Life was an adventure, and there were countless choices at every step of the way, and finally, one would reach a place one wouldn’t even recognize.
Professor Lumiere felt like he was standing at a crossroads. Even though he agreed to Lu Zhou’s request without hesitation, he realized he made this decision too quickly.
However, after three days of being in a dilemma, he eventually packed up his luggage and embarked on his journey to Shanghai.
Even though the identity of Dr. Z was suspicious, he did not want to spend the rest of his life at the same research institute, making no progress on his research.
His friend Professor Sarrot also accompanied him.
Even though a materials science professor might seem out of place at an artificial intelligence summit, the application of carbon materials had become more and more widespread in recent years, especially for carbon-based chips. The link between carbon materials and information technology had gotten closer and closer.
Because of this, Lumiere was quite envious of Sarrot.
They were both computer science majors. Both of them went into separate research directions. However, carbon materials were gaining attention, while Lumiere’s research area was still dead as a doornail.
Every time Lumiere thought about this, he would get angry.
“… This is probably the most boring academic conference I have ever attended.”
After they walked out of the report, Professor Sarrot said, “Those people have no idea how to even spell graphene, they think it’s the cure to everything, whether it’s artificial intelligence or quantum computer. The problem isn’t with the material at all… What do these people not understand?”
“… Maybe because they have tried everything they can?” Professor Lumiere said, “When someone can no longer use their domain knowledge to work on a problem, they will try to use ideas and concepts from other fields. Isn’t that very common?”
“True, but I feel like their expectations are so unrealistic, it’s really asinine… Speaking of which, this is my first time in China.” Sarrot looked around and said, “I didn’t expect this country to be so developed. This makes Amsterdam look like the countryside.”
Lumiere: “That’s what happens if you watch too much BBC. But honestly, I still prefer Amsterdam. The buildings are small, but they are beautiful, just like some women…”
Sarrot smiled and said, “I feel like you’re not actually interested in the buildings.”
Lumiere said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about… Speaking of which, where’s your Chinese friend? Every time I ask who it is, you don’t tell me. Now that we’re here, don’t you want to visit them?”
Suddenly, Sarrot didn’t know what to say.
“I still haven’t thought about that yet. I haven’t contacted him in a long time. He’s doing pretty well for himself, and I don’t know if he still remembers me.”
Lu Zhou had already sold off the laboratory in Silicon Valley. Ever since Sarrot returned to Amsterdam, he hadn’t contacted Lu Zhou.
Actually, he was a little scared.
He had heard rumors about researchers working with countries that were enemies of the United States. Apparently, the famous Gerald Bull was shot in his home in Brussels, Belgium, after receiving an anonymous call.
He used his own experience to help Lu Zhou establish a series of patent barriers in the field of lithium-sulfur batteries. These patents were now a pain in the a*s for American electric energy companies. Because of this, he was scared of being investigated by the FBI.
He paused for half a second and spoke.
“There’s a cafe over there. I want to get something to drink. Do you need anything?”
Professor Lumiere: “A cappuccino would be great.”
Sarrot: “Wait here.”
Professor Lumiere watched Professor Sarrot turn around and walk toward Starbucks. Lumiere put his hands into his pocket and wandered around.
Suddenly, a man in a brown jacket came over and asked, “Hello, are you Mr. Lumiere?”
Lumiere looked over suspiciously.
“Yeah, why?”
He didn’t remember having any friends in China.
The man said, “Someone is looking for you.”
Suddenly, Lumiere remembered the rumors online that Dr. Z was Chinese.
“Is it Dr. Z?”
The man looked around and spoke.
“Sort of.”
Lumiere totally forgot about his friend that went to Starbucks, and he immediately said, “Bring me there… Why aren’t you walking?”
“Dr. Z told me to ask you to think carefully.”
Lumiere paused for a second and frowned.
“Of course I have thought about this carefully. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have flown thousands of kilometers to a boring academic conference.”
The man nodded and spoke.
“Okay then, come with me.”
The man turned around and began walking toward a black Buick.
On the other hand, Sarrot was walking out of Starbucks with two cups of coffee in his hand.
He looked around and paused for a second.
Where is he?
Where did he go?
…
The Chinese state security department actually knew who Dr. Z was.
There were only a few people who could get their hands on the Mars bacteria. It was speculated that Dr. Z must be in China.
Regardless of whether Dr. Z saved the world, the Mars bacteria could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Thus, the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department began an investigation and even called Lu Zhou to ask about the situation.
After all, Lu Zhou had nothing to hide. Seeing how nervous the national security department was, Lu Zhou revealed everything to them.
Of course, only higher-ups in the national security department knew about this. Even Professor Liu Zuobing, who was involved in the project, was kept in the dark.
It wasn’t that Lu Zhou wanted to hide this fact, it was just that explaining things would be too troublesome.
However, Lumiere had no idea about all this.
He made many speculations in his mind.
Including the scenario where Dr. Z was actually secretly developing a powerful information technology weapon for China…
He didn’t expect it to be…
When Lumiere saw the man sitting behind the desk, Lumiere froze.
“You, you, you… I know you, you’re—”
“Let me introduce myself, I’m Lu Zhou.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Welcome to China, Mr. Lumiere.”
Seeing how easily Lu Zhou revealed his identity, Lumiere was a little shocked. He suddenly became nervous.
“Is it fine for you to tell me your identity?”
Lu Zhou said, “Revealing my identity to the public would be cumbersome, so I asked the security department to keep this a secret.”
Lumiere said, “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t be nervous,” Lu Zhou said. “Even if you leak the secret, you won’t get kidnapped.”
He paused for a second and continued, “At most, we might have to delete your social media accounts… and hard drives.”
Lumiere frowned and spoke.
“… I’d rather die.”
Losing those things…
Would be a death sentence.
“So, you just have to keep your mouth shut and nothing bad will happen.” Lu Zhou shrugged and said, “I’m allowing you to participate in my project. You’re not here to hear gossip stories.”
Lumiere nodded and said, “I understand… I didn’t expect you to be a computing expert.”
Lu Zhou felt his phone in his pocket vibrate and said, “Yeah… I study problems outside of mathematics.”
“I know, mathematicians generally are also good at computer science—”
Lu Zhou coughed and interrupted Lumiere, “There’s no need to kiss my a*s, I’ll briefly talk about your work here…”
Suddenly, his phone in his pocket rang.
This time, it wasn’t Xiao Ai’s message; it was a phone call.
Lu Zhou took out his phone.
“Wait a second, let me grab this.”
The phone call was from Chen Yushan.
He picked up the phone.
He was about to ask what was going on when he heard an excited voice.
“I have your test subjects!
“When do you need them?”
