Chapter 311: Chapter 311 Found
Bella ignored them all. Her screen flickered as she traced the remnants of Pablo’s hidden network. But something was different this time. His new base wasn’t fully digital. There were gaps, dead ends, and old-school encryptions that pointed to physical data storage instead of servers.
"Smart," she murmured under her breath, chewing on her lip as her fingers kept typing. "He’s gone offline."
Three red dots suddenly appeared on her screen, flashing slowly. It was a sign that the trace had hit something—a physical address. Her pulse quickened.
’So you’re hiding your base manually this time,’ she thought, narrowing her eyes. ’But that’s fine. I only need one opening.’
Her fingers moved again, and the lines of code blurred as she hacked deeper, the reflection of the red dots glinting in her eyes.
In the corner of her screen, a notification popped up: Partial location retrieved.
<-Warehouse 07, District South->
Bella leaned back slightly, chewing her lip again as her mind raced.
District South? That’s dangerously close to the city...
She started tracing the rest of the network, piecing together fragments of data Pablo had carelessly left behind. The others watched in complete silence now, the clack of her keyboard the only sound in the room.
Even Matthew, who had once tried to peek at her monitor, had quietly leaned back, deciding it was safer to just admire from a distance.
In just twenty minutes, she had done what normally took a team of five an entire day.
Finally, she exhaled and pressed the final command. The three red dots solidified into one blinking line on the map—a confirmation of Pablo’s remaining base.
She smiled faintly to herself, her eyes calm but burning with quiet triumph. "Found you," she whispered.
With a few clean movements, Bella copied the traced coordinates, encrypted them through her private channel, and sent them directly to Leo’s email. The message sent successfully, and a soft smile tugged at her lips. "Done," she murmured quietly, satisfaction glinting in her eyes.
She leaned back in her chair, rolled her shoulders, and turned slightly toward the man sitting beside her. "Is there any more work? I’m finished," she said calmly, her tone casual but confident.
Matthew froze mid-type. His fingers hovered stiffly over the keyboard as he turned to her, disbelief flickering behind his glasses. "You’re finished?" he repeated slowly, as if he wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly.
Bella blinked at him, puzzled. "Yeah. I sent the report already."
He stared at her screen, then at her face, his brows drawing together. "You’re saying you completed the Pablo base trace?"
"Yes." She nodded lightly, her tone matter-of-fact.
Matthew’s lips parted slightly. For a moment, he just sat there, speechless. "That task usually takes a whole day. Sometimes more. How did you..." He stopped himself, exhaling softly, almost as if it was useless to even ask.
Bella tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable. "I just worked through it," she said simply.
He studied her face for a few seconds. Her eyes, calm and unhurried, carried a quiet focus that made her seem older than she looked. She wasn’t proud, not boastful. She just did it.
Bella felt that since she was done, there was no reason to stay any longer, so she happily made her way toward Leo’s office. Her steps were light, and there was a little bounce in her walk. She was proud of herself, though she tried to keep her expression calm.
When she reached his floor, she saw another man waiting nervously outside his door, clutching a stack of papers as if his life depended on it.
"Are you his assistant?" the man asked breathlessly the moment he saw her. "Please, he’s angry! Help me pass this file!"
Before Bella could even reply, the man practically shoved the file into her hands and ran off, leaving her standing there, confused and speechless.
"Angry?" she murmured, looking at the closed door.
She hesitated, then knocked softly.
"Come in," came his voice, calm, deep, and steady as ever.
"He doesn’t sound angry..." Bella blinked, doubting that man’s words.
When she entered, Leo was sitting behind his desk, posture relaxed, eyes unreadable. His face looked calm—almost too calm for someone supposedly furious.
What Bella didn’t know was that just a few minutes ago, Leo had been angry. Several employees had failed to prepare the reports he needed on time, and even when they finally did, the quality had been laughable—sloppy formats, missing data, amateur-level summaries. In frustration, he had fired two people on the spot. The storm had passed only moments before Bella walked in.
Bella stepped forward, placing the file on his desk. "Sir, my work is done. I’ve also sent you an email. Can you check?" she asked with her usual gentle politeness, her big brown eyes watching his face curiously.
Leo raised a brow in mild surprise and opened his inbox. When he clicked the email, his expression changed almost instantly. His eyes focused sharply on the screen as he scrolled through her report, reading line after line in silence.
The office felt still, and Bella waited, wondering if she had done something wrong. But then she saw it—the faintest glint of something rare in Leo’s eyes. Admiration.
He leaned back slowly, tapping the edge of the tablet as he finished reading. The details were perfect: clear coordinates, decoded data, and the exact warehouse link he had been searching for. Even his best technical teams hadn’t produced results this fast.
Inside, his chest tightened with pride and something far more dangerous—affection. My little bunny really did this.
He fought to keep his composure, his expression unreadable. "You sent it directly?" he asked, his voice calm but slightly deeper.
"Yes, sir," Bella said softly, feeling shy under his gaze. "I thought it was urgent."
Leo’s lips curved faintly, and he nodded once. "Good. It was urgent."
But his heart was far from calm. He wanted to smile wider, to pull her close, to tell her just how brilliant she was. But instead, he stayed still, fingers tightening slightly against the tablet. His blood hummed with the thrill of it—admiration mixed with something possessive, something too wild for an office.
How can she be so talented and still look this soft while doing it, he thought, biting back the urge to say anything foolish.