Chapter 298

Chapter 298

"I knew it." Nolan wasn't discouraged in the slightest. He pulled a mini tablet from his little backpack, connected to the room's port, and his fingers flew across the screen. Lines of code cascaded like water.

He was trying to bypass permissions and hack directly into the main control system.

Heidi didn't interrupt him, just watched curiously. She walked to the holographic toy modules in the room's center, extending her small hand to gently touch a glowing cube. The cube immediately transformed into a fluttering butterfly.

Nolan seemed to have hit trouble. He scratched his head, getting a bit frustrated. "Weird, the firewall's structure is dynamic—every attack triggers a morphological reconfiguration..."

"Nolan," Heidi suddenly spoke, "why don't you try the voice protocol's underlying logic vulnerability?"

Nolan's typing fingers froze. He turned around, looking at Heidi in surprise. "What voice protocol?"

"'Lumen's' speech recognition system." Heidi walked to his side, pointing at a section of code on his tablet. "Look here—its response module and permission management module are separate. If you can simulate a 'highest authority command' voiceprint and send a fake 'execute' instruction directly to the response module before it makes a permission judgment, won't it... just listen to you?"

Nolan was stunned. He looked at the code section Heidi had pointed out, his brain racing. Right! He'd been trying to frontally breach that damned dynamic firewall, completely overlooking this simplest, most 'social engineering' attack method!

He immediately adjusted his attack plan according to Heidi's thinking. He wrote a small program to analyze the voiceprints of Lucius and Seraphine stored in 'Lumen's' database, then generated a simulated command.

"Execute, 'Oracle' Protocol Zero." He spoke quietly to the tablet.

The next second, all scenes on the room's walls instantly vanished, transforming into transparent glass. They seemed to float a thousand feet above Skyview City, traffic flowing beneath their feet, sea meeting sky in the distance.

"Success!" Nolan jumped up excitedly.

Heidi just smiled at him, that smile clean and warm.

Nolan looked at her, then thought back to earlier in the elevator. He leaned close to Heidi's ear, asking mysteriously in a whisper, "Heidi, do you think... they might give us a baby brother or sister?"

Nolan dreamed again about the kidnapping, some of Hazel's cutting remarks, those harsh words—'impostor,' 'homeless dog.'

He looked at Heidi, suddenly realizing that although his sister looked soft and sweet, inside she was actually more mature and stronger than him. She'd kept such a huge secret alone, having to pretend she knew nothing—it must have been exhausting.

"Heidi," he reached out, clumsily patting his sister's head. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Heidi blinked her big eyes in confusion.

"I... I didn't know you were my sister before, and I kept trying to compete with you over who was smarter." Nolan said, a bit embarrassed.

Heidi laughed aloud. "You can still compete with me now."

Nolan saw her mischievous smile and couldn't help laughing too. The small awkwardness between the siblings instantly evaporated.

"But," Nolan's expression turned serious again, "Mom and Dad think we don't know—that won't do. We need to let them know that we already know about the things they know we don't know that they don't know we know!"

Heidi was amused by his tongue-twister logic, but still nodded seriously. "Okay! Then what?"

"Then," Nolan's little brain spun at high speed, "we can't just let this slide! They 'deceived' us for so long—they owe us compensation!"

"What compensation?"

"A real wedding!" Nolan's eyes lit up, a brilliant plan forming in his mind. "Look, even though they're wearing rings, they haven't had a wedding at all! What kind of family is that? We need to help them have one! A super grand wedding that lets everyone know how much they love each other!"

This idea excited Heidi, too. "Yes, yes! Mommy in a white wedding dress would look like a fairy!"

The two little conspirators hit it off immediately, huddling together to start planning this secret operation codenamed 'Family Completion Project.'

Nolan pulled out his precious tablet, fingers flying as he began delegating tasks.

"I'm in charge of technical support and logistics!" He said with a serious face. "I can hack into Dad's schedule and find a time when they're both free. I can also use his name to book venues and invite guests! Without anyone knowing!"

"What about me? What can I do?" Heidi asked eagerly.

"You're responsible for the most important part—artistic direction and emotional mobilization!" Nolan pointed at a folder on his tablet. "I've already downloaded the ten most beautiful wedding styles in the world—you pick the one Mom would love most! Also, you need to talk about complete families in daily life, make them feel our longing for a whole family!"

"Okay!" Heidi nodded vigorously, feeling like she'd received a sacred mission.

So starting the next day, subtle changes occurred in Lucius and Seraphine's lives.

Lucius discovered that his daily news feed curated by Barry mysteriously included a lot of strange content.

[On the Positive Impact of Family Harmony on Entrepreneurial Decision-Making], [Forbes Review: Top 10 Most Romantic Wedding Destinations Worldwide], [Psychological Research: Ritual is a Necessary Condition for Marital Happiness].

He frowned, calling Barry in.

"Who told you to push these?"

Barry looked completely innocent, with cold sweat forming. "Mr. Talbot, I didn't! I swear! I only pushed news about international oil prices and the chips act..."

Lucius looked at Barry's nearly tearful expression, then thought of his son's nearly omnipotent computer, instantly understanding. He waved Barry away.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at those 'chicken soup for the soul' headlines, his lips curving into a helpless yet indulgent arc.

On the other side, Seraphine faced her daughter's 'gentle offensive.'

She discovered a new drawing appearing on her desk every day. The content was always the same—a man in a suit and a woman in a white wedding dress, holding hands, with two identical little figures beside them.

Though the style was childish, the longing was palpable.

That evening, Seraphine was reviewing an analysis report on 'StarMap' node materials when Heidi walked in carrying a glass of milk.

"Mommy, drink your milk." She set the glass on the desk, then refused to leave, settling into Seraphine's lap.

"Mommy, you must look so beautiful in a wedding dress, right?" She looked up, eyes full of anticipation.

Seraphine stroked her daughter's soft hair, both exasperated and amused. These two little ones didn't even bother changing their script.

She didn't answer, just asked, "Heidi, do you know everything?"

Heidi paused, then nodded vigorously. "Yes! Nolan knows too!"

"Then what do you two... want?" Seraphine asked gently.

"We want a wedding!" Heidi stated their 'ultimate goal' without hesitation. "We want to see Mommy in the most beautiful wedding dress, marrying Daddy! Let the whole world know we're a happy family!"

Seraphine's heart was struck hard by her daughter's words.

Yes, she and Lucius had been through so much turmoil. Though they were together again now, they'd always lacked a formal ceremony to announce it to the world.

This wasn't just the children's wish—perhaps it was also a longing buried deep in her own heart that she'd overlooked.

She held her daughter, gazing at the stars outside the window, silent for a long time.

Late that night, Lucius returned to the bedroom to find Seraphine standing by the window, seemingly lost in thought.

He gently wrapped his arms around her from behind, his chin resting in the hollow of her shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Thinking about our two little directors plotting their grand production." Seraphine laughed softly.

Lucius chuckled, too. "Yeah, their methods are direct, but effective." He paused, his voice turning serious. "Seraphine, what they want is what I want too. Five years ago, I owed you a wedding. Now, I want to give it to you."

Seraphine turned to face him, looking at his handsome face so close, at that deep ocean in his eyes that existed only for her.

She didn't speak, just rose on her tiptoes, initiating a kiss on his lips.

That kiss was her perfect answer.