Chapter 137
On the other side, Lucinda was surrounded by a crowd in the lounge area.
Gaia stood beside her, clutching a thick stack of business cards.
"Ms. Wipere, our research institute is very interested in First Light's core algorithm. Could we schedule a time to discuss this in detail?"
"Ms. Wipere, I'm the technical lead at Orbital Tech. We have a lot of potential for collaboration in the intelligent control field…"
Lucinda handled each inquiry one by one. Her voice wasn't loud, but every sentence hit the mark perfectly.
Gaia stood beside her, watching her navigate the crowd with ease. She couldn't help but admire her.
Meanwhile, the presentations in the main hall continued, but the atmosphere had completely changed.
On stage, a young man was speaking at length about his slides. His voice echoed through the spacious hall, but the audience was sparse. Most of the front-row seats were empty.
Everyone's minds were on partnering with Lucinda. Who had time to listen to the remaining presentations?
Those who stayed either looked down at their phones, flipped through materials, or occasionally glanced up at the screen before quickly looking back down.
The host glanced at the distracted audience. His mouth twitched, but he followed the program and announced the next team. "Next up, we have a technical presentation from Fluxo Research Institute."
Fluxo Research Institute—the team Pearl was part of.
Pearl wore a bright orange blazer and stilettos. She held her chin high as she walked onto the stage.
Her chin was tilted up, a self-satisfied smile on her lips. She held the clicker in her hand and swaggered to the podium.
Though she didn't understand any of it, that didn't stop her from enjoying the feeling of standing in the spotlight.
The first slide appeared on the screen—a dense array of data parameters.
The audience fell silent for a moment. A few people looked up.
Then the silence was broken by an unrestrained snort of laughter.
"What is this?" An older expert in the front row took off his glasses, leaned closer to the screen, and frowned. "You have the nerve to present parameters like this? Even the basic unit conversions are wrong."
Someone beside him leaned over to look and also frowned. "You can't even tell the difference between Celsius and Kelvin? Isn't that middle school physics?"
The murmurs spread like ripples, growing louder.
"Look at the algorithm flowchart on page three. The logic loop isn't even closed. How is this supposed to run?"
"And the test data on page five—the standard deviation is absurdly high. You dare call this 'high precision'?"
"How did this level of work even get in? Didn't the organizers review the submissions?"
Pearl stood on stage. Her smile froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered her nonchalant expression.
She even shrugged, twirling the clicker in her hand. Her tone was light. "Oh, those? Our team didn't think those details mattered. The main thing is the overall architecture—"
"Overall architecture?" The old professor cut her off, his voice rising several notches. "When your basic data is wrong, what good is the architecture? Is this your attitude toward research?"
Pearl's mouth twitched. Her fingers tightened around the clicker. Her face was full of defiance.
She took a deep breath, swallowed the anger rising in her throat, and forced a smile back onto her lips. "Professor, don't get upset. This is our first time attending a conference of this level. We lack experience. We'll improve in the future."
She said it casually, as if she didn't take the mistakes seriously at all.
Seeing that she was lost in her own world, the audience shook their heads and stopped commenting.
The presentation on stage continued haltingly. Pearl flipped through the slides faster and faster, as if she were in a hurry.
At first, she'd been full of anticipation for this podium. But watching the growing disdain on the faces below, she didn't want to stay on that stage for another second.
Yet she didn't want others to see her embarrassment, so she kept her chin up, her chest out, that "I don't care" smile plastered on her face, and rushed through the last few slides.
"That concludes our team's research findings. Thank you, everyone."
Sparse applause echoed from below, as if urging her to hurry up and leave.
Pearl bit down on her teeth, grabbed the clicker in frustration, and walked off the stage in her high heels.
Her back was still straight. The smile was still on her face.
But her fingers gripping the clicker were trembling. Veins bulged on the back of her hand.
As she reached the bottom of the stage, her gaze drifted toward the lounge area.
Gaia stood beside Lucinda, holding the stack of revised technical documents, a smile on her face, seemingly chatting with an expert nearby.
Seeing the calm smile on her face, Pearl's eyes narrowed involuntarily. Her features twisted slightly.
That waste actually had a day like this.
Pearl looked away, shoved the clicker into her assistant's hands, and muttered under her breath, "Let's go. There's nothing worth seeing here. This place isn't worth coming to!"
The assistant followed behind her, asking cautiously, "Ms. Fisher, should we go talk to some of those experts? Maybe we could—"
"Talk about what?" Pearl whipped around, glaring at the assistant, her voice rising. "Didn't you see their attitude just now? Acting all high and mighty, like they're the only ones who know anything. What's so great about them?"
The assistant shrank back, not daring to say another word.
Pearl turned her head and glanced once more toward the lounge area.
Gaia was smiling as she shook hands with an older expert, her posture composed.
The resentment in Pearl's eyes deepened. The look she gave Gaia was full of venom.
'Just wait! You've just latched onto someone powerful. What's there to be so proud of? One day that big tree will fall, and let's see how you'll keep bouncing around!'
Just then, something seemed to occur to her. A trace of cruelty flashed in her eyes. "Go. Find an excuse and bring Gaia over here."
The assistant froze for a moment but didn't dare delay. She did as she was told.
On the other side, the last presenter finished, and the conference was drawing to a close.
The crowd dispersed in small groups. The lounge area quieted down, leaving only a few figures still conversing in low voices.
Lucinda sat down on the sofa and took a sip from a bottle of water.
Her phone buzzed. She looked down. It was a message from one of her people.
"Boss, we've got it. The group at the east district warehouse—Pearl was the one who sent them. She paid them two hundred thousand dollars. The targets were you and Gaia."
Lucinda's gaze settled on the screen. Her eyes grew colder and colder.
She stared at the name "Pearl" for two seconds, then looked up and scanned the lounge area.
Gaia wasn't there.