?Chapter 677:


    “Think you can handle the inspection on your own, Ms. Gilbert?” Rutherford asked.


    Ste nodded lightly. “I can manage. But there’s no power out here. I’ll need electricity to test it properly.”


    Rutherford scanned the surroundings. Not far off, he spotted an old lighthouse. “We might be able to find power in there,” he said.<fn1233> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n Find1Novel</fn1233>


    They found an old cart nearby and gently ced the equipment on it before pushing it toward the lighthouse.


    When they reached the door, it was locked, but the ce was empty. Usually, there’d be a port staffer stationed in the office below, but today it seemed deserted, and neither of them had a key.


    While Rutherford looked around helplessly, Ste circled the building and spotted a window that hadn’t been shut properly. She pushed it open wider and climbed inside with ease.


    A momentter, the front door swung open from within, and Rutherford blinked in surprise.


    “Ms. Gilbert, how did you get in there?”


    “I used the window,” Ste replied calmly, brushing off the dust on her hands.


    She said it like it was the most normal thing in the world, but Rutherford was clearly taken aback by her quick thinking and her boldness.


    They moved the equipment into the lounge and found a working outlet. Without wasting a second, Ste got to work. Her fingers moved quickly across the screen as she checked the system, ran diagnostics, and tested eachponent with practiced precision.


    Rutherford, who was no stranger to this kind of work himself, watched with quiet admiration. Her confidence and skill were exactly why he’d asked her to help with this task.


    Ten minutester, she turned to him and said, “All good. Everything’s running perfectly. If the rest are anything like this one, there shouldn’t be any problems.”


    Rutherford gave a nod of relief. “Great. Let’s head back, then.”


    They had barely reached the door when it swung open, and in stepped the lighthouse manager, returning to his post.


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    He stopped short when he saw two unfamiliar faces in his lounge.


    With eyes narrowing in suspicion, he immediately reached for the stun gun on his belt. “Who are you, and what are you doing in here?” he demanded.


    Rutherford quickly raised both hands in a calming gesture. “Easy there. We just needed a power source to test some equipment. No harm done.”


    The manager shifted his eyes to Ste, who was standing behind Rutherford.


    After a long second of sizing them up, he slowly rxed and eased his grip on the stun gun. “What kind of equipment?”


    “We had a shipment of equipment to test, and that’s all we did. Everything’s done now, and we didn’t mess with anything. You can see for yourself,” Rutherford exined.


    Honestly, there wasn’t much in the lounge worth taking anyway—just a basic setup to monitor the waves and keep an eye on port deliveries.


    The ce didn’t even have a properputer.


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