At that moment, a colleague leaned in and whispered, "Oh, by the way, the original batch of forms from Lab 3 didn''t make it either. They gotpletely wiped out."


    Nick shook off his thoughts and asked, "If they were destroyed, how are there forms being used on the subjects?"


    “Well, apparently, a well-known researcher had some manuscripts stashed away. Manuel and his team used those to whip up a new batch..."


    The colleague nodded, then stepped into the elevator as soon as the doors slid open, cutting the conversation short.


    Watching him go, Nick realized why there was such urgency to bring him back. He couldn''t stop that batch of forms from resurfacing after all.


    A sense of heaviness settled in Nick''s chest.


    Before long, they reached theb where Manuel and his crew were stationed. Besides Manuel, a few other professors were there, and Ben had shown up too.


    Everyone was decked out in protective gear, and there was someone lying on the examination table in the middle, clearly under anesthesia, just lying there quietly.


    Nick gave the person on the bed a quick nce.


    After exchanging a few words with Manuel, the department head gestured toward Nick and introduced him, "This is Mirabe from our department, who came from the T5 Institute."


    Manuel had heard about this young professor who returned from overseas. Although he had his doubts about Nick''s abilities, anyone from the T5 Institute was no lightweight, so he nodded politely to Nick, "We''ll be counting on you today."


    Nick nodded back, "No problem."


    Without wasting time on small talk, Nick and a couple of colleagues headed to the changing room next door to get suited up.


    Meanwhile, Ben, who had looked up when Nick was introduced, seemed a bit taken aback.


    "The T5 Institute is famous worldwide, their bio-research achievements are way ahead of what we do at our med school. What would make him leave T5?" Ben wondered aloud after Nick left.  swnovel


    He remembered that during a recent mole hunt across departments, Nick''s name popped up among six suspects based on height. But since Nick was off at an international conference, courtesy of Dr. Ray, he had no chance to be involved, so his name got cleared.  swnovel


    The department head smiled as he looked at Ben. It wasn''t the first time someone had asked that question.


    He exined, “We had a researcher studying abroad who was an alum with him. They hit it off academically and got along well. It took over two years to convince him toe back."  swnovel


    Ah, makes sense.


    Ben nodded and dropped the subject, turning his focus back to the person on the experimental bed.


    Soon, Nick reappeared, suited up.


    He nced at the rack beside the bed, loaded with surgical tools and over a dozen syringes.


    Pausing for a moment, Nick turned to the colleague ready to assist and said, "Let''s get a couple more doses of epinephrine, just in case."


    Without hesitation, the colleague nodded and went off to fetch the meds.


    Ben, however, looked puzzled and asked, "Why the extra epinephrine?"


    Nick''s face was impassive as he adjusted his mask, "I checked the subject''s data. The heart''s BNP levels are on the low side."


    Ben nodded, recalling that detail too.