"Sigh, we finally got this box in our hands. We finally won't have to go hungry this month."
Geno looked over the safe brought back from the Hollow, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction.
"Don't celebrate too early. Let's get the money in hand first."
Twiggy reminded Geno not to pop the champagne at halftime; better to get the money first.
"No problem, I'm going to contact the client right now."
Geno made an 'OK' hand gesture, then hurriedly went to contact the client.
Meanwhile, Twiggy stayed behind, stroking the casing of the safe, curious about what exactly could be inside.
"What? Can't reach them? Are you kidding me?"
Geno's roar of rage disturbed Twiggy's thoughts. She quickly walked over to Geno's side, listening carefully to the reason for his fury.
"The client can't be reached? How can there be such a ridiculous thing?"
Geno argued a few more sentences with the person on the other end of the phone. Soon, the other party hung up, and in his anger, Geno crushed the phone and threw it on the ground.
"That's coming out of your allowance."
"Uh..."
Looking at the phone that had turned into fragments on the ground, Geno's originally angry mood was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.
"So, what happened?"
Twiggy's question followed immediately. Geno composed himself, trying not to let his recent anger affect his speech.
"The client for this box has disappeared. Literally. They can't be found online or in reality. I just called our intelligence broker on the Inter-Knot, and he can't reach them either. Now this box is a complete hot potato."
Geno clutched his head. Having this thing stuck in their hands wasn't the scariest part.
After all, no one knew they were the ones who brought it back.
The worst part was that this thing couldn't be exchanged for money at all. What were they going to do about this month's living expenses...
"There's no helping it. After all, that client's background was unknown from the start. Didn't we know that?"
"The one who's going to go hungry is you, you know."
Thud!
Hitting a sore spot. Twiggy sometimes really felt that Geno's personality needed some correction.
"Anyway, since we can't find the client to get the reward, let's at least open the box and see what's inside. Maybe it can still be exchanged for some spending money."
Twiggy, having decided the fate of the box, stood up from her chair and examined the safe.
Knock left, knock right. Watching from the side, Geno was so anxious it felt like a cat was scratching at his heart.
"How about it? Can you open it?"
"Relax, I'm a professional."
Twiggy listened to the echo from the safe, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile. Then she returned to her room and took out a toolbox.
Geno froze for a moment. He remembered that the things inside didn't seem to be related to lockpicking.
Whirrrrrrrrr~~~~~
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
"Going straight for the chainsaw?! Then what were you knocking for all that time?! Finding a weak point?!"
Watching Twiggy holding a chainsaw and carving out a pile of sparks on the safe, Geno's mouth hung open, finding it hard to understand this absurd scene.
Geno didn't understand, but he was greatly shocked.
"What happened to being a tech geek? What about professionalism? Did you graduate with a major in logging?"
However, Twiggy cut for a long time, and the chainsaw blade even started to curl, but the safe remained intact.
"What kind of material is this? It's so tough."
Twiggy panted heavily, tossing the chainsaw aside and collapsing onto the sofa herself.
"How about I go to the Red Fang Gang again and look for the safe's password?"
Geno made a suggestion, but Twiggy quickly rejected it.
"No, it shouldn't be in the Red Fang Gang. Something this important definitely wouldn't be known to everyone. The password must be on that guy called [Whitey]."
Twiggy deduced that the safe's password must be on [Whitey].
This special safe certainly didn't match the Red Fang Gang's technological capabilities, so the password was likely stored in some electronic component carried by [Whitey] himself.
"Tomorrow we'll go back to the Hollow, find [Whitey], and get the password!"
Twiggy's eyes were determined. She would earn her own meal money!
-----------------
On the other side, inside the Random Play store.
Wise, still battling wits and courage with that USB drive, was physically and mentally exhausted. The encryption on this USB drive was shockingly slow to crack, even using the HDD system's computing power—a supercomputer.
Fortunately, hard work pays off. He finally restored the data on the USB drive.
"Phew~ Finally solved it."
Subconsciously lifting his coffee to take a sip, he discovered the cup had long since bottomed out.
And on the sofa behind him, his cute younger sister Belle was kicking her feet up, happily playing on the phone in her hand.
"Sigh, Belle, why haven't you gone to sleep yet?"
"After twelve o'clock, the game will be online. I have to play it the very first moment. If you're tired, Brother, go to sleep first."
"Actually, I think I can hold on a bit longer."
Wise originally wanted to tell Belle to rest early, but at this moment, he couldn't get the words out.
In reality, both siblings were hardcore gamers. Since it was a game Belle said was worth looking forward to, it was genuinely high quality.
Staying up all night for such a game was worth it.
Just like that, the two siblings sat on the sofa in the workspace, waiting together for the game servers to open.
And what they didn't know was that the password they had expended so much effort to restore was currently being coveted by certain people.
And... more than one.
-----------------
Early the next morning, Geno and Twiggy got up very early. They prepared to go into the Hollow a bit sooner to search for traces of [Whitey] Miguel.
After all, both Public Security and the Red Fang Gang were searching for his whereabouts right now.
"Good morning, Twiggy. Open for business so early?"
Hearing Belle's voice, Twiggy subconsciously turned to look, only to see a frightening face.
"Woah! So dark! Are you cosplaying a panda?"
At this moment, Belle's condition wasn't very good. Her hair was sticking up, her steps were unsteady, and she had thick dark circles under her eyes. It was really hard to associate her with the youthful and energetic Belle.
"No, I just stayed up a little late playing a new game."
Twiggy squinted. This appearance was definitely not to the extent of 'a little'.
"Uh, okay, actually I accidentally stayed up all night. I couldn't help it; that game was just too fun."
This made Twiggy a bit curious. What game was so fun that Belle would not hesitate to sacrifice precious sleep time?
One must know, staying up late is a great enemy of a girl's beauty.
"Yeah, I'm curious too."
Geno also came over to join the fun. A game that could make people this obsessed—if he copied it, no, learned from it for reference, wouldn't he make a fortune?
"It's a new game called Super Bangboo. It's especially interesting! Eh? What's wrong with you guys?"
Belle looked at Geno and Twiggy, who froze in place upon hearing the name, and was somewhat at a loss for a moment.
Geno, meanwhile, looked at Twiggy's face. She wore the same shocked expression as him, but unlike hers, Geno's expression also harbored a hint of smugness.
I'll leave today's routine business to you big shots. I'm off to see how the KT vs T1 match goes.
_____
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