by <unknown>
As time went on, everyone started to ignore this statue-like executive producer.
After this, five performers in black, skintight costumes, holding strange props, appeared one by one. The martial arts instructor started to choreograph their movements while the male and female lead continued discussing the plot.
However, for some reason, when Studebaker saw the villains' get-up, he suddenly frowned and said to the stylist beside him, "Mr. Mill, do you think that these outfits are… Hmm, how do I put this — too old-fashioned?"
"Hey, this is the most classic villain look these days."
The bearded man beside him quickly defended. "I bet that there'll be no other look that's more of a classic than this movie in five years."
"It's not that I question your expertise, but I think that maybe the villains' outfits are too obvious? It's as if the words 'I'm the villain' are written on their faces."
Studebaker frowned and suggested, "Is it possible to make their aesthetic more profound?"
"What do you have in mind?" The bearded man instantly sounded huffy.
Studebaker became contemplative. He looked around as if searching for inspiration. When he saw Cheng Cao, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Eureka! What if we dress the villains in an additional layer of casual clothes? Just like Mr. Cheng Cao. Won't that be cool?"
Studebaker pointed at Cheng Cao. "If we use the camera well, we can draw attention to the skintight suit at the neck area. To the audience, it'll fit even better with the idea of the villains' concealment, right?"
When Mill heard this, he looked at Cheng Cao thoughtfully. "There's some truth in what you're saying…"
Cheng Cao was dumbfounded when he overheard this conversation. He knew that they had said all this because they noticed the GS Combat Suit he was wearing.
The GS Combat Suit was well concealed indeed, but its only flaw was that the collar was too high. There were not many clothes that would cover it. In addition, the four "buttons" that glowed with a blue light on the collar were so sleek and dazzling, like something out of sci-fi.
To cover up the glowing of the buttons, B.S.S. members had dyed the buttons black. Even so, it was inevitable that when they hung around long enough, people would notice the details of their collar.
This was the only flaw of the GS Combat Suit.
…
On the other side of things, the primate experiment went off without a hitch. In just one month's work, the Alzheimer's disease in all the chimpanzees had been successfully suppressed and their brains had entered the recovery phase.
Seeing this, Chen Chen no longer hesitated. He asked Little X to book a plane ticket back to Shangdu and left Africa with a pile of materials on treating Alzheimer's.
More than ten hours later, when Chen Chen got off the plane and set foot in Mainland China once again, he instinctively took in a deep breath.
After one and a half years, he had finally returned to his hometown.
After staying in Switzerland and Namibia for so long, Chen Chen had nearly forgotten that he was a native of China. It was only when he got off the plane and saw the Asian faces which filled the airport that he felt an unusual rush of familiarity.
"The feeling of homecoming…"
Chen Chen murmured in a low voice, then walked forward to queue at the administration area of Immigration and waited to be inspected.
This time, Chen Chen did not inform his head office that he was returning. At this point, the head office was in full swing under Xia Yin's management. In terms of the translator, hundreds of thousands of copies were sold each month. Although this was partly due to the state's support, it was still not an easy feat.
However, internationally, the expansion of the simultaneous translator had not gone smoothly. It was still waiting for approval in various countries, which in turn seemed to be waiting for their own people to crack the code.
Still, this did not worry Chen Chen. In any case, the core code of the translator was right there. If those people could crack it, then it would not matter even if Chen Chen handed over his entire company.
This was all about a programmer's dignity.
Ten minutes later, Chen Chen exited the airport, hastily got into a taxi, and rushed toward the affiliated hospital of Shangdu Jiao Tong University's medical school.
Chapter 123: Professor Wang Xi |
Due to how important Professor Wang Xi was to the country, the hospital had given him full-out treatment during this period. However, this was only the conventional treatment and Professor Wang Xi showed no signs of improvement.
Half an hour later, when Chen Chen had arrived at the hospital and asked to see Professor Wang Xi in the first-class ward, he learned that Professor Wang Xi was not in the ward.
"Professor Wang Xi is trying multi-directional brain stimulation therapy under the advice of an expert group. He'll only return to his ward in the evening. If you're his student, you can just contact him directly." The doctor shot Chen Chen a suspicious look while giving this suggestion.
Chen Chen softly uttered his thanks, then exited the hospital. He took out his phone and dialed a number he had never called.
"Hello? Is this Little Chen?"
In a short while, a familiar voice spoke on the other end, with a hint of a hearty smile. "And you have the time to give me a call?"
"Professor Wang, I didn't expect you to remember me." Chen Chen smiled.
"I've forgotten about you, but I still remember your paper. There aren't many university students who can get published on Cell." Professor Wang Xi laughed out loud.
Chen Chen heard some background noises on Professor Wang Xi's end, so he asked, "Professor Wang, are you busy over there? If so, I'll call back later."
"Not at all. I'm just at a signing event to see an actor I used to like," Professor Wang Xi replied, "is there anything I can do for you?"
"There's something pretty important. Where are you now? I'll head over directly."
"I'm at No. 554, Long'ang West Road, in the Hua'an Building. I'm in the conference hall on the second floor." Professor Wang Xi did not hesitate at all to tell Chen Chen his location.
"Alright, I'll be right there."
Chen Chen hung up and took another taxi, hurrying to the Hua'an Building. This time, it only took Chen Chen ten minutes to reach the ground floor of the building.
At the moment, an inflatable arch had been placed before the main entrance, flanked by several gigantic posters. There seemed to be an event of some sort.
Chen Chen looked at the poster and saw that an international movie star of the older generation was having a signing event here.
As soon as he walked into the lobby, Chen Chen could hear the faint bustle of excitement from the conference hall on the second floor. Chen Chen told the security guards at the door of his purpose and they let Chen Chen in at once.
When Chen Chen pushed open the large doors, the din inside became louder immediately. The moment he entered, he happened to hear the international movie star saying, "Historical satire isn't a silly joke and adaptation isn't done without purpose."
The venue could fit about a thousand, but only a sparse one-third of it was filled up. The movie star was wearing a red coat, speaking emotionally about something on the stage.
Chen Chen did a cursory sweep and noticed Professor Wang Xi's familiar figure sitting in the first row before the stage.
Immediately after that, Professor Wang Xi seemed to sense Chen Chen's gaze and turned back, then waved to Chen Chen with a smile.
Chen Chen nodded. He bent down slightly and lowered his head as he made his way to the first row.
On the stage, the international star was going on. "I've once watched a play in which Sun Wukong addressed Baigujing as 'Jing Jing', and Baigujing addressed Sun Wukong as 'Kong Kong'…"
There was a peal of laughter from the audience.
"Is that funny?" the movie star on the stage said grievously, "in fact, I couldn't bring myself to laugh. My tears
were welling up inside me."
Chen Chen reached the first row and quickly sat beside Professor Wang Xi. "Old Wang, I…"
"Shh…"
Professor Wang Xi shook his head gently. "Let's listen first. We'll talk later."
Chen Chen was stunned upon hearing this, then he smiled. Right, after three months of waiting, there was no need to rush now.
With this in mind, Chen Chen gradually relaxed.
At this time, the international movie star on stage took out a long stick and called out to the audience, "I still remember a scene from some movie that went like this…"
With that, he rested the stick on his shoulders and twisted his head around. "Master, let's go!" Then, in a well-practiced manner, he started swaggering across the stage.
There was another eruption of laughter from below the stage. The entire venue was filled with merriment.
Soon after that, the talk was over and everyone dispersed. Only then did Chen Chen and Professor Wang Xi walked out of the place.
Just then, Chen Chen noticed that two people were trailing Professor Wang Xi. From the looks of it, they must be bodyguards of some sort.
"Professor Wang…"
Chen Chen composed what he wanted to say, then spoke up as they walked on, "I know about your illness. As far as I know, for now, there are few hospitals in Mainland China that dare to claim they can treat your illness. Would you be interested in going to other continents for treatment?"
"Other continents?"
Professor Wang Xi seemed joyful when he heard this. "The school committee said that you've opened a research center in the African Continent. Is that what you're talking about?"
"So, you've known about it."
Chen Chen instantly explained, "That's right, over there, I've developed a compound therapy to fight against Alzheimer's. It has shown excellent results on primates. Initially, I wanted to wait for it to pass the clinical trial before letting you know, but I don't know how long that will be. After all, your illness can't be delayed…"
Professor Wang Xi was silent for a moment. "This sickness of mine is nothing much. I just don't want to burden Luo'er any further…"
Chen Chen did not reply. He had read through Professor Wang Xi's information and knew that this "Luo'er" he spoke of referred to his 45-year-old daughter.
After long consideration, Professor Wang Xi ultimately shook his head and patted Chen Chen's shoulder. "Forget it. I'm sure you understand as well. With this disease, I don't have many years left."
Even so, Professor Wang Xi's expression was full of tranquility as he said this. "Since that's the case, there's no need to agonize over something trivial like this. Whatever happens, happens."
"Professor Wang Xi, how are you so sure that this disease can't be cured?" Chen Chen grinned, then handed over the information in his hands.
"What's this?"
As someone working in scientific research, Professor Wang Xi was particularly susceptible to technical information. Before he could even process all this, his hand had already reached out instinctively to accept the information.
Professor Wang Xi gently turned to the first page and his eyes lit up at once after reading the introduction. He could not hold back from delving into the main text.
Chen Chen helped Professor Wang Xi into the car, then nodded at the bodyguards in charge. After that, he got into the backseat too. The two bodyguards dutifully sat in the front.
The car started off for the hospital.
After reading for quite some time, Professor Wang Xi dazedly came back to his senses. He pointed at a line of data. "Little Chen, your technology for 'inducing neural stem cells' is slightly off. According to this data, it'll be difficult to induce neural stem cells like this."
"Is that so?"
Chen Chen took the papers, pretending to be puzzled, following which he broke out into a smile of unparalleled certainty. "Professor Wang, there's no mistake here. The results have been produced. If you don't believe me, take a look at the back."
"There's really no mistake?"
Professor Wang Xi shot a doubtful glance at Chen Chen. Seeing that Chen Chen's eyes were unwavering, he did not say anything else and continued reading.
After Professor Wang Xi re-entered his state of deep pondering, Chen Chen felt a small, secret pang of shame.
In truth, most of the data in this document were authentic. Only the technology for "inducing neural stem cells" was falsified.
After all, Chen Chen had already developed "embryonic stem cell cloning" technology, which was more precise and convenient than "induced pluripotent stem cells". How could he give up on all that and shift to developing "induced pluripotent stem cells"?
Besides, the latter technology had many hidden risks, including tumor formation and mutation. It was far less secure than embryonic stem cell cloning.
However, even though the technology of embryonic stem cell cloning was not against international law, it would still trigger a massive public debate. Therefore, Chen Chen had to use "induced neural stem cells" to fill in the gap for now.
To think that Chen Chen did not spot the problem in this information but Professor Wang Xi noticed something fishy almost immediately.
Sure enough, despite having resigned from leading roles for many years and despite suffering from "senile dementia", Professor Wang Xi's level of biological mastery was still among the best in the world.
[ol][li data-annotation-id="33166f19-e117-51f9-926d-02e979be5d5c"]Sun Wukong refers to the Monkey King and Baigujing refers to the White Bone Spirit. Both are characters from Journey to the West.[/ol]
Chapter 124: Argument |
Back in the hospital ward, Professor Wang Xi kept holding onto the stack of data like a dragon guarding its hoard. He stubbornly refused to rest in his bed.
"No! Don't help me up, I can still read…"
Professor Wang Xi cried out loudly, like a child who did not want to go to sleep.
In the end, the nurse had no choice but to let Professor Wang Xi finish reading the information before he would lie down in his bed contentedly and fall into a deep sleep.
Chen Chen silently collected the scattered pages, then turned to leave the ward. However, as soon as he went out the door, a middle-aged woman stood blocking his way.
The woman's face was similar to Professor Wang Xi's, but unlike Professor Wang Xi, there was a harsher expression in her brows and her eyes were steely. She looked like a strong, independent woman.
"Hello, Auntie."
Chen Chen smiled and nodded in greeting.
"Do you know me?" The woman raised an eyebrow and scanned Chen Chen in a scrutinizing manner.
"I don't but I can guess who you are based on your looks," Chen Chen replied politely.
The middle-aged woman relaxed slightly. "You have pretty good reflexes. So, what's your purpose in coming back to China? Are you here just to see my father?"
"Sorry to ask, but you're working as…" Chen Chen intentionally made a confused face.
"I'm Wang Luo, deputy director of the political department in the Shangdu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences," the woman said in a powerful voice.
"Ah, Director Wang."
Chen Chen nodded. "I know you came here because of me. In fact, you don't have to worry. I'm not here as a representative of any external faction. As for Professor Wang Xi…"
Chen Chen was silent for a moment before he said solemnly, "Because he helped me once, I want to repay him."
"Repay him? And how will you do that?" A mocking look flashed across Wang Luo's face. "Based on your paper in Cell? Or your research center in Africa?"
"So, you know about this." Chen Chen nodded, unsurprised.
"I know you're not with any foreign organization, but I've heard that you're taking advantage of the underdeveloped medical facilities over there to carry out your clinical trials?" Wang Luo's face darkened as she questioned, "Do you know what sort of behavior that is?"
"Academic misconduct, righ
t?"
Chen Chen's lips curled up into a smile as he replied before she could. "Auntie Wang, that's where you're mistaken."
"What's academic misconduct? Falsification, plagiarism, violating the spirit of science and ethics, those are what we call academic misconduct. So, what's my misconduct exactly?"
"What, you don't even know what you did wrong?"
The crow's feet at the corner of Wang Luo's eyes trembled slightly and she broke out into a cold, adamant smile. "Science is a people-oriented system, in the service of people. It involves human ethics. If these ethics don't keep in check the wheels of experimentation and researchers do whatever they want, they would be wiping out lives and trampling on human rights. Isn't that against human morality?"
"Oh, in that case, Andreas Vesalius committed academic misconduct too when he stole bodies in the middle of the night, right?" When Chen Chen heard this, he immediately noticed the flaw in the argument and retorted with this question.
Wang Luo frowned and countered. "You're comparing yourself to the founder of anatomy?"
"I'm not."
Chen Chen shook his head calmly and humbly. "Of course, my achievements can't be compared to the pioneers, but you might be having some trouble understanding. No matter, I'll spell it out for you."
Chen Chen said good-naturedly, "I believe that what you're talking about is common knowledge. Andreas Vesalius published his book in 1543. At that time, the Catholic Church had commanded repeatedly that no desecration of corpses was allowed. In that case, Vesalius' act of stealing and even dissecting the bodies — is that a violation of human ethics?"
Wang Luo hesitated. "But he was doing it for human medicine. Moreover, that was just a religious restriction at that time, which doesn't represent modern human ethics…"
"Aha, that's the problem!"
Before Wang Luo could finish explaining, Chen Chen instantly cut in. "Since you say that it doesn't conform to modern human ethics, can I take it that modern human ethics are the final standard in science?"
"…" Wang Luo opened her mouth but no words came out.
"You don't have to tell me. I already know the answer!"