chapter1252

Accuser: Anonymous

Accused: Lydia (national team contestant)

Complaint:

1. This contestant has a long record of skipping class, uses special connections to get resources, and has no real academic ability.

2. There's suspicion she got advance access to the competition questions through shady means.

3. Her class attendance is missing for 80% of the past semester.

All of this is true. Please investigate thoroughly.

Lydia let out a cold laugh and printed the letter. "Let's go." She stood up, letter in hand, her whole vibe sharp and unbothered.

Connor and Lydia made their way to the hotel where Mr. Russo and the others were staying. When they got there, the two professors were already waiting at the entrance.

Lydia handed over the letter. Mr. Russo took it, face set in a hard frown, like he was chewing on a bad thought.

"This 'attendance record'... Only the university's admin system would have that info."

Dr. Tomlinson nodded. "Usually, at most schools, only top-level accounts-like the president or deans-can even look at that stuff, and even then, just read-only."

In that moment, both professors landed on the same name: Yara.

Yara had been knocked out in the very first round. Her grandfather was vice president of the university, so she was probably the only one who could have seen the admin system or gotten her hands on the records.

Mr. Russo and Dr. Tomlinson were fuming.

This was just too much.

Seriously, this was way out of line.

They messed up on their own tests, but why did they have to turn around and throw one of their school's best students under the bus? That wasn't just hurting Lydia, it was a slap in the face to the whole team, even the country.

Just to be sure, Lydia double-checked the IP address against the hotel's room numbers. She asked Mr. Russo to see who was in that room.

He pulled out the guest list. "Room 702... Marilyn."

The professors' faces darkened even more.

So this was a team effort.

"All those years of school, wasted," Dr. Tomlinson muttered, practically shaking with anger.

They'd actually had high hopes for both girls, especially during the team selection. Now, after all that careful picking, they'd ended up with two troublemakers.

The professors were so mad they felt dizzy.

Lydia wasn't just smart, she'd even set up the venue and brought in equipment so everyone could train She did it for the team, for the

for

school for the country ag

what? So someone could drag her down just because they refused to put in the work themselves? Not only did they slack off and hold everyone back, but now they also wanted to take down the people

actually carrying the team.

If these two were his own kids, Dr. Tomlinson thought, he'd lose it.

Honestly, what were they thinking?

Lydia said, Since the IP is from 702, we should start there. There'll probably be a record on the computer."

Mr. Russo

looked

grim. "This is bad.

I know we're not supposed to air our dirty laundry in public, but this has gone all the way to the international level. If they had the guts to do it, they need to face the consequences. Tomlinson, wake up the other students. We need witnesses."

Otherwise, those two might just deny everything and claim the professors were siding with Lydia That would waste time and mess up Lydia' chances

competition If tomorrow's

she couldn't

compete, the whole team would

take the hit.

Dr. Tomlinson nodded. "Alright, I'll get everyone."

Marilyn had heard everyone come back earlier. She'd just managed to fall asleep when there was a knock at her door. Her heart skipped. She tried to pretend she hadn't heard it.

But Mr. Russo's voice called from outside. "Marilyn, open the door. I need to talk to you."