Chapter 252

The headquarters was blatantly biased towards the Yalania team. It was disgusting. “Fifteen minutes?” Juniper scoffed, her voice low and firm. “Five is all I need.”
As she spoke, she placed her phone aside, her eyes fixed on the laptop in Felton’s hands.
“Ms. Payne,” Felton said, promptly passing it to her and setting it up securely on her lap.
“Need any help?” Shanley asked softly, gently wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.
“Nope.”
Juniper’s fingers flew across the keyboard, a blur of motion as countless lines of code danced across the screen.
Kurt watched, utterly mesmerized. Damn. Was there anything Juniper couldn’t do?
…
At the race venue, Ghoul was still wrangling with the officials and the Yalania team.
“If Orient Country cannot provide the complete surveillance video on time, we will proceed according to the rules regarding the mutual complaints,” an official stated coldly. “You have two minutes left.”
The members of the Yalania team were supremely confident, some even lighting up cigarettes. They had a very close relationship with the headquarters. If it hadn’t been for their last stunt getting them caught red-handed and their results nullified, they wouldn’t have been reduced to competing with the ‘lowly’ racers from Orient Country. Winning this time was just a stroke of luck for their opponents. Once the dust settled, they’d pull some strings, come up with an excuse to kick out a low- ranking team, and they’d be right back on the circuit.
“We’ll have proof,” Ghoul retorted, chin held high, while calling Kurt. “What’s going on? Where’s the evidence?”
Kurt replied with unshakable calm, “What’s the rush? If J says it’ll be done, it’ll be done!”
At that moment, Kurt was a complete J fanatic. Juniper said Orient Country wouldn’t lose, and they didn’t. She said she could restore the footage, so she definitely could. He just couldn’t wrap his head around how an eighteen-year-old student knew so much. It was humbling.
As the final seconds ticked away and the crowd’s patience wore thin, the massive screens around the venue suddenly flickered to life, displaying the complete, uninterrupted surveillance video.
On screen, it clearly showed the Yalania team deliberately causing the accident that injured Kurt. It also captured their lead driver tossing a screw into Orient Country’s race car. They had been so stealthy, thinking that even if the video were restored, their faces would be too blurry to identify But this version was crystal clear, their faces blown up in high definition. You could see every pore, every bead of sweat on their skin.
In an instant, the entire stadium erupted in an uproar, followed by a unified chant for
the Yalania Country racers to get the hell out of Orient Country.
The three drivers’ faces turned ashen. “This footage is fake!” they argued desperately.
The headquarters staff shot them a look, wanting to defend them, but in a globally televised event, with the evidence right there, they were speechless.
Ultimately following the regulations, the headquarters announced the permanent disqualification of Yalama Country from all racing events. Their presence would never again be seen on any track.
Furthermore, the three Yalania
drivers would face prosecution in Orient Country for dangerous and illegal racing, subject to various criminal penalties they were led away by security amidst a torrent of jeers and insults from the crowd.
With the drama concluded, the award ceremony began.
Juniper closed the laptop. Using a few “tricks,” she found Melvin’s contact information.
[I agree to your proposal. Meet me in the infirmary. —J]
Upon receiving the message, Melvin immediately sprinted towards the infirmary, texting Juniper as he ran.
[Juniper, I got in touch with J. I did what I promised, so you should honor your end of the deal, right?]
[F1 circuit infirmary. J and I are waiting for you.]
Just as the message sent, Melvin arrived at the infirmary. The next second, he saw
a young girl sitting in a chair, eating ice cream.
Juniper?
Melvin froze. He had just sent the text. How did she get here so fast?