Dr. Connors' words made him turn his gaze toward Dilos. The atmosphere fell silent for a moment, and the young interns instinctively held their breath, not daring to speak.
Dr. Connors was also weighing whether to treat Dilos equally with the other interns. It wouldn't be right to say Dilos was an incompetent who had only gotten in through connections to make up the numbers. Judging by what had just happened, that clearly wasn't the case.
Dilos evidently had some ability, but trusting him to carry out the experiment as instructed based on that alone would be far too hasty.
Although Dr. Connors had found Dilos's ideas about cross-gene experiments to his liking, if Dilos himself had no real ability and had merely stumbled onto the right ideas by chance, assigning him the same work as the other interns would be an insult to those young people.
"Don't be nervous, Mr. Sullivan. You wouldn't have made it here if you didn't have some talent for biology." Dr. Connors naturally couldn't say certain things outright. Doing so would not only offend Dilos directly but also Luthor, who stood behind him.
It would also make his interns realize that he had accepted money to let Dilos in, which would not reflect well on him.
Dr. Connors first gave the group a brief tour of his private laboratory. In the process, they got to see what a high-end lab looked like. Even without outside funding, it was still top-of-the-line and meticulously equipped.
After all, Dr. Connors was a wealthy man in his own right. He had simply devoted everything he had to science.
"I'm sure you've been waiting long enough." After introducing the lab equipment, Dr. Connors pointed toward a small room. Inside was a miniature laboratory equipped with various microscopes and instruments.
"As you know, I have research of my own to work on, so I need an assistant. I'm sure none of you lack knowledge, but knowledge alone isn't enough. I also need someone dexterous and efficient at hands-on work to help with my other tasks."
The eyes of Dilos and the others lit up. They understood that this was their chance. If they performed well, they stood to gain a great deal.
Dilos, however, was thinking further ahead. This wasn't just a test to find a senior assistant; it was a test of himself, too. If he failed to perform well, he would not only be pushed out of this team but also see his reputation plummet. That would make his goal of creating the Super Serum himself and breaking through the limits of the human body even harder to reach.
But Dilos wasn't aiming merely to pass. He wanted to be the best! He had already reviewed and practiced over and over again, both at school and at home. He had waited far too long for this opportunity. He had to do his best!
"Derek, you'll use station one. Alicia, station two. Ya Zhang, station three... Dilos, station six."
The interns were instructed to extract liquid from two unidentified flowers on their stations, mix it with the powder provided, and use a centrifuge to separate the liquid from the powder.
The experiment began soon after, and Dilos and the others quickly got to work at their stations. Unlike some idiots in novels who, during experiments or tests, let their minds wander to all sorts of bizarre and stupid thoughts as they watched everyone else.
The moment they reached their stations, all the young people, Dilos included, focused intently on examining the tools available to them: beakers, flasks, several test tubes, containers holding different solutions, a few empty rubber-bulb droppers, a small centrifuge...
They had to finish everything within an hour!
Looking over the equipment and thinking about the requirements, Dilos felt a little pressure.
But since Dr. Connors had set this task, it had to be possible. The key was how well they could coordinate their hands and minds.
Even so, Dilos didn't rush to start experimenting with the two flowers whose names he didn't know. He washed his hands, then rinsed both flowers with clean water. After that, he picked up the scissors beside him, which had already been sterilized, and began snipping the petals.
One method of extracting liquid from plants was distillation. Given the materials and equipment available, it was the best way to obtain the liquid.
Naturally, the finer the flowers were cut, the better the results.
But that wasn't all. The key was that Dilos's hands were incredibly fast.
That's right—far too fast.
Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip...
A rapid succession of snipping sounds came from Dilos's station. The scissors opened and closed at an unbelievable speed, their blades blurring as they repeatedly snapped shut and sprang open, cutting the petals into smaller and smaller pieces.
At the same time, the fingers of one hand blurred as they swiftly turned the petals. Each time a small section had been snipped, Dilos would give the flower a slight turn and pinch, rotating the uncut part into place. Meanwhile, his other hand opened the scissors at just the right moment, then closed them again to cut a little more from the repositioned flower.
At that terrifying speed, it took less than half a minute for the two containers beside Dilos to fill with the chopped remnants of the two different flowers.
Dr. Connors, who had been observing the group from behind, happened to witness the scene. He didn't know how to describe what he was feeling. If he had to put it into words, it was as if some of his basic assumptions had been shattered.
Dr. Connors looked at the finely chopped flower fragments in the containers beside Dilos. They were about as thin as strands of hair. He instinctively glanced at the other six interns and saw that none of them had even finished cutting up one flower. What they had cut was also far rougher than Dilos's work.
For a moment, Dr. Connors thought he was seeing things. He quickly rubbed his eyes, but the scene remained unchanged. Only then did he believe what he was seeing.
The others hadn't noticed any of this, including Dilos's astonishingly rapid snipping. All six of the other young men and women happened to be at the stage where they were cutting up their flowers, and the noisy snipping all around them drowned out the sound. Otherwise, Dilos would have been surrounded and watched in no time, just for that skill alone.
That was already shocking enough for Dr. Connors, who was standing right beside Dilos and observing him. He watched as Dilos skillfully warmed a test tube over a flame and placed the chopped petals into a distillation flask. His movements were steady, like those of a seasoned professional. He moved from one step to the next with effortless familiarity.
There wasn't a single mistake in the entire procedure. Dr. Connors stood there quietly observing until Dilos had extracted liquid from both kinds of petals, mixed them together, and added the required experimental powder. Finally, he placed the mixture in the centrifuge...
"Mr. Sullivan."
Dilos, who was waiting for the centrifuge to finish, turned toward the voice and saw Dr. Connors standing beside him with a kindly smile.
"Could you tell me what you've learned at school?"
Before you continue