After ending the call, Quiana sat quietly for some time, then resumed coding. She didn’t emerge from the basement until evening.
While most items in the basement were moved out, everything upstairs was untouched. A photo of her adoptive parents, Frederick Levine and Meredith Levine, holding their son Hugo, with her standing beside them, still hung on the bedroom wall.
Watching the only family photo of the Levine family, Quiana thought, ‘Sadly, I’m not their daughter. In the end, they never got to see their biological daughter, and she didn’t even want to acknowledge her biological parents either.‘
Quiana sighed softly, her eyes settling on the five–year–old boy in the photo. ‘Hugo is nine now, and he hasn’t had an easy life in the four years he’s been with me,‘ she thought helplessly.
She gently touched the photo, stood still for a long time, and put it into her bag before leaving the basement.
Outside the door was a gray burlap sack with a white label. The label read: [Medicine. Payment to the old account.]
That was quick,‘ Quiana thought, chuckling as she transferred the money immediately.
At Magnolia Palace, Alina dozed on the couch, holding a white cat. She didn’t wake when a sound came from the door. Meanwhile, the cat perked up, stared at the doorway, then leaped forward as the door opened.
“What’s going on?” Alina was startled awake by the cat and sat up abruptly, looking at the doorway. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me,” Quiana said as she pushed open the door and caught Tiny Bites with one hand.
“Oh my gosh!” Alina rubbed her eyes and patted her face to wake herself up. “I heard you got out of training camp again, but I didn’t believe it. And now, here you are! Why did you get out this time?”
“To save someone,” Quiana answered truthfully, casually placing the sack behind the door and slipping into her slippers as she walked over. “What’s the matter?”
“Huh?” Alina was confused and suddenly came to her senses. “Oh! It’s about your votes on the leaderboard that surged out of nowhere a few days ago. Do you know who did it?”
“Just an anonymous hacker,” Quiana replied. She had just found that out that day but didn’t think much of it. “They can’t cause much of a stir.”
“They can’t cause much of a stir, but Julius worked hard for those votes, going to great lengths to gather support for Quiana. And now, because of the meddling, they’ll be reset to zero, Alina mumbled inwardly.
She got up and went to grab a beer for Quiana. “Hackers wouldn’t just target you for no reason. Someone must have hired them, right?”
Quiana was certain that only Winona could have done it. But she thought there was no need to tell Alina.
Quiana took a sip of the beer and petted the cat’s belly. “You’ve fed it so little that it’s become skinny; Hugo will surely cry when he sees it.”
Ace and Fluffy were a wolf and a fox. Alina couldn’t take care of them, so others took them away. Only Tiny Bites was left for her to temporarily raise.
“How can you say that?” Alina retorted. “I take good care of it every day, and it’s even gained three pounds.”
Quiana chuckled softly and handed her the cat.
12:48 Fri, 18 Apr
Chapter 238
* 76%
11
Alina followed her, asking about her time at the camp. “After the first episode aired, your popularity just skyrocketed. Everyone’s saying you outshine Lucy in both looks and talent. Now there’s a lot of discussion about you, though there’s also quite a lot of criticism.”
On the bright side. Quiana’s fans surged to ten million overnight. Even her personal trending topic went from off the charts to staying in the top five.
“Let them be.” Quiana didn’t care.
The next day. Quiana slept in until late morning and woke up to a bunch of messages, including some from Elliott.
AD
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