Chapter 146
146 Fight Fire with Fire
146 Fight Fire with Fire
Alice came to a slow stop again.
“I need your access code,” she said.
Pandora, already on the verge of a breakdown, froze at the words.
“W–What?”
“Your invitation code. For that app,” Alice clarified..
Now was the perfect time to act–before the other side realized their cover had been blown.
Alice glanced at her watch.
“You’ve got five minutes. But I’m not exactly known for being patient.”
Pandora swallowed hard, nerves clearly getting the better of her.
“If I tell you, will you let me go?”
Alice’s voice was calm, almost too calm.
“I never intended to do anything to you. But if you refuse…
“I’ll tell you!“.
Pandora figured that with the chancellor in the room, Alice wouldn’t dare cross any lines.
Using Byron’s computer, Alice navigated to a website and entered the code Pandora provided.
When the page loaded, a small, satisfied smile curled her lips.
Meanwhile, across town in a luxury villa in Mapleford, a woman in a silk robe opened the door with a scowl–only to be greeted by a group of uniformed officers.
The police wasted no time. They arrested her and began a search of the house.
They found her guilty of attempting to steal classified government data, but the place was also crawling with illegal substances.
In a dimly lit basement across the city, the woman who once tried to poison Emma smashed a table in fury the moment she heard the news.
Those nearby stood still as statues, not one of them brave enough to speak.
“Alice! She wouldn’t hand over her medical facility–and now, she takes out my top agent for the sake of some nobody university student?!” Her voice shook with rage.
A woman in black workout clothes leaned in quietly.
“Chief, want me to teach her a lesson?”
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“You’re no match for her,” the woman snapped, massaging her temples as her expression darkened.
“Back when we were overseas. I lost more than one bodyguard to that woman.”
After a pause, she ordered coldly, “Tell everyone to lay low for now. Even if we can’t dig up more intel, we can’t afford to get exposed.”
“Yes, Chief!”
Moments later, another underling rushed in, visibly shaken.
“Chief, our system–it’s been destroyed!”
He clutched a laptop and turned the screen toward her.
The virus they developed had been able to hijack users‘ phones, infiltrating domestic companies and even some official government networks.
Most people didn’t pay the slightest attention to cybersecurity, leaving behind a trail of digital footprints.
Sometimes, all it took was pulling on the right thread and a flood of useful information would come pouring out.
But now? It was all gone.
The virus had been thoroughly wiped out. Worse, its host servers had been completely wiped.
To add insult to injury, someone had taken advantage of their earlier phone hacks and used those same weaknesses to access the national telecom network, patching the holes there.
Now, even if they developed a newer, more advanced virus, it would be nearly impossible to break into domestic systems again.
Their entire money pipeline had just been shut down.
The woman’s fury boiled over. She hurled the laptop to the floor.
“Alice! This is beyond outrageous!”
Back at Riverview University, Alice had promised a reward for the person who had helped Pandora.
The woman who was just arrested? That was the first gift.
But since Pandora had chosen to cooperate, Alice used her insider access to do something even more meaningful.
It could be considered a second gift for that same person–one they’d probably appreciate.
Pandora, still trembling, looked at Alice through tear–filled eyes.
“Can I go now? I’ve told you everything I know.”
Alice nodded. “You can.”
Pandora’s face lit up instantly.
“Then you can’t expel me! I still-”
Before she could finish, a knock came at the door.
Emma opened it at Byron’s signal, revealing two police officers,
When they saw the scene upon stepping inside, they quickly understood the situation and turned to Pandora. “It’s time to come with us.”
Pandora’s face drained of color.
“Alice, you lied to me!”
Alice raised her brows and let out a fake smile.
“I said I’d let you go. I never said the law would. This has nothing to do with me.”
Pandora looked like she might collapse on the spot.
“Y–You…
She couldn’t get another word out before the officers took her away.
At that moment, the university’s official statement went live online.
Nelson had even recorded a video of himself publicly clearing Emma’s name.
While the disciplinary notice against Emma had barely made a ripple, Nelson’s apology exploded across social media.
Naturally, people wanted to know what had happened–and it wasn’t long before Pandora was publicly dragged through the mud.
Cybersecurity platforms jumped on the trend, using the incident to launch columns educating the public on how to avoid falling for digital scams.
Outside the university’s main gate, Alice stood quietly as Byron and Emma walked her out.
Emma’s tears hadn’t stopped since.