RE: Perverted Sugar Daddy System

There wasn't a standardised timeframe across universities for how long a course should be studied. Most of the time, universities both at home and abroad assigned the same number of years for a very long list of courses.

Computer Science generally took three to four years, but now in the U.S., across all universities, it had been firmly fixed at five.

The same thing happened to several other courses, and for some like Engineering, it was even worse, with an additional two years added.

Sade had brought the news premium to me and Isabella yesterday, but it was only today, as I sat at my desk, yet to go to school, that I saw it had been released to the public.

Reading through the article that had been sent to my email by the school, I saw that just like Sade had hinted yesterday, this decision was not made by the universities but by the government, and it was mandatory.

What was most surprising was that courses like Medicine and Nursing had actually maintained their original duration, and my eyes narrowed when I saw the several incentives the country was offering to those saddled with extra years.

Free schooling. Monthly allowance. That was all that had been mentioned so far, though more was promised to come.

It would have made more sense if this implementation kicked in with the next academic year, but against all logic, despite the confusion and chaos it would cause, it had been implemented this year.

"What is the government trying to do?" I thought as I looked at the screen, trying to connect the dots.

Increased school years meant increased expertise, especially in the technological sector, which seemed to be the target of this change.

But then, what was the use of this strengthened expertise?

The norm was to let students finish school, then either pursue a master's degree or go out into the world and gain real-life experience in their field.

Keeping them in school would fill their minds with knowledge, yes—but it would only be theories.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and then a thought came to me.

"Factories."

Not any normal factory, but a huge one which intended to make use of new tech.

Opening my eyes, I picked up my phone and made a call to Nadia, getting straight to the point when she picked up.

"Did you check up on the new billionaires like I said?"

It took Nadia a few seconds to remember who I was referring to, and she quickly responded.

"Yes, but my investigations are still in progress."

"What do you have?"

"I was able to get two names: Regan Bastio and Joel Macron. From reports on supplies that are coming in, my conclusion is that they want to build a mega factory.

I might be wrong, though, so I don't think you should hold too strongly to my words."

Hearing my suspicion about the government's motives being confirmed, I should have been thinking about the relationship being formed between them and the billionaires, but instead, my mind was on something else.

"Regan Bastio... the name sounds familiar," I said.

"Yes, he's a fellow shareholder in Ford Motors—one of the biggest, with 19% and someone Mrs. Harther told me to keep an eye on."

Denise had told Nadia to just keep an eye out for the man, but I knew the full story. I was after the one who had gotten the information on Grace's and Jane's affiliation with him.

"Anything on Joel Macron?"

"I haven't looked into him deeply, but from what's publicly accessible, he's a billionaire with strong ties to the oil sector."

"That's powerful," I muttered, then gave her instructions.

"While keeping an eye on Regan and his fellow billionaires, I want you to track whatever it is they're trying to build. Also, check if they or any other billionaire or group of billionaires have been undertaking projects this large in the U.S."

"Okay, sir," Nadia replied, and I could tell she was jotting down notes.

"Anything else?"

"Nothing for now. You can go back to sleep if you want to."

"Thank you, sir."

I was still 25, but with how much my forehead had been creasing lately, I feared wrinkles would soon become imprinted there permanently.

Given my recent run-in with the police, I suspected Regan's actions might be connected to me. But then again, he had a group of billionaires with him.

I mean surely there was no way he and a group of billionaires would gang up against me.

Because if that was the case… I shuddered.

I should have been shoring up my knowledge for the exam in the next hour, but here I was trying to unravel schemes.

I was lost in thought for more than 10 minutes before I snapped out of it. Letting out a sigh, I went to do my morning exercise.

The exam for today was much later in the day, so I drove to school at around 10:11 AM. As I passed through the noisy streets, I shook my head at the crowds forming on the roads, banners raised, speaking of cruelty by the university.

"Did they even read the full article?"

Instead of going to protest in D.C., they were here causing trouble for the poor university, which, at the moment, was probably scrambling to make sense of what was happening.

When I stepped out of my car, I was hit with the full wave of the commotion going on in school.

Inside the school grounds, I spotted several groups in heated debates, and I silently took a seat.

"No way this is just going to happen! The universities are going to sue the government!"

Someone shouted this from one of the groups. While there was some merit to the statement, I doubted taking the government to court would achieve anything.

Other than Sade, who undeniably had powerful connections, there had been no leak of this news from any other source.

Not even from the state governments, which usually enjoyed going against the federal government.

Because of that, I believed the legislature had actually exercised its full power.

The country was probably under some emergency or wartime protocol, and we didn't even know it.

I had barely sat down when two girls rushed over to where I was seated. Twirling a finger around one of her locks, one of them asked me,

"Is it true that you're a billionaire?"