The smell of the spicy hotpot still lingered at the tips of their noses as Wendy Lynch and Shirley Lowell returned to the office, chatting and laughing.
As they stepped into the office, the wall clock pointed to 1:00 p.m.
"I’ll head back to my desk and send out the document first, lest I get too busy and forget," Wendy told Shirley, then hurried over to her seat.
She pulled open her drawer. The silver USB flash drive lay quietly in the corner, exactly where she had left it. She plugged it into her computer and was just about to drag the document into an email to send it out when she caught sight of a new message in her inbox out of the corner of her eye.
[Time Mailbox: You have a letter from September 20, 2025.]
Wendy stared in bewilderment, then her eyes widened in shock. Wait! Something was incredibly wrong! Why was the email still there?
According to the rules Wendy had figured out over the past few days, as long as she changed the original course of history, the email from the future would disappear.
However, she had clearly changed history. She had been exceptionally careful when compiling the statistics this time and had double-checked everything. There was absolutely no problem with the data in the document, which meant the data error from the normal timeline shouldn’t happen again. Following this logic, the email should have just vanished.
The next moment, a terrifying thought popped into her head. Did the email’s presence mean the future hadn’t been changed?
Wendy took a deep breath, suppressing her shock. She immediately opened the document and began to examine it carefully.
Ten minutes later, her face turned pale. The data was indeed wrong—errors had popped up in both the employee and client data.
If there was only one mistake, it might have been possible... No! It was impossible for there to be even a single mistake!
Before she went out to eat, she had clearly checked it twice. At that time, the entire document was perfectly fine, and all the data matched up.
In a flash, Wendy thought of a possibility. While she was out for lunch, someone had messed with her document.
A chilling sensation welled up inside her. To confirm her suspicion, she opened the document’s properties. An unfamiliar modification time leaped to her eyes: 12:14 p.m.
Seeing this, Wendy’s pupils shrank. Their company broke for lunch at noon. At 12:14 p.m., she and Shirley were already at the spicy hotpot restaurant downstairs.
A shiver crawled up her spine as she subconsciously looked around. The office was gradually filling up with people. Colleagues were gathered in twos and threes chatting, some were making coffee, and others were organizing the morning’s files. Everything looked as peaceful as usual.
But it was this very peace that made her flesh crawl. During the short hour she was away, someone had taken advantage of the empty office to tamper with her USB drive and alter the data in her document. Who was it? Why would they do such a thing?
Faces flashed rapidly through her mind. It definitely wasn’t Ms. Campbell. She had personally assigned this task, and if something went wrong, she, as her direct superior, would also be implicated. Shirley was even more impossible—they had just eaten together, and she had never left Wendy’s sight. Could it be another colleague?
However, as each face flashed through her mind, Wendy quickly dismissed them. She had only been working there for a little over a month. Although she hadn’t become best friends with all her colleagues, she didn’t think she had offended any of them. Before yesterday, she was nothing but a low-level intern who greeted everyone with a smile. It was simply impossible for her to have crossed anyone.
Suddenly, a specific face popped into her mind. Could it be her? If there was anyone in the company she had a conflict with, it was probably only Carmen Sutton!
They had gotten into a minor disagreement the day before yesterday while buying cosmetics. Right after that, Carmen had started making snide remarks yesterday. Honestly, if she hadn’t jumped out to be sarcastic yesterday, Wendy might not have even remembered their petty conflict.
She quickly looked up, scanning the ceiling before sighing helplessly. The company was very mindful of personal privacy, so security cameras were only installed at a few entrances and exits; there were none in the main office area. This meant that even if she had a suspect, she had no way to get proof.
The anger in Wendy’s chest nearly overwhelmed her reason. She took three deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. Now was not the time to investigate who played this dirty trick. The deadline to submit the document before work ended was getting closer. The purchasing department was still waiting for this list to prepare the stock. If it was delayed, the distribution of National Day benefits would be a mess, and she would still be the one to take the blame.
She quickly pulled up the original forms submitted by the various departments and went through the tampered data, correcting it line by line. The content she had originally checked twice now had to have every single number verified three times. She didn’t even dare gloss over the benefit specifications listed next to the employees’ names. Carmen’s sarcastic face flashed through her mind, making Wendy bite her lower lip and type even faster. Even if Carmen really was the culprit, without evidence, Wendy could only swallow this bitter pill. The most urgent task was to get the job done.
At 2:10 p.m., Wendy finally sent the corrected document to the purchasing department’s designated email.
The moment she clicked send, the shirt on her back was already soaked in cold sweat. She leaned back in her chair to rest for a moment, then immediately took out her phone and searched the shopping app for a "mini hidden camera charger." Wendy picked the one with the best reviews and placed an order.
She and Carmen had only had a tiny bit of friction, yet the woman had resorted to such a vicious move. Since she hadn’t succeeded this time, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t try again. Having suffered a loss once, Wendy certainly wouldn’t let it happen a second time. She didn’t have proof this time, so she’d swallow the grievance. But if that bitch dared to make a move next time, she would absolutely make her pay dearly!
Just as she put down her phone, a sudden commotion broke out at the office entrance.
A colleague poked his head in and shouted, "Is Wendy Lynch here? The officials from the Food and Drug Administration are here, and someone even brought you a silk banner!"
Wendy froze for a second, then hurried out of her cubicle.
Quite a few people had gathered at the entrance to the office area. Three officers in navy blue uniforms stood in the middle, accompanied by a couple. The wife was the pregnant woman Wendy had stopped yesterday. Right now, she was holding a red silk banner with eight golden words that read: "Removing Perils for the People, Enthusiastic and Responsible." The words were particularly eye-catching.
"Miss Lynch, we finally get to see you!" As soon as the pregnant woman’s husband saw her, he strode forward and tightly grasped her hands, his eyes red. "The officers from the Food and Drug Administration told us yesterday that the raw marinated seafood at that restaurant not only had pathogenic bacteria but also contained medicine that pregnant women cannot consume. If my wife had really eaten it, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
The pregnant woman nodded along, gently cradling her belly. Her voice was full of gratitude as she said, "It’s all thanks to you for stopping us and insisting on reporting them. Otherwise, my baby... I don’t even dare to think about it."