第3章

The animal death reports were spread across Marcus's desk.

He rubbed his temples wearily.

"Arthur says the entry records show that you were the only researcher inside the animal facility last night. Irene, explain."

I pushed my notebook across the table.

"The animals were fine when I went in.

"The temperature changed after the power outage. We need to cross-check the monitoring system with the operation logs."

I didn't panic. In research, facts always mattered more than tears.

The door swung open.

Lina stood there, eyes red and swollen, tears streaking down her pale cheeks.

"Dr. Hayward, I'm sorry.

"I was supposed to be in the animal facility yesterday, but I'd never handled those test animals before, and there was a lot I didn't know. So Irene took my shift. If only I had gone..."

She didn't admit fault, yet she still managed to win everyone's sympathy.

I turned on my laptop and said, "The facility settings were modified last night. And according to the system log, the account that changed them belonged to..."

I paused.

Every pair of eyes in the room fixed on the screen. The account name was right there.

"Lina."

Lina went white. Her hands twisted the fabric of her skirt.

"Arthur, I really didn't know... I just changed the settings using a protocol I'd seen before."

I could barely believe what I was hearing.

"A protocol? You accessed my experimental protocol in I.A. without permission and used it to change the animal facility settings?"

She couldn't bring herself to look up.

Arthur didn't hesitate. He stepped in front of Lina, shielding her.

"She didn't do it on purpose."

I stared at him as a deep sense of disappointment washed over me.

"She didn't mean it, so she doesn't have to take responsibility?"

Arthur was silent for a moment, then frowned.

"She's still new to research. You can't expect her to meet the same standards as you."

I gave a bitter laugh as the last of my feelings for him slowly faded.

"And what about me? When I was new, I didn't know anything either."

Something flickered in his eyes.

"Irene, when did you become so confrontational? You're doing just fine now, aren't you?"

Those words snuffed out the last ember of hope inside me.

Those test subjects were also needed for the final set of data for my revised paper.

Arthur gave me a hard look.

"Even if Lina changed the facility temperature, it happened on your watch."

I looked at him and suddenly didn't want to explain anything anymore.

It no longer mattered what I said. What mattered was whether any of them wanted to believe me.

Marcus went quiet for a long time before he signed the notice.

"Lina did make an operational error. But Irene, as the project lead, you bear supervisory responsibility as well."

Under Pack Research Ethics Committee regulations, both Lina and I had our research privileges suspended.

Arthur stayed behind to comfort Lina. He didn't look at me once.

As I walked past the lab, I saw the light above my workstation was still on.

The computer screen still showed I.A.

I stared at it for a long time, then removed my own administrator access.

Whatever I.A. had once meant to us, it ended that day.

My work would no longer be his to hand out as a "small favor."

I opened my email.

Sitting in my inbox was a six-month-old invitation from the Moonridge Medical Research Institute in New York.

"Invitation for Irene Carter to Join the Clinical Translation Project in Pack Ophthalmology."

Back then, I had shown it to Arthur.

He didn't even look up. He just said flatly, "Basic research offers a more stable path. It suits you better. You're not ready for clinical research yet."

So for all these years, I stayed and followed his direction.

I learned to build animal models. I studied disease mechanisms.

And I strayed further and further from my original dream of becoming a clinical researcher.

But now, I could finally go back.