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As soon as Autumn finished speaking, Dora’s heartbeat suddenly spiked and her body began convulsing. Alarmed, Autumn shouted, “This is bad! Dora’s reacting just like the failed trials.”

She’d seen it happen countless times these past few days. But this wasn’t a lab rat–this was a real human life.

Autumn was completely frozen in panic, unsure what to do next. That’s when Sierra’s calm voice rang out. “Increase the dose.”

Autumn immediately objected. “No! The current dose is already high. Any more and her body won’t handle it. We’ve seen this–every failed trial showed that a slightly higher dose leads to total collapse.”

Sierra seemed not to hear her. “I said increase the dose.”

“Sierra!”

Autumn didn’t move. She believed Sierra was only speeding up Dora’s death.

Seeing no response, Sierra grabbed the medication herself, doubled the dose, and began filling the syringe. Just as she was about to inject Dora, Autumn grabbed her wrist.

“You’re going to kill her.”

Sierra stared at her coldly. “If we wait, she dies anyway.”

She pulled her hand free and injected Dora without hesitation.

Autumn tried to stop her again, but it was too late. She could only watch as the double dose of medication was pushed into Dora’s tiny body.

Dora began convulsing violently. Her entire body twitched uncontrollably. The monitor showed her heart rate skyrocketing to an unprecedented level.

A few of the observing doctors finally spoke up, “This is reckless! She’s a person, not a lab animal. We’ll report every detail of what just happened.”

Even with special permissions, this was too much. Forget the fact that the drug hadn’t passed clinical trials–Sierra’s actions looked like sheer negligence.

Autumn also stared at her, shaken. She thought Sierra had lost control. Dora hadn’t even survived the initial dose–how could she survive a double one?

“Sierra…”

Just as she was about to speak, the monitor let out a sharp tone–and Dora’s heartbeat flatlined.

A solid, unbroken line.

She was dead?

Dora was dead.

The thought struck Autumn like a hammer to the chest. She couldn’t breathe.

Chapter 401 Flatline

She regretted it. She shouldn’t have gone along with this. If they hadn’t tried anything, maybe Dora would still be alive. Maybe there’d be another way later.

Now, a bright little life was gone before her eyes.

But just as she was drowning in regret, Sierra’s voice rang out again: “Defibrillator!”

No one moved.

Sierra glanced around, then grabbed the paddles herself.

The first jolt landed with a loud snap. Dora’s small body bounced on the hospital bed–but her eyes stayed shut, and there was no reaction.

Sierra repeated the process. Again and again. Still nothing.

Autumn couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s enough! Enough! She’s gone–stop wasting your strength. Let her rest.”

But Sierra didn’t respond. She continued.

Autumn stepped forward to stop her–but just then, the monitor beeped.

A soft, steady sound.

The flat line began to ripple. The heart monitor showed a rhythmic pattern once more. Dora’s breathing slowly returned.

“What…?”

Autumn stared in disbelief.

She turned to look at Sierra–who was trembling from head to toe.

No one knew how much pressure Sierra had been under. Only when she saw Dora’s heart begin to beat again did she finally allow herself to breathe.

Holding herself together, she gave the next order. “Draw blood. Analyze the sample.”

The doctors, stunned out of their silence, moved quickly–drawing blood, checking vitals, running tests. Outside the emergency room, Mateo was pacing. He glanced at Johnathan, who stood still and calm, and finally asked, “Johnathan… do you really think Sierra can pull this off?”

“Yes,” Johnathan said without hesitation.

Mateo made a face. “Should’ve known. You’re the wrong guy to ask. Your Sierra filter’s turned all the way up—like, five hundred times.”

He didn’t know medicine, but even he could tell Dora’s condition was critical. Honestly, it didn’t look like there was much hope.

“You better comfort Sierra later. I’m afraid this’ll hit her hard. And even though we’ve got the liability waivers and clearance from the higher-ups, I’m worried someone’s still going to stir things up. You should be ready.”