Chapter 43 Another Little Underling Subdued
Chapter 43 Another Little Underling Subdued
Three days later, the California High School hacking competition officially began.
Since the competition was quite a spectacle, students crowded around the computer lab to watch the excitement. Teachers whose class schedules didn't conflict were all dispatched by the principal to maintain order—including that beautiful school nurse who had recently become very popular among students.
However, the commotion outside the lab didn't affect the tense atmosphere inside at all. The preliminary round had ended, and only Evelyn remained, advancing to the finals.
"The final round is about defeating me."
Christopher pushed through the crowd and sat down arrogantly at the computer across from Evelyn, his eyes full of excitement.
He had to publicly defeat this arrogant person and restore his reputation at the Department of Defense.
Evelyn's fingers rested casually on the keyboard. When she heard this, she lazily lifted her eyelids to glance at Christopher, showing no surprise.
She had guessed as much.
"Let's begin." Christopher couldn't wait to press the Enter key. A bright red countdown immediately appeared on the black screen.
Three.
Two.
One.
A series of attack commands suddenly exploded on Evelyn's screen—the approach was tricky, the angle ruthless, and there was even something familiar about it—as if it had been refined based on her methods when she hacked into the Department of Defense.
Evelyn's eyes brightened, and she straightened her posture.
She also enjoyed this kind of evenly-matched, thrilling competition.
Her fingers danced rapidly across the keyboard, but the commands she executed were unhurried and deliberate, each one striking directly at her opponent's weak points.
Christopher's expression grew stern, and his hands moved even faster, his typing speed frighteningly high.
Meanwhile, Evelyn's typing speed slowed down, though she never stopped for a moment.
The keyboard sounds from the two of them—one extremely fast, one extremely slow—were like consecutive musical pieces, making the students watching outside the lab exclaim one after another.
Even those who didn't understand computers couldn't help but cry out: "Don't their hands get tired?"
Someone couldn't help but ask: "Who's winning right now?"
The whole place fell silent. No one could answer him.
Christopher's attacks were fierce and fast, so logically he should have the upper hand, but Evelyn's defense was extremely solid—she hadn't given him any advantage at all.
Five minutes later, both their typing speeds remained unchanged.
"How long is this going to drag on?" someone couldn't help but speak up.
The instant those words fell, Christopher's screen suddenly went black.
The keyboard sounds that had never stopped came to an abrupt halt. Christopher shot to his feet, staring at the screen in disbelief.
"Wha... what the hell?" Outside the door, someone asked in confusion.
Just a second ago, both sides were fighting back and forth, evenly matched, and Christopher had been the one attacking the whole time, so why did his screen go black?
Did the power cord come loose?
Those who didn't understand but had been listening to their friends explain the battle couldn't help but think this.
But even those who did understand—like Christopher himself—couldn't help but look at the power cord.
Yet the computer plug was sitting there perfectly fine.
"Pfft—" Noticing Christopher's action, Evelyn couldn't hold back a laugh, though her smile wasn't meant to be malicious mockery.
On the contrary, she quite appreciated this opponent.
"So it's you." Evelyn loosened her wrists and looked at him with a smile. "I remember now, that hothead from the Department of Defense."
Christopher was stunned, his face still showing a bewildered expression. What did she mean she remembered now? Had she not known who he was all along?
Evelyn saw through his thoughts and said casually: "Sorry about that, when I was looking through your nude photos earlier, my eyes got burned, so I didn't remember what you looked like right away."
Christopher didn't know what to say.
So devastating, wanted to cry, so embarrassing...
But what he didn't expect was that Evelyn continued: "But just now I recognized you from your unique attack style. Hmm—although you're no match for me, you do have some talent. Study hard, you've got a promising future."
"Tsk." There was an uproar outside.
Everyone couldn't help but think: What kind of tone is that? Who's the teacher and who's the student here?
But Christopher's eyes lit up. Unusually, he didn't get angry. Instead, he rushed eagerly to Evelyn: "How did you do it? I was the one attacking the whole time. When did you plant a trap? No, it can't be a trap. My defense network showed no signs of being attacked at all..."
So! Noisy!
Evelyn covered her ears in irritation and stood up impatiently, but Christopher still followed her relentlessly: "Just tell me the answer. At worst, I'll take you as my master. From now on, you'll be my teacher—"
"What teacher?!" A roar suddenly came from the doorway. Owen rushed excitedly in front of Evelyn, looking like someone was trying to steal his treasure. "This is my boss, will only be my boss. Who do you think you are!"
After saying this, he looked Christopher up and down with disdain: "Hey, I think you'd better hurry up and transfer my boss's one million dollar prize money, then get lost."
At the mention of this one million, Christopher's face instantly became extremely uncomfortable.
Although he was from the Department of Defense, the Department of Defense didn't pay such high salaries. The only reason he dared to use one million as prize money was because he was so confident in himself, firmly believing he would never lose.
But who would have thought...
"Hey, you don't actually have one million, are you just messing with us?"
"What do you take the students of California High School for? What do you take my boss for?"
After Owen finished speaking, the watching students immediately started complaining dissatisfiedly.
"What kind of teacher is this? He's here to cause trouble."
"Get out of Cali High!"
"Get out of Cali High!"
Christopher's face instantly turned red. He clenched his fists but didn't know what to say.
It was true that he had lost, but he really couldn't come up with this one million. Moreover—he still wanted to stay here and figure out with Evelyn how exactly he had lost.
"Forget it." Evelyn saw through Christopher's predicament. She had already seen his savings when she hacked into the Department of Defense computers, so she said: "Never mind the one million, but I need you to help me do something."
Christopher's eyes immediately lit up, and he smiled ingratiatingly: "Please tell me."
"You have connections with people who have educational resources, right? Help me get my brother Gabriel into a professional, high-end football school."
"No problem!"
Christopher handled things quite efficiently. Gabriel soon received an admission notice from the new school. After that, Christopher became Evelyn's shadow, competing daily with the other shadow—Owen—for attention, trying every method to win favor in front of Evelyn.
The Director of the Department of Defense had called countless times urging him to return, even calling Adrian, but he refused to go back no matter what.
With one sentence—"Once I learn the skills from my boss, I'll come back to serve the Department of Defense"—he infuriated the Director half to death.
A few days later, Mr. Cross also finished organizing the list Evelyn had given him and personally delivered the computer parts she wanted.
When Christopher heard that these parts were for assembling a computer to solve the Department of Defense puzzle, he refused to leave no matter what, insisting on staying to help.