Byron''s eyes were glued to therge rolling screen, where he saw Tucker''s name, clear as day. He had actually won two consecutive rounds and was now in the third. Tucker''s skills were mediocre at best; how could he possibly have surpassed him?


    By now, news of Tucker breaking his own record and entering the third round of the finals had spread like wildfire back home.


    "Impossible," Byron muttered, clutching his phone as his eyes grew cold. "It has to be pure luck. He''ll probably get knocked out in the third round."


    That had to be it. Byron decided he would wait right there for Tucker to be eliminated. Trying to steal his spotlight and make a name for himself? Not on his watch!


    Soon, the third round concluded, and the list of advancing contestants was announced. Byron craned his neck, only to see Tucker''s name once again. He advanced again? Did Tucker really have the ability to create programs worthy of the top three rounds?


    Anyone who made it to the third round of thispetition had some serious skills. To stand out from that group required something truly extraordinary. What on earth had Tucker created?


    Byron sat frozen in ce, staring at the screen so intently he was practically grinding his teeth to dust.


    Meanwhile, in a corner of the audience, Juniper was texting Lue. Lue had just informed her that agents from Sigma Network had quietly arrived on the ind, bringing not only elite operatives but also tworge shipments of cargo, presumably weapons and equipment to use against the Subterra Vanguard.


    Lue: [The old fox came well-prepared, but the Subterra Vanguard isn''t to be trifled with.]


    Juniper nced at the list of finalists, then her fingers moved slowly across the screen. [He can bring it in, but that doesn''t mean he''ll get to use it.]


    Lue: [?]


    Juniper: [What if it all suddenly goes up in smoke tomorrow?]


    Lue: [Leave it to you, Juniper. You''re nning to capture the head of Sigma Network alive, aren''t you?]


    Juniper''s lips curled into a humorless smile. [I should at least get a look at the bastard who tried to put a bullet in my head.]


    Lue: [Deal. Once we catch him, we''ll make him your personal ve.]


    As the fourth round began, only eight contestants remained. This round would eliminate five. To ensureplete fairness, the final two rounds required a public demonstration of the programs. Videos of all eight contestants'' work! would be yed simultaneously on therge screens, allowing anyone with a discerning eye to see which was superior.


    Thepetition started, and the eight programs began to y. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. As expected of the final round, every single entry was astounding.


    But one, titled "Glimmer" on the far-left screen, was particrly captivating. After its demo program finished, the code began to dpress itself.


    Imagine looking at a world map on your phone, seeing it as a t ne. But if you keep tapping on a single location, the map zooms in, and in, and in eventually transitioning from a macroscopic view to a


    microscopic one. That''s what this was. A model the size of your palm contained entire countries, mountains, and rivers-everything that exists on Earth, expertlypressed into any package by master programmer. As the program dpressed, this small model began to expand, revealing all itspressed contents one by one.


    Gasps of amazement filled the hall.


    The rules stipted that a contestant''s submission could not exceed 64 kilobytes. For context, a single photograph is oftenrger than 100 kilobytes. The audience was on the edge of their seats, wondering just how much this tiny program could possibly generate.