15: You want to see nuclear weapons, what's so difficult about that?

Chapter 15: You want to see nuclear weapons? What's so difficult about that? (Please collect, please follow!)

Whether it was him or his advisor, Professor Hassen, they were both practically invisible in the entire LLNL Laboratory.

Either choose to replicate lower-level technological items, such as the high-precision in-situ transmission electron microscope previously in DUKE University's Materials Engineering Laboratory, which usually provides two to three thousand achievement points.

Or, he could only wait quietly for the right moment to arrive.

After much thought, he couldn't find a better solution.

“Can’t be impatient. The more impatient I am, the more useless it will be,” Lu Ze murmured softly.

It seems that replicating high-level technological items will still be a long and arduous task.

The number of replication attempts wouldn't disappear, but if he was too eager, it was very likely to expose some flaws, which would be more trouble than it was worth.

Clearing his mind, Lu Ze slowly walked along the streets of the laboratory, admiring the small town before him.

As the headquarters of the LLNL Laboratory, the tens of thousands of people in the entire town almost all lived around them, with a river directly separating the two, acting as a dividing line.

Just as Lu Ze was getting familiar with this unfamiliar environment.

Suddenly, a person next to him caught his eye.

A girl with elf-like eyes, dressed in a white dress with long black hair reaching her waist, revealing a section of her fair forearm, was biting her finger and staring at the various names on the coffee shop sign, looking extraordinarily visually striking, like a dancer from an exotic land.

Seeing someone with a similar skin tone to his own in this foreign country, Lu Ze felt a lot more relaxed.

However.

Her current situation was probably not very good.

“Hello, I’d like this medium mocha,” the girl said, blinking her eyes and pointing at the coffee in the middle.

“Sorry, Miss, our coffees come in medium, large, and extra-large. This is a large mocha.”

“I want the medium one here,” she said in a childish voice, thinking that it was clearly the one in the middle, so how could she be wrong?

“Excuse me, this is a large, this one is the medium!” the waiter politely pointed to the leftmost cup to correct her.

“…”

Listening to their strange conversation, Lu Ze was full of question marks: “Good heavens, do Starbucks abroad also play these games?”

He saw that the girl was about to slap herself, so Lu Ze quickly stepped forward and pulled her: “Excuse me, could you give her a large mocha coffee, with sugar and milk…”

He took the coffee from the waiter and handed it over.

He had already said it, it was a large! Why was this woman so stubborn?

“Hello, Lucy… I’m Lu Ze, we just met,” Lu Ze extended his hand and said with a smile.

He happened to know this beautiful girl; Professor Hassen had introduced her in the laboratory earlier, and he vaguely remembered her name was Lucy.

He originally thought she was an East Asian like himself, but it turned out she was a native-born American. Especially with her beautiful face, which blended both Eastern and Western features, Lu Ze couldn't help but remember her.

She smiled and responded to Lu Ze: “Hello, I’m Lucy Hill.”

However, looking at Lu Ze’s outstretched right hand, Lucy muttered to herself: “Uh, is it not good to shake with my left hand?”

As if she had thought of this, she then solemnly put down the coffee she was holding tightly in her right hand, and only then did their hands lightly touch.

“…” Lu Ze.

It's just a handshake, there's no need to be so serious, is there? This isn't some ancient ritual.

Looking at her adorable nature, Lu Ze found it a bit incomprehensible; it didn't match her beautiful and captivating appearance at all.

Lucy then remembered who the person in front of her was: “I remember you, you’re the Da Xia intern graduate student who just started today… right?”

A hint of joy bloomed in her eyes.

Lu Ze smiled: “Yes, at first I thought you were also from Da Xia like me.”

After all, that face was indeed too deceptive.

If she learned a few more Chinese phrases, and said she was from Da Xia, no one would doubt it for a second.

“I’m used to it; strangers have always thought I was from Da Xia since I was little,” Lucy sighed.

Although minorities in America account for nearly 40% of the population, and Caucasians only make up 55-60%, the vast majority of these are African Americans and Hispanic Americans.

People with her appearance, dark long hair, and skin tone are more often considered to be from Da Xia.

Lucy didn't elaborate much on this topic; the stories involved would probably take her a whole day to tell.

“Thank you for helping me out just now. I’m Professor Hassen’s student, just like you.”

“You’re welcome, it was just a small thing, merely a helping hand.”

Lu Ze had a very good impression of the young girl in front of him.

It wasn't just because of Lucy's outstanding appearance, a superficial reason; Lu Ze appreciated her inner beauty more.

She wasn't like many Americans who often approached social interactions with strong self-interest or placed excessive importance on class relations.

Whether you were from Da Xia or a Hispanic from a poor region, or an African American from Africa, she could treat everyone politely without any prejudice.

Regardless of what she truly thought, being able to do this even superficially was extremely rare.

It's important to know that even in America's top Ivy League schools, various subtle discriminations still existed. When Lu Ze was at DUKE University, many people, upon hearing he was from Da Xia, would look down on him.

“But… studying under Professor Hassen, I’m afraid it won’t be easy,” Lucy took a sip of coffee, her brows furrowed.

She was always straightforward, saying whatever came to mind.

“This isn't a good choice for you,” Lucy added.

Although she didn't know why Lu Ze chose to be under Professor Hassen, it was definitely not a good choice.

Professor Hassen was one of the lowest-ranked individuals in the entire LLNL. There was no future development following him. If she wasn't content with just getting by and finishing her degree, she would have chosen another professor as her advisor long ago.

“Indeed,” Lu Ze gave a wry smile: “Let alone participating in any core projects, it’s even difficult to get close to some high-tech items.”

This was also his biggest headache at the moment. The advisor at the LLNL Laboratory couldn't be easily changed, and he even had the final say on where you were assigned.

He didn't know if there was an EUV lithography machine in the laboratory, but there were many top-tier technological items here, though he had no chance to access them.

He had mentally prepared himself; as long as he saw an item worth six or seven thousand achievement points or more, he would replicate it without hesitation.

Lucy pouted: “What’s there to see about those things? Do you want to go in and visit?”

“I really do want to. Just a glance, a touch would be enough,” Lu Ze nodded. He only needed to touch it for five seconds.

“What’s so difficult about that?” Lucy looked at him strangely.

“It’s not difficult??”

(Please collect, please follow!)