While she thought like this, a ripple went through the contestants as they turned to each other in disbelief.
"What is this? Didn't they say this is a small hacking contest? Who gives this as a task for a small hacking contest!"
"This takes an average hacker at least two days to crack and an experienced hacker at least 3 hours to reverse engineer depending on the complexity. But we were given an hour to do so? What is this nonsense?"
"This is difficult. I haven't even touched his topic yet!"
"At least you've heard of it before. I didn't even know such a thing existed."
Bang!
"Why are you all being so noisy? If you can't do it, then don't do anything and just wait to fail!" An annoyed and cold snort followed shortly after by the person who slammed his fist against his desk.
The sudden bang caused several people to flinch in fear before they turned their heads to the direction of the voice.
It was a young man who seemed to be in his twenties. His thick and full brows were furrowed arrogantly.
And the impatience in his eyes as he glared at everyone complaining made him appear condescending and disdainful.
When Laura saw him, her eyes trembled slightly and she held onto her desk tightly.
Those who didn't recognize him right away grew furious seeing the disdain in his eyes and lashed out at him.
"Who is this bastard and who does he think he's talking to like that? What a rude punk!"
"We're all complaining here because the task is absurd. Does he think this is something he can afford to attempt or does he just want to score points with the bigshots watching us?"
Those closest to them immediately turned to them and shushed, "Lower your voice before he hears you."
However, someone huffed in contempt.
"Hears me? Do you think I'm a pushover? Even if I was, I wouldn't let an arrogant guy like that walk all over me! So what if he's from a wealthy family?!"
"Hey, mind what you say. Not only is he from a wealthy family, but he's also from a family of hacking prodigies."
"What did you just say?"
"Serbian Howard. Yes, you heard me right. He's that Serbian Howard."
"I already told you, I don't care what family he comes from, I'll never let him walk all over…what did you say? Serbian? He's the Serbian Howard?"
The same person was about to lash out again when the name clicked in his mind. He abruptly stopped talking and his hostile gaze instantly transformed to that of a scared one.
Upon realizing that the young man man was actually Serbian Howard, the other contestants began shaking their heads and hurling pitiful remarks towards the man's way.
"Poor thing, offending Serbian Howard. He must've offended his nation in his past life to be punished like this."
"I'm of the opinion that one of the few things one shouldn't do as a hacker in Silicone Valley is offend Serbian."
"I agree. It's tantamount to signing away your privacy. The last person who annoyed him at a party woke up the next money to see his personal details all over the internet."
"I heard Serbian once hacked into the bank accounts of this rich scion who offended him and wiped out everything in them. That person couldn't file a lawsuit against him as he had no evidence Serbian did it."
Kelsie, who had turned her face to the side and was planning to doze off for a bit, instantly pried her eyes open when she heard their words.
She raised her eyes to see who this Serbian Howard was and was taken aback seeing a lanky guy in a pristine white shirt and suit pant who had his face lowered, speedily typing away at his keyboard.
She lowered her face and covered her mouth, asking in a tiny, unrecognizable voice, "Excuse me, is this Serbian Howard some kind of important person?"
Hearing someone ask the question bugging them, several other people who didn't have the courage to speak up, eagerly turned their attention to the people who knew him.
"He came in 5th place in the hacking contest in the country last year and he came in 2nd in Silicone Valley."
"Some people say there was no much difference between his score and the person who came in first place."
"According to them, when they tallied their points the first time, it was the same. Then they were given another task where the person who came first place won."
"How impressive! No wonder he didn't panic like the rest of us when he saw the task. It's something he can easily handle."
"A hotshot like him has no business being here. He's intentionally bullying people like us."
"I know, right? The one who'll be going home with the prize has already been decided, it's Serbian Howard."
Hearing the last person, one of the people on Laura's team refuted.
"Watch your mouth, will you? Laura Sutton came in 7th place in our country and 3rd place in Silicone Valley."
"Why would you belittle her so quickly? Is it because she's a woman and he's a man? How could you use such a disgusting mentality at a time like this!"
The person being lashed out at trembled in rage at the sudden accusation and seethed, "When did I ever say that? Don't m put words into my mouth!"
However, the person on Laura's team didn't hold back and continued saying haughtily, "How dare you say the winner of this contest has been decided to be Serbian Howard, then? Is Laura a joke to you?"
Behind her, Laura was secretly overjoyed and almost didn't know when the corners of her lips stretched into a small smile.
When she realized this, she pretended to cough out slightly before leaning forward to say nervously, "Serbian and I are too different people with very different strengths. We shouldn't be compared no matter what."
Then her eyes flickered to Kelsie and a mischievous glint flashed past her eyes.
"Didn't my sister say she'll be going home with the prize money? She must be an even better prodigy than Serbian and I, or isn't that what you said just a moment ago, Kelsie?"
The room instantly fell silent as everyone turned to look at the said prodigy, their faces clouded with disdain, scorn, and annoyance.
However, instead of the retort they expected, an impatient, lively voice of a child seeped into their ears.
"What do you think you're doing? Don't tag along with me so closely. The enemy will see you and know where we are."
"Don't throw it. I said not to throw it! You almost killed me just now. Don't you know how to use a grenade!"
"Stop moving close to me for christ's sake! Get away from me! What is this! If you keep following me, the others would know where we…shoot! They just found us."
The series of angry outbursts filled the quiet room.
Kelsie had mistakenly entered the free fire game app on her phone and a familiar voice who was live-streaming came up immediately.
Hearing it, she squinted her eyes a little, temporarily forgot where she was as she ignored the question being thrown at her and wrote a comment in capital letters, "Keira Sutton, aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
On the other end, Keira didn't need to check the sender's username to know it was her mother before she hurriedly logged off and promptly went to bed.