In July 2036, in front of the new building of the McGovern Institute for Brain Science at Peking University, a car stopped steadily.

Xiang Shan pushed the car door, then shook his crisp suit, and then made a phone call.

Soon, a middle-aged man walked out of the building.

Xiang Shan stretched out his hand and shook hands with the middle-aged man: "Senior Brother Hu, long time no see." Since you fell into this Zhongguancun College of Arts and Sciences, your figure has been blessed. ”

The man sighed, "Who's to say it's not." If it's not for life, why bother coming next door to beg for life! ”

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled, and everything was silent.

This is Xiang Shan's senior brother Hu Zhengyu, nicknamed "nonsense", and he spent a period of time with Xiang Shan when he was a classmate in 27 years. In 28 years, Xiang Shan left China to develop in an international research institute in the tropics, and Mr. Hu Zhengyu came to the McGovern Institute of Brain Science through Lao Liu's cooperation project in 33 years and became the second boss in a laboratory.

Last year, Xiang Shan returned to Beiping. Hu Zhengyu heard that this junior brother was running in many directions, and it seemed that he was planning to prepare a "big project".

Hu Zhengyu took Xiang Shan into the new building of the research institute, and said as he walked: "Senior brother, senior brother, I remind you, don't say what you said just now, my big boss is a sword boy with full of martial arts, and he is different from these weak students of the liberal arts college next door." ”

"Yes, yes. We can't look next door with tinted glasses. Xiang Shan made an "OK" gesture.

Hu Zhengyu led Xiang Shan to an office, there was no one, shrugged his shoulders and said: "Maybe you are not here now, the monkey does not wait for anyone." The big boss is now going to engage in monkeys. ”

"Monkeys?"

"Well, yes, that's really only so much for a monkey. If you do too much, the monkeys will not be in pain, and it will not be good for the mental health of the experimenters. Hu Zhengyu shrugged: "And the monkey's state is abnormal, which may affect the objectivity of the data or something." There are some projects that you have to rush to do when the monkey is in good shape. ”

Xiang Shan grinned: "Tsk, a second of silence for the poor monkey." ”

"Eat better than me, and as long as you don't have the misfortune to encounter the craft trend, everyone will have a big house in a year or two. In terms of life expectancy, it is equivalent to retiring after graduating from college. Hu Zhengyu pouted: "If it weren't for the Ethics Committee, I would have wanted to toss and retire early." ”

Xiang Shan glanced at the office. This office is a corner of the building, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides and excellent natural light. But the office furnishings are simple, a desk, a bookshelf, a set of sofas. The office was a bit overly tidy and impersonal.

In addition to the realistic mecha model on the desk, which is more than ten centimeters high, and the sword stand with a steel feather fencing hanging in the corner.

and the pile of documents on the desk that looked like elementary school students giving presentations.

Xiang Shan nodded: "Sure enough, it is a talent with abundant martial arts in your school." ”

Hu Zhengyu asked Xiang Shan to sit for a while, and then went back to see the data he was running. Xiang Shan ate a snack alone and waited for a quarter of an hour.

After Hu Zhengyu gave a few words of instructions to the master's students he brought, he came over to accompany Xiang Shan and wait. After a while, he sighed, "Lao Chen may still be busy." Why don't I take you straight to the rest area of the lab? ”

Xiang Shan is here to talk about cooperation this time. In 2035, after Xiang Shan returned to China, he began to prepare for a major project on "human prostheticization". Although part of the content of the "Rama Project" has not been disclosed to the public, Hu Zhengyu at least knows where his junior brother went and who he communicated with in the past few years.

He was very interested in the "big plan" in the mountain pass.

Waving his hand to the mountain: "This is not appropriate, is it?" ”

"There's nothing inappropriate, there's nothing unpleasant ......about today's project," Hu Zhengyu was taking care of it, but when he remembered something, he immediately said: "It's just forbidden to take pictures." Also, don't step out of the lounge and into the lab area. ”

Unlike Lao Liu's laboratory in the Basic Industry Training Center, there is a glass curtain wall between the rest area and the experimental area of this laboratory. The rest area is very narrow, and Xiang Shan and Hu Zhengyu stand behind the glass curtain wall, feeling like they are visiting a zoo.

The experimental area is not very large, some messy electronic equipment is piled on the side, and the wiring is messily laid on the floor. In the center of the laboratory is a special fixed table, and a monkey surrounded by various instruments sits on a closed "throne" made of acrylic rubber sheets, and the head fixed by the steel frame is opened, and a group of white coats are doing something around it.

Around the researchers, several air projections are projecting data in real time in a location that is easily visible to everyone.

Xiang Shan couldn't help but touch his head: "This monkey looks quite painful, why is his head blurry?" ”

"The dental cement, even if the color is pink, is actually the wound on the monkey's head that has long since healed. They simply cleaned up a portion of the tissue in the head and replaced a small piece of the skull with a transparent material so that the brain could be viewed with a two-photon microscope. Moreover, the monkey was anesthetized during the operation, and now there is no pain. ”

As he spoke, the white coats were all concentrated in front of a large number of screens on the other side of the experimental area, while the glass curtain wall around the monkey and the instrument suddenly became opaque. Hu Zhengyu explained: "This is the beginning of the experiment, in order to ensure the quality of the neuronal fluorescence signal collected by the microscope, the experimental area is strictly protected from light when working. When the experiment is over, I'll be responsible for putting the fresh, hot neuronal activity data on the computer. ”

While waiting, Xiang Shan glanced at the electronic bulletin board outside the laboratory. He looked at it twice, a little strange: "Well, senior brother, let me ask, isn't the composition of the personnel in this laboratory a bit strange?" ”

"Huh? Oh, this? You mean the number of experimenters? Hu Zhengyu said: "Boss Chen especially hates the things that let students do it, so he would rather add professional technicians." ”

"Supernumeraries?"

"A small number of professionals do professional things." Hu Zhengyu stretched out his finger and pointed: "Lao Wang over there is a retired veterinarian from the zoo, who gets a part-time job here, and occasionally comes to take care of animals or something." That is, the conditions are limited, otherwise he wants to outsource all the chores that can be outsourced. ”

"It's a man!" Xiang Shan was greatly moved.

Although the relationship with Lao Liu is quite good, Xiang Shan knows that he is still an "individual phenomenon". At this stage, the system of "laboratories" is closer to the small workshops of the Middle Ages. A large number of unskilled chores are assigned to students at the bottom. Generally speaking, the junior apprentice can get started by the senior apprentice for two weeks, and it is a qualified good leek.

For the apprentice's master, the cost of training this leek is almost zero.

There is such a joke that has been passed down through the ages. A thief runs to the lab to steal something, but the researcher returns a little later. Then the lab went around for a week, and the thief pretended to be a researcher for a week, and finally found a chance to slip away after a week. When his accomplice asked him if he had gained anything, the thief said, "I've learned to run electrophoresis!" ”

In many cases, manual work in the laboratory is unskilled.

However, it doesn't cost money to ask for money and squeeze students.

The bosses who are willing to spend money in this area are all people with ideals!

It seems that the experiment has finally entered the stage of stable operation. The atmosphere in the experimental area relaxed. Most of the people stood up from the screen and walked out as they moved their muscles.

The person at the head seemed to see Xiang Shan and Hu Zhengyu, raised his hand and waved, and then walked out of the laboratory. The middle-aged man was tall and thin, wearing a mask and gloves, and a dirty white lab coat. After he came out of the experimental area, he first took off his gloves and mask, put his white coat aside, and then washed his hands carefully before he came over with a little smell of disinfectant: "Fortunately, you are Professor Xiang?" What a young man! I am Chen Feng, the person in charge of this laboratory. ”

At this time, Xiang Shan had just reached the age of establishment, and for ordinary scholars, they generally became lecturers at this age. And if it goes well, you will probably have to be 40 years old to be rated as a full professor.

Xiang Shan turned a deaf ear to this self-introduction, and just frowned and stared at Chen Feng's face: "'Zero Rain' brother? ”

Chen Feng paused for a moment. He had only heard Hu Zhengyu mention this junior brother before, and he knew that he was a man of the hour leading an interdisciplinary research institute at the United Nations University at a young age. But the research fields of the two are very different, and there seems to be no chance of intersection.

Unexpectedly, the other party called out his usual screen name.

Chen Feng glanced at Xiang Shan a few times, and his color changed: "'Xiang Mountain'? It turned out to be yours! Ha, I remember that a few years ago, the 'Nuclear Fission' Game Show was the one who eliminated me! ”

"Wow!" Xiang Shan was shocked: "Brother 'Zero Rain', do you still remember such a thing?" Anyway, aren't you a popular science writer! ”

"Nonsense!" Chen Feng said: "I have to go there once in ten years!" I successfully signed up for the Water Friends Competition, but I didn't have time to be happy, and then I was beaten for a round of tours. I hold a grudge! And after the fight, the world will evaporate for a few months, and you can't find a venue! Also, being a science writer is just my hobby, my job – then again, you're a science fiction writer, aren't you? ”

"Hahaha...... Later, I was taken to study extraterrestrial technology because I wrote science fiction so well. ”

The four hands were clasped tightly together.

"There is fate, there is fate."

"yes, yes."

Xiang Shan looked at the formal clothes on his body, and said regretfully: "If I had known that it was you, then why would I still be wearing such a formal shirt, and walk directly in a cultural shirt." It's panicky hot. ”

"Let's go to the office and say, it's air-conditioned and windy."

The group returned to the office again. Only then did Hu Zhengyu know that Xiang Shan and Chen Feng had been netizens for many years.

But it's not too much of a coincidence. They are all locals, hardcore gamers, and sci-fi enthusiasts, and it is normal for circles to intersect.

After entering the office, Chen Feng snapped his fingers, and a melodious tune immediately sounded in the office - this is a cyberpunk game BGM developed by the famous game studio "Platinum" fifteen years ago. Xiang Shan had eaten this old brother's Amway many years ago, and he could roughly distinguish this classic track.

"It's all your own people, so you can let yourself go a little bit."