74: Chapter 74 The Strange Laboratory

Jiangsu Province Institute of Materials Research.

Hu Gualing looked at the building sign in front of him, knowing that once he walked in, he would be able to see the person Wu Yingying wanted him to meet... At the thought of this, for some reason, his feet felt stuck, and he unknowingly fell a step behind Wu Yingying.

Wu Yingying noticed this, looked back, and simply stopped to wait for him to walk over before saying: "Don't be nervous, my teacher is actually quite easy to get along with."

Teacher? Hu Gualing immediately caught this keyword. The anxiety in his heart eased slightly, and he asked: "The person you brought me to see is your teacher?"

"Yes."

Wu Yingying nodded, "My teacher is named Zhang Zhongqing, he is a professor of Materials science, you can just call him Teacher Zhang."

"Oh, oh... Okay."

The guess he had held the entire journey finally had an answer.

While Hu Gualing let out a sigh of relief, he also kept repeating "Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhang" in his mouth, afraid that he would call him the wrong name once he went inside.

At this moment, Wu Yingying reminded him again: "By the way, my teacher has a bit of a special hobby, if you see it later, there's no need to be too surprised."

"A special hobby?" Hu Gualing was just getting curious, but Wu Yingying didn't explain, pulling him towards the research institute.

He saw her walk up to a large, silvery-white metal door, verify her fingerprint, and with a beep, the door slowly opened to both sides.

Walking through the door and into the spacious lobby, miniature LED lights hung from the tall, arched ceiling, casting white, bright light down to illuminate the glass display cabinets in the center of the lobby.

This highly technological, upscale scene made Hu Gualing's spirit soar, while simultaneously making him feel involuntarily inferior.

He looked at the display cabinets with reverence. Inside were various Materials. Although he didn't recognize a single one, and hadn't even seen them before, he recognized the labels.

Nanomaterials, shape-memory alloys, superconducting Materials...

Just the names of the items alone made him feel they were profound and powerful, and he even subconsciously held his breath, afraid of disturbing these high-end Materials that were practically works of art.

Wu Yingying, however, was as casual as if she were returning home. She looked at the several closed doors around her, then walked over to a display screen on the wall to check the usage status of each laboratory... After watching for a while, she shook her head and sighed: "Sure enough, they are there again..."

"Let's go." Wu Yingying pulled Hu Gualing, who was still lingering in front of the glass display cabinets, and left the lobby to walk down a corridor.

The walls on both sides of the corridor were made of Materials similar to the door, gleaming with a silvery luster under the lights.

According to Wu Yingying, this material is called titanium alloy, and because of its high density and strong atomic structure, it not only has strong corrosion resistance but can also absorb radiation to a certain extent.

Hu Gualing didn't quite understand, but he understood one thing—this stuff was high-end goods...

As the two walked down the corridor, a door in front of them suddenly opened, and a researcher walked out of the laboratory.

This researcher was wearing a white lab coat, and even his face was covered by a protective mask.

He walked in a hurry, looking like he had something to do... but as soon as he stepped out and saw a strange young man in a security uniform, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment...

But soon, the researcher recognized Wu Yingying beside the young man, and shouted in an excited and admiring tone: "Senior Sister! And this... you must be Hero Hu, right? I saw it on the news, it was awesome." The researcher gave Hu Gualing a thumbs up.

Hu Gualing scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly.

"By the way, Senior Sister, are you here to do experiments? Is there anything I can help with?" The researcher asked Wu Yingying enthusiastically.

'It seems Wu Yingying is quite admired.' Hu Gualing thought silently.

Wu Yingying, however, shook her head: "I'm here to find Teacher Zhang, is he here?"

The researcher was stunned for a moment, then quickly said: "Yes, yes, he is right in front, but I haven't finished my experiment, so I won't accompany you, Senior Sister. Goodbye, Senior Sister! Goodbye, Hero Hu!"

Just as he finished speaking, before Hu Gualing could even say goodbye, he saw him leave in a hurry. It made Hu Gualing feel strange; why did this guy act like a rabbit seeing an eagle the moment he heard about Teacher Zhang, as if he were very afraid of this Teacher Zhang?

But didn't Wu Yingying say that Teacher Zhang was very easy to get along with?

Wu Yingying seemed to see his confusion and explained with a smile: "Teacher Zhang often orders everyone to do some manual labor, which is very tiring, so as soon as he heard I was looking for Teacher Zhang, he quickly slipped away."

"But you are a guest, so you don't need to worry. Let's go."

Manual labor? Don't people in research institutes use their brains to work? How could there be manual labor? Could this be Teacher Zhang's special hobby?

Hu Gualing followed Wu Yingying forward, filled with doubts.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered the researcher's attire and asked with some worry: "By the way, do we not need to wear protective suits?"

Wu Yingying said casually: "No need. The place we are going to... although it can be called a laboratory, there is no need for any protection."

Hu Gualing frowned, but Wu Yingying was a dignified graduate student, and he believed what she said without question.

But he was even more curious now; what kind of Materials did this Teacher Zhang research?

...

Walking to the end of the corridor, they turned a corner to the right.

Wu Yingying finally stopped.

Hu Gualing saw that in front of him was an iron door with a style completely different from the research institute.

The tall iron door lacked the coldness of those titanium alloy doors and had more of a rough, rugged feel.

But the appearance of such a door in the research institute was truly jarring.

Is this Teacher Zhang's laboratory?

If nothing else, the style was truly quite unique.

As Wu Yingying took out a card and swiped it on the door, the heavy iron door opened slowly and silently.

Before he could even get a good look at the scene inside, a deep and rhythmic thumping sound came from within.

The sound was familiar to Hu Gualing, and he couldn't help but have a guess in his heart, though this guess seemed a bit absurd...

Looking into the laboratory, he found that it was not as clean, tidy, and spotless as he had imagined.

Instead, he saw iron rods hanging vertically from the ceiling, and on the ground, there were all kinds of furnaces, grinding wheels, and some unrecognizable operation tables.

Hu Gualing was a little stunned. This was completely different from the laboratory in his mind; it looked more like a material processing workshop.

But regardless, this was definitely the place.

He followed Wu Yingying into this "workshop," and only then did he understand where that familiar thumping sound was coming from...