Xavier nodded and turned to his secretary, "You go with him to get at


    Once home, Helen nervously approached Xavier. "How did it go. Xavier?" a


    "It''s fine now," Xavier said irritably, heading upstairs. He really didn''t want to see Helen at the moment. Back in his room, he pinched the bridge of his nose, exhausted. Yvette walked into the study and gently ced her hand on his shoulder, giving a soft press. "What''s wrong, Xavier?"


    "Keep an eye on Helen, make sure she doesn''t cause trouble, Xavier rasped.


    Yvette nodded, "I will."


    Yonas returned to Soucrity, but Irene didn''t go back. She stayed to continue discussing coboration with EverPeak, and more importantly, to keep an eye on Yasmine.


    On the twentieth day, Yasmine finished her thesis and was the first to submit it. Effie felt awkward when she found out "Yasmine, you''re really something, being the first to hand in your thesis."


    In the Dekker Competition, there''s an unwritten rule the first person to submit their paper will receive guidance from all the mentors. The mentors in the Dekker Competition are professors from prestigious universities, really top-notch. It''s such an honor to get their advice. However, being the first to submit also has a downside. Your paper will be scrutinized thoroughly by all the judges, definitely more strictly than those submittedter.


    Yasmine smiled bashfully, "Oh, it''s nothing really just a bit of luck"


    "Stop being so modest!" Effieughed as she led Yasmine to her room and showed her theputer screen, W


    screen, What do you think of this paper?" Yasmine nced at theputer screen, seeing another paper with a simr direction to what Effie had written. "It''s pretty good."


    "A student of mine wrote this paper, Effie mentioned.


    Yasmine was quite surprised but didn''t say it out loud. Although the Dekker Competition hadn''t restricted their movements in the past few days, measures had been taken from all angles to prevent cheating. Especially, emails were not allowed to receive papers, so how did this paper get onto Eflic''sputer!


    Theirputers had monitoring systems installed, and all email correspondence was under surveince. Only the data needed for the paper could be transmitted; other documents couldn''t be sent


    Yasmine carefully examined the thesis. It had a truly creative angle, discussing the social aspect of online gaming among teenagers. She had read plenty of papers before, most of winch painted online gaming in a negative light. But this thesis explored how online gaming interactions could actually y a role in adolescent development. The perspective is excellent; it''s quite simr to the direction of your paper, she remarked.


    During dinner, Effie had mentioned her thoughts. Your perspective is even better!" she praised.


    Yasmine lowered her head with a gentle smile. Her paper focused on the impact of psychological factors on various criminal behaviors. She categorized and analyzed these behaviors based on psychological knowledge, delving into thein through the lens of criminal psychology. The data for these behaviors came from major psychology firms, and she had Morgan and Eric to thank for essing it


    The more significant innovationy in her creation of a Python-coded program to calcte crime rates and predict criminal activity, beyond merely ssifying the behaviors. She had nned this project for a long time and finally took the opportunity to realize it "Yasmine. I''m really scared I won''t advance, Ellie said with concern


    "Don''t be scared, you definitely will," Yasmine reassured her, not having much else to say. Although thepetition rules were strict, they weren''t overly so small conversations like this weren''t a big deal


    On the fish day after the thirty-day deadline, everyone had submitted their papers. All the contestants gathered in Saint''s Haven Hall, wanting for their results. Those ranked in the top twenty would advance to the next round for final defense, while the others would be eliminates


    It was clear that Effle was well-liked among all the contestants. Almost everyone was greeting ber, Yasmine noticed that Elfie seered unassially shy when she looked as a man in the crowd, a foreigner with blond hair and blue eyes.


    "That''s Elvis, quite the gentleman, Lilie introduced him to Yasmine


    10:58 AM


    Yasmine noticed that the man was also looking their way


    Everyone sat upright as the panel of judges entered the room. Effie looked particrly nervous; she hadn''t been sleeping well these past few days, worrying about her paper''s results. If she didn''t rank, she would have to return home and face potential ridicule since the school had promoted her a lot before thepetition and even provided a bonus.


    "Yasmine, I''m so nervous." Effie said, gripping Yasmine''s hand tightly. Elvis sat in the row in front of them, and since she sat down, her eyes hadn''t strayed from him.


    Yasmineforted her. "Don''t worry, you''ll definitely make it through." As long as she ced in the top twenty, she''d proceed to the next round.


    Still pondering, the judges started speaking. "Here are the scores. A staff member handed out score sheets to each of them, respecting privacy by keeping the results confidential. Some felt a pang of disappointment at first nce, while a few were genuinely happy. Yasmine held tightly to her score sheet. The perfect score for her paper was 100, and she had scored 98. She recalled Winston and Lena mentioning how most emergency scores were above 80. The Dekker Competition stood apart from ordinary contests, with its stringent scoring standards, not to mention the anonymous professors from top-tier universities serving as judges.


    The institute''s members tackled vast amounts of data daily, processing and analyzing everything effortlessly. Finding errors in thepetitors paper models was a breeze for them. Initially, Yasmine''s model had issues, but after rounds of calctions and adjustments, it slowly took shape. The person next to Yasmine nced over and gasped in surprise, ''98 points! Oh my God!" Everyone turned to look at Yasmine in astonishment. Besides the score, the score sheet also showed rankings, and Yasmine''s disyed a bold number 1. Elvis quickly turned to her, his emerald green eyes sparkling with an unused light


    Effie took a look at her scores and ranking and awkwardly smiled at Yasmine, "Yasmine, I need to hit the restroom stall, sat on the toilet, and opened the report card she had just received. For a moment, she was stunned.


    om first." She walked into a bathroom


    Twentieth ce. She hadn''t even made it to the top ten. Being in twentieth ce meant barely passing to the next round, while Elvis was sitting in second ce. At this level she was just a tag-along in the Dekker Competition