No Way Back

Chapter 26

“Professor Henerson, me too,” Lila said.

She rose her hand.

Everyone stared at Jane in surprise.

Her label of being the Fowler family’s long-lost daughter was simply too attention-grabbing.

It was especially so since the first person who had passed the challenge was Jane’s elder brother, Peter Fowler.

This was going to be a good show.

“Jane Fowler,” lan said.

He adjusted his spectacles and looked contemplatively at Jane.

When Jane was in her first year at university, she had the highest grades in class.

Even lan had been impressed by Jane’s talent. He had high hopes for her. When she started her second year, however, something happened.

Jane often took leave from school, and her grades plummeted.

She barely passed.

lan made it a point to speak to Jane to find out what happened.

He was worried about her. lan did not wish to see a talented student like Jane fail the class. He had to try to help.

After that, there was a great commotion in the school chat group.

It was only then that lan learned about Jane finding her birth family.

They were the famous Fowler family of Stormton City.

They claimed Jane was their daughter.

He now knew why Jane had been distracted and often took leave from school. Her grades had also dropped drastically.

lan senses something was wrong with Jane.

She had changed after the Fowler family contacted her.

She became hypersensitive and self-conscious.

She was not happy.

After the incident a few days ago, Jane again took two days off from

school.

lan did not probe into her reasons.

He only said one thing to her.

“I await the return of a better you.” That was what he said.

Jane had replied simply.

She said, “I will be back.”

She did return better.

lan watched the confident and dazzling young woman who was the center of attraction.

He nodded approvingly.

Jane had been true to her words.

She had returned better than before.

In the end, there were only two people who took on the challenge.

They were Lila Sutton and Jane Fowler.

After all, lan’s program was an extremely difficult one to crack.

Most people chose not to bring misfortune upon themselves by attempting

it.

They all turned their attention to Jane.

The first one to pass the challenge was Peter Fowler.

He was Jane’s biological brother.

The question now was whether Jane would be able to pass the challenge.

The news soon spread like wildfire in the various class chat groups in school.

Peter was in the library reading.

Larry Shane suddenly came running up to him.

“Peter, stop reading! Something has happened!” he shouted.

Larry’s exclamation drew the attention of everyone in the library.

Everyone turned to stare at him.

Pete’s face creased into a deep frown. “Larry Shane, are you mad? Disgr*ce yourself all you want, but leave me out of it. Don’t you have a class to go to?”

Larry said, “Ah, sorry. I was just too excited. Class, what class? I already have enough credits to graduate. This is more important.

“Look!”

Larry went up to Peter and took out his cell phone.

He showed Peter the news of Jane taking on Professor Henderson’s challenge.

Peter was taken by surprise.

“Is Jane going to challenge Professor Henderson’s program?” he thought. Professor Henderson used to be Peter’s professor.

The honor of being the first student to ever pass Professor Henderson’s challenge had been Peter’s up until now.

Peter knew how complicated the program was. Every year, before he offered the challenge to the students, lan Henderson would edit the program.

There was no way to ask for help from the students was had previously attempted the challenge.

Peter had barely passed the challenge within the time limit of one hour. Some luck was involved.

Peter knew how difficult the challenge was.

It was almost impossible to pass it.

In the past, Peter would have paid no mind to the news. However, Jane was the one who accepted the challenge.

He was having some conflicting feelings about that.

He was unsure if he hoped Jane would pass or fail.

Larry was not about to give up an opportunity to tease Peter. He asked

jokingly, “Peter, do you think Jane will succeed?”

“How would I know?” Peter retorted.

“Ah! You must know. You are the only one who ever succeeded. You know best the level of difficulty of that challenge,” Larry replied.

“There’s no way she will succeed,” Peter said.

He had replied after thinking briefly about the possibility.

“Peter, it sounds like you’ve got a personal vendetta against her. This is not like you. Even if you have cut ties with her, she is still your biological sister,” Larry said.

Peter glared at Larry. “You’re talking r*bbish. Even if I were to reattempt Professor Henderson’s challenge as a second-year student, I think I only

have a 60% chance of success.”

To successfully pass the challenge, one needed ability as well as luck.

Jane might have changed drastically in terms of her self-bearing, but there was no way her intellect, skill, and ability changed too.

Larry rolled his eyes and grinned.

“Shall we bet on it?

“Since you don’t think Jane Fowler will succeed, then I will bet on her passing.

“Let’s wager a month’s worth of lunch. It must be lunch you make or cook yourself,” Larry suggested.

“You’re being ridic*lous,” Peter said.

“Will you bet on it or not?” Larry insisted.

“Fine,” Peter replied.

He was sure Jane would not succeed.

Peter was sure he would win the bet.

The challenge was ongoing.

Madelyn could not help herself. She had wandered to where Class 2903

was.

She hid in a quiet corner.

She watched the gathered students of Class 2903.

The topic of their discussion was none other than Jane Fowler.

They were discussing the probability of Jane passing Professor

Henderson’s challenge successfully.

“Do you think Jane will pass?” one of the students asked.

“She might have a chance. Jane was the top student in class in our first year in university,” another replied.

“Besides, she might have gotten some tips from Peter Fowler after she rejoined the Fowler family,” a student commented.

“I think so too. Peter is the only one who has passed the challenge. Judging from how confident Jane looks, he must have given her some tips,” yet another student said.

“Jane Fowler is really making waves. Her life is like Cinderella in the fairytale, suddenly rising from the ashes into luxury,” someone said.

“I saw Peter and Madelyn arrive at school together today, but not Jane. What do you think it means?” a voice asked.

“What else can it mean? The fake daughter will have to give up her place in the family for the real cone soon,” another said.

Everyone laughed.

In the quiet corner, Madelyn fumed.

They were calling her fake.

“I am the real daughter of the Fowler family!

“It was so in the past. It is so now, and it will be so in the future! No one can change that!

“The only one who will be rejected by the Fowler family is Jane, never me!” Madelyn thought.

If this were in the past, Madelyn would not be worried at all.

She would have thought that Jane was simply overreaching herself by attempting Professor Henderson’s challenge.

It was a difficult challenge. Even Peter was unsure whether he could pass if he took it a second time.

After all, she was sure Jane could not pass it.

Jane’s complete change had exceeded what Madelyn thought was

possible.

Once Madelyn got the news, she could not help but go to Class 2903 to

observe in secret.

“Please, don’t let Jane succeed!” Madelyn prayed silently.

If they were to compare Madelyn to Jane, it would be very embarrassing for Madelyn.

At this time, there was a sound.

The door to the classroom opened.

Lila walked out, defeated.

The students quickly went forward to ask her about the program.

“I couldn’t do it. Professor Henderson’s program is just too hard. I didn’t even know where to start looking,” Lila complained.

Everyone gasped.

Lila was one of the better students in class.

She was in third place, at worse.

Even Lila had decided that there was no way she would pass the challenge and had given up quickly.

The program had to be very complicated.

“It seems Jane has done herself in this time,” someone commented.

“The time limit is one hour. Forty minutes have already passed,” another student said.

“I knew it. If it were easy, Peter Fowler would not have been the only one who passed the challenge,” someone else said.

Lila immediately got angry. “Hey! Don’t talk nonsense! Janie will definitely succeed!”

Everyone knew Lila was close to Jane. It was obvious that Lila was angry, so everyone prudently kept their mouths sht after that.

Madelyn knew who Lila Sutton was.

She had seen Lila the day before at the Porsche 4S dealer’s office.

Madelyn relaxed as she listened to Lila talking about the difficulty of the program.

She decided she was overthinking things.

There was no way Jane would pass the challenge.

Jane would achieve nothing by overreaching and taking on the challenge. She would become a laughingstock.

With that thought, Madelyn set her mind at ease and turned to leave.

Five minutes ticked by.

Forty-eight minutes had elapsed since the start of the challenge.

By now, everyone had concluded that there was no way Jane would pass the challenge. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Then, the unexpected happened.

The door suddenly opened.

Jane exited the room with lan.

There was a proud twinkle in lan’s eyes.

lan Henderson announced, “Time used: 48 minutes. Congratulations to Jane Fowler for passing the challenge in record time.

“You don’t have to come to my class anymore. You get full marks for the class.”