Nancy froze at Ariel’s words.
Reconstruct her entire code? Who did Ariel think she was? Did she really think she was that capable?
Even though Nancy’s first instinct was to dismiss it as nonsense, her heart still skipped a beat. She instinctively nced toward Cedric.
He hadn’t said a word at all, just quietly observing. He still seemedpletely unaware.
That gave Nancy a small measure of relief.
“Ariel, don’t try to impress everyone. If it can be reconstructed so easily, it wouldn’t even be confidential.”
She sneered.
Ariel didn’t even bother debating her. She simply looked toward the judges‘ table. “I can perform reverse- engineering analysis right now.”
“If you’re really capable, go ahead and try.” Cedric, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. His tone was so light it was impossible to tell whether he trusted Ariel or not.
Carlos shot him a nce.
Cedric clearly knew Ariel’s abilities, yet he still said that. He was really harsh with his words as usual.
Nancy’s throat tightened.
Was Ariel crazy? How dare she bluff in front of everyone
But Ariel didn’t hesitate.
She had a clear idea where the simrities were most striking, and she suspected Nancy’s code was
somehow linked to U.N2<b>. </b>
Ariel’s move stunned everyone in the audience.
Most people would think she was just talking big.
Jayson’s gaze lingered on Ariel. After a long moment, he subtly raised an eyebrow. Then his gaze flicked toward Cedric.
Ariel had a n. Even in reverse–engineering, she had a precise direction.
Sure enough, when she saw that part of the code, her brow furrowed.
Slowly, she turned to Nancy with a cold edge in her eyes. “I’ll ask you again. Did you write this?”
Nancy wasn’t sure what Ariel had reconstructed, but there was no way for her to escape now. She clenched her fists and shot back, “Of course. Ms. Walker, are you trying to pin something on me? Aren’t we talking about your problem? Shouldn’t you be proving yourself
Ariel gave a small, amused smile as she <b>passed </b>the detailed code to Carlos.
Once Carlos saw it, his expression turned ice–cold. He stared at Nancy with a razor–sharp stare. “Is that so? Are you really that capable? This part of the code actually matches U.N2.”
The moment he said that, a number of people jumped to their feet, stunned.
Nancy? U.N2?
The connection was instantaneous. People couldn’t help but wonder if Nancy was actually the U.N2
developer.
Matt and the others were caughtpletely off guard by this situation.
Samson’s face darkened, and his gaze at Nancy deepened. He knew her skills. There was no way she was involved with U.N2.
Even Nancy herself momentarily lost herposure. Her eyes went wide in disbelief.
She clearly hadn’t expected this. A cold sweat broke out across her skin. She nced instinctively at Cedric.
Wasn’t this just Cedric’s scribble? How could it be…
Cedric finally looked at Nancy, then slowly chuckled. “Really? Is that true?”
Nancy felt a massive weight m down on her neck. The overwhelming sense of danger threatened to swallow her whole. Especially now, with U.N2 suddenly in the mix, the government would certainlyunch a full investigation.
She had no idea how Ariel had figured it out.
Now, she had to prove she had nothing to do with U.N2 <b>if </b>she wanted a chance to survive.
Nancy’s face went pale. She hurriedly said, “There’s been a misunderstanding. That’s not the case. I can release part of my actual system code.”
She was confident her code didn’t match Ariel’s reconstruction.
Without waiting for the judges to respond, she handed over part of her system code.
Ariel was astonished when she saw the familiar code. A faint chill touched her lips. “Most of this matches what I reconstructed. Care to exin, Ms. Stanton?”
The tide suddenly turned.
Nancy was so shocked that she couldn’t utter a word.