Defying Fate: The Unstoppable Eileen novel Chapter 410

Eileen: "..."

Eileen stared blankly at Commander Dirk.

Commander Dirk seemed to realize he'd been a bit too blunt. His ears turned red as he cleared his throat. "Just remember to say something," he muttered, and then spun around and walked away quickly.

Eileen watched his retreating back, scratched her head, and for a long moment just stood there looking lost before finally wandering into the dorm building in a daze.

Her days at the military academy settled back into their usual routine: class, more class, and endless exams.

A week later, the students faced the second round of the big written test.

The night before the exam, everyone was cramming desperately for the humanities section.

Una sat at her desk, two pieces of tape stuck under her eyes like makeshift war paint. She stared at her book in a daze and mumbled, "You know, when people are desperate, they can do anything—except solve math problems. I just can't. No matter what I do, I can't."

Nana, sitting across from her, was nearly tearing her hair out. "How many times have I gone over this kind of problem with you? How do you still get it wrong?"

Una let out a pitiful sigh. "You've explained this a hundred times, but have I ever looked like I understood it even once?"

Nana: "..."

With a resigned sigh, Nana picked up her pen and started explaining the problem to Una yet again.

Halfway through, a low humming noise started up in the room, growing louder and louder. Nana finally snapped, "Olivia, could you keep it down?"

Before she could say anything else, Una jumped in defensively, "Hey! Don't yell at her! She's blessing us! How can you interrupt her at a critical moment like this?"

Nana rolled her eyes. "If you have time to listen to her chanting, you have time to do more practice problems. Right, Eileen?"

But Eileen didn't answer.

Nana looked up at Eileen's bunk—and saw her sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, copying Olivia's posture and muttering under her breath.

Nana stared in disbelief. "Are you praying too?"

Without opening her eyes, Eileen replied, "Nope. Trying to find my cat."

Nana: "..."

Una: "..."

Nana clutched her head. "I know exams are stressful, but this is ridiculous. Have you lost your mind too?"

An hour later, Eileen's legs were numb from sitting cross-legged, and she still hadn't made contact with Blue Cheese, her cat. Exhausted, she flopped down onto her pillow, glancing across the room to see how Olivia could possibly keep it up for so long.

What she saw stunned her into awe. Olivia really was something else—she could sit perfectly upright, fast asleep, and not even sway! Incredible!

Down below, Una finally collapsed, groaning, "I can't do this anymore. I'm done for tonight."

Nana tried to encourage her. "Come on, just a little more effort!"

Una was almost in tears. "If I push any harder, I'll be up all night. Seriously, do you know what happens if you keep pulling all-nighters? I heard this scary story—"

Eileen immediately pulled her blanket up to her chin, shivering. "What happens?"

Una lowered her voice, eyes wide. "You can't sleep for the entire night!"

Eileen: "..."

Nana: "..."

Without a word, Nana grabbed her math textbook and thumped Una on the head.

Una snapped back to reality and resigned herself to drowning in another sea of math problems.

The next day, as they left the exam hall, three of the four girls from Room 309 looked like empty shells.

They shuffled into the cafeteria. Eileen saw her friends sitting there, completely out of it, and took it upon herself to fetch their lunches. She tried to cheer them up. "It's okay. We just have to believe in miracles."

Una stared at her, deadpan. "You mean Olivia's blessings might actually work?"

Eileen hesitated, then glanced at Olivia. "What exactly did you pray for?"

Una jumped in, "I know! You prayed we'd all be possessed by the spirit of a genius!"

Nana shook her head. "No way. She probably prayed for the muse of wisdom to bless us."

Olivia finally spoke, her voice cool and calm. "Neither."

All three turned to look at her.

Olivia said, "I prayed that everyone who usually gets better grades than us would completely bomb the exam."

The three girls: "..."

Seriously?!