The meeting room was already buzzing when Wei Xiao stepped in. Rows of chairs filled quickly, coffee cups in hand, half-finished breakfast buns on the side. Screens on standby.
Someone from the design team was whispering about the bug in last night's patch. Another muttered complaints about the cafeteria's new soy milk brand.
Then the glass door clicked open.
Manager Li walked in — sharp black trousers, a crisp white shirt tucked neatly, her dark hair swept back in a low twist. She didn't need to raise her voice. Her presence, calm and composed, quieted the room immediately.
A dozen backs straightened.
She took her seat at the head of the table, tablet in hand, eyes scanning the room once before she smiled lightly.
"Good morning, everyone."
Professional, yes — but not distant. She had this calm, collected air, like nothing could shake her. The kind of leader who'd stay up all night with the team if a server crashed.
Manager Li stood by the display, fingers tapping lightly on her tablet.
"As you all know, Project Nexa Global — our flagship event tied to the international gaming deal — is in sprint mode. We'll be reviewing key responsibilities today."
Ling Chen — the team's youngest member, a razor-sharp intellectual and the best hacker — pushed her glasses up with a light tap of one finger. A subtle gesture — one that always meant trouble was coming.
"There's a flag mismatch in the Day 5 encounter chain," she said, voice steady. "If it rolls during the timed event window, it'll bypass the reward trigger and softlock progression."
The mood shifted instantly.
Manager Li's eyes narrowed as she scanned her tablet.
"That would've been a nightmare once the live patch rolled."
She looked at the room.
"Fix it now. Don't wait."
Zhou leaned forward, already typing.
"I can rewire the flag group to sit outside the main event chain. That way, even if it misfires, the fallback kicks in."
Qian Ru, across from him, added quickly,
"Or we build in a conditional delay based on player proximity. That'll force a buffer so it doesn't get skipped too early."
Manager Li nodded once.
"Do both. I want zero risk on this chain."
She immediately started pulling up the scene on her monitor, fingers already dancing over the keyboard to prep the debug environment.
Suddenly, a few notifications popped up on Manager Li's tablet — messages from the Sloth Brothers.
[Tian]
Reviewed the flag system. Cleaned up logic layers and corrected overlapping nodes, significantly reducing trigger conflicts — by nearly 80%.
[Tao]
Implemented a pacing buffer and added a soft fallback for camera triggers. This helps smooth out fast-movement glitches when players rush through transitions.
The room glanced at the screen. The two Sloth Brothers lounged lazily in their seats, eyelids half-closed as if fighting sleep — but their monitors told a different story.
On the keyboard, they moved with the speed and precision of tigers, devouring bugs like seasoned predators.
Zhou smiled quietly and said,
"They may look like sloths, but once they're on the screen, they're predators. Fast, focused, and unstoppable."
Ling's eyes lit up behind the lenses.
"This'll save us a ton of debugging time."
Manager Li glanced at the chat again, then back at the team.
"Good work, guys."
She tapped her tablet once more.
"Wei Xiao, review the proposals and choose the cleaner fix."
Wei Xiao gave a quick nod.
"Got it."
Manager Li's gaze swept the table one last time.
"No delays, guys."
She slipped her tablet into her bag, gave a small nod—and without another word, walked out of the room.
The meeting wrapped up quickly, the hum of quiet chatter returning as people packed up their things.
Qian Ru rose, gathering her tablet and slipping on a lightweight jacket—signs she was about to head out. Without looking back, she called over her shoulder, her voice calm but firm,
"Mei Yan."
Mei Yan blinked, then stood in one swift motion. "Yes?"
Mei Yan hardworking and quietly competitive. She never let an opportunity pass. Sharp without show, always watching, always ready — she'd do whatever it took to climb.
Qian Ru didn't pause. "Grab me a coffee from the break room. Black. No sugar. And make it quick."
She didn't mind the tone — not one bit. In fact, she welcomed it. Every sharp instruction from Qian Ru felt like a challenge, a chance to prove she could keep up. If being helpful meant getting closer to someone like her — confident, cool, untouchable — then Mei Yan was all in.
Even if it meant being the unofficial coffee runner.
As she disappeared into the hallway, Chen leaned toward Wei Xiao with a grin. "She's really trying to butter her up, huh?"
ling shrugged. "Wouldn't you? If Qian Ru glared at me, I'd say thank you."
"At least Mei Yan's smart enough to learn from the best."
Wei xiao gave a faint, knowing smile.
Just then, Chen's phone buzzed. She glanced down, snorted softly,
"Who do they think they're threatening?"
She turned the screen toward Wei Xiao and Ling.
Two messages from the Sloth Brothers:
[Emergency: sleep coma. Project at risk.]
[Coffee us or the project crashes with us.]
wei xiao looked at them through the doors — both still in their seats, barely upright, eyes half-lidded like they were sleep-synced.
"They move like sloths," Ling remarked, lips twitching, "but their requests come in like missiles."
Chen sighed. "Guess I'm no better than Mei Yan."
Ling and Wei Xiao both laughed, glancing at chen — who smiled too, just a little.
__
As the trio made their way down the hallway toward the company café, Weixiao couldn't help but notice how absorbed Ling was in her phone, her eyes glued to the screen as she walked, her fingers moving rapidly across it.
Weixiao, always reserved type, finally asked quietly, "What are you looking at ling ?"
Ling looked up from her phone, looking a bit curious. "I'm reading about the Wang family in a WeChat gossip group," she said.
"What's the article about?" Chen asked, leaning in.
Ling said, "Apparently, the Wang family's grandson — their heir — has been living in secret all this time. But now, he's finally going to be introduced to the public. Rumor has it he might be our next CEO."
Chen raised her eyebrows, impressed. "So everyone's finally gonna see Wáng Yìfán, huh?"
Weixiao tilted her head, still confused. "Wait, first tell me, what's this 'Gossip group'?" She glanced between Chen and Ling, her voice curious but cautious.
Chen, now excited to explain, said, It's a group for the ladies in our company. They share all the latest gossip and updates—about the company, employees, the CEO, directors—basically, anything that's going on behind the scenes.
Wei Xiao raised an eyebrow. "How come I've never even heard of it?"
Ling smirked, looking up from her phone. "Well, you hardly started talking to us until recently. You don't even talk to anyone unless it's work-related. You don't really interact with people unless you have to."
Weixiao felt a bit embarrassed but nodded. "I guess that's true."
Chen teased, "I never knew you were into gossip, ling." She nudged Ling with her elbow.
Ling replied with a shrug, still not looking up. "I told you, I'm not interested in gossip and all that."
" She nudged Ling with her elbow. "But I heard they only add people who are either from their circle or those who provide the gossip—like me. I have my own connections, so I get authentic news. That's how they added me."
Weixiao raised an eyebrow. "So how come they added you, Ling? You don't exactly talk to others much, do you?"
Ling, still absorbed in her phone, responded casually, "Yeah, I don't really talk to people outside our team. But I did some work for them. That's how I got added. They kind of forced me into the group after that."
"But it does come in handy, doesn't it? You're always the first to know when something important happens." Chen glanced sideways as they walked.
Weixiao, not sure if she was interested in all of it but still processing, said, "For now, I'll just stick to the coffee."
__
"Vanilla cold brew is undefeated," Ling argued.
Chen rolled his eyes. "It tastes like regret and melted ice."
Chen and Ling strolled up to the café counter, already bickering over which iced coffee was superior.
Back at their table, Wei Xiao sat by the window, quietly watching a reel on her phone. A bubbly girl in the video spoke excitedly to the camera, "Did you hear? YangYang—yes, that YangYang—is finally making his acting debut!"
The clip cut to highlights of YangYang dominating in a recent eSports final—his third consecutive championship win—followed by a slow-motion shot of him stepping onto a film set, looking effortlessly cool in costume. The girl's voice continued, "He'll be starring in a romantic sci-fi movie opposite Qin Yuxuan! Can you believe it? Gamer, model, and now actor—what can't this guy do?"
Wei Xiao blinked, amused, as the comment section exploded with heart emojis and screaming fangirl reactions. With a half-smile, she whispered, "YangYang."
She looked up just as Chen and Ling returned, coffee carrier in hand.
Chen handed her a cup and narrowed his eyes. "Seriously, Xiao. When are you going to start placing your own orders?"
Wei Xiao accepted it with a quiet "thanks," her fingers curling around the warm cup. "It just feels easier this way," she said softly.
Ling let out a small sigh, half amused. "You're hopeless." She took a sip of her own drink, then added, "Next time, you're ordering every time."
Wei Xiao gave a quiet nod, already knowing she wouldn't.
***
"Finally got you."
A faint smirk crossed Wei Xiao's lips as she shut her laptop with a soft click, sinking back into her pillow.
The hum of the city outside her window faded, leaving only the faint cracks of the ceiling above her. Her eyes traced the lines lazily, but her mind was elsewhere, occupied by a single name she wasn't even sure why she remembered.
Wang Yifan…