Chapter 1

Standing up front, Winnie Ascott's cheeks were flushed with excitement as she insisted, "The answers are predicted with the latest AI prediction system. I got it from an insider, so it's definitely a well-kept secret."

The whole class was silent for a second but soon erupted in chaos.

"Whoa, even the prose question was predicted! It's saying Midlight… This is amazing!"

"Every formula of every math question is listed out in detail too…"

Winnie chuckled coolly, tapping into the electronic contract next to it. "Don't believe me? Check this out."

She zoomed in, and the projection on the whiteboard clearly showed a clause that read: All clients will receive one million dollars in reimbursement should the prediction miss the mark.

There was even a seal that looked genuine.

"A million!" Winnie exclaimed shrilly. "How many of you would make it to Croma if you didn't cheat? With the system protecting you and a million-dollar clause as insurance, what are you worried about?"

The class officer, Hal King, was the first to stand up and stare fixedly at the screen. "Where do we sign?"

Winnie smiled and held up her phone, showing the QR code. "Scan it and download the app. Set up your facial recognition and other stuff, and you're done."

Beep!

Beep!

Beep!

All at once, the classroom rang with beeping as the QR code was scanned dozens of times.

I stayed in my seat in the back row, watching as they filled in everything from their ID and home addresses to the end-user license agreement.

However, I could laugh out loud, because it was an illegal online loan app registered abroad.

I was the first to suspect it was too good to be true and tried to expose Winnie, only for the rest of the class to label me as being crazy and jealous of her.

In this life, I didn't even blink.

That was when Winnie suddenly appeared in front of my table, staring downward at me. "Why aren't you scanning the code, Laura Lang?"

As the rest of the class turned sharply toward me, I looked up to meet her gaze and said calmly, "I didn't bring my phone."

"Don't bother pretending." Winnie snorted, reaching into my drawer right then. "You always keep that antique Android phone of yours in your phone. Everyone knows that…"

However, she was soon left scowling as she couldn't find my phone, but she kept dissing, "Are you that scared of signing the contract? Worried that you'll score so bad anyway that you can't even be bothered to cheat?"

Everyone laughed, while Hal came over, frowning and glaring at me. "We're all in this together, Laura. What if you don't sign it and rat us out?"

Our other classmates nodded.

"Exactly! Everyone signed, but she's acting like she's special!"

"Come on, she's just poor. If she is paid the warranty, she'd be able to afford ten of her rundown houses."

I simply held Hal's gaze as I said, "I really didn't bring my phone. Just sign it if you want—I'll give it a pass, but I won't tell anyone either."