"I can handle the surveillance."
A calm, youthful voice ca through.
Besides Henry Chapman, who knew there were people in the study, and Pedro Langley, who inferred from the shoes in the hallway that Marcus Shaw and Oliver Scott were also at ho, the others couldn’t help but pause in surprise and cast their gaze towards the study door.
Marcus Shaw stood there.
The teenager, dressed in casual attire, stood tall and upright, his figure thin yet towering. His gaze was calm and steady, surprisingly instilling a sense of credibility despite his visible youth.
A few people were slightly startled.
Then, another figure moved beside him, coming to stand by Marcus’s side, entering the view of everyone present.
He scratched his nose, flashed a bright smile at everyone, patted Marcus on the shoulder, and said sowhat awkwardly, "Then I’ll be in charge of cheering you on."
"These two are...?"
Encountering them for the first ti, Evelyn Winter asked Nora Scott in curiosity.
"Oh," Nora ca back to her senses, rembering it was Friday and feeling a bit speechless. She introduced them sowhat perfunctorily, "Two younger brothers."
"Marcus Shaw."
"Oliver Scott."
The two teenagers introduced themselves simply and clearly.
Miguel Smith raised an eyebrow in realization, "So you two are the bargain brothers Nora picked up."
Hearing him speak, Marcus scanned him with his eyes, pausing.
—This voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he’d heard it before.
Benjamin Durant and Humphrey Jennings were aware of Marcus. Since arriving in Fenton City, they could investigate Ethan Scott and naturally find out about Oliver Scott, knowing Nora had a half-brother, but they hadn’t t before.
Seeing the two now, they quickly accepted the situation.
Only Evelyn remained speechless and choked by the scene.
She thought the living room was already lively enough, not expecting... there were two more hidden in the study.
Will one or two more jump out of the bedroom later?
Supporting her chin with one hand, Nora’s gaze lingered on Marcus for a mont, asking with interest, "You can handle the surveillance?"
Pedro Langley gently squeezed her wrist, a silent warning.
—Marcus was underage.
"Yes." Marcus answered expressionlessly, maintaining his composure, "I can hack into the surveillance system and swap in a flawless feed during your operation."
Everyone: "..."
???
"Is that possible?"
Benjamin Durant was clueless about this kind of tech, his eyes wide with astonishnt.
Oliver Scott, with a proud raise of his eyebrows, introduced: "While others skip class to dodge surveillance, he skips class by changing the surveillance feed."
This was sothing Oliver had recently discovered.
Both of them were boarders at school.
One night, Marcus received a call from Peter Hughes, asking him to co over.
At the ti, Oliver was in Marcus’s dorm room working on so problems and decided to tag along when he heard the call. Marcus brought him along.
Recently, the school had been particularly strict, installing several new caras to prevent students from climbing over walls at night. The next day, the dean would check the footage one by one.
Initially, the two avoided the caras, but Oliver wasn’t familiar with the cara positions and accidentally exposed himself to one.
Oliver was worried, but Marcus told him not to bother hiding and to just stride past the caras openly, exposing himself the entire way.
After they arrived at the Hughes family, Oliver was still pondering how to explain this disciplinary breach. Instead, Marcus leisurely pulled out a laptop, and right in front of him, hacked into the school’s surveillance system, deleted the footage of their journey, and replaced it with a pre-recorded clip.
At that mont, Oliver practically wanted to kneel before Marcus.
"The National Museum, huh!" Benjamin Durant emphasized.
Marcus: "Yes."
Humphrey Jennings: "No problem?"
Marcus: "Yes."
...
The adults were all shocked by Marcus’s sudden ergence, unable to resist asking questions one by one.
Nora Scott wouldn’t doubt Marcus.
This young man always had things under control. If he wasn’t confident, he wouldn’t step up.
"Hey."
Nora tugged on Pedro’s sleeve, calling him softly.
Pedro Langley bent down slightly, listening closely.
Pausing slightly, Nora raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Would agreeing too quickly be inappropriate?"
Pedro: "..." So you never even considered saying no?
"Aren’t you worried about leading the kid astray?"
He sighed lightly; rather than advising, Pedro was more like venting.
He truly worried about their future children.
Under Nora’s guidance, there’s no telling how much trouble they might cause.
Nora’s eyes glinted with amusent, her confidence inexplicable, "Our Easton Family is innately good; we can’t go astray."
Unable to resist, Pedro pinched her cheek, "You call this innately good?"
"Everyone’s watching." Nora brushed his hand away, arguing, "Upholding justice and chivalry, doesn’t that count?"
"Count, count, count."
Pedro couldn’t help but laugh.
"What does the guardian think?"
During the couple’s chat, Evelyn, trusting Marcus’s youth, passed the final decision to Nora.
Everyone naturally looked to Nora, letting her make the decision.
"Alright," Nora Scott nodded, without any hesitation, "everything’s in place now."
Pedro Langley: "..." You could at least pretend to hesitate.
With Nora’s nod, the decision was basically set.
Marcus Shaw, as a participant, and Oliver Scott, as an observer, both left the study, smoothly joining their "conspiracy".
However, in the following ti, they automatically split into two groups.
Henry Chapman, Miguel Smith, and Oliver Scott, as bystanders, conscientiously sat on the side, listening to their planning discussions.
Nora Scott, Pedro Langley, Evelyn Winter, Humphrey Jennings, Benjamin Durant, and Marcus Shaw drafted the initial plan and assigned tasks among themselves.
Nora and Pedro weren’t part of the action team, but the forr was the organizer who brought them together, and the latter was the proposer of the entire plan; both had a knack for keeping things under control.
So, setting the frawork, making plans, everything was thodical, step by step.
Midway, Virtue Retreat takeout arrived, enough for ten people, filling up the entire table, creating quite an impressive sight.
But, apart from Henry Chapman, Miguel Smith, and Oliver Scott, no one else really touched their chopsticks.
"At tis like this, I find my skills to be quite useless."
Luke, who only knew how to play and make gas, rubbed his face.
Henry Chapman: "..." He only knew how to act.
Oliver Scott: "..." He only knew how to solve problems.
The three exchanged looks, and sohow, a sense of defeat rose in their shared space.
Luke took out his phone, "Wanna play a ga?"
"Like the kind where you just lie down and win?"
Oliver Scott glanced at the forr e-sports god.
Feeling even more defeated.
He wasn’t even good at gas.
"Hey!"
Luke raised an eyebrow.
"...I can’t," Henry Chapman replied slowly.
Luke said, "No worries, I’ll carry you."
Henry Chapman didn’t mind, as he was just idle anyway, and downloaded the ga software.
Playing this ga, it’s usually solo, duo, or squad of four.
Not wanting to bring in strangers, the three ford a squad of four, but couldn’t handle Oliver Scott’s poor skills and Henry Chapman’s newbie mistakes, dragging down Luke significantly. In two gas, they landed and got eliminated, so in desperation, they sought help.
Luke ssaged [XN] but received no reply.
Later, seeing [Ace Rivers] online, he directly pulled them in, not expecting them to actually agree.
"Who is it?"
Seeing the new person joining, Oliver Scott asked with curiosity.
"Don’t know, a friend of your sister’s."
"Are they good?"
"...Well, compared to non-professionals, they’re really good."
After thinking for a mont, Luke evaluated.
This person was soone Nora invited to play gas. After a few gas, they beca friends.
Although seldom online, their skills were top-notch, whether on mobile or PC, they could rival professionals.
Nora was sothing else.
She’s not good at competitive gas, but any friend she casually invites is of a top-notch level.
Ace Rivers was one of them.
In addition, [Morton Morton], [Mr. Sullivan], and [Miss Mason] were also in this ga, all unstoppable forces.
When first playing with them, Luke thought they were all professional players, but after asking Nora, he found out they were just playing casually, to pass the ti.
These individuals seed quite busy, rarely online, so although Luke enjoyed playing with them, he seldom got the chance.
A new ga started.
As Luke said, this person was really skilled.
Without using the mic, they quickly understood the two burdens’ abilities without a word of complaint.
When enemies approached, they provided tily rescue, shooting with precision;
Occasionally coming to you, dropping parts and supplies, generously;
Collaborated seamlessly with Luke, never hesitated, attacking bravely when necessary, maneuvering when needed, resolving enemies swiftly and neatly;
...
Incredibly reliable.
The three played until ten in the evening, until Nora and the others finalized their plan one by one.
It was ti for them to call it a day.
Luke turned on the mic, telling "Ace Rivers" it was ti to log off and suggested playing again next ti.
Unexpectedly, after a few seconds of silence, the other person suddenly turned on the mic.
"Is Nora Scott there?"
The voice was clear and pleasant, without much emotion.
It seed he heard Nora’s voice in the background when Luke turned on the mic.
As he asked, a bunch of eyes turned to Luke.
Luke: "..." Suddenly a bit nervous.
"I am."
Nora Scott walked over.
The voice asked, "Can the chanical lock on your front door open?"
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