Chapter 390
More like peers.
Sophia: "My dad also said he'll look you up for chess next time he's in Kyoto."
Alexander: "He's welcome."
...
Though the university was on break, for graduate students, the concept of "winter and summer vacation" barely existed.
Especially for someone like Sophia, who had research projects and could produce papers.
Rest was a luxury.
The School of Life Sciences' monthly symposium proceeded as usual.
After the Infinite Lab's unveiling, where Blake Cunningham and Professor Victoria Lowell had publicly embarrassed themselves, the school had penalized them.
The successive blows had kept Victoria quiet for a while.
Additionally, her designated lab had been reported for failing fire safety inspections.
It was forced to undergo renovations.
It still hadn't passed.
Naturally, there had been no academic output during this period.
At the symposium, Victoria's team was quieter than ever before.
Shane Holloway, who used to bare his teeth like a wild dog ready to bite, now sat as quiet as a mouse.
Amelia's expression was also grim.
With the lab under renovation, the project opportunity she had fought so hard to get from Victoria had evaporated.
She asked Victoria to assign her another project, only to be met with a torrent of abuse—
"Project! Project! I want a project too! The lab is under renovation now! No project can move forward! Where am I supposed to find a project for you?!"
"Even if I had a project, are you sure you could keep up and produce tangible results?"
"Know your limits! Not every graduate student is cut out for academia! Not everyone in academia produces results! Do you really think you're an academic genius? The next Sophia Sullivan?!"
The verbal assault came with a spray of spit.
Fortunately, Amelia dodged quickly, her face unconcealed in its disgust.
"Professor Lowell, that's not what you said when you asked me to buy equipment! I need you to understand, joining a project team wasn't a plea or a negotiation. It was a transaction, as agreed."
"I provide funding, you provide the project. Mutual consent. I've paid. You've reneged. That's not how business is done."
Amelia had completely lost her rose-colored glasses regarding Victoria.
She was just a "snob," "greedy," "petty" academic hack.
Not worthy of respect.
"And stop trying to gaslight me with your rhetoric because—" she enunciated each word, "I don't fall for that crap!"
"You have two weeks to find me a project team to join. I don't care if it's your project or someone else's. I just need to be in one. Understood?!"
She needed this academic experience to buff her resume.
More importantly, for the end-of-term bonus points.
Victoria had taken so much from her.
She couldn't get away with it.
"You're threatening me?!" Victoria hadn't expected the docile lamb to dare bite back.
Amelia nodded.
"You can think of it that way."
Victoria sneered.
"And if I don't?"
"Then prepare to be reported for soliciting and accepting bribes from students! You just got disciplined. Add this to it, and let's see if you can still stay at MIT."
"You—"
Victoria was furious.
Amelia smiled slightly.
"Remember, you only have two weeks."
Victoria talked tough, but she was nervous inside.
She called in every favor, racking her brains to shove Amelia into a friend's project team.
But the things she and Blake had done had already spread within certain circles.
Who would dare get involved now?
Old friends avoided her like the plague.
Who knew who this biting wolf would attack next?
As the two-week deadline approached, Victoria still hadn't found a way.
Amelia wasn't joking.
She was ready to march to the president's office and report her...
Professor Victoria Lowell sneered. "Go ahead. If I go down, you're coming with me."
"I'm going right now—"
"Amelia Roscente, have you forgotten how you got into graduate school?"
Amelia froze mid-step.
Professor Victoria Lowell gave a light, dismissive hum. "You didn't actually get in. If I hadn't pulled strings, would you even be standing here?"
"Report me? Be my guest. If I get fired, you, the fake graduate student who bought her way in, will be kicked out too."
Amelia trembled with rage. "You old witch!"
"Vicious?" Professor Victoria Lowell scoffed. "Takes one to know one."
Amelia's final exam results were a disaster.
She had failed three courses.
Her average in her major subjects was barely over seventy.
It was an embarrassing score to admit.
Even Shane Holloway had scored higher than her.
Every time Victoria Roscente asked about her grades, Amelia would hem and haw.
She finally told the truth when she could no longer hide it.
Victoria had a strong bias for academic credentials, and even more so for good grades.
She thought that since her daughter had gotten into MIT for graduate school, she must be exceptional.
She never expected this...
"Are you trying to kill me with anger?!"
Amelia frantically made excuses. "The exam was unusually difficult this time! Lots of people did poorly."
"What about Sophia Sullivan?"
"..."
"Speak!"
"...Straight A's."
Victoria fell silent.
Ashley Lowell hadn't been having an easy time lately either.
Professor Victoria Lowell was impossibly difficult to please.
Even though Ashley was extremely careful, she still got yelled at frequently.
She didn't even dare cry when scolded.
Her own aunt didn't treat her like a human being.
Her academic output had also dried up—
The lab was under rectification, so she didn't dare claim credit for Caleb Watson's paper.
With the lab unusable, she couldn't magic up any new papers.
Caleb's research project had also stalled, producing no results at all.
Fortunately, she had a few previous papers to maintain appearances, so her final grades looked slightly better than Amelia's.
But it wasn't enough. Without new papers, how could she maintain her "genius girl" persona?
She messaged Caleb, but he didn't reply.
She had complained to Professor Victoria Lowell several times, only to be berated harshly each time.
The university was on winter break, but many graduate students stayed on campus to work on their projects.
Others had labs to use and projects to work on.
Only their group...
Staying behind with nothing to do, like stray dogs with no home.
Ashley suggested to Professor Victoria Lowell that everyone should just go home first.
Since they were just idling away their time anyway.
She was scolded again. "Is that all the ambition you have? If you want to go hide away in some small town, you shouldn't have worked so hard to get into MIT! I gave you honor, taught you to fight and grab opportunities, and now you just want to go home?!"
Ashley cried.
Was it wrong to want to go home? Was lazing around at school considered having ambition?
She only dared scream these words inside her head.
The most comfortable person in the team was Fiona Valentine.
She wasn't like Amelia, desperately squeezing into the research group.
She also wasn't like Ashley, needing papers to maintain a persona.
She wasn't even flustered by her final average of 70, just barely passing.
Her ambitions lay elsewhere, so why exhaust herself?
For women, studying and pursuing higher education was ultimately about marrying a good man, wasn't it?
She sat between Ashley and Amelia, her expression calm.
Like an outsider.
Ashley knew Fiona had a wealthy boyfriend and didn't care about her studies, only wanting to marry into money.
She looked down on this type of "trophy wife" who relied on men.
But Caleb's composure puzzled her.
The lab rectification should have made him the most anxious.
Several important projects were on hold, including provincial-level key projects.
If this dragged on, they wouldn't produce any results next year.
Yet Caleb wasn't worried?
Ashley had tried to sound him out, but he didn't take the bait.
During this period staying on campus, with nothing to do, he took a part-time job at an off-campus research institute.
He left early and returned late; it was impossible to even see him.
She told Professor Victoria Lowell about Caleb's part-time job.
Professor Victoria Lowell only said two words—
"Pathetic."
Then she ignored it.
Ashley was stunned.
"Bro," Jude Granger tugged at Caleb's sleeve. "How much longer will the lab be under rectification?"
"Not sure."
"You don't seem worried at all?"
Caleb: "Would worrying help?"
Jude was taken aback, then shook his head. "No."
"Then why worry?"
Jude was silent for a moment. "There's something I've been wanting to ask for a long time."
"Go ahead."
"Before, when Sophia Sullivan's lab was under rectification, they borrowed a lab from Stanford. Couldn't we do the same?"
Caleb lowered his gaze, a mocking smile tugging at his lips. "Theoretically, yes. But we'd actually have to secure one. Do you think no one has tried?"
He looked coldly towards Professor Victoria Lowell in the front row.
Labs weren't cabbages you could just pick up at the market.
That Sophia could borrow one was a testament to her capability.
What made them so special?
Jude was dejected.
He was the most lost person in the team.
He had studied hard to get into MIT, hoping to learn and find a path in scientific research.
He never expected...
To end up in such a predicament.
"Bro, why do you think we worked so hard to study? What for?"
Everyone said education could change your destiny.
His destiny seemed to have changed, yet it also seemed unchanged.
Caleb was silent for a long time before speaking softly. "Ordinary people don't get to decide their own fate."
"Then who does?"
"We just go with the flow."
Jude became even more disheartened.
After the last group finished their presentation, the Dean stood up to announce some news—
The National Collegiate Life Sciences Championship was about to begin!
"What competition?"
"Organized by the school?"
"You haven't heard of it? It's a national event!"
"Winning the Grand Prize basically guarantees next year's scholarship, and your final grade bonus skyrockets."
"That amazing?"