Joining the Laboratory; What Gives You the Right to Join the Project? (Please Bookmark and Follow.)

"But replicating something like this won't be easy," Lu Ze muttered to himself.

After all, something as devastating as this was not so easy to get near.

Forget nuclear weapons—even top-tier conventional technology was beyond the reach of a newly hired intern researcher like him.

As for exactly what technological item he would replicate, he could only play it by ear. If he saw something worth replicating, he would do it without hesitation.

After all, no one could say whether he would get another chance to observe something at such close range.

"I can ask Great Xia later whether they need any suitable technology..." Lu Ze suddenly thought of that.

The last time at Duke University, there had not been any good conditions for replication, so that was one thing.

But now that he had come to Eagle Sauce's top national laboratory, shouldn't he bring back some local specialties?

He had not brought anything before coming, and he still had not brought anything after arriving. Wouldn't that make this trip completely pointless?

Pushing aside the thoughts in his head, Lu Ze stepped into LLNL National Laboratory.

This colossal complex covered 330 hectares for its main laboratory headquarters alone. It housed more than five hundred research facilities, with thousands of people conducting scientific research here at the same time.

After simply filling out some personal and résumé information at the front desk, he was casually issued an outer-access pass.

In this bustling laboratory, no one even took the initiative to acknowledge Lu Ze, an intern graduate researcher.

Forget greeting him; they would not even spare him a smile.

Still, as he looked at this familiar scene—

"This is pretty good. It's no different from how I was treated at Duke University, so it saves me a lot of trouble."

Lu Ze smiled.

That familiar feeling had returned. He did not even need much time to adjust before slipping perfectly into the role. Hadn't he spent the past half year living exactly like this in Duke University's Materials Engineering Laboratory?

Lu Ze understood very well why these people acted this way.

After all, anyone who could work at LLNL Laboratory either had to be old Stars and Stripes who had entered the country alongside Washington, or they had to have some special buff of their own.

And Lu Ze's identity was simply a joke here. Which branch of the old Union Jack were you from? What gave you the right to participate in a core project?

Even veteran mangosteen people could not get in, yet a Great Xia international student at a national laboratory was downright jarring.

And most importantly, he did not even know to come over and offer a toast. Wasn't he courting death?

In Great Xia, people with skill and ability could choose not to toast others. But here in Eagle Sauce, you were either seated at the table or listed on the menu.

Obviously, Lu Ze did not even qualify to be on someone else's menu yet.

But even because of his identity, the people at LLNL Laboratory should not have been this indifferent to him, right?

Wasn't transferring him to a national laboratory precisely part of Eagle Sauce and Duke University's plan to win him over, making him yearn for the research environment here so that he would obediently work himself to the bone for them?

Now that he was being treated like this, were they not afraid that he would instead grow resentful?

Or had his promotion to a national laboratory merely been an extremely unlikely coincidence from the start?

But he quickly dismissed that guess. In a country like Eagle Sauce, he did not believe in so-called coincidences. Everything that seemed wonderful here had already had its price marked somewhere in his future.

Just as Lu Ze sat in a chair, his mind racing through all the possible motives—

A cough suddenly came from above his head.

"Ahem... are you Lu?" An elderly voice slowly drifted over.

"I'm Michael Hasen, your supervising instructor at LLNL Laboratory. You can also call me Hasen."

The middle-aged man in a white lab coat, with several stubborn strands of hair left atop his head, kindly extended his hand.

"Hello, Professor Michael." Lu Ze extended his hand as well. "I'm Lu!"

"I'll introduce you to the various departments in the laboratory, as well as the main experimental environment we'll be working in later." Michael Hasen walked ahead as he began explaining the place to Lu Ze.

Following behind his supervising instructor and listening, Lu Ze finally understood.

Why were these people even colder toward him than those at Duke University? At Duke University, at least most people could still give him a smile. Here, he would be lucky not to get slapped a few times.

If his previous graduate advisor had been the sort to lead a disciple through the door and leave the rest to his own cultivation—

Then his situation at LLNL Laboratory was probably even worse. Although Professor Michael Hasen seemed like a nice man and looked quite easy to get along with—

This professor faced an enormous obstacle: his age.

He was already nearing sixty. Even though Eagle Sauce had no clearly defined retirement age, someone of that age would not be assigned to nearly any major project.

Moreover, Michael Hasen's own research ability was not particularly strong. Coupled with his advanced age, in another year or two, LLNL would likely send him down to some other subsidiary institute to peacefully "retire," or have LLNL Laboratory send him out into society to be an "elite."

Even his laboratory instructor was the most obscure and marginalized member of the entire research team. It was perfectly normal for Lu Ze to receive this kind of treatment.

Seeing this, Lu Ze tugged at the corner of his mouth.

So Eagle Sauce played the optimization game too? As expected of an old capitalist power—there was a lot to learn from this.

Just because I don't have a clearly defined retirement age doesn't mean I can't quietly freeze you out.

It seemed Duke University and Eagle Sauce really had planned, just as he suspected, to use his entry into LLNL Laboratory as bait.

Unfortunately, Eagle Sauce had a good idea, but the people at LLNL had botched the execution.

"Alright, get familiar with the environment here for now." Michael Hasen smiled.

"Okay!" Lu Ze nodded.

"If you have any questions, you can call me!" Michael Hasen turned and walked out of the laboratory. For him, it was already time to get off work.

This is going to be difficult.

With that frustrated feeling, Lu Ze walked out of the laboratory.

His mind was occupied with how he could get close to the core circle and successfully replicate technological items.

After all, this was a top national laboratory, not the Materials Engineering Laboratory at Duke University, where he could easily enter the core areas.

There were dozens of subordinate departments alone, and countless institutes divided by research category. As a newly joined outer-level researcher, he simply could not come into contact with those top technological items.

Even observing them from afar was a problem, much less touching them for five seconds.

To be honest, Professor Hasen, whom he was currently assigned to, was not in much better shape than Lu Ze himself. He was nearly sixty and had long been marginalized by the laboratory, so Lu Ze could not count on him either.

(PS: Overseas, teachers and professors are often addressed with prefixes such as Dr., but writing that in Chinese feels too awkward, so they will all be referred to by surname plus title.)

(New book—please bookmark and follow.)