IMAO Chapter 115.1

Outside the research facility’s laboratory building, a hover car swiftly pulled into a parking spot.

The air was chilly, and as soon as Su Lan stepped out of the car, he couldn’t help but shiver.

It’s really cold.

There was still an hour before the tour, but many people were already waiting. Su Lan found an inconspicuous spot to sit down. The research facility had strict security protocols. All communication devices had to be handed over to staff at the entrance for temporary safekeeping.

*Sigh*

Su Lan let out a deep breath. Everyone here shared the same goal – to bid on the patents that the Chinese Academy of Sciences was about to authorize for cooperation.

That was his goal too.

From the warfare in North Mali to his escape from danger until now… his so-called father has never contacted him even once. Only Evans, the family butler, had reached out to him.

“Are you okay?”

Lost in thought, Su Lan was startled by the concerned voice next to him. He looked up to meet a worried face.

“Hm? I’m fine,” Su Lan shook his head awkwardly.

“You looked like you were about to cry just now!” The young man smiled. “Good to hear you’re okay.”

“By the way, are you here for the tour? Want to go together?”

Su Lan wanted to refuse since he was here on business, but faced with the young man’s smile, he somehow couldn’t bring himself to say no. He could only nod reluctantly, “Alright.”

Su Lan noticed how the young man seemed to relax after he agreed to tour together.

“I’m Ji Yang. What’s your name?”

“Su Lan.”

“Oh, you look older than me, so I’ll call you Su-ge. By the way, I have two friends coming. Later I’ll just tell them we happened to meet and we’re touring together, not with them!”

Su Lan was taken aback and looked at the boy who wasn’t much younger than him. “Did you have a falling out with your friends?”

“No, no, it’s because…” Ji Yang waved his hands. Just as he was about to explain, he suddenly called out to two people who had just walked in, “Jiang Yuan, Ji Rong, over here!”

Su Lan: ???

“Finally awake? You’ve been out of it all morning. What were you up to last night?” Ji Yang asked Jiang Yuan with a mischievous grin.

“Nothing much, just wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t sleep,” Jiang Yuan coughed lightly, explaining without batting an eye while silently thinking to himself: Just slept with my brother for the third time, that’s all.

“Take care of yourself,” Ji Yang patted his shoulder twice and said, “This is Su Lan, a friend of mine. What a coincidence meeting him here today.”

After they introduced themselves, Ji Yang checked the time and said to Jiang Yuan, “It’s rare that I get to see him. Since there’s a tour today, I want to go with him. I’ll find you after!”

Jiang Yuan chuckled, “Sure.”

Then Jiang Yuan turned to Ji Rong and asked, “Why don’t you go with them? I’ll probably be busy today and can’t accompany you the whole time. You can come find me after the tour.”

Ji Rong shook his head, “I’ll stay with you. I’m worried.”

“It’s not that serious. We rarely get to come here, you should look around more,” Jiang Yuan said thoughtfully. The research facility wasn’t somewhere you could visit casually. It was guarded by soldiers outside. “You don’t need to follow me around. I’ll be fine.”

Ji Rong: “I’m staying with you.”

Seeing Ji Rong’s determined expression, Jiang Yuan paused, “Okay… then Ji Yang, come find me after you finish the tour with Su Lan.”

Ji Yang nodded and immediately grabbed the stunned Su Lan beside him excitedly, “Let’s go, let’s go! It’s time, hurry up and get in line!”

Watching this, Jiang Yuan laughed and said to Ji Rong, “Tch, this kid forgets all about us the moment he sees someone he knows.”

Ji Rong: “So thoughtless.”

Jiang Yuan glanced at Ji Yang rushing off with Su Lan and agreed, “Right? But his friend looks kind of familiar.”

…

Led by a staff member on the tour, Su Lan looked at Ji Yang beside him. After hesitating several times, he finally asked, “Those two friends of yours… they’re the ones who participated in this year’s mecha competition, right?”

Ji Yang didn’t look at him, his eyes captivated by the experiments in the facility, “Hehe, I thought you didn’t recognize them since you didn’t say anything.”

How could he not recognize them? He sat right behind them on the rescue ship, and people kept saying he was blocking their view of the handsome guys! Wasn’t he handsome too?

Su Lan glanced at his reflection in the glass window. Wasn’t he quite a good-looking young man himself?!

Those two’s performance in the mecha competition was absolutely breathtaking, and with their outstanding looks, it would be hard not to remember them.

Moreover, he had learned a secret from their conversation.

Ji Rong was the War God’s son, and the War God wasn’t single.

Su Lan caught up with Ji Yang in a few steps. “Mm… I recognized them right away, but I was too shocked to say anything.”

“Why aren’t you staying with them?” Ji Yang was suddenly bumped by someone, and Su Lan quickly pulled him back, preventing him from falling to the ground.

“Damn…” Ji Yang gripped Su Lan’s hand tightly, “Thanks, that scared me.”

“About why I’m not staying with them…” Ji Yang recalled all his encounters with the two since morning and said sadly, “He glared at me.”

“G-glared at you?”

Ji Yang stuck his hands in his pockets, pouting with an aggrieved expression, and uttered a name.

“Ji Rong.”

“Hahaha.” Su Lan burst out laughing and patted Ji Yang’s shoulder, “I knew it.”

Ji Yang: “???”

Ji Yang: “You knew?”

Su Lan immediately told him about what he witnessed between the two on the rescue ship.

Ji Yang asked gleefully, “Did Jiang Yuan really let Ji Rong sleep in his room?”

Su Lan: “Really, I was sitting right behind them. I heard everything clearly.”

Ji Yang: “Tsk tsk tsk, pulling the wool over our eyes[mfn]掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào líng) – lit. to cover one’s ears whilst stealing a bell / to deceive oneself / to bury one’s head in the sand (idiom)[/mfn]. Jiang Yuan had the nerve to say I was making things up. I have it so rough.”

Ji Yang: “Anyone with eyes can tell their relationship isn’t ordinary!”

Su Lan rubbed his nose, “You don’t even need eyes… to know.”

Ji Yang paused for a moment before realizing, “Pheromones?”

Su Lan: “Yeah.”

…

The two entered the laboratory, leaving Ji Rong waiting in the lobby. Jiang Yuan followed a staff member to the conference room, where Xu Chen sat at the front, discussing the development of a new mecha.

Xu Chen saw Jiang Yuan and nodded slightly, gesturing for him to sit nearby. Jiang Yuan immediately found an empty seat.

Jiang Yuan received the relevant materials and lowered his head to read them.

…

“What do you think of this mecha?” After the meeting, Xu Chen walked up to Jiang Yuan and asked in a low voice.

Xu Chen glanced at his masterpiece. He called Jiang Yuan here mainly because the mecha had entered the experimental stage, and having Jiang Yuan’s name attached would benefit his future development at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“It’s good, but this part, I think it could be improved,” Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, flipping to a page showing the mechanical design structure.

“Needs improvement?”

Jiang Yuan nodded, “Yes, if you switch to the old 671 structure, the performance should be better.”

“671?” Xu Chen raised an eyebrow as he looked at his newly designed mecha. “671…”

“Start up the equipment, get the simulator running!” Xu Chen suddenly turned and rushed into the laboratory, activating the simulator to change the original mechanical structure to the old 671 structure.

After switching the structure in the simulator, they ran simulation tests. After several hours, the stability results appeared.

The overall stability only increased by 0.01%, but the researchers in the simulation lab were all frozen in place.

It was normal for mecha stability to increase. After all, every optimization would improve stability by a bit. But this project had been ongoing for about ten years, and improving the mecha’s stability had become extremely difficult. Their previous data was supposed to be the best they could achieve!

“Lao Xu, that’s amazing!” A white-haired woman who didn’t attend the meeting smiled brightly, giving Xu Chen a thumbs up.

“How did you suddenly remember your old 671 structure design? Switching to this structure really improved the mecha’s stability!”

The woman was clearly on good terms with Xu Chen. Unlike others who were nervous around him, she spoke to him like a friend, her eyes twinkling with laughter.

Xu Chen gave a bitter laugh. This wasn’t his brilliance at all. The work he thought was perfect could actually be improved by Jiang Yuan, and the performance increased significantly.

This kid was really something else.

Thinking this, Xu Chen frowned and looked outside the simulation room, telling his assistants, “Continue with the simulation tests. I’m stepping out for a bit.”

“Yes, Director!”

Xu Chen patted his face and checked his reflection in the glass window. The excited flush had faded from his face, so he left the laboratory.

“Professor, did something happen just now?” Jiang Yuan immediately went up to him and asked.

Xu Chen waved his hand expressionlessly, “Nothing, just remembered an unfinished experiment.”

“I’ll try out your suggested improvements. Review the mecha documentation thoroughly and write me an improvement proposal, understand?”

Jiang Yuan: “Is this homework?”

Under the laboratory lights, Xu Chen nodded slightly, “That’s right, it’s homework. If your revisions don’t satisfy me, I’ll dock your regular grades. But… you don’t have many points left, you’ve missed quite a few of my classes.”

Jiang Yuan: “Professor, I had leave approved.”

Xu Chen: “I never approved your leave. Anyway, write the proposal well. If it’s good, you’ll get full marks. If it’s not, be prepared to fail.”

Looks like his professor was serious… Jiang Yuan helplessly looked over the new mecha design again. He already had the super AI Alphonse analyze it before. The mecha design was nearly perfect, but there was still room for improvement.

Jiang Yuan could only nod reluctantly, “I understand, Professor. I’ll finish it as soon as possible.”

For the sake of his midterm grades, he couldn’t afford to lose points on regular assignments. But… wasn’t the midterm exam next weekend?

Since he wouldn’t be coming to the lab next weekend, he’d have to write it tonight.

Seeing Jiang Yuan agree, Xu Chen smiled and patted his shoulder, “Come on, I’ll help you get familiar with the laboratory.”

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