Chapter 10 Code Cracking

In the blink of an eye, the National Speech Contest was just around the corner. The first round would be held in Maybourn High and would be taken by students from many different high schools all over the city.

The day before the contest, Ivanna asked Emberly worriedly, "How's your preparation going?"

"It's fine. Don't worry." Emberly was so busy with the National Science and Technology Innovation Competition that she almost forgot about the upcoming Speech Contest.

"Okay. That's good. You have to do your best. Many people have been waiting for you to bomb since Janetta spread the news of you joining the competition," Ivanna said with contempt.

"By the way, it's my birthday this weekend. I'm having a party, and I want you to be there." Speaking of her birthday party, Ivanna was once again full of expectation and excitement.

Emberly beamed and nodded, "Okay, I'll be there."

The next day, the Speech Contest commenced as scheduled. In the classroom, Emberly and Janetta saw each other again.

"I didn't expect that you'd actually dare to join this competition. This is a real game, Emberly, not something around which you can just bluff your way. I guess we'll just wait and see," Janetta said, flashing Emberly a smug smile.

She looked at Emberly and waited for a rebuttal.

"Excuse me," Emberly muttered and proceeded to her seat. She didn't even glance at Janetta.

What was that supposed to mean? Did Emberly just ignore Janetta?

Janetta's face turned livid with rage. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She indeed would wait and see who between herself and Emberly would come out of this on top.

Today would be the writing part of the contest, and the initial exam was a test of knowledge and vocabulary. The invigilator strode in, and the room instantly quieted down. After the invigilator distributed the papers, the examination began.

Everyone began to read the questions and write on their answer sheets quickly. It was only the first round, but the test was already incredibly challenging. There were many obscure words, and the contestants got slower and slower in answering the questions as they progressed.

As soon as Emberly got her examination paper, her eyes turned sharp. She quickly scanned every page and started writing nonstop. She took the test as if every answer to every question was imprinted in her heart. Before long, she attracted the attention of the invigilator.

The invigilator was from another school, and he walked slowly to Emberly. He was surprised to see her answering every question like she had done it a million times.

He thought that she was just randomly writing things down, but when he checked her answers carefully, he found that all of them were correct.

The invigilator was impressed by the students from Maybourn High. He was so amazed that he felt a little envious. He glanced at the name on Emberly's examination paper. "Emberly Hammond." He took mental note of her name.

In less than half an hour, Emberly finished taking the test. She stopped writing and raised her hand.

"Sir, I'm done."

The invigilator instinctively looked at his watch. It had only been thirty minutes since the exam started.

After Emberly handed in her examination paper, she went straight out of the room. Janetta stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. Was the test too hard for her that she just gave up? Without a fight?

It never occurred to her that Emberly handed in her examination paper early simply because she finished the test early.

After leaving the school, Emberly hailed a taxi to the Internet cafe on Violet Street. She had promised Isaac that she would go there and meet him. Isaac had been waiting for Emberly at the Internet cafe every day since he didn't have any other way to contact her. If it weren't for the accomplished mission last time, he'd have thought of her as someone in his dream.

Seeing Emberly get out of the cab, Isaac was overjoyed. He hurried over to greet her.

"You're finally here! Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?" Isaac complained.

"What's wrong? Do you need help with something again?" For the sake of the money he paid her as tuition fee, Emberly shook off Isaac's whining and grinned.

Isaac grabbed Emberly's hand, towed her into the Internet cafe, and sat her down in front of a computer, which he himself assembled. Staring at the impressive-looking little machine, Emberly couldn't help feeling jealous. The computer Sylvia had bought her could only be for daily use, but she needed more than that.

"Have you heard of YN?"

"No," Emberly replied directly and honestly.

Isaac was speechless. She knew computers so well, yet she had never heard of YN? Although he didn't want to admit it, YN did hold a very high status in the domestic hacking scene.

Isaac turned on his computer and entered a very exclusive hacker forum. All top-ranked hackers in the country gathered there. When he found the post he was looking for, he clicked on it and said to Emberly, "This is a bounty post from the Skasia Group. They need someone to crack the core code of a program. I took this task, but I haven't been able to solve it. It's been three days." Speaking of this, Isaac felt a little ashamed.

"YN is a very famous hacker organization. I had some issues with them before. They said to my face that they would hack into this program and decode it in one day."

If YN succeeded, he would be humiliated.

"Let me take a look."

Emberly got her hands on the computer and began typing frantically. Soon, lines after lines of code appeared on the screen, and Isaac stared at them with eyes full of awe.

In just a few minutes, Emberly was able to crack the program's code, blowing Isaac's three-day-old problem out of the water.

"There you go. You know, this program isn't really that difficult to decode, but it's interesting that it's crawling with traps. It's like it's designed to bait whoever attempts to crack it," Emberly said in a voice that echoed with high spirits.

Not that difficult? Interesting? Isaac felt like weeping, but no tears came out. The program that had him on the ropes for three whole days was just a no-brainer to Emberly. She didn't even break a sweat while he, on the other hand, felt like he'd lost a ton of hair because of stress over the last three days.

Damien was the only other person that could've helped him, but he seemed to be busy with something lately. Thank God Emberly showed up. Otherwise, he would've been completely and utterly screwed.

He quickly sent the decoded program to the Skasia Group and soon got the payment for the work.

The Skasia Group was rich and offered a total of two million for the bounty. Isaac transferred all the money to Emberly without hesitation. After all, she was the one who cracked the code. Emberly didn't refuse.

When Emberly was in Star Age, in addition to doing scientific research in the lab, she would occasionally go to Usharia Academy to give lessons to the students. Every one of her classes was popular, and she was a great teacher.

Isaac was the type of student that teachers liked most. He was smart and would pick up on lessons quickly with only a few instructions. Under Emberly's tutelage, his skills improved significantly, and he was enlightened greatly.

After exchanging phone numbers with Emberly before she left, Issac became excited. He finally didn't have to wait around for her here every day.

After leaving the Internet cafe, Emberly looked at her watch and found that it was still early. She took a taxi to a nearby mall to buy a birthday present for Ivanna.

"Hello. May I take a look at this watch, please?" Emberly pointed at a watch in the counter of a jewelry store.

The saleslady turned around and saw Emberly who was simply dressed. She smiled at her, opened the glass case, and took out the watch.

The watch was exquisite and had a face that was decorated with a circle of small diamonds. It was a little pricey, but Ivanna deserved the best for her birthday. Emberly nodded her approval and took out her credit card to pay for the watch.

"It's you, little girl! I've been looking for you!" someone with a gentle voice exclaimed.

Turning to where the voice came from, Emberly saw the old lady she rushed to the hospital the other day. The old lady looked well and was dressed decently, and she was with a man who looked like her assistant.

"It's nice to see you again, ma'am. Are you feeling better?" Emberly greeted her with a smile.

The smile on the old lady's face became brighter. She took a few steps forward and held Emberly's hand. "If it weren't for you, my dear, I wouldn't be standing here in front of you today. Do you like this watch? I will buy it for you as a gift."

The old lady's assistant understood and quickly handed a credit card to the saleslady. Emberly didn't even have time to say no.

"Ma'am, you really don't have to. You've already given me a gift." That night, Emberly received a sum of money that far exceeded the lady's medical expenses she had paid for.

"That's different. My son gave that to you last time. I want to give you something, too. Have you had dinner? We should go to my house for dinner. My family has been wanting to thank you in person." The old lady took Emberly's hand and started walking.

Emberly attempted to refuse politely but failed. Next thing she knew, she was getting into the old lady's car.