Chapter 385

Evelyn arched an eyebrow in surprise. "That was lightning fast!"

Little did the siblings know, someone had already outmaneuvered Nathan.

The dim glow of a computer screen illuminated the archive room as fingers flew across the keyboard. Strings of code and numerical sequences scrolled rapidly across the monitor.

Elliot's hands moved with practiced precision. Within ninety seconds, he'd breached the university's firewall. As an afterthought, he patched three security vulnerabilities in their system.

Five minutes later, a satisfied smirk crossed his face as he transferred the harvested data to his encrypted device before logging out.

Not a single digital footprint remained as he exited the room.

...

Meanwhile, Evelyn studied the competition footage on Edmund's phone. After her conversation with Juliette, she'd become convinced of its manipulation.

But she kept her suspicions to herself. "Professor Edmund, could you share this video with me?"

Edmund barely glanced up. "Just download it from the cloud drive."

With murmured thanks, Evelyn saved the file to her device.

Harrison chose that moment to approach.

"Harrison! Can you analyze this for edits?"

Without responding, Harrison plucked the phone from Evelyn's grasp and returned it to Edmund.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

Instead of answering, Harrison caught Evelyn's wrist. "Come with me."

Baffled but compliant, Evelyn followed.

As they exited the lab, Callum intercepted them, thrusting a thick folder at Harrison with eager anticipation.

"Printed everything you sent. Impressive turnaround, right?"

Harrison gave a curt nod and passed the documents to Evelyn. "Review these."

Evelyn's brow furrowed as she accepted the file. The top sheets held two photographs - one showing a youthful Juliette, the other a recent headshot. Though confused, she remained silent.

Flipping further, she encountered design sketches.

Her confusion deepened. "What am I looking at?"

"Compare the two drawings. Note the discrepancies."

The next page revealed a familiar design from Juliette's portfolio.

Recognition flashed. "This is Juliette's work!"

"Spot anything unusual?"

Evelyn's gaze darted between the pages. The stylistic differences were jarring - every line, every flourish screamed different creators.

"Well?" Harrison prompted.

"These weren't drawn by the same person," Evelyn declared. "The techniques are completely divergent. An artist's signature style doesn't shift this dramatically."

"I accessed Juliette's academic records and the internal servers. Found some... inconsistencies."

"You're saying someone hacked the system?"

"Precisely." Harrison's jaw tightened.

Evelyn's grip crumpled the papers. "I knew it! The records were altered. No wonder Juliette was so confident - she rigged the game from the start!"