Chapter 1279: connections that just wouldn’t connect.

While all these side characters had shown glimpses of their chaotic lives, Penny’s side of the story was different...

Penny crossed her arms and stared at the multiple monitors before her. People sat in their cubicles, their fingers typing nonstop on their keyboards.

"Isn’t this a little too difficult?" she wondered, narrowing her eyes at the graph before her. "Make it easier."

"But Penny, if we do that, we won’t know who’s worthy of being recruited for this team," Yugi, who was standing beside her, cast her a knowing look. "Let’s keep it like this."

Slowly, Penny snapped her gaze at him. "This is a code for the preliminary stage, Yugi. We’re searching for someone who already has a solid foundation in this area, then we’ll train them on how to be useful to the company. If we use this, we might as well not have hosted this contest in the first place."

"But I can crack it," Yugi blurted out, shrugging at her as she deadpanned. "And you could do it as well."

"Of course," she remarked, adding with finality, "But this is too hard. Change it."

"Fine." Yugi rocked his head, then snapped his fingers, facing the people in the department. "Hey, you heard the boss. Make this thing easier."

The employees glanced in his direction but didn’t say a word. If anything, they simply continued working on their computers, which didn’t surprise Yugi or Penny. This department was solely for cybersecurity. Aside from the other security services Prime Group offered, cybersecurity was their biggest product. Hence, Penny had been focusing on it since coming to Anteca.

"Anyway." Yugi cleared his throat, handing her a tablet. "Just in case you want to see something interesting."

"What is it?" She wondered as she slowly opened the tablet’s cover. "Another rumor about my third brother?"

"Since when did I bother you about your brothers?" he replied. "I was watching the stocks last night before they closed, and again this morning. It’s a little interesting."

"Interesting?" Intrigued, Penny opened the tablet, which was already on the stock market page. As soon as she saw the anomaly in the stocks from last night and this morning, her brows crinkled. "Hah... that’s interesting, indeed."

She then casually scrolled through the articles, checking for anything that might explain Global Prime Logistics’s rise in stocks. It wasn’t like Global Prime Logistics was going bankrupt. After all, even with Charles managing the Miller Company, there were still many loyal clients and investors who stuck around because of Chairman Bennet.

"This is getting even more interesting," she smiled, snapping her eyes back to Yugi. She tapped his shoulder and nodded approvingly. "Good find, Yugi."

"You’re going back to your office?"

"Taking a break," she said as she started walking off. "Also, come with me later. We’re buying gifts for Nina and Finn. Tomorrow is the family meeting. You can’t just show up empty-handed."

Yugi tilted his head to the side, watching her walk away while waving dismissively. He shook his head but didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he turned to face everyone and smiled.

"Double-time, men!" he clapped. "The first one to crack the new security system Penny and I created will get to use a company car for as long as they work here!"

As soon as they heard that, they looked up at Yugi with blazing eyes. Seeing the determination in their eyes, Yugi’s mouth stretched from ear to ear until his teeth were fully visible.

"Let the game begin!"

*****

For the past few days, nothing unusual had happened to Penny. The last strange event was when someone claimed to be Nina’s mother. Sadly, they hadn’t been able to trace the woman, as if she had disappeared without a trace. Moreover, no one had approached Nina yet.

Taking a short break, Penny decided to go to her penthouse just above her office. After Hugo did the board for her, she’d constantly go there just to stare at it. Perhaps that would give her an idea.

After grabbing a juice from the fridge, Penny went straight to the room where the board was. Standing several steps away, she crossed her arms and continuously sipped from the straw. Her eyes scanned the board, listening to the sound of her sip until she had to breathe.

’No matter how much I look at it, I still can’t make sense of it,’

How did Nina become whoever was targeting their family—a mistake?

"This is giving me headaches," she mumbled to herself, another sigh escaping her lips. Every time she looked at this board, it reminded her of everything—connections that just wouldn’t connect.

It was strange to know so many things but feel so clueless. She was definitely missing something, despite all of this information.

Penny fell deep in thought, using her break to reflect on the entire situation. At one point, she couldn’t help but wonder if the changes in her and the people around her were adding to the confusion. Were these changes affecting the present situation, making everything so distorted?

Just as Penny was thinking about it, the vibration of her phone snapped her back to the present. Seeing the name on the screen, Penny furrowed her brows.

"Should I answer? Or should I not?" she hummed, her thumb hovering between the answer and decline buttons. No one could blame her, because the person calling her was Slater. He’d been bombarding her with messages and calling at least twice a day, only to tell her how handsome he was.

Penny understood that it was Slater’s way of keeping things like they were, but it was becoming overkill.

Another defeated sigh escaped her before Penny tapped the decline button. She then quickly typed her message.

[To: Third Brother

Busy.]

After tapping send, Penny huffed and shrugged. However, just as she turned around, she saw a person standing by the door. Her breath hitched as soon as her eyes landed on Slater.

’Oh, snap!’