Nick scratched his head, thinking about Chester''s stern demeanor that always


    gave him the creeps. "Anyway, he''s a tough one to get along with. You''ll see when you meet him," he said.


    "Alright, then thank Chester for the gift for me," Mirabe said, waving the box she held.


    "Will do." Nick nodded, "It''s gettingte. You should get some rest."


    "Okay, you too, Nick." Mirabe clutched the gift and paused before closing the door. She poked her head back through the gap with a mischievous grin, "By the way, do you still have that perfume I sent you?"


    "I do, brought it back with me."


    "Goodnight," she said softly, quickly shutting the door.


    A faint smile crossed Nick''s lean face as he turned and entered the room next door.


    *


    At her desk, Mirabe pulled out an X-Acto knife and opened therge box Nick had given her.


    As expected, it was aputer with no visible brand, but the casing''s texture didn''t look like any ordinary PC.


    Raising an eyebrow, Mirabe set theputer on the desk, powered it on, and pressed the button.


    It booted up swiftly, in under three seconds.


    Since it was a newputer, the desktop was clean, except for the few default icons, with no extra software installed.


    Mirabe slid into the swivel chair and began tapping rapidly on the keyboard, quickly scanning through theputer''s specs.


    She was pleasantly surprised.


    The specs were top-notch, with thetest processor and motherboard chipset, and it even had a high-level firewall - clearly the work of a pro.


    Recalling herst visit to Nick''s high-tech manor, configuring such aputer seemed like no biggie.


    Shifting her focus, Mirabe prepared to test the performance. She pulled out her phone, connected it to theputer with a data cable, and sent out a message, "Sonny, you there?"


    In less than three seconds, she received a reply.


    Unknown: "...What are you up to now, kiddo?"


    Mirabe nced at her phone screen without responding and continued to pound outmand codes on the keyboard. In twenty seconds, the screen shifted from the darkmand prompt to a video chat window.


    The video showed a man in a loud Hawaiian shirt with a chunky gold chain around his neck. The angle of his camera was low, only revealing his chin.


    With a smirk, Mirabe typed, "Sonny, you''re the epitome of tacky!"


    Unknown: "??? ["


    After rubbing her fingertips together, she replied: "A gold chain, really?"


    Once she hit send, Mirabe crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair, noting a moment of stillness on the video chat screen.


    Then a frustrated expletive sted through the speakers!


    In the next instant, the gold chain vanished from the video, reced by darkness.


    Tsking, Mirabe thought that with such a slow reaction, it''s no wonder he''s forever stuck as Zach.


    Leisurely unplugging the data cable, unmindful of the shock her savvy maneuver might have caused the person on the other end, she shut down theputer and closed the lid.


    Not bad, she thought, quite satisfied.


    I hoped to hammer out thirty chapters in one go, but it seems I was too ambitious.


    I''ll write some more and you can check back tomorrow. Goodnight, smooches!