Chapter 585 – Her Sudden Departure: A Tale of Love and Redemption (Lucian & Roxanne)

Seizing the moment of her inattention, he cautiously added another part of the liquid from that bottle into the flask and swiftly replaced the bottle on the bench.

He was quick with his actions, not to mention the material he poured was colorless and odorless. As a result, when Roxanne came closer to inspect the progress of the reaction, she did not notice anything unusual.

Not long after, Jack returned from outside. Roxanne asked concernedly, “What did Old Mr. Damaris say?”

“Grandpa told me to assist you all to the best of my abilities after learning that the experiment is progressing smoothly.” He beamed at her. In response, she nodded and fell silent afterward.

Suddenly, Colby turned around to look at them. “Should this phenomenon be present during the experiment?”

His voice was filled with puzzlement. Hearing his query, Roxanne and Jack were momentarily stunned before hastening over to the bench.

An icy glint flashed across Colby’s eyes, and he stepped aside to let them check out the situation. White smoke was billowing from the flask. Even the stopper was shaking vigorously as if the whole thing was going to explode.

“What’s going on?” Roxanne was utterly bemused. She had never observed something like that during the previous pre-tests. Did we add too many materials at once, and the conditions for the reaction failed to keep up?

Possessing an inquisitive spirit, Roxannel stopped the reaction and opened the stopper to figure out what was happening inside the flask.

As she knew that reaction would not produce any poisonous or harmful substance, she did not take any safety measures.

Colby’s pupils constricted when he saw she had unstoppered the flask. He stretched out his hand, wanting to drag her backward.

However, he thought of something the next second and retracted his hand ultimately. Conversely, Jack reacted promptly and pulled Roxanne to his side.

“Be careful!” He caught a whiff of a familiar smell. This is a poisonous gas, and it’s one with relatively high toxicity!

Roxanne had also perceived the scent. Unfortunately, as she was too close to the flask, she inhaled a large amount of the gas at once. Instantaneously, she experienced the symptoms of poisoning-dizziness.

Roxanne mustered her strength to warn them. “Something’s wrong… Quick, tell everyone to exit the building…”

Jack glanced at Colby, who got moving at once and started evacuating the personnel inside the research facility. At the same time, Jack immediately helped Roxanne to retreat.

Arriving at the corridor with better ventilation, Jack asked Roxanne about her condition concernedly, “How are you feeling?” He had been near the flask’s opening as well, but his symptoms of poisoning were not as severe because he reacted in time.

Roxanne’s head was spinning terribly. Still, she forced herself not to succumb to vertigo. Staring at the research facility’s entrance, she asked, “H-Has everyone moved out of the building?”

The gas was very poisonous and spread rapidly. She was afraid there might be other researchers who were poisoned as well.

The sight of her still worrying about others when she was in that sickly state tugged at Jack’s heartstrings. “Dr. Galloway is already. evacuating the premise. Don’t worry.”

After answering her, he grasped her wrist to check her condition. Instinctively, Roxanne wanted to avoid the physical contact, but she did not even have the strength to lift her arm.

“Something is very off with this reaction. This poisonous gas shouldn’t be present regardless of how erroneous our experiment had gone,” Jack elaborated to her while performing the examination.

Naturally, she was aware of that too. However, she did not have the energy to discuss that matter with him at that moment.

Soon, Colby, leading a group of researchers, came running out, leaving a few more experienced researchers to handle the emergency. They surrounded Roxanne while engaging in a heated discussion.

“How’s Dr. Jarvis?” “Shouldn’t this kind of dangerous experiment be performed in the designated laboratory? What happened today? How did this poisonous gas come to be?”

More questions ensued as everyone expressed their doubts. The flow of air slowed down as more people gathered there. Roxanne’s face grew paler. Even her coughing sound gradually turned diminished.

“Dr. Jarvis!” Feigning worry, Colby crouched next to Jack and Roxanne. “Mr. Damaris, how is Dr. Jarvis doing?”

Jack merely cast a dark look at him, ignoring him. The next second, Roxanne started coughing violently.

“Oh no!” Jack’s pupils constricted as he swiftly stretched out his hands. Roxanne’s whole body went limp, and she passed out, slumping right into hist outstretched arms.

When Colby saw their intimate posture, his gaze darkened. Jack should’ve been the one to be severely poisoned. He only wanted something unfortunate to befall Jack so that the latter would be separated from Roxanne.

Unexpectedly, his plan was not thorough enough, resulting in Roxanne being the one to unstopper the flask.

To avoid exposing his wrongdoing, Colby could only stand by and watch as she ran the risk and inhaled a large amount of the poisonous gas.

Of course, he was unwilling to endanger Roxanne and even wanted to reach out to stop her. However, on second thought, he would be wasting that chance and might even expose himself if he did so.

Besides, even if Roxanne were the one to be poisoned, he would still achieve half of his goal. I suppose she can only stay in the hospital for the time being and won’t be free to spend time with Jack. Colby felt exhilarated at that thought.

To conceal his emotions, he behaved hypocritically, standing up and glowering at the onlookers. “Why are all of you gathering here? Dr. Jarvis needs fresh air. Aren’t you aware of basic knowledge like this?”

Those experienced researchers hastily dispersed as if they had just recalled something important. Colby then said to Jack, “I’ll contact the hospital.” With that, he swiftly strode to one corner and took out his phone to make the call.

Thereafter, seemingly remembering something, he searched for Lucian’s number in his contact list, typed a message, and sent it to him. Throughout it all, his face was expressionless.

Meanwhile, Lucian was having a weekly wrap- up meeting in a conference room at Farwell Group. Members of the upper management apprehensively looked at Lucian, who was sitting at the end of the table. They had been cautious for the past two days, for Lucian seemed to be in a bad mood.

The tension in the conference room was so thick one could cut it with a knife, and when it was time for progress reports, they all walked on eggshells, fearing a single mistake from them would send Lucian flying into a rage.

The directors of departments with terrible performances didn’t even dare to raise their heads during the meeting. Everyone held their breaths in dread until a knock came on the door.

The director who was presenting stopped talking and followed the lines of sight of his colleagues. Everyone in the conference room focused their attention on the door.

The door opened to reveal an awkward Cayden. standing in the doorway, holding a phone. Cayden shot an apologetic smile at the rest. before turning to look at Lucian with a troubled expression. “Mr. Farwell, your phone.”

Lucian, who was already in a bad mood, got even more furious when the meeting was disrupted. His expression turned stonier than ever, and he was seconds away from chewing Cayden out.

On second thought, however, he figured Cayden had been working for him long enough to know not to disturb a meeting unless there was something important.

Lucian suppressed his anger at that thought and gestured for Cayden to bring his phone over. Cayden discreetly let out a sigh of relief and hurried into the room. He even clicked on the text message, displaying it on the screen before handing it over to Lucian.

When Lucian reached for the phone, Cayden deliberately glanced at the screen, implying Lucian to look at it.

Noticing Cayden’s out-of-the-ordinary behavior, Lucian followed his line of sight and dropped his gaze to the phone. With a glance, Lucian caught the name “Jarvis” on the screen. His eyebrows furrowed as he perused the message carefully.

It was a message from Colby that read: Dr. Jarvis accidentally inhaled some poisonous gas during an experiment. She is currently unconscious. Cayden hesitated for a while when he saw the contents of the message.

Mr. Farwell is seemingly not on speaking terms with Ms. Jarvis lately. Moreover, he has clearly decided to go about his marriage engagement with Ms. Pearson.

Thus, Cayden was conflicted about whether he should inform Lucian about the news.

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