Chapter 1478: Launching Citadel

"Send Citadel to Penny and focus on securing Fortress."

As soon as those words left Yugi’s mouth, his team sprang into action. They were close to launching Citadel, so it would only take a few minutes to send it to Penny.

Meanwhile, Teddy sighed heavily and took a step back, watching them work in silence. It was a welcome change compared to the chaos back in the main hall.

"I’ll tell Miss Penny you’re on it," Teddy said, lowering his head.

With that, Teddy didn’t waste any more time and left. He still needed to stay close to Penny in case he could assist with anything else. Even if it meant running a mile, he would do it as fast as he could.

---

As silence fell in the room, the person closest to Yugi couldn’t help but cast him a sidelong glance.

"Sir, are you sure we’re sending Citadel to Miss Penny?" he asked, followed by a colleague’s comment. "I didn’t know Miss Penny knew how to operate it. I thought she only knew the basics."

Yugi, keeping his focus on his computer, replied indifferently, "Why do you think this business would start if she didn’t know what she was selling?"

"Well, the company started with security assistance," another person replied calmly, still working. "Branching out into cybersecurity seems like the natural next step."

"Besides, you’re with her, sir. So cybersecurity shouldn’t be a problem since someone knowledgeable in the area is already in the company."

Yugi remained silent, keeping his eyes on the screen. He understood their concerns. After all, Penny had focused primarily on administration as the head of Prime Group. The only time she interacted with the cybersecurity team was during system testing.

However, that didn’t mean Yugi wouldn’t keep her up to date. Why else did he often visit Penny’s office if not to make sure she was well-informed? It wasn’t like Yugi only idled during meetings with her.

Another long silence stretched between them before someone asked again.

"Sir, are you sure we’re sending Citadel to Miss Penny?" This was the second time this question came up. "I’m asking again just to be sure. The hacker infiltrating our system is the infamous X. The man’s a legend."

"No, he’s not."

"Huh?"

Yugi kept his eyes on the screen. "That’s a wannabe X. Just send Citadel to her once it’s ready."

As Yugi continued to work, his team members briefly glanced at him. But Yugi didn’t acknowledge them anymore.

’That couldn’t be X,’ he thought. ’X wouldn’t sabotage her own company.’

---

[Main Hall]

[HAHAHA! How are you going to save yourself, Miss Bennet?]

Penny didn’t answer, leisurely cupping her face as if she had all the time in the world. Her relaxed demeanor only made the others feel more frustrated.

"Miss Penny, you have to do something," the person closest to her whispered, glancing at the screen. "You can’t just look at all these tabs and do nothing."

Still, Penny didn’t answer.

[You should listen to him, Miss Bennet. You won’t fix anything by just staring at it.]

Still nothing.

Penny focused entirely on the screen, tracking the viruses and defenses that Team A and Team B had put up. The voices around her seemed to fade, and she zeroed in on the task at hand.

’I knew it,’ she thought, her eyes sharpening as her suspicion was confirmed. There had been many questions swirling in her mind earlier, but now, she understood why.

The corners of her lips curled into a smirk as she turned to the big screen. "Hey, you. You should run very fast and very far away," she joked. "Don’t say I didn’t warn you."

[HAHAHA! Why would I run?]

"Well..." Penny shrugged, slowly tearing her gaze from the screen to her monitor. "Let’s just say, you’re running out of tricks up your sleeve."

Stretching her arms and flexing her fingers, Penny clapped. "Let’s get this started." She placed her hands on the keyboard and began typing, earning a few scoffs and laughs from the onlookers.

"Miss Penny, you can’t finish if you type so slowly..." someone remarked, but trailed off as Penny’s fingers began moving faster and faster, her eyes locked on the screen.

[Receiving Citadel...]

Yet Penny ignored the comment as more tabs popped up on her screen.

"Tilt that monitor," she said quietly. The people who heard her just furrowed their brows. "Tilt it here."

"Tilt..." someone behind her turned their head toward the monitor beside her, only to realize she had connected to it. "What?!"

Instinctively, the man tilted the screen so she could see it better. Penny continued working, her eyes darting between both screens. Both monitors were showing multiple tabs at once, but Penny handled them effortlessly.

"What the fuck...?" one of Team D’s players slowly approached, his eyes wide. "Holy shit."

Not just him, but even Team A gathered around, watching in disbelief. Their eyes darted between her face and the screen. All they could see was Penny keeping her gaze glued to both screens, showing no sign of confusion or dizziness.

As people familiar with these systems, they could tell she was doing a good job.

"The virus..." one muttered, his jaw slacking. "Wait, I’m not keeping up."

"The next screen," Nathaniel blurted out, his mouth also hanging open. "Move it."

Hearing that, everyone turned to the third screen, only to see Penny had already gained control of it.

"I’ll bring it over!" Even before Penny could ask, someone rushed to move the third monitor closer so she could see it properly.

For the next several minutes, there was silence—absolute silence. The only sound was the rapid tapping of her fingers on the keyboard, while everyone watched in shock.

Opening another tab, Penny typed: [HAHAHA!] Her lips curled into a smirk as she pressed enter.

[HAHAHA!]

Everyone quickly turned to the big screen on stage, only to see the same rotating text. This time, however, it was bright pink, followed by a child’s giggle.

"It’s quiet now," Penny murmured, her fingers never stopping as she briefly glanced at the big screen. "What’s wrong, X? Packing up your things?"

There was only silence until they heard the text begin to type again. Earlier, they would have instantly seen the full text, but now, the letters appeared one by one.

[HAHAHA! You think doing this will work? I’m close to infiltrating Fortress.]

Penny chuckled while everyone wore conflicted expressions, watching as X corrected his own typos.

"I know," Penny muttered, her focus returning to the screen. "But then again, Citadel is also complete."

With that, Penny closed some unnecessary tabs. The next moment, all the screens displayed the Prime Group logo, followed by the text:

[Launching CITADEL...]