How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue novel Chapter 554

“Teams are assigned randomly by the system, right?” Maurice looked over, raising an eyebrow. “It’s fine. There’s an individual round coming up. If your personal score’s high enough, it won’t matter.”

Sylvie frowned in silence. She understood the logic.

It all counted toward the individual score, sure, but…

Elodie had lucked out, ending up on a team with Watts and Lily, and they’d slid right into first place.

“Team ranking doesn’t affect your personal score. Elodie just got lucky, that’s all,” Selma said, clearly reading Sylvie’s mind. She wasn’t thrilled with Elodie either, but she kept her feelings to herself.

That comment lingered in the air.

Alexander turned his head, unable to suppress a laugh. “Everyone standing here is at the top of their field. If Ms. Fielding really wants to compare individual skills, I doubt she can outshine them all. What’s there to complain about?”

As soon as he said it out loud, it was clear—he was calling her out.

Sylvie’s expression faltered, irritation flickering across her face at Alexander’s bluntness.

She glanced around, relieved to see none of the other team members were nearby.

Alexander saw right through her and scoffed, turning to walk away toward Elodie.

Jarrod glanced in a certain direction before looking at Sylvie. He said calmly, “Focus on tomorrow.”

Sylvie felt a headache coming on. She nodded distractedly.

When the event ended, the two groups ran into each other.

Sylvie shot Elodie a cold look, her eyes full of biting sarcasm. Without a word, she turned and walked away.

Jarrod was still speaking with the organizers.

Maurice hesitated, then looked at Elodie, scratched his nose, and said, “Congrats, I guess.”

With that, he hurried off.

Elodie found him oddly distant. In the past, Maurice wouldn’t have bothered with such pleasantries.

The next day was all about hardware algorithm optimization under pressure. The day after would be code implementation—a live test of each participant’s original code. This was when true skill would show.

If you took the top spot, your code would actually be considered for official adoption.

Sylvie frowned. Elodie’s confidence was baffling—and a little unsettling.

When it was time to take the stage, Elodie looked up and saw Jarrod across from her. He looked back, gaze steady and composed.

Elodie looked away, showing no reaction.

The algorithm optimization trial began.

Elodie tackled it methodically, working through layer after layer of challenges and a dizzying stream of data.

Standing in front of the giant screen, the psychological pressure was intense.

But Elodie never rushed.

When she finished, each segment of her data was tested in turn.

Sylvie, for her part, felt she’d done well—though there were two areas she knew could’ve been more refined.

The judges began their deliberations.