

I swiped my access card, and the security panel lit up. The words "ACCESS PRIVILEGES SUSPENDED" appeared in red.

I heard footsteps from behind, and Zachary's indifferent drawl rang out.

"The flood emergency response plan has been activated. All entrances and exits have been locked. Access permissions are now under the administration department's control."

I turned around to look at him. "This counts as unlawful detention."

My eyes remained fixed on the red lock icon glowing on the access panel.

Zachary simply turned and walked away.

When I returned to my desk, my phone lit up. Ryan sent me yet another message.

"You're still registered as an employee at our company. If you insist on leaving today, I'll issue a termination letter stating that you were dismissed for serious disciplinary violations.

"That'll be a permanent stain on your record. If you try to get another job, they'll rule you out the moment they run a reference check on you. A history of misconduct also means you won't qualify for any government jobs.

"Of course, if you agree to just cooperate with the company just for tonight, I'll make sure your separation paperwork states that you resigned voluntarily. It's your choice."

I gripped my phone tightly, its glow from the screen illuminating my face.

At the neighboring workstation, Anna was stuffing potato chips into her mouth, munching away loudly.

At 5:30 pm, a message suddenly appeared in the company group chat.

"I heard there was a problem with the client payments from the accounts Caleb was handling."

The chat stayed quiet for less than three seconds. Then someone else replied, "I was wondering why he was in such a hurry to leave. Turns out he's afraid they'll audit the books."

Zachary sent a message to the group chat. "Please do not spread unverified information. The company will handle the matter according to procedure."

But he attached a meme with the tagline "IYKYK".

The others immediately piled on. Some reposted the meme, while others made a show of distancing themselves from the whole affair. A bunch of them just spammed laughing emojis.

Anna turned to the side to eye me.

My blood turned cold. I sat frozen at my desk, unable to move.

Chapter 3

Not long afterward, Wyatt and Zachary walked over to me. After stopping in front of me, Wyatt flung the stack of papers in his hand straight into my face.

Looking down at me, he declared, "Caleb, all the payments tied to the invoices you handled can't be accounted for."

When I raised my head, he sneered at me and continued, "That's 28,000 dollars in total. Kindly explain yourself."

The entire office fell silent.

I grabbed one of the invoices and slapped it onto my desk. "Ms. Larson approved every single transaction. There's a paper trail for all of them."

Wyatt curled his lips into a smirk.

"A paper trail? We already checked the system and found no record of any approvals for them. You think no one will look into it just because you used Ms. Larson as your cover?"

My fingers dug into my palms while the two of them took turns mocking me.

"If you hadn't insisted on quitting, Caleb, we never would've uncovered all this," Zachary remarked as he stared at me, the malice in his eyes clear as day.

"That's right. Do you know how tiring it is to go through all these financial records?" Wyatt chimed in.

"The weather's already bad enough, and you're adding to our workload! You should be glad we're not billing you for that."

Sitting there at my desk, I nearly couldn't stop myself from bursting into laughter at their performance.

"You two have gone to a lot of trouble putting on this show, but who's your audience? Just tell me what you want."

Zachary stepped forward, pulled a sheet of paper from his folder, and slapped it down on my desk with so much force that the paper crackled.

The title read, "Voluntary Admission of Work Misconduct and Agreement to Compensation by Employee Caleb Upton."

"Sign it," he declared. "The money will be deducted from your salary in installments, and this entire matter goes away. You'll carry on working like a dutiful little employee and stop pulling nonsense like resigning."

I snorted. "And if I don't sign it?"

"If you don't, once the flood is over, we'll call the police." Zachary glanced at the invoices scattered across the floor. "28,000 dollars is enough to put you behind bars for a while. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what a criminal record does to your future job prospects, right?"

I shoved my chair back and stood up.

"You locked the company's main entrance, trapped more than 100 employees inside the building, froze everyone's access cards, and left us without an accessible emergency exit. The government has issued a red flood alert, yet no one can leave. That's unlawful detention.

"When the police arrive, what do you think they'll investigate first? The missing 28,000 dollars or the person who locked the doors?"

Zachary's eyes narrowed, but instead of blowing up, he smirked. Then he raised his hand and punched me in the face. He was too close, so I couldn't dodge it in time. My cheek stung, and the blow knocked me back a step.

My fists clenched so hard that my knuckles cracked. All of the employees in the office craned their necks to watch.

Rolling his wrist, Zachary stared down at me. "I tried being reasonable with you, but you just wouldn't listen. Guess you need me to do things the hard way instead."

Eyes fixed on him, I was just about to fight back when someone interrupted us.

"What's with all this noise? Don't you people want your jobs anymore?"

I looked over and saw Bianca.

She came toward us with a pleasant smile. After seeing my swollen cheek, she chuckled. "Oh, Caleb… Why do you have to take everything to such extremes?"

She reached out to pat my shoulder, but I jerked to the side to avoid her.

"The doors were locked to abide by the flood emergency protocol. It's not targeted at you specifically. Everyone is staying here tonight so we can manage things together and keep work on schedule. Look—"

She turned around, spread her arms, and smiled at the 100-plus employees in the office.

"Does anyone object to the company's arrangements for tonight? If you do, feel free to speak up now."

Chapter 4

The office fell silent, as though someone had hit the mute button.

Peter lowered his head, and Anna shoved her bag of potato chips toward the corner of her desk.

The people who had been craning their necks just moments ago all shrank back in unison and glued their eyes to their computer screens.

Bianca turned back to me, her smile never wavering. "See? Out of over 100 people, you're the only one who has an issue with this situation. Don't you think maybe you're the problem?"

Peter seized the chance to pile on.

"I've been putting up with you for a long time, Caleb! You never attend any of our team-building activities. You skip every company dinner. Out of everyone in this office, you're the only one who thinks you're better than everyone."

"And who was it who covered your shift the last time, Peter?" I shot back, my throat tight.

His eyes flickered. "And did I ask you to? Don't act as if I begged you for help."

Anna cackled mockingly. "He even argues with the finance department over his overtime pay, down to the very cent. It'd be a miracle if 28,000 dollars don't mysteriously vanish when they go through his hands."

Last month, when her code had crashed, I'd stayed until 3:00 am fixing it for her.

"Anna, who helped you fix the bugs in your code?" I questioned.

Her face stiffened for a split second. "Who asked you to? You volunteered."

Bianca folded her arms and watched me.

I took another step backward. "I'm leaving today. I'll pay the penalty. Just give me the bank account details, and I'll transfer the money right now. Is that enough for you?"

Bianca smiled and came closer, refusing to let me go.

"You're all alone, Caleb, and the weather outside is bad enough to warrant a red flood alert. How could I possibly rest easy letting you leave? Everyone in this company is a family. We should take care of each other—keep each other warm and safe."

I backed away until my lower back hit the edge of my desk. Bianca reached out and placed her hand over the phone resting beside me.

No, she wasn't pressing down on the phone—she was pressing down on my hand.

Her fingers covered the back of mine. Her touch was soft, but I couldn't get away from her grip. She slowly stroked my skin with deliberate intimacy.

"Look at Caleb, everyone. He's so worked up. How could I possibly let him leave by himself? What if something happened to him on the way home? Who would take responsibility for that?"

I jerked my hand away and rubbed the back of it hard against my pants.

I looked around the office. Peter lowered his head and drank his water. Anna stared at her screen. Zachary examined his fingernails.

Just moments ago, all 100-plus of them had been more than eager to shoot sarcastic jabs at me. But now, they all acted like they were blind.

When Bianca reached for me again, I shouted, "Let go of me!"

I raised my hand to shove her away, but she caught my wrist. Her grip wasn't especially strong, but her fingernails dug into my skin.

She leaned close and murmured, "Be a good boy, Caleb. Stop fussing."

Every hair on my body stood on end. "Let me go! This is harassment!"

Bianca released me and stepped back, spreading her hands innocently.

"Harassment? I'm just showing concern for an employee. What's wrong with that? Aren't you being a little oversensitive, Caleb?"

I stood in the middle of the office. My left cheek was still swollen. The slick sensation her hand had left on the back of mine clung to my skin like mucus. No matter how hard I rubbed it, it wouldn't go away.

My stomach churned. I wanted to throw up.

"I'm resigning. I'll pay whatever penalty you impose, but you need to let me leave here now." I stared straight into Bianca's eyes. "Otherwise, I'm calling the police."

Bianca snorted. "Like hell you're leaving! Let me make it clear to you, Caleb—I pay your salary, which means when you're in my office, I own you.

"If I don't approve your resignation, you don't get to say otherwise. It's just a flood alert. Either way, you're staying here tonight!"

I stared at her. The nausea and dizziness crashed over me at once.

In my previous life, after working late, I'd gone to the restroom. I'd barely opened the stall door when a hand reached out from inside.

I'd screamed for help, but with the rainstorm pouring outside, no one heard me. Bianca was a trained martial artist. I couldn't get away from her.

I slapped away the hand reaching for me, and when Bianca staggered back, I hurriedly called Camille Upton, my older sister.

"Camille! I need you to come pick me up—"

A hand reached over my shoulder and snatched the phone away. After shoving the phone into Zachary's hands, Bianca flashed me a sinister smirk. She clamped a hand onto my shoulder to keep me from moving.

"You think you can settle everything just by paying the 200-plus thousand dollars, Caleb? I don't need the money. What I need is…"

Her gaze slid slowly down from my face. The corner of her mouth curled upward.

I knew exactly what she was implying. I braced myself against the edge of my desk, all ten fingers digging into it until my knuckles turned white.

Bianca reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Come on. We're going to my office."

At that very moment, a deafening crash rang out from the main entrance. It sounded like something had been forced open by sheer brute force.

The alarm for the entrance access system started ringing shrilly.

I whipped around and saw Camille was standing in the doorway. Behind her stood a line of people, every one of them wearing a thunderous expression.

Camille's gaze swept across the office before locking onto Bianca's hand gripping my arm.

She marched over and slapped Bianca across the face. The impact sent Bianca flying sideways, crashing into a filing cabinet. Folders and loose sheets of paper came tumbling all over her.

Camille shook out her hand before coldly eyeing Bianca, who was now curled up on the floor.

"Who the hell do you think you are to lay a hand on my brother?"