Chapter 145: Who’s the Crazy One?

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Who’s the Crazy One?

"Brooke, let’s go!" Alice seemed to have lost her temper too, and she immediately started pulling Brooke away.

Brooke didn’t want to leave. The whole issue of whether or not she could study abroad was still unresolved!

’We were supposed to talk about this,’ Brooke thought. ’But just because Dad got angry, Mom dropped it and is dragging me away. How useless.’

But Miles was clearly furious right now. She couldn’t say much on her own, so she had no choice but to leave with Alice.

"Mom, what do we do now? I don’t think I can go abroad, and it seems like Dad isn’t going to support me anymore."

"Oh, Brooke, don’t worry. Mom is still here, and I’ll take care of you. Besides, your father is still furious right now, and he has a lot on his plate with the company. Once he’s dealt with business, we’ll figure something out, okay?"

For now, it was the only option. Brooke nodded and went home with Alice.

They were about halfway there when Alice suddenly had an idea and told the driver to change direction.

"Mom, where are we going?" Brooke asked, confused when Alice told the driver to change direction.

"We’re going to find Chloe. She’s the one who got you into this mess. How can we just let her get away with it? At the very least, we need to go and let off some steam."

Alice thought viciously. Brooke, on the other hand, was secretly delighted. ’That’s right,’ she thought, ’why didn’t I think of going to Chloe to vent my frustration!’

When Chloe woke up, she also saw the trending topic online. She knew this was the "small gift" from Stella Winters.

’I never would have thought of this method,’ she mused. ’It seems that even though the Scholar System keeps increasing my Memory Value and Wisdom value, it’s still no match for natural talent!’

The only thing she could do now was pretend she knew nothing about it, because Alice and her daughter would definitely suspect her.

Since she was moving to Southbend, Chloe had already started packing. Really, "packing" just meant re-packing the things she had already moved out of the York Family home.

The most important task was to pack all the valuable gifts from Miss Prescott and others.

The valuables couldn’t be shipped by courier for fear they’d get lost, so Chloe booked a car to drive her all the way to Southbend.

She had looked it up; it was only a day’s drive.

Soon, the car she had booked was about to arrive. She had managed to pack everything into two suitcases and a backpack.

There was also a large bag. She would have to take the bag downstairs first, then come back up for the two suitcases.

Just as she carried the large bag downstairs, she saw Alice and Brooke getting out of a car.

Seeing Alice and Brooke together, they looked just like a mother hen protecting her chick.

"Chloe, you really know how to hide your true colors. What a clever move!" Alice stopped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. The look in her eyes was just as nasty.

Her sharp gaze looked like it could burn a hole right through Chloe.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked, setting down the large bag.

"Chloe, stop playing dumb! Don’t think we don’t know. You’re the one who posted online about me going abroad just for show."

Brooke couldn’t stand seeing Chloe pretend to be completely clueless. The more Chloe acted this way, the angrier she became.

"You’ve got to be kidding me. There are dozens of classmates in our group chat. You’re the one who announced you were going abroad in the chat, so how are you so sure I was the one who posted it online, and not one of our other classmates?"

"What did you just say?"

Alice asked again in disbelief. What had she just heard? Her daughter had posted about going abroad "for show" in the class group chat.

Brooke hadn’t expected Chloe to just blurt it out. She panicked, grabbing Alice’s hand and scrambling to explain, "That’s not true, Mom! I didn’t! She’s lying! It was obviously her who posted it! I never sent anything to the class group chat!"

"You say you didn’t post it in the class chat? Fine. Let’s take a look at the group chat right now and see whether you did or not." As she spoke, Chloe pulled out her phone, ready to check.

"You can’t look!" Brooke lunged, trying to snatch Chloe’s phone.

’At this point, how could I not put two and two together?’ Alice thought. It seemed her daughter really *had* posted about going abroad in the group chat. That meant it was possible Chloe wasn’t the one who leaked it. It could have been someone else in the group who was jealous of her daughter, or maybe just a classmate who enjoyed stirring up drama.

’But now, even if it wasn’t Chloe, it *has* to be,’ Alice decided. ’Otherwise, how humiliating would this be for us? This whole affair needs a scapegoat, or how will I explain it to Miles?’

’And Chloe is the perfect person to take the fall. First, it will help Brooke win back some of Miles’s trust. Second, it will worsen Miles’s impression of Chloe.’

"Chloe, I’m not looking at your phone. Who knows if you faked it with AI? I’m telling you, you’d better stop this right now, or you’ll be sorry."

Brooke heard it too—Alice was on her side. She stopped trying to grab Chloe’s phone and stepped back beside her mother, looking rather smug.

As long as Alice was on her side, she had nothing to worry about.

Hearing Alice’s words, Chloe understood everything. She sneered. "Fine. Since you claim this is AI, let’s have an expert take a look and see if it really is AI, shall we?"

With that, Chloe prepared to make a call. Brooke leaned in for a look, saw the two `1`s on the screen, and instantly realized what Chloe was doing. She threw all her strength into grabbing for the phone, not forgetting to shout to Alice, "Mom, she’s calling the police!"

"Chloe, are you out of your mind?!" Hearing that Chloe was about to call the police, Alice panicked too.

Chloe easily dodged Brooke’s hand, then twisted around and restrained both of Brooke’s arms, forcefully pinning her to the ground.

After all, she was someone enhanced by the System. Dealing with a weak girl like Brooke was more than easy enough.

Pinned to the ground, Brooke couldn’t break free at all. She couldn’t understand how Chloe had so much strength. ’Is she even a girl?’ she wondered.

"Chloe, let me go!" Brooke struggled.

"Chloe, let go of Brooke," Alice said, starting forward to rescue her daughter.

Chloe pointed a finger at Alice. "Don’t come any closer. If you do, and I happen to lose control of my grip... well, don’t blame me if her arm breaks."

Hearing this, Alice didn’t dare to move. But she hadn’t forgotten how to make threats. "Chloe, have you lost your mind? If you keep this up, I’ll tell Miles, and we’ll cut off your living expenses. Let’s see how you afford college then."

"I’m the one who’s lost my mind? I was perfectly fine, just getting ready to leave, when you two suddenly corner me and start making these baseless accusations. Am I not allowed to defend my own reputation? Am I not allowed to clear my name?"