Chapter 677 Smoke and Strings

Tommy fell silent again.

Exactly as Yunice had expected–no evidence.

Back then, her actions had been quick and discreet. The cameras were busted, and even if Tommy had caught a glimpse, he had no time to take a picture. His so-called “proof” was nothing more than a story.

And talk was cheap.

Yunice looked at him coldly. “Anything else? My husband’s still waiting.”

Tommy mumbled, “…I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Neither did I,” she said flatly. “Goodbye.”

She turned and walked back to Wyatt, leaving Tommy behind.

Wyatt could tell something was off. He asked cautiously, “What did he say to you?”

Yunice answered, “You noticed it too, didn’t you? He’s been trying to get close to us–or rather, to you.”

From the start, Tommy had been suspicious.

He’d helped her clarify rumors on a livestream, probably already sensing she had powerful connections. Then he deliberately sought her out at Virtue Hall and discovered she ran a shop despite being so young–further confirming she wasn’t just a normal girl.

Later, he applied to Cooper Corp and failed, only to bump into her there again.

And after that, he showed up at Saunders Corp to volunteer alongside her, suffering through hard times together.

Then suddenly he became a campus advisor.

Even running into him just now had likely been staged–just so she’d find out he’d “resigned.”

He probably read too many webnovels and dreamed of earning a big favor from some tycoon–scheming to manufacture just the right dramatic moment.

Even Wendy’s scandal might’ve been part of it. Maybe he hadn’t been entirely innocent after all–just going along with it to make her feel guilty enough to repay him.

Too bad Yunice hadn’t played along. She hadn’t handed him a job at Cooper Corp.

So just now, when Wyatt offered a business card, and Tommy realized he still had to earn it, he tried again–to win her sympathy and stack up another favor.

But Yunice didn’t bite.

It wasn’t wrong to want to climb up. That was human nature. A little scheming didn’t make someone bad. But being calculated too many times… made people uncomfortable.

Wyatt said, “That’s easy to fix.

“You want to give him something, but don’t want him in Cooper Corp, since he’s not ready.”

A backdoor referral would be a snap for her–but an unqualified employee would only hurt the company.

Still, Tommy had helped her once. She didn’t want to leave things on a sour note.

Better to part on decent terms.

Wyatt said, “That’s easy. Cooper Corp has plenty of subsidiaries. We can place him somewhere decent for training. The pay and benefits won’t be bad. If he turns it down because he thinks it’s beneath him, then he’s hopeless.”

With his credentials, Tommy could easily find work at any number of public companies. But he fixated on Cooper Corp, wasting time chasing the wrong path.

Maybe the legend of “Exam God” had inflated his ego. He couldn’t accept the reality of the job market–so he pinned his hopes on shortcuts.

But now that his scheme had been laid bare, odds were they wouldn’t see him again.

That afternoon, Yunice and Wyatt flew back to Silverburgh together.

On the plane, Wyatt asked if Yunice had noticed anything suspicious in her dorm.

Yunice thought for a moment. “There was a rainbow teddy bear I didn’t recognize. I figured it might have a hidden camera, so I threw it out.”

“What? You threw it away? Which bin?” Wyatt’s voice jumped.

Yunice gave him a puzzled look. “The one outside the dorm building. It’s probably already been taken to the waste facility. Why are you so worked up?”

Wyatt hesitated, then tried to cover. “I mean… you didn’t inspect it first?”

“It could’ve been contaminated,” she said. “What if there were germs, a virus, or a rigged needle inside? You want me to poke around in something like that? Tossing it was safer–don’t you think?”

“…Oh. Ha,” Wyatt laughed stiffly. “Right. Safety first…”

Then he turned away, hand on his forehead, defeated.

Yunice sat there smugly, completely unfazed.

That’s what you get for running your mouth.

Back in Silverburgh, Wyatt insisted on accompanying Yunice to the Saunders residence–he wouldn’t feel at ease otherwise.

The family was in full–on civil war. In that kind of chaos, anything was possible.

She had to be protected.

After just two weeks away, the Saunders estate already looked overgrown. The grass outside had grown thick and wild.

The bamboo by the outer walls hadn’t been trimmed in ages–it looked like a street-corner vagrant.

The asphalt road leading to the gate rarely saw a single car pass.

The main iron gate was firmly locked, the wrought iron bars speckled with rust.

It had only been half a month.

And already, the place looked like it had been abandoned.

Yunice stood before the gate. It was locked from the inside. They couldn’t get in.

Wyatt stepped forward and pressed the doorbell.