Chapter 419
At the Limitless Lab, you can have your own dedicated bench.
You can propose your own research projects.
You can gradually build your own team.
My invitation is not to ask you to change your research direction to suit us.
It is to provide you with a better research environment and resources.
It will allow you to go further and broader on your academic path.
Of course, I am not a selfless saint.
Caleb Watson looked intently at Sophia Sullivan.
He asked the question he cared about most.
"What can you get from me?"
"If you join, the research results will still belong to you."
"But they must be published under the lab's name."
"This is for reputation and benefit."
"A lab that wants to grow needs academic output to secure its place in the global scientific community."
"Not just in quantity, but in quality."
"Secondly, your research direction is different from ours."
"This is precisely the opportunity for the Limitless Lab to develop comprehensively."
"We need you to enrich the lab's attributes and expand its scale."
"Finally, and most importantly."
Sophia gazed into his eyes.
"You quoted a sentence in the acknowledgments section of one paper."
"What matters is not what you possess, but what you achieve through it."
"I have the lab and the resources."
"If I just hold them in my hands, they are just cold buildings and capital for showing off."
"If I allocate a portion to you..."
"The output could be papers, glory, success."
"Even technological advancement, a leap in technology, life-saving opportunities, a stronger national defense."
"Now, about you."
"You have talent and are willing to work hard."
"You have an existing foundation."
"And you have the olive branch I'm extending."
"If you give up on academia and choose to be an ordinary worker..."
"You'd just be a highly educated workhorse."
"If you seize this opportunity..."
"Your future could be a project leader, a biologist, a young scholar."
"You might even enter the National Academy of Sciences."
"Become a researcher, a professor, even an Academician."
"Caleb, the options are laid out before you."
"Make your decision."
Hannah Morse looked at Sophia with shining eyes.
Before, she studied and took exams step by step.
Until she met Sophia.
In her, Hannah saw direction and a goal.
She finally knew where life should lead.
She was like a lighthouse, and also like sunlight.
The lighthouse showed the way.
The sunlight warmed everyone who came near her.
Like her, like Marcus Lawrence, like Caleb Watson.
Perhaps three seconds passed.
Maybe half a minute.
Caleb finally spoke.
He said, "Okay. I'll join."
Sophia smiled and extended her hand.
"Welcome."
Caleb hesitated for two seconds, then gently shook it.
"I will show you what I want to achieve."
"I look forward to it."
Hannah clapped her hands together.
"Great! Now we're all comrades-in-arms."
Caleb gave her a slight nod.
Hannah quickly added, "Welcome."
"I have one more thing," Sophia said.
"Jude Granger."
His head snapped up.
"How did you know?"
"I also know that if Ashley Lowell hadn't removed his name from the competition project..."
"You might have endured it a while longer."
"You wouldn't have suddenly exploded and reported Victoria Lowell."
Caleb lowered his gaze.
"Jude has it hard."
"None of us kids from the countryside have it easy."
"I had already become Victoria Lowell's tool."
"I didn't want to see him walk my old path."
"Even though he hasn't found a new advisor to take him in..."
"He still worried about whether I could graduate."
"He sent dozens of emails to those professors."
"I know this request is somewhat presumptuous..."
"But could he also transfer to Professor Watson's lab?"
Sophia smiled.
"Don't worry."
"Before coming here, Professor Watson said Jude would transfer over too."
"Isn't Professor Watson his idol?"
"From now on, he'll be his idol's student."
Caleb was even more excited than when he heard he was accepted.
"Excellent! That silly boy will be laughing in his dreams."
"However, one thing must be made clear."
"Please convey this to Jude as well."
"His current ability is insufficient."
"He cannot join the Limitless Lab yet."
"As long as he works hard..."
"And reaches the threshold in the future..."
"He will naturally have the opportunity to enter."
Caleb nodded.
"I understand."
"He understands too."
"He won't hold any resentment."
"Good." Sophia proactively extended her hand.
"May we work together happily."
"Charge forward for research, for academia, for dreams."
"Okay." Caleb's heart surged with emotion.
The next noon, Professor Eleanor Watson landed in Kyoto.
She didn't go home first, but went straight to the school.
She went to the academic affairs office to complete the transfer procedures for Caleb and Jude.
Then she took them both home.
Ms. Jade had already prepared the meal.
Four steaming hot dishes and a soup.
Later, Sophia heard that the two young men cried like dogs at the dinner table.
Professor Eleanor Watson couldn't help it either.
She fiercely wiped away her tears.
As the subsequent handling results were announced one after another, everything settled.
Ashley Lowell stole the research topic.
Fiona Valentine and Shane Holloway, as group members and beneficiaries, were implicated.
Shane Holloway received a major demerit, which was kept in his file.
Fiona Valentine was issued a public criticism.
Hannah was puzzled.
"Why are the punishments different for the same offense?"
Marcus Lawrence raised an eyebrow.
"Think about who Fiona Valentine's boyfriend is."
"Ah, you mean Ethan Roscente intervened to help her?"
"Otherwise?"
"Whether it's a demerit or a public criticism isn't important."
"The key is whether it goes into the file."
"Shane's did."
"Fiona's didn't?"
"If the statement doesn't mention it, then it wasn't."
"Hey, this Fiona Valentine really has some tricks up her sleeve."
"And Ethan Roscente, what is he thinking?"
"He broke up with Sophia, and now he dares to find a girlfriend among her circle."
"This isn't an attitude seeking reconciliation at all."
"He's pushing Sophia further away."
Marcus spread his hands.
"Who knows what's going on in his head?"
"Maybe he thinks by doing this he can frequently appear in front of Sophia."
"Then he can make her soften and forgive him, agree to get back together."
It had to be said, Marcus had hit the truth.
Hannah asked a soul-searching question.
"Is the thought process of you men always this bizarre?"