At this moment, Li Dong spoke up.
He smiled at Wu Kai.
"Teacher Wu, don’t worry about all that."
"Teacher Zhang is in great health."
The old lady turned to look at him and patted his shoulder.
"This kid is still the best sweet-talker."
Li Dong smiled back.
That’s what he said, but deep down, he knew the truth.
’Whether it was the old lady or Fields, their illnesses were somewhat similar, yet also different.’
The nanoenzyme he had developed in Wu Kai’s group could, once implemented, treat some aspects of acute myocardial infarction, but it couldn’t help with a chronic condition like the old lady’s, where the tissue had already scarred.
Just as he was mulling this over,
Wu Kai spoke to him.
"Li Dong, there’s something I need to tell you."
"The patent came through."
"Oh?"
Wu Kai nodded.
"Next, we have to move toward clinical implementation."
"We’ve been in contact with Le Pu, and we’ll continue to follow up."
"Regarding the patent royalties, I haven’t mentioned it before, so I’ll give you the lowdown today."
The breakdown for this type of invention patent, according to the national standard in recent years, was roughly as follows...
After the 2015 revision of the "Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements," most top-tier universities raised the inventors’ share to between seventy and eighty percent. The university or its affiliated institution would keep twenty to thirty percent, with the remainder divided based on contributions within the group.
The specifics varied slightly between universities, but that was the general framework.
Wu Kai continued.
"For ours, the university gets twenty percent."
"The remaining eighty percent is for us to divide."
He glanced at Li Dong.
Li Dong’s expression was calm.
Wu Kai was actually a little surprised.
He’d known Li Dong for a while. The kid had always been focused on academics and never seemed to care much about money.
’But this time, with these kinds of numbers, you could at least show a little surprise.’
But Li Dong’s serene expression made three words pop into Wu Kai’s head: ’A pure person.’
Wu Kai continued.
"Me, you, and Old Lu—the three of us will each get twenty percent."
"The final twenty percent will be divided among the others in the group."
"Any objections?"
Li Dong smiled and shook his head.
"Whatever you say, Teacher Wu."
With a net worth of five hundred million, Li Dong really wasn’t too fussed about this patent.
’Twenty percent... a few million at most, right?’
’Just pocket change.’
Just as Li Dong was making this mental calculation...
The old lady leaned over quietly and whispered in his ear.
"Xiaowu’s patent..."
"...brings in over a hundred million every year."
"At least."
The smile on Li Dong’s face froze.
Then, he pretended he hadn’t heard a thing, his expression once again "unflappable."
’Damn it.’
’I was thinking too small.’
’My perspective was way too narrow.’
’And here I was thinking it was just a few million.’
While Li Dong was roasting himself internally, he tried his best to maintain a calm smile, as if he’d heard nothing and everything was normal.
He thought his smile was flawless.
However...
In the eyes of the old lady and Wu Kai, that smile was actually a little painful to look at.
The old lady couldn’t even hold it in.
"HAHAHA!"
The old lady leaned back against the sofa, her shoulders shaking with laughter. She had to cough several times before she could stop.
Li Dong cleared his throat but didn’t say anything.
Soon, Qi Yu began bringing the dishes out from the kitchen, one by one.
The three of them chatted idly while they ate.
The old lady talked about an old friend who had called a few days ago, Wu Kai chimed in with some trivial matters from the School of Chemistry, and Li Dong would occasionally add a word or two.
The atmosphere at the table was full of talk and laughter.
But Qi Yu didn’t say a single word from beginning to end.
Li Dong noticed. He remembered that his senior, Qi Yu, wasn’t usually this quiet.
’Is it because there’s an "outsider" here today, so she’s being more reserved?’
’Or is it something else?’
He didn’t ask.
After dinner, he and Qi Yu left together.
They were both heading back to the university.
By the time they left the residential complex, it was already evening.
The setting sun washed the entire street in a somber color.
Qi Yu walked ahead, her head bowed.
Li Dong followed half a step behind and to her side.
They walked for about half a block.
Qi Yu still didn’t speak.
Li Dong finally couldn’t help but speak up.
"Senior."
"What’s wrong?"
Qi Yu shook her head.
She walked a few more steps.
It wasn’t until she reached the street corner that she stopped and let out a soft sigh.
"The hospital said..."
She paused.
"Teacher Zhang might not have many years left."
Li Dong’s steps faltered to a halt.
He lifted his head and glanced at Qi Yu.
She didn’t look at him. Her gaze fell on a patch of leaves on the ground, reddened by the setting sun.
Li Dong didn’t speak either.
He knew that anything he said at a time like this would be pointless.
Deep down, he had his own plan.
’I was thinking I could try to fleece Mendeleev and Madam Curie in the group, grind my Group Leader level, and see if I can unlock another Origin Fragment.’
’If I manage to collect enough, I might unlock a relevant branch on the tech tree. That could potentially solve the problems of both the old lady, Zhang Lufang, and Fields.’
’But that was just a gamble.’
’And there were no ’what ifs’ when it came to the old lady’s and Fields’s health.’
Li Dong took two steps forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Qi Yu.
Neither of them spoke. They just stood there at the corner for a while.
In the end, it was Qi Yu who moved first.
"Let’s go."
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
When they reached the campus gate, Qi Yu headed for the women’s dormitory, while Li Dong returned to Building 35.
They parted ways and went back to their respective rooms.
「Back in his dorm room.」
His three roommates, Wang Hao, Zhang Ran, and Chen Xiang, were all there.
Li Dong gave them a simple greeting and opened his laptop.
He pulled up the joint paper that Teacher Wu had emailed him a couple of days ago.
This paper, co-authored by Wu Kai, Lu Mingyuan, and Li Dong, was the core manuscript for their group’s work on the single-atom iron nanoenzyme. It had already been submitted.
Li Dong took a deep breath.
He clicked open the [Cyan Dragon Study Group].
He wanted to try dragging the paper directly into the group’s dialogue box to send it.
[Sending...]
One second, two seconds.
[Send Failed.]
Li Dong gave a wry smile at the screen.
The notification didn’t really surprise him.
He had completely mastered the section of the paper that he himself had written.
But as for Lu Mingyuan’s parts—the vacuum chamber upgrade for the process line, the calibration error curve for the magnetic shielding, the late-stage tuning details for the Huaxuan probe...
...and Wu Kai’s parts—the loading pathway for the iron single atom, the electronic structure regulation of the framework coordination, the density functional theory of the active sites...
He hadn’t fully digested any of it.
He clicked on the group functions button.
[Remaining File Transfers: 1]
Only one left.
Li Dong thought for a moment. If he used it on this paper, his last-resort transfer would be gone.
Even though the inspiration from Galileo had already laid out the path for Phase Locking before him...
...there was still a gap of unknown length between having the idea and being able to turn it into a hundred-percent-viable paper.
He wasn’t an expert in solar physics to begin with. If he ran into a really tough problem, he would most likely have to go back to the group and ask the titans for help.
If he didn’t have this final file transfer as a safety net...
Li Dong thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth.
’Damn it, I’ll deal with the precursor warning problem first.’
’If I can push through that on my own without using the file transfer...’
’...then I’ll use this chance on this paper.’
’But if I get truly stuck on that and have to use it...’
’...then I’ll just have to hurry up, take out Wu Kai’s and Lu Mingyuan’s sections again, and grind through them line by line until I’ve completely mastered them.’
’It won’t be too late to drag and drop it into the group chat then.’
Having made up his mind, Li Dong closed the paper.
He casually clicked open Nature Careers.
He wanted to see if anyone had applied.
The page loaded.
The number of applicants below the job posting.
Still showed 0.
He wasn’t too surprised.
After all, he had been publicly flamed on arXiv for a whole week. It was understandable that no one was willing to take a risk and tie their boat to his just yet.
He sighed and was about to close the website.
Suddenly, the screen flickered slightly.
The number of applicants below the posting.
Changed to 1.
[You have received a new application for your job posting.]
[Applicant: Clara Caldwell]

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