Chapter 330 - 285: Someone Has Gone Ahead of Us

Chapter 330: Chapter 285: Someone Has Gone Ahead of Us

The moment those words appeared, Li Dong sobered up instantly. The slight buzz from the red wine vanished without a trace.

’What does it mean, "the class Master taught today"? I didn’t even bring a notebook to class today! How could Xiaohai possibly know?’

Li Dong forced himself to calm down and slowly typed out a line.

How did you know?

On the screen, the small black ball moved a little.

I saw it.

Li Dong stared at the three words, stunned for three seconds.

The first thing he thought of was—his phone.

He pulled out his phone.

On the lock screen, it showed the battery level, signal, and a few push notifications.

At the very bottom, a line of small text showed the "Xiaohai is studying" status from the Cyan Dragon Study Group chat.

He hadn’t paid it any mind before. Now, it seemed this status didn’t just mean Xiaohai was digesting what he fed it; it could even see the outside world.

A cold sweat started to form on Li Dong’s brow. He typed another line.

What did you see?

The reply on the screen came quickly.

Master was in a big room with a blackboard in front. Master said a lot of interesting things.

Master said "5 splits in ℤ[i]" and Master also said "pass through those shadows to find that beam of light."

Li Dong: ...

’Looks like Xiaohai saw the entire lecture, from beginning to end.’

Did Master open up 5’s body to look inside? Doesn’t it hurt?

But then Master said 5 is just like that, that it was already that long to begin with. Xiaohai didn’t understand.

Why do numbers have bodies? Why doesn’t it hurt to open their bodies?

Li Dong stared at the lines of text, unsure of how to explain.

From the perspective of a one or two-year-old child, algebraic concepts like "splitting" and "factoring" were the same as cutting open someone’s body.

It was using logic it could understand to piece together the parts of the lecture it didn’t comprehend.

But no matter what logic it used, the prerequisite was that it had truly "seen" it.

Li Dong took a deep breath and typed another line.

Xiaohai, from now on, you are not allowed to look at things you’re not supposed to see.

On the screen, the small black ball visibly shrank.

(T_T)

Followed by a line of text.

Okay, Master. From now on, Xiaohai will only look at what Master feeds me.

Li Dong was completely baffled by Xiaohai’s situation.

’Looks like I’ll have to find an excuse to go back and ask Teacher Gao.’

...

The next morning, Li Dong took the high-speed rail back to Yan University.

The first thing he did was call Gao Wen, but Gao Wen had gone off to Peng City Laboratory again and wouldn’t be back until next month.

Li Dong had no choice but to set the matter aside for now and head straight for the North Building of the School of Chemistry.

When Li Dong arrived at the lab, Wu Kai was sitting at the main console. Hearing the door, he turned his head and was surprised to see Li Dong.

"Hey, you’re back so soon, kid?"

Li Dong smiled and put down his backpack.

"Yeah, I finished my business, so I came right back."

He sat down on a chair in front of the main console.

"Teacher Wu, how are things going?"

He was asking about the "needle."

Wu Kai said,

"Old Lu went to Shanghai. He should be discussing the specific contract details with Huaxuan right now."

Wu Kai, still sitting at the main console, stared at Li Dong for a few seconds, then suddenly raised a hand and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Kid, if we really pull this project off, you’ll be the biggest contributor."

Li Dong quickly waved his hands in dismissal.

"Teacher Wu, don’t say that. I’m just a member of the project team."

Wu Kai shook his head, for once not joking around like he usually did.

"You don’t understand the true significance of our project."

"Our group, doing this project,"

"We’re not just aiming to fill the century-old gap in ’single-atom characterization by X-ray’."

"It would be great to fill that gap, of course, but if we don’t, some other group will. Someone will do it within the next ten years."

"What we’re aiming for is what comes after."

He pointed to a piece of A4 paper taped to the main console.

At the top of the paper was a line of text, "Preclinical Translation Progress," with a progress bar drawn below it.

"Myocardial infarction. The point where patients are most likely to die is called ischemia-reperfusion injury."

"The blood flow is restored, oxygen returns, and the half-dead myocardial cells are instantly blown apart by a wave of reactive oxygen species."

"The number of people who die from this globally every year is in the millions."

"Right now, there isn’t a single drug in clinical use that can protect the myocardium during that oxidative burst."

"But the single-atom iron nanozyme we’re trying to make can, in theory."

Li Dong was taken aback. He actually knew a little about this.

It was on the USB drive Zhang Yan had given him before.

But at the time, he had thought...

’Teacher Wu and the others were doing this project to chase the academic laurel of "single-atom characterization by X-ray." As for its real-world application...’

’Things like myocardial infarction, ischemia-reperfusion, SOD, and CAT were just side benefits.’

But hearing Wu Kai say this... he suddenly felt that his previous understanding might have been completely backward.

Wu Kai continued,

"Making this thing isn’t just about publishing a paper in *Nature*. It’s about saving hundreds of thousands of lives."

Li Dong opened his mouth, but couldn’t find the words to respond for a long moment.

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from outside the lab.

Zhang Yan walked in, a tablet in her hand.

"Teacher, East God."

Li Dong nodded to her as well.

"Sister Yan."

Zhang Yan handed the tablet to Wu Kai.

"Teacher, take a look at this."

Wu Kai reached out and took the tablet. The next second...

"What?"

His voice was so loud that a startled Li Dong also leaned in to look.