<b>Chapter </b>70


    <b>Briar’s </b>single sentence left Joshua speechless. He looked at her with a mix of frustration andern, and after a long moment bn nodded. “Alright, if you’re confident, then I won’t say more.”


    With that, Joshua turned around, reached into his ck briefcase, and pulled out a stack of documents, handing them in Anjar 196piled these case studies on short notice. Take a look at them in the next couple of days; they’ll help you with the public lecture


    Briar epted the materials, smiling, “Thank you, Mr. Swift. I’ll study them carefully.”


    Joshua gave Briar another stern look, then waved her off. “Go sit somewhere and start reading”


    Briar took the documents and sat down, diving into them with a focus that showed her obedience.


    Joshua seemed to genuinely care for Briar, watching over her for a full hour before finally leaving with his briefcase.


    As soon as Joshua was gone, Briar closed the documents, massaged her temples, and sent a message to Ashton.


    Briar: [Ashton, do you still need the hypnotist’s sleep therapy tonight?]


    Ashton was likely busy, as he didn’t reply immediately.


    After waiting a few minutes, Briar put her phone aside, sighed, and resignedly opened the documents again. Since Joshua had gone through the trouble of finding them for her, she didn’t want to disappoint him.


    The two–hour morning ss ended at eight, and Frank and the others rushed back to the office. Seeing Briar there, they gathered around her. “Briar, studying already?”


    Mason stretched his neck to take a look and was surprised. “Hey, these materials look familiar.”


    “Isn’t this the homework Mr. Swift assigned us for the summer extension trainingst semester?” Ted realized.


    Thomasughed, “It seems Mr. Swift really likes you, Briar. He even brought out his best extension materials.”


    As he spoke, Thomas couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy.


    All his efforts seemed worthless in the face of talent.


    He had once secretly asked Joshua for these materials but was refused on the grounds that he wasn’t ready yet.


    Now, because Briar was preparing for the public lecture, Joshua had handed them over without hesitation.


    He didn’t want to admit that Joshua was ying favorites, so he could only conclude that Briar really had exceptional talent. And her talent had won the appreciation of Joshua, Marvin, and even Ashton.


    “Right, these are part of the materials Mr. Swift brought outst semester. Impressive, Briar. With these, you should be fine for the public lecture,” Frank said.


    With Joshua’s help in selecting the topics, Brfar should at least be able to scrape by with a passing grade.


    While everyone’s attention was on Briar, Thomas quietly stepped away and sent a message to Abbie.


    Thomas: [Abbie, are you sure no one knows about your forum ount?]


    Abbie’s reply was quick. [I’m sure, Thomas. Don’t worry. No one can trace it back to me.]


    <b>Chapter </b><b>70 </b>


    Thomas felt relieved<b>. </b>(<b>That’s </b><b>good</b><b>. </b>Be more carefultely<b>. </b><b>Things </b>have gotten out of hand, and in perple are invol <b>to </b>get caught.


    <b>Abble</b><b>: </b><b>[</b>Got it.]


    Watching Briarchat calmly with the others, Thomas couldn’t shake a feeling of unease.


    The reason was probably the posts about Briar on the forum, which were still prominently disyed and hadn’t been <b>removed </b>or address


    This made Thomas feel an eerie, unsettling silence as if a storm was brewing


    Suddenly, Mason’s voice brought him back to reality. “Thomas, we’re going to process some new traditional medicinal materials in theb today. You should help Briar out a bit, too.”


    Thomas snapped out of his thoughts, pushed aside his unease, and walked over with a smile. “Sure, no problem”


    Briar smiled sweetly at Thomas, “Thank you, Thomas.”


    Thomas was momentarily dazzled by Briar’s smile. “N–no problem.”