6: Chapter 6: The Rough Laboratory and the First Difficulty

Spring in the Dragon Kingdom arrived quietly, yet it carried a sense of latent power. The plane trees along the street sprouted tender green buds, and the sun grew warmer with each passing day.

Lin Shen's life seemed to be gradually getting back on track. His body was recovering well, and he was already able to take simple walks outdoors. The clouds of worry on his parents' faces gradually dispersed, and laughter returned to their home. Dr. Chen visited regularly for check-ups, and each time, he spoke highly of Lin Shen's recovery speed.

However, only Lin Shen himself knew that beneath the calm surface, the undercurrents had never ceased.

In the technology tree within his mind, the "lock" on the [Photonic Chip Basic Architecture] node had finally completely disappeared. In its place was a stably glowing, intricately structured three-dimensional network phantom. It was the core framework of the technical blueprint, but many key details remained shrouded in mist, waiting to be "filled in." The deduction progress for prerequisite requirement two was stuck at 52%, as if it had hit an invisible wall. He needed more specific experimental data, needed to verify the behavior of certain materials under extreme conditions, and needed to calculate the electromagnetic field distribution of certain complex structures... None of these could be solved merely through mental deduction and limited literature.

That anonymous email had vanished like a stone into the sea, with no response whatsoever. He occasionally wondered if he had overestimated the value of that abstract, or if the transmission channel had failed, or perhaps... it had been treated as some prank or interference from hostile forces and had been directly sealed or destroyed?

A faint, lingering sense of anxiety began to breed in the bottom of his heart. He needed to do something; he couldn't just wait passively.

The opportunity appeared in an unexpected way.

That afternoon, a visitor arrived at his home—Professor Zhang Mingyuan, the deputy director of the research institute where Lin Shen had worked before falling into a coma. Professor Zhang Mingyuan was in his fifties, slightly stout, and wore thick glasses. He was an old friend of Lin Shen's doctoral advisor and had always taken good care of Lin Shen.

"Little Lin! It's so good to see you've recovered so well!" As soon as Professor Zhang Mingyuan entered, he enthusiastically shook Lin Shen's hand, carefully examining his complexion, his eyes full of relief. "The institute has always been thinking of you. You are a promising talent we watched grow up."

Lin Shen felt a slight stir in his heart and quickly invited Professor Zhang Mingyuan into the house. His mother made tea, and after a few pleasantries, Professor Zhang Mingyuan stated the purpose of his visit.

"Little Lin, the institute's leadership is very concerned about your situation. Your position and basic benefits have been retained for these three years, even though the institute has been under pressure." Professor Zhang Mingyuan's tone was gentle, but it carried a hint of imperceptible helplessness. "However, you also know that funding is tight now, and project competition is fierce. Especially that fusion direction you were originally in—because of that accident and the subsequent... well, some influences—it has been temporarily shelved. The institute cannot keep supporting a researcher who is on long-term sick leave and has no project contributions."

Lin Shen nodded, indicating he understood: "Professor Zhang, I understand. I've caused trouble for you and the institute. My health is much better now, and I'm actively undergoing rehabilitation. I wonder what arrangements the institute has for my subsequent work?"

Professor Zhang Mingyuan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and pondered for a moment: "Your professional ability is not an issue; you were a key talent the institute focused on cultivating back then. But it's unrealistic for you to immediately return to your original high-intensity project group, and it wouldn't be good for your health. The institute's intention is that if you are willing, you can start with some basic, auxiliary research work and gradually adapt. Of course, the position and benefits definitely cannot compare to before; you might... need to start over as an Assistant Researcher."

Being demoted from an Associate Researcher to an Assistant Researcher, with a significant reduction in benefits and potentially no longer engaging in core frontier research—this sounded like a form of "exile" or marginalization.

But Lin Shen's eyes brightened slightly. Assistant Researcher meant he regained his formal status as a researcher, allowing him to legitimately access the institute's resources—even if they were only peripheral, basic resources! The library, internal databases (higher-level permissions might require application), reservations for basic laboratory instruments, communication with other researchers at the institute... these were all valuable assets for his current "deduction" work!

"I'm willing!" Lin Shen replied almost without hesitation, the urgency in his tone causing Professor Zhang Mingyuan to pause in surprise.

Looking at Lin Shen's clear and firm eyes, Professor Zhang Mingyuan sighed inwardly. Such a good kid, a disaster he didn't deserve had delayed his three golden years. Now that he had returned, things had changed, yet he could still maintain such passion and drive... It was a pity.

"Don't be in such a hurry to agree." Professor Zhang Mingyuan waved his hand. "The conditions might be tougher than you imagine. Currently, the only relatively free labs in the institute are a few general labs in the old experimental building. The equipment is quite old, mainly used for undergraduate teaching and basic testing for some lateral projects. The environment is also average. If you go, you might temporarily be responsible for the daily maintenance and calibration of some equipment there, and assisting other project groups with simple sample preparation or data collection. Truly independent research projects... I'm afraid it will be hard to apply for one in the short term."

"It doesn't matter, Professor Zhang." Lin Shen said sincerely. "I am very satisfied to be back in a research environment and to be able to access instruments and materials. I can start from the basics."

His attitude made Professor Zhang Mingyuan feel both relieved and a bit heartbroken. "Alright then. Next Monday, come to the institute's personnel department to handle the reinstatement procedures. As for the laboratory, I'll say a word to Engineer Li who is in charge. Remember, your health comes first; don't push yourself."

Professor Zhang Mingyuan sat for a while longer, asked about Lin Shen's recovery, and left an envelope containing some consolation money and fruit before taking his leave.

His parents were a bit worried about Lin Shen returning to work so soon, but given his persistence and promise (to only do light work), they finally agreed.

On Monday morning, Lin Shen woke up early, put on a neat but slightly loose old shirt and trousers (from his pre-coma physique), and walked out the door under his parents' worried gazes.

Familiar streets, familiar plane trees, familiar school gates. Three years of time seemed not to have left too many traces on this prestigious polytechnic university, except that the security guards at the gate had been replaced by unfamiliar faces. When he swiped his old campus card to enter the campus, that "beep" sound made him daze for a moment.

The old building where the research institute was located was nestled under a grove of tall camphor trees, its red brick exterior walls covered with traces of time. Compared to the newly built, modern-looking research building not far away, this place appeared quiet and even a bit desolate.

The procedures at the personnel department went very smoothly; Professor Zhang Mingyuan had obviously already made arrangements. After receiving his new work ID (Assistant Researcher) and a temporary access card, a young staff member surnamed Wang led him to the old experimental building.

"Teacher Lin, please this way." Staff member Wang's attitude was polite, but his eyes carried a hint of curiosity and an imperceptible aloofness. After all, a former "star researcher" who had been in a coma for three years and was "exiled" to the old experimental building immediately upon his return was always prone to speculation.

The interior of the old experimental building appeared even more dilapidated than it did from the outside. The corridor lights were somewhat dim, and the air was filled with a faint smell of mixed reagents and dust. Occasionally, students in white lab coats hurried by, casting curious glances.

"Engineer Li is in Room 103. He is the technical person in charge here. In the future, you will mainly coordinate with him." Staff member Wang stopped in front of a door labeled "103 - General Material Preparation and Characterization Room" and knocked.

The door opened, and an old man with graying hair, a dark and lean face, and wearing blue work clothes stained with a little oil poked his head out. His eyes were sharp. He looked Lin Shen up and down and nodded: "Lin Shen, right? Deputy Director Zhang told me. Come in."

His voice was somewhat hoarse, but full of vigor.

Staff member Wang finished his task and left quickly. Lin Shen walked into the laboratory.

The laboratory was not small, but it was packed full of various old instruments and equipment. There were old-fashioned box resistance furnaces, vacuum coating machines, grinding wheel cutters, polishing machines, and several microscopes of different models (optical and metallographic). In the corner, there was even an ancient-looking X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM), although the latter seemed to be covered with a dust cover and hadn't been used for a long time. Some glassware, metal samples, tools, and notebooks were scattered on the workbench. In the air, besides the smell of reagents, there was a faint scent of machine oil and metal cutting fluid.

This place didn't look like a laboratory of a frontier research institute; it was more like a well-equipped but poorly maintained factory workshop or a teaching laboratory.

"My name is Li Weiguo. I've been working here for over thirty years, and everyone calls me Engineer Li." The old man patted a lathe next to him that had been wiped clean. "Most of the equipment here is not much younger than I am, but they are sturdy and easy to use. As for precision, it's enough for general teaching and basic testing."

He pointed to an empty desk against the wall: "That's your spot. A student used it before; clean it up and it's still usable. Your main job is to assist me in maintaining this equipment and ensuring it runs normally. If other project groups need to do experiments here, you are responsible for receiving them, registering them, guiding them on safe operations, and assisting in completing some simple sample preparation or testing. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Engineer Li." Lin Shen nodded.

"Also," Engineer Li rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a thick, worn-out notebook. "This is the operation manual, maintenance records, and common troubleshooting methods for all the equipment. Read it yourself first, and ask me if you don't understand anything. Many things here are old-fashioned, but the principles are universal. Familiarity with equipment is a basic skill for researchers."

Lin Shen took the notebook. It felt heavy in his hand, the pages yellowed, but the handwriting was neat and clear, with a large number of hand-drawn diagrams and annotations, clearly the culmination of Engineer Li's many years of hard work.

"Thank you, Engineer Li."

"Don't mention it." Engineer Li waved his hand, his tone softening a bit. "Deputy Director Zhang specifically told me that since you've just recovered, take it easy. I'll handle the heavy and tiring work; you just use your brain, look at the materials, and get familiar with the environment. Go to the cafeteria for lunch; it's not far from here. In the afternoon, I'll take you to specifically identify the equipment."

After saying this, Engineer Li turned around to debug a polishing machine that was making a slight abnormal noise, saying nothing more.

Lin Shen walked to his desk and wiped away the dust. The table was old, with mottled paint, but very sturdy. Outside the window were the thick green leaves of camphor trees, and sunlight spilled through the gaps, casting mottled spots of light.

The environment was indeed humble, one could even say marginalized. But in Lin Shen's heart, there was no disappointment or dissatisfaction.

On the contrary, a sense of groundedness welled up.

This place was far from the hustle and bustle of core projects and the strictness of the confidential areas, which instead gave him a rare sense of freedom and... concealment. These old devices might not have enough precision to support cutting-edge research, but for verifying some basic material properties and trying some simple process steps, they were enough! More importantly, he had a formal status and could reasonably and compliantly use the institute's internal network (which was much more reliable than the one at home), access higher-level databases, and even apply to use some software that required permissions (such as finite element analysis, material calculation simulation software, etc.).

He carefully put away the notebook Engineer Li had given him, then turned on the equally old desktop computer assigned to him. It started very slowly, and the system was a version from many years ago, but it was connected to the institute's internal network.

He tried to log in to his new work account, and it was successful. The permissions were not high, but they were enough to access the research institute's internal knowledge base, literature retrieval system (which was more comprehensive than the previous basic library), and some basic professional software and computing resource application portals.

His heart rate accelerated slightly. His eyes swept over the "old buddies" standing quietly in the laboratory—the furnace could be used to try material heat treatment, the coating machine might be used for simple thin-film deposition, the cutting and polishing equipment could prepare samples, the microscopes could observe microstructures... If the XRD and SEM could be repaired and used, they would be even more powerful tools for material analysis!

Although humble, to him, this was nothing short of a treasure trove!

The first thing he had to do was use the network and permissions here to obtain more internal data and the latest progress on Photonic Crystal materials and sub-nanometer processing, and continue to advance the deduction.

Secondly, he had to get familiar with these devices as soon as possible, especially the SEM that seemed to be salvageable. If he could use it to observe some samples he tried to prepare (even the roughest ones) and obtain real microscopic morphology information, it would be invaluable for verifying his deduction ideas!

Just as he was planning his next steps in his mind, Engineer Li's voice came: "Little Lin, come over and give me a hand; take this sample stage off and clean it."

"Coming!" Lin Shen immediately got up and walked towards the old SEM. His gaze fell on the dust-covered protective cover, as if he had already seen the moment it would regain its luster and reveal the mysteries of the microscopic world.

In the humble laboratory, the first real difficulty was perhaps not the technology, but how to gradually turn the blueprint in his mind into tangible reality under limited resources and conditions.

And Lin Shen was already prepared to take the first step of his return to the scientific research world in this seemingly inconspicuous corner. The waves caused by that anonymous email might not have reached this place yet, but his own "Chasing Light" journey would officially begin right beside this dust-covered scanning electron microscope.