Abigail was about to say something more, but Dutton had already turned and walked away.

Everyone in the R&D department was busy, and the team was split into core and general groups. Abigail was placed in the general team, where she spent the entire afternoon doing nothing. In the process, she became the subject of curious stares and whispered gossip.

It was time to get off work, and a message from Jackson popped up on her phone: "Come downstairs. Mr. Robinson is leaving."

Even with her usually steady temperament, the events of the afternoon left Abigail feeling low. She made her way downstairs, looking depressed.

After getting into the car and fastening her seatbelt, Jackson spoke up, "Dutton said you just sat there all afternoon. If you didn’t know what to do, you should’ve told Mr. Robinson right away.”

Earlier that morning, Abigail had considered Jackson a helpful old-timer, someone willing to guide her through the rules of the workplace. But now, his words slapped her across the face, reminding her of how cutthroat the workplace could be.

Abigail shot back, "I wasn’t given access to any core tasks. I still don’t know what exactly I’m supposed to be doing.”

She wasn’t afraid of Sebastian hearing this from the back seat. They hadn’t interacted much yet, but she instinctively felt that Sebastian wasn’t like the typical executives.

Just as Jackson opened his mouth to retort, Sebastian spoke up, “The firewall. We built an AI system, and recently it’s been under nonstop attack from international hackers. Users are complaining. Our current team hasn’t been able to stop the breaches.”

Abigail didn’t respond immediately. She was deep in thought. She knew Halden Group’s AI system had stunned the world when it launched last year. Not only was it dramatically cheaper to develop, it was also entirely domestic. Most remarkably, its capabilities were incredibly advanced.

As the world raced toward intelligent systems, Halden Group’s AI system came out of nowhere and disrupted global interests. No wonder so many forces kept trying to take it down.

Seeing her silence, Jackson assumed she was clueless. His eyes flashed with contempt.

But the very next second, Abigail surprised him with her remarks. “I’ll give it a try tomorrow.”

Sebastian replied casually, in no particular hurry.

“Wright, let’s go back to the hotel.”

Back at the hotel, Abigail went straight to her room and told Jackson she’d skip dinner, so they didn’t need to wait for her.

After a shower, she used the hotel computer to dig into Halden Group’s AI system and spent the next two hours writing a virus to attack it.

She ran the virus while collecting logs and monitoring the AI’s response to the attack, analyzing changes in its code until around 12:30 AM. She was about to sleep when her stomach growled loudly.

Back when she was imprisoned, she had to scrub floors. That job was given to all new inmates, but she’d done it the longest. Besides, it was the job where one was most likely to get yelled at or even beaten.

There were times when she got hit so badly that she didn’t even have the strength to eat, suffering from hunger while scrubbing and telling herself that once she got out, she would never go hungry again.

That thought sent her out of the room to get something to fill her stomach. She hadn't had fried chicken even once since her release. When hunger had made her dizzy in prison, street food like that was what she missed the most. Just thinking about it used to keep her awake at night.

As she closed her door, the door to Room 888 next door opened as well.

Chapter 323

Jeremiah stepped out and asked with a warm smile, “You’re heading out at this late hour?”

Just as he finished speaking, Sebastian exited his room too. His tone was natural, even casual. “You’re…”

Abigail paused for a second and then realized that Sebastian must’ve guessed that because she skipped dinner earlier.

“Yeah, I want to take a walk,” she replied.

Sebastian said, “Let’s go together. I’m hungry, too.”

Sebastian’s calm tone left Jeremiah wondering if he’d heard wrong. Jeremiah thought, Seriously? The man who never eats is...

Abigail didn’t feel right refusing, so she nodded and went out with him.

They waited in the elevator for a while. A moment later, Jeremiah caught up, casting a glance between the two of them before clearing his throat. "I finished organizing the documents. Should I bring them to the office next morning?”

Sebastian responded, “OK.”

Even at night, Chesterwick was still vibrant.

Abigail walked beside Sebastian toward the bustling night market. He said nothing, and she didn’t know what to say. She was used to silence anyway.

After a while, Sebastian broke the silence. “Did you get things sorted out with your family?”

Abigail turned to look at him, wondering, personal issues? That’s strange.

He’s not asking why I didn’t get anything done at work this afternoon, but instead, he’s asking about...

She replied, “They didn’t call me again. Don’t worry, Mr. Robinson, I won’t cause trouble for you.”

In truth, Stephen probably knew that if he pushed Abigail too hard, she might reveal what Daniella did to the public.

Sebastian gave her a long, thoughtful glance but said nothing.

Abigail then asked, “I’m planning to get some fried chicken. Most stalls in the night market serve pretty heavy food. Can you handle it?”

She remembered he had ordered mostly bland dishes when they had lunch together.

“I can try some,” he said lazily, one hand in his pocket. “By the way, why didn’t you have dinner with us earlier?”

“Just got a bit busy,” she replied.

Sebastian looked at her slender shadow stretching across the sidewalk and said, “Well, I thought it was because the manager made things hard for you, and it left you upset.”