bChapter /bb43 /b

bChapter /bb43 /b

bAfter /bthe ointment was applied, Shermaine finally felt some relief from the pain. Joshua then applied a patch to the same spot. Throughout the process Shermaine’s ears stayed flushed.

b“/bMake sure to apply the ointment again tonight,” Joshua reminded her.

b“/bOkay.” Shermaine murmured.

In the study, the usual ink scent was reced by the sharp, pungent smell of medicine.

“Has the wound on the back of your right hand scabbed over?” Joshua asked.

Shermaine nodded and gave a quiet “Mm.” After all, she had some experience in the medical field herself and had been careful with the injury.

Joshua unwrapped the bandage and checked the injury on her hand. Once he confirmed it was fine, he re–bandaged it for her.

Then he left with the documents he needed. Since Shermaine was staying in his house now, he was living in a condo near the office.

Back in her room, Shermaine sat there for a while, lost in thought. She had to admit–she was drawn to Joshua again. But then she remembered bthat /bball /bhis care was because she was about to be his wife and couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

The exams were over by Wednesday, and the results came out on Friday–the same day Shermaine had to submit her task. Before heading to school, she turned on herputer and logged into the International Tech Forum.

To her surprise, her inbox was flooded with private messages–most of them mocking and ridiculing her.

[Hey, you loser, you won’t get the three million dors. Our beloved Dolcie has taken the task, too.]

[You’re quite bold to take on the task. But too bad, you’re bound to lose.]

[Bro, I respect youb, /bbut maybe stop embarrassing yourself.]

[Hey, you’re famous now, but if you’re getting a lot of hate messages, just ignore them–they’re all from Dolcie’s die–hard fans.]

‘Dolcie?‘ Shermaine thought, confused.

After reading the messages, she quickly figured out why she was being mocked. It was simple–iher /iscore on the forum was too low, and she had only been taking D–level tasks. But this time, she took on an SSS–level task.

Then, a highly popr tinum–level expert took the same task, and naturally, the expert’s fans believed their idol and saw Shermaine bas /bba /bjoke.

Too bad for them–Shermaine would win the three million dors.

Once online, Shermaine sent a private message to Jaden. [Are you there?]

Two secondster, Jaden replied: [Here. You’re canceling the task, right? You can just click cancel; no need to inform me.]

Shermaine chuckled and responded: [I’m submitting the task.] She sent ba /bpressed file over to him.

Then she continued: [You can refer to the chip data I sent and go ahead with the offline experimentsb. /bIf the experiment seeds, please bt /bmoney to my ount ASAP.] With that, she logged off. If she didn’t leave nowb, /bshe might bete.

bthe /b

Jaden stared at the screen, dumbfounded that Shermaine hadpleted the task. Still skepticalb, /bhe opened the file she’d sent. The data was massive, yetpressed into an incredibly tiny file.

After checking the resultsb, /bJaden trembled, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. ‘Holy crap, this person’s a total pro!’ he thought.

b1/3 /b

bChapter /b43

The bchip /bdata Shermaine provided was outstanding, especially in sensitiveponents and bsignal /bprocessors. Thework data simtions that the chip was perfectlypatible with new energy, with no risk bof /bbany /badverse reactions.

bJaden’s /bhands were shaking with excitement as he immediately called Sheldon. “Professor Wendellb, /byou need toe to theb bright /bnow. A bgenius /bhas delivered exactly what we needed!”

Sheldonb, /bequally thrilled, responded, “Alright, I’m on my wayb./b”

Shermaine arrived at the ssroom right on time. Her ssmates seemed unusually tense. Maybe it was because their grades wereing out today.

At that moment, Summer pulled out a small mirror. When she saw the e caused by stress andte–night cramming, she let out a dramatic whine. b“/bUgh, I look so ugly now.” Then she spotted a particrly red and swollen pimple and immediately tried to pop it.

The student sitting in front of her said, “That’s so gross. You didn’t even wash iyour /ihands. There are germs. Popping pimples like that is a terrible idea- you’ll just end up with scarsb./bb” /b

“I don’t care. I can’t stand it anymore. I’ll just ask my mom to buy me some skincare productster. Hopefully, they’ll fix this mess.” Summer replied. Then she wailed, “Looking like this, I’m too embarrassed to watch my crush y basketball.”

“I’m so jealous of Sheary,” she continued. “Her skin’s smooth and wless. I bet it feels like jelly, soft and bouncy.” She squinted her eyes dreamily, wishing she could have skin like that.

Shermaine wasn’t sure which type of skincare product bto /bfocus her research on. She had nned to put together a solid report, but Summer gave her some inspiration.

In today’s world, almost over 90% of women use cosmetics. While many focus on skincare, no matter how much they take care of their skinb, /bproblems like e and dark spots still pop up from time to time.

Shermaine had naturally wless skin and had never faced any skincare issues. However, she never neglected her appearance and always stuck bto a /bstrict skincare routine.

If she could develop a skincare product that could brighten the skin, reduce e, and fade spots in a short time–all while being affordable and safe- it’d be an instant hit.

Shermaine said, “Don’t pop that pimple. If you do, you’ll definitely scar,”

Hearing this, Summer immediately dropped her hand, no longer daring to pop it.

The student from earlier remarked, “Sheary, Summer always follows your advice. She never listens to me.”

“Because Sheary makes it sound so scary,” Summer pouted. She already felt down about her test resultsb, /band now she had a pimple to deal with. She was feeling really down.

“Sheary, what do I need to do for my skin to be as smooth as yours?” she asked.

Shermaine thought for a moment and said, “Go to bed early, wake bup /bearly, exercise more, and make sure to take care of your skin before bed.”

Summer hadn’t done any of those things. She realized if she wanted to catch bup /bto Shermaine, it wasn’t just her studies she needed to improve–bher /bskincare routine needed an upgrade too. She wanted to be the kind of girl everyone adores.

At that moment, someone burst into the ssroom, shouting excitedly, b“/bThe midterm results are out. Everyone, bgo /bcheck bit /bout!” bHe /by bouncing with joy as he added, “Sheary, don’t bother checking. I heard you got straight A’s.”

“Of course, Sheary got straight A’s,” another student chimed in. “Haven’t you already noticed she’s good at everything when bshe /bbtutored us?/b” “Sheary is amazing. I wonder what the dean looks like right now. I bet he’s furious,” someone else added, bughing/b.

bactically /b

Not only were Shermaine’s ssmates excited, but the other senior students, who had heard from othersb, /bbwere /bstunnedb. /bbEveryone /bknew about Shermaine’s bet with the dean, so they were all paying close attention to her results.

b2/2 /b

bChapter /bb43 /b

bWhen /bbthey /bwere btold /bthat Shermaine bgot /ban bA /bbin /bbphysics/b, bthey /bbthought /bit was just bluck/b. bBut /bthen they learned she got A’s in ball /bher other sublecta bstruck /bbdumb/bb. /bbEven /bbLeslie/bb, /bthe btop /bstudent, hadn’t done as well.

bEven /bShermaine’s bteachers /bwere left speechless. In all their years of teaching, they had never seen such a dramatic bturnaround/b, bShermaine/b, who had balways /bbstruggled /bwith her studies, had somehow managed to score full marks in most subjects.

Shermaine bhad /bfinished each of her papers in under twenty minutes and then rested her head on the desk for a nap. Naturallyb, /bbthe /bproctor never bimagined /bshe hadpleted everything; they assumed she had given up halfway through.

bBut /bbthey /bwere stunned by her handwriting–it was elegant and fluid, and even the smallest punctuation mark was a joy to look at. This exam bwas /bbno /beasy btask /bbfor /bthe studentsb, /bbut Shermaine had delivered a pleasant surprise. She even outperformed Leslie, the itop /istudent.

With such results, she was sure to be a top scorer on the SAT. She shouldn’t be in regr sses ior /ieven honors sses–she should be in AP sses.