Pretending To Be A Boss

Shang Lu's experiments were tedious.

Even though Tang Xian could tolerate the tedium, he didn't believe he could match Shang Lu's dedication of doing the same work day after day for years.

He chatted with Shang Lu sporadically.

Sometimes they would exchange thoughts about plants.

After so many years of fanatical research, Tang Xian was certain that Shang Lu had surpassed him in this field.

All he could do was offer some conceptual suggestions to Shang Lu.

Talent determines the ceiling, effort determines the floor.

Given the low level of effort exerted by the vast majority of people in this world, most haven't even come close to needing to rely on their talent.

People always underestimate their own talent and overestimate their perseverance.

But not Shang Lu—his talent had finally been realized through hard work.

Tang Xian believed that Shang Lu was bound to make significant breakthroughs in the field of botany in the future.

Beyond work and academia, Tang Xian also talked to Shang Lu about marriage. It was evident that this tech nerd, comparable to Tang Xian himself, was quite nervous.

However, in this matter too, Shang Lu was ahead of Tang Xian, who had never ventured into marriage.

All Tang Xian could provide were some single man's cloud assessments.

For instance, Shang Lu would ask,

"What if we have kids and they turn out not like me but are instead quite unintelligent?"

Tang Xian had never really considered the issue of children; Shang Lu was clearly thinking far ahead.

But in reality, it wasn't that far off.

"From a genetic standpoint, Zhong Xiuxiu is very intelligent, and so are you, unless you're playing the glorious game of 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms,' the chances of you having an idiotic child are quite slim.

But I can't exclude that possibility... If the child really turns out to be unintelligent, then just let them be a happy rich second generation."

"I have no money."

"Did you forget about the company we established six months ago?"

"I remember... but aren't there hardly any deals?"

"Actually, there are quite a few deals, and since you're getting married, I've got to give a wedding gift."

"It's enough that you come, Xian. You being there is a risk in itself. You really don't need to give anything."

Although most of the time that phrase means 'the cash gift is expected, whether you show up or not,'

Shang Lu had none of those roundabout thoughts—what he said was what he meant.

Tang Xian said,

"Those who deal with me surely can't suffer a loss. Even though you haven't done much, what you've done has been important to me.

Later, I'll have someone evaluate the value of the wedding gift. Even if you and Zhong Xiuxiu decide to abandon academia, you won't have to worry about living expenses for the rest of your lives."

The unequal resources between industrial sectors and the Pyramid, coupled with the disparity in strength among gifted individuals, have created hierarchies between fortresses and wealth disparity among the gifted.

Tang, probably the richest among them, was not gifted, but he had more Soul Crystals than the mines,

and he had plenty of high-tier Soul Crystals.

After chatting idly with Shang Lu for a while, Tang realized that Zhong Xiuxiu hadn't shown up.

Shang Lu found this strange as well, remarking,

"Xiuxiu is very punctual, never delaying matters. Moreover, I've been to her lab; all her items are arranged meticulously and even organized by color and visual habit."

"A severe perfectionist." Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"Exactly, so she shouldn't be late. I'll give her a call."

Shang Lu took out his phone. Tang mused for a second and said,

"No need, I'll go and call her. I'd like to see her lab anyway."

"Oh, it's in the B section of the second floor, room 209." Shang Lu then put away his phone.

Tang said, "You continue your work with the plants. I'll go visit Zhong Xiuxiu's lab for a while."

Shang Lu, not thinking much of it, nodded and went back to his experiments.

He had recently made progress in the area of plant cloning.

He was working on a culture solution that could speed up the growth of cloned plants.

There were still many technical hurdles to overcome.

After seeing that Shang Lu had returned to his "Do not disturb me while I'm studying, woman" mode, Tang chuckled to himself and left Shang Lu's lab, heading towards Zhong Xiuxiu's location.

Although the Hua Science Academy was situated on the fourth level, it had top-notch equipment and occupied a large area; Li Wanye had always been willing to invest.

After all, the research here focused on human science, not Pyramid technology.

Upon reaching the second floor, Tang asked about directions and quickly found the location of Zhong Xiuxiu's lab.

But along the way, the expressions on the faces of passersby looking at him were a bit strange.

It was as though having anything to do with Zhong Xiuxiu was quite an outlandish affair.

The more Tang thought about it, the more intrigued he became about why Zhong Xiuxiu had deceived him, and he had some guesses.

These guesses caused Tang a rare sense of nervousness.

Arriving at Zhong Xiuxiu's lab, he found that researchers' labs in biology always had excellent isolation walls and hatch doors.

Tang couldn't smell the odors inside the hatch, but he could catch some that leaked out when the hatch was opened.

It was quite pungent, probably some organs.

After pressing the doorbell three times, the hatch opened.

Wearing a white lab coat that was far too large for her small frame and wrinkled all over, Zhong Xiuxiu looked at Tang and said calmly,

"You're here."

"You don't seem surprised."

"That would only affect the progress of our conversation. Come in."

Tang hadn't guessed wrong; Zhong Xiuxiu indeed was an enthusiast in researching the human brain, a real oddball.

The room was filled with all sorts of brain samples.

Some were in containers, others laid out on experiment tables, with the majority in cold storage, waiting to be analyzed.