Chapter 481

Chapter 481:

Isolde ignored them. She set her fingers on the mechanical keyboard.

Then she began to type.

The sound of the keys was relentless — a blindingly fast, machine-gun staccato. On the massive screen, lines of complex code cascaded downward like a digital waterfall. She was not merely typing; she was architecting a multi-variable physics engine from scratch, pulling equations directly from memory.

In the audience, Grayson sat perfectly still.

His eyes were locked on the screen. His pupils dilated in absolute shock.

He recognized that coding style. He recognized the impossible speed, the flawless logic structure, the precise way the variables were named. He had seen this exact same live-coding display in a leaked DARPA video five years ago.

It was the signature of the legend he had been searching for.

It was Sophia.

The digital countdown timer on the main screen hit zero.

At that exact millisecond, Isolde slammed her palm against the Enter key.

𝘕𝘰𝘃𝘦𝘭𝘀 𝗂𝗻 𝗍𝗿е𝗇d 𝗈n

The blaring red warning lights vanished. The screen flashed a brilliant, steady green.

A highly complex, dynamic simulation of a Mars habitat materialized on the display. The efficiency curves did not merely stabilize — they skyrocketed, adapting in real time to the simulated dust storms and radiation spikes. The data output obliterated InnoTech’s static, immaculate numbers entirely.

The massive hall fell into a stunned, graveyard silence.

Then a few scattered, hesitant claps broke out from the back rows. Most of the audience was still trying to process the sheer volume of code they had just witnessed. It was humanly impossible.

The heavy double doors at the back of the conference hall swung open with a loud crash.

A team of six men in sharp black suits marched in, physically parting the crowd to carve a wide path through the center of the room.

Cyrus Sterling strode through the doors. He wore his signature long black trench coat and leaned with deliberate authority on a silver-tipped walking cane. He did not look like a tech CEO. He looked like a warlord inspecting a conquered territory.

The host fumbled with his microphone.

“M-Mr. Sterling?” he stammered, his voice echoing unsteadily across the hall. “We weren’t expecting you until the final judging p>

Cyrus ignored him entirely. He walked down the center aisle, his cane clicking in a slow, rhythmic cadence against the floor.

He stopped beside the InnoTech seating area and turned his head, leveling the silver tip of his cane directly at Belle.

“Is this the team that builds USB viruses?” Cyrus asked. His voice was loud and carried a tone of absolute, crushing disdain. “If you are going to cheat, at least write a malware script that doesn’t look like it was coded by a toddler p>

Belle’s face drained of all color. She shrank back into her chair. Chase, sitting beside her, physically slid down in his seat, attempting to disappear behind the row in front of him.

Cyrus sneered and continued walking. He stopped in front of the Carson Dynamics pit.