The next day, Tang Xiao logged back into the game and came to the laboratory. He was surprised to find that the console, which used to start experiments early in the morning, was unusually devoid of human figures today.
At this time, Lodge walked past him and patted Tang Xiao’s shoulder. “What’s the matter? Today is the group meeting, didn’t I say it last night?”
Tang Xiao: …
Where did he have time to care about what Lodge said in that situation yesterday? All he could think about was his chastity crisis.
As it turns out, it’s now a different kind of crisis.
However, Tang Xiao was not in a hurry. His face calmly archived the file with a calm expression.
Soon, Bader showed up and took everyone to the special conference room.
428 watched them quietly in the glass room, waiting for everyone in the laboratory to leave before sticking out a piece of mycelium and crawling quietly along the vent above the conference room.
“So, let’s start this regular meeting.”
Bader sat on the main position, and Babbitt presided over the meeting, full of solicitude, directing the assistants to serve tea and water.
Tang Xiao sat in the same area as a few newcomers and looked at Babbitt thoughtfully. No wonder this guy has been so peaceful these past few days and hasn’t given him any more trouble.
It turns out he’s waiting here.
Thinking about what he’s been doing this week.
Miscellaneous, miscellaneous, and still miscellaneous.
Because of Babbitt’s isolation, Tang Xiao was not notified in many meetings. He was not allowed to start experiments. Treating him as a transparent person, who knew how far their experiments had gone.
When he first arrived here today, Lodge explained to him the special nature of this group meeting. In addition to the usual explanation of the progress of the experiment, Bader’s presence here was more or less had the purpose of testing newcomers, to see what they were doing this week, whether they were learning independently, and whether they had any new ideas.
To put it simply, it was equivalent to a thorough exam.
At this point, Tang Xiao also knew Babbitt’s purpose. The other party wanted him to make a fool of himself in front of Bader so that Bader would lose interest in him.
When Tang Xiao lost his backer, Babbit naturally could do whatever he wanted to him.
It was really a clear-cut situation.
Sure enough, as soon as the regular meeting began, Babbitt aimed his firepower at Tang Xiao. “Let’s start with the newcomers as per usual. Tang Xiao, come and tell Dr. Bader about the progress of our experiments this week.”
Tang Xiao glanced at Babbitt’s gloating face and stood up expressionlessly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
Bader frowned. Babbit’s temper rose. “What? You don’t know? Alas, Xiao Tang, it’s not that I’m saying anything about you, now that you’re in the laboratory, you need to work on a project.”
The surrounding gaze that looked at Tang Xiao was full of mockery. Lodge’s face flashed with resentment. He stood up as if he wanted to say something, but was pulled by Tang Xiao. “It’s okay…”
He stared at Babbitt and smiled meaningfully. “I’m the one who didn’t learn much, so why don’t Dr. Babbitt give us a sample first.”
“Hmph.” Undeterred, Babbitt stood up and nodded to Bader to begin his report.
When his report was over, there was applause all around. Bader nodded with satisfaction and randomly selected other newcomers. When the entire audience was finished, it was his turn to summarize the problems, and Bader personally explained the difficulties encountered by everyone in the process of experiments.
Tang Xiao didn’t say a word during the entire process. He just quickly wrote down the key parts of everyone’s speeches with paper and pen, ignored Babbitt’s sarcasm, and sorted out the key information of the entire room from his seat. The outline of the whole experiment gradually appeared in his mind.
At the end of the normal report, Tang Xiaow as silent the entire time. Lodge looked more and more disappointed, and Bader stopped looking over at Tang Xiao.
Finally, Tang Xiao finished memorizing.
Read the archive!
“... Tang Xiao, you can tell Dr. Bader about the progress of our experiment this week.” Babbitt maliciously ordered Tang Xiao to speak first.
The reason why he was the first was that he wouldn’t even allow Tang Xiao to summarize the speeches of his predecessors.
“Okay.” Tang Xiao stood up expressionlessly and said calmly under the mocking gaze of Babbitt and the people around him, “At present, our experiments have successfully extracted a stable acidic substance from biological specimens. This particular substance can act on PESA materials and quickly corrode the material by destroying the carbon structure inside. In addition to the PESA material, this acidic substance is also notoriously corrosive to other materials with similar carbon structures.”
“However, one of the current problems encountered is that the acidic substances have encountered obstacles at this step of reproduction by synthetic means
Second, it’s not yet known whether this acidic substance can be industrialized.
Third, even if it can be industrialized, its cost will remain at an extremely high level. It can only be used in a few high-precision fields.
Fourth…”
The gazes of the surrounding people gradually transitioned from gloating to stupefaction. Their jaws dropped as they watched Tang Xiao talk eloquently, especially Babbitt, who looked like he had seen a ghost.
If it wasn’t for Bader sitting here, he would probably have slapped the table and asked Tang Xiao how he knew all this.
It was important to know that during this week’s experimental process, Babbitt hadn’t let Tang Xiao participate in it at all. Even many times the meetings were held behind his back, and no one was allowed to talk to Tang Xiao.
Lodge’s help was of course also taken into account by Babbitt. Although he couldn’t touch the blond-haired kid because of some factors, but hiding some conclusions, or deliberately misleading was still possible. Even if he and Tang Xiao communicated with each other in advance, he would fall into the trap that Babbitt had set up.
But Tang Xiao didn’t.
He seemed to know the entire experimental process well, and displayed the progress, key issues, and core data one by one, even without a manuscript in hand.
After Tang Xiao finished, Bader didn’t even need anyone else to add. He already understood the current process of the entire experiment and the problems encountered.
Everyone stared at Tang Xiao with ghostly expressions, including Lodge, whose eyes flashed with a strange luster.
Those present were highly educated and intelligent people. People like this… admired the ‘geniuses’ who were smarter than them.
No one knew how Tang Xiao did this. It might be revealed by someone or it might be observed by himself regularly. Either way, it meant that even when being suppressed by Babbitt, the other party was still able to come out on top.
After Tang Xiao sat down, Babbitt’s expression was still in a trance. He didn’t even know how the other party did it.
Bader exclaimed. “You’re well aware of the progress of the lab. You’re doing a great job.”
“You flatter me. As long as one has eyes and ears, one can more or less tell.” Tang Xiao smiled and looked at Babbitt coldly as he said, “Don’t you think so Dr. Babbit.”
Babbitt struggled to put a smile out of his mouth as those in the room reacted in different ways.
Everyone knew that because of Babbitt’s deliberate exclusion, Tang Xiao did not participate in the entire experiment process at all during this time. He was basically called to do miscellaneous work such as sweeping the floor and throwing garbage.
“With eyes and ears,” Lodge muttered, gradually figuring it out and looking at Tang Xiao with an indescribable shocked look.
Can he deduce the progress of the current research and the difficulties they are encountering just by watching their experimental process in between odd jobs regularly and from the occasional words that leak out from other researchers?
Is this the extent that a human can do?
No wonder Tang Xiao said last night that he didn’t need his information. It turned out that he was not reckless, and this suppression might not be a problem in his eyes.
Lodge shuddered. His gaze became hotter as he watched Tang Xiao.
In contrast, Babbitt’s expression was ugly and scary. Especially when Bader then called his name, Babbitt quickly stood up, but he didn’t know if it was the pressure brought by Tang Xiao, his original clear thinking was intermittent. It was basically the same as what Tang Xiao said just now, which confirmed that Tang Xiao was not talking nonsense.
The eyes of the researchers present looking at Tang Xiao had changed, which could be seen from the continuous sound of the increase in favorability.
Babbitt had often used his power to suppress people in the past, even repeatedly, and now he has kicked the iron plate for the first time.
After everyone finished reporting the progress of the experiment, Bader smiled and changed Tang Xiao’s position. Originally, he was sitting in the farthest place from Bader, but now he is directly sitting on Bader’s left side, and Babbitt on the right side directly sniped at the door.
Babbitt’s face was dark, while Tang Xiao wore a smile and didn’t wimp out in the slightest.
“Okay, let’s move on to the next item. If you don’t mind, talk about the problems encountered in the progress of the project. Let’s discuss it together.”
Bader said as his gaze went to Tang Xiao, “Tang, start with you first?”
Tang Xiao. “Well, the main problem I encountered was that the mop was not very easy to use. There’s a hole under the trash can and the garbage occasionally leaked out…”
“Wait–wait a minute Tang.” Bader was stunned, and said after a pause, “I meant for you to start with the difficulties you’re having at work, not in life.”
“Yes. That’s what I do on the project regularly.” Tang Xiao blinked his clear eyes. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask Mr. Babbitt.”
The newcomers and experimenters below didn’t dare to gasp, and even Lodge was stunned at Tang Xiao’s frankness.
It was simply tearing the skin directly and putting the problem out in the open.
Bader looked at Babbitt with a gloomy face. “Is there such a thing?”
Babbitt tugged the corner of his mouth. “Alas. This is my fault, the console is not enough, not well coordinated. You know that the newcomers start from the miscellaneous. I didn’t expect this kid to be so stubborn, he won’t borrow someone else’s.”
“Enough.” Bader interrupted Babbitt’s back-and-forth explanation, looking impatient. “In the future, the problem of insufficient laboratory equipment will be told to me directly. You don’t need to make your own decisions.”
Babbitt gritted his teeth and smiled bitterly at Tang Xiao’s gaze. “That’s right. It’s just a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. I’m here to apologize to Tang.”
Tang Xiao looked at Babbitt and bowed his head to him, just smiling. “No need. Because I don’t accept it.”
“You!”
“Okay. Both sides take a step back.” Bader coordinated in the middle, acting as a peacemaker, urging, “Babbitt, be sincere.”
Babbitt tensed his face. Under everyone’s gaze, he said to Tang Xiao word by word, “I’m sorry.”
His face was hot. It was the first time he had apologized to a newcomer since he entered the laboratory. It was still under the gaze of everyone in the laboratory.
This made the arrogant Babbitt feel more difficult to accept than a beating.
The sorry voice fell to the ground, without a response for a long time.
Babbitt raised his head, only to see Tang Xiao looking at him with a smile. His eyes were indifferent, not smug or angry, like looking at ants on the side of the road.
He did think so. In Tang Xiao’s cognition, all people were nothing more than NPCs in the game, so he actually didn’t take Babbitt’s previous embarrassment to heart and disliking him now was nothing more than a passing gesture.
But for people like Babbitt, not taking him seriously might be more uncomfortable than tit-for-tat.
Babbitt’s head turned red at once. Before he slammed the table, tang Xiao said in a strange tone, “It’s okay.”
“Okay. That’s a reconciliation.” Without waiting for Babbitt to react, Bader took the lead and said as if nothing had happened, “What about other people’s problems?”
The group meeting continued, only the atmosphere was strange. Everyone present was not a fool, looking at Bader’s obvious deviation, each of them had a scale in their hearts.
“Since no one has a problem, let’s move on to the last item.” Bader said, “Soon, the annual achievements conference will start again. I hope everyone will speed up your actions in the next few days. We will strive to make certain results before the press conference. I hope everyone will work harder in the past few days, don’t suddenly relax at the last minute.”
Achievements conference?
Tang Xiao was puzzled.
“It’s one of the most important activities of the Third Eye,” Lodge, who was sitting next to Tang Xiao, whispered, “It’s equivalent to a commendation and assessment for everyone. It’s an event where the scholars will be allowed to release their results from this entire year as well as defend and ask questions about their theses. It’s quite a grand academic feast.”
Bader said, “Okay, there is nothing left, let’s disband. One last thing, about the dealing of 428, try to get it done after the achievements conference.”
Tang Xiao and the little monster’s heartbeat hidden in the shadow moved. Deal with it?
“Okay.” Everyone’s complexion turned as usual.
“Okay, nothing else. This week ends here. Tang Xiao, you stay.”
Under normal circumstances, it was not a good thing to be named by Bader to stay. Although there were exceptions, such as this one.
Noticing the satisfied smile on Bader’s face, the researchers secretly exchanged glances and made a new judgment about the future situation in the laboratory.
[Completed Achievement: Debutante (Camp Favorability +10, Intelligence +3)
Description: You have completed an impressive report at the group meeting, leaving the impression of genius in everyone’s minds. It’s an opportunity and a challenge at the same time, what makes you can one day destroy you unless you are always moving forward.
Please note that the personal achievement task has been opened. Good luck to you on your research journey]
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