"Does Juniper know that?" Jimmie asked after a long silence, his voice strained and


    raw.


    "I haven''t told her yet," Shanley said, his face pale, concerned about the girl''s emotional state. "The people at Cybeic Shadows are still investigating to get a final confirmation. I just wanted to give you a heads-up so you could prepare." "Okay," Jimmie replied in a muffled tone. "Don''t tell Juniper for now. It''ll affect her exams."


    The girl usually acted so cool and detached, as if nothing mattered to her. But after spending time with her, he realized she was quite fragile underneath, especially when it came to family.


    "I know."


    After hanging up, Shanley immediately called Cybeic Shadows. "Keep digging. I want a definitive answer."


    "Mr. Schwartz, Binary Oracle..." his subordinate said, hesitating. To put it simply, Cybeic Shadows was Binary Oracle''s number one target. Any move they made was instantly countered. The news of the "death" had been extremely hard to uncover. They had tried to break through Binary Oracle''s satellite blockade and had lost several firewalls in the process. Dammit. Each firewall cost at least a million. In just fifteen minutesst night, they had found a sliver of information but had lost over a hundred million in the process.


    "Keep digging, regardless of the cost," Shanley ordered, his fingers tightening. His voice was as cold as ice from a deep valley, chilling to the bone. "If Binary Oracle keeps acting so brazenly, send people to bomb all their eastern bases."


    His subordinate didn''t dare say another word, his heart pounding in his chest. Bomb their bases? That was like taking a dump on the head of that maniac who ran Binary Oracle. The two titans of cyberspace, if they went to war...


    The thought was terrifying.


    ...


    In her bedroom, Juniper had just finished her shower when her phone rang. It was her subordinate of Binary Oracle.


    "Hello?" she answered, not bothering to change into her pajamas as she tossed her hair towel aside.


    "Boss," her subordinate on the other end sounded dejected. "There are two things I need to report."


    "Go on," Juniper said, standing by the window. She felt a tightening in her chest, a vague sense of unease.


    "First, Cybeic Shadows went nuts for some reason. They suddenly started attacking our firewalls in the middle ofst night."


    Just hearing the name Cybeic Shadows soured Juniper''s


    Just wait, she thought het n all down sooner oret


    "Did they break through?" she asked calmly.


    "No," her subordinate said, startled by his boss''sposure. "We were jolted from a dead sleep and fought back like our lives depended on it, We ended up breaking several of their firewalls, costing them over a hundred million."


    Cybeic Shadows was probably hiding somewhere, cursing their luck. Heh. That made him happy.


    "What''s the other thing?" Juniper asked, annoyed by his rambling.


    "We have a lead on the person you asked us to look into."


    Juniper''s hand, which was reaching for a ss of water, tightened. "Spit it out."


    "Based on the specific time you gave us, we used multiple channels and confirmed that a boy was washed ashore in Australis from the sea."


    "And?"


    "But....." Here, the subordinate''s tone became cautious. "He passed away the same day he was rescued."


    "Crash"


    Juniper''s heart jolted, and the ss


    in her hand slipped, falling to the floor and shattering loudly. The sound startled the subordinate "Boss Are you alright?" he asked anxiously.