บท 11: Taking A Gap Year
After spending about an hour or two outside, Zhao Xinyi went back home, her mood a little lighter.
While she had expected that she would resolve it today, Zhao Xinyi had not expected that she would meet a lot of difficulties along the way.
With her skill, getting Zhu Fan to confess was a tricky matter. The first level of her martial arts could only influence their thoughts and didn't put a lot of pressure on the person.
Anyone she was using it on would still have their consciousness intact and would just get a little nudging from her.
If she wanted to get him to finish a full confession under her guidance, she suspected that she would need to use the second level.
Using the second level was a gamble, and all of her plans would be ruined if Zhu Fan ran mad while giving a confession. After all the judges wouldn't be able to trust the words of a mad person.
Also, now that she knew that Zhao Mei was killed by Zhu Fan, she wanted him to suffer and confessing under the influence of her powers was going easy on him.
With the coffee she had taken and her mind desperate to find a solution, she was unable to sleep and spent all night creating a code that could help her bypass the intra-level firewall.
One had to know that the configuration was built around everything in their world and was constantly renewed by the top best technology experts.
Each District had their own operating system, and within each district, every level also had a kind of firewall that kept them out of the firewall of the other level. Since they were in the same district, Zhao Xinyi didn't have to worry about hacking into the operating system and only had to focus on hacking within levels. But even then, hacking the firewall was a hard task to achieve as even the computer itself was already hardwired to do only the basic things.
The odds were stacked against her, which was why she had tried the simpler method
She had the skills, but not only would it take a lot of time to be able to work with such a restriction, she also needed to make sure that no one would notice that someone had slipped beyond the access pass.
If she were discovered, perhaps, she would not even know she was killed!
Zhao Xinyi's fingers flew across the keyboard at a frightening speed, and every once in a while, she would be forced to pause as the computer would stop working, unable to handle how fast she was moving.
By the time it was morning and after spending about eleven hours on the computer, she was able to slip into the access pass required for the second level.
The next firewall she would have to slip into for the third level was going to be even harder.
Just as she was about to start, there was a knock on the door, and Zhao Xinyi hurriedly opened another webpage before going to open the door.
Seeing Yu Lan by the door, Zhao Xinyi subconsciously frowned. Especially when Yu Lan tried to stretch her neck so she could peep into her room.
"Sister, since when have you started to lock your door?"
"Since you gave my laptop to your boyfriend," she replied blandly, unwilling to entertain her.
Yu Lan rolled her eyes, her reaction showing how unapologetic she was about the whole matter.
"Dad wants you to come down and fill out your college applications,"
Zhao Xinyi nodded before shutting the door in her face. She had no interest in making any college applications here.
The education system in every district was strictly controlled. As it was, the 1st district only had technical courses for occupations like Robot supervisors, drone control, technology-advanced guards, companions and cleaners.
None of the courses available was pleasant to look at for her. However, she still went downstairs, taking it as a kind of way to rest her head after the marathon she had done.
When she got downstairs, the family of three were just about to have breakfast, and Zhao Xinyi joined them after mumbling some greetings to Father Yu and his wife.
"Xinyi, both of you should go to school today for your applications. My friend at the Bureau said the slots for the good roles get filled quickly enough," Father Yu said as he scooped a serving of soup into his plate.
Zhao Xinyi frowned slightly before replying, "Father, I'm still on the first level. If I do my applications now, there are only two-course options available for me. I'll pay a visit to Zhu Fan to see if I can talk to him…."
Seeing the frown that came on the three of their faces, Zhao Xinyi sneered in her mind and added,
"Also, I can take a gap year to use and work hard first. After that, I can hand in my application,"
That was not uncommon, and even Zhu Fan had done the same thing for the last two years. Since their level determines their career path, a lot of people would rather work hard for a year or two to earn more Value Points.
After getting enough, they would then make applications. People like Zhu Fan, that would take a gap year to leave the District entirely, were few as the people in the 1st District were less ambitious.
Father Yu managed to keep his emotions under control before replying to her. "I'll pay a visit to the Zhu family on your behalf and talk things out with his parents…." He paused as though thinking of his next words carefully.
"If you want to work for a gap year, you can do that,"
The four of them ate breakfast in silence, and Zhao Xinyi ate only a few mouthfuls before leaving to go back to her room.
As soon as she left, the family of three sneered at her. "She's just an orphan that you picked up and saved from being taken by those traffickers. Does she think she has the right to be on the same level as our Xiao Lan?" Cai Yang mumbled.
She had always hated how beautiful Zhao Xinyi was. To her, Yu Lan was supposed to be the best and shine the most.
But instead, the stray daughter was not just more attractive. She got better grades and even knew her way around technology. Now that there was an opportunity to push her down beneath her daughter, she certainly didn't have plans to give up.
"If you leave her to get a gap year, isn't that allowing her the chance to grow and leave?" Cai Yang asked, revealing her deepest worries.
Father Yu was someone with more foresight and wasn't worried.
"We already have the technology she made. Even if she works hard for a year, the most she can get is enough points to enter level two. As for us, we might even be able to leave for the 2nd District in a few years."
He didn't think that they needed Zhao Xinyi anymore and just planned to let her go whichever way she wanted.
Luckily, he had been smart enough to listen to his wife back then and not change her surname.
Without Zhao Xinyi there, the three talked freely and made plans on how they were going to grow as a family without minding that they were ripping Zhao Xinyi off.
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