Chapter 83
Lucinda withdrew her gaze and looked at Gaia. "You're fine now."
Gaia's eyes were still red. She nodded firmly. "Ms. Wipere, thank you."
"Get back to work." Lucinda turned and headed toward her office.
Fiona hurried down the hallway, arms full of documents, and caught up with Lucinda. "Ms. Wipere, about Joseph—"
"Keep a close watch on him." Lucinda pushed open her office door without looking back. "If he dares to berate people in the break room today, he'll dare to do worse tomorrow. There's still someone behind him. Dig into it, little by little."
Fiona acknowledged and set the documents on the desk before leaving.
Lucinda sat behind her desk and opened the first file—Ridgeway Tech's production plan for the next quarter.
Her gaze moved line by line across the page, her finger tapping lightly at the edge.
She'd just turned to the third page when her phone buzzed.
She picked it up. An unfamiliar number.
She answered. A man's voice came through, overly enthusiastic.
"Hello, is this Master Amy?"
Lucinda's finger paused. "It is."
The voice on the other end shot up several pitches, brimming with barely suppressed excitement. "Master Amy, hello, hello! I'm Ollie Morgan, the director of the City Jewelry Design Competition. I apologize for the intrusion, but I have a request I hope you'll consider."
Lucinda leaned back in her chair and said nothing.
The person on the other end didn't seem bothered by the silence and continued. "It's like this. Our awards ceremony is scheduled for next Saturday at the Starlight City International Conference Center. We'd like to invite you to attend and present awards to the top finalists."
Lucinda's brow twitched slightly.
The City Jewelry Design Competition.
She remembered. First place went to Dahlia. Second place to Allegra.
Thinking of those two faces, the corner of her mouth curved slightly—a smile with no warmth.
"I don't have time," she said.
"Please, don't refuse right away." Ollie's voice grew even more eager. "I know you're busy. A master of your caliber—your time is incredibly precious. But you don't know—this year's entries, compared to previous years, have dropped more than one tier in quality. We judges shook our heads the whole time. We flipped through stack after stack of designs. Very few were worth looking at."
He paused, a trace of helplessness creeping into his voice. "To be blunt, this year's first and second place wouldn't have even passed preliminaries back when you competed. Sitting in the judges' seats, watching these mediocre works—we're worried sick. At this rate, the industry's going to collapse."
Lucinda's finger tapped lightly on the desk twice. She said nothing.
Ollie pressed on. "That's why we're inviting you. We genuinely want you to offer some guidance to these newcomers. Even if you just say a few words onstage, give them a bit of insight—it would benefit them for life. Your competition entry from back then is still a teaching template in our design circles. Your skill, your eye—the entire industry recognizes it."
Lucinda fell silent for a moment.
She didn't want to go.
She'd never liked events like award ceremonies. Especially when the first and second place winners were two people who turned her stomach.
But Ollie's attitude was so impeccable it left no room for complaint. "Master Amy, will you consider it? We're not asking for much—just show your face, present an award, say a few words. If you're tired, you can leave right after. We'll handle the rest of the socializing for you."
The corner of Lucinda's mouth curved slightly. "I'll think about it."
Ollie's voice immediately shot up several pitches, as if seeing a glimmer of hope. "Yes, yes, yes! Please think it over, take your time! Whether or not you come, we'll respect your decision. Master Amy, we really, truly hope you'll attend. If you come, this ceremony will be completely different."
After a few more pleasantries, he reluctantly hung up.
Lucinda set her phone on the desk, watched the screen go dark, and turned her attention back to the documents, clearly unbothered by the call.
Not long after, Fiona knocked and entered, carrying a thick stack of design drafts. "Ms. Wipere, these are design proposals for the tech products the company plans to develop next. They've been screened once by R&D. Twelve in total."
Fiona's voice was crisp and efficient. Her finger tapped lightly on the papers. "These few were submitted by senior R&D staff. Solid foundations. These are from a few newcomers—creative ideas with some bright spots, but the feasibility still needs refining. R&D wants you to pick two people to represent the company at the upcoming national tech competition."
Lucinda leaned back in her chair, her gaze sweeping over the first proposal.
Smart Home Central Control System. Designer: Senior Engineer Soren Wallace, R&D Department.
She flipped to the second page, glanced at the architecture diagram, and tapped her finger lightly on the paper twice.
The framework was complete. The logic was clear. Every module's interface was meticulously labeled.
But the proposal's conventional approach made her frown slightly. It was like a flawless test answer—but nothing more. No surprises.
She placed it on the right side and opened the second one.
The third, the fourth, the fifth—she went through them one by one. The "maybe" pile on the right grew to four. The "no" pile on the left reached seven.
When she reached the eleventh proposal, her hand paused.
A sticky note was attached to the cover with the designer's name written on it: Gaia Fisher.
Lucinda opened the cover. Her gaze settled on the design diagram on the first page.
It was a proposal for an industrial inspection drone. Densely written, every module accompanied by detailed annotations.
Her gaze moved slowly across the page. The light in her eyes gradually brightened.
This design surprised her. Gaia had found a nearly perfect balance between payload capacity and flight time—better than many mature solutions she'd seen.
But she could also see that parts of the proposal were rough around the edges, as if they'd been painstakingly chewed through.
Some technical details weren't handled with enough finesse. Some phrasing wasn't quite professional.
But the bright spots were too brilliant—brilliant enough for her to overlook all the immaturity.
The corner of Lucinda's mouth curved slightly. She placed the design on top of the "maybe" pile on the right.
The last one was another proposal from Soren.
Core Algorithm for Intelligent Security Robot. Every step was highly polished. Code-level details were solid and well-executed.
She nodded and placed it on the right side as well.
Then she picked up a pen and began making corrections on Gaia's design.
Her handwriting was slender and precise, filling in the blank spaces on the page like neat rows of annotations.
After finishing, she placed the two designs side by side, double-checked them, and closed the folder.
"Bring these two in."