Chapter 190 Michael Is Actually Going to Sleep in a Tent

Chapter 190 Michael Is Actually Going to Sleep in a Tent
The finals were incredibly intense.
As soon as Michael opened the livestream, he saw Jennifer facing off against a student from BlueBridge University.
His opponent came from a scholarly family with a long tradition of academic achievement. In terms of knowledge and intelligence, he was definitely Jennifer’s equal.
Almost everyone thought Jennifer had little chance of winning.
But the fans had come to regard her as one of their own. The outcome didn't matter as long as she had a good time tonight.
Her opponent was formidable, but Jennifer didn’t lose heart. She approached the challenge with great seriousness and caution, tackling one question after another.
At first, Jennifer was trailing in the score.
Later, however, she managed to catch up bit by bit.
The boy made one mistake midway through, and Jennifer seized the opportunity to overtake him.
The score was incredibly close, and viewers of the live stream were saying that they couldn’t breathe because of the tension.
The audience at the venue was also holding their breath.
Perhaps the prolonged battle, with round after round of tiebreakers, caused the boy to lose his composure. Not everyone with excellent academic performance possesses exceptionally strong mental resilience.
Maybe his mental fortitude just wasn’t stronger than Jennifer’s.
Jennifer has weathered the darkest moments of life.
Compared to intellectuals from scholarly families, she was a vine that grew wild and untamed in the shadows.
Facing them, her only chance of victory lay in her tenacity and absolute focus in the face of despair.
Ultimately, the young man was defeated by her absolute focus.
He wanted to win too badly. His preoccupation with the outcome prevented him from performing at his true level.
Jennifer seized that moment and defeated him in one fell swoop.
She took home the championship.
The entire internet erupted!
[Holy crap! That was so satisfying—the underdog story of an ordinary girl!]
[Come on, what's so ordinary about her? To those calling her an ordinary girl, just how slim and beautiful are you?]
[Some people are just too malicious. Ordinary girl isn't a derogatory term. Jennifer has no connections and never studied abroad—she attended regular public schools. How is that not the epitome of an ordinary person?]
In contrast, the guy from BlueBridge University conceded defeat wholeheartedly after losing to Jennifer.
It had been a long time since he’d faced such a worthy opponent.
He knew that Jennifer didn’t actually possess technical skills far superior to his own, and that her victory was due to her incredible willpower.
A girl with such strong willpower was admirable in itself.
Before leaving the stage, he couldn't help but hug her in front of the cameras.
It was a friendly hug, and Jennifer, of course, had no reason to refuse.
However, the production team gave a close-up of this moment and broadcast it live across the internet.
Naturally, Michael saw it, too.
Michael's demeanor suddenly turned grim when he saw the scene in the car!
Johnson simply didn’t know what to say.
It was strange enough that the CEO was watching a live stream from a car.
Now, he was getting angry while watching it!
Johnson asked, "Mr. Kowalski, since you're already at the camp, why are you watching the livestream instead of going to the scene?"
Michael put down his phone and glanced at Johnson.
Just as Johnson thought he’d said the wrong thing and was about to lament his blunder, Michael said, "You're right."
Then, he got out of the car and walked into the camp.
Johnson was dumbfounded.
He thought he’d dodged a bullet.
But then Michael turned back and said, "Go set up a tent on the mountain."
It was 36 degrees out right now, and the mountain was swarming with mosquitoes and bugs. Why on earth would he want to set up a tent?
“Is this some kind of new punishment, Mr. Kowalski?”
Michael smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
"It's the tent I'm staying in tonight. Does that bother you?"
Johnson quickly replied, "Not at all. Setting up a tent for you is my greatest honor.”
Johnson blurted out those words again.
He realized he had actually dared to joke with Michael. Michael didn’t scold him, though. He just said, “Everything’s in the trunk.”
With that, Michael went off to find Jennifer.
Meanwhile, Johnson was still thinking about the fact that Michael was going to sleep in a tent himself tonight.
He looked around at the mountain hollow, where there wasn’t even a small convenience store, and thought to himself, Why would Mr. Kowalski and Miss Jennifer choose to camp in such a remote place when they could stay in a nice hotel or villa?
Just imagining the two of them sharing a tent together that night made Johnson’s face flush with embarrassment.
While everyone cheered for Jennifer’s inspiring story, which seemed like a novel come to life, Lily packed her bags alone in the dorm. She was utterly heartbroken.
She had packed her bags days ago and could have left long ago.
But she couldn’t bear to leave, so she kept putting it off and lingering at the competition camp.
Because of her bad luck in running into Jennifer, she hadn’t even made it into the top ten.
Now that Jennifer had staged a comeback to win the championship, how could Lily possibly show her face back at school? She just couldn’t bear it!
But the competition was already over.
She had no chance to get back at Jennifer.
Just as she was feeling utterly disheartened, she overheard some of her roommates chatting.
"AI is all the rage right now. My next research project is going to be in the field of AI ethics.”
"Oh, I came across an AI face-swapping app earlier. It’s super realistic—they say even experts can’t tell the difference!"
"Really? Then I could swap heads with my idol's costar in a movie. I could finally make my dream of dating a celebrity come true!"
"Of course. AI technology abroad is so advanced these days that swapping faces is child's play..."
Face-swapping?
As Lily listened, an idea suddenly struck her.
She didn’t believe for a second that Jennifer’s first-place finish in the preliminary round was legitimate.
Those reading lists couldn't have been compiled based on Jennifer's experience alone.
Jennifer clearly had someone backing her up. But Lily couldn’t figure out who that person was.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got and the more unfair it all seemed.
The only evidence she had was the video of Jennifer and Mason pulling each other in the hallway.
What impact could that video possibly have on Jennifer’s path to the championship?
She didn't dare expose it, though, for Mason's sake.
But what if she replaced Mason's face with someone else's?
At that thought, Lily saw a glimmer of hope.
She no longer shied away from the bustling awards hall.
She walked out with her phone, her expression cold and indifferent.
Her heart was set on it. Using a foreign app she’d heard about from her roommate, she replaced Mason’s face with that of a greasy, obese old man.
Once the video was released, it wouldn't strip Jennifer of her award, but it would severely damage her image, turning her from the internet's darling into its pariah!
But just as Lily was about to act, a figure stepped in front of her.
“Lily, that’s enough. Stop it.”
Isabella’s expression was cold.
Lily looked at her in surprise. "Auntie?"
The look in Isabella’s eyes held none of her usual gentleness, only sternness.
“You’re the one who tampered with the vote counts, aren’t you?” Isabella asked.
“What are you trying to do this time? I told you before that if you’d prepared properly, you could have made it into the top ten, which would have been a great achievement. Why are you so fixated on Jennifer? Why didn’t you study hard? What exactly have you been doing all this time?”
Lily hadn’t expected her aunt to start off with such an accusatory tone instead of helping her.
Faced with so many questions, Lily didn’t know where to begin.
The feud between her and Jennifer had long since become impossible to untangle. All that remained were jealousy and boundless hatred.
Lily didn't know what the vote-rigging was about, so she could only shout, "Enough!"