Chapter 2

Ethan’s face had been full of smug satisfaction, but after feeling the ID card in his hand, he looked at me with surprise.

Every employee in the lab froze.

Only Claire showed a trace of surprise and anger.

I smiled at them both and said, “Isn’t this what you wanted? The lab is yours now. Congratulations.”

I walked over, patted Ethan on the shoulder, and said with a smile, “But you’d better be careful. Some things are too much for someone without the ability to handle them.”

As I spoke, I pressed down hard with one hand. Ethan’s tall body was forced downward.

His face flushed red as he strained with all his strength, but he couldn’t push back up.

Watching him struggle, I gave him a disdainful smile. As expected, he was just a fool whose body had been hollowed out by alcohol and women.

Anger covered Claire’s face as she picked up the ID card and demanded, “Alex, what do you mean?”

“This is our lab’s celebration banquet. Why did you come here to throw a tantrum?”

Seeing the fury in her eyes, I couldn’t help laughing.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“You wanted to give everything to the man you love and lift him into the heavens. Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?”

“Ethan is the first author now. He’s the one becoming famous. And now I’m even giving him my lab. Why aren’t you happy?”

“I really don’t know what it would take to make you satisfied.”

Claire couldn’t say a word. She kept pushing her glasses up her nose, and I knew it was a sign of her irritation and anger.

In the past, I would have gone over to comfort her and tell her not to be upset, but today, I didn’t care anymore.

Ethan stepped forward and blocked Claire from view, his face full of provocation and smugness.

“Professor Carter, don’t be angry. Take your ID card back!”

“It’s just that we didn’t invite you to the celebration banquet. Don’t get so worked up, Professor Carter.”

With a few words, Ethan made me sound petty and narrow-minded, while carefully avoiding any mention of the disgusting things he and Claire had done.

I didn’t respond to him. I only looked at Claire, wanting to see what she would say.

Claire seemed to understand what was happening and shoved the ID card directly into Ethan’s hand.

“It’s fine. Since he gave you the lab, accept it. Let’s see whether this lab can keep running without him!”

“He spends every day slacking off and doing odd jobs, yet he really thinks he’s indispensable!”

In the end, she still chose Ethan.

Ethan’s smile grew wide as he quickly slipped the ID card into his pocket.

What had a master’s degree earned overseas done to deserve becoming the head of a lab like this?

The moment he got the ID card, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as though he had finally achieved his goal, then turned toward Claire.

“Claire, I won’t let you down. Trust me!”

He strode over and grabbed my wife’s hand, completely disregarding the fact that I was still standing right there.

Claire gazed at Ethan with infatuation as he basked in his triumph. Even with me standing there, she acted as though I were invisible.

I quietly watched Ethan and laughed.

I had thought that after spending several years earning his master’s degree, Ethan would at least have some understanding of what it meant to lead a lab. I never expected an overseas degree could be this watered down.

They had never watched me conduct an experiment, much less read any of my papers.

They didn’t understand the experimental procedures at all. They didn’t even know the principles behind the experiment or what the raw materials were. They were holding a finished product and foolishly thinking they could reproduce my work. It was pure wishful thinking!

As long as I didn’t reveal the method, no one in the world would know how to produce a room-temperature superconductor!

Ethan thought that forcing me out meant everything would be fine, but he had no idea what was waiting for him.

The world had already been informed of the breakthrough in room-temperature superconductors. Now everyone was waiting for the paper to appear, and laboratories everywhere had begun verification without wasting a second.

Orders from countless factories came flying in like snowflakes. The penalties from the contracts they had impulsively signed alone would be enough to keep them in debt for the rest of their lives!

As I watched the two of them gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes, I could already imagine the look on their faces when they were frightened senseless by the astronomical debts.

Claire seemed to suddenly remember that I was her husband and quickly let go of Ethan’s hand before turning to me.

“Alex, it’s not as if I’m completely without gratitude for our past.”

“If you leave this lab, you probably won’t even be able to support yourself.”

“How about this? Stay at the lab and learn from the new graduate students. Once you’ve achieved something, you can leave. That way, you won’t embarrass our lab.”

Learn from the graduate students?

I was the creator of the room-temperature superconductor and a Nobel Prize winner in the making, yet she wanted me to learn from newly arrived graduate students?

Once I published this paper, any country in the world would welcome me with open arms and treat me like a national treasure.

She actually wanted me to stay here and do odd jobs?

There was no way I would continue humiliating myself here. I frowned at Claire and said, “Before I leave, I have one condition. I want to take all my experimental records with me!”

Claire gave me a half-smile and said, “You can have your experimental records back, as long as you apologize to Ethan and say that you gave him the lab because you knew you weren’t capable enough. Then I’ll give you the records.”

Apologize? I wasn’t capable enough?

She wanted me to apologize to this con artist who had spent several years overseas before coming back to deceive everyone?

I walked up to Ethan and slapped him across the face.

“You want an apology? Fine, I’ll give you one!”