"What do you mean by that, Vice President Underwood?"

Even with her good composure, Sophia Shaw’s expression turned cold.

Elias Underwood had his hands in his pockets, refusing to even spare Sophia a proper glance. "Lead Aerospace is a humble temple that can’t house a great deity. Get lost and go back where you came from!"

Although he wasn’t looking at her directly, the disgust on his face was as if she were a piece of rat droppings.

"Vice President Underwood, is there some misunderstanding?"

"Hurry up and get her away from me! Just looking at you is annoying!" Elias Underwood couldn’t be bothered to waste another word on her and waved for security.

A security guard walked out, looking troubled.

He didn’t know Sophia Shaw’s position, but she came and went with Levin Sawyer every day and seemed to be highly regarded. Who would be bold enough to touch her?

Sophia knew Elias Underwood was a talented individual, so she patiently explained, "I’m not here to be put on a pedestal. I’m here to work with all of you."

"Tch!"

Seeing the guard hesitate, Elias rolled up his sleeves. "You’re too scared, right? Fine, I’ll do it myself!"

He reached out to grab Sophia.

Sophia sidestepped and pushed Elias back with her other hand. "Elias Underwood, what are you doing!"

Levin Sawyer hurried to Sophia’s side. "Are you all right?"

Sophia shook her head. "Vice President Underwood seems to have some misunderstanding about me."

"I have no misunderstanding about you!" Elias glared at her. "The entire company knows how many outrageous things our President Sawyer has done lately just to make his pretty lady smile!"

"Elias Underwood, watch your mouth!" Levin Sawyer was usually polite to his subordinates, but he became extremely stern when a line was crossed.

"How am I not watching my mouth?" Elias felt wronged and furious. "President Sawyer, I don’t care if you want a girlfriend or want to hide a mistress in a golden cage, but bringing her into the company is just wrong!"

"The guys worked their asses off to build Lead Aerospace! It’s not something for you to use to please some woman!"

"Elias Underwood, that’s going too far."

Samuel Goldman had arrived with Levin Sawyer.

His words were so harsh that even Samuel couldn’t stand to listen anymore.

Seeing Levin’s face darken with anger and fearing the situation would escalate, he quickly tried to mediate. "Sophia Shaw’s background is not simple. She’s definitely not the trophy piece you think she is."

"Of course it’s not simple!" A mocking sneer hung openly on Elias’s lips. "An employee from the Grant Group who couldn’t be more disgraced suddenly becomes a hot commodity at Lead Aerospace."

"It’s one thing for Levin Sawyer to lose his mind, but how could you, Samuel Goldman, get involved in this too!"

"He listened to this woman and rejected the collaboration with Joanna Sherman! Why didn’t you stop him?"

Speaking of the collaboration with Joanna Sherman, Samuel Goldman actually felt it was a bit of a shame.

"Director Shaw and President Sawyer have their reasons for this."

"Director Shaw?" Elias scoffed. "The entire internet knows she doesn’t know the first thing about the rocket business. How dare you go against your conscience and give her the title of a director?"

Elias slammed his fist on the electronic door. "You really want Lead Aerospace to go out of business, don’t you!"

"Elias Underwood, you can’t believe that stuff online. We’ve witnessed Director Shaw’s abilities firsthand. We’re genuinely impressed by her!" Samuel Goldman promised, patting his chest.

Elias looked at Samuel with disappointment. "What did she give you to make you willingly help her spin these lies!"

"If you’re not convinced, Vice President Underwood, you can interview me yourself." Sophia had no desire to get into a shouting match.

Elias sneered. "Are you worthy?"

Levin Sawyer was so annoyed he grabbed Elias’s collar. "You’re the one who isn’t worthy!"

"Without Sophia Shaw, Lead Aerospace wouldn’t even exist."

Samuel also hurried to speak up for Sophia. "You don’t know, do you? That thruster we could never figure out was developed by Sophia Shaw!"

Elias didn’t believe a word of it. "Samuel Goldman, are you trying to fool a child? An employee who doesn’t show up for work until the sun is high in the sky can develop a thruster? Do you think a booster is child’s play?"

"What do you mean ’sun is high in the sky’? Sophia Shaw was working around the clock last night, did you know that?!"

But Elias was completely unreasonable.

Levin was so angry he looked like he was about to hit him.

Sophia pulled Levin’s hand off Elias’s collar. "Then you tell me. What will it take for you to believe I’m qualified to stay at Lead Aerospace?"

Elias waved her off. "No need to waste your effort. Since President Sawyer hired you, I’ll accept it."

"But we need to set three rules. You are not to interfere in any company matters!"

"Impossible!" Sophia might appear gentle, but she was never careless or compromising when it came to her work.

Elias clenched his jaw and nodded. "Fine, I’ll concede! I don’t care about anything else, but you are not to get involved in the collaboration with Grant Interstellar!"

Sophia finally understood.

Joanna Sherman couldn’t get through to Levin Sawyer, so she’d turned to Elias Underwood instead.

Elias Underwood was the head of technology at Lead Aerospace, arguably the second most important person in the company after Felix Sawyer.

Joanna Sherman had seized on this point, convinced that Levin Sawyer couldn’t possibly ignore Elias’s opinion, and planned to use him to break through.

"We can discuss other things, but on this matter, I refuse!" Before Sophia could speak, Levin Sawyer made his stance clear.

He had to be the one to shoulder this.

"Grant Interstellar doesn’t even have a proper database. They’re not qualified to work with us!"

"That’s simple! Lead Aerospace’s database is so mature, we can just let them use it!"

Elias didn’t just admire Joanna Sherman; he worshipped her.

’Even I couldn’t build a rocket from scratch and launch it into space.’

He simply refused to believe that Joanna Sherman was incapable of building a database. He just assumed Stellaron’s database had a problem that they didn’t have time to fix.

"So if she wants our rocket testing system, we should just give it to her?" Levin retorted.

"What’s wrong with that? Maybe she could even optimize it for us!"

In Elias’s eyes, Joanna Sherman was omnipotent.

"Optimize?" Levin Sawyer let out a cold laugh. "Without outside help, Joanna Sherman couldn’t even build a rocket. What makes you think she can optimize anything for you?"

"Don’t you dare slander Joanna Sherman!"

Elias was too far gone. Even if Levin put the evidence right in front of him, he wouldn’t believe it.

"Joanna Sherman is more capable than you or me, to say nothing of this Miss Shaw!"

"In short, if we don’t cooperate with Stellaron, I’m quitting Lead Aerospace!"

Everyone was deeply shocked. The silence that followed was terrifying.

Even Sophia hadn’t expected Elias to threaten to leave Lead Aerospace.

In fact, she was the one who had recommended Elias Underwood to Levin Sawyer before she herself left Lead Aerospace. Sophia knew Elias’s capabilities even better than Levin did.

If he left, it would be a huge loss for Lead Aerospace.

"Elias Underwood, don’t be unreasonable!"

Samuel Goldman quickly tried to persuade him.

"We’ve worked so hard together for so many years, how could you say something like leaving!"

"We can talk things over. There’s no need to make things so tense."

Elias turned his face away, refusing to listen.

Sophia turned her head and saw a white car parked behind some trees in the distance.

Joanna Sherman was leaning against the car, giving her a provocative smile.

Her eyes and brow were filled with mockery for Sophia.

’So what if you have Levin Sawyer’s protection?’

’When I decide to stir things up, a defeated opponent like Sophia Shaw can only admit defeat!’

Clenching her fists, Sophia looked up. "About this matter..."

Levin Sawyer cut her off. "Elias Underwood, think this through. If you insist on leaving the company for Joanna Sherman, I won’t stop you!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Levin Sawyer, you..." Elias pointed at Levin in disbelief. "You’d actually give me up for this woman? Have you lost your damn mind?!"