Tim shook his head in disappointment.
"That was Rob's experiment on cell modification. Somebody leaked the info on his project and he got offered a lame sum of money for the patent once it was finished. Rob refused. Then these guys started following him everywhere all of a sudden. That dude was trying to snatch one of his vials. Good thing he tripped..."
Before finishing his observation, Tim saw Lia, still standing there next to the suitcase ... and covered with the vial's contents.
"Lia! You okay?" he suddenly asked with a gasp.
Lia felt embarrassed. She had not heard the conversation about Rob's project. But she had enough time to process that being coated in ooze was nothing pretty. Hiding tears of shame, she ran away from the college, taking the opposite exit where the others had gone to give chase to the thief.
"W-wait! Hey, Lia!"