Chapter 22
The sneer on Amelia's face froze, as if someone had grabbed her by the throat.
She clearly hadn't expected me to fight back like this, much less propose such a seemingly ridiculous yet incredibly tempting bet.
As for the necklace she mentioned, when James and I got married, Indigo had insisted on putting it on me herself, despite everyone's opposition and James's repeated attempts to stop her.
Amelia had been eyeing it for ages, the longing in her eyes practically overflowing.
It wasn't that I couldn't bear to part with the necklace.
It was just that Indigo had given it to me, and I wasn't about to hand it over to someone like her for nothing.
"Bet! Why wouldn't I bet?" Amelia straightened her back, as if trying to give herself courage, her voice deliberately raised with a kind of bluffing toughness.
"Sophia, these are your words, and everyone here is a witness! If you lose, you'll arrange for us to meet ZeroSpecter. If you can't do it..."
She let out a cold laugh, the unfinished sentence full of threat.
Samuel, forced to participate in this bet, looked even more uncomfortable.
He glanced at me, then at Amelia, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
Under Amelia's impatient urging, he had no choice but to walk over to a nearby table that had been temporarily cleared, opening the laptop he'd brought with him.
"Let's... let's compete on building a basic enterprise-level firewall model, and see whose architecture is better and has stronger defense." Samuel proposed the competition content. This was pretty basic stuff, but it best showed fundamental skills and thinking patterns.
I nodded, indicating I had no objection.
The competition began.
Samuel's fingers danced across the keyboard, his expression focused, clearly giving it his all.
I vaguely heard James say something quickly to Amelia in a low voice.
"You shouldn't have asked for that necklace." His voice was very soft, with a kind of helpless dissuasion hidden within, even a trace of extremely faint disapproval.
Was I hearing things?
How could he bear to blame his beloved Amelia?
That necklace, in his heart, had probably long been decided as rightfully belonging to Amelia.
When Indigo gave it to me back then, the opposition and coldness in his eyes—I still remember it vividly.
This light "shouldn't have asked for it" now sounded rather ironic.
I stood quietly to the side, arms crossed, calmly watching his screen.
Lines of code scrolled rapidly, the architecture gradually becoming clear.
Everyone around held their breath, especially Amelia, whose eyes were glued to Samuel's screen, occasionally shooting suspicious and anxious glances my way, seemingly puzzled why I hadn't started yet.
Programming was like building a precise fortress, requiring consideration of countless details and potential risks.
But in the eyes of true experts, the core logic and key points, good or bad, could often be seen through at a glance.
In just seven or eight minutes, Samuel's firewall model had taken shape.
The speed wasn't slow, and the architecture was fairly standard.
Just as he was about to complete the last module, even showing a hint of relief on his face, I suddenly spoke, my voice not loud but clearly reaching everyone's ears. "Stop."
Everyone was startled.
I raised my hand and pointed to a seemingly insignificant loop judgment module on the screen, my tone flat and calm, as if stating the simplest fact.
"Third sequence, intrusion detection feedback loop. You used double redundancy verification—good idea, but the nested logic is wrong. There's a one-in-a-million probability of an infinite loop vulnerability."
My speech wasn't fast, but each word hit Samuel's heart like a hammer.
His movements suddenly froze, his face turning deathly pale.
He stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the spot I'd pointed out, his fingers hovering above the keyboard, trembling slightly.
As a programmer with some level of skill, he realized almost the instant I finished speaking that extremely hidden yet fatal logical trap he'd overlooked.
He whipped his head around to look at me, his eyes full of shock and a trace of awe.
He didn't even need me to verify it myself. Just by watching, in such a short time, I'd precisely found the most fatal flaw in his code.
He knew he'd lost.
This wasn't a crushing defeat on a technical level—this was a dimensional gap.
I didn't even need to lift a finger. Just one sentence, and I'd pronounced his "death sentence."
Samuel dejectedly dropped his hands, his shoulders slumping, his lips trembling as he muttered to himself. "I... I lost..."
This scene happened so fast that no one had time to react.
"Lost? Just like that?" Amelia was the first to jump up, her voice shrill and piercing, full of disbelief and anger.
"She didn't even move, just said one sentence. Samuel! Did you conspire with her? Are you betraying us? You useless waste!" She furiously pointed at Samuel, cursing without restraint, completely unable to accept this result.
The intense competition she'd imagined, the scene of my humiliation she'd anticipated—none of it happened. Just this casual sentence had shattered all her schemes and expectations.
I couldn't be bothered to explain to her.
Andrew, in good spirits, curved his lips slightly and stepped forward. Looking at the nearly hysterical Amelia, his tone full of mocking pity, he spoke. "Ms. Martinez, when faced with an absolute gap in ability, sometimes you don't need to lift a finger. It's like a college professor looking at an elementary school math problem—they can see the answer and whether it's right or wrong at a glance."
His words were undoubtedly pouring another bucket of oil on Amelia's rage.
Amelia trembled with anger, her face flushed red, pointing at Andrew and me. "You're working together to trick people! This doesn't count!"
Andrew shook his head, as if communicating with her was lowering his IQ. He turned instead to look at James, whose face was dark and who hadn't said a word, his tone cooling. "Mr. Smith, control your lapdog."
"Who are you calling a lapdog?"
Amelia, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, was about to lunge forward with claws out, seemingly wanting to get physical.
However, this time, James moved.
Just as Amelia was about to pounce, he quickly reached out and grabbed her around the waist, stopping her.
She turned to look at James, her eyes full of grievance and shock, seemingly not understanding why he would stop her.
James didn't look at her.
His gaze was fixed firmly on me.
I thought he would say something, but he just turned his eyes away and hurriedly left with Amelia in his arms.
People began whispering, speculating about my identity.
Samuel suddenly came up beside me, speaking somewhat timidly. "You wouldn't happen to be ZeroSpecter, would you?"