Chapter 1001: Chapter 1001: Very Regretful, Very Broken Down (1)

“Clap, clap, clap.”

The thunderous applause from the audience was relentless.

The leaders and mentors present for the defense extended a warm welcome, but Wu Wanying remained frozen in place.

She stared at Si Fuqing, who was seated next to Cai Zhongnian, her mind going blank.

What had she just heard?

Special guest judge? Si Fuqing?

Si Fuqing, a mere celebrity, how could she qualify as a special guest judge?

This was the graduate student defense for Xia University’s medical department!

Even for an undergraduate defense, Si Fuqing had no place there.

Wu Wanying’s teeth were chattering, her body growing colder by the second, and she felt utterly dazed.

“Wu Wanying?” the host called again. “Wu Wanying, are you here?”

Professor Li frowned. “Wanying, what are you thinking? Today’s judges are heavyweights.”

Wu Wanying snapped back to reality, her palms sweaty.

She gritted her teeth and, with great effort, took her prepared thesis and stepped onto the stage, handing out printed copies to each judge.

When she reached Si Fuqing, her anxiety and unease peaked.

What if Si Fuqing held a personal grudge and deliberately made things difficult for her?

Standing at the defense podium, Wu Wanying’s mind was blank, and she didn’t utter a word for a full minute.

“Wu Wanying might be too nervous,” the host interjected to ease the tension. “Let’s give her a few seconds to gather herself.”

After several seconds, Wu Wanying took a deep breath and began her defense.

At first, her voice trembled and stuttered, but as she continued, she grew more fluent.

The other leaders, mentors, and students listened attentively, but Cai Zhongnian and Professor Delt’s expressions grew increasingly grim.

“Thank you to my mentor for their guidance and my friends for their support,” Wu Wanying said, bowing. “Please, judges, offer your criticisms and corrections so I can deepen my understanding.”

“I have a question,” Cai Zhongnian said coolly. “Your paper is on a new direction with few references. How did you develop your core formula and conclusions?”

Wu Wanying’s palms grew even sweatier, but she managed to stabilize her voice. “Cell transplantation has always been a challenge. This was a direction my mentor and I discussed. I also reviewed many materials…”

After listening, Cai Zhongnian’s gaze turned icy. “Alright, I have no further questions. Professor Delt?”

“Indeed, this is the situation, fellow student,” Professor Delt nodded solemnly. “I saw this exact core content in a paper three months ago.”

“!”

The room fell into an immediate silence.

Professor Li’s mouth dropped open in disbelief, and he stood up, visibly agitated.

Wu Wanying’s pupils contracted sharply, and she blurted out, “That’s impossible!”

Her paper wasn’t finalized three months ago. How could there be an identical paper?

“I find it strange too,” Professor Delt said calmly. “The paper was personally submitted to International Medical Organization by Academician Cai Zhongnian. We applied for a patent for this paper and planned to publish it in the June issue of the scientific journal.”

“Due to the slow publication review process, the new issue has just been compiled, but the patent was issued last month. I must ask, Wu Wanying, your draft was from late March. Yet, I saw the same paper in February, and it was more detailed with many experimental foundations.”

“I asked your mentor, and you didn’t conduct related experiments in these months. You even changed your thesis topic suddenly,” Cai Zhongnian sneered. “I ask you, where did you plagiarize from?”

This question was a death sentence for Wu Wanying. The students listening were equally stunned.

Wu Wanying was one of the top students in Xia University’s medical department; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been selected for “The Birth of an Employee.”

Such an excellent paper had turned out to be plagiarized.

Only now did Wu Wanying realize she had seen the formulas and conclusions on Cai Zhongnian’s desk. Her face turned pale as paper.

What was happening? Wasn’t that a discarded draft? How could it have been submitted to International Medical Organization so early?

If her plagiarism detection flagged it, she wouldn’t have continued writing!

Suddenly, Wu Wanying’s mind felt like it was going to explode.

“I have a question too,” Si Fuqing said lazily. “From step two to step three, how did you derive this formula? You skipped many steps, and these steps are crucial.”

Wu Wanying’s cold sweat dripped, and her hands trembled.

Despite her knowledge, she couldn’t understand what Si Fuqing was talking about.

“Hmm, you don’t know?” Si Fuqing nodded slightly, maintaining her calm demeanor. “If you don’t know the steps, how did you reach the conclusion? Through dreaming?”

It was as if she had been slapped in the face, and Wu Wanying couldn’t respond.

She had only seen the formulas and conclusions, not knowing there were many critical steps in between.

“I asked you before if you looked through other documents on my desk while checking the score sheet in my office,” Cai Zhongnian’s sharp gaze bore into her. “You firmly denied it. You’re a top student at Great Xia University, so I chose to believe you. Your mentor also asked you repeatedly, and you still denied it.”

“I gave you many chances to step back. If you had admitted your mistake, there would have been a way to save this. But you didn’t.”

Again and again, Wu Wanying had committed academic plagiarism. Cai Zhongnian could no longer tolerate it.

Cold sweat continued to pour down Wu Wanying’s forehead, and her back was chilled. She opened her mouth but couldn’t say anything.

Countless eyes were on her, piercing her like needles.

For a moment, she heard nothing but the echo of five words in her mind.

How could this be?!

Yes, she had stolen the idea. At first, the formulas and conclusions only influenced her paper’s direction. She hadn’t intended to plagiarize entirely.

But over the months, she hadn’t seen a related paper, so she assumed it was hers.

Who could have expected this to come out during her defense?!

Wu Wanying’s lips trembled.

Cai Zhongnian had invited the professor from International Medical Organization not to help her but to expose her plagiarism publicly!

This was her graduation defense, crucial for graduates.

Failing the defense would delay her graduation, and now, her degree might even be revoked!

Wu Wanying lifted her head in a fluster, only to meet Professor Li’s face, etched with disappointment, no longer willing to look at her.

The dean of the medical school was deeply distressed, but he had to follow the rules. “Wu Wanying’s thesis is suspected of plagiarism. Her degree will be revoked, and her graduation will be postponed!”

Wu Wanying’s vision darkened, and her body swayed.

Once her degree was revoked, even with a graduation certificate, she would be unable to secure a good position.

It was over. Everything she had worked for at Great Xia University for eight years was utterly destroyed in this moment.

At this point, Wu Wanying deeply regretted changing her thesis topic. Even if she had stuck with her original topic, she would have graduated smoothly.

“Alright, step down,” Cai Zhongnian waved. “Let’s continue. Once again, I emphasize: academic plagiarism is forbidden.”@@novelbin@@

The second presenter was Wei Chengyun, whose defense went smoothly, receiving high praise from Professor Delt.

The four-hour defense session quickly ended. Wu Wanying remained seated, her face ashen, her ears filled with the buzz of conversations. Many were discussing the plagiarism incident.

“I can’t believe Wu Wanying dared to plagiarize Elder Cai’s work. She has some nerve.”

“You don’t understand. Some thieves think the stolen items are theirs.”

“Good grades are useless if your character is so poor. Such people shouldn’t be doctors.”

The judges also left, and Si Fuqing, after seeing off all the professors, was the last to leave.

As she looked for Yu Tang at the back of the hall, Wu Wanying blocked her path.

“Why?” Wu Wanying’s eyes were filled with venom, her voice hoarse with rage. “Si Fuqing, why did you question me like that? You were taking personal revenge!”

If Si Fuqing hadn’t asked that question, Wu Wanying might have been able to argue that the research directions overlapped.

But Si Fuqing had blocked every escape route, leaving her with no room to maneuver.

Wu Wanying’s hands clenched into fists, her voice trembling, her nerves on the brink of collapse. “My degree has been revoked, and I won’t even get my diploma. Are you satisfied?!”

Si Fuqing was already an unattainable superstar. Why did she have to kick her when she was down?

“Why?” Si Fuqing turned, her fox-like eyes looking at her calmly. “The paper you plagiarized is mine. Is that answer enough?”