Chapter 9
In the bottom left corner of the large screen, there was a tiny, inconspicuous logo—the letter S.
Charlotte's breath caught.
S.
Her only rival in the hacker world all these years.
In three major competitions, she had won twice. Just when she thought she'd clinch a third consecutive championship in the final year, this S appeared out of nowhere and won by a margin of just 0.01 seconds.
Since then, S had been determined to compete with her at every opportunity, even going to great lengths to find her private account when she retired and stopped taking bounty jobs, haunting her like a ghost.
Charlotte had switched to a fake IP just to have some peace and quiet, but somehow she'd been found again.
Charlotte's fingertips tapped lightly as she traced the IP back and left a message:
[Come out and face me. What kind of skill is it to hide behind a screen and provoke me?]
Charlotte flexed her wrists. After getting her revenge, she also posted a bounty for S.
One dollar.
Meanwhile, the Johnson Mansion was shrouded in gloom, the atmosphere heavy.
Henry was on the phone, and even though he knew the other person couldn't see him, his face was still full of deference, nodding and bowing.
"This is all a misunderstanding. I know about what happened at the engagement party... Hello? Hello?"
Before he could finish, the call was cut off.
Henry angrily threw his phone onto the sofa and kicked the coffee table in frustration.
Susan's face looked just as bad. "Still no luck? The Harris family's production line—Benjamin won't give it to us anymore?"
"No."
With no outsiders present, Henry cursed freely. "That punk Benjamin! He promised so nicely before that he'd give the Johnson family one of the Harris family's production lines for contract manufacturing. That's millions in profit every quarter!"
"After what happened at the engagement party, and now with Chloe caught up in plagiarism accusations, Benjamin just turned his back on us! He barely responds when he picks up the phone, and he won't reply about the production line. That ungrateful bastard!"
Susan said through gritted teeth, "It's all because of that bitch Charlotte! If she hadn't shown up to cause trouble, how would things between Chloe and Benjamin have gotten so bad? We wouldn't have lost the production line either!"
Henry said irritably, "There's no point talking about this now. We need to figure something out quickly, or our family will take a huge loss. This marriage will have been completely pointless."
Susan opened her mouth, choked up for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Just then, Chloe came out, looking pitiful and innocent.
"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry. This is all my fault."
Seeing her looking so pitiful and innocent, Henry's tone softened a bit. "It's not your fault. Charlotte's the one who cut ties with our family and embarrassed us. Who could have known she was actually Queen!"
At the mention of that identity, hatred flashed in Chloe's eyes.
Even now, she refused to believe that Charlotte was actually the famous designer Queen!
The person she had imitated countless times—why did it have to be Charlotte in the end?
Chloe took a deep breath. She absolutely couldn't just sit back and let this happen.
She had to participate in the Gold Crown Awards competition.
"Mom, Dad, don't worry. I'll find a way to enter the competition again and restore my reputation. I won't let you down."
With that, Chloe went into her room.
Henry nodded with satisfaction. Just then his phone vibrated—he saw a news notification.
[The prestigious Langley family to hold a welcome banquet for their mysterious returning daughter.]
Henry clicked on it and saw the Langley family crest. His hand trembled violently.
The Langley family—the very Langley family he dreamed of connecting with!
He had been kicked out by the Langley family years ago because he wasn't good enough for Victoria.
If he could get in with the Langley family and meet up with Victoria to reminisce about old times, what would Benjamin's production line matter?
He'd have endless benefits then.
Thinking that Charlotte had already left the Johnson family, Henry wasn't worried at all.
No matter what, Charlotte was still his biological daughter. He didn't believe the Langley family wouldn't want to know Charlotte's whereabouts.
Even without that card to play, he could still try.
With this thought, Henry immediately stood up and strode toward his study to write an email.
No matter what, he had to find a way to attend this welcome banquet!
Gold Valley District.
Charlotte sat in her study, on a call with Victoria.
This was their first phone call since she'd moved here.
Victoria's tone carried a hint of caution. "Saturday evening, the Langley Estate is hosting a welcome banquet. Your grandfather has invited all the important figures in Imperial City, and your uncles all want to meet you."
Charlotte made a sound of acknowledgment.
Victoria's tone became even softer, with a touch of pleading. "All the top elites will be there. You should prepare well."
She paused. "If you don't like it, I'll send them all away and just have our family for dinner."
"No need." Charlotte's tone was flat. "Since I'm coming back, everyone should know who the Langley family's daughter is and what she looks like."
"Alright, I'll follow your lead." Victoria breathed a complete sigh of relief.
Charlotte didn't say anything more and hung up directly. She had no feelings for Victoria.
In her eighteen years of hardship and difficulty, family affection had always been absent.
Even though she'd been acknowledged by the Langley family now, she couldn't say she felt particularly close to Victoria deep down.
Just as she was lost in thought, her phone suddenly vibrated.
"Warning, warning!" A cold system voice sounded.
"File package code 3301 has been copied. Copy time: three seconds ago."
Charlotte's eyes instantly turned cold. She immediately clicked on the IP address that had copied her files to investigate.
A few seconds later, an address popped up on the screen, showing the Johnson Mansion.
Charlotte laughed mockingly, her lips curling with derision.
Sure enough, Chloe hadn't given up even after being disqualified from the Gold Crown Awards preliminaries. She was actually trying to use her early design drafts to get by.
Those design drafts were from when she was still a minor. Though not mature, each one showed exceptional talent. Even top domestic design masters had competed to take her as their student after seeing them.
Chloe wanted to steal these?
Fine, then let her steal to her heart's content.
Charlotte opened her computer and hacked into Chloe's chat software within seconds.
Chloe's chat records showed she had sent the design draft she'd just copied to an anonymous designer.
[Help me modify these drafts. Don't make it too obvious—make it look natural.]
The designer was surprised. [Isn't this Queen's early work?]
[Don't worry about it. I'll give you a hundred thousand. Modify it for me right away.]
Charlotte found this conversation ridiculous.
Did Chloe think she was stupid? Stealing her drafts and having someone modify them, thinking she wouldn't find out?
Charlotte closed the chat records, pulled up that early file package, and copied the creation timestamps and original draft design timeline.
Then she picked up her phone and called Jason.
"Contact the Gold Crown Awards organizing committee. I'm requiring all contestants who want to participate in the competition to undergo an on-site creation assessment."
The next day, at the Gold Crown Awards preliminary venue.
Chloe arrived looking radiant and entered the examination room.
She saw several judges gathered around a table, coincidentally examining the design draft she had submitted. She immediately walked over with a smile.
"Judges, this is my design draft. There have been some bad rumors about me online recently, but that shouldn't be a factor in whether I can participate in the competition. I drew all of these myself, which should be enough to prove my abilities, right?"
"I hope you can give me a chance and not be influenced by online opinions."
The judges exchanged glances, and one of them spoke up. "All contestants who want to qualify for the preliminaries must recreate your competition entries on-site."
Chloe's smile instantly froze.
"On-site assessment?"
"Yes."
The judge nodded. "This is a new rule. Recreate it once to prevent anyone from passing off ghostwritten designs as their own."
Chloe's expression changed.
All those design drafts were modified copies of Charlotte's work. She hadn't even looked at them carefully herself. How could she possibly recreate them!
"That doesn't seem very reasonable, does it?"
Chloe forced a smile. "Why was this assessment suddenly added?"
A judge directly handed her paper and a pen. "Please begin, Ms. Johnson. You have two hours for the assessment."