"You''ll restore it?" Shanley rose to his feet, his eyes fixed on the girl, a knowing smile ying on his thin lips. She certainly didn''t sound like she was joking.


    "Can I use that?" Juniper scanned the room, her gaze settling on an old officeputer.


    "Y-yes, of course." Carl, still stunned by her deration, stammered for a moment before asking, "Juniper, have you studiedputer science?"


    "I know a little," Juniper replied nonchntly as she sat down at the desk.


    "Juniper, this is the original data drive from the shop''s security system," an officer said, respectfully handing her a USB drive.


    Juniper took it and began importing the files. Her ten fingers flew across the keyboard, opening some kind of ck software interface. But after several moments of frantic typing, the screen remained unchanged. The deleted footage was still marked as "Data Corrupted."


    After watching Juniper''s flurry of activity yield no results, Dustin''s heart, which had been lodged in his throat, finally dropped back into ce. He''d thought she was some kind of prodigy, but it seemed she was all talk.


    "Juniper, is it working?" Qadir whispered, his palms sweating.


    "Anyone else might fail, but Juniper?" Queenie said, crossing her arms thoughtfully. She then dered with conviction, "She''s not just anyone!"


    Anything Juniper set her mind to, she aplished.


    "Sir, should I still call for the hacker?" Felton leaned in and asked Shanley quietly. Ms. Payne had been at it for a while with no progress. She probably didn''t know what she was doing.


    "No need." Shanley remained seated, his deep-set eyes intently watching her fingers. Every keystroke was rted to programming; she wasn''t just typing randomly. If he wasn''t mistaken, the precinct''sputer system was too outdated, so she was building a new program from scratch.


    This girl was a hidden gem. Interesting. A slight smile graced Shanley''s lips, his gaze filled not just with fondness, but also with genuine admiration.


    “Beep-beep—


    11


    Five minutester, the dark screen suddenly flickered with a page of symbols. Ten secondster, the symbols vanished and were reced by a green interface.


    [System Build Sessful]


    Juniper arched an eyebrow with a roguish ir and continued to type. Soon, the corrupted surveince footage reappeared on the screen.


    "It''s back!" Qadir eximed, running over to stand behind her. "Juniper, you''re amazing! I want to be your apprentice!"


    Juniper nced back at him with a smile.


    Watching her smile so brightly at someone else, the warmth in Shanley''s eyes instantly cooled. He was not pleased.


    Carl craned his neck to get a better look, confirming that the original data was indeed being restored.


    As the footage yed, beads of cold sweat dripped down Dustin''s forehead.


    Finally, after a few more minutes, the corrupted video was fully recovered. The screen clearly showed the Era High students harassing Dolce first. Juniper had approached to mediate, but they had responded with verbal abuse and then physical aggression. Waheed''s injuries were a result of him tripping and falling while trying to attack Juniper. As for the other boys...


    Carl rubbed his temples. It was almost too embarrassing to watch. Severalrge boys ganged up on one slender girl and still couldn''t win. What a disgrace.


    Who would have thought that the small, quiet girl was such a formidable fighter?