Chapter 1

1.

The night my brother's name blew up on the trending topics over a plagiarism scandal, I stood outside his bedroom door and heard my sister-in-law on the phone with her childhood sweetheart.

"Felix, don't worry. I believe you would never plagiarize anything."

"He slapped you across the face in front of all those people. I'll make him pay for it, I promise."

With Juliana defending her childhood sweetheart, my brother lost the case and was ordered to apologize in public.

Then she left the city with Felix, moved far away, and bore his child.

My brother, worn down by the online abuse, sank into depression and took his own life.

In the years after, I searched for the evidence that would clear his name while I taught myself medicine from the research papers he'd left behind.

Twenty years later, my skill had made me a rising star in the field, and I was invited as an expert to sit on a doctoral defense panel.

Reading through the theses, I found that parts of the last one bore a strange resemblance to the very paper my brother had once been falsely accused of copying.

Beside me, the defense secretary leaned in and murmured, "Dr. Dickerson, you think it's a good paper too, don't you? It belongs to Asher Henson, son of Felix Henson, one of the titans of the field. Word is that once he passes this defense, he'll be recruited by a panel of top international medical experts."

At the name Felix Henson, something cold flickered in my eyes.

After several doctoral candidates had defended, Asher Henson stood in front of me.

Looking at the confidence written all over his face, I said flatly,

"The thesis contains plagiarism. I recommend it be sent back for revision."

1.

"Plagiarism?"

The smile froze on Asher's face.

The others stared at me in disbelief.

"Dr. Dickerson, we all ran the checks ahead of time. There's no plagiarism here. There's even a trace of Academician Henson's own brilliance from his early days."

"Exactly. As Academician Henson's son, there's no way he'd stoop to plagiarism. This touches Academician Henson's reputation. Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

The defense secretary reminded me softly,

"Dr. Dickerson, perhaps take another look. After all, Asher is—"

I cut her off before she could finish.

"I don't care whose son he is, and I don't care whether your checks turned anything up."

"I'm on the advisory panel. If I say his thesis contains plagiarism, then it contains plagiarism."

As I spoke, I watched Asher calmly.

He looked back at me,

then walked slowly up to my table, picked up the thesis, and gave a contemptuous little laugh.

"Dr. Dickerson, I'm sure by now you know who my father is. He personally vetted this paper. On what grounds do you call it plagiarism?"

"And this defense is the last hurdle before I study abroad. Do you have any idea what it means if you reject me?"

I said evenly, "What it means for you is none of my concern. All I know is that whether you pass is mine to decide."

A cold edge crept into his face, and he stared hard at me.

"Dr. Dickerson, I don't think I've ever wronged you. So what's your reason for targeting me like this?"

"I'll give you one more chance. Pass me. Otherwise I'll make sure you can't walk away from this clean."

I said flatly,

"You can give me all the chances you like. It won't matter. Fail is fail."

Something dark crossed his brow, and he said the word "fine" three times over.

"We'll see about this!"

With that, he gave a cold snort and turned and walked out.

Watching him go, I shook my head.

Next to his father's patient, cold-blooded ruthlessness, this boy's temper wasn't worth mentioning.

The other advisors in the room were still whispering among themselves.

One young advisor couldn't hold back and challenged me.

"Dr. Dickerson, do you understand? If Asher passes the evaluation of that top international medical team, he'll learn far more advanced medicine, and the whole country will benefit. By doing this, are you saying you don't want domestic medicine to advance?"

"And Academician Henson often funds the medical program at our school. He even comes to lecture regularly, to nurture the next generation of talent."

"Rejecting his son's thesis today is the same as slapping him in the face!"

"Once he's angry, the losses to the school will be enormous, and you can't carry that!"

"It won't matter that you're a rising star in the field!"

I turned my head and looked at him.

I searched his name on my phone, then closed it.

"You're one of Felix Henson's students?"

He faltered, then jabbed a finger at me, furious.

"How dare you. My teacher's name isn't something you get to say!"

"And Asher's thesis is the best I've seen apart from my teacher's own work."

"My advice is that you go to his door and apologize now. Otherwise, your career is finished right here!"

I let out a scoffing laugh.

"No plagiarism, is there?

"Fair enough. You're shallow and poorly read, so it's only natural you can't see it."

That set him off.

"Don't push this too far."

"I'll report everything that happened today to my teacher, exactly as it went. You just wait to regret it!"

With that, he shot me a glare and walked out of the defense room.

The others didn't dare come near me, afraid of being dragged down with me.

I paid them no mind. I only looked again at Asher's thesis on the table, and the cold in my chest deepened.

Back then his father seized everything, and it cost my brother his life.

All I'd done today was collect a little of the interest.