“I knew it!” Aiden’s face flashed with a hint of mockery. He said, “All she did was recite the paper like a robot. What kind of skill is that? I am embarrassed that she used to be Professor Lawson’s student.”

Gavin gave Aiden a stern look. “What do you mean by that? Are you seriously saying Josie was just parroting a paper up there?”

Aiden waved his hand dismissively. “You just don’t get it. This isn’t the first time she’s pulled a stunt like this. That paper she turned in for the team exam? It has already been published in the most prestigious medical journal in the country. Professor Lawson looked into it. Turns out Professor Wilcourt ghostwrote the whole thing, but it got published under Josie’s name!”

They were all stunned.

“So they’re intentionally making Josie look good? But why?” Vincent asked, clearly puzzled.

Aiden sneered. “Why else? Did you all forget that Professor Wilcourt once lost to Professor Lawson?”

“So Josie’s just a pawn Professor Wilcourt’s using to get back at Professor Lawson?” Kyle said, a hint of glee in his voice.

Jaden snorted. “Doesn’t matter what she is, we can’t let her surpass us.”

With that, he stood up and raised his voice. He said, “Josie, I have a few questions about the project you just presented. Mind explaining them to me?” He acted so quickly that the others couldn’t stop him in time. Judges were allowed to ask questions during the competition, but there was no rule against students doing the same. As soon as Jaden spoke up, a nearby teacher motioned for an assistant to hand him a mic.

Jaden smirked as he took the mic and asked, “You just mentioned using nanobots to replace manual acupuncture. So tell me, if that’s the case, what’s the point of studying acupuncture as a discipline?”

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Josie’s eyes at the question, but she quickly masked it, shooting Jaden a cold, indifferent look. She replied, “Acupuncture as a discipline is about treating illnesses through different techniques. These are called needling methods, and each one is defined by specific acupoints. Doctors have to understand how each acupoint affects the body before deciding which method to use. The nanobots are just taking over the final, hands-on step that an acupuncturist would do in the clinic. It’s just like how surgeons use robots in modern surgery. Get it now?”

Josie kept her cool the whole time. Her voice was steady, her logic was sharp, and her explanation was patient and clear. There was not a hint of emotion slipping through. By the time she finished talking, everyone in the audience couldn’t help but be convinced.

But Jaden didn’t see it that way. When he met Josie’s gaze, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was looking down on him, like he was some kind of idiot for even asking that question. Jaden felt that Josie thought he was just muscle with no brains–never her equal when it came to academics. That was why she shot down his confession and always kept her distance from him, making their relationship the coldest in the whole team. After he got into grad school, she acted like it was all thanks to her, as if he couldn’t have done it on his own. That deep, almost invisible contempt in her eyes made Jaden feel utterly humiliated. He couldn’t stand Josie when she was like this.

Jaden let out a low, mocking laugh. He said, “Of course, I get it. Even if your explanation makes sense, let me ask you this. How much do you actually know about acupuncture techniques? Say I have a stomachache. How would you treat that with acupuncture?”

As soon as Jaden asked that, everyone could tell he was just picking a fight with Josie. Everyone knew that she’d only switched majors a month ago. She’d barely started learning the basics. People felt that she could not possibly know any real acupuncture techniques.

Seeing that Josie was still as calm as ever, a sly grin flickered across Jaden’s face. He said, “Josie, I know you only just started studying acupuncture, so you probably haven’t even gotten to the actual techniques yet. If you can’t answer, that’s totally fine. I’m just curious!”

What he really wanted was for her to admit she didn’t know. He wanted her to say it in front of everyone, to prove she wasn’t good enough. Only then could he discredit the paper she’d just presented. The whole room went dead silent. Everyone was more than a little curious.