A Second Life, A New Power novel Chapter 16

"Am I the only one who noticed this? Out of the eight of them, the vicious gal is the only one who made it this far without breaking a sweat."

"Oh, you're right. Now that you mention it…"

"No wonder she's been slacking off."

The group was now focused on sharpening the ends of their gathered branches. They needed to smooth the wood and create a pointed tip that could pierce through the cork stopper.

After some laborious effort, they decided to let Nigel go first.

Carefully, he positioned the branch and pressed it into the cork. It went in slightly but stopped. He pushed harder, but the branch broke with a snap.

Next up was George, but he failed.

Thomas also failed.

Chad failed as well.

"This is impossible! Mr. Hahn, this challenge is way too hard. Are you trying to make sure we fail?" Thomas complained.

Matt smiled mysteriously but said nothing.

"Give me the bottle. I'll try," Demi said as she extended her hand toward Chad.

Chad hesitated, unsure whether Demi had come up with a new approach. Still, he handed her the wine bottle, curiosity flickering in his eyes as he waited to see what she'd do.

"No way. Is the vicious gal actually going to open this herself?"

"She doesn't even have anything. Is she planning to bite the cork off with her teeth?"

"My popcorn's ready."

The livestream chat buzzed with spectators eager for the drama to unfold.

Demi took the wine bottle, holding it firmly in one hand. She tapped gently on the bottom of the bottle with her other hand, and there was a crisp pop. The cork shot upward, and with a swift motion, she caught it mid-air before turning to Matt.

Matt blinked. The group stared, dumbfounded.

Wait. How was it that easy? What had they been doing all this time?

"If she grew up with no parents and just her grandmother supporting her, I guess it's possible."

"Didn't she have a younger brother too? If an elderly woman had to raise two kids, that would've been insanely hard."

"Honestly, even two working parents struggle to raise one child these days."

"But don't you think Demi was being way too harsh to Ana? She sounded so aggressive."

"Exactly. Ana didn't say anything wrong. She just asked a simple question, and the vicious gal snapped at her."

"Even earlier with the necklace, the vicious gal was so confrontational."

"Her personality is just too extreme."

Ana was panicking, worried that the others might realize she was targeting Demi.

After glancing at everyone else, Ana turned to Demi and said with an apologetic expression, "I'm sorry, Demi. I didn't know about your situation."

Demi let out a humorless laugh.