“Evil...” Cosmos mumbled to himself.
“What does it mean?” he asked as he looked in Nelly 's direction. She was staring at the screen with her brows slightly furrowed.
Without commenting further, she got up to her feet and turned to Dave. “Dave, I have a question for you.”
Dave returned her gaze. “Go on.”
“I don't think this person isn't as wicked as we think he is. At the very least, he has demonstrated to be someone with principles twice. Can we spare his life? Perhaps he can be of service to DX in the future?”
“It's difficult for people like him to work for someone else,” Dave replied candidly. “It wouldn't be too late to kill him if we failed to convince him then.”
Dave looked at her and considered her request for a moment. “Fine. I'll give him a chance on your account.” With that, he picked up his phone and made a call.
It wasn't until Dave was gone that Nelly 's gaze fell upon Alpha Kilian .
“Thank you,” Alpha Kilian said. “You're welcome.”
“Let's go. It's time to get some rest.”
At that moment, something occurred to Nelly . “Wait a moment.” She then returned to her seat and began typing furiously on the keyboard. Finally, she brought a chart up on the screen.
“The places where I have highlighted are all the flaws in your system. Once you fix them, you'll have a very robust system. There won't be any problems after that,” Nelly explained to Cosmos. She spoke in a much gentler tone, shedding the aggressive demeanor from earlier.
No sooner had she spoken than everyone leaned in to take a look.
Cosmos, too, was looking at the chart. Did she actually find all these loopholes in such a short time?
By the time he looked up wanting to question her about it, he realized Alpha Kilian and Nelly were already on their way out.
As he stared in Nelly 's direction, Cosmos' eyes glistened with complicated emotions. “Cosmos, this woman is amazing. I've never seen anyone as proficient as she is.”
“That's right. It's my first time too!”
“Cosmos, do you think Shadow Seeker and Anonymous are as good as she is?” someone asked.
Cosmos, the deputy team leader, answered, “How would I know? I've not seen them before, but I believe it to be the case.”
“She was incredible! I could feel the difference right away!” someone exclaimed.
“I have a question. Regardless of how good she is, she has only spent a short time here. How did she detect so many flaws in our system?” another asked.
Upon hearing the question, Cosmos replied in annoyance, “Isn't it obvious? She must have remembered all of them when the enemy attacked.”
“But to do that while battling the enemy is too...” I have to agree.
Even though Cosmos, too, found it unbelievable, that was the only logical explanation available. “Cosmos, I have another question.”
Upon regaining his senses, Cosmos stared at his men. “Why do you guys have so many questions?” “I—”
“Just go through the chart, and fix all the loopholes. I'm going out to deal with something and will be back shortly.” With that, Cosmos headed out the door.
His men felt disheartened as they watched his leaving silhouette. Nonetheless, they quickly got a grip of themselves over the need to patch up the loopholes.
Meanwhile, inside a conference room, Mike served Nelly a cup of coffee the moment she sat down. “Nelly , enjoy,” Mike said with an expression that was filled with admiration.
“Thank you,” Nelly responded with a smile. “You're most welcome!”
Even though he wasn't familiar with hackers, he was now aware that Nelly was anything but a bimbo. In fact, his impression of her had experienced a paradigm shift.
If Nelly was considered to have earned their acknowledgment with her attitude before this, then today, she had proven to them based on her skills.
Without a doubt, she had earned their respect after what she had done.
When Alpha Kilian saw how obsequious Mike was behaving, he threw the latter a glance. “Where's mine?”
Jolted out of his thoughts, Mike hesitated briefly before replying with a smile, “It's not like you did much today, Alpha Kilian .”
The words caused Alpha Kilian 's eyes to narrow. Nelly couldn't hold back her laughter.
“Are you saying that I don't even deserve a cup of coffee now?” Alpha Kilian asked softly.
Seeing that Alpha Kilian was about to make a fuss, Mike quickly said, “Of course not. I'll get someone to bring you one.”
“I want you to do it.” “Huh?”
“Go now!” Alpha Kilian pressured him with a glare. After giving it a quick thought, Mike said, “Fine.”
Left without a choice, he went off to make coffee.
Nelly took a few sips before putting down her cup. “Why did you have to make things difficult for him?”
“That brat is getting on my nerves,” Alpha Kilian mumbled.
Alpha Kilian 's eyes narrowed as he stared at Mike. “Chat group? What chat group?” Um...
“Is that not it?” Mike asked.
“You haven't answered my question. What group are you talking about?” Alpha Kilian demanded. Crap! I exposed myself!
Mike shook his head immediately. “It's nothing. There's no such chat group at all.”
Alpha Kilian looked calm as he gave Mike the side-eye. “Do you want to wait for me to find out, or do you prefer to confess?”
Intimidated by Alpha Kilian 's ultimatum, Mike relented immediately. “I'll confess.” “Spit it out.”
“When you brought Nelly back to the base, someone took pictures of you and shared them in the group chat of the base,” Mike mumbled.
“And then?”
“When everyone started to gossip about it, I gave them some color,” Mike continued. “What sort of color?”
“Um, not much, other than the fact that Nelly is your fiancée. That's all!” “Is that so?” Alpha Kilian asked skeptically, to which Mike nodded.
“It's true!”
Thereafter, Alpha Kilian held out his hand. “Show me your phone.” Um...
Mike retrieved his phone from his pocket and contemplated on whether to hand it over. Just as he was about to put it in Alpha Kilian 's hand, he asked, “Is it really necessary?”
The more he refused to show it, the more Alpha Kilian wanted to see it. Alpha Kilian grabbed the phone but quickly realized it was password locked.
“What's the password?” he demanded.
“Um...” Mike was still undecided on whether to come clean. “Have you forgotten it?” Alpha Kilian looked up at him.
Mike answered at once, “For some weird reason, I just can't recall.”
“Nelly , can you hack this phone? I don't think it's going to be difficult,” Alpha Kilian said. “It's a piece of cake!” Nelly played along cheekily.
The very next second, Mike came forward and took his phone back. With Alpha Kilian staring at him, Mike said, “I'll confess.”
“I'm not interested in what you have to say now. I want to see it,” Alpha Kilian insisted. “Alpha Kilian ...”
“Are you going to do it or shall I?”
Caving to the pressure, Mike unlocked his phone and handed it over.
Alpha Kilian tapped on the chat group and scrolled through it. The smile on his face faded away once he
read what Mike had written.
The change in his expression caused Mike to smile sheepishly. “Alpha Kilian , I was telling the truth, right?”
Alpha Kilian put the phone away before staring at him. “Mike, now that you're all grown up, you're getting more brazen by the day.”
The moment Alpha Kilian got to his feet terrified Mike so much that he hid behind Nelly 's back. “Help me, Nelly !”
Alpha Kilian glared at him. “How dare you try and hide still?”
Paying no heed to Alpha Kilian 's threats, Mike gave Nelly a pleading look. “Nelly , if you don't step in, Alpha Kilian will really beat me up!”
“You deserve it for being such a blabbermouth!” “Nelly !” Mike begged.
After a quick consideration, Nelly turned to Alpha Kilian . “To be honest, he is telling the truth. There's nothing wrong with what he said.”
“But he—”
“Alpha Kilian , the only way you don't want people to find out about something is not to do it. Since it's already done, we should have the courage to own it,” Nelly elaborated.
Just as Alpha Kilian stared at her and was about to say something, Mike gave him a quick nod.
Alpha Kilian had no justification in relation to the matter. He might be able to teach Mike a lesson but was incapable of convincing Nelly that his actions weren't uncalled for.
In the end, he decided to let the incident slide.
Mike was naturally relieved by the turn of events. “Nelly , now that you have our backs, we won't be bullied by Alpha Kilian anymore!”
“Don't worry. You can always come to me anytime he does it!” “Hurray!” Mike cheered as if to flaunt his new-found protection.
Alpha Kilian tilted his head in Nelly 's direction. “Stop indulging him!”
Nelly cocked her brow at that.
While the group was bantering, a figure was quietly watching them from the outside.
The beautiful figure was too difficult for Nelly to ignore. After taking two sips of her coffee, Nelly asked, “Do you want to take a look outside?”
“What's there to look?”
When Alpha Kilian trailed his gaze to where Nelly gestured, his eyes darkened at the sight of Alexia. “There's no such need!”
Nelly had nothing further to say in response, for no woman in their right mind would push their own man into the arms of another.
Subsequently, Alpha Kilian shifted his gaze toward Mike. “Do you have an explanation for this?”
Mike anxiously replied, “I swear that I had no intention of bringing her back, Alpha Kilian . She insisted on coming along when I got into the car. Besides, even if I didn't take her, she would have thought of some other way to come. I was left with no choice.”