Chapter 50 Unraveling the Knot

Early the next morning, Chen Xueming appeared at the base entrance at 7:30.

Lin Mo was eating breakfast in the cafeteria when he received a call from the security guard, and he nearly choked on his porridge.

He glanced at Zhao Gang sitting opposite him. "He's here."

Zhao Gang chewed on a fried dough stick, his expression subtle. "So eager? Something's fishy, right?"

"If he heard you say that, he'd get upset with you." Lin Mo put down his bowl and stood up. "I'll go meet him."

"I'll go with you." Zhao Gang stuffed the rest of the fried dough stick into his mouth, grabbed his jacket, and followed.

When the two reached the base entrance, they saw Chen Xueming standing next to the registration desk.

He was still wearing the same dark gray jacket, but today he carried a backpack and was holding a suitcase, looking as if he were moving house.

"Dr. Chen." Lin Mo walked up to greet him. "So early?"

Chen Xueming turned around, his expression somewhat reserved. "I was afraid of traffic jams on the road... but it turns out there's no traffic here at all."

Zhao Gang snorted with laughter from the side.

Chen Xueming glanced at him, his eyes carrying a hint of wariness.

"This is Zhao Gang, our team's head of security." Lin Mo introduced. "You'll be dealing with each other often in the future."

Chen Xueming nodded and reached out his hand. "Chen Xueming."

Zhao Gang shook his hand firmly. "I've heard you're an electrochemistry expert; please take care of us in the future."

Chen Xueming was taken aback, probably not expecting this guy who looked like a soldier to say something like that. He opened his mouth, and finally, only managed to say, "Let's look out for each other."

After finishing the registration procedures, Lin Mo led Chen Xueming inside.

The morning at the base was quiet; occasionally, researchers in white lab coats hurried by, nodding at Lin Mo as a greeting.

"This is the laboratory building." Lin Mo pointed to a grayish-white building. "Our laboratory is on the third floor."

Chen Xueming looked up at the building, a trace of complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Lin Mo asked.

"It's nothing." Chen Xueming withdrew his gaze. "It's just... I haven't been in a proper laboratory for a long time."

Lin Mo didn't respond and led him upstairs.

Pushing open the door to the laboratory, Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe were already inside.

Li Xiao had broken her routine of wearing the same old hoodie, wearing a light blue shirt today, and her hair was tied up neatly.

"Hello, Dr. Chen!" She walked up enthusiastically. "Welcome, welcome!"

Chen Xueming was taken aback by her sudden enthusiasm and took a half-step back. "Hello."

"This is Li Xiao, our computer expert." Lin Mo introduced. "Don't let her age fool you; her web crawler programs are top-notch. We're able to find so much international cutting-edge data all thanks to her."

Chen Xueming's eyes lit up. "The latest international progress on Lithium-Sulfur Battery research, were those collected by you?"

Li Xiao smiled bashfully. "I just wrote a small program, it's nothing impressive."

"It is impressive." Chen Xueming said seriously. "Back when I was in the US looking up information, I had to manually flip through them one by one; it was exhausting."

Li Xiao's face flushed slightly from the compliment. "Dr. Chen, please have a seat, I'll get you some water!"

Zhang Zhe watched silently from the side, and only walked over after Li Xiao left, nodding at Chen Xueming. "Zhang Zhe, materials focus."

Chen Xueming sized him up and asked, "I've heard of Teacher Zhang's name. That review article on diaphragm modification in the field of polymer materials, did you write it?"

Zhang Zhe was stunned. "You've read it?"

"I have." Chen Xueming said. "It was very well written. When I was working on the Lithium-Sulfur Battery back then, the diaphragm problem always had me stuck. If I had seen that review earlier, I could have saved a lot of trouble."

Zhang Zhe's expression became subtle—he probably hadn't expected this "troublemaker" to actually compliment someone.

Lin Mo watched from the side, nodding inwardly.

Chen Xueming wasn't that he couldn't talk, but that he didn't want to talk to people who didn't understand. When he met someone who truly knew their stuff, he was more serious than anyone.

After touring the laboratory, Lin Mo took Chen Xueming to his office.

It was called an office, but it was actually just a small partitioned room in the corner of the laboratory, about ten square meters, with a desk, two chairs, and walls covered in various data charts.

"Sit." Lin Mo pointed to a chair.

Chen Xueming sat down, his gaze sweeping over the charts on the wall. Those were all data related to the Lithium-Sulfur Battery—energy density curves, cycle life tests, performance changes at different temperatures...

"You've done so many tests?" He was somewhat surprised.

"Three months of work equal to two years' worth." Lin Mo said. "No choice, time is tight."

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Teacher Lin, may I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"How was this team of yours... built?" He looked at Lin Mo, his eyes filled with genuine confusion. "I mean, you're just a Ph.D. Student, how did you manage to pull together such a team? With military protection, state support, top-tier assistants—all of this, I mean, how did you do it?"

Lin Mo looked at him, not answering directly, but asking in return, "Dr. Chen, what do you think of the domestic scientific research environment?"

Chen Xueming was stunned, not expecting him to ask this.

"The truth?" He gave a bitter smile. "I've been back for four years, and I've hit walls for four years. Sometimes I ask myself, shouldn't I have come back in the first place?"

Lin Mo didn't speak, waiting for him to continue.

"I spent six years at Stanford." Chen Xueming's voice lowered. "Three years as a Ph.D. Student, three years as a postdoc. In those six years, I kept telling myself to just hang in there, that it would be better once I returned to the country. That once I returned, I could do the research I wanted to do, and really spread my wings."

He lowered his head, looking at his hands.

"But once I actually returned, I realized it wasn't like that at all."

Lin Mo listened quietly, not interrupting.

"Do you know what I experienced in my last year at Stanford?" Chen Xueming raised his head, a flash of pain in his eyes. "I worked on a project for a year, all the experimental data was measured by my own hands, and all the initial drafts of the papers were written by me. But a week before submission, my supervisor called me in and said the first authorship had to go to a senior student who was about to graduate—because he was American and needed a top-tier journal publication to find a job."

Lin Mo's brow furrowed.

"I refused to accept it and went to reason with the supervisor." Chen Xueming continued. "The supervisor was very direct: You are an international student and need his recommendation letter; he is a local student and needs this paper. It's mutual aid, a fair trade."

He gave a bitter smile, a smile uglier than crying.

"I was naive back then and said I didn't need a recommendation letter, that I would rely on myself. The supervisor looked at me, and I still remember that look—it was like looking at a child who didn't know any better. He said: Are you sure? Are you sure you don't need anyone to recommend you? You don't need anyone to speak for you?"

Lin Mo tapped his fingers gently on the tabletop.

"And then?" He asked.

"In the end, I compromised." Chen Xueming's voice was as dry as if he had swallowed sand. "That paper was published in a top journal, the senior student went to MIT for a postdoc, and I was listed second in the author list. The supervisor comforted me, saying: It's okay, you'll have another one. But I knew that I had worked on that project for a whole year, all the core contributions were mine, but in the end, I could only be the second author."

He raised his head and looked at Lin Mo.

"From then on, I changed. I began to doubt everything—I doubted the system, doubted fairness, doubted whether hard work was useful. After returning to the country, I thought changing the environment would be better, but..."

"But I found that there were problems domestically as well." Lin Mo took over.

Chen Xueming nodded. "It's not just that there are problems, it's that the problems are different, but the outcome is the same—someone like me, who doesn't know how to flatter, still hits walls."

He took a deep breath and continued:

"My first job was at that 985 university in the south. I thought I could build a team once I got there, but I found the laboratory was empty, the equipment was old, and I had to hustle for funding myself. I ran around for more than half a year, revised the project proposal a dozen times, and in the end, the project was cut. The leader in charge of approval told me tactfully: Xiao Chen, this direction of yours is too cutting-edge; our school should focus on something more grounded first."

"My second job was at a company. I thought this time it would finally be grounded, right? But I found they didn't care about technology at all; they only cared about how my resume could be used to fool investors. Every meeting, the boss would say: Dr. Chen, what kind of story can you package that patent into? How big can the narrative be? I was left speechless—I'm a researcher, not a storyteller."

"My third job, I did it myself. I pulled in three partners and struggled for over half a year. It turned out that some people just wanted to use the technology as a stepping stone to raise funds, some just wanted to ride the trend to publish papers, and some had an idea one day and a different one the next. When we finally split up, one partner said to me: Xueming, you're too serious. You need to be more flexible when doing things."

Chen Xueming gave a bitter smile.

"Too serious. I've heard that word countless times. When I was in the US, someone told me: You're too serious, what's wrong with giving the first authorship to the senior student? He can take care of you later when he makes it big. After returning to the country, someone told me: You're too serious, if the project is cut, just apply again, run around to the leaders more, take them out to dinner, give some gifts, won't that solve it?"

He looked at Lin Mo, his eyes slightly red.

"Teacher Lin, do you know why I'm so serious? Because if I weren't, that paper at Stanford would have become someone else's. Because if I weren't, those experimental data would have been measured for nothing. Because if I weren't, these four years would have really been a complete waste."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then asked: "So when you saw our data, your first reaction was suspicion?"

Chen Xueming nodded: "I suspect everything, especially domestic achievements."

He paused, his voice dropping:

"Because I saw too many fabricated data at Stanford, saw too many stories made up just to publish papers. After returning to the country, I saw too many tall tales told just to get projects. Over time, I stopped believing—I don't believe anyone."

"Then why did you believe it?" Lin Mo asked.

Chen Xueming was silent for a long while before saying:

"Because you let me verify it on the spot."

He raised his head and looked at Lin Mo, his eyes filled with an indescribable, complex emotion.

"At the review meeting that day, I asked so many questions, you didn't drive me away, didn't say I was causing trouble, but instead let me go up and measure it myself. When I measured the first set of data, I thought it might be a coincidence. When I measured the second set, I thought it might be an equipment issue. Measuring the third set, fourth set, fifth set... until I finished ten sets, the data was all stable between 1440 and 1460."

His Adam's apple bobbed.

"At that moment, I only had one thought in my mind: This is real. It's real. It wasn't that I was unlucky and couldn't achieve it; it was that someone had truly achieved it."

Lin Mo looked at him and suddenly asked, "So, you came here wanting to know how we achieved it?"

Chen Xueming paused, then shook his head.

"Not entirely," he said. "I came to see if—in this place, in this country—there is truly someone who can conduct scientific research in a down-to-earth manner, without relying on connections, without relying on deception, but relying solely on true ability."

He looked at Lin Mo, his gaze so sincere it was almost naked.

"I've been watching you for three months. From the first paper you published, to the live demonstration at the review meeting, to you inviting me for tea yesterday. The more I saw, the more I wanted to know: How did you manage to do it? I don't mean the technology; I mean—how did you manage to not be disturbed? How did you manage not to get entangled in all that messy nonsense? How did you manage to only do research and not play politics?"

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Because I'm lucky."

Chen Xueming was stunned.

"I have good mentors," Lin Mo said. "Academician Wang has been helping me from the very beginning, shielding me from many things. I have a good team—Zhao Gang, Li Xiao, and Zhang Zhe—everyone is giving their all in their respective positions. I have good leadership; Director Fang has fought for the greatest degree of freedom for me. And I have…" He paused. "I have a bit of luck."

Chen Xueming looked at him, a trace of envy flashing in his eyes.

"That's wonderful," he said, his voice a bit hoarse. "That's truly wonderful."

Lin Mo looked at him, an indescribable feeling welling up in his heart.

This person wasn't born a contrarian; he was ground down into this state.

Those years of experiences at Stanford, the walls he hit after returning to the country, the repeated hopes and disappointments—anyone would change if they went through that.

He thought for a moment and said, "Dr. Chen, I cannot guarantee that everything will go smoothly after you join. The inevitable difficulties will be there—technical challenges, team integration issues, and perhaps even pressure and interference from the outside."

Chen Xueming nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"But I can guarantee one thing," Lin Mo said, looking into his eyes. "In this team, your achievements are yours. No one can take them, no one can misappropriate them, and no one can push you to be a second author."

Chen Xueming was stunned.

"Li Xiao is responsible for data scraping and analysis; she is the first author on the papers. Zhang Zhe is responsible for membrane modification; he is the first inventor on the patents. Zhao Gang is in charge of security; he never puts his name on the papers—because he says that is his duty, not research." Lin Mo said each word clearly. "In this team, whoever does the work gets the credit; whoever contributes gets the first authorship. This is the rule, and it is also the bottom line."

Chen Xueming's Adam's apple bobbed, and his eyes reddened again.

"Teacher Lin," his voice was a bit hoarse. "I will remember… what you said."

"Remembering is enough." Lin Mo stood up and patted his shoulder. "Come on, let me show you your workstation."

Chen Xueming stood up and followed him out.

When they reached the door, he suddenly stopped.

"Teacher Lin."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you," Chen Xueming said earnestly. "I'm not thanking you for giving me this opportunity; I'm thanking you for listening to me say all this. I've held these words in for four years, and saying them out loud today… feels much better."

Lin Mo looked at him and smiled.

"If you have anything on your mind in the future, just say it. You don't need to hold it in within this team."

Chen Xueming nodded and followed him out of the office.

Inside the laboratory, Li Xiao was typing away at the keyboard, Zhang Zhe was organizing samples nearby, and Zhao Gang was standing by the window looking outside. Sunlight streamed in through the window, coating the entire laboratory in a warm hue.

"Come here." Lin Mo led Chen Xueming to a workstation by the window. "This is your spot."

It was a regular desk, with a brand-new computer on it and a few professional books in the field of Lithium-Sulfur Battery next to it. A label was stuck to the corner of the desk, with three characters written in marker: Chen Xueming.

Chen Xueming stared at that label for a long time.

Then he reached out and gently touched the name.

"I haven't had my own workstation in a laboratory for four years," he said in a low voice.

Lin Mo didn't speak, just patted his shoulder.

Li Xiao suddenly ran over, holding a folder in her hand. "Dr. Chen! This is the research material from our team that I organized. Please take a look first, and if you don't understand anything, feel free to ask me at any time!"

Chen Xueming took the folder and opened the first page.

It was densely packed with key experimental data, test results, and optimization directions for the Lithium-Sulfur Battery project. Every page had detailed annotations, and in some places, simple diagrams were drawn.

He flipped through a few pages, then looked up at Li Xiao. "Did you organize all of this?"

Li Xiao nodded shyly. "I usually like to categorize and store data so it's easy to check. These were compiled overnight after Teacher Lin told me you were coming."

Chen Xueming was stunned. Compiled overnight.

He looked at the girl in her twenties in front of him, looking at her eyes that were a bit red from staying up late, and an indescribable warmth welled up in his heart.

"Thank you," he said earnestly. "Thank you, Li Xiao."

Li Xiao was taken aback by his earnestness and waved her hands repeatedly. "Oh, no need to thank me, no need! It's only right! Dr. Chen, you take a look first, I'll go get you some water!"

She turned and ran off, almost tripping over a chair.

Chen Xueming watched her back, a smile appearing on his lips unconsciously.

Then he lowered his head and continued to flip through the material.

The sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on him, on the material, and on the label on the corner of the desk that read "Chen Xueming."

He flipped through it very slowly and carefully, reading every page several times.

Lin Mo watched from the side without disturbing him.

Zhao Gang walked over and asked in a low voice, "How is it?"

"He's fine now," Lin Mo also said in a low voice. "Let him read slowly."

Zhao Gang nodded and glanced at Chen Xueming's back. The guarded look in his eyes had diminished, replaced by something more complex.

"This kid," he said in a low voice, "so that's how it is."

Lin Mo didn't speak, just looked at the sunlight outside the window.

In the distance, the Kunlun Mountains stood majestically, the snow on the peaks shimmering in the sunlight.

At lunchtime, Chen Xueming was still reading the material.

Li Xiao approached with her meal tray. "Dr. Chen, let's eat first. The material isn't going anywhere."

Chen Xueming looked up, pausing for a few seconds before reacting. "Oh, right."

He closed the folder and took the tray Li Xiao handed him. On the plate were braised pork, stir-fried vegetables, tomato and scrambled eggs, and a large bowl of rice.

"The food in our cafeteria is pretty good," Li Xiao said. "Teacher Lin says doing scientific research is brain-intensive, so we have to eat well."

Chen Xueming shoveled a mouthful of rice, and while chewing, he suddenly asked, "How does Teacher Lin usually treat you all?"

Li Xiao thought for a moment. "Pretty good. He scolds when necessary and praises when necessary. When I do something wrong, he gets fierce, but after he's done, he tells me how to fix it. Teacher Zhang says Teacher Lin is the kind of leader who treats you like a human being."

Chen Xueming paused. "Treats you like a human being?"

"It means…" Li Xiao scratched her head. "He won't treat you like a tool. He knew I liked writing code, so he specifically equipped me with a high-performance computer and let me be responsible for data analysis. Teacher Zhang wanted to work with materials, so he handed the entire membrane modification part to Teacher Zhang. Zhao Gang doesn't have a research background, so he lets him focus solely on security and never asks him to understand the technology."

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds, then lowered his head and continued eating.

After eating, he returned to his workstation and continued reading the material.

At three in the afternoon, he finally finished the last page.

He closed the folder, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long sigh.

These materials were much more detailed than he had imagined. Every set of data, every failure, every key breakthrough—all were recorded clearly. Some failed experiments were recorded even more detailed than successful ones, noting the reasons for failure, hypothesized mechanisms, and the direction for the next improvement.

Having done scientific research for so many years, this was the first time he had seen such detailed experimental records.

It wasn't the kind of pretty data organized just to publish papers, but the real, rough, and sometimes even messy experimental process.

He looked up towards Lin Mo's office.

Lin Mo was facing the computer, not knowing what he was writing.

Chen Xueming stood up, walked to the office door, and knocked.

"Come in." Lin Mo looked up. "Finished reading?"

Chen Xueming nodded and sat down opposite him.

"Teacher Lin," he said earnestly. "I want to tell you something."

"Go ahead."

"I've finished reading those materials." Chen Xueming paused. "What I want to say is—your team is more reliable than any team I have ever seen."

Lin Mo smiled. "You've only been looking at it for a day, and you're that sure?"

"I'm sure," Chen Xueming said. "It's not because your data is good; it's because you record your failures. True scientific research isn't about how glorious you are when you succeed, but how serious you are when you fail."

He looked at Lin Mo, a determination in his eyes that was unprecedented.

"Teacher Lin, I want to join you. Not to slack off, but because I want to actually do something."

Lin Mo looked at him and nodded.

"Welcome to the team, Dr. Chen."

Chen Xueming paused for a second, then smiled.

In this smile, there was no bitterness from yesterday, no complexity from the morning, only a simple, pure anticipation.

"So, do I start working tomorrow?" he asked.

"You can start now," Lin Mo said. "What are your thoughts on the electrolyte optimization direction?"

Chen Xueming's eyes lit up. "I do! I've been researching it for several years, and I have a few ideas that I never had the chance to try…"

He began to talk incessantly, getting more and more excited as he spoke. Finally, he simply stood up, pulled up the data on Lin Mo's computer, and started drawing diagrams.

Lin Mo watched him, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

Outside the window, the setting sun slanted westward, coating the entire base in a layer of gold.

A new day was just beginning.