From Sneers to Cheers: Anthea’s Ascent (Anthea ) novel Chapter 304

Anthea pulled out her smartphone once again, diving into the depths of the internet to trace the origin of a certain post. The IP address she found was peculiar, reminiscent of something out of a sci-fi movie—a kind of high-tech, AI-driven system known more commonly in her circle as a "cheat code."

Anthea herself was one of the masterminds behind its creation. But with this cheat code in play, people stopped striving for excellence. They leaned heavily on the system, allowing their intellects to dwindle, turning them into mere puppets. Realizing the dire consequences, the creators, including Anthea, decided to dismantle the system to save humanity from becoming slaves to technology.

But now, how could this system possibly resurface in her world?

Anthea's brows knitted together as she traced the breadcrumbs back to Rebecca. Considering the post targeted her, and Rebecca stood to gain the most, could it be that Rebecca was now a host for the cheat code system?

Shutting down her browser, Anthea bypassed the firewall to access a secure database effortlessly, pulling up everything there was to know about Rebecca. Until she turned 16, Rebecca was just your average Jane, but something changed dramatically at 17. She went from being a struggling student to topping her class and even became a grandmaster at chess—a game she previously knew nothing about, without any formal training.

The evidence was stacking up; Rebecca definitely had the cheat code system.

"If Rebecca wants to play games, I'll make sure it's a game she won't forget," Anthea thought to herself, knowing all too well the dangers of mishandling such power.

It suddenly clicked for Anthea—the reason Rebecca lost her shine at RealTimeFlow's anniversary gala was because Anthea had outsmarted her, forcing the system to downgrade and retract its benefits, including Rebecca's artificially enhanced beauty.

Narrowing her eyes, Anthea deleted Rebecca's information, deciding to address the rumors circulating on RealTimeFlow about her supposed cosmetic surgery. The best rebuttal was proof from the past. Anthea dug up her old social media accounts, only to find the photos had been wiped clean—a preemptive strike by Rebecca, no doubt.

But Anthea wasn't deterred. "A tech guru worried about a delete button? Please."

Soon enough, she restored the deleted photos from the digital recycle bin and uploaded them to her RealTimeFlow account.