Phoenix Rising: From Heartache to Heroism
Chapter 182 Strategic Moves

They followed along, basking in the reflected glory.

However, Violeta herself was on the national leaderboard, so she didn't need to ride anyone's coattails. That was the fundamental difference between her and them.

Violeta wasn't just a small-time leaderboard player, she was a major player on the leaderboard.

This meant that Violeta's skills were truly formidable!

Seeing the ID "I'm Your Sixth Uncle" made Zelena and Hattie furious.

They still remembered when they had encountered Violeta in a game. In a solo match, Violeta had humiliated them, making them call her "daddy," and she still had the recording of that moment! Hattie gritted her teeth. "We have to make her lose miserably at the college competition!"

Then Hattie turned to Zelena, annoyed. "How could you not know anything about this? Didn't you know Violeta played games?"

Zelena remained silent.

She wished she had known.

But when she returned to the Blake family, it was already Violeta's senior year summer, and by then, Violeta had stopped playing games.

After starting at Toland University, Violeta focused most of her time on professional training.

The one who eventually won the college competition championship was Hattie.

So, in Zelena's eyes, the biggest rival at the college competition was Hattie.

In the previous life, Hattie successfully recorded an MV, matching Violeta's popularity at school.

Hattie sighed, "Forget it. This time, I must win the college competition championship."

She realized she couldn't rely too much on Zelena, her information was too outdated.

It seemed that if she wanted to deal with Violeta, she'd have to rely on herself.

Zelena averted her gaze. She wouldn't let Hattie hog all the glory. She had to keep an eye on both Violeta and Hattie.

Hattie wanted the championship, but did that mean she didn't want it too?

Ha...

The championship could only be hers!

A dark glint flashed in Zelena's eyes. In fact, two days ago, she had already paid to replace out which studio Hattie had hired. She secretly bribed the studio owner, who, under her instructions, made sure the actors Hattie hired would deliberately sabotage their roles.

The plan was set, but it had to be subtle.

Zelena's idea was to let Hattie advance smoothly, giving her false hope of victory, only for the actors to ruin everything in the finals.

As for Violeta, she had arranged for a hacker to leak damaging information.

With Hattie failing and Violeta disqualified, both of her major rivals would be out of the picture.

That would leave the championship wide open for her.

Watching Hattie brimming with confidence, Zelena could barely suppress her laughter.

The preliminary rounds started quickly.

The Quinston division had seven universities, so Toland University first needed to advance ten teams before competing at the sports arena against other teams in the semifinals and finals to claim the championship.

On the day of the preliminaries, Violeta's team won fifteen matches in a row, becoming the first team from Toland University to advance.

Initially, many spectators came to watch because of Hayden and his team, but after seeing Violeta's performance, they were all amazed.

So this was the skill level of a national leaderboard player!

Her game sense and mechanics were absolutely top-tier.

Zelena's and Hattie's teams also performed well, advancing smoothly.

Hattie's team was the second to advance, while Zelena's was the third.

With the preliminary round lasting a week, they secured three of the ten available spots on the first day, leaving the remaining seven for others to fight over.

Originally, Zelena planned for Violeta to be bogged down by negative news during the preliminaries.

However, seeing Violeta's strong momentum, she decided it would be more impactful to let her climb higher before bringing her down. So, she held back.

After the preliminaries, the Chess Association came to Toland University to promote and give lectures.

The event organizer contacted Violeta, asking her to help distribute flyers around campus.

Nolan, being on the student council, was assigned to assist with the promotion.

This led to frequent interactions between him and Violeta at the university.

Zelena had her sights set on Nolan and would deliberately pass by the student council president's office every noon, hoping to bump into him.

However, she noticed that Violeta had been going to Nolan's office frequently.

Every time she walked by, Violeta was there.

Was Violeta blatantly trying to seduce Nolan?

This was unacceptable.

Zelena couldn't just sit idly by, she needed to replace out what Violeta and Nolan were discussing.

Zelena ruined her newly issued school uniform and went to the student council to register and pay for a replacement.

At noon, inside the student council president's office, Violeta and Nolan were discussing the logistics for the chess lecture: arranging water and seating, drafting promotional posts and images for the forum, and preparing small giveaways.