“Luther’s reputation as an intelligent tech genius has spread across the industry. Tons of big-name CEOs are fighting to poach him.”
“Talented people shine no matter where they go—unlike certain individuals who just use family ties to get ahead.”
Their words stung like needles. I buried myself at work, thinking about intelligent robot development day and night. But no matter how hard I tried, my progress was always overshadowed by the spotlight cast on Luther. All my efforts ended up being ridiculed, dismissed as desperate attempts to keep up.
It didn’t stop with the R&D team. Luther’s "genius" status soon captured society’s attention. The media hailed him as the future of tech. Schools invited him to speak. Corporations sought his endorsement. Meanwhile, my family’s enemies seized the moment to stir up public opinion.
“You claim your son’s an expert in robotics? What a joke. He just leeches off others’ research.”
“Some people will do anything to make money. It's disgusting. The ones who truly work hard get nothing, while crooks walk away with all the credit.”
With public sentiment turning vicious, Luther strolled through his new fame like a seasoned celebrity, shaking hands with CEOs and giving speeches at universities as if he’d built this empire from scratch.
But after sleeping for a full day and night, an idea struck me like lightning.
Luther, let’s see how far your ‘genius’ really goes.
The next morning, I announced that our R&D project was officially entering the third stage. I rejected any external assistance once again and brought only Jason into the sealed laboratory.
For the first three days, Ji and I conducted our work normally—calculating formulas, running simulations, and performing demonstrations. Everything was tightly controlled and secured. Then, on the fourth day, I deliberately halted the real research. Instead, I wrote a completely fake dataset, one that followed the same logic but contained fabricated conclusions. Meanwhile, I memorized the real results and stored nothing on our systems.
When I finally opened the lab door with the decoy data in hand, Luther and several others were already waiting in the hallway, smiling as if they knew what was coming.
My colleagues quickly snatched the documents from my grasp and rushed to compare them with what Luther had apparently just produced. I crossed my arms, watching calmly. This time, I thought, he wouldn’t be able to explain away the discrepancies.
But then, their faces began to twist. Instead of looking suspiciously at Luther, they turned their eyes toward me with confusion and quiet disappointment.
That’s when Luther stepped forward with his trademark arrogance and glanced at my false report. He gave a theatrical sigh, then smirked.
“Team Leader Cole… are you kidding me with this data set?” he said mockingly. “I just finished writing the exact same thing a minute ago. But clearly, you didn’t have access to it—so you decided to make up nonsense just to keep up.”
He emphasized every word with deliberate cruelty.
“I didn’t expect you to fall this far. You can’t even produce a single useful result.”
I felt like I’d been struck by lightning. My mind reeled.
Those numbers—they matched the ones I had only thought through in my head. I never documented them. How could he possibly know?
I clenched my fists. Rage boiled over.
Grabbing him by the collar, I shouted, “Luther! What kind of trick are you playing? How do you know the data I only calculated in my head?”
Smack!
A sharp slap landed on my cheek.
It was Claire—my girlfriend.
Her eyes blazed with disgust. “Ethan, haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough? Why can’t you just admit you’re incompetent?”
“Stealing others’ work—don’t you feel even a shred of shame?”
I stared at her in disbelief. We had once shared dreams, discussed artificial intelligence late into the night, and talked about transforming the future together. She knew my methods. She knew I’d never stoop to plagiarism.
But still, she chose to stand beside Luther.
Her betrayal was absolute.
I looked around at the hostile faces, the judging eyes, the teammates whispering with contempt.
I felt ice crawl through my veins.
Everything was unraveling. Chaos swirled around me. The truth felt more distant than ever. I couldn’t see a way forward.
My chest ached. My mind clouded. But then—a sliver of clarity.
If I were going to survive this, I’d have to take a risk.
To live, I must die first.
I inhaled deeply, forcing the fury down, forcing my thoughts to sharpen.
It was time to outplay them all.
