Chapter 1389

"We've all worked hard for this! You have no right to delete the data!" Thompson lunged for the laptop, but Lily was too quick. Their struggle attracted attention.

"Professor Thompson? What are you doing?"

"Hurry, grab the laptop! She's destroying the lab data!" Thompson urged the others, who initially hesitated but joined him after hearing his plea.

Lily, seeing the approaching crowd, raised the laptop high, then smashed it onto the floor with a resounding thud. The lab fell silent as everyone stared at the shattered remains. Shock rippled through the room; no one knew how to react. They had all looked to Lily for guidance, as Thompson often instructed them to heed her expertise. Yet here they were, witnessing their leader destroy their shared work.

"Y-you're..." Thompson stammered, then, after a tense silence, sank to his knees, weeping over the broken pieces. "This is insane."

The other workers remained silent, until Thompson cried out again, "It's insane, all right!"

Lily stood impassively. "The experiment is madness. We shouldn't continue. It will only harm humankind! We should disband and destroy all the data!"

"You shut up!" Thompson glared at her, his earlier admiration replaced by furious anger. "This experiment is mine! I conceived it. It won't bring harm, so stop being an alarmist! If you don't want to participate, leave! We can do this without you! Who the hell are you to destroy our work?"

The others were unsure how to respond.

Austin, hearing the commotion, rushed in from the adjacent lab. He stared, stunned, at the scene before him. After Thompson's outburst, Austin pushed through the crowd, gently lifting the professor. He looked at the scattered fragments, then slowly raised his gaze to Lily. "You destroyed all the data?"

Lily met his gaze, unwavering. "Yes!" Her calm, unrepentant expression left Austin speechless.

He chuckled humorlessly. "All our hard work…reduced to debris. Yeah, this is insane."