The Unveiling of Secret Queen

Chapter 814: Has She Provoked the Red Alliance?

Her gaze flickered, and she denied subconsciously, "I, I didn’t."

"You still dare to lie!"

Lincoln Hoffman, who had neither married nor had children himself, always doted on his niece and treated her as if she were his own daughter, so his first reaction upon learning what happened was a headache from anger. Seeing her lie and not admit it, in addition to being angry, he felt a strong sense of disappointment.

"People have already come to ask me about it."

Phoebe Hoffman gripped the hem of her clothes, her nervous fingers turning white as she looked at him with an uncertain expression, her mind in chaos.

Who has come looking?

The Red Alliance?

How did the Red Alliance find out that she had used the Lizard’s Tail?

She couldn’t make sense of it in her heart.

Mr. Hoffman was also confused and asked the angry man beside him, "Lincoln, what exactly is going on? What are you talking about, and who has come looking?"

"Who else could it be?" If someone else had asked him, he might not have wanted to talk at all, but he had always been dutiful to Mr. Hoffman, so he had no choice but to forcefully suppress the rage in his heart and said grudgingly, "The Red Alliance. People from the Red Alliance found me and asked if I had used a virus they sent me to play with outside..."

"The Red Alliance?" Mr. Hoffman tensed up upon hearing these two words, almost standing up in alarm, "How could the Red Alliance have come looking?"

The outside world might not know much about the Red Alliance, but their rise over the years was largely related to the Alliance!

Originally, Beijing was divided into three parts, with the remaining families that could establish themselves either having connections in politics or deep roots in the city for over a hundred years. The Hoffman Family had neither, but the reason they could linger on the periphery of the upper circles was due to some promising younger members of the family.

Among them, the most outstanding was his youngest son, Lincoln Hoffman.

Lincoln Hoffman’s reputation as the number one hacker in the country and being a highly regarded guest among the Great Families of Beijing was greatly attributed to the assumption that he had an extraordinary relationship with the Red Alliance.

The rumor that Lincoln Hoffman was nearly recruited by the Red Alliance had spread all over Beijing!

The Hoffman Family’s continued success relied on this connection!

For outsiders, the Red Alliance was just a mysterious and formidable hacker organization, but for the Hoffman Family, it was the foundation of their establishment in Beijing.

They couldn’t afford to offend anyone from the Red Alliance’s side.

Naturally, Lincoln Hoffman knew this all too well; he was always extremely careful when dealing with people from the Red Alliance, fearful of offending any of them.

During holidays, he would even send messages to extend greetings.

He would show as much humility as possible...

He had been carefully managing this relationship for so long with the hope of being accepted by the Red Alliance one day, only to be told abruptly by the Red Alliance that they wanted to sever ties with him and that he should no longer use the banner of the Red Alliance outside!

Lincoln Hoffman’s eyes blazed with fury, his temper flaring again as he pointed at Phoebe Hoffman and expressed his disappointment as if lamenting her failure, "What else could it be? You should ask her what exactly she did at The Ninth Institute!"

"I... I didn’t do anything..." Phoebe Hoffman still stubbornly denied it.

Lincoln Hoffman’s uncontrollable anger made him slam the table, "If you did nothing, then why would The Ninth Institute expel you, and why would the Red Alliance come to me to ask if I’ve been using the Red Alliance’s virus outside? I only gave you that Trojan, if not you, then who else could it be?"

Phoebe Hoffman opened her mouth but was unable to speak.

The look Lincoln Hoffman gave her was full of disappointment; he turned away, annoyed, and said directly to Mr. Hoffman, "I can’t help her now. You deal with her matter!"

Mr. Hoffman, along with Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman, were all stunned into silence by Lincoln Hoffman’s rebuke.

Mr. Hoffman’s face alternated between flushed and pale with disbelief, turning to Phoebe Hoffman and asking in a grave tone, "Did you use the virus your uncle gave you at The Ninth Institute? What did you do with it?"

The entire family was looking at her.

Their eyes, all filled with disappointment.

"..." Phoebe Hoffman’s mind was emptily blank, her nails dug painfully, threatening to tear off her nail beds as she absolutely dared not speak.