Another weekend came. Darcy went to the Quest University research project lab. After the final set of data tests today, she could officially apply for the patents. When she arrived, Bram was already there and had brought her breakfast. "I guessed you'd skip it again," Bram said, placing warm pastries and coffee on her desk. Darcy smiled, "Wow, you know me so well. I've been swamped lately, always working overtime and in meetings. Finally got a chance to sleep in." Hearing how busy she was, Bram felt a pang of concern. "Your data must be almost done, right?" Darcy nodded. "Yeah, after the last set of tests today, it'll be good to go." Bram reminded her, "Remember to save the data. Wylan messed up last time, forgot to save after an experiment, and had to work several nights to catch up." As he finished, Wylan walked in with dark circles under his eyes, looking utterly defeated. Seeing him, Darcy laughed, "Don't worry—I've backed up all the code and data in full. Barring a server breach, nothing will be lost." Nearby, Mia watched Bram and Darcy chatting intimately again—like a sweet couple lost in their own world—and jealousy made her grind her teeth. Usually, Bram was nice to her. But whenever Darcy showed up, his eyes were only for her. To get him back, I just need to make Darcy disappear! Make her patents vanish! A smile curled Mia's lips. Darcy, this afternoon is your last half-day in the lab! At noon, as usual, Darcy and Bram went to the cafeteria for lunch, then took a walk in the nearby park.When they returned to the lab, they found all the other students looking grim. Puzzled, Bram stepped forward. "What's wrong? What happened?" "Bram, it's bad! After lunch, we found our server was hacked. A lot of code and data were wiped. We're trying to recover it now." "What?! How could that happen?!" Bram was shocked. They were all computer science majors, with a strong awareness of cybersecurity. They had set up multiple firewalls from the start. The software security level was higher than that of most companies. It shouldn't have been so easily breached. But this wasn't the time for analysis. Bram urged her quickly, "Darcy, check if your test data is still there!" Darcy nodded, sitting at her computer and opening the drives where her code and data were stored. She drew a sharp breath.Empty. Not only was today's test data gone, but months of hard work had also vanished into thin air. Soon, Bram came over. Seeing her expression, he immediately asked what was wrong. Darcy told him the truth. Hearing that, Bram frowned. "I just checked. For the others who lost code and data, it's either today's work or the last three days' at most. But you've lost everything." Darcy pursed her lips. "Not just that. Even the log traces are wiped. That means someone specifically targeted us. "Considering my losses are the most severe, I suspect this was aimed at me." Bram's frown deepened. "Who would have it in for you?" Too many to name.But Darcy didn't say that. She looked up at the ceiling. "Bram, there are security cameras in the office. The server room is in range. Can we check the footage?" Bram paused for a moment. "You suspect an inside job?" "I'm not pointing fingers. I just think it's necessary to check the footage. We might find something," Darcy explained. "Alright, let's check," Bram agreed. The office's surveillance recordings were saved on a dedicated desktop computer, overwritten every two weeks. So, if it was an inside job, the cameras should have captured something. But when they opened the desktop, Bram was surprised to find no recordings from today. Others gathered around upon hearing the news. When they learned the surveillance footage was also deleted, they held their breath.Something was about to break wide open. They had all assumed it was an external attack, but now they weren't so sure. Suddenly, from the edge of the group, Mia clenched her fists at her sides and spoke up loudly, "The camera lights aren't on. Are they broken?" Someone else realized. "Right—no footage today doesn't have to mean it was one of us. The cameras might be busted. We haven't checked them since we moved in." Most of them were engineering guys. They quickly found a ladder and started checking each camera. "Good grief," one of them said, laughing bitterly. "These are all just for show. Not a single one works. All broken."