Nathan stared at the screen like it slapped him in the face.
[ALERT: Project Interference Detected]
Unknown third-party messing with Aurora Hotel project.
Threat Level: High. Sabotage risk possible.
"What the hell now…" he muttered.
His heart started beating faster. Not just nervous-fast. Like straight up thump-thump-thump in his chest. He sat up quickly, hoodie sliding off one shoulder. Still in his boxers from last night. He didn't even feel cold anymore—adrenaline kinda made you forget that.
It felt like one of those spy movie moments. Except it wasn't a movie. This was real. His project—his chance—someone was trying to ruin it.
The red warning stayed on screen, blinking like it was mocking him.
[Mission Stability: 62% and dropping][System Suggestion: Use Emergency Defense Now]
A new prompt blinked right under that.
[Emergency Defense – Cost: 60 Tycoon Points]Protects project doc from tampering for 24 hours.
Nathan didn't even think twice. Clicked yes like his finger was faster than his brain.
[-60 Tycoon Points Spent][Firewall Active: 24h]
But even after that, the danger wasn't gone. The screen turned orange instead of red, but that still wasn't comforting.
[Threat Reduced – Still 40% risk]
Nathan rubbed his face. His hands were sweaty and he hadn't even brushed yet. Already tired, and it wasn't even 9 a.m.
"Who's trying to screw this up?" he asked out loud to the empty room.
He opened the project doc. Everything looked okay. No missing pages or broken formatting. But he remembered seeing a weird system note before.
He opened the log.
Two changes at 3:17 a.m.
He blinked hard. "What? I wasn't even awake at that time…"
He clicked the logs. The edit said "unknown input from unverified source." There was also an IP address. No name. Just numbers and dots.
He copied the IP. Tried pasting it into Google. Useless.
Then he googled "free IP tracker tool."
All junk.
"Ugh, c'mon man," he muttered.
He wasn't a hacker. Hell, he didn't even understand DNS settings. He still called the router "the WiFi box."
Then a lightbulb moment.
Deep.
Not deep-thinking. John, the dude from college who once hacked into the dorm CCTV to change his curfew time. Legend.
He opened his dusty old Messenger and typed:
"Bro you alive? Need help tracking an IP address."
8 mins later, John replied.
"lol what you into? FBI stuff?"
Nathan rolled his eyes.
"No bro. It's serious. Someone messing with my file. it's a Hotel thing. Can u check?"
"Send me IP address and time."
Nathan did. Copy, paste, send.
While waiting, he kept staring at the project screen. He couldn't sit still. Hands were sweaty. Legs bouncing. Every few seconds he glanced at the ceiling like he was expecting it to fall too.
This wasn't some glitch. Someone actually wanted the project to fail.
The system pinged again.
[Message – Evelyn Moreau]"Something's wrong. I'm hearing things, Everything okay?"
He replied fast: "Yeah. Someone tried messing with the doc. I locked it. Still checking."
She sent back a message almost instantly: "Be careful. Not everyone working with me is loyal."
Nathan paused.
So she knew something shady was happening too?
Before he could think more, John messaged back.
"Tracked it to some shady network. Looks like a rival hotel. The trail ends near an office owned by Sterling Regency Group."
Nathan's eyes went wide.
Sterling Regency.
He'd seen their name in the news. Big luxury chain. They were planning to launch a new beach resort soon. If Aurora Hotel came back strong… that would be bad for them.
"Holy shit," he whispered.
He quickly saved the info. Screenshotted everything. Uploaded it to cloud, two places. He even backed it up to a USB he hadn't used since 2020.
Just in case.
Then the system dinged again.
[Temporary Skill Unlocked: Crisis Handling I – Trial Use Active]
Nathan clicked activate.
Suddenly his brain felt like it had a fan installed. Not cold, but clear. Clean. Less foggy.
He scanned through every file. Checked permissions. Made backups. Then renamed folders randomly to confuse anyone else snooping.
[Project Stability – Back to 88%][Firewall Time Left: 20h]
[+30 Tycoon Points Earned]
Nathan leaned back and exhaled hard. Shoulders dropped. Not relaxed, but not totally panicking either.
It wasn't perfect, but at least now he knew the fight was real.
Someone wanted him to fail.
Which meant… maybe he was finally doing something that mattered.
But now… it kinda felt like a warning. Or a sign.
He didn't know what kind.
But he did know one thing:
He wasn't gonna quit.
Not now.
Not after coming this far.
The screen dimmed a bit. That calm soft-blue glow returned. The room was quiet again. Still messy, still broken. But something felt different now.
Deeper inside, something was buzzing.
Like… someone was still watching.
Someone still out there.
This wasn't over.
Not even close.
Next Chapter Teaser – Chapter 8: The Meeting
Nathan finally meets Evelyn face-to-face again—this time in her office. Things are serious. No fancy dinners, no wine, just her sharp eyes watching every move he makes. She asks hard questions, tests his answers, and makes him feel like he's still one wrong word away from being tossed out.
But just when the meeting gets intense...
His system blinks.
[NEW SYSTEM PROMPT – SIDE QUEST: Make Evelyn Smile in the Next 5 Minutes]
Reward: ???
Hint: Charm. Tease. Maybe flirt just a little.
Nathan stares at the message, jaw dropping.
"Wait what—this is a business meeting!"
But the system doesn't care.
The countdown begins.
And Nathan's about to find out just how dangerous mixing business with pleasure can be...