Zane saw Calvin's comments coming from a mile away, so he turned his attention to Meg. "Meg, would you mind sharing your paper with us?"
By now, Meg had her nerves under control. She met Zane's eyes confidently, "The paper's all my work. Why wouldn't I share it?"
Meg always had her trusty USB on hand, containing her original paper. She promptly pulled it out of her bag and handed it over to Zane. "The file named 'Genetic Value Theory'—that's the one."
Except for the data analysis part, which was based on a method Mirabella had previously developed, the rest of the paper was her own hard-earned effort, meticulously refined.
She wasn't worried about any scrutiny.
Zane took the USB, printed the document, and returned the drive to Meg. After a quick scan, he pointed to a chart. "This data chart, it's the one Mirabella worked on in the lab, isn't it?"
Meg glanced at the chart Zane was indicating and pursed her lips. "No way. This was developed by our team."
After a pause, she continued, "I admit, Mirabella’s suggestion about genetic code decryption was valuable, and our team took her advice. But claiming I stole the idea? That's nonsense. She never made any data chart."
Zane was caught off guard by Meg's full denial. As he prepared to respond, Calvin jumped in.
"Wait a minute, Mr. Zane. You bring in my student but leave yours out? That's not fair. If we're settling a dispute, it makes no sense to do it without everyone involved."
Wade, who had been quietly observing, glanced at Calvin, shook his head, and sipped his coffee.
About ten minutes later, Mirabella walked in.
She looked around the room, gave a slight nod to Wade, and then calmly addressed Zane. "Professor, you called for me?"
Zane nodded, getting straight to the point. "Meg denies the allegations of using your idea."
Calvin, with his back to Zane, couldn't stop himself from scoffing at the scene, finding the whole situation a bit theatrical.
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