Jackson nodded in understanding. “It’s all right. I will go my way and update you when I have any
clues.”
He understood that Shane would not trust him again after his previous betrayal.
Shane gazed at him for quite a while, then turned around and left without uttering any words.
Jackson took a deep breath and put on his glasses. After that, he bowed earnestly in Shane’s direction
and made his way to the resource room with a determined look.
I bet Shane must have assigned his men to trace Jacqueline and Sean’s whereabouts. Well, I have my
way too. I’m going to make use of the records in the DNA storage.
Regardless of how a person’s appearance had transformed, the gene and blood type would never
change. On top of that, biometric fingerprint systems and iris recognition were widely implemented in
this advanced era. Thus, he presumed that he might be able to trace Jacqueline’s current location
based on her fingerprint in the DNA storage. As long as she had used any iris recognition or biometric
fingerprint system elsewhere, her whereabouts would be traceable.
Meanwhile, Natalie, Lina, and Sally had gone to the competition hall for the semi-finals.
This current round was deemed the eliminatory round before the final round between the champion and
the second place. At the end of this round, one of the groups would be eliminated and announced as
the winner of third place.
“Nat, which group do you think will be eliminated this round as the third place?” Lina whispered as she
glanced at the other two groups.
Natalie shook her head. “How would I know? We won’t be able to predict the result until the end. No
matter what, let’s just try our best.”
“You’re right. But I wonder if you feel the same too. Perhaps because we’re the last three groups, it
seems that we’re not as nervous as we were earlier,” Lina said. Natalie smiled. “It’s because all of us
are equally matched. In other words, none of us has the confidence to defeat the others and become
the final winner. So what’s the point of getting nervous? Besides, our performance might be affected if
we can’t cool our heads off. Most importantly, we’re already basking in the limelight as one of the top
three in this international competition. It doesn’t really matter even if we’re not the champion.”
Lina nodded. “That’s true.”
“Of course, it’d be nice if we won. But even if we didn’t, there’s no doubt that you’re one of the top three
young designers in the world!”
Lina chuckled. “Yeah, that’s why I can barely feel the hostility from everyone. It’s as though we’re back
to the first round of the competition.”
Natalie patted her on the shoulder. “Let’s just do our best.”
Lina nodded again, feeling motivated.
After that, both of them listened attentively as the host explained the theme for the next round.
It was not a fixed theme this round. Designers were requested to design their dresses and jewelry by
incorporating the traditional elements of their own countries’ dresses and jewelry.
Undeniably, every country had its unique elements for its traditional costume and jewelry. Thus, it was
not solely on how the organizer would assess the designed gowns and jewelry precisely with utter
fairness. After all, it was just wishful thinking to have absolute justice in everything in the world. Instead
of wasting time brooding over it, Natalie would rather spend time figuring out how to incorporate the
uniqueness of their nation’s elements on their next designs.
The three groups of designers started to discuss among themselves.
All the designers were from three different countries. And coincidentally, designers of the same country
had joined the same group.
If the group consisted of designers from different countries, it might be challenging for them to work
well with each other on that. Since every country had unique traditional elements, both designers would
have different ideas, and they might end up designing dresses and jewelry which could not match each
other’s styles. Subsequently, they would have to be eliminated from the competition and that explained
why the organizer had set such a challenging theme.
Lina scratched her head in bafflement. “Nat, do you have any idea about the so-called element of our
country’s traditional jewelry? I grew up overseas and I’m used to designing modern jewelry, mainly with
various types of diamonds. I bet diamonds are not considered as one of the elements of our country’s
traditional jewelry.”
“We have crystals which are of similar transparency as diamonds. Nevertheless, I don’t think it’s a good
idea for you to use crystals. I fear that it might lead you into thinking of diamonds and that you would
end up sketching a piece of modern jewelry unknowingly.”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda