Chapter 40

This was the lab the school had assigned to their team. Besides the experimental area, each team member had their own workstation with a computer.

She glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, then moved the mouse and clicked open a website.

When she saw the contents of the message, a smile spread across her face. She quickly copied the text into a document on her desktop.

After making a few quick edits, Natalie stood up and headed straight for Aiden’s private office.

“Aiden, I’ve come up with an innovation idea!”

Aiden barely reacted. “What is it?”

“Using nanorobots in surgeries for cell-related diseases!” Natalie said, clearly pleased with herself, thinking that no one would have thought of this.

Aiden’s eyes lit up.

“That’s actually a great idea! Nanotechnology is being applied more and more in the medical field, and it’s already being used in surgeries.

“However, there haven’t been any cases focused on cell-related diseases specifically. This definitely counts as innovation. Think it through, then write up a full plan for me.

“But don’t force it. I’ll send the idea to the team so everyone can contribute to the plan.”

Natalie’s face broke into a smile. “Sounds good.”

But as she left Aiden’s office, a shadow of doubt flickered in her eyes.

What is going on with Josie? she wondered. She has just joined that obscure team, and yet she came up with such a brilliant idea.

Natalie figured she could easily beat Josie by tweaking her idea and adding some popular elements to it.

Natalie smirked. Josie, I really have to thank you!

She could already picture it: when she stood on the awards stage, Josie’s face would be priceless.

Would Josie regret her decision today and come crawling back to ask the seniors for help? she thought.

Not a chance. Natalie wasn’t going to give Josie that opportunity.

Originally, she had planned to use a few of the seniors to coax Josie back into the team, turning her into their free labor.

But after seeing Josie at the conference, Natalie had changed her mind.

She hadn’t expected Josie to look so stunning after dressing up.

Men were visual creatures. Even though Aiden had acted indifferent today, Natalie knew he wasn’t about to let Josie slip away so easily—he was probably already thinking of ways to get her back.

Not to mention Vincent, Jaden, and that pervert Gavin, along with the fence-sitter Kyle.

Natalie couldn’t afford to take any risks. She was determined to make sure Josie never returned to the team.

She had to make sure Josie was finished, inside and out.

With no support and no reputation, Josie would eventually become nothing more than a plaything for men. She wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Natalie returned to her desk and was about to log into the website again—after all, having the innovation idea was just the first step. The implementation plan was just as important.

Before she could click the link, Gavin walked in.

“Natalie, can you do me a favor?”

Natalie turned to look at him. He was the most serious and professional member of the team. He was meticulous with his research, and every experiment he handled had been flawless.

In terms of academic achievements, he was even more accomplished than Aiden, but his low-key, humble personality kept him out of the spotlight.

Natalie was happy to help him. “Sure, what do you need?”

“I need to buy a few sets of reference books, but I’m a bit short on cash. Can you lend me some?” Gavin asked, testing Natalie’s attitude. If she was easygoing, he’d ask to borrow more next time.

Natalie laughed lightly. “Oh, is that it? Borrowing money? Don’t worry, I’ll just get you the books.”

“No, no, no. Just lend me the money,” Gavin said, pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t expected Natalie to be so generous, unlike Josie, who had left a paper trail when he borrowed money from her.

Natalie took out her phone. “How about I send you 170 dollars? Though I know that’s probably not enough. I heard from Aiden that a complete set of professional textbooks costs several thousand dollars per set.

“How many sets do you need? Here, let me send you 7000 dollars to start. If it’s not enough, just let me know!”