"Hmm."
The next day, Nicole came to school. People she met along the way, regardless of whether she knew
them or not, greeted her.She got a little dizzy from having to nod her head constantly.
When she entered the classroom, all the students, including Vivian , looked at her with even more
respect than the days after the sports day.
Nicole just thought it was strange and did not give it a second thought.
During her lunch break, Nicole suddenly received a call from Martin.
"Hey, Nicole, are you free at noon? I have something to talk to you about.” Martin sounded a little
anxious.
"I'll meet you at the cafe in front of the school, then.” Nicole hung up the phone and headed for the
cafe.
She sat in the cafe for a while before Martin arrived; he had driven as fast as he could.
"What's the rush to see me?" Nicole looked at him in puzzlement.
"I really have no choice but to come to you now.”
“Come on, tell me, what happened?” “The results of my experiments are gone.” Martin could not
accept it until now and felt miserable.
"Gone? When did that happen?" Nicole looked incredulously at the dejected Martin, who seemed to
have lost quite a lot of weight.
“Just last week.I had to do a secondary test only to find out that it wasn’t the successful experimental
result that I made anymore.” Martin recalled.
"And you didn't even notice it before that?" Nicole frowned.
"After the experiment was successful , I stored it in the lab freezer until last week, when it was time for
the second test.When I took it out, I realized it wasn't the result of my experiment,” Martin explained.
"I was thinking of following your checklist and doing it again, but after doing it several times without
success, I didn't know what the problem was.So I was desperate and had to come over to see you.”
Martin looked at Nicole with embarrassment.
"Why didn't you contact me sooner when such a serious thing happened?” Nicole knew how much this
experiment meant toMartin; it was his blood and sweat that he had worked for most of the year.
“I thought about contacting you.Every time I came over to see you, I saw you were busy, so I decided
not to bother you.”
“Did you check the lab surveillance?” Nicole thought the thing would not grow legs and run away on its
own.
The disappearance could only be man-made.
"I have checked , but there is nothing unusual." Martin had checked the surveillance and nothing was
amiss.
Nicole was deep in thought.
'Since there is nothing wrong with the surveillance, then the thing must have been swapped out.’
“If it’s convenient for you now, I can show you to the lab.
"Martin knew only Nicole could help him, and he put all his hopes on Nicole
“Sure.”Nicole thought it would be okay to see it in person.
"Let's go, then." Coming to the door of the lab, Nicole studied her surroundings carefully, then Martin
opened the door, and they walked in.
The lab was cluttered with labware everywhere.
"Your lab looks like there has been a break in here.” Nicole looked at the lab in slight surprise, “Please
don’t mind the mess.I've been experimenting lately, so it might be messy." Martin said with
embarrassment.
"Where is the freezer that holds the results of the experiment?”
“Here.” Martin led Nicole inside.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda