Chapter 707

"Let's head to the private lounge," Luella whispered, her eyes darting around cautiously. "Who knows where that old bastard from Sigma Network is hiding."

Besides, Juniper had recently made a public appearance at a programming competition and could be easily recognized.

"Alright." Juniper, however, was perfectly calm. Before leaving the main hall, she even stopped by the buffet table to grab a plate of small cakes.

---

Inside the room, Luella sat before a specially installed monitor, studying the crowd with her chin propped in her hand. "Juniper, who do you think is the leader of Sigma Network?"

Juniper glanced at the screen, a faint smile on her lips as she ate a piece of cake. "The leader of Sigma Network won't be in that crowd."

"How can you be so sure?" Luella turned, ready for a lesson.

"Because, just like me, he's afraid of a surprise attack." Juniper tossed her fork into the trash, wiped her fingers, and leaned back on the sofa with a yawn. "We'll deal with it after the competition."

"We're about to walk into a firefight and you can actually sleep?" Luella gave Juniper a silent thumbs-up before turning her full attention back to the monitor. "An old man, huh? Alright, I'll focus on the older guys in the hall."

As she scanned the room, a tall, imposing figure entered her field of vision. Unfortunately, the man was holding an umbrella that obscured his entire face, revealing only his straight-backed silhouette.

Luella frowned. *Why does that guy look a little like Juniper's man?*

She turned, about to point him out to Juniper, but stopped when she saw that Juniper was already asleep. She didn't have the heart to wake her.

Besides, Shanley was supposed to be at a business meeting; he shouldn't be here. On top of that, entry required an invitation for a top-tier hacker. If Shanley were a hacker, Juniper would have known long ago. She was probably just overthinking it.

With that, Luella dismissed the thought and went back to observing the old men in the hall.

Meanwhile, in another room, Shanley was shrugging off his black trench coat and instructing Felton to turn on the surveillance feed.

"There are too many people. It's

impossible to tell who Specter is at a glance Flint said, crouching in front of the monitor with a deep frown Boss, you've faced Specter before. Do you think you'd recognize them?"

"If they were standing right in front of me, yes." Shanley sat on the sofa, crossing one long leg elegantly over the other His deep piercing e

were fixed on the screen. "A man in his fifties, around five-foot-seven, with salt-and-pepper hair."

He had no way of knowing that at the time of their encounter, Juniper had been roped into a costume party, dressed as an old man, when his forces had launched a surprise attack. She'd had no time to change.

"Understood, boss." With this clear description, Flint responded respectfully, "I'll start filtering for men around fifty."

"Good." Shanley glanced at the time, intending to call Juniper, but then remembered she was likely taking her afternoon nap. He decided against it. Let her sleep.

Thirty minutes later, the World Hacker Competition officially kicked off.

Fifty hackers from different

countries and regions were participating, some representing

the nations, others competing as * dividuals. The format was a free-for-all battle royale. All fifty hackers would enter a massive system simultaneously and fight until only one remained standing.

The command was given, and the hackers began logging into the system. The last

two to log in were "Specter" and "S," the leader of the Sigma Network.

"Holy crap! The ultimate showdown."

The whole place erupted.