Chapter 5: The brilliant game designer and her foster father 3

“001, why doesn't the novel mention how bad Fiona's condition is?” Ernesta asked.

001 didn't answer right away like it usually does. A few seconds passed before it replied,

“Master, maybe Roger gave us wrong information.”

Ernesta laughed at how clueless it was. She said,

“Fiona's a client of Roger's hospital, so it's no surprise he might have picked up some secrets. Plus, if what he said is true, then everything makes sense.”

001 was totally lost. It asked:

“How does it make sense?”

Ernesta didn't answer. Seeing the car had stopped in front of the beautiful white villa, she said to 001,

“We're here, let's go see my genius little sister.”

Ralph Harold's place was a fancy two-story house with a big garden, right in the middle of the city. Ernesta walked up the pretty marble path leading inside. As she got closer to the front door, she saw a window open on the second floor, and a beautiful figure was looking out at the world.

Ernesta used her memories to wave to Fiona, just like her current body's owner would.

Fiona was sitting up high, so she'd already seen her sister coming home from school. She saw her sister's bright smile, even brighter than the midday sun, and her waving hands, so she smiled and waved back.

She watched Ernesta's quick movements, her strong steps, and how the sun made her cheeks rosy. It made her feel bitter and jealous. They were twins, why was God so unfair? Her sister had a healthy body, while she was like a broken leaf on a branch.

Ernesta went inside and ran upstairs to find her sister. It was different from the novel, where the older sister was jealous of the younger one because she liked Ralph. She had Ernesta's memories, and she knew that she really loved Fiona, her only family. She thought that even though they'd been separated since they were kids, they had the same blood and were closer than anyone else in the world. Even when she found out her sister was too sick to go to school with her anymore, Ernesta was so sad she couldn't sleep for a week.

So, after getting all the memories of this body, Ernesta completely ignored the whole story that 001 had told her at first.

“Are you feeling better today? Did you take your medicine on time?” Ernesta asked her sister, acting like her current body's owner.

Fiona gave a weak smile and said, “I'm still the same. What's the point of taking medicine? It doesn't make me feel any better!”

Thinking about her sick body, her eyes got a little sad.

Even though Ernesta and Fiona were twins, they weren't really that alike. They both had blonde hair and blue eyes, but Ernesta's beauty was bright and gorgeous, like a red rose, while Fiona's was fresh and pretty, like a morning lily.

Hearing her sister say that, Ernesta kept playing the role of a sweet and caring older sister.

“Of course you have to take your medicine like the doctor said, so you can get better!”

Fiona didn't want to keep talking about it because it made her feel like she was way less than her sister, especially since she didn't have a healthy body.

To be honest, she didn't really like Ernesta. She didn't want her foster father's attention to be split. But since it was her foster father who brought Ernesta home, she couldn't show how much she disliked her. She wanted to be a sweet, obedient girl in her foster father's eyes.

She changed the subject, “Did you finish reading the book I gave you last time? If you have any questions, you can ask me. I'll teach you.” Only when talking about her own skills did Fiona feel like she was better than Ernesta.

Ernesta dug through her memories and then called out to her assistant in surprise,

“001, look what I found! Ernesta is also a genius, just like Fiona.”

According to her memories, Ernesta didn't know anything about programming languages. But because it was something her sister loved, she wanted to learn a little. Last week, Ernesta borrowed a Python programming book from Fiona, and within a few days, she had finished reading it. Not only that, she actually understood everything in the book. Plus, she got really interested in learning this cool subject. Ernesta even used what she learned from the book to design a simple game. Of course, it was just some scribbled code on paper because she didn't have a computer and couldn't actually try it out.

“Seven days, from knowing nothing about programming to starting to learn it and even designing a simple game. Do you think someone like that would steal someone else's work and pretend it was their own?” she asked 001.

“Master, I don't know. The original story says so,” 001 replied.

Ernesta imagined that if 001 was a cartoon character, there would be a bunch of question marks popping up around its head.

Ernesta suddenly had a sneaky idea. She wanted to tease her sister a little, to see if she was really as innocent and good as the novel said she was.

“I finished it already. It's really simple. I get it all, you don't need to explain anything.”

Fiona secretly gave a cold laugh. She'd never heard anyone say programming was simple, especially not someone who was a total newbie. She was sure her sister was just trying to show off.

She raised her eyebrows, her eyes full of scorn and sarcasm.

“Okay, let me ask you some questions then, to see if you really understand.”

“Sure! Ask away. As long as it's from the book, I know it.”

Besides the fact that the current body's owner was a genius, Ernesta herself was also super smart. Apart from being the Meredith family's daughter, she had another secret identity: Blackbeard, the top hacker in America, even the whole world. She was good at all kinds of programming languages. The strongest firewalls in the world were like Swiss cheese to her. It was clear she didn't need family. With her skills, she could have lived an amazing life. But because she was so obsessed with family, she'd broken her own wings, making herself look pathetic and ridiculous to other people.

On top of that, the world she came from was a hundred years ahead of this one in science and technology. So, this so-called Python programming language was as easy as breakfast to her.

***

Author: Ernesta is a genius, Fiona is a genius. This is a story where everyone is a genius!