When the men heard him, they panicked and stopped him. “Sir, you can’t-“
But before he could finish, the man pushed him aside. “Step aside and let me out! I’m not going to let that little fatty look down on me today!”
The men weren’t as strong as him, so he broke free easily. He walked toward the elevator hall outside.
At the sight, the men looked at one another and suddenly said, “It seems like we can only rely on the old method again.”
–
Nora waited for a while after she sent the message.
The other party’s thoughts were very pure like a child’s. Although he had a high IQ, provocation might still work on him. Unexpectedly, though, not only did he not come down, but he did not even reply to the message. In the midst of her hesitation, a familiar figure suddenly walked out of the hotel’s elevator hall.
Nora was a little taken aback to see him.
It seemed like the other party had also spotted her. His eyes lit up and he walked over. While walking over, he held a handkerchief over his mouth and coughed a few times.
Seemingly having coughed up something, he glanced at the handkerchief. Then, he folded it and placed it in his pocket. He walked over with a gentle smile and said, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Ms. Smith.”
Nora was taken aback. “Mr. Gray?”
The person in front of her was none other than Anthony Gray’s uncle, Caleb Gray!
Nora narrowed her eyes and looked around. She asked, “What are you doing here?”
Caleb coughed again and said, “I have a client here… I’m here to discuss a business deal with him about herb purchase. Cough, cough, cough… It’s been a long while since I last saw you, Ms. Smith, but you are still as radiant as ever. What are you doing here, though?” Before Nora could speak, Brenda suddenly rushed in between the two of them. After looking left and right, she patted Nora on the shoulder and said, “Hey, how sneaky of you, Nora!”
But before she could finish, Nora said, “This is my ex-fiance’s uncle.”
The rest of Brenda’s words were pushed back down her throat.
Caleb coughed another couple of times and smiled. His rich and mellow voice was very pleasant. “That makes me sad, Ms. Smith. Aren’t we friends?”
He thought that she was being too distant while introducing him just now. Nora thought for a moment. The two of them had talked quite a few times by now, so she nodded and replied, “I guess we are.”
Caleb sighed and shook his head dotingly. “You sound a little too much like you’re forcing yourself to say that.”
Nora smiled. Suddenly, she said, “If this was a text, my response would probably be a series of ellipses right now.”
Caleb held his forehead and said, “Am I rendering you so speechless that you don’t want to talk to me anymore, Ms. Smith?”
Nora stared into his eyes. When she saw that he looked normal and comfortable when he said that, she smiled and replied, “Not at all.”
Caleb seemed like he wanted to talk to her a little more, but after checking the time, he said, “I wanted to invite you for a meal to thank you for your help with my pharmaceutical company’s registration the other time, but I have a business meeting later, so… next time?”
Nora stepped aside. “Let’s do that next time.”
Caleb walked past her. The man was wearing a black suit. He was already 29 years old after all, so he looked exceptionally mature and gentle. Nora was staring at him from behind when Brenda stretched out her hand and waved in front of her. “Stop staring at him, he’s already gone! With such a handsome and gentle guy like him, why did you choose a stick-in-the-mud like Justin? He isn’t romantic at all.”
IIII
Nora retracted her gaze and looked at Morris.
Morris nodded. He held his hand over his earphone and spoke into it in a low voice. Two minutes later, he said, “He is indeed here for a business meeting. The other party is a medicinal herb merchant from overseas. He also has another business meeting later.”
Nora breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that.
She had suspected Caleb of being the mysterious person just now.
However, Caleb spoke very elegantly and his words were all very appropriate. He differed too much from the mysterious person who didn’t know much English.
Moreover, she had deliberately brought up the topic of ellipses to sound him out just now.
Caleb also understood the meaning of ellipses.
Therefore, it should be okay to rule him out… right? While thinking about it, she lowered her head and looked at her cell phone again-the other party still hadn’t replied to her message yet.
The three of them waited for a few hours in the hotel lobby.
Seeing that there still weren’t any clues-in fact, the other party wasn’t even sending messages to Nora anymore-Nora stood up and said, “The two of you can continue standing guard here. I’m going back first.”
Brenda nodded immediately. “A third wheel like you should have left a long time ago, Nora. Captain Ford and I will be fine by ourselves here!”
After Nora left, Brenda took out her cell phone and picked up a call. “Nora has already left and is going home now, Justin! What is she doing? Can’t you just ask her? What are you asking me for? It’s not like she’s gonna be in bed with me…”
Beep… beep… beep…
The disconnected tone rang out on the other end of the line. Brenda curled her lips disdainfully. “What a prude. He can’t even take a joke.”
—
Nora drove back to the Smiths. As soon as she entered, she saw Justin waiting for her in the parking lot. The man stared at her, making Nora feel as if she was being caught fooling around with another man.
She got out of the car and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you.”
The man answered casually and naturally. Then, he turned and followed beside her. “What are you investigating lately?”
Nora thought for a while and replied, “How I became pregnant.”
She glanced at Justin. Sure enough, the man touched his nose guiltily after hearing her answer.
Nora’s lips curled into a smile. “C’mon, spill. What kind of evidence do you exactly have, and how far have your investigations gone?”
Justin must have also fallen victim to someone’s schemes back then. If not, he would not have hated Pete’s mother so much back then, let alone not know who she was.
Seeing that she seemed to be aware of everything now, Justin sighed and said, “Actually, I was telling the truth in the beginning.”
The beginning…
In other words, Justin had indeed been unconscious for a while at that time. But if he was unconscious, and also had no memory of what he did, then how did she get pregnant?
While Nora was thinking about it, her cell phone beeped twice.
She lowered her head and picked it up-it was another text message from the unknown number: ‘Haha, when I went downstairs, you were already gone!’
Nora: “…”
‘Although you made me really angry, I am still willing to give you a chance and show you how strong our department is.’ ‘I have already unleashed my second big move. Are you ready?’ Nora: “?”
Why was he talking like he had serious eighth-grader syndrome?!
He had targeted Tanya the first time. Who would he target for his second big move?
While thinking about it, she saw Joel suddenly hurrying out of his room. He had a serious look on his face and was walking quickly to the car. Before Nora could say anything, he drove off.
It looked like… something had gone wrong?
—
The Smith Corporation was in an utter mess.
As soon as Joel entered the office, the people in the IT department said, “Mr. Smith, this is simply too bizarre. Our network suddenly went kaput without any warning! All the computers have also been infected with viruses. I’ve pulled out the network cables, but it didn’t seem to be working. The invader is using a very powerful virus…”
Joel took a deep breath. “Where’s Speedy?”
Speedy was a hacker that the Smiths had hired. One could say that he was the Smiths’ treasure.
Legend had it that the Hunt Corporation had paid a high price and hired Y as their network consultant. As a result, no one dared to invade the Hunt Corporation.
As for the Smith Corporation, their hacker was Speedy.
The manager of the IT department said, “The master is trying to fix the network, but I think it’s hard to say how it’ll turn out this time!”
The IT manager frowned and said, “The other party is very aggressive and also has very solid skills. We suspect that they are a well-known hacker!!”
As the manager spoke, Joel entered the room, upon which he saw Speedy, who was pulling a long face, trying to repair the network. However, the computer screen suddenly blacked out.
Someone had invaded the network!
Speedy had no chance of repairing the network at all.
When Joel saw this, he walked up to behind Speedy and said, “Ask him who he is.”
Someone who could beat Speedy would undoubtedly be very skilled!
After all, Speedy and Solo were equally famous!
Speedy got it. Mr. Smith was planning to negotiate with the other party.
He typed: ‘Who are you?’
The other party replied: ‘I am Q.’
Joel narrowed his eyes.
In the hotel room.
Someone asked, “Why are you claiming to be
Q, sir?”
The man sat there with a wicked smile at the corner of his lips. He replied, “Because Q is someone who doesn’t surf the Internet very much, so no one can find him. His name can also instill fear in people. Besides, if I say that I’m Q, they won’t think of going to the real Q for help. Of course, our hacker toy is indeed not bad. It seems that she has managed to adapt to the genetic modification drug- She’s much more useful than Hillary Jones! That piece of trash wasted a dose of my drug! Hmph!
“But since the Smiths’ network can’t be used anymore, they’ll have to listen to me now! Haha!”
He leaned triumphantly against the sofa and held both hands behind his head. “Say, if a huge company can’t use the Internet, how are they going to operate? Will my little servant come and beg me now??
“Tsk, I’m suddenly really looking forward to it!”
He sat upright and added, “By the way, tell our new toy to give them some more goodies as best as they can! We must drive them into a corner! This way, I would be able to negotiate with my little servant-!”
“… Yes, sir.”
After he left, a voice suddenly rang out faintly in the room.
A rich and mellow voice reprimanded, “Stop messing around!”
“How am I messing around? Don’t you find this very fun? Also, what makes you think you can order me about? I am the little master! I have the final say in everything! Go away, you sickly guy!”
The people standing guard outside didn’t react even when they heard the conversation. It was as if they had already long since become accustomed to it.
