The Boss Always Thinks I'm After Him - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Heartbeat Progress: 0.4% – Boss, If You Say It Like That, Then I…

Nicole looked to Gu Che for guidance. He simply gestured toward Xiao Yang. “Come here.”

The glass walls of the office had already been covered by blinds, shielding everything inside from view. Everyone outside only saw Nicole enter the office, unaware that someone else was already inside.

As Xiao Yang approached, Nicole quickly explained the situation and asked, “Do you have any ideas?”

“I might have a solution…” Xiao Yang said cautiously, watching their reactions. “But I’m not sure if you’re open to… unconventional methods.”

Gu Che stayed silent. Xiao Yang continued, “They already broke into your house—are you really going to keep playing the gentleman?”

Gu Che stared at him deeply, as if making a decision. “Nicole, step outside.”

Once Nicole left and the door closed, Xiao Yang’s expression instantly changed. He grinned mischievously. “Wait here—I need to grab my weapon.”

He dashed out and returned moments later, hugging his laptop and setting it down on the coffee table.

He crouched by the table, fingers flying across the keyboard, clearly excited. “You mentioned there might be a mole on Monday, so I set a little trap.”

Gu Che walked over, frowning slightly. “But we already sent the final version of the program to the client last week. How could you have set a trap?”

Having their source code stolen was no small matter. If the client found out, it would do serious damage to Phantom’s reputation. That’s why both Gu Che and Nicole had been so cautious.

Suddenly, the screen changed—lines of code flashing quickly.

“Monday afternoon, the client asked me to tweak something. While I was at it, I made a few… modifications to the source code.” Xiao Yang’s eyes sparkled with pride as he found what he was looking for. “Look, a direct tunnel into their server.”

Back then, after making the requested changes, he was about to log off but remembered what Gu Che had said that morning. So, he made a few additions to the code.

Worried the mole wouldn’t realize the code had been altered, Xiao Yang had even deliberately raised his voice across the office, loudly telling Nicole that “Miss has been updated.” Sure enough, the bait was taken.

If no one touched the code, the trap would stay dormant. But the moment anyone copied or tampered with it, the system would activate: it would record all involved IPs and notify Xiao Yang. At the same time, the copied version would automatically generate a backdoor for him to enter undetected.

Gu Che’s gaze sharpened behind his rimless glasses. He turned and walked to his desk. “Come sit.”

He pulled out the chair across from him. Xiao Yang didn’t stand on ceremony—he took his laptop and settled in, finally feeling comfortable.

“Grr~”

Someone hadn’t eaten all morning and had jumped straight into work. His stomach growled in protest.

Xiao Yang quickly covered his belly and looked sheepishly at Gu Che, blinking.

“What do you want to eat?” Gu Che walked around his desk and pressed the intercom button that connected to the secretary’s room.

Xiao Yang quickly responded, “Anything’s fine—I’m not picky!”

“What can I do for you, Boss?” Zhang Rui’s voice came through, ready as ever.

“Go get a breakfast takeout,” Gu Che replied, then personally poured a glass of warm water and handed it to Xiao Yang. “So what’s your plan?”

Xiao Yang gulped down the water and grinned slyly. “Well, since they’re trying to frame us for plagiarism, why don’t we make sure they end up shooting themselves in the foot?”

He began typing furiously. His fingers were so fast they were a blur.

Gu Che stood beside him, arms folded, silently watching line after line of code fly across the screen. He noticed something odd—the coding style wasn’t quite the same as Xiao Yang’s usual work.

It felt familiar somehow, like he’d seen it before, but he couldn’t place it.

As he watched, Gu Che unconsciously smiled and murmured, “That’s ruthless.”

“Ruthless?” Xiao Yang glanced up, feigning offense. “Boss, now that’s just unfair. Am I more ruthless than them?”

“Fair point,” Gu Che nodded, admitting he had a point.

Fifteen minutes later, Xiao Yang finished just as Zhang Rui knocked and came in with the breakfast.

Zhang Rui had originally been confused—after all, the boss never ate breakfast in the office. But seeing Xiao Yang sitting there, it all made sense.

Xiao Yang, noticing Zhang Rui’s curious glance, quickly explained, “I worked late last night and was too tired to go home, so the boss kindly let me crash in his rest room.”

He thought he was clearing things up—but instead, Zhang Rui’s expression only grew more suspicious.

Strange. Wasn’t the boss notorious for hating it when people touched his personal belongings? But he let Xiao Yang sleep on his bed?

Still, Zhang Rui was tactful. No matter how surprised he was inside, he knew better than to ask questions. He quietly left the office.

“I’ve sent you the IP addresses of the ones who stole the source code,” Xiao Yang said, lounging on the sofa while eating leisurely.

Now that they had the IPs, identifying the culprits would be easy. But Xiao Yang didn’t act on it himself—he simply forwarded the info to Gu Che and left the decision to him.

Gu Che glanced at his screen and forwarded the data to Zhang Rui with one click. “Thanks.”

“That’s it?” Xiao Yang swallowed his food. “Boss, that’s pretty stingy, don’t you think? I just solved a huge problem for you. Don’t I deserve a reward?”

“What kind of reward?”

Gu Che’s eyes glinted with amusement. “I let you sleep in my rest room, didn’t wake you for work, even fed you breakfast. What more do you want?”

Xiao Yang was silent for a moment… and conceded. “Fair enough.”

After eating, he carried his laptop back to his desk, only to find everyone staring at him.

He glanced back, and they quickly looked away, pretending to be hard at work.

It felt a bit strange, but he brushed it off and focused on finishing the demo.

After months of hard work, tomorrow was the official launch of the Miss app. Tension and excitement buzzed through the tech team—everyone was eager to see their creation go live.

Only Gu Che, Nicole, and Xiao Yang knew what was really happening behind the scenes.

In one corner, Deputy Team Leader Tao Hong kept a close eye on Gu Che’s office, nervous about any unexpected changes.

But Gu Che remained stone-faced, unshaken no matter what. Nicole also kept her composure perfectly. And Xiao Yang? Always smiling like nothing was wrong.

So Tao Hong had no clue they’d already discovered the mole—and resolved the crisis.

He was secretly thrilled. Tomorrow, Phantom would be discredited, and Gu Che would lose face. Just thinking about it made him giddy.

Right before lunch, Xiao Yang finally finished the demo. Xu Mubai also completed the animation for the presentation. The two cheerfully headed off to the cafeteria.

That afternoon, they met with Meng Yue in a small conference room to double-check every detail. Once everything was confirmed, they sent the plan, demo, and animation to Gu Che.

But after the scolding he’d gotten earlier that week, Xiao Yang was nervous. He had no idea if the boss would be satisfied this time.

He waited at his desk for a long time, but Gu Che never called for him. Instead, he watched Deputy Team Leader Tao Hong lead several people into the CEO’s office—and they didn’t come back out.

A bad feeling crept over him. He kept glancing that way.

The blinds were still drawn, blocking both sound and sight. All he could see were blurry shadows inside.

Just on the other side of the wall, Gu Che looked at the six resignation letters on his desk. Then he lifted his gaze. “Are you sure about this?”

Everyone in the room knew what it meant to resign at such a critical moment, but Gu Che’s voice remained calm, as if he wasn’t angry at all.

Most of them kept their heads down, cowed by Gu Che’s usual intimidating presence. Only Tao Hong stood tall, like a proud rooster that had just won a fight. “I acted alone. This has nothing to do with them. Don’t blame them.”

Tao Hong had already struck a deal with Interstellar Tech. Tomorrow, he and these others would join them as a new development team. So he stood there with full confidence, completely unafraid.

Gu Che didn’t respond. His gaze swept over them.

These six had joined Phantom in its early days and helped build the company from the ground up. And now, they were betraying him.

If Tao Hong had left alone, fine. But he was taking nearly a third of Team One with him. It was a heavy blow.

After a long silence, Gu Che didn’t stop them. He called the secretary room. “Zhang Rui, come here.”

As instructed, Zhang Rui led them to complete their offboarding and handover procedures.

They had everything ready—documentation organized, files saved on their desktops.

In just thirty minutes, the six of them had packed up and left.

Their departure left a huge gap in the tech office. The rest of the team quickly figured it out—these were the traitors the boss had mentioned on Monday.

Whispers spread:

“Oh my god, it was Deputy Leader Tao?! What was he thinking?”

“Right? He was one of the earliest employees, helped build the company. Why throw it away?”

“Sure, the boss can be intense—okay, very intense—but he pays better than anywhere else!”

“If he left by himself, fine. But taking others with him? Now the rest of us will be swamped!”

“Shhh… the boss is coming out.”

…

Gu Che walked out of his office. Everyone turned to look at him.

Someone quietly asked, “Boss… is the Miss launch still on for tomorrow?”

Gu Che stayed as cold as ever and didn’t explain much. “Not sure.”

Though Xiao Yang had countered the sabotage, there were still nearly 20 hours left until launch. Anything could happen—and there was always the chance they’d been discovered.

Despite their betrayal, Gu Che ultimately called off the legal team. Once they left Phantom’s protection, they were nothing.

His uncertain answer was like a stone thrown into still water—everyone’s excitement faded, replaced by quiet unease.

Xiao Yang made a silent vow: until the Miss app was successfully launched, he would keep a close, unwavering watch.