She Outshines Them All

She Outshines 382

It was dead silence in the hotel at two o’clock in the morning. After Joy confirmed that the surveillance cameras in the entire hotel had completely shut down, she tiptoed out of the room and came to the door diagonally opposite.

She used the master key to open the lock and pressed her ear to the crack of the door to listen to the movements inside.

. With her ability, it was easy for her to break the surveillance cameras in this old–fashioned hotel. It was also very easy to pry

open this old–fashioned lock. Her hearing was good, too.

After listening for a moment and confirming there was no movement in the room, she carefully pushed open the door and walked in silently.

She was wearing socks without shoes. Her feet did not make a sound when she stepped on the floor.

As a precaution, she was wearing the uniform of the archaeological team and a mask, her hair tied up in a hat, and her hands covered in thin rubber gloves. It was difficult to tell if she was male or female at a glance.

This guest room was occupied by Franco alone. The layout of the room was simple. Upon entering, there was a bed, and next to the window beside the bed stood a desk and a chair.

A person lay on the bed, emitting soft snores, clearly in a deep sleep. Joy silently approached the bed and stared at Franco. Although the room was dim, she could vaguely make out Franco was lying on his back, without his mask.

Even if her eyesight was excellent, in total darkness, she could not clearly see a person’s face. However, she had a phone with her.

She had already adjusted the brightness of her phone screen to its lowest setting, allowing her to just barely make out Franco’s face.

She did not attempt to take a photo of him as low light would result in a blurry image, and using sufficient light might wake him up. She could not take that risk.

After getting a good look at Franco’s face, she felt a little disappointed. He appeared to be an ordinary man in his forties, with clean–shaven, regular features, nothing particularly remarkable.

She memorized the shape of his face and features using her exceptional memory. Then, she turned toward the desk, shielding the phone with her body as she raised the screen’s brightness, careful not to let the light reach the slumbering Franco behind her.

Then, she carefully opened Franco’s backpack. After carefully memorizing the location of everything inside, she slowly searched for what she wanted and spotted the small high–definition video recorder.

Franco had used this recorder to capture footage of the prehistoric murals inside the snow cave. These devices might be equipped with alarms, so she observed the recorder for a while before finally opening it and using her phone to record the video.

After finishing the recording, she searched through the backpack and was surprised to find Franco’s identity card.

‘Tonight’s haul is truly rich. She smiled, noted down the information on the identity card, and then placed it back in the bag. Satisfied with her findings, she decided to stop there and did not continue rummaging through the backpack.

After confirming everything was back in place, she zipped up the bag, turned off her phone, and quietly checked that Franco was still deeply asleep before she tiptoed out, closing the door seftly behind her.

What she did not know was that, as soon as the door clicked shu a pair of eyes snapped open, coldly watching the door she

had just closed.

She then When Joy returned to her room, she immediately burned her mask, gloves, and the socks she had been wearin flushed the ashes down the toilet and thoroughly checked her body from head to toe to make sure no strange substances had stained her clothes or skin before she went to bed.

. An hour later, the hotel’s surveillance system returned to normal. Of course, with the hotel having a limited staff, no one

noticed the disruption. Even if they did, as long as nothing went wrong, they would not care.

The following morning, the archaeologists woke up, had breakfast together, and then parted ways to return to their respective homes.

From the beginning till the end, including Franco, no one seemed to have noticed anything unusual the previous night.

After arriving at the airport, Joy went to the washroom and sent the content she had recorded to her teacher.

After reviewing it, her teacher praised her: [You did an excellent job. You didn’t disappoint me.]

Joy smiled and replied: [Thank you for your compliment.]

The teacher said: [You’ll be rewarded.]

Joy replied: [I’ll keep working hard to earn more rewards.] The communication ended here.

As it was still early, Joy continued to stay in the washroom. She sketched Franco’s face using a pencil, then sent the portrait and his identity information to her subordinates. [Investigate this person. Remember, it’s crucial. Take your time, or even temporarily halt the investigation if you need to, but you must not alert anyone.]

After sending the message, she put her phone away and exited the washroom.

After returning to Kitmore City, she uploaded the stolen video to her computer and began the complex task of decoding the incomplete and intricate symbols and patterns. It was a challenging task but Joy was always eager to solve puzzles.

Meanwhile, Athena had delayed her return to Kitmore City for several days to avoid appearing with Joy at the same time. By the time she returned, it was already past Advent Sunday, and the semester’s final exams and winter break were just around the corner.

In the three months that Athena had been away, many things had happened in Kimore City.

At the Golden Nightingale Film Award held in early November, Luna won the Best Actress award for her role in “High Mountain“, marking her second time receiving the prestigious Golden Nightingale

Best Actress Award. She became the actress with the most international and domestic Best Actress awards in the country.

At the ceremony, she humbly said, “This time, I must thank the beautiful and soul–healing Donovan’s Farmland. Without it, I might not have been able to win this trophy.

“If no objections, I’ll build a nest on the flower ramp, and let this golden nightingale settle there.”

The entire venue burst into laughter and applause. Everyone said, “It’s perfect for the golden nightingale to settle down.”

On the same occasion, Zayn

won the Best New Artist Award for his role in “The King of Military Dogs,” a well–deserved recognition that generated no controversy.

He humbly said, “I think the real protagonist is Bello. It truly deserves this trophy.

“When I get home, I will place this valuable award in its big nest The audience responded with hearty laughter and

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applause.

Q

The netizens praised him, saying: [Zayn is truly loyal, and Bello is lucky to have such a comrade for the rest of its life.]

At this point, Zayn’s movie “The King of Military Dogs” had grossed over 160 million dollars at the box office, ma….g the investors significant profits. In return, the investors generously gave Zayn a 20% share of the profits.

At this moment, Zayn’s fee was already quite high, but he had never made exorbitant demands. Instead, the industry . acknowledged his ability to guarantee success, and producers were eager to offer high fees to have him star in their movie:

He divided his earnings into two parts. Half for his family and the other for establishing a security company.

His company was called “ShieldGuard Security,” and its business was divided into three large sections.

One was purely security services, mainly offering professional personnel for residential areas, companies, office buildings, and public institutions.

The other was professional film production security services, including stunt actors, and martial arts performers, and providing necessary equipment and personnel for action, gunfight, and war scenes, ensuring the safety of actors during filming.

The last was private security services, offering personal bodyguards and security for individuals.

All employees came from retired military personnel and their families.

Although Zayn was not a professional businessman or manager and did not have much time to manage the company, he used his extensive network to assemble an efficient and professional management team.

He handled finances and networking, while the management team took care of the company’s formation, recruitment, and operations.

At this point, the company had over 300 employees undergoing professional training, with more than 100 employees already on the job, mainly providing security service at the residential complex of Bard Garden and other places, and had received great reviews.

Athena heard all about this from her family after she returned home.

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