At that moment, after Patrick wrapped up his speech, he nced over to Robert, who was half-hidden behind the stage. Seeing Robert sh him an OK sign, Patrick confidently gestured toward the center stage projection screen.


    "This is the simtion algorithm our team at Prestige College has developed."


    As he finished speaking, the spotlight dimmed, and the projection screen lit up. Patrick scanned the room filled with academic elites, keeping his hand pointed at the screen behind him. He continued, "This algorithmbines polymer variable conversion with the most intriguing aspects of quantum mechanics..."


    He had barely gotten a few sentences out when he noticed puzzled looks spreading across the audience and heard whispers rising.


    Patrick felt his heart skip a beat and turned to look at the screen behind him. Instead of their simtion algorithm, the screen was now a mess of pixted distortions, and the speakers were crackling with static. It seemed like the yback file had gone haywire.


    Patrick''s face fell. How could their simtion video have gone so wrong? He had checked everything thoroughly before leaving the hotel that morning everything had been fine!


    Now, curious and amused eyes were fixed on Patrick-some were enjoying the spectacle, others were just in confused.


    Patrick stood frozen on stage, his mind racing, unable to find the words to handle the unexpected chaos.


    In the audience, ze and Denny were equally stunned. They were more ustomed tob work than dealing with tech hups in front of a crowd, leaving them utterly clueless.


    Next to them, Mirabe nced up at the stage, then decisively stood up.


    ze snapped out of his daze, grabbing Mira''s arm, "Mira, where are you going?" Denny also turned his attention to Mirabe.


    Mirabe remained calm, her expression unfazed. After a moment of thought, she reassured her friends, "Stick to the n and keep the presentation going. I''ll head backstage and see what''s up."


    "But what about our simtion video..." ze said, biting his lip with worry.


    Mirabe gently freed her arm and gave ze a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It''s okay. We''ll have the video sorted out soon."


    Looking into Mirabe''s steady eyes, ze found his own chaotic thoughts beginning to calm down.


    "Alright," ze nodded.


    With a slight nod of her own, Mirabe headed backstage.


    ze watched as Mira disappeared from view, then took a deep breath. After exchanging a look with Denny the two of them stood up and


    walked onto the stage, yel


    Prestige College meant they had to push through, even if things went awry.


    *


    Meanwhile, Robert had already rushed backstage after seeing the mess on the


    screen, eager to figure out what had gone wrong.


    "The file source is corrupted," said the professor handling the video yback, still clicking away at the mouse in a futile attempt to fix. things. Unfortunately, he wasn much of a tech whiz, and the


    problem remained unresolved.


    Robert''s expression turned grim. "It can''t be corrupted. We double-checked


    everything beforeing here-there weren''t any issues. How is it malfunctioning now?"


    The professor, just as frustrated


    with this unusual glitch, replied with


    a tone even more irritable than


    Robert''s, "How should I know? plugged in your sh drive, and this is what happened. Maybe your sh drive just decided to act up."