Jaxen remained glued to the screen, typing away as if nothing else existed. His fingers danced over the keys, completely absorbed in the code before him. Katelyn’s hand balled into a fist, her nails digging into her palm as frustration built within her. The virus wasn’t a joke. It would spread quickly and latch onto everything, destroying the system once it got in. There was no way Jaxen could miss this, not with his skills.

So why was he acting like nothing was wrong? Was this some sort of test? Was he waiting to see if she knew how to handle it?

Across the room, Vincent quietly observed Katelyn, noticing how the tension in her face had suddenly shifted.

Katelyn stood at a crossroads. She could do nothing and let the virus wreck her computer, or step in and prove that she knew a thing or two about technology.

She had told Vincent before that she was just a designer, not someone with any real knowledge of hacking, especially not at Jaxen’s level. But this virus? It wasn’t the usual kind. Most hackers wouldn’t even recognize it for what it was.

Katelyn pressed her lips together, then said, “Maybe I should grab the laptop for a while. I just remembered I need to send a design draft to my colleagues.”

Jaxen didn’t glance her way, his fingers still moving swiftly across the keyboard.

“I’ll be done soon. Just give me a few more minutes,” he replied. Then, he paused, lifting his eyes to meet hers with a flicker of surprise.

“Miss Bailey, why do you look so nervous right now?” he asked, his tone calm but sharp. The question pinned her in place.

She bit her lip, staying silent, now even more certain that this was all a test.

Without a second thought, Katelyn quickly typed a message on her phone, sending it off to Alfy. “Hack into my laptop now. Lock everything down!”

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It was the only way to stop the damage without exposing who she really was. Losing her laptop would be a disaster. The system was something she had built from the ground up and relied on for years.

In the next instant, the laptop’s screen flickered and then went completely black, halting all processes immediately.

Jaxen blinked, stunned, his fingers frozen mid-type.

“What just happened? Did someone hack the main system?” Jaxen muttered, more confused than alarmed. Katelyn silently cheered for Alfy’s quick response, keeping her expression neutral.

“How is that possible? Are my design files okay?” Katelyn asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Jaxen rubbed his head, clearly frustrated. “It shouldn’t affect them. I’ll unlock your laptop right now.”

Katelyn nodded, still sounding genuinely worried. “Those files are really important to me. Please make sure they’re safe.”

With a confident smile, Jaxen lightly thumped his chest. “Don’t worry. If I can’t handle something this simple, how could I ever hope to be TS’s apprentice?”

His confidence couldn’t have been more at odds with what Katelyn was thinking.

There was no way she’d ever let Jaxen become her apprentice.

Now, this had turned into a quiet battle between Jaxen and Alfy—one eager to prove himself, the other already a trusted student.

Katelyn couldn’t help but feel curious about who would come out on top.

After a stretch of silence, Vincent spoke up. “TS’s signal just showed up again, and it’s been traced to this hospital.”

Katelyn’s eyes flickered with a hint of worry.

Her firewall was strong—there was no way her location could have been exposed.

Was Vincent testing her tone?

Hiding her unease, Katelyn asked, “Can you pinpoint where exactly? I’ve always wanted to meet the famous hacker.”

“Katelyn, the signal came from your room,” Vincent said, pulling out his phone to reveal a map with a bright red dot.

The dot marked the spot right next to their location, perfectly aligning with Jaxen’s tracking map before it crashed.

Earlier, that red circle had been steadily closing in on them.

Now, they were sure it was right in this area.

Katelyn instantly recognized the signs of a system trying to break through her firewall.

Could Jaxen really have tracked her exact location? How was that even possible?

Katelyn shot a glance at him, surprise and suspicion swirling in her eyes. “Could it be a system error? There’s no one else in my room,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She searched desperately for a logical explanation, but Vincent’s next words shut down all her options.

“The signal showed up the moment you left my room and returned to yours,” he said, his tone firm.

Katelyn’s heart began to race, pounding hard against her chest. Vincent’s intense gaze pinned her down as he spoke each word carefully.

“You are TS!”

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