Three days into his internship at Jiangcheng Tech Ventures, Lin Yi had already earned a silent reputation.
He didn't talk much. Didn't boast. Didn't try to fit in.
He just got results.
In a corporate world filled with meetings, jargon, and inflated egos, Lin Yi's quiet productivity stood out. Like a candle in a dark hall, he lit the room without demanding attention.
"He fixed the latency on AlphaNet's core prediction engine?"
"He's Chen Wei's intern? That freshman from Jiangcheng University?"
"I heard he optimized the entire thread pool by hand."
The whispers spread quickly. Most were impressed. Some, curious. But one person, in particular, was irritated: Xu Rong.
A senior systems developer with five years under her belt, Xu Rong had clawed her way to respect in a male-dominated department. Her team, Team C, was known for clean code and high delivery rates.
But now… a quiet intern had solved a problem her team failed to address in three weeks.
It didn't sit well with her.
And she wasn't the kind to express resentment with harsh words or public complaints.
She preferred subtler methods.
On Thursday afternoon, Lin Yi received an internal message:
Meeting: Project 'PredictWave' Briefing — 3:30 PM @ Conference Room B2.
Assigned Team: Team C
Team Lead: Xu Rong
He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
He packed his laptop and went down to the meeting.
Inside the glass conference room, Chen Wei stood at the front with a clicker, his tone calm and deliberate. Behind him, the digital board displayed a presentation titled:
"Project PredictWave: Real-Time Behavior Forecasting Engine for Consumer E-Commerce."
"Let me be clear," Chen Wei said. "This project is our first external-facing prototype for SpringCloud Mall. They want an engine that predicts user purchasing behavior across time and context. Think: 'What will the user buy, when, and why.' If we nail this, it could lead to a long-term partnership."
He gestured to a second screen.
"I've assigned Team C to lead the prototype. Xu Rong, you're heading this. You'll have Lin Yi onboard with you."
Xu Rong smiled. "Of course. We'll… guide him well."
Some of the developers chuckled under their breath. Lin Yi remained neutral.
He could already feel it—the air, the stares, the tension beneath the professionalism.
[System Alert: Hostile Intent Detected – Moderate. Recommendation: Maintain low profile. Observe.]
I expected this.
The following day, Lin Yi arrived at 8:00 a.m., earlier than anyone else in Team C.
He opened the PredictWave codebase and began scanning.
It was clean but bloated—too many dependencies, some redundant loops, and a few questionable logic chains that might cause memory overflow under load.
He quietly opened a new branch and started refactoring the data-parsing module, rewriting each function line by line.
By noon, he had improved parsing efficiency by 23% and simplified the model's prediction layer.
He submitted the code to the internal repository with a detailed changelog.
Then he waited.
By afternoon, he got his answer.
Pull Request Closed. Reason: "Non-standard formatting. Introduces unnecessary structural changes." – Xu Rong
He blinked once, then closed the message.
[System Notice: Code Rejected – Team Lead Override Detected.]
No warning. No questions. Just… rejected.
Lin Yi didn't react.
Instead, he quietly re-applied the same optimizations under a different section, wrapped the functions in helper classes, and used her naming conventions.
This time, he submitted the changes as "Helper Optimization Patch" under another teammate's open task.
Two hours later, it was merged.
No one noticed.
[System Prompt: 'Silent Contribution' bonus achieved – Reputation +3 | Mental Endurance +2]
That evening, as Team C gathered around their large monitors reviewing performance metrics, Xu Rong looked confused.
"We're suddenly 19% faster," one developer noted. "I thought we hadn't finished the pipeline yet."
Xu Rong narrowed her eyes. "Who submitted optimization changes?"
Everyone shrugged.
Lin Yi sat quietly, eyes on his laptop, typing silently.
He didn't need credit.
He needed progress.
The next day, Lin Yi came in to find his workstation moved. His name tag had been replaced. A new developer had taken his seat.
"Management reshuffled desks," Xu Rong said casually when he approached her. "You're sharing space with the interns from marketing now. Down the hall."
Lin Yi said nothing.
He simply picked up his things and left.
Down the hall, the room was small, dim, and loud. Salespeople chattered on headsets. A faulty aircon dripped near the ceiling.
Lin Yi pulled out his chair, opened his laptop, and reconnected to the server.
[System Suggestion: Use Mobile Work Mode – Noise Reduction + Concentration Filter Enabled]
[Activated.]
His screen dimmed slightly, background noise vanished, and the edges of his vision became clearer.
He resumed working.
Piece by piece, code by code.
Not to impress.
Not to show off.
But because this was the path.
Later that afternoon, Chen Wei messaged him privately.
"Lin Yi. I've been reviewing activity logs. You're doing excellent work. Keep it up. Don't worry about the desk change. Some people just need more time."
[Mentor Trust Level: +1]
[Reputation (Internal): +5]
Lin Yi replied with a simple:
"Understood."
At night, he returned to the dorm, quietly reading the next phase of the PredictWave documentation.
His roommates were busy playing games.
One looked up. "Bro, you've been quiet lately. Still playing around with those bottle collection apps?"
Zhang Chao snorted. "Or maybe his genius internship crashed already."
Lin Yi smiled faintly.
"No. Still building."
They laughed.
He opened the system.
[Daily Growth Report:]
– Productivity: +9
– Reputation: +5
– System Evolution Progress: 18%
– Passive Unlocked: 'Iron Focus' – Increases resilience to distractions
[System Comment: The storm is coming. Your roots must grow deep first.]
He closed the laptop and lay in bed, eyes on the ceiling.
Let them try to bury me.
They don't know I'm a seed.