Baffled, being fed a mouthful of dog food.

In a modern office building in Jiangcheng.

This was the city’s Information Industry Park… or at least, that was its old name. Over the past few years, it had already been renamed twice.

The first time was to ride the hype of the "metaverse" trend, but it wasn’t long before the overseas-fueled concept fizzled out.

It died faster than a meme stock…

The second rebranding happened earlier this year, this time jumping on the "large language model" bandwagon.

But locals still stubbornly referred to it as the Information Industry Park—a testament to the unwavering stubbornness of bystanders.

It was like how a place that used to be a machinery factory in the late 20th century, nicknamed "Airport," would forever be called "Airport" by the locals.

Even after Jiangcheng International Airport was built, the old spot kept its nickname.

Even after the machinery factory went through restructuring, bankruptcy, and was eventually demolished and replaced with a spa and entertainment center…

Yep, still "Airport."

This reflected the unyielding nature of Jiangcheng’s people, as well as the unchanging core of many things in this land.

Take Shengxi Technology, for example.

When it was first founded, the company aimed for a niche, refined business model, striving to carve out a unique path in the AI industry.

But after years of operation, they realized that cutting-edge tech was a tough sell in a second-tier city like Jiangcheng.

Add to that the boss’s opportunistic mindset, always angling for government subsidies.

Now, the employees had given up, coasting through each day, waiting for the company to collapse so they could collect severance and move on.

The ambitious ones might head to first-tier cities, joining tech firms with real potential for breakthroughs.

The rest would probably just switch careers altogether.

Youthful dreams tend to shatter under the weight of reality.

Buying a home, getting married, raising kids…

All of it came with staggering costs!

Lately, aside from slacking off, the employees at Shengxi Tech had a new topic of gossip.

Rumors were swirling that the original owner had sold off all his shares.

In other words—a new boss was coming!

In the industry, such a drastic ownership change in a small company usually meant acquisition by an internet giant.

That meant new management would parachute in, shaking things up.

While not everyone was panicking, they were all bracing for change.

Amid the restless atmosphere, one desk stood out, still radiating a strong work ethic.

Seated there was the algorithm team lead, frantically debugging.

A team lead couldn’t afford to slack.

If a regular employee lost their job, they could just find another place to be a foot soldier.

But for the team lead, it would mean a failed project on their record.

He at least had to crack the current challenge so that, when future employers checked his background, they’d know the project’s failure wasn’t his fault.

That morning, the team lead had stumbled upon a newly published conference paper.

Its contents could significantly improve the stability of their AI communication product.

He’d been trying to replicate the paper’s code but kept hitting roadblocks.

Just as he was scratching his head in frustration, a crisp female voice spoke up behind him:

"Your environment variables are misconfigured."

Dazed, the team lead turned around—and immediately snapped to attention.

He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he’d been working too much overtime.

Since when did their programmer-packed company have such a stunning woman?

Once his vision cleared, he realized it wasn’t a hallucination.

He froze.

Chen Yusheng was, after all, an S-tier goddess, and her presence was overwhelming for a nerdy programmer.

She was used to this kind of reaction, so she repeated, "Your environment variables are misconfigured."

"...Wait, who are you?"

The words slipped out before he could stop himself. He quickly backtracked, "Sorry, that was rude… Are you here for a student internship?"

She looked like a college student.

Probably here for an internship.

Chen Yusheng shook her head. "I’m not an intern."

"Oh, then… here for a full-time position?"

The team lead suddenly understood. Glancing around, he lowered his voice. "Listen, if you’re a fresh grad, I’d recommend applying somewhere else. Our company’s about to change ownership, and things could get messy. If you get laid off right after joining, you’d waste your fresh grad status. The job market’s brutal—better to play it safe and aim for a stable big corporation…"

Chen Yusheng’s lips twitched.

Wow.

Dude, you’re weirdly nice.

Clearly, this company had a pretty wholesome vibe.

Startup tech firms were probably like this?

Her tension eased.

She’d half-expected Su Bai to place her in some cutthroat corporate environment, but first impressions suggested otherwise.

Not bad!

Chen Yusheng smiled faintly and admitted, "I’m the new owner’s girlfriend."

"..."

The team lead forced an awkward but polite smile.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Great. Now he’d just badmouthed the company’s instability to the boss’s girlfriend.

Luckily, she didn’t seem to care.

She just pointed at his screen again, insisting,

"Your environment variables are misconfigured."

"...Uh, you—okay, fine, I’ll try it."

The team lead wasn’t entirely convinced that the young, glamorous "boss’s girlfriend" could fix his bug.

But as a team lead, he had enough social awareness not to blurt out, "How would you know what’s wrong?"

In their field, the stereotype was that young, beautiful female programmers were naturally… not the most skilled.

Then again, when the boss’s girlfriend speaks, you listen—regardless of her skill level.

Plus, Chen Yusheng exuded an aura of academic brilliance, so he gave her suggestion serious consideration.

Five minutes later.

"No way—she was right!" The team lead lit up. "Damn, you’ve got sharp eyes… You study computer science too?"

"Yeah, first year at Jiangcheng University."

"Whoa, with skills like that, you could’ve easily gotten into the top schools in the capital."

"I’m bad at Chinese, and during senior year, I was busy taking care of a sick family member. Didn’t do my best on the exams."

"...Ah, that’s a shame."

The team lead looked genuinely regretful.

Tech folks had a soft spot for talented peers.

Missing out on a better university and opportunities because of family struggles… that was truly unfortunate.

But Chen Yusheng shook her head, smiling. "No, if I hadn’t gone to Jiangcheng University, I wouldn’t have met him. So really, this was fate’s perfect plan!"

"..."

Out of nowhere, he’d been force-fed dog food.

The team lead sighed inwardly.

Life was hard.