They Tried to Fob Me Off with a 500-Yuan Overtime Bonus, So I Crashed a Trillion-Yuan App Overnight

“Cheng Mian, this is your Outstanding Dedication Award, along with a 500-yuan bonus.” On the annual gala stage, Mr. Jia, the boss, handed me a cheap trophy and an envelope. The spotlight was so bright I could barely keep my eyes open. To get the company’s new app, Starlink, launched, I led my team through 99 straight days of grueling work, sleeping just four hours a night. I even missed my mother’s birthday. Mr. Jia had once promised our team a million-yuan bonus and stock options. Now, with 500 yuan and a line about how “young people need to learn the value of dedication,” he was dismissing all my hard work and sacrificing my health. Down below, my coworkers’ sympathetic looks stung like needles. I didn’t make a scene. Instead, I faced the cameras and gave them a nearly perfect smile, as if I were overwhelmed with gratitude. “Thank you, Mr. Jia. I’ve learned that dedication brings its own rewards.” Everyone thought I’d learned my lesson. They had no idea. Hidden in the core code of the Starlink app was a “logic bomb” I had planted myself. It was set to go off in three days, the very moment the app surpassed ten million users.