The Unveiling of Secret Queen

Chapter 767: The Abacus Clatters Loudly_1

Phoebe Hoffman was still waiting anxiously, completely unaware that she had been clearly captured by surveillance cameras.

She looked up at the wall clock.

Checked the time.

Seeing that almost an hour had passed since Wallace Radcliff had sent someone to find her, she became increasingly restless. The coffee lost its flavor, and she put down the cup she was holding, no longer able to feign composure. A sense of unease surged in her heart, but Phoebe couldn’t pinpoint why she felt that way; she just couldn’t calm down.

After a moment’s hesitation, she picked up the phone lying on the table and sent a message to Group Two.

A minute went by.

No one replied.

Three minutes passed.

Still, no reply.

"What’s going on?" Phoebe’s eyebrows knitted tightly as she looked down at her phone, stubbornly sending another message.

She had thought this time the other party would surely reply quickly.

But the outcome was the same, her phone remained eerily silent, with not a hint of response.

Feeling increasingly uneasy, she stood up, clasping the phone in her hands, and walked towards the window while flipping through the earlier group messages from Group Two.

The earliest group message was still from an hour ago.

[Mr. Hoffman, when are you coming over? I see Xavier Rabenstein and his team can’t fix the bug in the USB flash drive. Xavier is sweating bullets and nearly at his wit’s end. You might as well come now.]

Phoebe saw her own reply, quite composed: [No rush, wait a bit longer.]

Then the others in the group continued the conversation.

[Damn, Mr. Radcliff must be crazy, actually planning to let that high school student stand in for him to demonstrate the Autonomous Driving technology to the international experts. It’s over... The Ninth Institute is going to be humiliated big time!]

After that, there were no new messages.

Phoebe’s fingertips rubbed anxiously against the phone screen, scrolling back to that last message again.

Wallace Radcliff letting Nathalie Quinlan stand in for him on stage, she had seen that, but didn’t take it seriously, convinced Wallace wouldn’t dare allow Nathalie to replace him. So she waited calmly in the room, waiting for Wallace Radcliff to relent and send someone to ask for her "help"...

Who knew that this wait would last an hour.

An hour—could it be that Wallace Radcliff really let Nathalie go up?

That was preposterous!

The public open day was very important for The Ninth Institute, with experts from MGP and MIT attending. Even if Wallace had the audacity to let Nathalie try, she couldn’t believe that Mr. Bonette and his group wouldn’t stop it.

Her thoughts were simple. If Brian Bonette intervened, in the end, they could only turn to her, after all, she was The Ninth Institute’s foremost IT expert.

The Trojan virus on the USB drive Xavier couldn’t solve, only she could handle.

Then she could easily showcase her abilities, "resolve" the bug on the USB flash drive, and prove herself. At the same time, she could let others see that she was the most talented one in the field of programming in the country!

That was how Phoebe had planned it, and up until now, things had gone as she predicted. Xavier couldn’t handle the Trojan virus on the USB drive, Wallace sent someone to ask for her help...

The problem came after that.

Phoebe furrowed her brow, feeling more anxious, and couldn’t understand why almost an hour had passed and no one had looked for her, nor had anyone responded to her messages.

Could it be that Nathalie really stood in for Wallace Radcliff?

As the thought crossed her mind, Phoebe let out a self-mocking laugh, pursing her lips and muttering to herself, "How could that be possible..."

No sooner had she spoken than her phone suddenly vibrated.

Seeing a call from Wallace Radcliff, she hurriedly answered, and after catching her breath and steadying her nerves, she tried to sound calm, "Hello? Mr. Radcliff, do you need me for something?"