Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress

Chapter 1460: I want no part of it

The day went by without incident, and as always, time stopped for no one.

Back at the hotel, the teams had returned to their rooms. Some had chosen to rest, while others took the opportunity to practice, determined to increase their chances of winning.

In Team D's practice room, the group of five had just finished working on a coding challenge they found online.

"This is too easy," one of them muttered as he pressed Enter, his lips curving downward. "I don't think this is going to help."

The person next to him nodded. "The finals won't be this simple, that's for sure. We need to find more complex security systems to crack."

"Should I start looking on the black market?" another suggested, glancing up from his monitor at the others. "Why don't we take on a request and see what we can do?"

"Do you want to get disqualified?" the fourth member frowned. "If Prime Group finds out we're engaging in illegal activities during the competition, they won't just disqualify us—they'll call the police. I came here to win, not to end up in jail."

"What if we don't accept payment?" the previous guy argued. "It's not illegal if we don't profit from it."

"Do you think making money is the only thing that makes hacking illegal?" the first person scoffed. "Unauthorized access, cyberattacks—there are plenty of charges that could be filed against us. I'm not taking that risk, even if it sounds tempting."

The four of them debated back and forth, struggling to find a solution. After making it through the preliminaries and semi-finals, they knew their current practice challenges were too basic. Many teams—perhaps even theirs—had barely scraped by through sheer luck.

But as they argued, they suddenly realized their fifth member had been silent the entire time. Turning their heads, they all focused on Nathaniel.

the fourth member called. "Don't you have anything

had been staring blankly at his screen,

systems is too

and

watched him

that guy's a weirdo," one of them muttered,

guy next to him nodded. "If he hadn't destroyed everyone in the competition in his solo round, I wouldn't have wanted

as that round required group participation. That was the only reason they were working

something off about him," the third member added. "I can't put my finger on it,

looking at the others. "If breaking security is too easy, why not focus on fixing vulnerabilities? We could work on a website or something. It's better than wasting time

talking like you're the

to remind you all that this is a competition. Whatever personal feelings you have, suck it up until the

Of course, they did.

and the group refocused on sharpening their

and forth in the emergency exit stairwell, massaging his temples as his

smoking, but at this rate, I might start again just to ease my

had woken up to find Penny standing over him with her pets. When Nathaniel had begged Zoren to take him in, he had been desperate for a mission, eager to prove his worth. But instead of sending him on assignments, Zoren

been humiliating. But over time, Nathaniel had found unexpected peace in gardening. For the first time in years, he didn't have to constantly look over his shoulder, wondering if his door would be kicked in by armed men. He didn't have to worry about food or finding a new

he had finally felt

here he was, on his first

superiors at the