Chapter 411

“I’m not sleeping anymore. I’ll have time for that later,” Shermaine said. “I’m starving, and I’ll make some pasta. You guys want some?”

“Yeah,” Danielle and Steve chorused.

She headed back into the break room to cook, leaving everything else to Danielle without a second thought.

By the time Shermaine brought out the bowl of pasta, she saw Danielle already holding a syringe and injecting the serum straight into Natalie’s arm.

Natalie was strapped to the examination table, her limbs thrashing violently. Within minutes of the serum injection, she let out an agonized scream, writhing in pain.

Her wide eyes bulged grotesquely as scales sloughed off her body, only to be replaced by new ones. A foul, putrid, fishy stench filled the air. After a prolonged bout of agony, she finally fell silent, and the abnormal physiological readings on the monitors remained unchanged.

In short, the upgraded serum was a bust.

After a full-body disinfection, Danielle changed and came out to find the pasta still steaming hot and perfectly cooked. She picked up her fork, took a bite, and thought it tasted great.

Shermaine had cooked a large pot, thinking no one could possibly finish it all. But in the end, she single-handedly emptied the entire pot on her own.

“You’ve got quite the appetite lately,” Danielle commented.

Shermaine nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been eating a lot.” There were plenty of problems to deal with, but she wouldn’t let them ruin her appetite.

Danielle poked her waist teasingly. “Then how come you’re not gaining any weight?”

Shermaine smiled faintly. With Joshua regularly shipping her gourmet meals, not putting on any weight almost felt like letting him down. But the truth was, she did not.

“Enough about that. Let’s have a meeting and figure out where things went wrong,” Shermaine said.

Danielle replied, “Sure.”

Meanwhile, in Basterel, Joshua and Ross arrived at a private, members-only boxing gym.

Judy was right on their heels. Seeing the others go in while she and her group were blocked, Judy snapped, “Harry, get us a membership now.”

Ten minutes later, Judy and her group headed inside as well.

Ross hadn’t boxed in ages. After changing into his gear, he vaulted straight into the ring, while Joshua sat ringside, watching him. A decent crowd had gathered, and the air buzzed with anticipation.

Henry grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Joshua, wanna bet?”

“Sure.” Joshua nodded, thinking, ‘Gotta show my support for my brother-in-law.’

“How much?” Henry asked.

Joshua took out a card. “Everything that’s in here.”

Henry grinned. “Deal.”

After asking Joshua, Henry turned to Roy, who was sitting beside them, engrossed in his phone. “What about you?”

Roy barely looked up, clearly distracted. He whined, “Hey, Henry. Momo is ignoring me.”

Henry blinked, thinking to himself, ‘You love-struck idiot.’

Roy whined dramatically, “I really wanna fly to Ustrana to see her. But she says she’s swamped with work and has no time for me.”

Roy had been itching to hop on a plane for days now. As far as he was concerned, every day without her was torture—it had been more than two weeks, and it felt like ages.

Henry nearly slapped him. “I invited you out to unwind, and all you can think about is your girlfriend? Seriously?”

Roy pouted. “You wouldn’t get it. You’ve never had real love.”

“Scram,” Henry snapped, finally losing his cool. “Just place your damn bet.”

Roy tossed his card over. “One day you’ll fall hard, and then you’ll know how much it sucks.” The guy was basically heartsick at this point.

Back at the lab, the conference room was filled with experts, each engaged in intense discussion as they tried to troubleshoot the serum failure.

Shermaine hadn’t spoken yet, but she was listening closely, carefully absorbing the suggestions being thrown around.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed in her pocket, and soon, a robotic voice announced, “System notification. Target activity updated. Immediate review required.”

Shermaine took out her phone and glanced at the alert. Kylie had just left her hotel and was en route to Horington by helicopter.

Ever since Kylie had broken into Riverswood Villa, searching for something, and intentionally leaving clues to hint at her return, Shermaine had worked with Joshua to fabricate a trail, making it seem like a few key volumes of the books had been relocated to Horington.

Just as predicted, the mysterious organization backing Kylie had taken the bait and put her in motion again.

So, they really were after the ancient tomb’s priceless texts, just as Shermaine suspected. And those books had to be tied to the crystal sarcophagus.

There were too many books for Shermaine to read them all. She’d asked Joshua to help search, but they still hadn’t found what they needed.

After the meeting concluded, Danielle took charge of summarizing the key points. Shermaine thought, ‘I really have the best senior to help me out whenever I need it.’

Shermaine said, “I’ve got an unexpected visitor incoming. I need to get ready. Thanks for handling this, my dear senior.”

“Go on. I’ve got this,” Danielle replied.

On the other hand, Kylie arrived at Horington. She was cracking her stiff neck as a vicious smirk curled on her lips.

Kylie vowed in her mind, ‘Shermaine, just you wait. I’ll make sure you pay double for everything I’ve suffered before.”