Chapter 1383: Consumables and Lou Yu

Lou Yu had just finished half his meal when a child skipped over to his side.

"Brother Lou Yu! I'm on break. When are you going on break?"

Lou Yu put down the pickled mustard greens and smiled bitterly as he patted the child's head. "Little Liu, brother isn't a student at school; I don't have winter or summer breaks."

"But Mom and the others all have breaks..."

"Well... Auntie Xu's work is different from mine. I... I'm considered a scientist. Scientists have to do research, so we don't have breaks."

"Brother Lou Yu, teach me! I want to be a scientist when I grow up!" Little Liu's eyes were bright. "I told my classmates and teachers at school that I know a brother who is a scientist at a research institute, and they were all so envious!"

Lou Yu was taken aback. Just as he was about to say something helplessly, his phone suddenly rang.

"Hello, Dean?"

"Lou Yu, I have good news. Your paper can be published in 'Science Daily' this time! That's one of the most authoritative journals in the country...

But you know, articles published in 'Science Daily' are 'sole-authored' and can only list the name of the first author... So, I'll have to wrong you this time and remove your name for now.

But regardless, having your paper published in 'Science Daily' is already very impressive. This is a contribution to the progress of human civilization! Compared to the significance of the matter itself, a title isn't that important.

Next time, we'll definitely put your name on it next time..."

Lou Yu had no heart left to listen to what the Dean said afterward.

He silently hung up the phone and shoveled a few mouthfuls of pickled mustard greens into his mouth, his gaze suddenly shifting to Little Liu... For some reason, when Little Liu saw Lou Yu's gaze, his heart trembled slightly.

"Little Liu, does your family have connections in the academic circle?"

"Ah... my mom cooks at your institute. Does that count?"

"It doesn't." Lou Yu spoke slowly. "If you don't have connections, don't enter the academic circle. Otherwise, no matter how talented you are, you'll just be a high-end consumable... This circle isn't as glamorous as you think, and this world has never been fair."

Little Liu didn't understand what Lou Yu was saying, and Lou Yu didn't say anything more. He finished his lunch in silence and then stood up to return to the lab.

When he reached the cafeteria entrance, he hesitated for a moment before taking out his phone and sending a message to the Dean:

—Understood, Dean.

Just as the Dean said, in the academic circle, knowing how to write and conduct experiments is useless... He had walked this path for so many years, and no matter how unwilling he felt, he still had to swallow this bitterness...

Just like before.

Just as he was about to reach the lab door, his phone suddenly received a message.

Lou Yu thought it was from the Dean, but when he opened it, the sender was Qi Muyun.

—Dr. Yang called you too, right? How are you going to Shennongjia? If you're taking the high-speed rail, we should be able to take the same train?

Seeing this inexplicable message, Lou Yu was slightly stunned.

Qi Muyun was a friend he had met two years ago, also a scientist, and lived in the same city. However, they hadn't chatted much since they exchanged contact information, and they weren't close at all.

Why would he suddenly send him a message? What Shennongjia?

Did he send it to the wrong person?

Lou Yu didn't know anything about Shennongjia. His phone had been stolen a while ago, and he had only just retrieved his number two days ago. During this time, he had been quietly conducting experiments at the institute and had never gone out.

Lou Yu thought about it and didn't reply. Instead, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and pushed open the lab door.

But the next second, he froze in place...

In the empty lab, someone was sitting there.

Although Lou Yu had worked on many projects, he had no assistants. For the past few years, he had been working alone here day and night, and others at the institute generally didn't come over... Even the only key was in Lou Yu's own hands.

"Hello, may I ask what you need?" Lou Yu asked, puzzled.

The person was wearing a wide black cloak, sitting with his back to the door, quietly in front of the lab bench. He looked at the familiar instruments, the rustling tree branches outside the window, and the ticking clock on the wall, as if reminiscing about something...

Looking at his back, Lou Yu vaguely felt he looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him.

"Hello...?"

Lou Yu walked forward tentatively.

The figure in the black cloak slowly stood up from the seat. A breeze blew into the lab from the window, and he lifted the hood from his head.

It was a face almost identical to Lou Yu's.

"You..." Seeing this, Lou Yu was stunned on the spot.

The next moment, six scarlet gems slowly emerged from the center of the person's forehead. He looked at the young man before him, whose eyes held a sense of naivety and cowardice, and a complex look flashed in his eyes.

"Long time no see, Lou Yu."

……

"Damn it..."

"Where exactly did that guy hide?"

Above the clouds, Xuan Yujun looked down at the city below, his eyes narrowing slightly.

After leaving Shennongjia, he had been clinging tightly to Wuji Jun. Fortunately, Wuji Jun didn't seem to intend to fight him within the city, so he kept speeding along the equator, trying to shake off his pursuit.

They fought from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, from Indonesia all the way to Singapore, clashing seven or eight times. But the combat power of the immortal Wuji Jun was truly astonishing; every time, Xuan Yujun couldn't pin him down. After the global nuclear war broke out, Wuji Jun turned around without hesitation and headed toward the country.

Xuan Yujun didn't have the Philosopher's Stone, and his mental power was limited, so he couldn't lock onto Wuji Jun's figure at all times. Half an hour ago, he had lost track of Wuji Jun and could only roughly lock onto his target, which was somewhere in the city below.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Xuan Yujun closed his eyes, carefully sensing the fluctuations of aura in the city.

Suddenly, he keenly captured a trace of unusual fluctuation.

Xuan Yujun opened his eyes abruptly, his gaze instantly locking onto a certain direction. His figure turned into a bolt of lightning and vanished into thin air.

When he reappeared, he was already above a research institute.

"Here!"

His speed was too fast, and since it was daytime, no one noticed his existence. He flashed to the door of a certain lab and pushed the door open with force...

The aura fluctuation just now had come from here.

But the next moment, he froze in place.

"This is..."

Xuan Yujun's pupils contracted in disbelief.