Pampered By The Ruthless Underground Boss

Chapter 368:

Just then, Charlotte and Sylvie hurried over, wrapping Khloe in a tight hug. “Khloe, you’re incredible!”

Khloe returned the hug with a soft smile. “The competition isn’t over yet. Let’s not celebrate too soon. There’s still a long way to go.”

Charlotte’s face grew serious as the implications hit her. “Are you saying someone within the competition is deliberately trying to sabotage you?”

Khloe gave a slight nod, her demeanor turning serious. “There’s definitely something suspicious going on. Think about it—from the moment we were made to switch booths to that staff member’s odd behavior, Barlow’s intentionally tricky question, and how fast the Jose Drug incident reached the main judges. It all points to us being targeted. So far, it’s been petty interference. But with this win, I suspect the next move against us will be far more severe.”

Sylvie’s face darkened, her frustration boiling over. “Those people are completely shameless. Instead of playing fair, they’ve been scheming against us. If it weren’t for Khloe’s sharp mind and skill, we’d have been eliminated long ago.”

Charlotte pursed her lips, her expression thoughtful as she took a moment before answering, “Then we have to stay on high alert. From what you’re saying, it’s clear they won’t back down anytime soon.”

“I know, and I’ve already come up with a plan,” Khloe replied with a knowing smile.

Sloane kept an eye on Khloe as she headed back to her booth. When she noticed Khloe quietly resuming work on her potion, she felt a wave of relief wash over her.

Sloane had recently used Barlow to stir up trouble for Khloe, leveraging every resource and connection at her disposal to create distractions. Despite her confidence in the plan, a nagging fear lingered that Khloe might catch on and unravel everything.

But it seemed Khloe was far too focused on the ambitious task of recreating the Jose Drug to pay attention to the underlying schemes in the competition. That meant Sloane’s plans could move forward without interruption.

Pulling out her phone, Sloane typed a quick, decisive message. “It’s time. Start now!”

Her words were sharp and filled with malice. As she sent the message, she glared at Khloe, her eyes burning with hatred and bitterness. Khloe’s downfall was imminent. It was only a matter of time.

Following the first round of the competition, the rules allowed for a five-hour interval to finish the assigned potion. At the end of this period, the next stage would begin, where remaining teams would collaborate in pairs to perform experiments instead of competing directly against one another. A panel of judges, along with a group of on-site research specialists, would then evaluate and score the results based on the effectiveness of each team’s potion. Only the top ten teams with the highest overall scores would advance to the finals.

Unlike before, where team leaders drew lots, this time the competition staff would randomly pair teams for the next stage.

When the five-hour timer expired, the list of pairings for the upcoming round was revealed.

Khloe’s team, Oasis Laboratory, was matched against none other than Sloane’s team, Illusion Laboratory, for the next round.

When Khloe learned that her team was the first to take the stage and face off against Sloane’s team, her eyes narrowed slightly, and a sense of caution surged in her heart.

Charlotte was also worried. She leaned closer to Khloe and whispered, “Khloe, it’s Sloane. Could she be the one causing trouble behind the scenes?”noveldrama

“Whether she is or not, we will face any challenges that come our way. Let’s focus on what we do best and let our results speak for themselves,” Khloe replied calmly. She took the potion and walked back to the stage, leading Charlotte and Sylvie.

As soon as they stepped onto the stage, they encountered Sloane’s team.

.

.

.