p, p, p-


    Edna''s hands came together in a slow, mocking apuse.


    "But perhaps you''ve forgotten-I''m your advisor. If anything happens to me, do you still want to graduate?"


    She shed a cold smile. "For old times'' sake, I''ll give you onest chance. All you have to do is post a statement saying you orchestrated this whole thing, publicly apologize, admit your mistake, and maybe just maybe I''ll pretend none of this ever happened. You''ll graduate as nned."


    Carlson''s lips twitched. "If I''vee this far, regret isn''t an option."


    His eyes were bloodshot-clearly, he hadn''t slept well in days. But as he looked at Edna, his gaze was razor-sharp. "And can you honestly say, hand on your heart, that the evidence I submitted isn''t true?"


    Edna let out a sneer, her eyes brimming with contempt. "So what if it is? Does it even matter?"


    "If you insist on making this difficult, don''t me me for forgetting whatever ''bond'' you think we share as mentor and student."


    Carlson almostughed at that. A bond? Did she really believe that?


    To Edna, he had always been nothing more than a dog-summoned when needed, dismissed when not. She''d never seen him as a person.


    He could have stayed silent. Just muddle through until June, collect his diploma and degree, and finally be free of Edna. But what about people like Arkle?


    Arkle wasn''t the first, and he certainly wouldn''t be thest. As long as Edna was free to take on new students, there would always be more victims.


    Carlson could survive, escape, and finally breathe easy-but what about those who couldn''t? What if someone, unable to endure, decided to end it all?


    He realized it was time to act. Not just for himself, but for all those who woulde after him.


    He''d once admired Roseanne''s courage. Now, maybe he could be that kind of person, too.


    The conversation ended in a bitter deadlock.


    Before storming off, Edna spat out a final warning. "My patience is running out. Take my advice while you still can. Otherwise-once the deadline passes, even if youe crawling back, it''ll be toote!"


    That night, Carlson didn''t sleep a wink.


    The next day, a user posted on Streamline-a popr social tform:


    "Official Report: Academic Fraud by Professor Edna Moore, Department of Bioinformatics, Kingswell University"


    (125 pages attached)


    Author: Carlson, Master''s Candidate, Department of Bioinformatics, Kingswell University, Professor Edna Moore''s research group


    The document detailed every fraudulent paper under Edna''s name,plete with all the manipted data.


    On the final page, Carlson wrote:


    I have waited too long for this day. Suffered through too much.


    No one knows better than I do how much a degree means to a third-year grad student like me. In five months, I could have left this ce I''vee to despise, left


    behind an advisor I can''t stand.


    I also know that by making this decision, graduating in June is no longer possible


    for me.


    But someone has to step forward.


    Someone has to do something foolish, but necessary.


    I can''t bear to think how many more students like me might waste their youth and hope under someone like Edna Moore, while I look the other way and muddle through to O graduation.


    I don''t know how many promising young people will have their passion for research and for life snuffed out.


    What I can do is little. Against someone as powerful as Edna Moore, I may be nothing more than an ant against a mountain.


    But that''s okay.


    If this act of courage spares even one more person from suffering, it will have been worth it.


    Even if it''s just one, that''s enough.


    Within two hours, the post''s video had over half a million likes, a hundred


    thousandments, and was shared more than a million times.


    Netizens flooded Kingswell University''s official ount, demanding answers for Carlson.


    Supporters boosted the video''s visibility, rallying for justice.


    Thement section was filled with words that brought tears to the eyes:


    [Carlson could have escaped with just a few months of silence. But instead, he looked back at the students about to fall into the abyss, and chose to turn around. Even if his path forward will be muddy and full of thorns, he never hesitated.]