Phoenix Rising: From Heartache to Heroism
Chapter 100 A Bolt From The Blue

Bottles were scattered on the ground as if they were precious gold.

Everyone rushed to grab them.

One minute later, it all came to an end.

The bottles on the ground were divided, and the bags on both sides were filled to the brim.

"It's about time. Let's go back first."

Kaylee glanced at the bags on both sides. They seemed evenly matched, and it was impossible to tell who had more or less with the naked eye.

The last round had too many bottles, and the people from the dance club were too cunning. The number they picked up should be no less than ours.

On the way back, Violeta noticed that Hayden and Liam were missing.

She approached Zoren and asked, "Zoren, where are Hayden and Liam?"

Zoren had been so focused on grabbing bottles that he didn't even notice Hayden and Liam. If it weren't for Violeta's reminder, he might have completely forgotten about them. Zoren looked back and indeed did not see Hayden and Liam. "Are they missing? I don't know. Let's give them a call."

Jasper said, "They left just a moment ago. They didn't say where they were going. Don't worry. Let's go back to the venue and count the bottles. They might come back soon."

...

Before long, everyone returned to the gaming venue.

At this point, most of the items on the gift stalls had been exchanged.

Members from the dance club and the tennis club walked over in a large group, drawing the attention of others. People gathered around to see what was happening.

The members of the student council were keeping track of time. "Time's up! The game is over."

Kaylee and her senior placed the bags filled with mineral water bottles on the table.

On the dance club's side, two people came forward to place their bags. Two bags resembling small mountains were placed on the table, eliciting gasps from the onlookers. "Wow, they've collected a lot of bottles!"

"At first glance, it doesn't seem like there's much difference. They both have quite a lot."

"They're really impressive to have picked up so many bottles."

"They must have broken the record."

п

The student council members looked at the bags in front of them and placed labels on each.

Later on, participants from other games came one after another, exchanging a few scattered bottles for keychains and small figurines.

After completing the count of bottles from the other participants, the official counting for the dance club and tennis club began.

However, they halted before counting the number of bottles.

Hattie took a step forward and spoke, challenging the situation.

"I want to report them for violating the rules."

"Huh?"

"When we registered, there were only four people, including Violeta. Now they've brought a bunch of people. Isn't this a violation of the rules?"

Zelena added, "Exactly, they started with just four people and now there are so many. Isn't that a violation?"

Casey crossed her arms, her head held high. "They've been replaceing loopholes from the beginning. Now, the number has more than doubled. If this isn't considered a violation, we might as well forget about the rules in future games."

Their words resonated with the onlookers nearby.

The onlookers all chimed in.

"They are right. When we registered earlier, I also noticed there were only four of them. How come there are suddenly so many now?"

"It's indeed a violation."

"If it's a violation, should they be disqualified from participating?"

Amidst the crowd's accusations, student council members exchanged glances, showing a bit of helplessness.

"Is there anything else you want to say, Violeta?"

Violeta shook her head, saying, "If the registration was for only four people, and there's a discrepancy in the number during the game, it's indeed a violation. There's nothing more to say."

Casey chuckled. "Let's see how you can argue your way out of this one. There's nothing much left to say this time, right?"

"You've violated the rules!"

Zelena's eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she addressed Violeta, "Violeta, did you carefully read the game rules before participating? Next time, please pay closer attention. Gathering so many bottles and having to cancel our participation due to rule violations is a waste of effort. What a shame."

Violeta suddenly smiled. "I mentioned that this situation is a violation, but I didn't admit that we violated the rules."

Hattie asked, "You still refuse to admit that you violated the rules?"

Violetta ignored them and turned to the members of the student council.

"Hey, why don't you bring out our registration form from earlier and see if we violated the rules?"

The registration forms were gathered, and the student council members opened their folders to search for the registration forms.

They retrieved Violeta's registration form and quickly scanned through it.

The answer became clear in an instant.

"They didn't violate the rules. On this registration form, not only are the four of them listed, but also the names of all the tennis club members."

"Huh?"

"What?"

The student council members presented the registration form to everyone at the scene.

"On this form, Violeta wrote the names of all the tennis club members. She registered on behalf of the entire group."

Everyone was left speechless.

It was like a sudden revelation, completely unbelievable.

Did Violeta plan this move?

Casey stared at Violeta with wide eyes and incredulously asked, "I don't believe it. Violeta, do you remember the names of so many people?"

Violeta placed her hands behind her back, smiling slightly. "I may not be good at many things, but I have a good memory. You can double-check the form yourself if you don't believe me."

A total of four registration forms were submitted earlier.

When the dance club members arrived, discussions broke out among the onlookers, and everyone eagerly watched the scene.

Only Violeta was seen focusing on filling out the form at that time, and she was filling in the names of all the tennis club members!

Now, it was their turn to laugh.

Kaylee chuckled. "What's the matter, Casey? You can gather all the dance club members to help you, can't we have the tennis club members help us? Being narrow-minded is a pity. You're all so petty!" Casey's face turned red with anger, unable to utter a single word.

Hattie's expression also didn't look good. This was the second time she had been embarrassed by Violeta.

Who would have thought that Violeta was so cunning?

"All right, since they didn't violate the rules, let's count the bottles."

The student council members neatly returned the forms and emptied the bottles from the bags. They began counting them in front of everyone.

About ten minutes passed.

The data was now available.

"On Casey Lambert's side, there are 124 bottles, while on Nessie Griun's side, there are 131 bottles!"

Nessie Griun was the name of the senior.

Upon hearing the results, Kaylee and the others cheered joyfully, "Oh! We won. We have more bottles than them!"

"Wait a moment!"

However, at that moment ...

Zelena took out ten more small bottles from her bag. "I still have some here. I haven't counted these yet!"

Seeing Zelena produce more bottles from her bag, everyone widened their eyes in surprise.

"Zelena, why are you bringing out bottles now?"

Zelena replied, "Why not? I am a participant, and these bottles were collected earlier. I just forgot to take them out!

"With these additional ten bottles, our total becomes 134, three more than yours!

"We should be the winners!"