852: Chapter 847 A Grand Dream of Spring and Autumn

His voice was hoarse, as if his throat were filled with sand.

The man called Li Kai laughed loudly and turned to wave at his female companion, who was touching up her makeup.

"Baby, come look! This is the Lin Zhiyuan, Dr. Lin, I told you about. Back in the lab, he was so high and mighty, saying I couldn't even wash a test tube properly!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look at him now. How is he any different from a stray dog?"

The woman glanced at him with disgust, pinched her nose, and took two steps back.

"Honey, don't get too close. He'll have fleas."

Li Kai seemed to relish the thrill of trampling over someone who was once his superior.

He raised his foot and ground it into the half-box of leftovers, crushing the rice into the muddy water.

"Hungry? If you're hungry, beg me."

"If you kneel down, kowtow to me, and call me Grandpa Li, I've got some imported dog food I just bought in my car. Maybe I'll reward you with a bag?"

Lin Zhiyuan bit his cracked lips hard, the taste of blood spreading in his mouth.

He didn't say a word, only silently clutching the briefcase to his chest. It contained all his hard work from the past three years and was the last shred of dignity he hadn't been stripped of.

"Cat got your tongue?"

The smile on Li Kai's face vanished instantly, replaced by a sinister look.

"Weren't you quite the smooth talker when you reported me for data falsification back then?"

"Now that you're blacklisted from the entire industry and not even a janitor would hire you, how does it feel?"

As he spoke, he reached out to snatch the bag from Lin Zhiyuan's arms.

"Let me see what treasures are in this ragged bag. Are you still dreaming your pipe dream of immortality?"

"Don't touch my data!"

The previously silent Lin Zhiyuan suddenly acted like a madman, biting down hard on the back of Li Kai's hand.

"Ah! Fuck!"

Li Kai let out a blood-curdling scream and jerked his hand back, leaving a row of bleeding teeth marks on the back of his hand.

"You fucking dare to bite me? I'll kill you!"

Humiliated and enraged, Li Kai raised his foot and kicked toward Lin Zhiyuan's face.

If that kick landed, Lin Zhiyuan's skeletal frame would likely end up with several broken ribs.

Lin Zhiyuan closed his eyes and instinctively curled his body, desperately protecting the bag in his arms.

The expected pain never came.

Bang!

A dull thud echoed.

Li Kai felt as if his leg had struck a steel plate. He lost his balance, stumbled back several steps, and landed hard on his butt in the muddy water.

That expensive white suit was instantly reduced to a rag.

Shen Yan retracted his leg and brushed off non-existent dust from his pant leg.

Just then, Chen Guangke came out of the restroom, rushing over while buckling his belt.

"Holy shit! Brother Yan! Who is this grandson? He dares to pick a fight with us?"

Seeing the tower-like Chen Guangke standing in his way, Li Kai's arrogance was instantly halved.

But looking at Shen Yan's unfamiliar face, he felt he had lost face.

"Who are you? Do you know who I am? I'm the vice president of Tiannuo Biology! This madman bit me; what I do to him is none of your damn business!"

Tiannuo Biology.

Shen Yan raised an eyebrow. One of the top three pharmaceutical giants in the country—no wonder he was so arrogant.

He ignored Li Kai on the ground entirely and turned to look at the man huddled in the corner.

"Lin Zhiyuan?"

Hearing his name, Lin Zhiyuan trembled all over and looked warily at the young man who had suddenly appeared.

"Who are you..."

Shen Yan didn't answer, his gaze falling on the notebook peeking out from the man's arms.

The handwriting was slightly blurred by the rain, but several complex chemical formulas were still visible.

"Telomerase activity can only be maintained at minus seventy degrees for forty-eight hours. Your so-called 'Stabilizer' formula in that backpack is on the wrong track."

Shen Yan's voice wasn't loud, but it struck Lin Zhiyuan like a bolt of lightning.

Lin Zhiyuan's eyes widened. Forgetting his fear, he scrambled to his feet and grabbed Shen Yan's sleeve.

"You... you can understand this?"

"Impossible! Even those old guys at Princeton said this theory was a fantasy. You say I'm on the wrong track? Where did I go wrong?"

This was a pure technical fanatic.

Even if he was eating trash or being trampled into the mud, his soul would reignite the moment his research was mentioned.

Shen Yan pulled a wet wipe from his pocket and handed it over.

"Wipe your hands."

"Your formula lacks an active metal ion to serve as a carrier. That's why your experiments are always stuck at the third stage of cell division."

Lin Zhiyuan froze.

He stood rooted to the spot like a statue, muttering to himself.

"Carrier... metal ion... third stage..."

Suddenly, an amazing light erupted in his cloudy eyes.

"Yes! That's it! It's the carrier! How did I not think of the carrier being the problem!"

He trembled with excitement and tried to find a pen to record it, only to find his hands covered in mud.

Nearby, Li Kai scrambled up from the ground and roared in frustration.

"Where did this charlatan come from? Metal ions? This madman's theories are all bullshit! You're in this together, aren't you?"

"Security! Where's the security for this service area?"

Chen Guangke picked his ear impatiently. He placed his massive, fan-like hand directly on Li Kai's shoulder and applied a little pressure.

Li Kai instantly felt half his body go numb, his scream getting stuck in his throat.

"Shut up. If you keep making noise, I'll throw you into that bucket."

Chen Guangke pointed to the slop bucket Lin Zhiyuan had been rummaging through earlier.

Shen Yan looked at the fanatical Lin Zhiyuan.

"Do you want to prove your theory is correct?"

Lin Zhiyuan snapped his head up, his gaze shifting from fanaticism to longing—the longing of a drowning man for a final straw.

"I do! I do in my dreams! But... my lab is gone, my data was deleted by them, and I can't even afford a single microscope..."

By the end, the forty-something-year-old man's voice choked up, tears mixing with the rain as they flowed down.

"I have a lab."

Shen Yan said calmly.

"I also have a sample of the raw solution that's even more advanced than your theory."

"But I'm missing a mad dog that knows how to bite, to help me tear apart the faces of those so-called authoritative experts."

Shen Yan extended his hand.

"Come with me. The equipment, funding, and dignity you want—I'll provide it all."

"As long as you can give me results."

Lin Zhiyuan looked at that slender, clean hand.

Then he looked at his own trembling, mud-covered hand.

Without a moment's hesitation, he wiped his hand haphazardly on his clothes twice and gripped Shen Yan's hand tightly.

Even though there was still black mud under his fingernails and his palm was incredibly rough.

"As long as you give me a lab, you can take my life!"

The corners of Shen Yan's mouth curled up slightly.

"I don't want your life. I only want that brain of yours that can change the world."

He turned around and signaled Chen Guangke to bring the man to the car.

"Let's go. Back to the Jinghai."

Li Kai watched helplessly as Lin Zhiyuan, whom he had treated like trash, was invited into that black maybach by the profound-looking young man.

The burly man even thoughtfully carried Lin Zhiyuan's ragged briefcase for him, fearing the papers inside might get wet.

"Was... was that the latest S68?"