Bianca had completely lost her mind to rage.
Serena had already pushed her to the edge, and now her own teammate was looking at Serena with that pathetic, longing expression?
What was she regretting? What was she longing for?
"You cheap bitch, are you jealous? You want to go be her dog too? Go ahead! Let's see if she even bothers to look at you!"
The slap echoed sharply across the room.
It was so loud it completely overpowered the buzzing noise of the canteen.
The lively room instantly went dead silent.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned in unison to stare at The Dreamscape Initiative's table.
The girl who had just been hit cupped her cheek, tears pooling in her eyes, her face twisted in utter disbelief.
Because of Bianca's obsessive need to protect her own ego, their team had been banned from attending Serena's lecture.
As a result, their progress was completely deadlocked. They couldn't move forward an inch.
Meanwhile, every other team was making lightning-fast progress.
There was no way they could ever catch up.
How could she not look at the other teams with envy?
Bianca hadn't expected the slap to silence the room.
Feeling the weight of dozens of disdainful glares boring into her, her face turned pale with fury. She pointed a shaking finger at the crowd and screamed, "What are you looking at?!"
"You spineless cowards! You're nothing but a bunch of pathetic dogs begging for scraps! What are you so proud of?"
"You got a little bit of charity from Serena Lancaster, and now you're wagging your tails like you have no dignity left at all."
"You're all pathetic!"
The canteen remained silent for a few seconds.
The only sound was the echo of Bianca's unhinged screaming.
Suddenly, someone laughed.
"Wow, if it isn't the captain of The Dreamscape Initiative. Weren't you guys dead last
in the previous rounds? Oh wait, you're dead last in progress now, too!"
"Miss Doyle is drowning in vinegar over there."
"Seriously, the smell of jealousy is so strong I can smell it from across the room."
"What's wrong with us orbiting the Code Goddess? She taught us the core algorithm. Shouldn't we be grateful?"
"Just because your team is stuck, you can't stand seeing anyone else succeed?"
"If you're so mad about the Code Goddess, why don't you get up there and teach a class? Oh wait, is it because you don't want to?"
"Oh! No, it's because you're completely incompetent and the only thing you know how to do is throw a tantrum and hit people!"
"Of course we're proud! It's a lot better than someone who hogged the best lab the luxury suites, and.. the top-tier equipment, yet still has a zero percent progress bar
"Plus, someone managed to cripple the entire island's power grid. That's the first time an accident like that has ever happened in this tournament's history Miss De you're officially famous."
"If I were on The Dreamscape Initiative, I'd throw myself into the ocean out of embarrassment."
"Hahahahaha!"
The entire canteen erupted into roaring laughter.
After everything that had happened, no one had any patience left for Bianca's entitled princess routine.
Bianca never imagined that these 'pathetic losers' would dare mock her to her face.
She stomped her foot, completely unhinged. "Shut up! All of you, shut up!"
"I don't need any guidance! The Dreamscape Initiative is full of elites. We can rely on ourselves!"
"Only garbage like you needs a country girl's charity!"
The competitors just laughed harder. "Rely on yourselves? Sure, go ahead. We're moving fast, so we'll
just waît here and see how long it
takes for you to catch up."
"Exactly. She's just digging her own grave. She's too stupid to learn, and she drags
her teammates down with her just to protect her fragile ego."