Minutester, Mirabe strolled over to James''s vi.


    James, coffee in hand, was in the living room. When he spotted Mirabe stepping through the door, he looked up. She wore a dark wool coat with a matching shirt underneath, which made her skin look as smooth and pale as marble. Her legs were long and straight, and as she drew closer, a subtle, pleasant scent filled the air.


    James lightly traced the edge of his coffee cup with his fingertips, his voice steady, "You''re here."


    Mirabe gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, giving him a brief nce before turning her attention to Curtis, who was sitting nearby. "What''s the video about?"


    Curtis cleared his throat and brought up the source file on hisptop, then handed it over to her. "This one."


    Mirabe nced at the file extension on the screen, then took theptop, settled down on the couch, and rolled up her sleeves. "Let me give it a shot."


    Curtis stood not too far away, eyes gleaming with curiosity about how she''d tackle the task of restoring the video.


    Mirabe opened the recovery program and swiftly typed in a sequence of recovery codes. Just as she was about to ovey her prepared recovery code onto the source file, something familiar caught her eye in the sequence. Mirabe paused, her finger hovering over the Enter key.


    Noticing her hesitation, Curtis couldn''t help but ask, "How''s it going?"


    "Hold on, not done yet," Mirabe replied calmly, opening anothermand prompt and typing in a new set ofplex codes.


    Two minutester, she shook her head. "Nope, can''t do it either."


    James looked up, surprised. "You can''t either?"


    Curtis was taken aback, ncing at the screen, surprised that even Mirabe couldn''t crack it. After all, she''d once effortlessly resolved a cybersecurity issue for the national security department.


    Mirabe handed theptop back to Curtis, not blinking an eye. "Yeah, whoever did this is seriously skilled. The source file''s fragments are trashed; I can''t fix it."


    Curtis was a bit disoriented, contemting that someone might be even more skilled than Mirabe. Were experts really thatmon now?


    Mirabe nced at Curtis, cleared her throat, and asked, "Do you know who''s at the top of the hacker rankings?"


    Curtis was momentarily stunned, then caught on. "You mean Y?"


    "Yeah." Mirabe nodded, her expression serious. "I think it''s their handiwork."


    Curtis''s eyes went back to the screen. If it was Y, then the fact that the surveince couldn''t be restored made sense. After all, they''re ranked number one in the world.


    If it was easily fixed, then what would be the point of being number one?


    So, who was that woman whopeted for them a few days ago, and why did Y handle the follow-up for her?


    Mirabe raised an eyebrow, ying up her curiosity. "So what''s the big deal with this video that it drew in such an expert?"


    "Just a racing video," Curtis replied simply.


    "Alright." Mirabe nodded, "Is it important?"


    Curtis nced at James, then answered, "Not really, we''re just trying to find someone."


    Mirabe''sshes lowered as she mused that the person they sought might be right in front of them, but they''d never know.


    Rolling down her sleeves, she didn''t press for more details. After checking the time, she looked up at James, "I''ve got an appointment, so I should head out."


    "Alright." James nodded, snapping back to reality, then reached out to grasp Mirabe''s arm. "Let me walk you out."