At school.


    Mirabe couldn''t help but notice that Lisa seemed off today. Her usual spark was missing, and she looked paler than usual. Setting her book aside, Mirabe reached out and gently took Lisa''s wrist.


    Lisa, lost in her thoughts, snapped back to reality at Mirabe''s touch. She looked up just as Mirabe was pulling her hand away.


    "What''s got you so worried at such a young age?" Mirabe asked, tilting her head slightly.


    Lisa paused for a moment before touching her cheek. "Is it that obvious?"


    Mirabe propped her chin on her hand, clearly uninterested in answering.


    Lisa''s eyes lingered on Mirabe''s face, studying her intently. How could she warn her to steer clear of Emmitt? Her half-brother Emmitt wasn''t really into women, but the people he took an interest in always seemed to vanish without a trace.


    Recalling something unsettling she had stumbled upon once, Lisa pressed her fingers weakly against her forehead. She couldn''t figure out what Ben was up to yesterday since he had never directly confronted Mira.


    After a moment of silence, Lisa finally lowered her hand and looked at Mirabe. "Hey, um... the neighborhood''s been kinda sketchytely. You don''t live on campus, so please be careful when you go home, okay?"


    Mirabe raised an eyebrow, a yful tone in her voice. "Is that what''s been bothering you all this time?"


    Lately, it seemed like everyone was warning her about safety.


    Locking eyes with Mirabe, Lisa felt as if she could see right through her. She coughed and added softly, "Just be careful, okay? And don''t talk to strangers." Mirabe nced at Lisa for a moment, then, without further questions, went back to her book.


    A few dayster, Zane finally finished a detailed research n based on the reference material Wade had given him. He headed upstairs to find Wade. There was a guest in Wade''s office.


    The door was open, and Zane, not noticing at first, knocked and walked in, ready to speak. That''s when he saw a handsome young man sitting on the sofa, deep in conversation with Wade.


    Realizing his mistake, Zane apologized, "Sorry, I didn''t see you hadpany. My bad."


    He was about to leave when Wade called him back.


    Wade told the man across from him to hold on, then stood up and walked over to Zane. "What do you need, Zane?"


    Zane held up the n. "I finished the detailed research n based on the material you gave mest time."


    Wade looked a bit surprised. "Already? Let me take a look."


    Zane handed over the n. "I wanted to get a head start on the coursework. See if this works; if not, I can tweak it."


    Wade nodded, flipping through the n. "Synthetic life AL systems are the future. While there''s some ovep with AI, AL''s evolutionary history focuses more onprehensive simted intelligence. Your n is detailed and looks good."


    Hearing this, Zane, who had been a bit anxious, felt relieved.


    Wade was a top-notch research professor at the institute, and his feedback was always spot-on. If he said it was good, then it was good.


    "However, this research needs some seriousputer skills. You might want to pick a few top-notchputer science grad students from your department to help out," Wade suggested after a pause.