Chapter 169
Josephine walked in, and the argument immediately quieted. The female employee said, "Ms. Kennedy, this really isn't my fault."
The male employee immediately retorted, "If it's not your fault, whose is it? Mine? When you gave me the data, you should have double-checked it.t. I trusted you, which is why I didn't verify when inputting it. This just proves your abilities aren't up to par!"
Josephine rubbed her temples and scolded, "Haven't you embarrassed yourselves yet?"
The male employee reluctantly shut his mouth.
The female employee was both angry and aggrieved, but she knew the severity of the situation. She'd failed to catch an error in a set of neural signal calibration parameters—a few decimal places were off, causing minor signal crosstalk in the bridge system. "Although no one died, the test subject experienced brief sensory displacement. What should we do now?"
Josephine considered for a moment and looked at Gideon. "You've been conducting the tests. Were you using live animals or human volunteers?"
"Volunteers."
Hearing this, Josephine's heart sank. If it had only been live animals, that would have been manageable. But volunteers would trigger a whole series of complications.
"Where is the person? Take me to see them." Now that it had happened, there was no avoiding it. Josephine decided to see the volunteer herself.
Before leaving, she looked at Emma. "Suspend the project for rectification until I return."
"Ms. Kennedy, what about us?" The male employee, afraid of being punished, quickly asked, "This really has nothing to do with me!"
Josephine gave him a cold glance. "We'll discuss everything else when I get back."
She and Gideon left together.
The male employee stepped back and slumped into his chair, looking utterly defeated. "It's over. Ms. Kennedy is definitely angry with me. This is all your fault!"
He glared viciously at the female employee.
Emma couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in front of the female employee. "You're a man. Don't you have any sense of responsibility?"
His face flushed as he retorted, "How do I not have responsibility? It was her mistake! You're all women, so of course you're protecting each other! Just wait and see—I'm not taking the fall for you!"
He genuinely believed he'd done nothing wrong.
Emma thought he was beyond hope and didn't want to waste more time on him. She took the female employee’s cold hand in reassurance. "Don't be afraid."
The female employee said anxiously, "Emma, will I be fired?"
"Don't worry. Ms. Kennedy isn't someone who can't tell right from wrong. Whoever's at fault will bear the responsibility." Emma glanced meaningfully at the male employee as she spoke.
He glared fiercely at her.
No. He absolutely would not take the blame for this!
Josephine and Gideon arrived at Starlight Group, where Frank was staring intently at data on his computer screen, his expression grave.
He heard footsteps behind him but didn't turn to see who it was, assuming it was a lab employee.
"Halt testing procedures immediately. Get medical personnel to the volunteer right now. We must ensure the volunteer's body suffers no damage whatsoever."
Extremely professional.
Gideon spoke. "Frank."
Frank turned around, surprised to see Josephine, though his expression quickly darkened. "I didn't expect your company to have such a major oversight."
"I'm very sorry, but I need to investigate the specific details. I'll check all the data from beginning to end. If this problem truly originated from our company, I apologize and will bear all consequences."
Josephine's statement was airtight. Frank couldn't find any fault with it and could only suppress his anger.
"Those are your words. Just don't back out later."
Frank moved aside. Josephine sat down and began examining the data.
It was an extremely tedious and lengthy task.
The data on the computer screen was densely packed. Anyone lacking even a bit of patience couldn't read from start to finish. Moreover, the problem with the data was like a boulder weighing on everyone's hearts, making it impossible for them to focus on work.
Josephine remained composed. Once she sat down, she didn't move for three solid hours.
Frank and Gideon stood not far behind her. Frank's tone carried complex admiration. "Her tenacity really isn't something ordinary people can achieve."
If it were him, conducting research in the lab was fine, but sitting in front of tedious data for three hours...
That would be like asking him to give up his life.
Gideon's profound gaze rested on Josephine's back, his voice was very low. "She's always been exceptional."
Frank found his words strange. Gideon had been Josephine's husband—he should be the person in the world who understood her best. Surely he hadn't only discovered her excellence today. But if he'd known all along, how could he have let her go? "I heard you two got divorced?"
"Yes," Gideon admitted frankly.
After a long silence, Frank asked, "Do you regret it now?"
"No regrets."
After hearing this, Frank glanced at Gideon's coolly indifferent profile and felt like laughing inside. Words were easy and simple to say.
Whether he regretted it or not, Gideon knew in his own heart.
At noon, Frank brought Josephine a meal. Seeing her sitting at the computer for five straight hours, Frank's heart filled with admiration. His anger had long since dissipated. "Eat something first. You can check the data slowly. This is heavy work after all—there's no rush."
Josephine looked up. Her neck was somewhat sore. She had been tense, sitting motionless while checking data. Now even her spine ached. "Thank you, but I'm not hungry."
Frank's expression turned serious. "I spoke too hastily earlier. Don't take it to heart."
Josephine paused, then realized what he meant. She relaxed her somewhat stiff back slightly. "Don't worry. I'm not so fragile that a few harsh words would make me go on a hunger strike."
Frank leaned against a nearby chair, his gaze falling on the computer screen. He'd been responsible for testing this project and was fairly familiar with the data.
One glance told him the review was already one-third complete. Getting through one-third of such massive data in a single morning was truly impressive. "You've worked hard."
Josephine glanced at him. "You're my rival. Suddenly hearing you say something kind feels rather awkward."
She joked, "You're not planning some prank, are you? Are you sugar-coating a poison pill?"
Frank laughed despite himself. The rare time he showed concern for someone, they suspected his motives. "I shouldn't have brought you lunch."
Let her go hungry.
Josephine curved her lips. "I didn't ask you to bring it. You brought it on your own."
"Fine. I was being presumptuous. I was meddling in your business." Frank rolled his eyes and walked away.
Josephine turned her back to him, smiling slightly. Occasional banter was good for physical and mental health.
After lunch, Josephine prepared to continue working when she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw Frank and several other employees.
When she looked at him, Frank turned his head away somewhat awkwardly. "You guys help her find the erroneous data."
The other employees took their seats at their workstations. Only Josephine continued looking at Frank.
Frank said irritably, deliberately speaking gruffly, "Why are you staring at me? Have you finished your work? I’m not helping you. Your work efficiency alone is too slow, and you sitting here disrupts our work. Finish sooner and go back to your company sooner."
But just as he finished speaking, an unexpected person appeared at the door.