Vanguard Medical Center.
The conference room was crowded and lively.
The attendees included several Vanguard Medical Center specialists as well as prominent figures from the wider medical community.
Abigail stood at the very front, with Rosalind beside her.
Rosalind wore a spotless white dress and a polished, gentle smile.
Across from them, Elara sat quietly in her seat, calm as ever, her expression barely shifting as if none of what was happening had anything to do with her.
Broderick stood beside Rosalind, looking openly pleased with himself.
As far as he was concerned, Elara had no chance of walking away from this unscathed.
“Everyone.”
Abigail lifted one hand, signaling for the room to settle down.
“I invited you all here today because of an extremely important breakthrough.”
She turned to look at Rosalind beside her.
“This is the lead developer of Nexo-7—Rosalind.”
Applause broke out at once.
Rosalind dipped her head slightly.
“Thank you, everyone.”
Abigail went on, “What many of you may not know is that some of the Nexo-7 research results we saw earlier actually involved Rosalind’s participation as well.”
At that point, she deliberately glanced at Elara.
“So some of the previous opinions people formed about Elara may have been based on a misunderstanding.”
“She did take part in related experiments, yes—but the person who truly mastered the core technology was Rosalind.”
Murmurs spread through the room.
Broderick was the first to jump in.
“I knew it.
Rosalind would never steal someone else’s work and pass it off as her own.”
“She’s been brilliant since she was little.
Elara just got lucky and happened to get near this project, that’s all.”
Rosalind didn’t argue.
She only lowered her head, looking quiet and restrained, like she couldn’t bear to fight her own sister for credit.
Rosalind could not quite hide her smugness.
She had waited a long time for this moment.
If she could establish herself as Nexo-7’s true developer today, who would believe Elara afterward?
Who would care who had really handled those old experimental records?
In everyone else’s eyes, Rosalind would be the real genius.
Elara, meanwhile, said nothing at all.
Not until Abigail looked at her and asked, “Elara, do you have anything else to say for yourself?”
Every eye in the room turned toward her.
Elara lifted her gaze and gave a faint smile.
“Explain?
There’s nothing to explain.”
Rosalind quietly exhaled, the tension in her chest finally easing.
Just as Rosalind expected, Elara did not challenge her—until, the very next second, she raised a hand.
“Take the vial out.”
Rosalind’s smile froze.
“What?”
“Aren’t you the developer of Nexo-7?”
Elara looked straight at her.
“Then where’s the drug?”
Rosalind’s fingertips trembled.
She clearly hadn’t expected Elara to cut straight to the point and ask for the sample.
Almost on instinct, she turned to look at Abigail.
Abigail frowned.
“Rosalind, take it out.”
Rosalind did not move for a long moment.
“What?” Elara said lightly.
“Can’t produce it?”
“I…”
Rosalind went pale.
“The serum is still in the experimental phase right now, so it’s not really convenient…”
“Take it out.”
Elara spoke again.
Her voice was quiet, but Rosalind’s composure was beginning to crack.
In the end, Rosalind gritted her teeth and pulled a transparent test tube from her bag.
Inside was a pale yellow liquid.
Elara only needed one glance.
Her eyes turned ice-cold.
“Fake.”
The conference room fell silent.
Rosalind’s expression changed sharply.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“I’m saying this.”
Elara kept her eyes on the vial, gaze sharp and steady.
“That thing is fake.”
“What gives you the right to say that?”
Rosalind’s voice rose sharply with panic and anger.
“You didn’t even test it!”
“Do I need to?”
Elara remained composed, and that calm certainty unsettled Rosalind more than shouting would have.
“The real Nexo-7 isn’t this color.”
Rosalind’s pulse jumped.
Of course she had no idea what the real Nexo-7 was actually supposed to look like.
She had relied on fragments of memory and her own trial and error to produce something that looked convincing enough at first glance.
She had never expected this.
Elara had needed only one glance.
And she had seen through the fake immediately.
“What are you basing that on?”
Abigail frowned too, clearly not buying it.
“Elara, if you’re judging a drug’s authenticity by color alone, that’s far too reckless.”
“I’m not judging by color alone.”
Elara turned to look at her, her tone cool and clean.
“I’m saying it because properly purified, high-purity Nexo-7 looks nothing like what she’s holding.”
“And more importantly—”
Her gaze settled on the test tube.
“High-purity Nexo-7 can’t be injected into the human body directly.”
A few people in the room froze.
“What do you mean?”
Elara spoke evenly.
“It has to undergo special processing first.
Otherwise, the residual toxins can seriously damage the nervous system.”
“If the dosage is even a little off, it could cause irreversible damage.”
Her voice was quiet, but every word carried weight.
“In serious cases, people die.”
The conference room erupted in shocked discussion.
The color drained from Rosalind’s face.
“That’s not true!”
“You’re just jealous of me, so you’re making this up on purpose!”
She whipped around and looked at Abigail.
“Professor Warnock, you have to believe me!
The drug I made is absolutely fine!”
Broderick stepped up at once too.
“Elara, stop this.
You don’t have any proof.”
“Rosalind worked hard to develop this drug.
What gives you the right to call it fake?”
Elara looked straight at him.
“Because I’m the real developer of Nexo-7.”
Broderick stiffened for a second, then let out a cold laugh.
“You?”
“What makes you think you even have the right?”
“Barnaby already kicked you out of the research team!”
Whispers spread through the room.
Some people frowned, clearly doubtful.
Others simply watched, unwilling to miss what happened next.
Abigail didn’t buy Elara’s words right away either.
To her, Rosalind was still the lead developer she had personally verified herself.
“Elara,” Abigail said, her voice low and firm, “if you’re saying there’s something wrong with this vial, then prove it.”
Elara had just parted her lips to speak when the conference room doors were suddenly shoved open.
Bang!
Everyone turned their heads on reflex.
A tall man strode in.
He wore a black military uniform, his posture straight and his expression cold.
His presence immediately drew every eye in the room.
It was Adrian.
The second Broderick saw him, his expression shifted.
But Rosalind’s eyes lit up for a split second.
Why was Adrian Whitmore here?
If Adrian took her side…
Then Elara would have even less of a chance to turn this around.
But the very next second, every expression in the room froze.
Because Adrian walked straight past everyone else and stopped beside Elara.
“What happened?”
Elara looked up at him.
“She said this vial is Nexo-7.”
Adrian glanced at the test tube once.
“It isn’t.”
Rosalind’s smile vanished.
“Mr.
Whitmore…”
Adrian didn’t even spare her a look.
His eyes stayed on Elara.
“You said there’s something wrong with the reagent?”
“Yeah.”
“What problem?”
“It’s fake.”
Adrian gave a small nod.
“I believe you.”
His answer was immediate and unequivocal.
The conference room fell silent again.
Even Abigail was stunned.
Rosalind’s face went paper-white.
Broderick stared at him in disbelief.
“Mr.
Whitmore!”
He blurted it out before he could stop himself.
“You can’t just believe everything Elara says only because she once saved you!”
Only then did Adrian look at him.
He fixed Broderick with a cold, cutting look.
“Why can’t I?”
The room fell silent.
Broderick fell silent, unable to answer.
Adrian looked away, too lazy to waste another second on him.
He took out his phone, his movements calm and clean.
“Since none of you believe it,” he said flatly,
“then we’ll ask the one person who knows best.”
He dialed the number.
A few seconds later, an aged but steady voice came from the other end.
“Mr.
Whitmore?”
Adrian switched on speaker.
“I’m asking you something.
Is high-purity Nexo-7 toxic?”
The other side went silent for a beat.
Rowena Crane clearly hadn’t expected that question, but she recovered fast, and her voice came through again, low and firm.
“Of course it is.
If a high-purity dose isn’t processed first, the toxic components inside it can cause serious harm to the human body.
It has to go through special treatment and have the toxins removed before it can be used.”
“Mr.
Whitmore, what’s going on?
Haven’t you used it once before?”