Kunshi, in front of the Sanqing headquarters.
A taxi slowly parked on the side of the road. The driver lowered his head to grab the taxi and said: "58.8, scan the QR code in the back seat to pay."
Sitting in the car was a gentle and elegant young man, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, who looked elegant.
He adjusted the thick glasses on the bridge of his nose. Instead of scanning the QR code to pay, he stared at the meter on the car and said, "Your price is wrong, isn't it?"
"Oh?" The driver turned around, sneered, and asked fiercely: "What's wrong? It clearly says that the starting price is 9 yuan for 24 kilometers. After 3 kilometers, the price is 1.8 yuan per kilometer. Don't you think so? You can’t even calculate elementary school math, right?”
The young man took out his mobile phone, pointed at the navigation on the screen and said, "This is even more wrong. I turned on the navigation as soon as I got in the car. It's only less than 15 kilometers from the Kunshi Railway Station."
The driver's eyes flickered and he said angrily: "The navigation is inaccurate. There must be errors on the road. Besides, there are so many traffic lights along this way, so there must be a waiting fee."
The young man chuckled, leaned back, and crossed his legs leisurely: "I counted all the traffic lights along the way. There are 15 traffic lights in total, 10 red lights, 5 green lights, and the waiting time totaled 10 minutes and 28 seconds."
Before the driver could speak, he continued talking to himself: "As I said, I turned on the navigation as soon as I got in the car. Before the first traffic light, the mileage was correct and very accurate, but after the first traffic light, the mileage was accurate. After a red light, I noticed that the mileage on the meter was 600 meters more than the navigation meter."
"I was very curious. I was looking at my phone at the first red light, so I didn't notice it, but I thought it might be an error caused by the waiting time, so I started waiting for the second traffic light."
"After the second traffic light passed, there was still an extra 600 meters. This is very amazing. Even if it is an error, how can the number be so accurate? No more, no less, it happened to be 600 meters both times."
"The rest is more boring. There are 15 traffic lights in total, and each one automatically jumps an extra 600 meters, which is exactly 9 kilometers. If you subtract 9 kilometers from 24 kilometers, you can match my navigation."
"As for why the meter suddenly malfunctioned, I have a guess that is consistent with objective facts."
He adjusted the glasses that were sliding up and down the bridge of his nose again, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and said: "As we all know, the numbers on the meter will not only not move by themselves, but also will not move so regularly unless it is operated by someone. And ordinary electronic equipment , only a simple pulse signal transmitter is needed for remote control."
"Haha, although you pretend to be very hidden and can't tell on the surface, I bet that if you pull out the meter, there must be something extra behind it. And there must be a remote control in your hand."
"I'm right." At this point, the young man looked at the driver and smiled.
In the eyes of the driver, this smile was as terrifying as a devil's smile.
He was stunned and speechless for a long time.
"Haha, don't look at me like a monster. I'm just more sensitive to numbers and more cautious in doing things."
The young man showed his white teeth and explained very thoughtfully.
The driver was stunned for a while, and then, like a deflated rubber ball, he said with a dejected face: "You're awesome, I admit defeat this time, please get off the bus quickly."
The young man shook his head seriously: "How can this be done? I still have to pay what I have to pay. How can I eat the King's meal? Do you look down on me?"
After saying that, he quickly scanned the QR code to pay.
"Yuan."
A crisp sound sounded in the car.
"Exactly 34.6, rounded up to give you 35."
The young man picked up his backpack and got out of the car.
He closed the car door with a bang and turned around and said: "Stop it as soon as possible. The foreigners who get tricked next time probably won't have such a good temper like me."
"Your sister!" The driver sat in the car and gritted his teeth: "You think monsters like you are everywhere."
He stepped on the accelerator suddenly and roared away.
"Damn it, I will never receive orders from Sanqing again. There are so many crazy thieves here."
The young man didn't know what the driver was saying behind his back, so he walked briskly towards the gate.
At the same time, he secretly muttered in his heart: "Hey, I have long heard that outsiders are easily slaughtered in places like train stations. It is true. Fortunately, I was prepared."
I saw a tall and strong figure from a distance, and I quickly waved and shouted: "Brother Que, Brother Que, it's me, I'm here."
Tang Que, who was not far away, also saw him, with a surprised smile on his face: "Xiao Mian, I hope you are back."
As soon as the two parties met, they hugged each other happily.
Tang Que patted his thin shoulder, with a hint of regret in his joy: "You are still so thin. After staying in Eagle Country for five years and eating junk food every day, why haven't you gained any weight?"
After speaking, a mysterious smile appeared on his face instantly: "You are only 20 years old and still growing. You will need to eat more nutritious and high-protein foods in the future. I happen to have a dairy product with extremely high protein content here. It tastes delicious and is most suitable for you." is you."
Ding Mian chuckled: "It's not your cockroach milk."
Tang Que suddenly felt a little embarrassed: "Actually, it's really delicious. I won't lie to you. People who don't know it say it's good after drinking it."
Ding Mian shrugged: "You also said you didn't know."
"However, you are my dearest eldest brother. I will definitely give you this face."
Tang Que was overjoyed, looked him up and down, and couldn't help but ask, "Where is your luggage?"
"Oops!" Ding Mian suddenly slapped his forehead: "I was just showing off, and I forgot to take the suitcase in the trunk. There is a gift my dad asked me to bring you."
"Uh, it's okay. You can call the taxi company and ask for the driver's phone number." Tang Que comforted him.
"Well," Ding Mian nodded: "If he doesn't return it, I will report him for cheating."
"Huh?" Tang Que was confused, but he didn't ask any more questions and took his junior brother to the Sanqing Garden.
The two of them toured Sanqingyuan, completed the entry procedures at the Administration Department, received their dormitory numbers, and then walked into the R&D Department building.
Upon entering the biology laboratory, Tang Que solemnly introduced Ding Mian to everyone.
"Everyone, this new colleague is called Ding Mian. He was admitted to the Junior Class of the University of Science and Technology at the age of 11. His undergraduate thesis was published in Science at the age of 14. Therefore, he was spotted by Professor Thomson of the University of Pennsylvania and invited him to study for a Ph.D. in five years. I got my Ph.D. in Biology in 2008.”
The scene immediately erupted with exclamations. Although Sanqing’s employees were all highly educated, their resumes were shocking enough.
We are all top academics, and we understand very well how terrifying people who can do this are.
Ding Mian's back was straight, and he looked at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces and showed a confident smile.
"He is only 20 years old this year. His research field is mainly in the direction of induced pluripotent stem cells. He has now joined the newly established iPS stem cell laboratory and is a specially appointed talent."
"By the way, he is young, and he is my junior at HKUST. His father is also my high school teacher, so for my sake, everyone should be more careful about anything, haha."
When Ding Mian heard this, the smile on his face suddenly stopped.
"Damn it, Brother Que, he hasn't seen me for a few years, and he still treats me like a little kid. He doesn't know that I'm actually a mature and sensible man."
"Don't worry, I have been keeping a low profile for many years, and I will prove myself here sooner or later."
A trace of determination flashed in his eyes, he puffed up his chest, and a well-placed smile appeared on his face again.
After the introduction, Tang Que brought together the heads of major professional laboratories and held a small meeting.
"Everyone, regarding the newly established stem cell laboratory, President Wei told me that the main goal is to study autologous organ transplantation. There has not been any big breakthrough in this field yet. It can be said that the road is long and difficult, and we need to work together. .”
"Although Ding Mian is researching this field, he is still a newcomer after all and has no achievements, so I will be the person in charge of this laboratory. Of course, I will continue to recruit some talents and set up the laboratory first, and then follow up with the specific work. , let him carry it out.”
"Organ transplantation is a long-term goal. I'm afraid it will be difficult to make a breakthrough in the short term. We are also accumulating strength in this area and hope to make achievements."
Tang Que gave a general introduction to the new laboratory, and then looked at Ding Mian expectantly.
"What do you think of the work in the lab?"
Ding Mian sat up straight in an instant. He had been ready and waiting to deliver his inaugural speech.
So he smiled lightly and said confidently: "As we all know, the field of regenerative medicine is mainly divided into two major parts: bionic organs and organ transplantation. Bionic organs belong to the field of medical devices and can only extend life in the short term. They treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and they belong to the small intestine."
"And I embarked on the path of organ transplantation early on and started research in this area."
“Currently, the scientific community has three major ideas for organ transplantation. One is xenogeneic organ transplantation, which involves genetic editing of pig embryonic cells, knocking out its heart-related genes, and then introducing human heart genes, hoping to give birth to a pig with human-like features. Pig with a heart.”
"This idea has a clear direction and high feasibility. Its advantages are obvious. Pigs have a short maturity period and can grow from embryos in a few months. Moreover, the genes of pigs and humans are also very similar. If the technology If you are mature, there won’t be much auto-rejection.”
"Of course, this technical difficulty is also very difficult. First, we must find all the heart-related genes from the human and pig gene pools. This is a big project and requires us to conduct in-depth analysis and research on individual genes. This is Basic scientific research is not something that can be accomplished overnight.”
“The second idea is xenochimerism, for example, injecting human stem cells into pig or monkey embryos, thereby giving birth to monkeys or pigs with human organs in their bodies. The current resistance to this aspect lies in the ethical aspects. Research in this area has strict limitations.”
"The limitations are reflected in two aspects. One is that human-animal chimeras cannot have reproductive capacity, and the other is that they cannot have a developed brain. In other words, it is necessary to ensure that human cells cannot appear in the animal's brain and reproductive system. .”
Ding Mian shrugged and said: "I'm not optimistic about this idea anyway. I'm very satisfied with the top position of human beings in the food chain. I definitely don't want to risk my life to create some monkeys with developed brains and let science fiction events like the Rise of the Planet of the Apes happen. Repeat."
Everyone showed a knowing smile.
"Of course, this is a joke. Human beings are not the creator after all. This idea is more difficult at the technical level, and the future is unclear, so I suggest not to waste too much time on this."
"If you have excess energy and want to challenge yourself, you might as well try the third idea, which is the most difficult one - cloning organs in vitro with iPS stem cells."
Ding Mian's eyes were shining brightly and he spoke faster and faster: "As we all know, mature somatic cells no longer have the ability to divide and can only age and degenerate. However, iPS stem cells have proven that humans can reverse aging and restart life."
"iPS stem cells can come from the most ordinary skin cells, but they can differentiate into any cell, divide and develop, whether it is embryonic cells, hematopoietic stem cells, brain neural stem cells, etc., they are the origin of human beings. "
"It proves that the human species developed from a single cell, experienced millions of years of evolution, and grew into a primate intelligent creature."
"And we will replay the path of human evolution, analyze and reveal all the secrets one by one."
"Of course, this technical path is very difficult, no less difficult than climbing to the sky. Human beings still don't know the specific situation of embryonic cells in the ten months of developing into fetuses, and they don't understand the detailed changes that have occurred, let alone Understand what key factors are at play."
"Only by cracking the entire process can we gene-edit the embryonic cells differentiated from iPS stem cells and allow them to develop into complete organs."
"When the day comes when this technology truly matures, human cloned organs will be like planting trees. They will pick out fresh organs from their own cloned tissue chambers and transplant them into the body to replace the broken or aging ones. , thus staying young and healthy forever.”
"And this is the mission of the iPS Stem Cell Laboratory. In five, ten, or even twenty years, I am ready to dedicate my life to this great cause."
"I have finished speaking. If you have any questions, you can ask them."
Ding Mian looked around with a look of anticipation, as if he hoped everyone would throw questions at his face.
"Wow, what an amazing speech." Williams was the first to applaud: "It's very exciting. I look forward to cooperating with you."
Huang Qin nodded, a little embarrassed. Among the group of people, he had the lowest academic qualifications. He was not even a Ph.D., so he felt that he had no say. However, this new laboratory was related to gene-edited pigs, which still made him a little excited.
Jiang Kai nodded slightly and showed a friendly smile.
Wen Renlong crossed his arms and said with a smile: "The idea is not bad. It doesn't sound wrong to me, but your tone is not small. You make it sound like you are a big shot in the field of stem cells. In fact, these are all false. , those engaged in scientific research should first look at the papers and secondly look at the results, this is the real deal.”
"I wonder where your doctoral thesis was published? I just want to take a look and measure your true strength."
Ding Mian's face changed: "My doctoral thesis was published in a relatively niche journal and the impact factor is not high, so I'd better forget it and not show it out."
Tang Que said in surprise: "Xiao Mian, what's going on? Didn't you publish your undergraduate thesis in a top journal like science? Why are you going back the more you study?"
A mysterious look appeared on Ding Mian's face, and he whispered: "You don't know this, right? A genius like me must keep a low profile and bide his time in furthering his studies in the Eagle Country. Kill yourself by shooting yourself. You know."
Tang Que immediately couldn't laugh or cry: "Where did you hear this from? These are all hearsay, and the authenticity is doubtful."
"Exactly, no." Ding Mian said cautiously: "You don't know, in my first year at Penn, a senior brother was about to return to China after completing his studies. I even went to have his farewell banquet, but it didn't happen. He jumped off the building in a few days, can you believe it? It would be strange if there was no evil behind it."
"Later, I paid close attention to the outstanding international students from all over the Eagle Country every year and compiled their relevant data."
His voice became lower and lower, and he half-lyed on the table, speaking hoarsely.
"According to my research, hundreds of talented scientists died mysteriously on the eve of returning to serve in China. They all had accidents shortly after expressing their desire to return to China. The cause of death was intriguing. They either committed suicide or were accidentally shot on the road. And die."
"You think, are all these living examples accidents?"
His head shook violently, like a miniature windmill.
"No, no, this was definitely not an accident, but a well-planned murder."
"So, you feel that you are also in danger of being assassinated, so you start to hang around and refuse to publish papers with technical content?" Tang Que put his hands on his forehead and said a little speechlessly.
"That's right," Ding Mian nodded repeatedly: "Ever since I discovered this shocking secret, I have felt that I am in danger. Everyone looks like a spy with malicious intentions, but don't worry, controlling points is very important to me. It’s just trivial.”
“Every time I wrote papers and took exams, I always ranked above average, but at the critical moment, I was able to perform exceptionally and gave my supervisor an impression that I was okay and could save it, so I successfully graduated with a PhD.”
"After I graduated, I bought a ticket to go back to China at the speed of light, and sure enough, no one came to test me, hahaha."
Ding Mian laughed heartily, with an expression like "I'm such a clever little guy, come and praise me."
Tang Que fell silent, and everyone else looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Bang bang bang!
Wen Renlong, however, spontaneously felt a sense of sympathy and clapped his hands vigorously.
"Good guy, well done! According to what you said, it's not easy to come back smoothly. I don't need to read your paper to know that your brother can handle it."
Tang Que coughed slightly, looked at everyone with a "please give me some face" look, and said.
"Okay, I got to know Xiao Ding today. From now on, we will be colleagues. I hope you will have a pleasant cooperation."
"That's it for the situation in the new laboratory. Let's adjourn!"
Hehe, I'm in good shape tonight. I wrote 5,000 words, which makes up for what I owe last night.
(End of chapter)
