In the afternoon, after wrapping up her ss, Mirabe made her way to the science building. It had been over a week since shest visited theb, and the tasks had piled up. Without her helping hand, Linden, Jessie, and the rest of the crew had been struggling to keep up.


    So, when she walked in, they practically beamed with relief.


    "Mira, thank goodness you''re here! Any longer, and we''d all be tearing our hair out," Jessie joked, letting out a dramatic sigh.


    Linden nodded seriously. "Yeah, without Mirabe, we''re like a ship without a rudder."


    Kason, still ttering away at his keyboard, nced up and teased them for buttering her up. "Alright, enough chit-chat. We''ve got a deadline looming, and thest thing we want is Mr. Belcher sticking his nose in and adding more people to our team. That''s thest thing we need."


    "True enough," Jessie agreed, settling back into her chair. "Mira, you wouldn''t believe how many times Mr. Calvin tried to get to Mr. Zane while you were gone. Luckily, Mr. Zane stood his ground, and they didn''t manage to pull a fast one."


    Mirabe raised an eyebrow, intrigued.


    Jessie rambled on, only to suddenly remember something. "Oh, by the way, I heard from Mr. Zane that Professor Ben probably won''t be popping by anymore."


    "Yeah, I know," Mirabe replied casually, not at all surprised.


    Jessie blinked, taken aback. "You already knew?"


    Mirabe nodded, unfazed. After all, it was her doing thatnded Professor Ben in the hands of the authorities. Even if his connections managed to get him out, he wouldn''t dare show his face again.


    Seeing Mirabe''s cool demeanor, Jessie didn''t push further. Instead, she forwarded the system data they''d been working on to Mirabe''sputer.


    Even though Mirabe had taken a week off, she''d already mapped out the artificial life system. She''d just been holding back because of Professor Ben.


    ?


    By 5:30 PM, in just ny minutes, Mirabe had not only polished off the second phase of the system but also tweaked the work Linden, Jessie, and the others had done.


    After saving it and sending the final version to the team, she stood up. "I''ve got to run, guys. Check out what I sent, and hit me up if there are any hups."


    The three of them wanted to say something, but seeing she had urgent matters, they simply nodded.


    Once she left, the trio, who had braced themselves for a long night, opened the program Mirabe had sent. What they saw left them speechless.


    "Am I dreaming? She finished the whole thing in just over an hour?" Linden eximed, wide-eyed.


    Jessie rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "Wow, Mira''s a genius. I bet she was just holding back to mess with us!"


    Kason smirked. "No doubt about it."


    They exchanged looks, then shut down theirputers. Why slog through overtime when they could seize the night and have some fun?


    Mirabe left campus and headed straight to the café where she was meeting Niki. By the time she arrived, Niki was already there.


    "Mirabe d you could make it Niki greeted her with a smile as he stood up. Despite the gray in his beard, he looked lively and full of energy.