Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Chapter 795

"... You know, talking about this competition, I can't tell if it's the students nowadays or the whole educational system that's changed. Fifty percent of the submissions are just fluff, forty percent are total nonsense, and only about ten percent are somewhat presentable."

Fernando took a sip of his coffee, shaking his head. "It's like every generation gets worse. I remember the students from the first few years who won the grand prize-each of them was practically destined for a feature in Science or Nature. But now... sigh..."

He trailed off, leaving the room filled with his unspoken disappointment.

"But to be fair, there were a few projects this year that really stood out," Patten chimed in. "Like the one from your group at Kingswell University. It was called 'Gene Testing and Biomedical Science.' The group leader's name was... Sybil, I think?"

"I remember it clearly," Patten continued with enthusiasm. "That project won the grand prize. The approach, the experimental angles, and the final output were all beyond expectations. The judges even said it could easily get published in any top-tier journal!"

"Afterwards, some of the judges dug around to find out more about Sybil. Heard she just started her first year of grad school and has already published several papers. They call her the 'genius girl' of your life sciences department. Quite impressive for someone so young..."

As Fernando continued to talk, Roseanne found herself zoning out. From the moment Patten mentioned Sybil's group's project, she was stunned.

Because―

That project was supposed to be hers!

How did it end up as Sybil's?!

Her mind felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, but after the initial shock, Roseanne quickly regained her composure and realized just how serious this situation was.

Carlson had just gotten back from outside campus, his back aching and his forehead throbbing. He knew it was a sign of overwork and mental exhaustion.

on campus, including him. But despite sticking around, the lab was still under renovation, and they couldn't

were done and everything had passed inspection. But reality had a way of dashing optimistic hopes, and life wasn't about to

Carlson felt like he was going to waste away. Just then, a senior introduced him to a part-time job-a research assistant position at a cosmetics

if he was interested, hesitating for even a

multiple times about the intense workload and

never meant to be easy-that's what

why his senior

was exhausting, truly exhausting. But it was also

the lab and his dorm, sticking

looked for

He didn't go.

times, trying to

snorted, responding coolly, "Without a lab, where am I supposed to produce papers for you? Steal them? Or maybe

frustrated, called him

hung up, feeling

the present,

he fished out his room key while dragging his

found Arkle sitting on the edge of his

down

door, Arkle jumped up

said, turning away to hastily wipe his

darkened. "What