Chapter 1

1: 1

I was about to be late for work when Irene James, the supervisor who'd framed me for stealing my old company's R&D, called:

"Clara Henson, where are you? Are you at the office?"

"Do not clock in. You hear me? You cannot clock in!"

I froze. "Why?"

She was shaking all over, her face wild with terror.

"Because... the second you clock in, I die."

I snapped at her that she was insane and hung up. She kept blowing up my phone:

"Don't clock in! Whatever you do, do not clock in! I'm coming right now, just don't clock in!"

I couldn't even.

Back when I worked there, she went after me every way she could.

She even teamed up with other coworkers to frame me for stealing company R&D.

That got me fired. Blacklisted across the whole industry.

Now I was long gone, and she still wouldn't leave me alone.

At that thought, I jabbed my finger down on the time clock a few times, seething.

"Psycho. You tell me not to clock in, so I won't? Watch me. Clock in and clock your ass out."

But I'd barely sat down when my phone lit up. Group chat, 99+ messages.

The first one stopped me cold:

"AHH! Someone's dead! Irene... Irene just got blown up!"

...

My head went off like a bomb, everything inside it blank.

Irene... was dead?

I thought of her on the video call, face frozen in terror, screaming at me not to clock in.

My heart nearly stopped beating.

But how was that even possible? I just clocked in for work. How could that kill someone?

The chat was already in an uproar:

"No way. How'd she die? She was fine, how does someone just explode?"

"Who's joking with you? Little Wang from R&D told me himself. Said Irene was rushing out the door in a hurry and boom, she went off. The police are there and everything..."

This was the vent group for all of us ex-Yuhui wage slaves.

Whenever something juicy happened over at Yuhui, someone would drop it here and everyone would pile on.

I never expected this round would be about Irene's death.

I was about to ask, when the person sent a photo.

In it, Irene lay in a pool of blood, drenched in it, her head gone.

My stomach heaved right there. The whole thing scared me half to death.

It was real. Irene really was dead.

I stared at the message she'd sent me before she died. Don't clock in. Those three words stabbed into my brain like needles.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Why did Irene call me right before she died, telling me not to clock in?

It wasn't like I had superpowers. There was no way clocking in could actually kill her, right?

Sure, she'd framed me into getting fired, but I wouldn't kill her over something like that.

It's a coincidence, I told myself. It had to be.

But after work, some pull I couldn't explain sent me straight to Yuhui Tech.

I leaned in for a look.

The blood at the entrance had already been cleaned up, and there were still people inside pulling overtime.

I couldn't help thinking, capitalist bastards. Someone dies and the wage slaves still have to grind.

I turned to go, and Toby Donaldson from the operations department actually spotted me.

"Clara? What are you doing here?"

It was a little awkward. When I left the company, Irene and I had gotten into a screaming, physical fight in the office.

Now she was dead, and here I was, showing up. Wasn't that just asking for trouble?

I cleared my throat lightly.

"Nothing. I just... just heard Irene died..."

Toby sighed and pulled me aside, dropping his voice.

"Ugh, don't even get me started. This morning, she'd barely gotten to the office when she suddenly shot up out of her chair!"

"Then she went tearing out like a madwoman. She'd just reached the door when boom, she blew up!"

"Man, that scene. It was terrifying. Everybody was scared out of their minds."

For no reason I could name, guilt prickled at me.

"So what did the police say? She was perfectly fine, how does someone die in an explosion?"

"Right? You know what, it was her head that self-detonated. They found a damaged chip on her body. Early read is high-tech crime."

Those two words, high-tech, let me breathe again.

High-tech, that I knew nothing about.

And after I got fired, I never saw Irene again.

Toby suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"High-tech. How do you even investigate that?"

"Our company does chip R&D. Supervisor James threw her weight around here the whole time. You think she was short on enemies? Who's to say some coworker didn't off her?"

I kept my head down and didn't answer, but inside I couldn't have agreed more.

Back then, Irene deliberately framed me for stealing company R&D and got me fired.

And when she blacklisted me across the whole industry, I really did want to kill her.

But I had a new job now, steady income, none of that soul-crushing mess.

If she hadn't suddenly called and told me not to clock in, I'd have all but forgotten she existed.

Once I was sure this had nothing to do with me, I said my goodbyes and left.

But the moment I got home, someone yanked me into a corner.

The first thing they said nearly scared me to death.

"Clara, why did you kill Irene?"