Chapter 1

My advisor hated that I never spoke up in class. He much preferred Evelyn Ward, my smooth-talking peer from the adjacent lab who was a master at playing the room.

To force me to "open up," he set a ridiculous rule: during our weekly lab meetings, my presentation had to be delivered at over eighty decibels. If I failed to do so, he refused to sign off on my thesis.

For the first meeting, I practically yelled my report.

He claimed my voice was trembling too much and handed my research data over to Evelyn.

For the second meeting, I popped a throat lozenge beforehand.

I strained my vocal cords, argued aggressively with Evelyn over the data, and even slammed my hand on the table.

I finally managed to shut her up, but my advisor threw my draft straight into the trash.

"Zero class. You sound like an unhinged drama queen," he said coldly. "One-year suspension. Go home and reflect on your attitude."

To survive and pay my bills, I ended up running a makeshift stand under the subway overpass, applying phone screen protectors and doing minor repairs for cash.

By the third lab meeting, I didn't say a single word. I simply projected a silent security video onto the screen.

The room fell dead silent.

Because on the screen, my advisor and Evelyn were—

"Turn it off."

Dr. Marcus Henderson’s voice was quieter than the hum of the air conditioner.

Nobody moved.

On the projector screen, he had Evelyn pressed against the edge of his desk. His right hand was slipping under the hem of her white lab coat. Evelyn’s neck was arched back, her mouth half-open as if gasping for air. But the footage had no sound.

Twelve of us sat in the lab conference room. Twelve pairs of eyes were pinned to the screen.

"I said, turn it off."

His leather shoes clicked against the linoleum floor, slow and steady.

I didn't budge.

He walked to the projector and yanked out the HDMI cable.

My senior peer, Lucas Sterling, kept his head down. Fiona Brooks stared intently at her phone. Evelyn sat in the front row, her fingers twisting the fabric of her skirt into tight knots.

Dr. Henderson turned around.

"It’s an AI deepfake," he said smoothly. "I trust you all have the intelligence to recognize that."

No one answered.

His gaze locked onto me.

"Chloe, where did you get this?"

"The hallway security camera in Library Building B. October 17th, 9:13 PM."

"Who authorized you to access those files?"

I didn't reply.

He sneered.

"Unauthorized access of university property, fabricating evidence, and publicly broadcasting explicit material in an academic setting." He stepped closer. "Chloe Vance, that’s called defamation."

"It's called the truth."

"It's called a crime."

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number right in front of everyone.

"Hey, Joseph? It's Marcus Henderson. Bring two campus security officers to Room 706. Yes, I have a student broadcasting an AI-generated explicit video to defame faculty."

Evelyn burst into tears right on cue.

"Dr. Henderson," she sobbed, "if this video gets out, how am I supposed to live? My life is ruined!"

"Don't worry." Dr. Henderson patted her shoulder gently. "Lies don't hold up under investigation."

Two security officers arrived shortly. Dr. Henderson pointed to the items on my desk. "Take her USB drive and laptop. They’re evidence."

"Those belong to me."

"They are your tools of crime." He snatched my USB drive and stuffed it into his pocket.

The female officer stepped forward and picked up my laptop.

I took one last look at my peers, who still kept their heads glued to their laps.

"Lucas."

His shoulders shuddered, but he didn't look up.

"Fiona."

She pretended to organize her notes, ignoring me completely.

The male officer took my arm. "Miss, let's go."

I stood up.

As I reached the doorway, Evelyn’s voice drifted over.

"Chloe, I don't know why you hate me so much. But doing this... you're only hurting yourself."

I looked back at her.

Then I walked out.

I was taken to a windowless office on the first floor of the administration building. The security officers told me to sit and wait.

I sat there for four hours. When I needed to use the restroom, the female officer followed me inside.

At 11:00 PM, the door finally opened. A middle-aged man sat down across from me. His badge read "Director Joseph Miller, Student Conduct Office."

He flipped open a folder.

"Chloe Vance, do you realize what your actions today mean?"

"What do they mean?"

"Illegal hacking of campus security data, public exhibition of simulated obscene materials, and defamation of a tenured professor. Any one of these is enough to get you expelled."

"That video is real."

"Our IT department has already conducted a preliminary analysis." He tapped the file. "The verdict: there are clear traces of AI rendering. We cannot rule out a deepfake."

"They analyzed it in under ten hours?"

"We have a highly efficient professional team."

I stared into his eyes. "Have you actually watched the video yourself?"

He ignored my question.

"Sign this statement." He pushed a piece of paper toward me. "Admit it was an operational mistake and that you projected the wrong file. The university will show leniency. Just a disciplinary warning, and it won't go on your permanent record."

I looked down at the paper. The text was already printed out for me: *I admit that due to emotional instability, I mistakenly played an AI-synthesized video during the lab meeting, severely damaging the reputation of Professor Marcus Henderson and Evelyn Ward. I express my deepest apologies...*

A blank line at the bottom waited for my signature.

"And if I refuse to sign?"

"Then we go through formal procedures. The Academic Integrity Board and Title IX Office will step in. At that point, the outcome will be entirely out of my hands."

I stood up and walked toward the door.

"Chloe," he called out, hesitating.

"Do you... have any other backups of that file?"