Ch. 1846..1850: My Wife Is A Hacker Chapter 1846-1850

Chapter 1846

"A mere high school student. This student from Northon Institute is truly a conceited one," the crowd discussed among themselves.

Mr. Hardy flew into a rage. "What's wrong with having a high-schooler? Everyone has witnessed Zeke is capable of. It's still early too decide who the conceited one is!"

The crowd went silent after Mr. Hardy, a teacher from the Northon Institute, lashed out at them, after which Mr. Hardy sat down triumphantly.

Mr. Zach, who was beside him, rolled his eyes. "Even if Zeke is skilled, you shouldn't be too confident. How do you think it would look if he fails?"

Mr. Hardy turned to glare at Mr. Zach and mocked, "You're just jealous. Rather than worrying about me, you should worry about the losers in your school. They're not even done cracking the program. At this point, I'm not even certain if they could enter the next round. Hmph!"

In turn, Mr. Hardy's words rendered Mr. Zach speechless. "Why you!"

On the side, Bradley held Mr. Zach off. "Just ignore him, Mr. Zach. Rest assured, we will certainly win this year."

Mr. Zach became skeptical as he saw the look of confidence on Bradley's face. 'Why is this child so sure?'

Nonetheless, the thought of Bradley comforting him made him sigh. "It's alright. I'll accept every outcome. I'm just hoping that someone could bring honor to the school."

And upon noticing that Mr. Zach understood that he was trying to comfort him, Bradley smiled. "Have faith in Nicole."

Mr. Zach could not help but narrow his brows. 'Bradley asked me to put my faith in Nicole, but not Ryder or Gary.'

It was only then that Mr. Zach looked at Nicole differently, noticing that she was rather chilled, as compared to Gary and Ryder. She seemed to have a well-thought-out plan and was typing really slowly, as if she had figured a way to decode the program; unlike Ryder, who was nervous and was repeatedly double-checking his work.

'If that's the case, why is she typing so slowly?' he wondered.

In addition, no one expected that Nicole had been typing so slowly because she was bored of decoding this pointless program. 'This dude might just have outed himself as a nincompoop. This program is trash.'

She was afraid that she would crack it in a second and attract unwanted attention if she tried a little harder. As for whether she wanted to get first place or not, it would depend on her mood in the final round.

She yawned and unconsciously typed two more lines of code, but that was when she heard a sudden, "Ding!"

"The second student who has cracked the program is here! Number 13, Nicole from the Royal Creek Institute!" The host's resonant voice blared out.

Nicole raised her brows and stared down at her own hands. 'Gosh, I guess old habits die hard. All I did was type a few more lines of code when I was relaxing, and voila, program cracked. Who knew I would have surpassed Ryder for second place? I'm afraid that he will be depressed later on.'

Unsurprisingly, Ryder's expression changed. However, he could not stop. With a grim expression, he continued typing away. Ten minutes later, he finally cracked the program, though he was sweating profusely. He looked up and turned to Nicole, his face brimming with resentment.

Nicole sighed. She had deliberately planned to give the former champion a quarter and not steal his limelight. Yet, fate had a different plan.

"What are you looking at? Be quicker next time. I don't have all day." Nicole rolled her eyes and left her seat.

Ryder frowned. Sensing that something was odd, he turned to look at Gary, "What did she mean by that?"

'Is it possible that she was purposely waiting for me? She had cracked it earlier?' Ryder asked himself.

Chapter 1847

Gary looked at his brother with sympathy in his eyes. His brother still believed that he and Nicole were evenly matched in their capabilities. In fact, he had even conceived of the possibility of defeating Nicole.

On the other hand, Gary thought that his brother was rather pitiful.

With a sigh, he cracked the program, stood up, and patted Ryder in the shoulder. "Rest in peace."

Ryder froze, not understanding what Gary had meant. Off stage, Mr. Zach watched as they all entered the next round and issued a sigh of relief.

This was the first time he noticed Nicole, and as they were exiting the stage, he walked over to them and said, "It's great that you're able to enter the next round. Good luck! Don't give up!"

Nicole looked at Mr. Zach. 'This teacher is from the university department, and he's probably Stanley's homeroom teacher.'

She had a favorable impression of his friendly demeanor. "Thank you, sir."

In response, Mr. Zach smiled. "No worries. That's the least I can do for you."

At the same time, Mr. Hardy also walked over to welcome Zeke, and as he had overheard the conversation between them, chuckled, "Well, aren't you self-aware? A teacher like you won't be able to create any good students."

Mr. Zach's expression darkened, after which he spun around and glared at Mr. Hardy. "Why are you everywhere?!"

Mr. Zach had no intention of arguing with this rogue, but then, the latter had approached him for a jibe on his own volition anyway.

Nicole's expression quickly took a turn for the gloomy as well.

Seeing that Mr. Zach was defenseless against Mr. Hardy, she coldly retorted, "Mr. Zach is our school's honored teacher. The president of the student council and the student who always gets first place in the entire grade is from his class. Can you say the same for your class, Mr. Hardy?"

Mr. Hardy was stunned. Being dissed by a student was the last thing he could see coming. He instinctively wanted to fight back. However, he was also forced to realize that his class had no extraordinary students. That was why he cared so much for Zeke. As a gifted student, Zeke had made quite a name for himself.

Nicole had already guessed what the situation was from the get go. A teacher from Northon Institute who was so concerned about a competition such as this had likely exposed the fact that his students could not shine in their main subjects. Therefore, he had to take a different approach.

"What the matter? Are you too perplexed to speak up?" Nicole sneered. "Every man has his merits. Take Mr. Zach for example. He is an excellent teacher, but not a great debater. You, on the other hand, seem to all bark and no bite."

"Who are you talking about?" Mr. Hardy glared at Nicole in fury. "Why are there students as rude as you are at Royal Creek Institute?"

In reply, Nicole mocked, "If I was rude, what does that make you? A teacher who was shouting in public? Isn't that the mark of an ill-bred person?"

"Why you!!" Nicole's words left Mr. Hardy speechless. "Fine, let's see how long you can keep up with all that smack talk! I've seen plenty of students like you with big mouths! I'm afraid you won't even be able to enter the finals!"

Mr. Hardy had witnessed Nicole's performance moments ago and felt that she was inferior to Zeke.

Nicole's expression darkened. 'It seems to me that Mr. Hardy has to learn a lesson today. Or else he is never going to let this matter slide.'

"What if I make it into the finals? Are you going to kneel for me in front of everyone?" Nicole proudly crossed her arms on her chest.

Mr. Zach had never expected this cold-looking girl to possess such a fierce demeanor; she had refused to back down against Mr. Hardy. He was secretly pleased with the sight of Mr. Hardy being humiliated.

However, his good manners prompted him to impart his advice on Nicole anyway. "Let it go. Don't bother lowering yourself down to his level for the sake of an argument. We are here to participate in the competition, not engage in shouting matches with dogs."

With that said, Mr. Zach took Nicole and the Finley brothers away.

Mr. Hardy took a moment to realize what was said, and that was when he shouted at them, "Who are you calling a dog?!"

He could not believe that Mr. Zach, who was so inept when it came to arguments, knew how to call him names after having a student had shown up to back him up. This made him furious.

Zeke made his way down the stage and saw Mr. Hardy as he was walking pass Mr. Zach, who had a smug look on his face.

He quickly asked, "Mr. Hardy. What happened again?"

This time, Nicole was present, and Zeke really hoped that Mr. Hardy had not done anything to provoke her.

In response, Mr. Hardy glared at Nicole and bellowed, "That student is so detestable with that sharp tongue of hers! When you go up against her later, be sure to teach her a lesson! Do you understand?"

Zeke followed his gaze and saw Nicole.

There, he could not help but shudder as he asked, "D-Did you offend her just now?"

Chapter 1848

Mr. Hardy frowned and looked at Zeke. "Did I offend her?! She was the one who offended me! Anyway, regardless of who offended who, don't go easy on her! Do you hear me?!" Mr. Hardy stormed off, missing Zeke's pale face along the way.

'I'm the one in trouble if I encounter her! It's hard to predict who will be the one showing mercy to the other! Nicole initially had no intentions of squaring off against me! Yet, Mr. Hardy had taken the liberty to screw it up for me! Ugh! This really pisses me off!' Zeke thought.

Nicole and Mr. Zach had returned to their seat by then, with the latter saying to Nicole, "Thank you for earlier. Don't let this affect you later. Go and get yourself ready for the next round."

Ryder nodded his head. "Alright."

Nicole only nodded lightly, showing that she had heard him. Mr. Zach felt that Nicole was even more mysterious. The next round was in full preparation, and everyone was anticipating the duel between Zeke and Rowdon. This was essentially a competition between the sitting champion and a famous hacker, an intense match that nobody had expected to witness when they came to participate in the competition. The crowd was rubbing their hands together in anticipation.

While the organizer was preparing professional equipment for Rowdon on stage, other participants had also taken their seats.

Mr. Hardy led Zeke to his position, not forgetting to remind him. "Good luck! You'll bring glory to the school if you defeat that famous hacker and enter the finals directly!"

Mr. Hardy would never pass up the opportunity for Zeke to make a name for himself.

Then, Zeke looked at Rowdon coldly, and calmly replied to Mr. Hardy, "Don't worry. I'll definitely skip the semi-finals and advance to the finals."

Zeke would never miss the chance to save some time if he could.

At that point, Rowdon looked at Zeke with mockery in his eyes. "Well, don't you have a big mouth? Still, I do admire your bravery. You're not even flustered at the thought of facing a professional hacker like me. After the competition ends, I might consider letting you join The Hunters."

Zeke sneered. "Wait till you know who I am before you say those things."

Rowdon was left flabbergasted at Zeke's arrogant behavior. 'Who could he be? Who could this high- schooler even be?'

Rowdon's eye's then turned cold as he suspected Zeke was just bluffing.

He would not let Zeke pass this time, for this was his month-long effort. After all, the duel had everything to do with his reputation.

'As the webmaster of The Hunters, ranking fifth in the international hacker's leaderboard, wouldn't it be a joke if I lose to a high scholar? I would be the laughingstock of everyone around me,' Rowdon thought to himself as he began to prepare for the competition.

The match was a head-to-head competition. The previous round depended on the speed by which they could crack the master-level programs. Now it was a direct confrontation between the two, to see who could hack into the opponent's CPU first. It was a rather competitive match, and everyone was paying close attention to it.

On the other hand, Nicole was up against Edwin, who could not resist himself from complaining, "Ugh! How did we end up together?"

Nicole shot him a playful look. "What's wrong? Are you not happy with that?"

 

Chapter 1849

"Well, that's not true,' Edwin Bradford smiled wryly. "It's just that I'm also one of the members of this entourage, and if we don't make it into the semi-finals, it would be far too embarrassing..."

'If I had not met Nicole, I bet I would be able to enter the semi-finals,' he thought.

"It's okay. Preston should be able to crack it easily. You're a part of our company, and we should have the pride of being so," Nicole replied.

Edwin sighed. 'How can any of this be the same? This match is doomed from the start.'

Nicole noted Edwin's look of discouragement, and thought for a moment before saying, "How about I give you a ten-minute head start. How 'bout that?"

Edwin immediately raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Though Edwin had made Nicole feel very uneasy, it was also the only way in which he could secure a better chance at winning. He could not help wanting to try his best.

"Yeah, come on!"

After the exchange had ended, Nicole leisurely took a sip of her drink and leaned back on the chair. On the other side, both Gary and Ryder were relaxed. Gary's eyes were filled with admiration and respect while Ryder's face was filled with disgust.

"How can this be a competition? Even if she's better, you can't underestimate Edwin."

After all, they were also operating IT companies, and thus, none of them should be underestimated. Out of earshot of their conversation, Nicole kicked back as she continued taking sips of her drink.

At that moment, the countdown began and three seconds later, everyone proceeded to get busy and the clacking of keyboards filled the room. Everyone in the audience held their breath as they spectated on the big screen. Zeke and Rowdon were competing against each other.

The only people who had been paying attention to Nicole from time to time were Bradley and Director Monroe. It was Director Monroe who had noticed Nicole drinking leisurely when she was up against Edwin, a gesture which left him confused.

"What is Nicole doing?" Director Monroe asked Bradley.

"I'm not sure what she's doing. She's just sitting around drinking tea there," Bradley said confidently as he knew that Nicole's behavior was not a cause for concern.

Director Monroe was stunned. "But this is a competition. She's up against Edwin, who's pretty famous in the entirety of his university's faculty! His skills are pretty admirable too."

Bradley smiled and thought, 'Though Edwin is good, he couldn't even go toe to toe with Ryder. Not to mention, Nicole didn't even break when she battled Ryder, so I reckon Edwin isn't even in the same league.'

While Bradley was enjoying himself, Director Monroe, on the other hand, was breaking into cold sweat. He did not want Nicole to be eliminated at such an early stage in the competition.

After ten long minutes, Nicole slowly placed her drink down before typing away on her keyboard, changing her stance from relaxed to serious in a matter of seconds. And just as everyone thought that Edwin was about to break into the firewall of Nicole's computer, a sudden counterattack thwarted his attempt at once.

"Damn it, what kind of code is this?" he asked.

'Goodness, this girl is really good...' Edwin could not believe his eyes, as he had never seen such a good countermeasure on a firewall program.

"It's something new I've developed. Isn't it fun?" Nicole teased.

Edwin could not help suppressing his laughter. He then tried to poke around his computer, but to no avail.

Seeing this, he gave up with a sigh. "Forget it. I give up."

'I can't win anyway, so why bother?' he thought.

Nicole pondered for a while, and that was when she said, "Okay."

Chapter 1850

Edwin slammed the 'defeat' button at once. At that juncture, Nicole immediately became the first person to secure a victory in the first round. This surprised the audience, who glanced at Zeke before turning back to look at Nicole.

"Who is she?"

"I don't know...but one thing is for sure, she's really good. Her opponent seems to be Edwin Bradford."

"Yeah, he got fifth place last year."

"I think so, but why did he admit defeat so easily?"

People were talking among themselves; they could not shake off how amazing Nicole was, and some even went as far as to think that Edwin might have regressed.

Yet, nobody present was aware that Edwin's technology and skill had progressed to great heights. He had thought that if he could secure a winning spot in this competition, he would be able to attract enough attention to promote his company and recruit fresh graduates along the way. He had not foreseen the idea that he would be crossing paths with Nicole and getting himself eliminated at such an early stage in the competition.

Edwin went over to Nicole before leaving the stage, "The company's reputation solely depends on you now."

Nicole gave him a helpless look. "Gotcha."

'To be up against Nicole, anyone pitted against her stands no chance. I should just consider myself unlucky,' he thought.

Director Monroe had breathed a sigh of relief as Nicole sauntered off the stage. Edwin was also a student at Royal Creek Institute, but Director Monroe had inexplicably thrown most of her support at Nicole. Between the two of them, Director Monroe had directed the bulk of her attention to Nicole due to the fact she was only a high-schooler.

Director Monroe then waited for the two of them to come back, after which she comforted Edwin before asking Nicole, "Why did you launch your counterattack after ten minutes?"

"I allowed him to have a head start," Nicole said plainly.

"Huh." Edwin was ashamed.

With just a single sentence from Nicole, he felt as though he had been played like a fiddle. Director Monroe then realized that Nicole had gone easy on Edwin.

'She...she really is that formidable of a competitor. Otherwise, how could she keep her composure at a time like this, right?'

At that moment, Zeke and Rowdon were up, competing against each other on stage. The both of them were in the state of having each other in deadlocks, both starting off strong, attempting to suppress one another. Rowdon had attempted to take Zeke down from the very beginning and had utilized every professional method in the book to hold Zeke down. As the audience spectated the competition, they were frowning in anticipation.

"This is disrespectful, bullying high school kids with professional techniques..."

"Yeah! Even if Zeke is a professional hacker, this can be way too challenging for him, especially because he is facing a real hacker."

"Maybe... let's keep watching..." the audience murmured while sharing disapproving glances.

On the stage, Rowdon did not bother with what others had to say. All he wanted was to finish what he had started, which was to teach Zeke a lesson. However, at this moment, Zeke was scrutinizing and testing Rowdon's strategies carefully.

It was not long before the thought of victory entered Rowdon's mind, and he cockily typed into his keyboard, saying, "Kid, what's the matter? Are you too much of a coward now that you're faced with a professional hacker? Weren't you running around trying to show your skills off earlier? I guess it's nothing but a façade, huh?"

Zeke glanced at Rowdon indifferently, capturing Rowdon's flaw just in time, and that was when he smirked. "Dude, you haven't changed one bit. The stuff you've placed here are not much of a challenge, and your ability to attack my firewall is still as weak as before. It's teeming with loopholes!"

After Zeke had spoken, he darted his fingers across his keyboard. While Rowdon had broken through 60% of Zeke's firewall, Zeke was able to turn the tables around instantly, dwarfing Rowdon's speed by a wide margin. As it turned out, Zeke had swiftly penetrated Rowdon's weakest code before expanding his range of attack to erase Rowdon's firewall easily, removing one layer after another in a fashion akin to peeling onions.

"D*mn it!" Rowdon screamed, scrambling to fix the damage caused by the attacks.