Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Fierce Contention
After finishing three hundred sets of data, Chloe Sinclair stopped the experiment.
She changed out of her lab coat, put on a tracksuit, and returned to the apartment Gabriel Sinclair had bought for her a few days ago.
The apartment was right across from Emberfall University. It was small, but a space there was incredibly hard to come by.
She flipped on the lights, and the apartment filled with a warm, orange-yellow glow. The layout was almost identical to her room back in Kennet, a clear sign of how much thought Gabriel had put into it.
She took a shower in the bathroom and came out feeling refreshed and invigorated.
This was the nature of research. You had to constantly monitor the data. If even one set was wrong, all subsequent results would be for naught.
It was just like Jolie Yates’s three-dimensional quantum experiment on the *Genius* show. The result looked perfect, but in reality, it was flawed from the very beginning.
A single erroneous data point had rendered years of the entire team’s hard work useless.
Chloe Sinclair hadn’t left the apartment since the experiment began, surviving on instant noodles whenever she got hungry.
Finally getting a chance to shower, Chloe spent a full two hours in the bathroom before emerging.
The next day, Chloe Sinclair slept in until nine.
After getting ready for half an hour, Chloe headed to the university with her textbooks.
Chloe was dressed very simply today in a gray tracksuit that exposed her fair calves. She wore a black baseball cap pulled low, obscuring most of her face.
"Chloe, you’re finally here! I heard you didn’t come back to the dorm last night, is that right? I messaged you, but you never replied. I was worried sick."
Chloe had just walked into the classroom and sat down when Nina Sinclair sidled up to her, a look of concern in her eyes that made it seem like she was genuinely worried about Chloe.
It had to be said, Nina Sinclair had some skill. It had only been a few days, and most of the class already knew her.
Because of this, a girl sitting nearby said, "Chloe, I’m so jealous. You have such a great sister."
Hearing this, Chloe glanced at Nina, who had suddenly gone pale. "You told everyone you’re my sister?"
"I... I didn’t."
Nina hadn’t expected Chloe to make a big deal out of something like this. She lowered her head, biting her lip, looking utterly pitiful.
"Then what did you say?" Chloe pressed.
Chloe’s gaze was dark and profound, as if all of Nina’s actions were just childish tricks to her.
Gritting her teeth, Nina said in a low voice, "Chloe, I was just worried about you. The semester just started, and you’re already staying out all night. What will people say if word gets out?"
Chloe laughed.
’If she were really worried about me, she wouldn’t have brought it up in front of the whole class.’
’If she were really worried, she would have been searching high and low for me last night.’
"Nina Sinclair, do you know why I didn’t reply to your message?"
The person in question shook her head, a flicker of confusion in her eyes, but a bad feeling was already creeping into her heart.
Before she could speak, she heard Chloe say slowly, "Because I blocked you a long time ago."
Instantly, the onlooking crowd understood. So Chloe and Nina didn’t get along at all.
Thinking about the rumors online, some started to form conspiracy theories.
Since they were all new students, their judgments weren’t biased. Plus, most of them had come to the School of Physics because of Chloe, so as they looked at the two of them, things became crystal clear.
One of the male students pushed up his glasses and said earnestly, "Nina Sinclair, Chloe was probably running an experiment and couldn’t come back. You haven’t been exposed to that, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t know."
All the students knew Nina was in the entertainment industry; after all, she had mentioned it to them every day during military training.
Unfortunately for her, this was a group of people focused on their studies who couldn’t care less about the entertainment world.
This was the first time Nina had been so thoroughly thwarted.
But what came next was what truly stung.
"Chloe is a genius, so we hope you won’t disturb her too often."
The boy who spoke seemed quiet and reserved, but his words were sharp and hit their mark, instantly making Nina’s eyes redden.
However, no one was paying any attention to her now.
Instead, a female student sitting beside Chloe noticed the fatigue in her eyes and offered her an untouched coffee.
Chloe politely declined.
"The professor’s here."
Just then, someone shouted, and the room instantly fell silent.
Even Chloe’s attention was captured. She unconsciously sat up straighter, her dark eyes fixed on the doorway.
A few seconds later, an elderly man in a formal suit appeared at the door.
Though he looked to be over seventy, his eyes were bright and full of spirit.
When everyone got a clear look at him, they all gasped in astonishment.
Because this was none other than the nation’s Three-star Academician, Miles Myers.
Miles Myers was seventy years old this year, but his body was still strong and healthy.
He had served the country since he was thirty, focusing mainly on military affairs. He had once...
...and had even participated in the construction of an aircraft carrier alongside a group of other senior experts.
Miles Myers stood at the lectern and swept his gaze across the room, his eyes finally landing on the last row.
Chloe tensed up as she heard Miles Myers speak. "Chloe Sinclair, what are you doing sitting in the back row?"
Chloe glanced at the front row, which was already full, and remained silent.
"From now on in my class, Chloe Sinclair will sit at the very front."
As he spoke, he pointed to the seat right in the center.
Chloe gave a wry smile.
’Mr. Myers must think I’m slacking on my studies by sitting in the back, so he’s making me sit right under his nose.’
After this small interlude, Mr. Myers began his lecture with meticulous care.
But by the end of the first class, the fervent excitement in everyone’s eyes had turned to awe. A short while later, that awe gave way to a flicker of confusion. Forty-five minutes in, their eyes were filled with agony.
It was only the first day, and he was already lecturing on quantum topics.
And he moved on to the next section with absolutely no time for them to comprehend the last.
The parabolas on the board looked simple enough, but they couldn’t remember a single one of the technical terms associated with them.
It was even worse for Nina Sinclair.
The Physics she had learned in high school was completely different from this. She couldn’t even pronounce many of the abstruse terms.
"Nina Sinclair."
Suddenly, Mr. Myers called out a name from the lectern.
"What are the components of the theory of the four elements I just mentioned?"
Nina shot to her feet, her heart pounding.
Finally, she just shook her head and said, "Professor, you’re going too fast, I can’t remember. And... aren’t we supposed to learn the basics first?"
Mr. Myers’s eyes darkened, and he let out a cold snort. "What I’m teaching isn’t the basics?"
His gaze suddenly shifted to Chloe. "Chloe Sinclair, you tell me. What is the theory of the four elements?"
Chloe reacted quickly. Though she was in the last row, her voice was clear enough for everyone to hear. She spoke unhurriedly, "In 1501, Sacrobosco created an illustration of the theory of the four elements. Based on this image, we can divide the four elements into earth, air, water, and fire. The emergence of elemental theory superseded the atomic theory of the time because the four elements could be used to predict certain behaviors, whereas atomic theory posited that every substance had its own unique atoms."
When Chloe finished, the classroom was once again dead silent.
A moment later, a flash of admiration appeared in Miles Myers’s eyes, and he began to applaud.
The rest of the class snapped out of it and joined in, their applause echoing for a long time.
Nina Sinclair’s expression was incredibly sour.
What made her even angrier was that not only did the people around her not think Chloe was showing off, they actually thought her explanation was excellent.
"Chloe’s amazing! She remembered everything the professor said in such a short time. But why haven’t I seen any of this in the textbook?"
"I just checked online. You can find this stuff there; it’s not in the book."
"Does that mean Chloe has already mastered the field of quantum physics?"
"It’s hard to say."
Amid the applause, two male students chattered on.
Every word they said reached Nina’s ears with perfect clarity.
She wanted to tell them to shut up, but she forced herself to hold it in.
After class, Miles Myers gathered his textbooks. As he was leaving, he said, "Chloe Sinclair, come to my office."
Everyone looked at her with envy.
When Zoe Yates and Sylvia Holloway heard Miles Myers call for Chloe, they couldn’t help but clench their fists.
"Why was Chloe showing off like that just now? Does she think she’s the only one who knows about the theory of the four elements? She’s just as pretentious as she was during the talent show. She’ll get what’s coming to her when she messes up."
Sylvia Holloway said indignantly, then glanced at Zoe and suddenly asked, "Does Jolie know that Chloe got into the Emberfall University School of Physics?"
Zoe said, "My sister already applied to withdraw from the university recently."
Sylvia was stunned. "Withdraw? Wasn’t Jolie planning to get her doctorate?"
Suddenly, she seemed to realize something, and her eyes filled with rage. "It’s because of Chloe Sinclair, isn’t it?"
Zoe’s eyes shifted, and she shook her head with a bitter smile. "Jolie was privately belittled by Chloe until she felt worthless. She’s been despondent ever since and doesn’t plan on studying Physics anymore."
Hearing this, Sylvia didn’t doubt it for a second.
After all, she had been in the same group as Chloe during the auditions. If it weren’t for Chloe back then, she could have successfully made it onto the show.
With that in mind, Sylvia said without a second thought, "Hmph, I’ll make sure Chloe’s life here is miserable."
A cold smirk appeared on Zoe’s lips, but she said nothing.
However, she didn’t know that Nina Sinclair was standing behind them, quietly listening to their conversation.
The smile on her lips was even wider than Zoe’s.
————
Chloe arrived at the office, but to her surprise, there were quite a few professors inside.
Chloe scanned the room. Many of them were major figures she had known in her past life.
But what truly surprised her was that Joel Quincy was also in the office.
Facing the man who had been her great mentor in her past life, Chloe always felt a deep sense of helplessness and regret.
"Chloe Sinclair, I’m already seventy years old. Do you know why I haven’t retired and am teaching freshmen?"
Miles Myers was being so obvious, it was impossible for Chloe not to understand.
She fell silent for a moment, and just as she was about to speak, several other professors suddenly looked displeased.
"Hey, I’m a year older than you. It’s not very kind of you to pull a move like this."
"Well, I’m three years older than both of you."
Chloe: "..."
Her lip twitched. She never expected a group of the nation’s academic pillars to be competing over their age.
"Chloe Sinclair, I heard from your brother that you’ve been doing some research lately?"
