"You... you..." Terrified by that predatory gaze, a cold sweat broke out over Hailey's back. She began to tremble.
Her wrist throbbed with agonizing pain.
She tried to pull away.
Serena looked like she was barely applying any pressure.
Yet Hailey couldn't break free.
In fact, the harder she fought, the more she felt the slow, agonizing pressure of her skeletal structure reaching its breaking point.
Snap! A sickening crack echoed in the air.
"Ahhh!"
Hailey screamed in agony, her face twisting as she went deathly pale, covered in a cold sweat.
It felt like her wrist had been shattered into pieces!
Serena discarded Hailey as if she were nothing more than refuse.
Hailey sent furniture flying as she collided with the tables, the violent crash of splintering wood echoing through the hall.
A sharp pain flared up her spine.
The corner of a chair had caught her on the side of the head, causing her to wail uncontrollably.
Her miserable, distorted expression was captured perfectly by the cameras.
Both the live stream and the giant venue screens broadcasted her face to the world. "Designer Number Four, are you such a sore loser?" Angela, genuinely horrified by Hailey's reckless attempt, shot up from her seat and rushed over in her heels toward the display stands.
"This is a masterpiece worthy of the International Jewelry Exhibition Center!"
It had almost been destroyed!
"No... impossible!" Hailey shrieked hoarsely, completely unhinged. "It's fake! She knows nothing about jewelry design! She couldn't possibly..."
But this went far beyond simply knowing design.
Hailey's eyes were bloodshot and bulging, locked onto the breathtakingly radiant gem sitting on the tray.
Serena hadn't tried to mask or repair the ice crack in the raw sapphire.
Instead, using a variety of embedded gemstones and an awe-inspiring vision, she had transformed the fracture into a brilliant, sweeping galaxy that bridged the entire stone.
The celestial motifs were carved directly into the gem, mimicking the flow of cosmic nebulas.
Light and shadow danced across its translucent surface.
It captured the vast, primordial beauty of a sparkling universe.
Vibrant and striking!
This was no longer just a sapphire.
It was an entire cosmos, a universe contained within a stone!
It was nothing short of a miracle!
Compared to this divine creation, Hailey's piece looked like an ugly, crude joke.
Hailey simply couldn't accept that Serena possessed this level of talent.
Her voice cracked with psychotic rage. "You cheated! It's fake! That's not your work!
It was Daphne Rainsford! She helped you!"
How could Serena, a high school expellee raised in some backwater gutter, design
a masterpiece like this?
She didn't believe it.
And she absolutely refused to accept it!
"Designer Number Four, accept your defeat gracefully." Dr. Kerrick's tone was icy created this prompt personally. The initial plan was to use the flaw repair as a tie-breaker round. None of the judges knew about this specific challenge."
"Furthermore, from the moment the competition started, Ms. Rainsford never left her seat, and Miss Serena made no suspicious movements. All of this unfolded under the eyes of everyone in this room, not to mention the cameras. So please, tell me, how exactly did Ms. Rainsford help her cheat?"
"Designer Number Four, if you have accusations, provide the evidence."