After the Fall A Leap into a Stranger's Arms novel Chapter 143

All at once, every eye in the room landed on her.

Catherine slid a pair of glasses from her pocket and put them on, then walked to the podium with quiet confidence. The slate-gray suit highlighted her slim, upright figure. She wore a gentle smile, her eyes calm but brimming with a quiet determination.

Her voice was clear and steady as she began. “Good morning, everyone. My name is Catherine. The topic of my proposal is Project Starlight, a study on next-generation intelligent interaction systems.”

She spoke with a clarity that drew everyone in.

Picking up the laser pointer, she started her presentation. The slides were crisp and elegant, each one laying out her logic and key data in a way that was easy to follow.

But it was the content itself that made everyone sit up a little straighter.

Catherine was introducing a brand new theoretical model, one she had built on the foundations of Resonance AI. This model broke away from the old approaches, offering a full-brain neuromorphic learning mechanism, and her logical framework was airtight.

Compared to Shirley’s version of Resonance AI, Catherine’s theory was on another level. It was bold, visionary, and made the future of this technology feel real and within reach.

For a moment, the entire hall was silent. You could hear every breath, every shuffle.

Then Shirley’s voice rang out, sharp and disbelieving. “No way!”

She shot to her feet. “That’s my Resonance AI structure! Catherine, you copied me!” Her words came out fast and shrill. “You stole my core algorithm. This is cheating!”

Instantly, the room erupted. People gasped and murmured, shocked by the accusation.

Plagiarism is about the worst thing you can be accused of in science or tech. If it stuck, it could destroy a career, maybe even end up in court.

And especially here, in a place like this, no one could believe someone would make such a rookie mistake.

Before anyone could react, she continued, “After I graduated, I stepped away from academia, so I never followed up on that line of research. But honestly, I’m glad someone took it further and built something as impressive as Resonance AI.”

Shirley’s face went pale. It had never crossed her mind that the theory behind Resonance AI actually started with Catherine.

Waldo’s deep voice interrupted, his tone steady but serious. “Catherine, once your theory was published, it became open for anyone to learn from, study, and develop. Maybe Shirley was inspired by your work, but that doesn’t make it plagiarism. Resonance AI is a massive, complex project. It can’t be summed up by a single early paper.”

Catherine looked at him, biting back a bitter smile. He really had the nerve to defend Shirley, wiping away any hint of wrongdoing.

But Catherine wasn’t here to fight over who really owned Resonance AI. Not today. She only needed to prove her point.

Shirley looked slightly relieved, her voice cooling. “Catherine, Waldo’s right. Resonance AI is my own independent project. I’ve put everything I have into it. Maybe some ideas are similar, but that’s not plagiarism.”

Catherine just laughed to herself. If only they knew. This wasn’t just copying. Shirley had taken her work and made it her own.