Grady pressed his lips together, knowing full well how offensive his words would sound. But as he looked at Sylvie standing there, he decided he couldn’t care less about politeness and spoke bluntly: “One of the judges is Elodie’s mentor. Who’s to say the scoring is fair? For all we know… maybe she didn’t even write or develop this herself.”

That accusation landed with a thud.

No one could pretend not to understand what he was implying.

He might as well have slapped a “backroom favoritism” label right across Elodie’s face.

It was a bucket of filth hurled without warning-one that threatened not only her but the integrity of the entire academic board.

In the middle of this prestigious open competition, the atmosphere suddenly tightened to a breaking point.

Only then did Jarrod glance sidelong at Grady.

Naylor let out a cold laugh. “Mr. Mercer, have you lost your mind? Are you questioning Elodie, the committee, or the fairness of the entire process?”

He was just as surprised by Elodie’s abilities as anyone.

But in a competition like this, he couldn’t stand by and watch someone smear another’s reputation for personal gain.

Patricia arched an eyebrow at Jarrod, her tone layered with meaning. “What about you, Mr. Silverstein—any thoughts?”

Jarrod didn’t bother turning to look at her. He simply raised his eyes and replied, “Then perhaps we should make some of the technical details public, and let everyone judge for themselves.”

At that, Sylvie pressed her lips together, suddenly silent.

Elodie’s face, for once, went cold in public. She looked straight at Sylvie, her eyes frosted over. “If you’re still not satisfied, I have no problem rewriting my code live, right here, so we can compare results.”

That was tantamount to starting from scratch.

Sylvie’s heart skipped a beat.

She glanced at Elodie in disbelief. How could she dare? At this level, editing even a small part of the code could mean overhauling the entire system. One misstep and the whole thing could crash. How could Elodie risk it?

Sylvie clenched her fists in silence, refusing to take the bait. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Elodie and said, “That’s meaningless. What I question, Ms. Thorne, is that your development path matches mine at nearly every step. I’d like to hear your explanation for that.”

That accusation-

Even Alexander in the audience couldn’t help but let out a disbelieving laugh. He glanced at both sets of data.

And he had to admit…

“The flight trajectories and dynamic parameters do look similar,” Alexander murmured, frowning at the numbers. Even he found it hard to believe. Sylvie’s accusation-

Even Klein’s face changed.

Anyone unfamiliar with the technical details could easily walk away with a skewed impression of Elodie after hearing this. And with some of the competition broadcast online, if Elodie couldn’t clear her name, this stain would follow her for the rest of her career.

A judge rumored to be her mentor. Doubts about the origin of her code. Now, accusations that her work mirrored Sylvie’s.

Each one was a deadly blow.

If Elodie couldn’t present solid proof today, she’d never be able to hold her head

high in the field again-she might even be blacklisted.

Charlie’s face hardened. “Sylvie, are you willing to take responsibility for what you’re saying?”

A cold sweat broke out down Sylvie’s back.

But at this point, there was no turning back.

Too much had happened. Now, all she could do was gamble everything.

If Neural Intelligence hadn’t gotten in trouble, if Selma hadn’t gotten in trouble,

maybe she wouldn’t be this desperate-but right now…

She had no other way out.

She knew there were risks to her actions today, but…

What if it worked?

Charlie pressed on: “Very well. Since you’re questioning, let’s have both parties release their code for each system and compare them, right here.” .

им

Sylvie hesitated, lips pressed tight. “I’m sorry, but that’s confidential.”

The words hung in the air—

Utterly laughable.

Elodie couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.

So Sylvie wants to cast suspicion, but refuses to be transparent? Did she really expect Elodie to go down

in disgrace without any way to defend herself?

Well then.

Elodie’s tone left no room for doubt. “What if I can deduce all of your data?”

Not only Alexander, but even Elodie herself found the similarities suspicious.

In fact…

She couldn’t shake the feeling that Sylvie’s work overlapped with her own U.N2 project in some uncanny way.