Chapter 270 The Failure of the Experiment
"Caspian, who exactly is this Ms. Brown? Why did Xander say she's his niece?"
Marigold had been worried about Ernest all this time and hadn't paid any attention to the Smith family's affairs.
So she didn't know that Olivia had been to the Smith Villa, and knew even less about Olivia's daughter.
At the mention of Sophia, Caspian's eyes flickered slightly as he explained her relationship with the Smith family.
"Mom, although Ms. Brown is young, even Francis speaks highly of her medical skills. You can try to trust her."
Marigold's face was pale, her eyes somewhat swollen. "It's not that I don't trust her, I just don't dare gamble with your brother's life!"
She had never witnessed Sophia's medical skills with her own eyes, so it was hard for her to believe based on just a few words from others.
"Then let's wait until Francis comes tomorrow." As mother and son, Caspian naturally understood what Marigold was thinking.
Marigold nodded, gripping Ernest's hand tightly and pressing it against her cheek, her eyes full of heartache.
Caspian sighed deeply and couldn't help defending Sophia: "Look, your brother's condition has been very stable tonight. He's not having those constant episodes like before."
With this reminder, Marigold suddenly realized.
Yes, Ernest used to wake up every night, tossing and turning in bed from the pain.
His crying filled the entire hospital room, making her heart ache.
But tonight Ernest was very calm, not fussing or crying, sleeping peacefully.
The next morning, Benjamin and Sophia arrived at the hospital early.
When they got there, Francis and Elijah had just arrived too, and they happened to meet at the hospital entrance.
Francis quickly pulled Sophia aside, wanting to explain Ernest's condition clearly, but Sophia said: "Francis, I already checked Ernest's condition last night. It's indeed the same poison my husband had before."
To be precise, not exactly the same.
It was even more potent than what Benjamin had, with stronger side effects.
More like a failed experiment.
This made Sophia even more certain of one fact: the illegal organization from seventeen years ago hadn't completely disappeared. They had just been hiding in some corner all these years.
And they had already started making new drugs.
As for why they had been lying low for so long...
Sophia sneered inwardly, a dark gleam flashing in her eyes.
Seventeen years ago, the White family cooperated with the police to raid that laboratory hidden deep in the mountains, and several people had died.
That batch of illegally developed drugs had all been destroyed.
So Sophia guessed that the main person in charge of making the drugs back then had died, and the drugs had been destroyed too.
That's why for these seventeen years, they had been frantically searching for surviving test subjects.
Benjamin happened to be one of them.
They had hidden for seventeen years, and now they finally couldn't hold back anymore, which meant they must have made progress with the drugs.
It's just that the drugs they developed, the so-called drugs that could promote human evolution, were still defective products.
Sophia quietly stood beside Benjamin and lowered her voice: "Do you remember I told you about how the samples I left in the lab had been tampered with?"
"I remember." Benjamin nodded slightly, glancing alertly at Francis and Elijah walking ahead, also lowering his voice.
After that incident, he had been secretly monitoring people around him and Sophia.
But there had been no progress.
Sophia stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear: "I checked. The poison in Ernest is different from yours. It's actually very similar to the toxin sample where I deliberately mixed up the sequence."
To avoid suspicion, Sophia hadn't completely scrambled the data sequence of that sample, but only changed the order of a few elements.
Even changing just a few elements would make the overall effect very different.
Benjamin raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked: "Can Ernest's poison be cured?"
"Don't worry, it just has similar symptoms to when your poison flares up. It won't be fatal."
At first, she thought Ernest and Benjamin had the same poison, but after thinking carefully last night, she found the differences.
Ernest's poison was almost identical to the data sample she had carefully modified.
This further confirmed her suspicion: there was a traitor in Alaric's laboratory.
"Don't make this public for now. Don't trust anyone easily, no matter who they are." Benjamin grabbed Sophia's hand and pulled her tightly into his arms.
Sophia's medical talent was too high, and the higher it was, the more dangerous it became.
Benjamin thought to himself, should he arrange some bodyguards to follow Sophia when she goes out in the future?
Sophia had no idea what Benjamin was thinking and quickly caught up with Francis and Elijah.
After they reached the hospital room, they discussed Ernest's condition, and Marigold's tears started falling again.
Sophia couldn't bear to watch and turned her face away with mixed feelings.
Benjamin had been standing by her side. Seeing her reaction, he immediately reached out and pulled her into his arms.
Benjamin's large hand gently stroked the top of her head. "It's okay, everything will be fine."
Francis and Elijah also looked grave.
Elijah suddenly said: "Sophia, since the poison in Ernest is the same as what Mr. White had before, you should have kept samples, right? If we have samples, plus our collective thinking, we should be able to figure out the antidote formula?"
Sophia pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I didn't bring that sample. I've already sent people to find the antidote ingredients. Now we can only wait for a miracle."
Elijah fell into a rare silence, his lips pressed into a tight line, seemingly deep in thought.
Sophia looked away and handed the antidote she had stayed up all night making to Marigold.
"When Ernest's poison flares up, you can give him one pill. It can temporarily suppress the spread of the toxins in his body."
After leaving the hospital, Sophia and Benjamin went to Maddox's room.
Maddox had woken up, but his body was still very weak.
When he saw Sophia, his lips trembled, and his hands shook uncontrollably.
"Are you, are you Sophia?"
Maddox was very emotional, his eyes gradually moistening.
For some reason, Sophia's eyes also became moist.
She quickly walked to the bedside and gripped Maddox's hand tightly. "Yes, I'm Sophia. You're amazing - you recognized me right away!"
Maddox smiled and waved his hand, explaining: "Before you came, I saw your photos online. It's wonderful - in the blink of an eye, you've grown so much."
From his tone, it seemed like Maddox had seen her before?
Seeing the confusion in Sophia's eyes, Maddox explained: "The year you were born, I actually went to the Brown Villa, but Hayden said Olivia didn't want to see me and told me to leave."
"At that time, you were only one month old. Olivia had never taken care of anyone before, so she just left you with the nanny. I only got a quick look at you before I left."
Maddox's tone was full of emotion, and his eyes looking at Sophia were full of affection and regret. "If I had known, I would have taken you back to the Smith Villa. Have you suffered a lot all these years?"