Mia's heart was still pounding wildly in her chest.

  The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.

  It felt unreal, yet tantalizingly within reach.

  She started calculating how to turn this into reality.

  Once her brain switched into planning mode, the first person who popped into her head was her friend from the finance department, Xiao Ya.

  Xiao Ya had joined Ivy Company at the same time as her.

  They'd squeezed into adjacent cubicles in the finance department for half a year, bonding over complaining about their stingy supervisor and sharing a single, slightly moldy piece of bread.

  They used to be quite close.

  Later, after Mia transferred to the sales department, they saw each other less, but they'd still huddle together during lunch breaks to gossip.

  And Xiao Ya happened to be in charge of filing the company's material delivery orders.

  Mia glanced at the wall clock: 12:40 PM.

  Lunch break wasn't over yet. Xiao Ya had probably finished eating and returned to the finance office.

  'Strike while the iron is hot,' she thought, taking a deep breath and turning towards the finance department.

  Approaching the finance department door, she could hear Xiao Ya's voice mingled with laughter.

  "Mia? What brings you here?" Xiao Ya's eyes lit up upon seeing her, and she immediately waved her over. "Come, come! We haven't really chatted since you moved to sales."

  Mia forced a natural smile and walked over, sitting in the empty chair opposite Xiao Ya.

  "Just missed you, that's all. Came to see you."

  As she chatted, Mia casually scanned the stack of documents on Xiao Ya's desk, her mind racing to figure out a plausible way to get a look at them.

  "Is the finance department crazy busy lately?" Mia asked casually. "I heard from people in our department that there's a lot of shipments recently, cold-chain ones, keeping everyone busy for days."

  "Tell me about it!" Xiao Ya complained. "Several batches of antibiotics. Super urgent, shipped daily.

  The delivery orders were revised three times! Almost worked me to death."

  Mia's heart skipped a beat, but she kept a straight face and smiled. "Antibiotics? Have to be careful with those. Those things are worth more than gold outside."

  "Exactly!" Xiao Ya pouted, reaching behind her to pull a pink delivery slip from a file basket and slapping it onto the desk.

  "This one right here. Look: sales department application, our approval, cold-chain transport. Tsk tsk. I wouldn't dare lose this slip. Couldn't afford to pay it back in a lifetime."

  The pink delivery slip lay open between them, the writing clearly visible.

  Mia's eyes rapidly scanned every word on the slip. Her heart hammered so hard it felt ready to burst.

  Product Name: Broad-spectrum Antibiotics (White Bottles)

  Shipment Time: Depart tonight at 17:45

  Route: 9th Avenue

  Vehicle ID: LD-071

  Escort Personnel: Gunnar

  Each piece of information shone like a beacon, illuminating her hope.

  Mia masked the excitement in her eyes.

  Afraid her expression might give her away, she deliberately steered the conversation towards other gossip with Xiao Ya—complaining about sales department colleagues, moaning about rent hikes in the slums—each sentence carefully unrelated to the antibiotics.

  Xiao Ya didn't suspect a thing, chattering away with her for a long time.

  Only when her lunchbox was completely empty did she pat her stomach. "No more. I gotta file this slip now, or the supervisor will chew me out again."

  Vehicle ID confirmed. Now, how to steal it...

  ...

  Back in the West District sales office, Mia saw Michael at his workstation.

  Her smile was radiant, coming from a place of genuine joy.

  Her voice was soft and sweet: "Mike~ Did the store inspections go smoothly this morning?"

  Michael looked up at her. A trace of gloom, born from the rumors, still lingered between his brows.

  He merely gave a faint "Mmm" in response, casually tossing the store inspection report onto his desk. "Okay.

  Just some stores have excessive inventory loss again. Means more arguing."

  Michael was depressed.

  The rumors about Mia had actually hurt him.

  He didn't want to believe Mia was that kind of loose woman.

  But the truth was, Mia had indeed thrown herself at him.

  He'd just shielded her from a falling box, that's all. Michael thought his appearance was decent enough, but to be honest, he'd never had a girl pursue him like that before.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Thinking back seriously, he'd had two relationships during his student years, but they were both brief and he'd had to work hard to get them.

  That's how people are—external evaluation shapes their confidence.

  Clearly, Michael was insecure.

  Mia didn't pick up on his mood. She just tilted her head, looking at him, the smile in her eyes impossible to hide. Fireworks were already exploding in her heart.

  100,000G.That insurmountable mountain.

  As long as she reached out tonight, the mountain would crumble.

  Once she, Mia, took action, she could secure a lifetime of happiness for herself and Mike!

  Mia was practically leaping for joy inside, her fingertips trembling slightly.

  She had to bite her lip hard to keep from laughing out loud.

  Tell him?

  No. Absolutely cannot tell.

  She knew Michael too well.

  He might seem cold and tough on the outside, but he was more cautious than anyone at his core, always taking all the risk upon himself.

  If he knew she was planning to touch the company's antibiotics, he would stop her immediately.

  He might even get angry and scold her for being reckless, preferring to take on more of Elena's life-threatening side jobs himself rather than let her take any risk.

  Mia's eyes darted. She deliberately leaned closer to him, her voice soft as cotton.

  "Mike, why don't you go home first after work tonight?

  I just saw Xiao Ya from finance.

  She said they have an unexpected inventory check tonight, probably working very late. I'm going to go help her."

  Afraid the excitement in her tone might show, she quickly added, her voice taking on a coquettish, pleading note.

  "Don't wait for me, and don't come pick me up. I'll come back on my own when I'm done. Can you go home and light the stove for me? I want to eat the hot noodle soup you make."

  Michael frowned, thinking, 'Could Mia really be like the rumors say...?

  Is she secretly meeting someone else from the company behind my back?'

  Even without a definitive answer, he felt extremely irritated. His reply was icy.

  "Fine, then."

  Mia, clearly too overjoyed inside, failed to notice Michael's coldness.

  "Great! I'm off to work then. Hehe."

  ...

  7:40 PM.

  Mia had chosen this time, believing it to be the most opportune.

  Not only was the cargo loaded, but the loading staff had also left.

  Mia didn't slow her steps.

  Rounding the corridor corner, she broke into a run, heading straight for the shipping center at the far west end of the factory grounds.

  At the entrance of the corrugated metal shipping center, the security guard was huddled, dozing off.

  Mia had calculated that he usually went to the convenience store for cigarettes around this time.

  Sure enough, she didn't have to wait two minutes before hearing the guard mumble as he got up and slowly wandered off.

  She immediately hunched over and darted inside.

  The moment she stepped in, a mix of chilly air and the smell of machine oil hit her face.

  Against the wall in a corner of the warehouse stood a slightly dusty coat rack.

  Several dark gray, thick work uniforms were hanging on it—standard issue for the loading crew entering and exiting the cold-chain areas.

  Mia moved swiftly, yanking the one on the very end and pulling it on.

  She zipped it all the way up to her chin, pulled the hood tight to cover most of her face, and only then felt a bit more settled inside.

  Her eyes quickly scanned the orderly rows of cold-chain trucks in the warehouse.

  The license plate 'LD-071' was particularly eye-catching under the dim yellow lights, parked in the innermost spot.

  Holding her breath, Mia walked forward, stepping over fragments of cardboard boxes littering the floor.

  The sound of her soles crunching on gravel was amplified several times in the empty warehouse, making her heart pound with fright.

  The number 100,000G danced before her eyes.

  She had even begun fantasizing about the happy life after she sold the stolen goods.

  The door of the cold-chain truck wasn't locked, just pushed to, leaving a gap.

  'These loaders are so unprofessional,' she thought with a silent, triumphant laugh. 'Perfect. I need unprofessional. I need people who are careless.'

  She felt her luck was just exploding. She yanked the door open.