The applause in the Multi-Purpose Lecture Hall eventually died down, but the electricity in the air remained.
The judges did not need long to deliberate. The Director of Education picked up the microphone, his expression grave yet impressed.
"For Class 9, student Ren," he announced, his voice echoing through the silent hall. "Score: 9.9."
A collective gasp swept through the room. It was a score unheard of in the history of Wolven High. It was a score that didn't just beat the competition; it annihilated it.
In the front row, Faye sat frozen. Her own score of 8.7, which had seemed so insurmountable just an hour ago, now looked pathetic. She gripped the hem of her skirt, her knuckles turning white. She had played by the rules, practiced for weeks, and delivered a perfect, textbook performance.
Ren had walked up with nothing, drawn a few lines on a blackboard, and conquered the room with pure intellect and charisma.
It wasn't a competition. It was a massacre.
***
Back in the Class 9 classroom, the atmosphere was a mix of jubilation and fury.
"First place!" Joey shouted, slamming his hand on the podium to get everyone's attention. "Ren got us first place! But before we celebrate, we need to talk about the elephant in the room."
The class went quiet. Everyone looked at Ren, who was sitting in the back row, casually spinning a pen, looking as if the standing ovation she just received hadn't happened.
"The speech script didn't grow legs and walk away," Joey said, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "Someone stole it. Someone in this class tried to sabotage us."
He scanned the room, his gaze lingering on a few students. Wendy kept her head down, pretending to read a textbook, but her trembling hands gave her away.
"I've already spoken to the security office," Joey lied smoothly, bluffing with the confidence of a seasoned poker player. "The lecture hall and the corridors have HD surveillance cameras. I'll have the footage by tomorrow morning. If the culprit confesses now, maybe we can keep it internal. If not... well, the whole school will know who the traitor is."
Wendy's face drained of all color.
***
Later that evening, the school infirmary was quiet.
Ren was sitting at the desk, eating the dinner Juan had prepared—a thermos of slow-cooked herbal soup.
"You did well today," Luke said, leaning back in his chair. "I heard you crushed it. 9.9? That's insane."
Ren didn't look up. "It was boring."
Suddenly, the door creaked open. Wendy stood there, looking pale and fragile. She hesitated for a moment before walking in, her eyes fixed on Ren.
"Ren," Wendy whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "Can we talk?"
Ren took a sip of soup. "I'm eating. Get out."
"It's private," Wendy pleaded, glancing nervously at Luke.
"I don't have private matters with you," Ren said coldly.
Wendy bit her lip, realizing Ren wasn't going to make this easy. She took a deep breath and played her only card—the victim card.
"Ren, about the script... it was me," Wendy sobbed, tears finally spilling over. "I didn't mean to... I was just jealous. But look, you memorized it anyway! You got first place! It was a blessing in disguise, right? So, can you tell Joey not to check the security tapes? Please? If he releases that video, my life is ruined!"
The room went silent. Luke looked at Wendy with an expression of pure disbelief.
*A blessing in disguise?* She tried to sabotage the class, and now she wanted credit for Ren's success?
Before Ren could speak, the inner door of the infirmary opened.
Juan walked out. He was wearing a simple black shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal his forearms. He held a phone in one hand, looking like he had just finished a business call. His presence instantly sucked the oxygen out of the room.
He didn't look at Wendy. He walked over to Ren, checked the level of soup in her bowl, and then turned his cold, dark eyes toward the intruder.
"Did I hear that correctly?" Juan asked, his voice smooth and terrifyingly polite. "You stole her property, attempted to humiliate her in front of the entire city, and now you want her to thank you?"
Wendy froze. She had never seen this man before, but his aura was overwhelming. It was the kind of authority that didn't need to shout.
"I... I..." Wendy stammered.
"According to the law," a second voice chimed in. A man in a sharp suit—Juan's lawyer friend from the Capital—stepped out from behind Juan. "Malicious destruction of property and defamation can lead to expulsion and potential civil lawsuits. Miss, do you need legal representation?"
Wendy looked from the lawyer to the terrifying man in the black shirt, and then to Ren, who was calmly drinking her soup as if this had nothing to do with her.
"I'm sorry!" Wendy shrieked, turning and running out of the infirmary as fast as her legs could carry her.
Juan watched the door close, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "What a fragile mental state."
He turned back to Ren, picking up a stray exam paper that had fallen out of her bag. He glanced at the score.
*4 points.*
Juan raised an eyebrow. "You can give a doctoral-level speech on economics, but you can only score four points on an English exam?"
Ren snatched the paper back, stuffing it into her pocket. "The font was ugly. I didn't want to read it."
***
The next morning, the sun rose on a day of reckoning. Or so Joey thought.
He was intercepted on his way to the security office by Xavier and Faye.
"Joey, wait," Faye said, her voice soft and pleading. She looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept. "I know you're going to get the video. But can you... not release it?"
Joey stopped, staring at her. "Are you kidding me? Wendy tried to screw over the whole class."
"I know," Faye said, looking down. "But she's my friend. She's in a bad place right now. If you release that video, she'll be destroyed. Ren already won. Why do we need to push Wendy off a cliff? We're all classmates."
She turned to Xavier, her eyes wide and watery. "Xavier, please. Just this once."
Xavier stood with his hands in his pockets, looking conflicted. He knew Wendy was wrong. But he looked at Faye—the girl he believed was the mysterious violin genius, the girl he had admired for two years. This was the first time she had ever asked him for a favor.
"Joey," Xavier said finally, his voice stiff. "Let it go. We'll punish Wendy internally. Don't release the video."
Joey looked at Xavier, betrayal flashing in his eyes. "You're siding with them? Seriously? Just because you like her?"
"It's not about that," Xavier lied to himself. "It's about class unity."
Joey scoffed, kicking a trash can in frustration. "Fine. You're the boss. But this is garbage, Xavier. Absolute garbage."
***
Wendy walked into Class 9 that morning with her head held high.
She had spoken to Faye. She knew Xavier had intervened. The video would never see the light of day. She was safe.
She walked past Ren's desk. Ren was leaning back in her chair, reading a comic book.
"You think you're so special," Wendy whispered, leaning down so only Ren could hear. "But without Joey and Xavier protecting you, you're nothing. You can't touch me."
Ren slowly lowered her comic book. She looked at Wendy with a strange expression—not anger, but amusement.
"Who told you I rely on them?" Ren asked.
Wendy blinked. "What?"
At that moment, Lily jumped up from her desk in the front row. She was holding her phone, her face flushed with anger.
"Wendy!" Lily shouted. "How could you?!"
The class went silent.
"What are you talking about?" Wendy asked, feigning innocence. "Lily, don't start rumors. Is Ren telling you lies again?"
"Lies?" Lily let out a harsh laugh. She didn't argue. She simply walked over to the classroom's multimedia system and plugged in her phone.
"I was just browsing the school forum," Lily announced to the silent room. "And I found a very interesting post from an anonymous user."
She hit play.
The projector screen lit up. The video was grainy, but the content was unmistakable.
It was **surveillance footage** from the hallway.
In the video, Wendy looked around furtively to ensure the coast was clear. She snatched the blue folder from Ren's desk. She walked to the trash can, tore the papers into shreds, and dumped them inside. Then, she took a bottle of water and poured it over the trash to ruin the ink.
Finally, she turned to leave. As she passed the camera, she smiled. It was a hideous, triumphant smirk.
The classroom erupted.
"Holy sh*t," a boy yelled. "She actually did it!"
"Look at that smile! That's psycho!"
"And she stood there yesterday pretending to be the victim? She blamed Ren for being irresponsible!"
Wendy stood frozen in the middle of the aisle. The blood rushed from her face.
How? Xavier promised. Joey promised. The video was supposed to be buried. Who posted it?
She looked at Ren.
Ren was still leaning back in her chair, twirling a pen. She met Wendy's terrified gaze and offered a small, lazy smile. It was the smile of a predator watching its prey realize there was no escape.
Ren hadn't needed Joey to get the video. She hadn't needed Xavier's permission.
She had hacked the system and posted it herself the night before.
"I told you," Ren said softly, her voice cutting through the noise of the outraged class. "You should have hidden it better."
"You..." Wendy trembled. She looked around. Her friends were turning away in disgust. The boys who usually defended her were looking at her like she was a monster.
"Wendy, that's disgusting," her deskmate said, moving her desk away.
The wall of protection Wendy thought she had—the Lane family influence, Xavier's authority, her own "good student" image—crumbled instantly.
Unable to bear the weight of thirty pairs of judging eyes, Wendy let out a choked sob and ran out of the classroom.
Ren watched her go, then calmly picked up her comic book again.
"Ren," Lily said, wiping tears of anger from her eyes. "Thank you. If this video hadn't come out, everyone would have believed her."
"Don't thank me," Ren said, flipping a page. "I didn't do much. People who dig their own graves usually fall in eventually."
In the back row, Joey stared at the screen, then at Xavier.
"See?" Joey said to the silent Class Monitor. "You tried to cover it up for your princess. But the truth has a nasty habit of coming out. Ren didn't need us to save her. She saved herself."
Xavier looked at Ren's profile. The morning sunlight hit her face, illuminating the sharp line of her jaw and the cold intelligence in her eyes.
He realized then that he had made a terrible mistake. He had underestimated Ren, and in doing so, he had stood on the wrong side of justice.
And the worst part was, Ren didn't even care enough to be angry at him. To her, he was just another irrelevant obstacle she had effortlessly stepped over.
**[Chapter 44 End]**