By the third second, the words "Unlock Sessful" shed on the screen, nearly blinding Curtis with their sudden appearance.


    "Wait, that''s it?"


    Curtis, holding hisptop, was too stunned to react. He had been nning to discuss with Mirabe about starting a remote session so she could help unlock hisputer from afar.


    But... before he even said a word, she had already cracked the file?


    And it only took her three seconds!!!


    Mirabe: "Done, I''m logging off."


    As soon as this message appeared on the screen, the chat box vanished, and theputer returned to normal-all within a minute. If it weren''t for the decrypted file sitting on his desktop, Curtis would have thought he imagined the whole thing. This wasn''t just being good withputers. This was the work of a true hacker.


    Wyatt, standing next to him, had missed the action on the screen and urged, "Curtis, did you send the file to Ms. Mirabe to decrypt?"


    Wyatt''s question snapped Curtis out of his daze. He nced at Wyatt, feeling a bit better about himself knowing there was someone even more clueless nearby.


    "It''s already decrypted," Curtis said, pursing his lips as he opened the file.


    Wyatt lookedpletely baffled. "That progress bar that shed on your screen just now—was that Ms. Mirabe decrypting the file?"


    "Yes." Curtis nodded, looking up to catch Wyatt''s shocked expression.


    Wyatt was indeed shocked, but after a moment, he looked back at Curtis. "Curtis, please never im you''re a hacker again. It''s embarrassing even for me."


    Wyatt had struggled with the file for ages, while Ms. Mirabe had cracked it in seconds. The difference in their abilities...was staggering.


    Curtis: "..."


    Damn it!


    Taking a


    back on theptop, where numerous audio files were disyed, each marked with a timestamp.


    ep breath, Curtis focused


    "James, these are all recorded phone calls," Curtis said while clicking to y one of the recordings.


    After listening to several recent recordings, none seemed relevant to the seized equipment, which was disappointing.


    Just then, James''s phone rang. It was his uncle Sam calling. James adjusted his sses and waved at Curtis.


    Seeing this, Curtis quickly paused the audio that was still ying.


    James answered, "Uncle."


    "I''m not your uncle if I have a nephew who causes me trouble like this..." Sam''s irritated voice came through, making James twitch his cheek and calmly move the phone away from his ear.


    Sam continued to rant, but James didn''t respond, prompting Sam to yell, "You


    little rascal, are you even listening?"


    "Uncle, I''m listening," James replied


    calmly. After a brief pause, he


    continued, "Don''t worry, today''s incident won''t affect your career."


    Hearing this, Sam nearly choked in frustration. "Do you think I''m that selfish?"


    "You are," James said lightly.


    Sam: "..."


    "Alright, Uncle, I need to go. Please take care," James said, hanging up before Sam could respond.