Chapter 36 NO.10
Before Bianca could check the comments under the post, someone had already thrown the link into the socialite group chat.
The group immediately exploded with everyone @-ing her.
The discussion was overwhelming.
Even through the screen, Bianca could imagine the mocking expressions of netizens, classmates, and friends on the other end of their phones.
Now everyone knew she was a fake, and Isabella was the real rich girl.
She was the one with humble origins, with poor people's blood running through her veins.
Bianca's heart sank completely to the bottom, drowning in shame and anxiety.
She clenched her fists tightly, her tear-filled eyes burning with rage.
Isabella, why did you have to come back?
Why didn't you just die?
It's all her fault, all Isabella's fault. If Isabella had died, none of this would have happened. She wouldn't be so humiliated right now.
"Isabella!" Bianca rushed to Isabella's door with red eyes, pounding on it hard.
The knocking overlapped with the urgent vibration of a phone.
Isabella's eyes opened slightly, looking at the phone on the table.
On the screen was a 12-digit number flashing.
"Isabella, come out!"
Bianca's crying came from outside. "Why are you doing this to me? I already gave you the room. What more do you want?"
Isabella frowned, ignoring Bianca's crying and shouting, and swiped to answer the call.
A mechanically altered male voice came through.
"NO.10, your location shows you're at the Taylor Villa in Emerald City. I heard you've found your family?"
Hearing this voice, Isabella's expression briefly wavered.
She couldn't help but think of that organization.
Two years ago, when her adoptive grandmother Jessa Greer fell seriously ill, the surgery fees, twice-weekly dialysis, hospitalization costs, and nutrition expenses were all huge. She worked multiple jobs day and night, but it was just a drop in the bucket.
While searching for ways to raise money, she accidentally joined an organization.
The organization's BOSS was this man on the phone.
All organization members could only be contacted one-way by this man.
In other words, this man could call her, but when she called back, it would show as an invalid number.
Over the past two years, she earned mission rewards to cover Jessa's treatment costs. But even after joining the organization for over two years, she still didn't know its name or even what type of organization it was.
She just answered calls as they came and followed the instructions, like a puppet on strings. Often she had no idea what purpose her tasks served.
But none of that mattered, as long as they paid on time.
Until a month ago, the organization sent her an email saying she'd been promoted to core member of the combat team, with a link for information registration and access to the internal system.
But that was right when the Taylor Family found her and she learned the truth about her background. She was so excited, her mind completely focused on her family.
And the Taylor Family promised to cover Jessa's ongoing treatment costs so she could come home without worry.
With no more financial concerns, she decided to focus on building relationships with her family and living a good life after returning to the Taylor Family. Naturally, she ignored that email and decided to cut all ties with the organization.
The Taylor Family promised to cover all of Jessa's treatment costs, and they did at first.
But later, when Hayden's business suffered, the first thing he cut was Jessa's treatment. He told her that spending money to keep a dying person alive was pointless, better to let her die sooner.
No matter how much she begged on her knees, Hayden ignored her.
Olivia even called her ungrateful, saying the Taylor Family was her real home, that the family couldn't afford to spend extra money treating an outsider, accusing her of dragging the Taylor Family down.
And then later, she received news of Jessa's death...
Isabella felt useless for failing to protect Jessa who raised her. She hated herself even more for trusting the Taylor Family's words, thinking they were honorable people, which led to Jessa's death.
"NO.10? Can you hear me?"
The voice from the phone pulled Isabella back from her thoughts.
Isabella pressed her lips together, walked to the window with the phone, and lowered her voice. "BOSS."
This was the first call from the organization since she came to the Taylor Family. In her past life, it was during this call that she told the BOSS she was quitting the organization.
This call from the organization seemed to be about completing an auction-related task.
Sure enough, the man spoke, with the exact same content as before.
"At 5 PM on the second floor of Azure Palace Hotel at 88 Maple Avenue, there will be an auction. Item number 10 is an autoharp with a market value of $20,000. You need to win this autoharp. Inside it is a precision mechanism. Opening it will release a wooden piece with Morse code carved on it. After reading it, immediately burn the piece and verbally relay the Morse code content to a man in a black checkered shirt carrying an R.I brown-gray men's briefcase at the bank entrance across from the bar."
Isabella gripped the phone, not saying she wanted to quit the organization like last time.
The Taylor Family's bankruptcy was inevitable. She needed to prepare early and absolutely couldn't put all her trust in the Taylor Family like last time, leading to a dead end.
Although she knew nothing about this organization, thinking carefully now, each mission involved significant forces, meaning the organization itself must have some power.
Before, her location was in Shadow City and tasks were concentrated there. Now that her location changed, the organization was probably assigning her tasks in Emerald City.
If she could use these resources, it might help her activities in Emerald City.
With this thought, Isabella agreed. "Okay, I understand."
As soon as she finished speaking, a bank text message popped up on her phone.
[Your account ending in 9523 has received a bank transfer of $2,000,000.00 USD, balance $2,003,890.00 USD]
"This is the funding needed to acquire the autoharp."
"Isn't the market price of the autoharp $20,000?" Isabella asked.
After a moment of silence, the voice said, "Sheng, since you're already a core member of the organization, I don't mind telling you that the coordinates decoded from the Morse code are the pickup location for a shipment. The buyer will naturally send people to the auction to bid reasonably. The final price of this autoharp should be more than $20,000."
Isabella understood. "Got it."
After hanging up, the pounding on the door outside continued.
Isabella walked over and opened it.
Bianca couldn't control her balance and fell forward, landing heavily at Isabella's feet.
Gabriel, who was playing games with headphones on, heard the scream, yanked off his headphones, and rushed toward the sound.
"Bianca!"
Gabriel arrived to see Bianca on the ground, his face immediately darkening.
"Isabella, what did you do to Bianca?"
Bianca endured the pain and got up from the floor, biting her lip pitifully, her voice choked. "Gabriel, it has nothing to do with Isabella. Don't blame her. I fell on my own."
Hearing this, Gabriel looked at Isabella as if he wanted to kill her, reaching out to shove her hard.
The scene Gabriel expected of Isabella falling didn't happen.
Before Gabriel could touch Isabella, he was kicked away, his whole body flying backward out of the room, his back slamming against the wall with a loud crash.