Cyber Heroes

In July 2036, a car stopped steadily in front of the new building of the McGovern Institute for Brain Science at Peking University.

Xiang Shan opened the car door, shook his crisp suit, and then made a phone call.

Soon, a middle-aged man walked out of the building.

Xiang Shan stretched out his hand and shook hands with the middle-aged man: "Brother Hu, long time no see. Since you fell into this Zhongguancun University of Arts and Sciences, you have gained weight."

The man sighed: "Who says it's not the case? If it's not for the sake of living, why bother coming next door to make a living? Life is so miserable that I don't know if I can still work for the motherland for fifty years."

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled, saying nothing.

This is Xiangshan's senior brother Hu Zhengyu, nicknamed "Hushuo". He was a classmate of Xiangshan for a while in 2017. In 2028, Xiang Shan left China to develop in an international research institution in the tropics, while Mr. Hu Zhengyu came to the McGovern Institute for Brain Science in 2033 through Lao Liu's cooperation project and worked as the second boss in a laboratory. .

Last year, Xiang Shan returned to Peiping. Hu Zhengyu heard that this junior brother was running in many directions and seemed to be preparing for a "big project."

Hu Zhengyu led Xiang Shan into the new building of the research institute. As he walked, he said: "Junior brother, I would like to remind you, don't say what you just said later. My big boss is a swordsman with strong martial arts, and he is the same as those next door. Weak liberal arts students are different.”

"I understand, I understand. We can't look at the next door through colored glasses." Xiang Shan made an "OK" gesture.

Hu Zhengyu led Xiang Shan to an office. No one was there. He shrugged and said, "Maybe you are here at the wrong time. Monkeys wait for no one. The big boss is now messing with monkeys."

"monkey?"

"Well, yes, a monkey can actually only do so many projects. If you do too many tasks, the monkey will suffer, and it will also be detrimental to the mental health of the experimenters." Hu Zhengyu shrugged: "And the monkey's condition is abnormal, and It may affect the objectivity of the data. For some projects, you have to rush to do them when the monkey is in good condition."

Xiangshan grinned: "Tsk, tut, let's have a second of silence for the poor monkey."

"Those who have better food than me, and as long as they are not unfortunate enough to be caught up in the craft boom, will be able to live in a big house for retirement in a year or two. Based on their life span, it is equivalent to retiring after graduating from college." Hu Zhengyu curled his lips: " If it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t pass the ethics committee, I would have wanted to give it a try and retire early.”

Xiang Shan took a look at the office. This office is in a corner of the building, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides, providing excellent lighting. But the office furnishings are very simple, a desk, a bookshelf, and a set of sofas. The office is a bit too tidy and has no personal atmosphere.

Except for the more than ten centimeters high realistic mecha model on the desk, and a steel feather fencing sword hanging in the corner.

And the pile of documents on the desk that looked like a primary school student giving a presentation.

Xiang Shan nodded: "As expected, he is a talented person with abundant martial arts in your school."

Hu Zhengyu asked Xiang Shan to sit for a while, and then he went back to look at the running data. Xiangshan ate some snacks alone and waited for a quarter of an hour.

After Hu Zhengyu gave some instructions to the master's students he was taking, he came over and waited with Xiang Shan. After a while, he sighed: "Old Chen may still be busy. How about I take you directly to the rest area of ​​the laboratory."

Xiang Shan is here to discuss cooperation this time. In 2035, after Xiang Shan returned to China, he began to prepare for a major project on "human prostheticization". Although part of the "Rama Project" has not been disclosed to the public, Hu Zhengyu at least knows where his junior brother went and who he communicated with in the past few years.

He is very interested in Xiang Shanguchi's "big plan".

Xiang Shan waved his hand: "Isn't this appropriate?"

"There's nothing inappropriate. There's nothing shameful about today's project..." Hu Zhengyu was taking care of everything, but then he thought of something and immediately added: "It's just that taking pictures is prohibited. Also, don't step out of the lounge and enter the experimental area."

Unlike Lao Liu's laboratory at the Basic Industrial Training Center, this laboratory has a glass curtain wall between the rest area and the experimental area. The rest area was very narrow. Standing behind the glass curtain wall, Xiang Shan and Hu Zhengyu felt like they were visiting a zoo.

The experimental area is not very big. Some messy electronic equipment is piled aside, and the wiring is scattered all over the floor. In the center of the laboratory is a special fixed table. A monkey surrounded by various instruments sits on a closed "throne" made of acrylic sheets. The head fixed by the steel frame is opened, and a group of white coats are surrounding it. It's doing something.

Around those researchers, several air projections are placing data in real time where everyone can easily see it.

Xiang Shan couldn't help but touch his head: "This monkey looks very painful. Why is the head so bloody?"

"The dental cement is pink in color. In fact, the wound on the monkey's head has healed long ago. They just cleaned part of the tissue on the head, and then replaced a small piece of the skull with a transparent material so that they can observe the brain with a two-photon microscope. . The monkey was anesthetized during the surgery, but it has healed long ago. There was still some pain from beginning to end."

As he spoke, all the white coats gathered in front of a bunch of screens on the other side of the experimental area, and the glass curtain wall around the monkeys and instruments suddenly became opaque. Hu Zhengyu explained: "This is the beginning of the experiment. In order to ensure the quality of the neuron fluorescence signals collected by the microscope, the experimental area is strictly protected from light when working. After the experiment is over, I will be responsible for recording the fresh and hot neuron activity. The data is run in the computer.”

While waiting, Xiang Shan glanced at the electronic bulletin board outside the laboratory. He looked at it twice and felt a little strange: "Well, senior brother, let me ask, is the composition of the personnel in this laboratory a bit strange?"

"Huh? Oh, this? You mean the number of laboratory technicians." Hu Zhengyu said: "Boss Chen particularly hates having students do the work, so he would rather hire professional technicians."

"Non-staff personnel?"

"A small number of professionals do professional work." Hu Zhengyu pointed out: "Lao Wang over there is a retired veterinarian from the zoo. He works part-time here and occasionally takes care of animals. That means there are restrictions, otherwise it can be outsourced He wants to outsource all the chores out there.”

"What a man!" Xiang Shan was greatly moved.

Although his relationship with Lao Liu is quite good, Xiangshan knows that he is still an "isolated phenomenon". At this stage, the "laboratory" system is closer to the small workshops of the Middle Ages. A large number of unskilled chores were assigned to lower-level students. Generally speaking, lower-grade apprentices can get started in two weeks under the guidance of senior apprentices, which is another good and qualified leek.

For apprentice masters, the cost of training this kind of leek is almost zero.

There is such a joke that has been passed down through the ages. A thief went to the laboratory to steal something, but the researcher came back after a while. Then the laboratory went around for a week, and the thief pretended to be a researcher for a week, and finally found an opportunity to escape after a week. The accomplice asked him if he had gained anything, and the thief said, "I have learned how to do electrophoresis!"

In many cases, the physical work in the laboratory is unskilled.

However, it costs money to hire people, but it costs nothing to exploit students.

Bosses who are willing to spend money on this are all people with ideals!

It seems that the experiment has finally entered a stable operation stage. The atmosphere in the experimental area relaxed. Most people stood up from the screen and walked outside while stretching their muscles.

The leader seemed to see Xiang Shan and Hu Zhengyu, raised his hand and waved, and then walked out of the laboratory. This middle-aged man is tall and thin, wearing a mask and gloves, and a dirty white coat. After he came out of the experimental area, he first took off his gloves and mask, put aside his white coat, then washed his hands carefully, and then came over with a hint of disinfectant smell: "Nice to meet you, are you Professor Xiang? Really? You are young and promising! I am Chen Feng, the person in charge of this laboratory."

At this time, Xiangshan had just reached his thirties. For ordinary scholars, they generally became lecturers at this age. And if things go well, you will probably have to be 40 years old to become a full professor.

Xiang Shan turned a deaf ear to this self-introduction, and just stared at Chen Feng’s face with a frown: “Brother Ling Yu?”

Chen Feng was stunned for a moment. He had only heard Hu Zhengyu mention this junior brother before, and knew that he was leading an interdisciplinary research institution at the United Nations University at a young age and was a man of great influence. However, their research fields are far apart, and there seems to be no chance for them to overlap.

But unexpectedly, the other party called out his usual online name.

Chen Feng glanced at Xiang Shan and his expression suddenly changed: "'Xiang Shan'? It turns out to be yours! Ha, I remember, you were the one who eliminated me in the water friends competition at the 'Nuclear Fission' game exhibition a few years ago!"

"Hey!" Xiang Shan was shocked: "Brother Lingyu, you actually remember such a thing? By the way, aren't you a popular science writer?"

"Nonsense!" Chen Feng said: "I only have time to go to the game show once in ten years! I successfully signed up for the Water Friendship Competition. Before I could be happy, I was knocked out of the first round. I hold a grudge! And I was beaten. After that, I disappeared from the world for a few months, and I couldn’t even find a job! Besides, being a science writer is just my hobby and my job - by the way, are you a science fiction writer?"

"Hahaha...I was later taken to study alien technology because I wrote science fiction so well."

The four hands were clasped together.

"It's destiny."

"Yeah yeah."

Xiang Shan looked at his formal clothes and said regretfully: "If I had known it was you earlier, then why would I have worn such a formal dress and just walked around in a cultural shirt. It's so hot."

"Let's go to the office and talk about it. The air conditioning there is very windy."

The group returned to the office again. Only then did Hu Zhengyu realize that Xiang Shan and Chen Feng had been netizens for many years.

But it's not too coincidental. They are all locals, hardcore gamers and science fiction enthusiasts, so it is normal for their circles to intersect.

After entering the office, Chen Feng snapped his fingers, and a melodious tune immediately sounded in the office - this was the BGM of a cyberpunk game developed by the famous game studio "Platinum" fifteen years ago. Xiangshan had eaten this old man's Amway many years ago and could roughly identify this classic song.

"If we are all our own people, we can let ourselves go a little bit."

Special thanks to my online friend for many years, a biological knowledge consultant, an outstanding young popular science writer, a Zhongguancun swordfighter with strong martial arts, and a dog abuser who occasionally chatted with me and said, "My wife is sleeping with me, so I'll see you later."

PS: This is currently the only customized supporting actor who appears with a designated BGM.