Chapter 588
Charlotte sneered. “Are you claiming that what you say is the absolute truth? If you’re so sure, why don’t you show us the evidence?”
“Why?” Melody retorted with a smile. “Do you think I don’t have any evidence?”
Charlotte, with unshakable confidence, replied, “Then stop talking and just present your evidence.”
Melody shrugged. “I initially thought you were too young and sensitive to handle this, so I was considering sparing you some embarrassment. But it seems you have no shame and refuse to admit your wrongdoings. Since you insist on seeing proof, here it is. David…”
“Yes,” David responded immediately upon being called. David’s voice trembled with excitement. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and now he was on the verge of swearing.
He called out loudly toward the door. “Bring them in.”
Charlotte’s sense of unease intensified as she began to realize something was amiss. Fear and guilt surged within her.
However, she subconsciously believed that Melody couldn’t possibly have evidence of their cheating, so she maintained her composure and said, “Bring someone in? I’d like to see who you’re going to use to slander me.”
Just then, Elton was about to speak when he noticed a familiar person being forcefully escorted in by Herbathrive’s staff. His face turned ashen in an instant.
The person being brought in was Ira Knight, who was on the other end of their cheating network, the one who had provided the answers through the cheating tools, their classmate.
Upon seeing Ira, Charlotte’s once confident expression twisted into one of panic.
She blurted out, “How is this possible…”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she covered her mouth in shock, but it was too late.
Melody, observing Charlotte’s growing fear, asked with a half-smile, “What’s wrong? Ms. Wallrich, are you surprised that I caught the person who helped you cheat?”
“No…” Charlotte was now thoroughly flustered.
Elton, slightly more composed, feigned ignorance and asked, “What is this supposed to mean? We don’t even know this person. On what grounds are you claiming he’s evidence of our cheating? It seems like you’re just trying to discredit us by hiring someone. You’re going to great lengths to keep us from working at your hospital, aren’t you?”
Melody let out a dismissive laugh. “I don’t need to put on a show for you.”
“Miss Fox, don’t waste your breath arguing with them. Let me handle this,” David said eagerly.
Melody nodded in agreement.
David immediately walked over to Ira and pointed at him, addressing the crowd. “This guy was caught assisting them in cheating from outside. His name is Ira, a classmate of theirs from university. And the evidence of the cheating is in his backpack.”
As he spoke, David grabbed Ira’s backpack and pulled out a tablet and a notebook.
The tablet clearly displayed the exam questions, while the notebook contained detailed solutions.
Some curious onlookers compared the solutions in the notebook to the exam papers of Charlotte and Elton, finding nearly identical answers to the short-answer questions.
“They really did cheat,” one person said angrily, holding up the notebook. “The answers in this notebook match exactly with the exam paper. Damn it, these two played us all.”
The crowd, who had previously defended Elton and Charlotte, now felt betrayed and outraged. “So you used us as pawns? Do you think we’re fools? You’ve exploited our goodwill.”
“Elton…” Charlotte frantically grabbed his sleeve.
Elton, seething with anger, wanted nothing more than to punch Charlotte. ‘She copied the answers word for word. What an idiot!’
But he knew this wasn’t the time to argue with Charlotte.
He forced himself to stay calm and countered. “Maybe this was all planned in advance. Perhaps you took photos and had someone copy Charlotte’s answers?”
Before Melody or David could respond, Elton continued, You say he helped us with the answers. So where did you find him?”
David answered honestly, “In a coffee shop on the street.” “A coffee shop on the street? Hey,” Elton scoffed.’ Herbathrive is located in the middle of this street, and the coffee shop is several hundred feet away. How could we possibly have coordinated with him during the exam?” Melody, uninterested in further debate with Elton, turned to David and nodded toward the two strongmen.
David immediately understood and led the two men directly in front of Elton.
Elton instinctively took a step back. “What do you want to do…”
Before Elton could say a word, David’s men swiftly reached out and forcibly removed the earring from his ear.
Seeing this, Charlotte instinctively tried to remove her own earring discreetly.
However, with all eyes on her, she was immediately stopped by a female doctor from Herbathrive, who quickly snatched the earring from Charlotte’s hand.
Startled, Charlotte screamed, “What are you doing? How dare you take our things!”
But this was Herbathrive, Melody’s territory.
No matter how loudly Charlotte protested, both earrings ultimately ended up in Melody’s hands.
Holding up one of the earrings for everyone to see, Melody calmly asked Charlotte and Elton, “Do I need to explain to everyone what these are?”
Elton’s eyes were filled with disbelief. ‘How could she know about this?’ he thought. ‘This device hasn’t even hit the market yet! How did this ugly witch find out? And when?’
He suddenly recalled how Melody had left to use the restroom during the exam. It must have been then that she sent someone to find Ira. But how on earth did she track him down?
A cold chill ran down Elton’s spine, leaving him utterly speechless.
Beside him, Charlotte was in a similar state. Her legs felt weak, and she could barely stand.
She wanted Elton to support her, but he didn’t even glance her way, his eyes fixed solely on Melody.
Frustrated and powerless, Charlotte could only glare at Melody alongside Elton.
Seeing their silence, Melody decided to enlighten the crowd. “This is a remote communication device designed by a tech company. It allows the image in front of the earring wearer to be transmitted to a laptop within a one-kilometer range. Once the person on the other end of the laptop sees the exam questions, they can relay the answers back to the wearer through a barely audible voice. That’s how they cheated.”
The crowd murmured in amazement and unease. “Wow, I didn’t know such advanced cheating tools existed. If this is used on the SATs, it’s completely unfair to regular students!” “Not just the SATS, this would make any exam unfair!”
“Who in the world made this? This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Just then, someone in the crowd recognized the symbol on the earring. “This is a product of Ximber Tech. I’ve bought their stuff before, and I’d recognize that X logo anywhere.”