As Nie Bing's tall figure appeared on the second floor, the Expert Team members were gathered around the conference table, eating lunch.
"Little Nie, you're finally awake!" Wang Lei exclaimed excitedly, the first to notice her.
Wang Lei's shout alerted everyone else. Liu Shanhe, Lin Zhiyuan, Zhang Hong, and Feng Chiyu immediately turned to look.
Lin Zhiyuan, looking rather embarrassed, said, "I'm sorry, Nie Bing. It was my mistake that led to Brother Zhang forcing his way into your room and handcuffing you. It's all my fault..."
However, upon hearing Lin Zhiyuan's apology, Nie Bing wore a puzzled expression, rubbed her forehead, and asked, "I don't understand what you're talking about... I remember returning to the base to monitor Cifera and prove she wasn't a mole... But why did I wake up in my room?
"And weren't you all out capturing contestants? Why are you all back here?
"Where's Cifera? Where did she go?"
? ? ?
Everyone froze, taken aback by Nie Bing's earnest questions.
But seeing the slightly stiff expression on her face, they instantly understood—
Nie Bing's obsessive need for accuracy had resurfaced!
She was pretending to have just woken up, completely unaware of what had happened while she was unconscious.
Do we really have to play along with this charade before we can get to the real topic?
The group exchanged glances before all eyes settled on Wang Lei.
"Uh, Teacher Wang Lei," Liu Shanhe said, patting Wang Lei's shoulder earnestly, "we're entrusting you with the task of explaining everything to Little Bingbing. There's truly no one better suited for this."
Wang Lei chuckled dryly, knowing Liu Shanhe was referring to his acting background, which made him the ideal partner for Nie Bing's performance.
But truth be told, if Nie Bing's acting were this stiff on an actual film set, he'd be cursing up a storm within minutes.
Still, this was just a variety show, so going through the motions would suffice. Besides, for Wang Lei, this was one of the few times his acting skills were actually needed.
"Oh, Little Nie, you have no idea! That Cifera... she's the real mole! She had us all wrapped around her finger!"
Wang Lei pulled Nie Bing aside and launched into a passionate tirade about Cifera's misdeeds, as if Cifera had committed some unforgivable crime. Nie Bing dutifully played along, matching his intensity.
The live stream audience erupted in laughter at the scene:
[Ha ha ha! Little Bingbing's acting is so bad, she should team up with Teacher Wang Lei for a "Plastic Acting Duo."]
[You don't understand. Teacher Wang Lei's cooking might be terrible, but his acting is decent. He's deliberately playing up the artificiality to match Little Bingbing's performance.]
[Nie Bing: As long as I act convincingly enough, the awkwardness will fall on everyone else.]
[Wang Lei's inner thoughts: If Nie Bing isn't nominated for this year's Golden Broom Awards, I'm not watching!]
[Lord Lin, you apologized too soon. Little Bingbing clearly doesn't want to remember the humiliation of being handcuffed by her own people.]
[Zhang Hong: If I'd known Nie Bing was this committed to her role, why was I even worried?]
[Nie Bing's amnesia script is even more meticulously planned than the Pursuit Team's tactics (dog emoji).]
[I get it now! The Pursuit Team's real mission is to help Little Bingbing film her drama.]
[They should rename the next episode "Actors, Please Take Your Places: Police Station Edition."]
[The Pursuit Team is remarkably calm. Not only have they lost Cifera's trail, but they also failed to capture Night Shadow after he was reported. Now they're casually playing house with Nie Bing.]
[What choice do they have? Cifera dug such a deep hole earlier. With no vehicles and no access to surveillance footage, the Pursuit Team can't even try to catch her.]
[Cifera is already on the move. Who knows when the Pursuit Team will ever get back on track?]
Five minutes later...
After Wang Lei's painstakingly simplified explanation, Nie Bing finally "understood everything."
She let out a soft sigh, inwardly congratulating herself on having flawlessly played the victim throughout the entire ordeal.
Without another word to Wang Lei, she strode directly toward the Technical Booth.
"Little Nie, why rush? Come have lunch first," Wang Lei called after her anxiously, noticing she hadn't joined the others.
Having been temporarily grounded that morning, Wang Lei had personally taken to the kitchen, determined to redeem his tarnished culinary reputation.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry yet. Besides, who knows when Cifera and the Grandson of the Thief might strike again? We need to get the Technical Booth operational first."
The Production Team had already returned the car keys; only the Technical Booth remained to be repaired.
"Teacher Wang Lei, don't worry about Little Bingbing. She's been resting for too long and must be itching to get back to work. Just let her go," Liu Shanhe said, popping a green bean into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. His face lit up with appreciation.
"These stir-fried green beans are truly excellent—the best dish by far! Failure is indeed the mother of success. Everyone should learn from Teacher Wang Lei!"
"...Ahahaha... As long as you all enjoy it, that's all that matters..."
Hearing Liu Shanhe's praise, Wang Lei smiled broadly on the surface, but his heart went numb.
Of all the dishes at lunch today, only this plate of stir-fried green beans was something he hadn't touched.
As the canteen chef had put it: "These green beans are all about the timing. One second off, and they're ruined! We appreciate your intentions, but leave this delicate work to the professionals. Just relax and wait to eat!"
So, I'll never shake this 'poison green bean' joke, Wang Lei thought, speechless.
Meanwhile, at the Technical Booth:
Nie Bing began attempting to manipulate the surveillance system. Just as Lin Zhiyuan had warned, any attempt to access related functions caused the system to crash with an error message.
"Are you confident you can fix it?" Lin Zhiyuan asked anxiously. "I tried to restore it earlier, but Cifera's techniques are too complex. I... couldn't crack it."
Seeing Nie Bing head to the Technical Booth, Lin Zhiyuan abandoned his meal and rushed over to "learn."
But Nie Bing ignored him completely, not even glancing in his direction.
Having sat beside Cifera at the Technical Booth all afternoon yesterday, watching her work, she had been itching to get her hands on the system herself.
Now that she finally had the chance to work with the actual hardware, she instantly entered a state of intense focus.
"As expected, after being trained by Cifera, this feels absolutely incredible!"
Nie Bing's face lit up with a mix of fervor and excitement as she muttered to herself:
"Thank you, Cifera, for leaving such a delicious feast for me to enjoy right after I woke up... Well, I won't hold back!"
The "feast" she referred to was clearly Cifera's blockade program on the surveillance system.
Nie Bing's fingers flew across the keyboard with precise and practiced movements, though they still fell far short of the speed Cifera had demonstrated earlier.
Line after line of commands streamed across the screen as complex code flowed rapidly, being parsed and dismantled.
Lin Zhiyuan stood behind her, watching with a complicated expression and a slightly unnatural pallor.
It wasn't that Nie Bing was ignoring him; rather, he had suddenly realized the vast gulf that had opened up between their computer skills.
Just yesterday, when he had watched her debug the system, he had been able to follow her progress fairly well.
Yet in the mere span of a day, her skills had undergone a remarkable evolution!
On the screen, the encrypted logic and traps Cifera had left behind—which had left him baffled and feeling like he was deciphering an alien script—seemed to crumble effortlessly under Nie Bing's deft manipulation, as if meeting their natural nemesis.
Nie Bing seemed to possess an uncanny ability to pinpoint Cifera's meticulously hidden "road markers" and unlock the most obscure "keyholes," bypassing traps and striking directly at the heart of the problem.
Wait a minute! This level of difficulty seems perfectly tailored for Nie Bing, almost as if it were a... test designed specifically for her?!
Lin Zhiyuan suddenly realized a possibility:
After Cifera took control of Nie Bing yesterday, she might have kept her nearby to observe his technical operations.
During that process, Cifera might have intentionally or unintentionally imparted many exclusive techniques to Nie Bing, explaining her rapid progress.
As the "teacher," Cifera had deliberately set up this test for her "student" before leaving, to assess whether Nie Bing had truly mastered the material.
At this thought, Lin Zhiyuan's heart churned with mixed emotions. He couldn't help but feel a pang of envy for Nie Bing.
Simultaneously, he gained a deeper appreciation for the sheer terror of Cifera's mastery of computer technology!
And this was just one facet of her myriad talents...
The more Lin Zhiyuan pondered, the more unfathomable Cifera became in his mind.