She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 68

"Come on, Ms. Delaney, there's no need to be modest. In this day and age, successfully pushing a research project to practical application is an incredibly rare feat. You're brilliant, an absolute pioneer. You're the frontrunner of this institute, and the rest of us are just trying to keep up with you," Harvey continued to praise her.

Under Harvey's relentless flattery and the envious, respectful gazes of the room, Ursula's ego swelled to the bursting point. Still, she couldn't resist throwing another jab. "What's the point of being brilliant? At the end of the day, I still have to report to an utterly useless fraud who got her job through connections."

Her words caused another ripple of discomfort through the room, cementing the collective resistance against Hulda.

Seeing the conversation dragging right back to the new director, Harvey opened his mouth to pivot again—but to everyone's surprise, Abby finally spoke up.

"Ms. Delaney, I actually read through your new project report too."

Ursula assumed Abby was just chiming in to heap on more praise. She stood there, wearing a self-satisfied smirk, fully prepared to soak up the compliments.

Instead, Abby frowned, her expression dead serious. "I couldn't help but notice that your proposed research direction looks incredibly similar to a theoretical derivation I read in a domestic academic journal a while back."

The color instantly drained from Ursula's face. "What kind of garbage are you spouting? Are you accusing me of plagiarism?"

"That's not what I meant at all," Abby quickly waved her hands in defense. "I just wanted to ask if you were the original author of that published article."

If she was, that would be amazing!

The author of that article was actually one of Abby's academic idols.

"What journal? What article? I have no idea what you're talking about! This is my own original research. Stop making wild accusations, Abby!" Ursula exploded, her eyes turning bloodshot with fury.

Seeing the escalating tension, Harvey immediately rushed to mediate. "Alright, Abby, that's crossing a line. You shouldn't make claims like that without solid proof. The fact that Dr. Lowe approved Ms. Delaney's project review proves this is her intellectual property. She is a core pillar of this institute. You can't just throw dirt on her name like that."

Ursula's violently defensive reaction left Abby feeling profoundly disappointed. It meant she definitely wasn't the author.

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