After working through the night, Elara finally closed her laptop.
The rows of data on the screen faded to black.
She rubbed between her brows, fatigue faintly visible beneath her eyes.
Adrian Whitmore’s case was even trickier than she’d expected.
The test results made one thing clear: this was no ordinary neurological disorder.
If she was right, the real danger lay in details every other doctor had overlooked.
Elara glanced at the last page of data one more time, then picked up her phone to check the time.
“Almost nine?”
She still had exams today.
There would be no time to sleep.
After a quick wash and change of clothes, Elara headed straight to campus.
…
The medical lab had already kicked off a new day of research.
Students had gathered in small groups around the lab.
Rosalind sat at the lab bench flipping through documents, but every so often, she looked up at the door.
It wasn’t until after nine that the lab door was finally pushed open.
Elara walked in.
Her expression was unreadable, her laptop tucked under one arm.
The second she stepped inside, a cold, sharp voice cut through the room.
“Elara!”
The whole lab fell silent.
Barnaby stood by the lab bench, visibly furious.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?”
Elara lifted her eyes and glanced at the wall clock.
“Nine twelve.”
“So you do know the time.”
Barnaby let out a cold, humorless laugh.
“The team starts at eight sharp.
You’re more than an hour late.”
“What exactly do you think this place is?”
Elara had been awake all night and had no energy to waste on an argument.
“What is it?”
The flat response only made Barnaby angrier.
“What kind of attitude is that?”
Rosalind hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.
“Barnaby, maybe she didn’t sleep well last night.”
She walked over to Elara and lowered her voice.
“Elara, just apologize to Barnaby, okay?
Everyone’s been waiting for you.”
On the surface, it sounded like she was helping Elara out.
In reality, she had only drawn everyone’s attention to Elara’s lateness.
Sure enough, Barnaby looked even more annoyed.
“She didn’t rest well?
Who in this research group isn’t working till midnight every single day?”
“Everyone else can show up on time, so why is she the only exception?”
The other students lowered their heads.
No one dared get involved.
Barnaby ran the research team and was being fast-tracked by Vanguard Medical Center.
No one was going to risk crossing him for Elara.
Barnaby kept his gaze fixed on Elara, his voice turning colder.
“Starting today, you’re out of the research team.”
A ripple of hushed gasps moved through the room.
“It’s over.”
“He actually kicked her out.”
“This is one of the school’s key research projects.
Once she’s out, getting back in won’t be easy.”
“I heard the final results are supposed to become a paper.”
The whispers carried easily through the lab.
A brief look of satisfaction crossed Rosalind’s face before she hid it.
Finally.
Her place on the team was finally secure.
But in the very next second, Elara just gave a small nod.
“Fine.”
Barnaby froze.
“What did you say?”
“I said, fine.”
Elara set her laptop down on the table, her voice calm and flat.
“Good timing.
I was planning to leave the research team anyway.”
The lab fell silent.
Barnaby’s expression shifted.
“You were already planning to quit?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Elara lifted her eyes and glanced at him, her tone flat.
“Because I’m not interested anymore.”
After saying that, she walked straight to her lab cabinet and pulled the door open.
Inside were the research materials she had built up over the past few years.
Experiment logs, data models, algorithm files.
And one project that had been marked out on its own.
Nexo-7.
It was a core drug being developed for a rare genetic disease, and also one of the most important projects in the group right now.
Elara reached out and began packing the files away one by one.
But Barnaby’s face only grew darker and uglier.
“Wait.”
“You can’t take those with you.”
Elara’s hand paused.
She turned back and looked at him coldly.
“Why?”
Barnaby looked furious.
“The research was done in the group, so every result belongs to the school.”
Elara suddenly laughed.
“My work.
Why should I leave it behind?”
Barnaby frowned.
“You’re saying this is yours?”
“Obviously.”
“The whole project was completed by the research team together.”
“Together?”
Elara lifted a brow, pulled out her laptop, and tapped across the keyboard.
“Then let’s take a good look at who actually did it.”
A few seconds later, the lab’s main display lit up with rows of raw experimental data.
Everyone froze.
Elara opened the project backend.
“This is the original data from when the Nexo-7 project was first created.”
“This is the experimental model.”
“This is the algorithm iteration log.”
“This is the revision plan after the experiment failed.”
Her fingertips moved lightly, pulling up record after record.
The records showed timestamps, account activity, operation logs, and a complete edit history.
The record was complete and unmistakable.
One student shot to their feet.
“All of this…
was done under Elara’s account?”
“No way.”
“She handled that much by herself?”
Elara remained perfectly calm.
“There are a total of one hundred and thirty-seven core experiments in this project.
Ninety-six of them were completed independently by me.
As for the key data, more than seventy percent came from my work.”
Silence settled over the lab.
Every pair of eyes turned toward Barnaby.
Color drained from Barnaby’s face.
“You…”
He had just opened his mouth when Elara had already snapped her laptop shut.
“So, yes, I’m leaving the research team.
But every bit of my personal research work—I’m taking with me.”
Barnaby finally lost his cool.
He strode over in a rush.
“You can’t delete the project data!
That data belongs to the research team now!”
But Elara shifted aside before his hand could touch her, then pulled up the server backend.
“I’m not deleting the team’s data.
I’m deleting my private algorithm model.
I developed that myself.”
“Without my authorization, nobody gets to use it.”
Barnaby’s expression changed.
“Elara!”
He lunged forward, trying to stop her, but he was still a second too late.
A line flashed across the screen: Deletion completed.
The whole lab fell silent.
But Rosalind’s expression changed completely in that instant.
She stared at the computer without blinking, her fingers curling tighter and tighter before she even realized it.
No one knew that the most important data in the paper Rosalind had been writing came directly from Elara’s research.
If Elara took it with her, what would happen to Rosalind’s paper?
For the first time, Rosalind actually panicked.
She hurriedly spoke up.
“Elara… you can’t do this.”
Elara turned and looked at her.
“Why can’t I?”
Rosalind bit her lip, her voice turning weak.
“We’ve all been working on this together for so long.
If you do this…”
“I quit.”
Elara cut her off cleanly.
“Starting today, your research has nothing to do with me.”
She picked up her laptop, turned around, and headed for the door.
Barnaby was livid.
“Elara, you’re going to regret this!”
Elara didn’t even turn around.
“Nope.”
Her voice stayed calm.
“If anyone’s gonna regret this, it’ll be you.”
…
Outside the lab.
Elara had only taken a few steps when—
Bang!
A heavy thud suddenly came from not far away.
“Someone passed out!”
“Quick, get help!”
“Oh my god!”
The hallway erupted into chaos.
Students from every direction rushed over.
A young man had collapsed onto the floor.
He was tall and lean, with sharply defined, striking features.
Even pale and unconscious, he carried the unmistakable air of someone accustomed to privilege.
Someone in the crowd recognized him right away.
“Isn’t he the guest who came to the school to discuss a partnership?”
“Hurry, call a doctor!”
Barnaby pushed through the crowd and crouched beside him.
He checked the man’s pulse, then lifted his eyelids and glanced at his pupils.
A moment later, he said in a low, firm voice, “Looks like heatstroke.
He may also have a heart issue.
Get him to the hospital now.”
The people beside him nodded at once.
“Okay!”
Just as a few of them bent down, ready to lift the man—
Elara suddenly crouched beside him.
She didn’t bother looking at his face.
Instead, she reached straight for the side of his neck.
The instant her fingertips touched his skin, her brows pulled together slightly.
Then she pressed on his chest.
Her expression sharpened.
“No.
That’s not it.”
Barnaby frowned and turned to look at her.
“What do you mean?”
Elara ignored him completely.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the man on the ground, her voice calm and steady.
“This isn’t heatstroke.
It’s a tension pneumothorax.”
Everyone around them froze for a beat.
“What?”
Elara assessed the symptoms in seconds.
The man’s breathing was getting faster and faster, and the veins in his neck were visibly bulging.
The movement of one side of his chest was obviously weaker.
And the key point was—
His blood pressure was dropping fast.
The signs pointed to rapidly rising pressure inside his chest.
If they dragged this out any longer, both his heart and lungs would get compressed.
“Get me a needle.”
Elara rose to her feet.
“Now.”
Someone nearby blurted out on instinct, “What kind of needle?”
“A large-bore one.
Hurry.”
Barnaby frowned.
“Elara, don’t do anything reckless.
We still don’t know exactly what’s going on with him.
How can you just do a puncture like that?”
Rosalind also rushed forward and blocked Elara in one move.
“Elara!
You can’t just treat him like this!
What if something goes wrong?”
Elara looked up, her gaze hard.
“Move.”
Rosalind bit her lip.
“Elara, I’m just worried about the patient…”
Elara stared at Rosalind for two long seconds before her voice dropped, suddenly sharp.
“If you hold me up for another thirty seconds, he’s dead.”
The hallway fell abruptly silent, and everyone froze where they stood.
And the man on the floor—
his breathing was already fading, weaker by the second.