[CITADEL SYSTEM: ONLINE.]
The gentlen on the second floor, who had completely forgotten about Hayley, couldn’t help but head down to the event hall. They had been watching everything from above, but without realizing it, their curiosity had already drawn them to the side of the stage.
Curiosity filled their minds; anticipation gripped their hearts. They wanted to see Citadel’s launch with their eyes.
Before they knew it, they were standing beside the stage, watching as the Citadel system ca online on every screen in the area. And it wasn’t just them — everyone’s eyes were glued to the big screen, waiting to see what would happen next.
[SYSTEM INTEGRITY: CONFIRD.]
Everyone held their breath, wondering what would co next. Penny had stopped everything, staring at her monitor as if she were waiting for sothing.
[DIGITAL PERITER SECURING...
NEUTRALIZING THREATS...]
---
anwhile, in the room where Yugi and his team were stationed, everyone had stopped working. All they could do was watch. Thanks to Penny’s help, they had finally regained control. But unlike the people in the main hall, they watched with a different emotion.
Worry.
"Sir," soone whispered, eyes locked on the screen. "Is it going to work?"
Yugi didn’t answer, his gaze solemn.
’I hope so,’ he thought. ’She didn’t touch the Citadel directly — she just gave it space to launch without getting infected by the virus.’
Every second stretched into eternity. So people could even hear their own gulps. Then—
[WELCO, OPERATOR. YOUR DOMAIN IS NOW SECURE.]
Everyone in the control room let out a massive sigh of relief, standing from their seats. Applause quickly erupted — slow at first, then louder, celebrating the successful launch. Getting Citadel operational had been one of the biggest challenges, especially with the planted bug threatening everything.
It was a huge risk just launching it, but now, it succeeded.
"She did it!" soone exclaid. "Miss Penny did it!"
"Wow! She’s amazing!"
"I didn’t know she could do this stuff. I guess the rumors about her and Sir Yugi competing back in the day are true. Man... I can’t believe it!"
The sa scenario was happening in Pri Group Headquarters, who had been giving assistance as much as they could. After all, getting in was the greatest difficulty they have to handle.
Amid the celebration, they noticed Yugi still seated. He hadn’t reacted nor did he share the sa relief as them.
"Sir?"
Yugi kept his eyes on the monitor before leaning back in his chair. After a mont, he let out a long breath and turned to them.
"Yeah," he said with a smirk. "Penny is one hell of a woman. Don’t ss with her."
The guys looked at each other—then broke into laughter.
"Boss, as if we’d even think of ssing with her. She’d wipe the floor with us."
---
[Main Hall]
[WELCO, OPERATOR. YOUR DOMAIN IS NOW SECURE.]
The mont those words flashed across the screen, Penny slamd her hand on the desk and kicked her chair across the floor. She slowly turned toward the screen, smirking.
"Still there, X?" she teased. "Or have you packed up your things?"
Nothing.
People waited, but there was no response. Only after a full minute did cheers erupt in the hall.
"Woah! Did she kick him out?! That’s amazing!"
"All ten players couldn’t do it earlier, but she... she beat him!"
"That’s X—the legendary Vigilante! And she just took him down!"
"Vigilante? More like a self-righteous jerk on a high horse."
anwhile, those on stage with Penny could only stare at her in awe.
"Amazing," one whispered. "She’s... she’s amazing."
"She’s literally glowing. A goddess."
"I’m in love," soone murmured, clutching his chest. "This is love, for sure."
"How..." Nathaniel, just as stunned as his team and their opponents, stared at her. "...co?"
Nathaniel wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed, but earlier—while Penny was performing her miracles—every error in the system had been marked with an [X].
"Was it just ?" soone whispered nearby. "There were a lot of Xs earlier..."
Nathaniel glanced at the speaker. ’So it wasn’t just ...’
His eyes slowly drifted back to Penny, brows furrowed. ’Am I just overthinking this?’
Normally, errors displayed as full words. But earlier, as Penny worked faster, the word error had begun to be replaced by [X] marks. Even the retaliation she sent bore an X at the end—though she’d made efforts to erase them once she noticed.
It could’ve been muscle mory. A habit. Or... coincidence.
After all, "X" had never nad himself. The public did—because during his years of activity, the symbol [X] would often appear during system failures, and his virus scripts always ended with an "x." It was like a signature. So people began calling the anonymous hacker X.
"Could it be...?"
But just as Nathaniel was piecing things together, soone from the crowd shouted:
"Miss Bennet! Does this an the threat has been neutralized?!"
Everyone turned toward the voice—then all eyes fell on Penny. They had been cheering without confirmation.
"Yes." Penny planted her hands on the desk and stood, her eyes landing on the players on stage, who instinctively stepped back. Then she turned to the audience, and to the guests watching from the side. "It’s been neutralized. We’ve regained control of our system and successfully eliminated the bug that X planted to infiltrate Fortress."
A massive wave of relief swept through the hall. The cheers returned, louder now, while the gentlen clapped proudly.
"That’s my boss!" Patricia whistled, clapping loud and fast.
Teddy, Hayley, and Shawn—standing behind the gentlen—felt their knees go weak. A wave of pride and relief washed over them as they stared at Penny.
"That’s my boss right there," Hayley said, a grin forming on her face. ’Lying for her was worth it after all.’
Teddy nodded, clapping. "She’s amazing."
"I guess, no one’s having a heart attack tonight..." Shawn murmured, only to flinch when he saw Atlas staring at him. "Heh... Sir Atlas."
"If you ever have a heart attack," Atlas said flatly, "please let know what triggered it. I want to test it."
"Huh?" Shawn blinked, confused, but Atlas had already looked away. He’d never find out what that ant.
But just as everyone was celebrating, an eerie laughter echoed once more through the speakers.
At the sa ti, a single word appeared on the screen:
[HAHAHA!]
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