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The Candy Thief
The Candy Thief
Author: Julian Rowan

Chapter 1 Sign at Your Own Risk

Author: Julian Rowan
Bonnie Greenwood's eyes were still red around the edges, her voice so meek that she sounded as though she would shatter at the slightest touch. "This opportunity is just too great to miss. I can't bear to see you all lose out on this chance simply because you didn't know about it."

Someone hesitated before asking, "But… aren't we not supposed to get the answer sheet wet?"

Bonnie's lashes trembled as if the question itself had hurt her. However, Leon Zander had already leaped to his feet before she could answer.

"What are you implying?" he demanded coldly, glaring at the student who had spoken. "Do you have any idea of the risk Bonnie just took to tell us this? Yet the first thing you do is question her?"

The student immediately fell silent.

Bonnie hurriedly shook her head, her voice quivering. "Leon, don't be like that. I'm not upset. It's perfectly normal for everyone to have doubts. After all, it really does sound a little unbelievable."

The more understanding she acted, the more everyone felt sorry for her. Several girls immediately gathered around her.

"Bonnie, don't cry. We believe you."

Leon swept his gaze across the classroom before stopping on me. "Ondine Sinclair. Why aren't you saying anything?"

I sat in the last row, still holding my unfinished carton of oat milk. When I heard his question, I slowly lifted my head.

In my previous life, this was the exact moment I warned everyone that the scanning machines would likely fail to read the answer sheet once it was soaked. I told them that it would be sent for manual review at best. At worst, it would be flagged as an irregular exam paper.

That day, I had been so anxious my voice quivered as I spoke. Alas, all they saw was a jealous girl who couldn't stand how beloved Bonnie was.

I couldn't bear to watch them ruin their futures for something so idiotic. So, I ran to fetch the teacher to put a stop to it all before anyone dared to soak their answer sheets.

But what did I get in return?

The entire class resented me for it. They said I had destroyed the only chance they'd ever had to leap ahead of everyone else.

Leon, the school's most feared troublemaker, led a group of students who cornered me on the rooftop. I struggled to defend myself, but all I got out of it was them pushing me over the ledge.

Before I fell, I saw Bonnie wrapped safely in someone's arms, crying like she was the actual victim.

"To protect everyone and to protect the source of this information, please sign this confidentiality agreement."

The papers were passed to every single one of us.

Across the top, the title read, "Confidentiality Acknowledgment Form."

There was a long string of vague, convoluted legal jargon printed at the bottom.

"Should any consequences arise due to the individual's actions, mental state, examination conditions, or other personal factors, all responsibility shall be borne solely by the individual and shall not be attributed to the information provider."

I glanced at it for two seconds before casually flipping to the last page. That was when I saw it. Right there in the bottom-right corner, printed in text so faint it was almost invisible, was a single line.

"Content generated by CipherAI. For reference only. Please revise according to actual circumstances."
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  • The Candy Thief   Chapter 12 The Future I Earned

    As I stood downstairs, I could still hear the arguments spilling out from the classroom.But I felt nothing.They were now facing the music because of their own choices. No one had forced them to believe in a so-called shortcut or ignore the examination rules. And no one had ever forced them to band together, pressure the entire class, and isolate the one person who had remained clear-headed.…Not long afterward, the college entrance exam results were officially released.I was sitting at home as I calmly opened the results page.The score that appeared on the screen was even more consistent than my usual mock exam results. It even exceeded the admission cutoff for top-tier universities by a good margin. My results were more than enough to secure a place at the prestigious university I had always dreamed of attending.At the same time, our class WhatsApp group had gone dead. The once lively group chat had become a ghost town.No one posted their scores, discussed universit

  • The Candy Thief   Chapter 11 The Only One Who Walked Away

    Leon clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His eyes were filled with overwhelming regret.His grades had always been solid. He might not have ranked among the very best students, but he would have had no trouble getting into a respectable university. Yet, one moment of foolishness had cost him everything.He was so blinded by his determination to protect Bonnie that he had taken the initiative in promoting her lie, rallied the class behind her, and repeatedly pressured others into joining them. In the end, he had buried his future with his own hands. That was far more devastating than repeating another senior year.The teacher then announced the disciplinary decisions for the rest of the class one after another.Most of the students had simply followed the majority like mindless sheep. They had neither initiated the rumor nor coerced anyone else into participating, so their violations were considered relatively minor.Their punishment was the invalidation

  • The Candy Thief   Chapter 10 Judgment Day

    "You lied to me." Leon's voice was quiet, but his words rang out in the private room. "You told me it was guaranteed to work. You said you had inside connections. That's why I shut down everyone who questioned you and pressured the whole class to follow along. "Now that everything's fallen apart, you think one excuse about taking a chance makes it all disappear?"The person who had protected Bonnie more than anyone was now the one tearing into her the hardest.Bonnie stared at him in disbelief, tears filling her eyes. "Leon, how can you say that? You chose to believe me too—""Shut up." Leon cut her off without hesitation, his eyes filled with disgust and regret. "You screwed me over!"My heart didn't even stutter as I watched them play the blame game to desperately try to get out of being pinned as the perpetrator.I had never forced or persuaded anyone to think twice. I had never encouraged anyone to break the rules. All I did was hold on to my principles, finish my college

  • The Candy Thief   Chapter 9 The Truth Cost Them Everything

    They had chosen their bed of roses. The price of their greed and blind obedience was always theirs to pay.A suffocating silence settled over the private room.The recordings and videos continued looping across the giant screen. Every lie Bonnie had spread, every sweet smile she had used to pressure her classmates, replayed over and over. Each loop felt like another slap across everyone's face.No one dared look me in the eye after that.Instead, they turned their attention to Bonnie. Whatever pity they had once felt for her disappeared completely.At some point, their piercing gazes had pushed Bonnie to rest her back against the wall, her legs splayed. She covered her face with both hands, sobbing in broken, uneven gasps that only grated on everyone's nerves."I-I never wanted to hurt anyone," she cried, her voice weak and shattered. "I was just terrified of having to repeat my senior year. You all knew how bad my grades were. If I took the exam normally, there was no way I'd ge

  • The Candy Thief   Chapter 8 The Only One Who Stayed Clean

    "I-I only heard it from someone else. I really didn't mean to deceive everyone. I just wanted all of us to get into good universities…" Bonnie trailed off."Bullshit!" Someone finally exploded, yelling, "You did it because your grades sucked! You knew you couldn't get into college, and you couldn't stand the thought of the rest of us moving on while you had to repeat your senior year. "So, you made up this whole lie just to drag the entire class down with you!"The room fell silent at the accusation because everyone knew it rang true.Bonnie had ranked near the bottom of the class for years. She had almost no chance of getting into college through the college entrance exam. However, she had always been popular and went to great lengths to beautify her image. Still, it did nothing to slake her jealousy. She couldn't accept being left behind while everyone else went off to university, so she invented this absurd shortcut.If she couldn't make it, she'd make sure the entire class

  • The Candy Thief   Chapter 7 No More Lies

    My classmates had just barely managed to regain their composure, desperately comforting themselves with Bonnie's flimsy explanation, when an official notification suddenly appeared in the class group chat.It was a detailed disciplinary notice forwarded by the City Department of Education.The announcement wasn't long, but it completely snuffed out the last of everyone's hope and wrenched them back to reality."The investigation has confirmed that the intentional damage to answer sheet barcodes in an attempt to trigger manual review constituted a serious examination violation. "All candidates involved have had their scores for every subject in this year's college entrance exam invalidated permanently. The scores will not be reinstated, and the violation will be recorded in each candidate's academic disciplinary record."This time, they no longer had any comforting, white lies to hide behind.The private room fell into a deadly silence before it finally erupted."All subjects in

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