[Team A’s Side]
"I see an opening! An opening!" one of the mbers shouted, typing rapidly on his keyboard. "Get them—distract them! I’m going to infiltrate. Co on, guys! Keep talking! I can’t keep glancing at your screens!"
"Distract them. Buy him so ti. I’m busy right now."
"I’m launching a virus," another chid in. "I can’t do both right now! God damn it! Soone buy so ti!!"
"I’ll sustain—damn it! They’re shutting out! I need a hand here!"
Team A worked in perfect sync despite their differences during practice rounds. The cheers surrounding them faded into the background as they focused entirely on each other’s voices and the glowing screens before them.
anwhile, on Team D’s side, frustration was etched across their faces. The first round lasted only for several minutes. Not only had they almost handed their opponents free points, but the humiliation of being overwheld so quickly was hard to swallow.
Now, they were doing their best to hold off the relentless attacks on their system. So far, they were doing better than the first round.
"Hey, soone’s trying to get in!" one of them shouted. "I’m already holding soone off! Soone stop him!"
"Fuck! I’m being attacked, I can’t let go of this one just yet!"
"Calm down. Don’t let them get to you. Hold them off long enough, and they’ll get impatient. They’ll make a mistake soon. Keep your heads together until then."
The clacking of keyboards filled the air, peppered with curses and situation updates. Team A was clearly pushing hard, but Team D was finally doing a better job—holding the line and preventing their defenses from being breached.
---
anwhile, in the VIP section of the event, Teddy approached Atlas.
"Sir."
Atlas raised his brows at the quiet call and turned his head. His gaze landed on Teddy, one of Penny’s secretaries. Seeing that Penny wasn’t with him, Atlas imdiately stepped away from the group he’d been watching the competition with and moved to the side with Teddy.
"Where is she?" Atlas asked quietly, swirling the wine in his glass.
Teddy leaned in and spoke under his breath. "Miss Penny asked to inform you—there’s a problem." He then summarized the situation as best he could.
Atlas leaned back slightly, his expression unreadable as he nodded. "I see..."
But the mont those words left his mouth, the lights abruptly went out.
A beat of frozen silence spread through the hall. The sudden darkness made it feel as though everyone had gone blind, the residual buzz from the earlier excitent lingering in the air.
Atlas slowly looked up—
And then an eerie, distorted laugh echoed through the event hall.
---
At the sa ti, Patricia gasped and instinctively clutched Penny’s arm as the lights cut. Penny, however, stood still.
HAHAHA!
The mont the laughter rang through the speakers, a collective chill ran down everyone’s spine.
HAHAHA!
The main screen on the stage flickered to life, displaying the word [HAHAHA!] in bold red letters. The sa text appeared on every computer screen—including those onstage—and even on the smaller monitors scattered around the venue.
"Miss Penny."
Mark approached from the side. Penny turned to him and leaned in as he spoke quietly. After a brief exchange, she t his eyes again.
"I’ll be fine," she said, sensing his reluctance. "Go."
"Yes," he whispered and gave a small bow before leaving to carry out her instructions.
As he disappeared into the crowd, Penny turned her attention back to the main screen.
"Whoever’s behind this probably like Josef Em from Empire," she muttered.
Patricia blinked, confused. "Huh?"
"That laugh—it’s the actor’s from the movie," Penny clarified.
"What’s going on?"
"What the hell?"
"Hey, soone—what is this?"
The hall erupted in confusion, from both the audience and the players. Just monts ago, they’d been watching an intense cyber battle. Now, every screen displayed the sa rotating text—like a sinister Ferris wheel:
[Good evening, everyone. My na is X.]
A male, automated voice echoed alongside the words.
[Apologies for intruding on this... festivity. It just ca to my attention that sothing fun was happening here, so I thought I’d drop by.]
"X?" one of the players murmured, his brows furrowed. "X as in...?"
"That infamous hacker—the one who breached one of the world’s toughest security systems for fun?" another replied, his mouth agape.
"I’ve never heard of him," soone from Team D admitted, confused as his teammates stared at him in disbelief.
"How do you not know him?" one of them scoffed. "He used to be active on the black market. But unlike most, he hacked for fun."
"Even if it was just for fun, he caused real damage—exposing private data, ruining reputations. So people even ended up in jail."
"So called him the Vigilante. Others feared they might be next. His actions raised a ton of cyber security red flags."
The clueless teammate nodded slowly. "Wow... but what do you an, was?"
"X was active for only a year, then vanished. So say he got bored. Others think he was finally arrested." The speaker paused, eyes on the screen. "But clearly, it wasn’t the latter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here."
A heavy silence settled over both teams. The audience, anwhile, was left in stunned confusion. Only a handful of hardcore tech enthusiasts truly understood the implications—the Legend of X, as so called it.
Murmurs spread across the hall, each whisper amplifying the tension.
"Oh no," Patricia whispered, overhearing the rumors. She turned to Penny. "Penny, I think we just got hacked by soone really dangerous."
Penny didn’t answer. Her eyes remained fixed on the big screen.
"X, huh?" she murmured, almost amused. "Now that’s interesting."
[I’ve been watching this contest, and I must say—it’s been a delight. So I’ve decided to join the fun.]
[In ten minutes, I will infiltrate the final layer of Fortress’s defenses. And once I do, I’ll leak every piece of data I find—for the world to see. That includes Pri Group’s clientele and all of their confidential files.]
The voice gave one last laugh.
[Try to stop . Ti is ticking.]
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