"Anna, over here!" A slightly chubby girl with glasses, carrying a small backpack, waved excitedly at a tall girl walking in the distance.
The girl in the distance, named Anna, brightened up at the call and hurried over excitedly: "Alice, you're here so early."
"I just got in. Have you eaten?" The girl named Alice gestured with the bagel in her hand as she asked.
Anna nodded and said: "I grabbed breakfast with my boyfriend on campus this morning. Here, I just bought you a pastry from the bakery downstairs."
"Thank you!" Alice's eyes lit up, and she took the pastry with a smile: "Lunch is on me today."
"Deal!" Anna let out a giggle.
For the women at the office, those gourmet pastries always held a fatal allure. Ever since the corporate campus's cafe and bakery opened, it had immediately received enthusiastic praise from all the girls in the company.
As a result, the lounge area in front of the bakery had become the ultimate breakout space for the company's female employees, turning into a lively, vibrant hub within the building.
"Let's hurry, or Supervisor Keller will chew us out again," Anna urged Alice.
Upon hearing Keller's name, Alice stiffened and shivered.
Both of them were among the massive wave of new interns recruited for the fall cohort. They had been at the company for about two weeks and were currently grinding through the early stages of onboarding and training.
The Keller that Anna mentioned was the program director responsible for these interns. As the main person in charge, he was notorious for being absolute military-grade strict. Over the past half month, he had basically become a living nightmare for the entire intern pool.
When the two arrived at the multi-function auditorium on the second floor, they found Keller already standing at the door, clipboard in hand, looking like a drill sergeant.
The previously cheerful pair quickly went quiet, nervously scanned their badges on the time clock outside the auditorium, and hurried inside.
Because the number of newly corporate-recruited interns was massive—about a hundred people in total—their temporary base of operations during this initial training phase was set up in the main multi-function hall.
Over the past two weeks, outside of the HR department arranging guest speakers, department heads, and core engineers to give lectures and technical training, they had also organized team-building activities and walkthroughs of various departments.
Of course, for these interns, the places they most yearned to see were the company's two heavily restricted R&D laboratory buildings. However, the badge access for those two tech labs was exceptionally locked down, constantly guarded by tall, imposing corporate security personnel in tactical uniforms.
Not to mention, the interior was monitored by the company's most mysterious and feared branch: the Corporate Confidentiality and Security Office. Without executive clearance, forget a human—not even a fly could get past the scanner bays.
Previously, during the general orientation tour, they were allowed to enter the labs in small batches for a brief look. Although they only saw the entry-level, non-classified test bays, the tech still completely blew everyone away.
Thinking that after their internship wrapped up, they might actually have a shot at working full-time in such an incredible environment, many of the interns looked visibly hyped.
Since then, the group frequently gossiped about the secret labs in private. However, the intel they had was incredibly thin, and since they'd only seen the public lobby area, it only made them more curious.
Rumor had it that the entire top floor of the new R&D building was the private sandbox of the company's big boss—the legendary tech prodigy, Nick—which drove their curiosity through the roof.
After all, every single industry-shifting technological breakthrough Militech Technology put out came directly from Nick's hands. Naturally, everyone harbored a massive curiosity about this founder who was practically the same age as them.
But unfortunately, after half a month on campus, outside of occasionally spotting him from a distance crossing the courtyard, no one had actually met him face-to-face.
Of course, this wasn't because Nick was intentionally playing the mysterious, aloof tech billionaire; it was simply because his schedule was completely slammed. Between running the company and executing his own experimental research, he didn't have spare cycles to hang out with interns. But ironically, the less he showed up, the more legendary his status became among the rookies.
Seeing that it was exactly 9:00 AM, Keller walked into the hall with a stone-cold face. Catching sight of a few interns who were still whispering and finishing up their breakfast, his brow furrowed instantly.
"How many times do I have to repeat myself? No food or drink inside the auditorium. Is anyone actually listening?"
Scanning the room, Keller said sternly: "I hope this is the last time. Moving forward, I am not handing out warnings; anyone caught eating will docked ten performance points on the spot.
At the end of this program, we will extend full-time offers to the top tier based on your cumulative evaluation scores. If you think you're here just to pad your resume or treat this like a summer camp, I suggest you pack your bags today.
We want top-tier talent, we want elites, and we want young professionals who respect the craft and the roles they are stepping into.
It doesn't matter if your technical skills are still rough; we can teach you code and architecture. But if you lack respect and reverence for the work itself, then you're completely wasting our time.
You've been here for two weeks. In another two weeks, you will face your first comprehensive milestone review.
After that review, we will be cutting a percentage of the cohort, meaning your internship will be terminated and you'll be sent back to campus.
Our headcount allocation for full-time roles is highly competitive, so we are reserving those spots exclusively for the people who earn them.
So, I suggest you lock in over the next two weeks and deliver actual results."
After dropping the hammer, Keller's tone softened just a fraction: "I have one final announcement. At ten o'clock sharp, the company's CEO, Nick, will be coming up to do a meet-and-greet with the cohort.
So, let's move. Clear off your desks, trash your garbage, and make sure this auditorium looks spotless."
"No way!"
"Nick is actually coming here?"
"Awesome!"
The moment Keller finished talking, the entire floor erupted into cheers. Everyone had been dying to meet the mythical founder, but a slot on his calendar had seemed impossible.
"What are you all standing around for? Get to work!" Seeing the room break out into chaotic chatter, Keller clapped his hands sharply.
Originally, this town hall should have happened during week one, but Nick's schedule was too jammed, forcing HR to push it back.
Today, a window finally cleared in his calendar, so he had HR spin up the meeting on short notice.
In reality, Nick genuinely wanted to meet the new blood. These kids were the cream of the crop that HR had aggressively scouted from the top engineering universities across the region, and landing them hadn't been an easy recruit.
According to Tyler, the raw talent metrics for this specific intern pool were incredibly high. Nick wanted to see the cohort for himself and pinpoint a few standout prodigies to fast-track into core projects.
Just as the interns were finishing squaring away the room, the heavy double doors at the back of the auditorium swung wide open. Escorted by a tight circle of executives and security, Nick stepped into the room, instantly drawing every eye in the house.