Chapter 665

“Quick, pinch me! I need to know if I actually saw that mouse move or if I’m just imagining things!”
In the audience, a student grabbed the arm of the person next to him, his voice bubbling with excitement.
“I want to know too.” The second student pressed her fingers into his arm, giving him a solid pinch.
He yelped, then slapped a hand over his mouth, his face turning bright red. It hurt. That meant it was real.
This was unreal. None of them had ever seen a dissected mouse survive before. How was this even possible?
A group from the Cabinda Medical Branch crowded together, arguing energetically as they stared at the photos on the big screen.
Glenn adjusted his glasses and squinted at the screen for a few seconds. His old eyes filled with tears. A slow, proud smile crept across his face.
On stage, Letty stood in a daze, barely blinking as she stared at the twitching mouse. Every inch of her face screamed disbelief. She’d spent years studying medicine, dissected hundreds of mice for experiments, and not a single one had survived. But the mouse Charlotte worked on was not only alive, it actually looked pretty healthy. How was that possible?
Letty wasn’t the only one stunned. Olivia, still clutching a cold scalpel, looked just as shocked, her face pale. She knew Charlotte was amazing—she could play music, write songs, her grades were top tier-but she never knew Charlotte could do this. Medicine? Seriously?
Suddenly, the buzzer sounded, marking the end of the contest. Everyone looked up as the leaderboard refreshed. Charlotte and Letty were tied for first-same finish time, same result.
Traditional medicine students had
just beaten out all the modern medicine students for the top spot That was something they never even dreamed of. The traditional
medicine class, who had been
Kutc
getting crushed a few minutes ago, now sat up straight, grins spreading across their faces, making a point to look over at the modern medicine group.
“Hey! Can you check who’s first? Is it traditional medicine or modern medicine?”
His friend shouted back, loud and proud, “It’s our traditional medicine class!”
The modern medicine students just stared in silence.
“There’s only supposed to be one winner every year. They finished at the same time and got the same results. How are they going to break the tie?” someone in the crowd wondered out loud.
Carmelita, who was picking up Letty’s jacket, scowled. “Sure,
Charlotte dissected the mouse, but the incision was tiny. I bet she just glanced at the materials and
ver
guessed. It was pure tuck she said, her voice sharp.
“I just don’t buy that a freshman with no real training could figure out what happened
to the mouse’s heart at a glance,” she added. “And that mouse actually survived? Come on. That’s just ridiculous.”
Beasley’s eyes lit up as he stared at Charlotte. “You can see what’s right in front of you. Believe it or not, it doesn’t change the facts,” he shot back. And you think Charlotte just got fucky? Why don’t you give it a try yourself?”
“Yeah, let’s see you do it!” Voices from Kingswood University and the traditional medicine classes chimed in, rallying behind Charlotte.
Carmelita opened her mouth but couldn’t come up with a single word.
“Even though they finished at the same time, Charlotte only took two minutes from
start to finish. Letty… well, we all know how that went. If we’re talking about speed, Charlotte is the real winner here.”