The city never truly slept.
Even at five in the morning, when the sky was still painted in shades of dark blue and grey, the streets of Shanghai were already alive.
Cars moved like rivers of light.
Street vendors lifted metal shutters with practised hands.
The smell of steamed buns, soy milk, and hot oil drifted through the cool air.
And I was already awake.
I had been awake for almost twenty hours.
The neon sign of NovaTech International glowed above the towering glass building as I stepped out of a taxi, my laptop bag hanging from one shoulder and my delivery jacket folded over my arm.
I glanced at my phone.
5:12 AM
Two missed calls from the hospital.
One message from Riya.
Bhaiya, don't forget breakfast this time.
A small smile touched my lips.
Even half asleep, she still remembered.
I typed a quick reply.
I won't. Go to school on time.
I knew she would see through the lie.
Because the truth was simple.
I had no time for breakfast.
Inside NovaTech, the security guards nodded as I entered.
One of them, Mr Chen, gave me a tired smile.
"Another all-nighter, Arjun?"
I returned the smile.
"Something like that."
He shook his head.
"You're too young to look this exhausted."
If only he knew.
The elevator doors slid open on the thirty-second floor.
The office was mostly empty.
Rows of sleek workstations stood beneath soft white lights, their screens glowing faintly.
Only a few engineers were present.
The server emergency from last night had turned the entire department upside down.
As soon as I entered, my team lead, Liu Wen, practically rushed toward me.
"You're finally here."
I raised an eyebrow.
"I've been online since midnight."
"That's exactly why I'm worried."
He shoved a tablet into my hands.
"Core firewall instability. Someone's probing our overseas network."
I scanned the logs.
Three seconds.
That was all it took.
My eyes moved across the data stream.
IP spoofing.
Layered masking.
Dynamic port rotation.
Professional.
Very professional.
But not enough.
I sat down, fingers flying across the keyboard.
Lines of code reflected in my tired eyes.
Commands flowed one after another.
Trace.
Counter-trace.
Loopback.
Access denied.
Firewall reconstruction.
Within five minutes, the attack collapsed.
The hidden IP address surfaced.
A hacker group from Eastern Europe.
Amateurs pretending to be professionals.
I leaned back.
"Done."
Silence.
Then the room erupted.
"You already fixed it?"
"How the hell do you do that so fast?"
Liu Wen stared at the screen, then at me.
"You're a monster."
I gave him a tired smile.
"Just experienced."
He laughed.
"No, genius."
I didn't reply.
Genius.
People loved that word.
They said it with admiration.
Sometimes with envy.
But no one saw the truth behind it.
Being a genius didn't stop the hospital bills.
Being a genius didn't wake my family.
Being a genius didn't make life easier.
If anything, it made everything heavier.
At fourteen, I had started freelancing online.
At fifteen, I had already mastered advanced network systems.
At sixteen, I had become a ghost in cybersecurity forums.
At seventeen, I had once broken through the security wall of DragonNet, the most secure private system in China.
Not for money.
Not for fame.
To prove I could.
They had tracked me within hours.
Instead of arresting me, they had offered me a position.
International companies followed.
Offers from Beijing.
Singapore.
Tokyo.
Even Silicon Valley.
Salaries that could change a lifetime.
I rejected all of them.
Because I couldn't leave.
I wouldn't leave.
Not while my family lay trapped in hospital beds.
Not while Riya still needed me.
Liu Wen dropped a file on my desk.
"Promotion paperwork."
I looked up.
"What?"
"Senior Infrastructure Lead."
I stared at him.
"That's too fast."
He crossed his arms.
"You've done the work of three people for two years."
He lowered his voice.
"The board wanted to send you abroad."
My fingers tightened.
Abroad.
Another offer.
Another city.
Another life I could never choose.
"I'm staying here."
"I know."
He sighed.
"You always say that."
Because I had no choice.
By noon, the office was buzzing with meetings, calls, and deadlines.
By evening, I was still working.
By night, I changed uniforms.
The black formal shirt of NovaTech disappeared beneath my old grey delivery jacket.
Different world.
Same exhaustion.
The city lights blurred as I rode my bike through crowded streets.
Rainwater shimmered on the roads, reflecting red and gold neon.
Apartment towers rose like silent giants around me.
A food delivery notification buzzed.
Hotel Imperial – Room 1708
Luxury district.
Good tip.
I accepted it immediately.
Every extra yuan mattered.
The hospital bill from yesterday still sat like a blade in my mind.
I pedalled harder.
The cold wind hit my face.
For a moment, the exhaustion faded.
This was my life.
Engineer by day.
Delivery boy by night.
Sometimes designated driver until dawn.
And when the city finally slept—
I became something else.
A white-hat ghost.
The anonymous protector who hunted cybercriminals and sold vulnerability reports legally to corporations.
I never crossed the line.
Never do illegal work.
Never black-hat contracts.
No matter how much money they offered.
I had rules.
Because once you stepped into the darkness, it was hard to return.
The hotel lobby was drenched in gold light and polished marble.
Luxury.
The kind of place people like me only enter for work.
I stepped toward the reception desk.
"Delivery for room 1708."
The receptionist barely glanced at me.
"Take the private elevator."
I nodded and moved.
The pendant beneath my shirt brushed against my chest.
Warm.
I froze for a moment.
Again.
That strange warmth.
I reached inside and touched it.
The silver surface pulsed faintly.
Like a heartbeat.
A chill crawled down my spine.
Something was wrong.
The elevator doors opened.
Seventeenth floor.
Soft carpet beneath my shoes.
Muted lights.
Silence.
I walked down the corridor toward room 1708.
For some reason, every step felt heavier.
The pendant grew warmer.
Then hotter.
My heartbeat quickened.
When I reached the door, I raised my hand to knock.
Then I heard it.
Laughter.
A man's voice.
A woman's voice.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
My breath caught.
No.
Impossible.
I moved closer.
The woman laughed again.
My world stopped.
I knew that laugh.
I had heard it a thousand times.
Soft.
Bright.
Warm.
The laugh of the woman I loved.
Li Na.
And the man…
A voice I knew just as well.
My best friend.
Zhao Wei.
The food bag slipped slightly in my grip.
For a moment, I stood frozen.
The corridor suddenly felt too narrow.
Too quiet.
Too cold.
Inside the room, laughter continued.
Then came a sentence that made the blood drain from my face.
"He still suspects nothing."
The voice was Li Na's.
My fingers slowly tightened around the delivery bag.
The pendant burned against my skin.
And for the first time in eight years—
Something inside me began to break.