?Chapter 1038:


    Rage simmered in Jerry’s voice as he mmed his fist on the desk. “Can someone tell me how our entire system got hacked? Every minute we’re offline bleeds money!”


    Desperation clouded the IT team’s faces. “Mr. Morgan, this isn’t just any cyberattack. We’re dealing with someone on another level entirely.”


    Confusion edged Jerry’s question. “Why would a hackere after us of allpanies?”


    A shake of the head was all the answer. “Nothing seemed wrong until everything went dark at once. We never even saw iting.”


    “Don’t just stand there—fix it already!” Jerry’s patience was thinning fast. “Aren’t you supposed to be professionals?”


    Uncertainty flickered among the staff. “With what we have, there’s no way we can block whoever’s behind this.”


    His temper climbing, Jerry’s shout echoed down the hallway. “So what, we just sit here while thepany tanks? You’re telling me there’s no fix?”


    With thework down, profits were draining away by the second. Panic wed at Jerry’sposure.


    The lead technician swallowed. “This attack is on another level. We’d need someone world-ss to even have a shot at pushing them out.”


    “Then track one down and pay them whatever they want!” Jerry snarled.


    A tense silence filled the room as the IT team exchanged worried looks. “There’s only one person with that kind of reputation—EL. But no one knows how to contact EL. EL only takes jobs by personal choice.”


    Word of the Morgan Group’s server disaster spread like wildfire, catching the attention of every major news outlet. Evelyn stormed into thepany’s lobby, frantic after seeing the headlines. She found Jerry in his office and blurted out, “Dad, what on earth happened? Why isn’t anything working?”


    A heavy sigh escaped Jerry as he rubbed his forehead. “You think I have answers? Some lunatic hacker decided to make us their target, and now we’re in freefall.”


    Evelyn sneered, “Why not just pay someone to handle it? Throw enough money around and top-notch hackers will show up.”


    Shaking his head, Jerry took on a grim tone. “Only one person in the world could get us out of this mess. That’s EL. And EL isn’t exactly avable on demand.”


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    A sh of determination lit up Evelyn’s eyes. “EL, huh? Leave it to me. I’ll get EL on our side—just watch.”


    Evelyn assumed that a hefty sum could smooth over any problem. If the price was high enough, EL would surely take the job.


    Evelyn reached out to an old ssmate who had studiedputer science, asking him to help track down EL and ry the request of restoring the Morgan Group’s crippledwork with a fifty-million reward.


    News of the lucrative offer reached Pantheon’s chat in no time.


    Cyn dropped a message in the group chat. “EL, there’s a job worth fifty million with your name on it. Are you nning to take it?”


    A buzz on Elena’s phone signaled the message’s arrival. Her answer came without a second thought. “Count me out.”


    Not one to give up, Cyn continued, “Funny thing, it’s a job in the—and isn’t that where you are right now? The Morgan Group… Do you know them, EL?”


    Elena paused. Wasn’t the Morgan Group owned by Evelyn’s family? She pulled up the current job queue, confirming her hunch. Evelyn’s name sat beside the request.


    Widespreadwork failure had left the Morgan Group’s servers in the dark for more than ten minutes.


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