Chapter 3: Cheaters Never Prosper

Aubrey finally came down.

I sent her back to class. When I opened the door, the room was thick with tension. Several students shot her pointed looks.

"Jeez, talk about drama."

"Isn’t she just jealous of Natalie? Natalie barely studies and still gets first place. Aubrey can’t handle it."

"If you’re gonna threaten it, you better mean it."

Even whispered, the words were daggers. Aubrey flinched, fists clenched tight.

I knocked on the doorframe, silencing the room. "Aubrey, come to my office after class, and bring your class’s grade sheet."

She nodded and sat down, shrinking into her seat.

Forty-five minutes dragged by. When Aubrey finally knocked on my office door, she looked so small, clutching several grade sheets.

"Ms. Grant."

I pulled out a chair. "Sit down, Aubrey."

I scanned the grade sheets. Two names leaped out at me:

Aubrey: 712 718 409 316

Natalie: 309 310 722 731

My suspicion hardened.

Before Aubrey could speak, I said, "Go call Natalie."

Aubrey blinked, then nodded and left.

"And—" I added, "For the next practice exam, you can control your score."

She looked confused, but nodded anyway.

Soon, Natalie strode in. She wore a plain white T-shirt, hands behind her back, eyes glittering with arrogance.

Before I could speak, she jumped in: "Ms. Grant, I know you’re close to Aubrey, but her wanting to die has nothing to do with me. She didn’t work hard, so I got first place."

I shook my head, trying not to show my disgust. "That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about."

She actually looked surprised. "Ms. Grant, then why did you call me?"

I slid the latest math test toward her. "I wanted to ask you, as a top student, do you have any special problem-solving strategies?"

"Uh… is that so…" She wiped her brow nervously. "There’s nothing special about my methods."

I pointed to the hardest question. "Fewer than three people in the city solved this one. You got a perfect score. Tell me: how did you do it?"

She gave a stiff smile, lips twitching, but stayed silent.

A flat, robotic voice chimed in my head:

[System, hurry up and tell me how to solve this! Don’t you know?]

[A cold buzz flickered through my thoughts: This system can only swap scores for the host, not solve problems.]

[Then what do I do? Can I swap Aubrey’s intelligence now?]

[System: The system can only swap scores with Aubrey at present. Swapping intelligence requires more tasks.]

Just as I thought. Even with her sudden rise, Natalie was cheating—her system swapped scores, not skills.

I narrowed my eyes, anger simmering. I couldn’t let this stand.

After a moment, I let her off the hook. "Forget it. Everyone has their own ‘secret weapon’. I won’t press you."

She exhaled and bolted from the room.

I slumped in my chair, sunlight falling across the old "Hard Work Pays Off" poster on my wall. Suddenly, it looked more like a joke than a promise.

Even if Aubrey controlled her swapped score, it wouldn’t bring her grades back.

I rubbed my temples, exhausted. Was I just going to let Aubrey get crushed again?

Then, a cold buzz flickered through my thoughts:

[Detected SAT cheating system. System activation condition automatically triggered.]

[Does the host wish to bind to the Fair SAT System?]