"Alright then," Juniper said with a faint,zy smile. "Give me aputer."


    "And if you can''t prove it?" a judge pressed.


    "You can do whatever you want with me." Juniper took theptop they provided, walked to an empty seat, and connected it to therge projector screen.


    The audience watched, confused, wondering how the girl nned to prove her identity.


    “What a stunt,” Byron muttered, rolling his eyes in contempt. This pair was single- handedly disgracing their entire country.


    “Juniper, what are you doing?" Tucker hurried to her side, his voice a hoarse whisper.


    "You''ll see in a minute,” Juniper said, tilting her chin up with an air of absolute calm. "Now sit over there, old man, or they''ll use us of cheating."


    "Juniper-"


    "Go!" Juniper''s voice rose, her tone suddenly serious.


    Tucker reluctantly did as he was told. Juniper wasn''t the type to act recklessly. She seemedpletely confident. Could it be... that she really was his master, Miss Null?


    Good heavens, was resurrection actually real?


    Meanwhile, in a hotel suite.


    Flint frantically knocked on Shanley''s door. "Boss!" he panted, out of breath. "Ms. Payne is about to blow her cover again!"


    "Hm?" Shanley nced up from hisputer, his eyes sweeping over Flint before returning to the screen, which was streaming the live feed from the World Programming Competition. The camera was zoomed in on Juniper.


    "Boss, you''re watching?" Flint clutched his chest, trying to calm his racing heart. “Ms. Payne just imed to be theputer genius, the programming legend Miss Null. Aren''t you shocked?"


    They knew all about Miss Null. Three years ago, she had defeated a host of programming veterans to win the championship. The sheer brilliance of her work was something Flint still remembered vividly. At the time, Shanley had been so impressed by her skills that he had tried to recruit her for Cybeic Shadows even offering an astronomical fee. But Miss Null had been stubborn and refused. Then, tragically, she was gone.


    And now, out of nowhere, Ms. Payne was iming to be the very same Miss Null who had supposedly died three years ago. It was beyond surreal.


    "Why would I be shocked?" Shanley leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs elegantly. A fond smile yed on his handsome face, and his voice was a low, rich murmur "This isn''t the first time Juniper has revealed a secret identity. You''ll have to get used to it."


    He had been caught off guard before, but after a few times... he was at peace with


    it.


    Flint wiped the sweat from his brow, speechless. Ms. Payne''s secret identities were getting more unbelievable by the day. At this rate, he was starting to suspect she might be Specter from Subterra Vanguard, especially given how much she loathed Cybeic Shadows.


    Back at thepetition.


    After connecting theptop, Juniper opened a programming application.


    "What do you intend to do?" the host asked curiously. "The judges can''t give you much time. Twenty minutes at most.”


    "That''s enough," Juniper smirked,


    her ten fingers hovering over the keyboard. She typed a few


    characters to get a feel for it. What a


    piece of junk. This software was


    worse than the stuff shed, discarded


    three years ago, and they were


    treating it like a treasure.


    After familiarizing herself, her fingers began to fly across the keyboard. The screen


    filled with a dense wall of symbols.