“Yeah, once Sean finishes the setup, we’ll give it a try,” Claire nodded. She added, “His friend studies intelligent robotics. After your suggestion last time, Sean mentioned the idea to him. We never expected the prototype to arrive so quickly!”

At that moment, Sean looked over. “If our project is validated and acupuncture can truly be used in surgery, combined with this machine, it would mark a major breakthrough in integrating modern and traditional surgical treatments.”

Josie’s face lit up. “Then let’s hurry. As medical technology has evolved, the integration between modern and traditional medicine is the way forward.”

Over the next few days, the three of them, plus two helpers, practically lived in the lab. The experiments showed that machines could take over the job of performing acupuncture techniques, especially when it came to tiny, densely packed acupoints.

For scanning and locating a patient’s body, the machine was even more precise than a human hand. Data analysis revealed that, in many surgeries, using acupuncture as an adjunct really helped reduce patients’ pain. It might also make certain procedures easier or safer. This was especially true for patients who were allergic to some pre-op medications. Acupuncture would become the go-to option for them.

Once the project proposal and the experimental data on the nanobots were finalized, Claire’s presentation paper was finally ready on Friday night.

“All done!” Claire exclaimed as she hit the last key and stretched her arms. In her excitement, she accidentally knocked over her water cup on the desk. “Oh no, I’m doomed!”

Josie tried to save it, but it was too late. She watched helplessly as the whole cup of water drenched Claire’s laptop.

“My paper!” Claire cried, reaching for the mouse, desperate to save a backup.

Colby beat her to it, grabbing the mouse first. “Don’t move! Before the screen goes black, email yourself a backup…”

Josie brought her laptop. “Just email it to her,” Claire said while stepping aside.

Colby shook his head. “No time! Your laptops are already paired with Bluetooth. Just transfer it that way!”

He’d barely finished when Claire’s laptop went black.

Everyone froze.

Josie turned to look at her laptop. “It worked! There’s a new file on my computer.”

Fortunately, Claire had linked their laptops via Bluetooth earlier to send over some study materials.

Colby leaned in. “Go ahead and open it. See if the file is saved.”

“Okay.” Josie sat down and was just about to click on the file when Colby suddenly clicked his tongue.

“Rookie, that’s not good. Looks like someone’s installed spyware on your laptop,” Colby said while reaching over to stop her from opening the file.

Everyone was stunned for a second, all eyes snapping to Colby.

Colby blinked, a bit thrown by the attention. “What? I’m just saying, it’s super obvious. Anyone with half a clue about computers could spot this!”

They felt that Colby was rubbing it in their faces by that point.

Zoey swallowed nervously. “Wait, you mean Josie’s laptop’s been monitored? Who the hell would stoop that low? Josie?”

“Is there any way to find out exactly what files they’ve stolen?” Josie asked, already piecing it all together the moment Colby mentioned spyware.

She thought, ‘So that’s how Natalie managed to plagiarize my paper without leaving any evidence. It is all because of that spyware!’

Josie had suspected something like this for a while, which was why she’d been trying to find a computer whiz to take a look at her laptop. She just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Thanks to Claire’s spilled water, the expert practically revealed himself.

Colby motioned for her to get up and took her seat in front of the laptop. “I’ll take a look, but we can’t open the presentation paper on your laptop for now.”