At 9:30 am, Bobby entered HighQ LowC. Narvy and Rita arrived shortly after. They occupied three seats and waited for the competition to start. For the next half hour, people approached the arena and filled the seats until none were left. “How are we going to investigate Adam?” asked Rita. “I was thinking we could pay close attention to him while the show’s going on,” answered Narvy. “What do you mean by that?” asked Rita. “We could study his speech and mannerisms,” replied Narvy. “Some people may appear charming, but their true colours will always slip through the cracks,” he added.

Just then, a string of colourful lights lit the arena. The sound of footsteps could be heard making their way to it. Those being the footsteps of Adam Ellwood. “Greetings, my lovely contestants. WELCOME TO $URPRISE!” he shouted. “I’m sure we all know the rules, but for those who don’t, allow me to explain,” he announced.

“In this competition, I will ask you a series of questions. If you think you know the answer, press the buzzer in front of you. If you get the answer right, you will gain points, but if you get it wrong, you will lose points. Each question is worth a different number of points, and you will all be given thirty seconds to answer each question. By the end of the game we will hand out prizes to those who have won enough points,” he explained. “Do you have any questions?” he added. Nobody replied to his question, but the silence gave Adam all the answers he needed. “Good. LET’S GET THIS SHOW GOING!” shouted Adam.

“Okay, first question. If you were to gather the three Maioura Blades together and perform the Ricon Ritual, what would you get?” asked Adam. Bobby slammed his buzzer. “The Avere Maioure,” he answered. “Correct. Thirty points for you,” replied Adam. The number on Bobby’s screen changed from 00000 to 00030. “Alright, next question. What is a common statement snowmen use to compliment each other?” asked Adam. For the next thirty seconds, everyone sat by their buzzer, confused. Nobody could think of a reasonable answer before time ran out. “Time’s up,” announced Adam. “The answer is, ‘You look ice’.” Rita facepalmed at what she’d just heard. “That might actually be worse than the jokes my dad tells me,” she muttered.

During the show, Narvy sat near his buzzer and kept a close eye on Adam. So far, he couldn’t find anything that suggested his charm could be a facade. “Going alright?” asked Bobby. “Yeah, just waiting for some clues to drop,” replied Narvy. “Alright, next question. How many petals does this rose have?” asked Adam, holding a rose up for the contestants to see. “Thirteen?” replied a woman, after hitting her buzzer. “Incorrect. That’s fifty points off for you,” answered Adam. The number on the woman’s screen changed from 00000 to -00050. “Twenty-seven?” asked Bobby. “Incorrect,” answered Adam. The number on Bobby’s screen went from 00030 to -00020. Eventually, all thirty seconds disappeared. “Time’s up. The answer is twenty-two,” announced Adam. “How was anyone supposed to know that?” Narvy asked Rita. “Well, to be fair, some of the questions on this show are meant to be tricky,” replied Rita. “Yes, but that question was near impossible. We couldn’t see the rose from here,” explained Narvy. “I think this could allude to something,” he added. “Are you sure?” asked Rita. “Look, I’m having a hard time finding clues. I’ll just take whatever I can find,” explained Narvy.

“Next question. When I went to the beach, what did the ocean say to me?” asked Adam. Everyone remained seated as they tried to think of an answer. Within the next thirty seconds, not a single buzzer was pressed. “Time’s up. The answer is, nothing, it just waved,” explained Adam. “I almost want to call this guy the hacker and end the mission,” stated Rita. “Let’s not reach a conclusion until we find legit evidence,” suggested Narvy. “I know, but these dad jokes are painful,” replied Rita.

For the next three hours, Adam continued to ask questions and throw in dad jokes. Many people raised their scores, and many people had their scores lowered. At that point, Bobby had a score of 06200, Narvy had a score of 01400, and Rita had a score of 04500. Adam had already asked a tonne of questions, but his next one was special. “Alright. ARE YOU READY FOR THE FINAL QUESTION OF $urprise!?” shouted Adam. “YES!” shouted various contestants. “Okay, this question is worth one thousand points,” explained Adam. “If you did the simple art of counting, this question will be a piece of cake. But if you didn’t, then you’ll have a very hard time trying to answer it,” he added. “With all that out of the way, I shall ask you the final question,” announced Adam. He cleared his throat. “How many times did I blink during today’s competition?” he asked.

Everyone remained silent. “You heard me, how many times did I blink during today’s competition?” repeated Adam. Everyone sat near their buzzer, letting the ridiculous question sink in. “Come on, do you really think any of us know that?” asked one man. “Someone could know, and I’m gonna have to take a hundred points off you for talking back to me,” replied Adam. The man’s score dropped from 05830 to 05730. Nobody else bothered to speak. Instead, they just waited for the thirty seconds to be gone. “Time’s up. The answer is, three thousand six hundred and twenty-eight times,” declared Adam, smirking.

“The competition may be over, but please stay because we’re going to announce the winners and hand out prizes. “You may have noticed these pedestals,” stated Adam. “The reason they’re here is because they each hold a prize. “If you ended the game with a score of five hundred points or more, you win a ten-dollar note,” explained Adam, as he yanked the sheet off the pedestal. “One thousand points or more will get you these VHS tapes. I don’t know what’s on them. Two thousand or more will get you a slice of this cheesecake. Three thousand or more will get you a slingshot. Four thousand or more will get you a fifty-dollar note. Five thousand or more will get you one of these interesting paintings. Six thousand or more will get you these magnets that can orbit each other. Seven thousand or more will get you these lavender-scented candles. Eight thousand or more will get you these high-tech watches. Nine thousand or more will get you a one-hundred-dollar note, and if you earned ten thousand points or more, you’ll get the Emerald Cup,” explained Adam. As he revealed the prizes to everyone, he lifted the sheet off each pedestal.

“One more thing. Let’s give a round of applause to Max Green, for winning this $urprise! event with a score of nine thousand three hundred and seventy points,” announced Adam. Everyone clapped in recognition of his success. “Thank you. Do I get the Emerald Cup?” asked Max. “Well, you had a score of nine thousand three hundred and seventy, and you needed at least ten thousand to win the cup, so no,” explained Adam. “But you will get a winner’s medal. Expect it to arrive in your mailbox about a week from now,” he added. “Okay, that’s cool,” replied Max.

Just then, Adam walked off the stage and the lights around it went out. Everyone reached the conclusion that the show was over, so they all grabbed their prizes and left. Narvy walked away with a ten-dollar note and a VHS tape. Rita also had those things, along with a slice of cheesecake, a slingshot, and a fifty-dollar note. Bobby had the same prizes as Rita, with the addition of a painting and a pair of orbital magnets. He would have had the cheesecake too, had he not already eaten it.

“Should we call Adam innocent or not?” asked Bobby. “Honestly? I don’t know,” replied Narvy. “From what I’ve seen, his charm seems to be genuine, but he asked us some pretty dumb questions,” he added. “What do dumb questions have to do with being a hacker?” asked Bobby. “I don’t know,” answered Narvy. “Should we just call it a day?” “Yeah, I think we should,” replied Rita. “Sorry we didn’t get a good look at Adam,” said Narvy. “How about we look at other suspects and go back to Adam later?” he suggested. “I like the sound of that,” stated Bobby. Once the conversation ended, Bobby, Narvy and Rita left HighQ LowC. After walking out through the sliding entrance doors they all split off and each went their own way. Narvy was disappointed with the lack of information he’d gathered, but he hoped Hannah and Edward had managed to get something out of Lucintae.