Chapter 454

Damien Harrington smiled, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the polished mahogany desk.

"Absolutely, my interest hasn't waned in the slightest."

Selene Lancaster knew well of Damien's fascination with NovaSight Labs's LumenCore programming language.

That was precisely why, when she'd expressed her desire to join NovaSight Labs last year, he'd given his wholehearted support.

He saw immense potential in her.

Perhaps it was his admiration for LumenCore's creator that made him brush off Gabriel Ashcroft's cold demeanor - a hostility stemming from Camille Hartwell.

Damien simply chuckled it off.

"Though I must admit," he said candidly, "I've managed to offend Mr. Ashcroft before."

"His opinion of me isn't exactly favorable at the moment."

"If you're hoping to collaborate with him while asking for my assistance," he continued, "it might actually backfire."

Jasper Rutherford raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn't press further.

"Understood. I'll find another way to make the connection."

Jasper's pharmaceutical empire had been struggling with their AI model's dismal success rate in antibody discovery.

Their ambitious plan to design revolutionary antibody molecules using multimodal generation architecture, combined with atomic structure prediction capabilities, had hit an insurmountable wall.

After six months of failed partnerships, Jasper turned his attention to NovaSight Labs.

Jasper's international reputation preceded him.

A collaboration would benefit NovaSight Labs immensely.

Both Camille and Gabriel showed particular interest in this field.

After brief discussions, they scheduled a meeting with Jasper for the following morning.

Jasper arrived at Caldwell Heights with two engineers in tow.

Having watched several interviews featuring Gabriel and Camille before returning to the States, Jasper thought Camille looked stunning on camera.

He wasn't prepared for how breathtaking she appeared in person.

Time was of the essence.

After exchanging pleasantries, Camille's team dove straight into dissecting the technical flaws in Jasper's current multimodal architecture setup.

Camille and Gabriel engaged the engineers in deep discussion - from fusion strategies to data alignment, and computational efficiency improvements - addressing each issue methodically.

By meeting's end, Jasper was so impressed he immediately instructed his team to draft a contract, eager to formalize the partnership with NovaSight Labs without delay.

As Camille and Gabriel prepared to leave, Jasper personally escorted them to their car with uncharacteristic courtesy.

The moment their vehicle disappeared from view, he dialed Damien.

"The problems that stumped my engineers for months?" Jasper said, voice tinged with awe.

"Mr. Ashcroft and his girlfriend solved them effortlessly."

"They're truly remarkable. I'm confident our challenges will be resolved swiftly."

Damien chuckled, "The right partnership does yield double the results with half the effort. Congratulations."

After exchanging pleasantries, Jasper couldn't resist adding, "Mr. Ashcroft's girlfriend is astonishingly beautiful. More importantly, she's brilliant."

"I expected Mr. Ashcroft to lead the discussion, but she matched him at every turn. Their synergy was flawless."

Jasper's voice dropped conspiratorially, "I'm thoroughly intrigued by Ms. Hartwell now. If she weren't taken, I'd pursue her without hesitation!"

Damien was mid-bite when the comment came through.

His fork paused mid-air, eyebrow arching slightly.

"Oh? Is that so?"

The conversation wasn't private.

Chloe Harrington and Selene Lancaster sat in the private dining room as Damien took the call on speakerphone.

Every word Jasper uttered reached Selene's ears with crystal clarity.

Her fingers tightened imperceptibly around her wine glass.