Chapter 1096: Chapter 767: Sheep’s Head [09] Embarrassment_2
So these so-called experts, full of themselves over their various achievements, never took Mechanical Techniques seriously. The moment they touched it, they all thought they could pick it right up.
In the end, they were only going to shoot themselves in the foot.
And Marcus Shaw was also an "outsider."
The only difference between him and this bunch of experts was that he’d actually taken part in project research before. He’d worked with Nora Scott and Fátima on the "Mechanism City entrance" model, and for a long while he’d been following the "Mechanism City" model led by Hardy Rivers and Daniel Ford.
"Actually."
Nora Scott tightened the cap on her bottle of mineral water and casually spoke up.
Marcus Shaw looked at her. "Hm?"
"It’s not like I can’t help you cheat." Nora Scott lifted her eyelids a bit, looking all laid-back as she said it.
"...No need, thanks."
Marcus Shaw rejected her very decisively.
Nora Scott: "..." No sense of occasion at all.
At worst she’d just make him pay it back by "cooking, doing chores at home over summer vacation, playing video games with her," that kind of thing, and he turned her down this bluntly, like she was going to squeeze him dry or something.
—Times like this, you really gotta count on Oliver Scott to perform.
Nora Scott sighed from the bottom of her heart and set the bottle of water on the table.
They waited about ten minutes.
Finally, this slow-as-molasses group of experts managed to settle on a "challenge problem."
They dug out all the research data they had on this problem and made two copies on the spot.
"Three hours." Nora Scott pulled out her phone, set a timer, tossed it onto the table, and said, "Let’s start."
"What can you possibly work out in three hours?" someone grumbled.
Nora Scott let out a short laugh, leaned back hard against the chair, folded her arms, and mocked them without mercy: "If you can’t crack a three-minute problem in three hours, what are you even doing here, freeloading on our food?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
The outside experts were grinding their teeth with rage.
"You only dare talk like that if you’ve actually solved it yourself."
"Three minutes. If she really had that kind of skill, she wouldn’t need help, would she."
"She can claim whatever time she wants; it’s not like there’s any way to verify it."
...
The more worked up they got, the more they muttered under their breath.
Nora Scott raised a hand to rub her ear, about to fish out a whistle to shut them up, when Marcus Shaw suddenly walked over and picked up one of the copied packets of data.
The crowd quieted down without even realizing it.
Marcus Shaw took the data over to the next table, dragged a chair over, sat down, and then, like he’d dropped into a trance, went straight into work mode.
Seeing this, everyone looked at each other.
Then they stopped wasting breath and time as well, each picking up a copy of the materials and starting to work on the problem at hand.
The atmosphere in the main tent flipped.
The noise and arguments vanished, replaced by orderly, structured discussion.
As the "referee," Nora Scott didn’t irresponsibly bail halfway through. Instead she lazily pulled out a phone, put on her Bluetooth earphones, and started leisurely watching a movie she’d downloaded beforehand.
This area was under signal jamming.
The only way to contact the outside world was via satellite phone.
The reason for that, first, was to keep people in the camp from contacting the outside and leaking information, to ensure the project’s confidentiality. Second, it was to prevent the occasional "overly curious tourist" from accidentally wandering in, discovering Maze Village and the camp, and instantly spreading the information.
Once the signal was blocked, anyone who blundered in wouldn’t be able to communicate with the outside in time, which would buy them a certain reaction window.
—When you got down to it, this was all because of Annabelle Pinto.
Thinking of this, Nora Scott suddenly lifted her gaze and swept a glance over Rita and Rafael Silva.
Rita and Rafael Silva weren’t interacting; each stood off to one side, without any eye contact at all.
With her elbow on the armrest, Nora Scott rubbed her chin with her fingers, pondered for a moment, then pulled back her gaze and let her eyes fall onto the movie on her phone screen, watching absentmindedly.
If things really were like they’d analyzed earlier—
If there were "time bombs" like Annabelle Pinto scattered all over the world, hidden in every corner, then... who knew how much darkness was quietly breeding.
Her thoughts drifted a bit far.
Time ticked by, bit by bit.
Halfway through, someone came over to ask if they wanted dinner, but aside from the idle Nora Scott, no one even answered him.
So when the three hours were up and everyone came back from research mode to the real world, what they saw was Nora Scott sitting in her chair, eating a steaming, delicious-looking meal.
She was really enjoying it.
"..."
The outside experts couldn’t help swallowing.
Fuck.
This was too much.
—How come she was the only one enjoying herself?
"Done?"
Feeling all the looks on her, Nora Scott finally lifted her eyes from her food to glance at them.
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