Chapter 292 Favoritism Should Have Limits
Facing the shocked looks from both of them, Sophia awkwardly touched her nose.
"I know it's a bit embarrassing, but I really need them..."
Without this medicine, Sophia had no way to make the antidote.
Without the antidote, if she wanted to save those children's lives, she'd have to use Benjamin's blood.
The drug components in the blood were diluted, so to achieve the desired effect, they'd need quite a lot of blood.
She couldn't bear to use too much of Benjamin's blood.
Dane was stunned, not expecting Sophia to be so persistent.
Elijah spoke up, trying to smooth things over: "Robert, here's the situation - over the past six months, several children have gone missing one after another. Half a month ago, they were found dumped near the suburbs."
He knew this kind of thing couldn't be hidden anyway, so he told the truth.
Dane hadn't concerned himself with worldly affairs for many years, and hearing this news so suddenly, he didn't react right away.
"Can I take a look at the antidote formula?"
Sophia immediately pulled out both formulas from her bag.
One was written by Robert, the other was what she'd written after finding substitute ingredients.
The second formula's effectiveness definitely couldn't match the first, but the cost could be kept much lower.
It was more suitable for large-scale production.
So far, about a dozen children had gone missing.
Their current condition was still unknown, so Sophia had to be fully prepared.
She didn't want those children to die in the end because they couldn't afford the medicine.
Dane held both formulas, his hands trembling slightly. The more he read, the more excited he became.
"Good! Good! Good!"
His eyes grew moist with emotion.
After a long while, he finally asked: "Sophia, did you write this formula?"
Sophia followed his gaze and saw it was the second one - the one she'd written.
She nodded and answered honestly: "Yes. Robert's formula is undoubtedly the most effective, but those ingredients are hard to find and very expensive."
Many of the families who'd lost children were ordinary families who simply couldn't afford expensive medical costs.
Dane nodded heavily, looking at Sophia with more approval in his eyes. "Truly talented. Robert's judgment was indeed excellent."
He pondered for a moment, then looked at his prepared Nexaflorin and said: "Take all of these with you, just leave me two pills."
Sophia was too shocked to speak.
Take everything?
Had she heard correctly?
How precious was Nexaflorin? Even at high prices, it wasn't necessarily available, yet Dane was going to give her all of this.
"Of course, I'm not giving them to you unconditionally." A gleam flashed in Dane's deep eyes. "Consider it a loan. When you make the antidote, however much you borrowed from me, you'll have to return the same amount."
"No problem."
The temperature in this lab was what Dane had determined through multiple experiments to be the optimal storage conditions for Nexaflorin.
Sophia happily packed up the Nexaflorin.
In a certain moment, he seemed to catch a glimpse of Robert's shadow in her.
He sighed deeply and waved at Elijah. "Come with me to the study. I need to talk to you."
Elijah also glanced at Sophia, then quietly left.
In the study.
Elijah stood before the desk and asked: "Robert, what did you want to see me about?"
Dane stood with his hands behind his back in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his wrinkled face showing more weariness.
After a long while, he sighed deeply. "Elijah, stop what you're doing."
Elijah's expression stiffened for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. "Master, I don't know what you're talking about."
Dane slowly turned around, his sharp eyes staring straight at him. "No, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
The two faced off silently, neither willing to give in.
After a long while, Elijah was the first to back down, breaking the silence.
"Robert, I've worked so hard for so long, I'm just one step away. I don't want to give up."
"But what you're doing is wrong. All your persistence is meaningless." Dane tried to reason with him earnestly.
Elijah's expression changed instantly.
His eyes turned red, filled with anger and resentment. "Why is what I'm doing wrong? And what Robert did was right? Robert, there should be a limit to favoritism!"
What Elijah resented most in his life was Dane's favoritism.
Just because Robert was more talented, he should get everyone's approval? So everything he did was right?
Dane never expected Elijah to think this way.
He was furious, his body swaying as he pointed at Elijah and scolded: "I favor Robert? If I favored him, how could you possibly have reached your current position? Do you have any conscience at all?"
Elijah laughed coldly: "I have no conscience? Back then, who was it that gave all the most important projects to Robert? And me? I got nothing... Now that I'm finally about to succeed, you want to stop me?"
"Robert, in your heart, am I really that worthless? Am I really not as good as Robert in any way?"
Looking at Elijah's twisted expression, Dane opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.
He clutched his heaving chest, extremely upset.
"Elijah, I've never denied your talent and ability in medicine, but you can't disregard human lives just to prove yourself! Those children are innocent!"
Dane finally couldn't control his emotions and roared in a low voice.
Elijah sneered: "For the advancement of medicine, some sacrifice is sometimes necessary."
"What gives you the right to decide others' life and death?" Dane looked at him in disbelief, hardly able to believe this was the student he'd personally taught.
"Master, isn't this what you taught me? Have you forgotten?" Elijah suddenly laughed, his dark eyes suppressing a gloomy storm. "You said that for the advancement of medicine, sacrifice is inevitable."
Dane: "I was talking about self-sacrifice, not playing with people's lives!"
"It doesn't matter anymore." Elijah chuckled lightly. "What I'm doing now, isn't it exactly what you wanted to do back then?"
"You! What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Am I wrong? For this experiment, you didn't hesitate to drive away Robert who strongly opposed you, and almost cost him his life. I'm just completing the experiment you didn't finish." Elijah scoffed, his eyes full of mockery as he looked at Dane.