While the Carter family was enjoying a wonderful weekend in the countryside, Joy was toiling in front of her computer.
She was wearing anti-fatigue glasses and staring intently at the computer screen. Joy had one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse, and she was using very professional software to process a series of photos.
It was getting late, but she didn’t eat or even turn on her phone. She was so focused on the task at hand that she sat in front of the computer throughout the day.
It was not until the wee hours that Joy clicked "Save" and "Send." Then, she let out a long breath in relief. Her entire body was like a deflated balloon. She leaned back, closed her eyes, and let her hands fall limp. She was exhausted to the extent that she didn’t want to move.
After a little more than ten minutes, she opened her eyes and struggled to raise her left hand, which was almost cramping.
She took off her glasses, picked up the glass on the table, and slowly drank all the milk in it.
Then, she picked up the chocolate truffle on the table and slowly put it in her mouth.
It was not until she had eaten more than ten chocolate truffles that she felt a trace of strength in her. She could finally stand up.
Then, Joy took out a pizza from the fridge, heated it up, and hurriedly finished it before throwing herself onto the bed.
She fell into a deep sleep immediately.
After what seemed like an eternity, her phone rang.
She picked up her phone in a daze and looked at it. A faint smile appeared on her lips, and she perked up.
The voice on the other end of the phone said, "The professor saw the picture you sent over and said that you got it right. He wants you to continue what you’re doing."
Joy smiled. "Help me thank him for the compliment. I’ll keep pushing myself."
"The professor also asked if you’ve found Franco’s identity and whereabouts?"
Joy shook her head and replied regretfully, "Although I participated in archaeological activities organized by Franco and spent a lot of time with him, he didn’t trust me and never took off his mask. I couldn’t see his face or even tell where he was from—his accent and his way of speaking were hard to place. During that period, only his assistants were allowed near him. I didn’t even have the chance to speak to him.
"When we went into the mountains, we couldn’t bring our phones, cameras, recorders, etc. We weren’t allowed to use anything we had personally brought. All equipment and supplies were provided by the team.
"Therefore, I still haven’t been able to find out Franco’s identity and whereabouts.
"I was able to bring back the prehistoric code, though. I memorized it."
The prehistoric codes engraved on the stones had become patchy after thousands of years of erosion. It was impossible to see what they were originally.
With her superb memory, Joy forcefully memorized all these fragmented, complicated, and unique patterns and brought them back with her.
After she had done so, she spent more than a month studying and cracking it day and night.
It was a very complex undertaking.
According to her understanding of prehistoric codes, and utilizing all the knowledge she had, Joy tried to find the pattern in the creation of these codes, analyze the lines and symbols that were missing from the pattern, and so on. Then, she had to repeatedly try and compare them to draw the complete picture.
It wasn’t until last night that Joy managed to crack the code.
It felt like half of her soul was drawn from her body.
After hearing her explanation, the person on the other end of the phone did not blame her. He only said, "Thanks for the hard work.
"I’ll relay your words to the professor, and I believe the professor will understand your tough circumstances."
The other party paused slightly. "No matter what, you’re already the person who did the best."
Joy smiled. "Thank you."
The other party asked again, "It’s Thanksgiving next week. You’re coming back, right? I want to spend the day with you."
Joy lowered her eyes slightly. After a short moment of silence, she said, "Alright, I’ll go back for two days."
It had only been a few days since Avery returned from the countryside.
Avery bumped into Archie again on campus. She didn’t see Archie at first. It was Archie who spotted her. He quickly ran over and stood in front of her. He smiled and said, "Avery, it’s been a while since I saw you. You’ve become even prettier. I’ve missed you so much."
Avery didn’t like how Archie was being all buddy-buddy with her. She was disgusted by his words. "Stop your goo-goo nonsense," she said. She took out a high-concentration insecticide, "or I’ll make sure you stop for good."
"Come on, don’t be . It’s not like I’m going to force you into anything." Archie took a few steps back, took out his face mask, and put it on. "Listen to me first and see what I have to offer you before judging."
Avery looked at him peevishly. Why am I always bumping into cuckoo men? she grumbled in her head.
Archie quickly added the details. "Isn’t your father the general manager of a very well-known property company called Bard?"
"The company is in the third phase of its development now and is preparing to move on to the fourth and final phase. It requires a lot of loans."
"However, the company has already loaned about 100 million dollars for the third phase. It’s going to be a tough task to get another 100-million-dollar loan again. With that being said, I can help your father out with this 100 million dollars with my capability and connections."
"Seeing what I’m ready to provide, it should be worth it for you to be my girlfriend, right?"
Archie didn’t dare to meddle with Joy as she seemed to be a couple with Alexander. That was why he tried his luck with Avery.
He didn’t believe that Avery could be so saintly as to disregard the bulk of fortune that was about to fall on her.