Chapter 23: Chapter 17: First Time in the Lab
During the semester, Tang Mo often went to Professor Tianâs lab to help out, doing research alongside many of his graduate students.
This time, however, she had returned to school to attend a summer camp, which was unrelated to Professor Tian, so she hadnât been back to the lab.
Professor Tian was a top expert in biological sciences. After the famine began, his research focused mainly on soil. Six months later, he started studying mutant beasts and plants.
If Tang Mo remembered correctly, Professor Tian would later become a Five-star protected figure in the Alliance for developing an Energy Bar made primarily from Exotic Beast Meat, which solved the widespread famine.
In her past life, Tang Mo had also received an invitation from Professor Tian. But back then, she was only able to survive at the university thanks to his help, so she assumed he was just taking pity on her.
Although she was very interested in the research, her pride had made her refuse.
"Okay, Iâll be at the lab on time tomorrow." Tang Mo said with a radiant smile.
Professor Tian was a man of great scientific accomplishment. His research spanned the entire apocalypse and brought invaluable assets to humanity.
Even just to participate and learn a little something would be a tremendous honor for Tang Mo. Of course she wanted to join.
After setting a time with the professor, she arrived at the lab punctually the next morning.
Professor Tianâs lab was the best-equipped at T University. Besides Professor Tian himself, there were six students. Including Tang Mo, who arrived today, that made a total of seven.
Four were male graduate students under Professor Tian. The other two girls, besides Tang Mo, were undergraduates from the Biological Science College.
She glanced around the room. She didnât recognize the guys, but she knew both of the girls.
One was her roommate, Song Qing. As the student with the second-highest GPA in their entire college, Tang Mo wasnât surprised to see her here.
The other was Wenqing, a girl who would one day become a famous "goddess-level" figure at the university.
Objectively speaking, Wenqingâs looks were a six out of ten at best. She couldnât even compare to the habitually plain Song Qing, let alone the exquisitely featured Tang Mo.
Her path to fame was simple: she was a Space Ability User.
Of course, an ability to only store items wasnât considered anything special at the university right now.
The most important part was that Wenqingâs Space contained a farm and a small stream, which could produce food and water.
In this current situation, where everyone was just waiting to die, what could possibly be more precious than those two things?
But now that Tang Mo had her own Jade Pendant Space, she couldnât help but suspect that Wenqing might not have a Space Ability at all. Perhaps, like herself, Wenqing possessed a spatial treasure.
At least, in all the years that followed in her past life, she had never heard of a Space Ability User whose Space could be used for farming.
"This is Tang Mo. Starting today, sheâll be conducting experiments with all of you," Professor Tian announced.
"Hello, everyone. I look forward to working with you all," Tang Mo said with a humble, beaming smile.
Song Qing froze for a moment when she saw Tang Mo, then nodded in relief.
âIn her eyes, Tang Mo had been too listless, just lying in bed all day with her curtain drawn. Itâs so good that sheâs finally joined the lab.â
Song Qing worried over Tang Mo like a mother hen.
When the guys in the lab saw that a beautiful new girl had joined them, they all got pretty excited.
Tang Mo was simply dressed in a tracksuit and carrying a backpack, her short hair neat and tidy, but clothes couldnât hide true beauty.
"Hey, Iâm Hu Qi." The tallest and most fashionably dressed of the grad students was the first to greet her.
He had a playful grin and a seemingly easygoing personality. From the logos covering his clothes, Tang Mo could tell he was definitely a rich kid.
"Zhao Tianyi." "Zhao Tianci." The next to introduce themselves were a pair of twins. Both were chubby and looked rather comical.
"Hello... Iâm Li Guodong." The last to introduce himself was a plainly dressed young man. He sounded a little awkward, as if he didnât talk to girls very often.
Tang Mo nodded and returned their greetings one by one.
Wenqingâs attitude, however, was cold. She stated her name curtly and turned away.
âShe had thought she was the prettiest girl in the lab, and all the senior guys took special care of her.â
âNow Tang Mo was here, and seeing how eager the guys were to please her, she felt a pang of resentment.â
âWhatâs the use of being pretty? Youâll still have to starve like the rest of us. Letâs see if youâre still smiling in a couple of days.â
Wenqing touched the bracelet on her wrist. âIf it werenât for the fact that now isnât the best time to reveal my secret, Iâd definitely put Tang Mo in her place.â
Tang Mo couldnât be bothered to deal with her. She changed her clothes and started familiarizing herself with the experiment.
Professor Tianâs lab was currently focused on soil analysis. Every three days, they would collect samples from the ground for testing and analysis.
They had discovered that since the beginning of the apocalypse, the soilâs molecular structure had changed. It could no longer provide the necessary nutrients for plant growth and was even damaging their root systems.
The most terrifying part was that the soilâs molecular structure hadnât stabilized on day one of the apocalypse. Instead, it was constantly shifting, splitting, and changing. No one could predict what it would ultimately become.
Professor Tian was trying to figure out how to alter this structure and restore the land to an arable state.
Furthermore, Professor Tian had a bold theory: the rapid division of the soilâs molecular structure wasnât necessarily a bad thing.
If it could be properly harnessed, it might one day become the best possible fertilizer for plants.
Tang Moâs academic foundation was solid. She quickly grasped Professor Tianâs intentions and was able to jump right into the experiment.
She didnât know if the soilâs fission, with human intervention, could ultimately accelerate plant growth.
But she suspected this research might be closely related to the legendary genetic serum of the futureâthe one that caused a personâs attribute values to rapidly increase.
âCould Professor Tian have also been involved in the research for that genetic serum?â
Because conditions were so harsh, even during their lunch break, everyone had to go to a designated distribution point to collect their portion of food and water, then find their own spot to eat.
It had been nearly three months since the famine began, and the university was essentially out of supplies. The flour and pickled vegetables were long gone. All that remained was some rice, and students were given half a bowl of thin, watery porridge each day just to survive.
Making the porridge required a lot of water, so the daily water ration per person had been reduced from half a bottle to a quarter of a bottle.
They couldnât last much longer like this.
Song Qing sat in a small equipment storage room in the lab, slowly sipping the thin rice porridge from her bowl.
"Iâve been looking all over for you. This is a pretty secret lunch spot," Tang Mo said as she pushed the door open and glanced around.
"Thereâs even a cot. You really know how to live it up."
"I donât usually take a nap. You can use it in a bit."
Song Qing offered, knowing that Tang Mo used to wake up very late and worrying that the new early-morning schedule would be hard on her.
Every night, Tang Mo went out to train for about four hours. She would come back and crash into bed, and since she had nothing to do during the day, she had gotten into the habit of sleeping in.
"Here," Tang Mo said, "I saved half for you. Itâs too much for just me."
Tang Mo handed her the half of a flaky pastry she was holding.
Song Qing accepted it without any fuss and took a bite.
Since they were roommates, she knew that Tang Mo had far more food stored away than anyone imagined, so she didnât feel the need to be overly polite.
As the soft bread melted in her mouth, she realized something was off.
All the bread available now had been in storage for months. Even if it wasnât past its expiration date, it would never taste this fresh.
But the bread she was eating tasted as if it had just been baked. The fresh flavor made her mouth water uncontrollably.
She quickly hid the surprise in her eyes. Song Qing was a tactful person; if someone didnât want to talk about something, she wouldnât pry.
.........
The plot has been a little slow these past two days. To thank all my readers for their continued support, there will be an extra Chapter tonight around 10 PM.
Ranran is working hard typing away! I hope you can all sprinkle some love with collections and votes! Love you all~