The Inescapable Celibate Heir Chapter 36: Hacker Ryan

The initial screening for the club was over, and Ella and her crew went to check the list for the Snooker Club.

"Ella's definitely getting in. She's gorgeous and tight with Dennis, the vice president of the Snooker Club!"

Ella gave a shy smile, "Oh, come on. Dennis just looks out for me a bit more."

"Ella's blushing! A hero saving a beauty, huh? Why doesn't he look out for other freshmen like that? He must have a thing for you, Ella."

"It's out, Ella! You're eighth on the list," Wendy pointed at the website, shouting excitedly, "I got in too, right after you!"

Natalia and Lila joined in, clapping their hands in joy, "We all made it!"

Ella stayed calm. With her family background and looks, there was no way she wouldn't pass the initial screening, even for the Snooker Club.

But that wasn't what Ella was really concerned about.

Lila scrolled down the list, frowning, "That bitch Mira got in too. I can't stand her. I wish she had been cut in the initial screening!"

Natalia chimed in, "I saw on her application that she won a city-level competition. She's got some skills. Whereas, Victoria, she has no experience at all. All our classmates' names are together, except hers."

Wendy pouted, "That fake heiress, relying only on her looks with no skills at all. She should've been eliminated."

Ella didn't celebrate too soon. She kept scrolling through the list until the last page, not seeing Victoria's name, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to say a few words of pity, she suddenly noticed that the first name on the list was Victoria!

They had been so focused on looking further down that they missed it.

Ella pointed at the screen in disbelief, "The first one, isn't that her?"

How could this be? Didn't Ella black out her form? Victoria shouldn't have been able to apply at all. Did she find out later? Who told her, was it Shirley?

Natalia and the others finally noticed.

Lila said, "What! Why is Victoria the first one?"

"Yeah, all our classmates' names are together, why is she special and put first?" Natalia added.

Ella's nails dug into her palm as she gritted her teeth, "Victoria might have some special way. Last time at the Royal Sapphire Bistro, we saw her and Eric go into a private room together, looking very close."

Natalia added, "That's right, during the military training too, the Charming Four from the Computer Science Department came over and talked to her. Maybe they helped her get the first place in the military training assessment!"

Lila replied, "Oh my god, the Charming Four, why would they help her?"

"Don't you get it? Eric is a famous playboy. They say he changes women like he changes clothes. It seems Victoria has hooked up with him. Who knows how long it will last."

"Now that you mention it, Victoria does seem like his type, cold and exquisite."

"That's so low. Relying on a man to get into the club. She might have already slept with Eric. Just thinking about it is disgusting," Lila exaggeratedly shivered her shoulders, showing a look of disdain.

The more they talked, the more exaggerated it became, as if they had really seen it.

Soon, this rumor spread, and everyone in the Performing Arts Department was buzzing: Victoria seduced Eric to get into the Snooker Club.

Some didn't believe it, saying that getting into the Snooker Club required a public competition. Eric couldn't ruin his reputation for Victoria.

But rumors about relationships tended to spread like wildfire.

Some folks even started saying that for the right price, Victoria was game for dinner, fun, and even sex.

Victoria, though, was blissfully unaware of all this.

With the club assessment still pending and coursework being light, she headed home after class to chill with Flora.

On the white, long-haired carpet in her room, a small leopard with yellow and black spots was rolling around.

Victoria smiled as she gently held its left front paw, pressing the soft, warm pink pad.

"Flora, you haven't finished your goat milk. Are you full?"

Little Flora meowed softly, sticking out its little pink tongue to lick its moist nose, its eyelids drooping, looking sleepy.

Victoria let go of the little paw, rubbing Flora's smooth head, "Alright, I won't bother you anymore. Go to sleep."

Soon, Flora was snoozing on the carpet, its small belly covered with a layer of white fur rising and falling, looking all peaceful and cute.

Victoria admired it for a bit, then opened her computer.

She skillfully hacked into Shadow's computer.

He hadn't changed his desktop, only adding a sentence after Victoria's: [Is it you, X?]

Every hacker had their own style. Clearly, after the group match, Shadow had a strong impression of X's techniques.

Moreover, after the group match, his desktop was changed. Shadow immediately suspected X. If it were someone else, he wouldn't have found any traces at all.

Victoria cleared his desktop, leaving a smiley face made of 1s and 0s filling the screen.

At an outdoor restaurant near Nexus College, a young man with a full beard was stir-frying. 

The stove fire was strong, and his hands were steady. The 3-foot diameter wok was tossed up and down by him, each piece of lettuce shining with an enticing oil sheen, emitting a mature fragrance mixed with spices.

Suddenly, the laptop beside him sounded an alarm.

He paused, immediately turned off the fire, wiped his hands on his apron, and stepped to the screen, just in time to see the smiley face forming.

He quickly typed: [What do you mean? Are you mocking me?]

As he typed, he operated the backend, trying to trace X's whereabouts.

But Victoria was very alert. She used hundreds of masks, cutting the connection the moment she detected the trace.

The young man frustratedly pounded the table, "Just a bit more!"

"Ryan, is the dish ready?"

The boss lady's voice came from the front hall.

Ryan Warner, also known as "Shadow," quickly returned to the stove, turned on the fire, gave the dish a final stir, and served it.

"Coming," he called out.

The boss lady came to get the dish. When she saw the lit computer screen beside Ryan, she said discontentedly, "Ryan, even though you're here part-time, you have to be responsible. I'm paying you $30 an hour!"

Ryan chuckled, "Unexpected situation, it didn't affect the serving."

In fact, he made a lot of money from software, working as a chef in this small restaurant purely out of interest. He only came five days a month, each time for two or three hours, to balance his life filled with computers and code.

The boss lady knew he didn't need the money. She had offered a monthly salary of over ten thousand dollars, but he didn't agree to work full-time. 

His food was particularly delicious, attracting many loyal patrons, so she didn't dare to scold him too much. If she drove him away, she'd lose a lot of business.