Next Man, Better Plan novel Chapter 80

Stephanie removed the computer's motherboard and used a dry tissue to absorb the liquid.

However, because it was coffee, the electronic components on the integrated motherboard had become sticky.

Wiping with a regular tissue wouldn't work. She found a soft-bristled makeup brush and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol in her drawer and began to manually clean the corroded areas.

Her technique was remarkably professional, and the colleagues watching were stunned.

It seemed like she actually knew what she was doing.

Of course, they had no way of knowing that the club Stephanie joined in college was one that offered free computer repairs for students.

She had dealt with water-damaged motherboards like this countless times and could handle it with ease.

Victoria, watching from the side, suddenly paled. She had been friends with Stephanie since college; how could she have forgotten that Stephanie knew how to fix computers?

While other girls joined dance clubs or etiquette societies, Stephanie had always been different.

She had found a computer genius on the school forum to be her mentor and, through his introduction, joined the computer science club. At the time, many girls in the dorms who were shy around guys would specifically ask Stephanie to fix their computers.

Now, under everyone's watchful eyes, it took Stephanie less than ten minutes to clean all the coffee residue from the computer.

She seemed to remove something from the motherboard, then reassembled the laptop.

When Stephanie pressed the power button, everyone held their breath.

They craned their necks, eager to see the result.

The screen lit up!

Serena immediately piped up sourly, “Even if she fixed the computer, it doesn't change the fact that she’s the one who destroyed it! Stephanie is just a malicious, evil woman! At best, this is just making amends for her mistake!”

The computer booted up. Stephanie clicked a few times on it, and a record log popped up.

Hobart pushed his glasses up his nose and said in surprise, “The computer’s system log shows that three minutes before the coffee was spilled, an important file was copied to a USB drive.”

At his words, everyone’s gaze shifted to Victoria.

Stephanie said, “Victoria, didn't you just say you didn’t have a backup? Then what did you copy?”

Victoria froze. She never imagined Stephanie could track her every move on the computer with such clarity. But she recovered quickly, slapping her forehead as if she had just remembered something:

“Oh, that’s right! I think I did copy the file. Look at my memory, I completely forgot about something so important.”