Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 62 The Tragedy of Xu Mingyuan

Shenzhen National Key Laboratory of New Energy.

The incandescent lights in the main laboratory building stayed on all night, and the moment the data from the 27th experiment appeared on the screen, the entire laboratory erupted in long-suppressed cheers.

Professor Jiang's right little finger trembled slightly as he held the control panel, staring at the boron nitride polymer catalyst with its metallic sheen in the reactor. His eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot.

"Professor Jiang! Take a break!" Researcher Xiao Liu rushed over and supported his swaying shoulders: "You've been in the lab for almost a whole week!"

"A week?" Professor Jiang's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, and his gaze swept over the experimental waste and messy experimental records scattered on the floor.

The morning sunlight was filtering through the laboratory's partially obscured blinds, casting long, thin shadows on the floor.

He turned to look out the window, and the city skyline in the distance was just beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn. Only then did he realize that he had been spending so much time in the laboratory, day and night, with the instruments.

Professor Jiang packed up his lab log and took off his white coat as he walked toward the changing room: "When did Director Huang and the others leave?"

"The expert team left yesterday evening, and before they left they specifically asked us not to disturb you."

In the changing room, Xiaoliu carefully removed the white coat that was covered in reagents from his body.

"They said your dedication is exactly the same as it was twenty years ago when you were working on the lithium iron phosphate battery electrolyte, and they praised your energy!"

Once Professor Jiang's tense nerves relaxed, fatigue surged in like a tide.

He rubbed his throbbing temples, and a few more white hairs had fallen out from between his fingers, but he didn't seem to care at all.

"Xiao Liu! Keep an eye on the reaction temperature. Do several more tests." He pushed the lab log to Xiao Liu: "Call me immediately if there are any abnormalities."

After leaving the main laboratory building, Professor Jiang returned to his office. The photo of himself and Xu Mingyuan, which used to be displayed right at the entrance, had been put back in his drawer.

He patted the fine dust off the leather seat and sat down directly.

Just as Professor Jiang was leaning back in his chair, about to drift off to sleep in the warm glow of the rising sun, his cell phone on his desk rang.

"Ding ding~ Ding ding ding~"

The standby time of modern feature phones completely surpasses that of later smartphones, because people only use them to make calls and send text messages, and a standby time of half a month is commonplace for feature phones.

The Philips X513, to an extreme degree, can standby for nearly 3 months.

"Dingling bell~Dingling bell~"

Professor Jiang had just closed his eyes when the phone rang like a sharp steel needle, striking his eardrums.

He forced his eyes open, swayed his body, grabbed his phone, which was covered in a layer of fine dust, answered the call, and then remained silent for a while.

"Mingyuan! What exactly do you want to say? Just say it!"

Professor Jiang was feeling quite sleepy, and Xu Mingyuan's perfunctory greetings were making him a little annoyed.

"Teacher Jiang," Xu Mingyuan said respectfully, adopting a humble posture, "I just wanted to ask about our cooperation with Yuantu and that BTD."

"Ugh!" Professor Jiang sat up abruptly, his lower back hitting the back of the chair with a dull thud.

The morning light streamed through the window, casting shadows of stems and leaves across his face.

The images of people working through the night in the lab researching gaseous lithium battery prototypes suddenly overlapped with Xu Mingyuan's face—no wonder I always felt like I had forgotten something!
"Mingyuan! Don't worry, I'll contact them for you right now!"

An eerie silence fell on the other end of the phone, and Xu Mingyuan chuckled twice.

"Well then, I'll have to trouble you, Teacher Jiang."

"dududu~"

As the call ended, Professor Jiang stared at his phone screen; more than a dozen missed calls were listed under Xu Mingyuan's name.

He rubbed his throbbing temples, and through the reflection of his phone's black screen, he could vaguely see traces of dried reagent still clinging to his collar.

"Looks like I'm really getting old and senile!" he cursed himself, grabbed his keys, and rushed out the door. Morning light streamed through the glass windows of the corridor, scattering beams of light with the Tyndall effect, like a hazy, yellowish fog. Professor Jiang walked firmly through this "fog."

As Professor Jiang approached the security room near the entrance, preparing to rummage through the corner of the express delivery box for the battery data that had been sent from afar, he heard a noisy argument between Old Wang and someone.

Through the iron railings of the guard post at the entrance, a small truck covered in mud was parked across the laboratory's dedicated passageway, with several metal drums marked "Flammable" vaguely visible under the tarpaulin of the cargo box.

"I said, you can come in, but the car and driver must stay outside!"

Old Wang gently tapped the metal railing of the vehicle barrier with his rubber baton, making the railing clang loudly.

His faded security hat was askew, revealing the sunburnt back of his neck.

The young man holding the blue pass looked helpless.

"My batch of transfer fluid has been out for too long and it will definitely oxidize. If I turn back and go through the approval process again, it will be too late!"

He raised his hand to wipe away the sweat and pursed his dry lips.

Professor Jiang glanced through the truck's windshield and saw the driver lounging with his legs crossed, smoking, looking like he was enjoying the spectacle.

The morning breeze lifted a corner of the cargo box's canvas, revealing a portion of the markings on the metal drum—clearly graphite material commonly found on the negative electrode of lithium batteries.

The quality of this metal drum is vastly different from the newly replaced explosion-proof containers in the lab, raising serious concerns about its safety!

"Wait!" Professor Jiang interrupted the argument, his leather shoes making a crisp sound on the cement floor.

The young man turned at the sound, his eyes instantly lighting up with hope: "Jiang..."

Old Wang, however, was one step ahead, immediately straightening his back and starting to tattle: "Professor Jiang! This kid insists on..."

"Follow the rules!" Professor Jiang raised his hand to stop Old Wang, his gaze sweeping over the young man's face, which looked slightly more mature: "First, transfer the materials to our laboratory's special transport containers. Drivers and vehicles are not allowed to enter."

Chen Mo realized that Professor Jiang seemed to want to handle things "officially" and was unwilling to be labeled as "favoritism".

So he nodded: "Okay! Please make the arrangements!"

Professor Jiang paused, then stared at the transfer fluid in the truck's metal drums, and added, "In addition, this batch of transfer fluid must be re-tested for safety by our laboratory."

Chen Mo opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his rebuttal.

So what if it's partially oxidized?
Anyway, there's free labor here, which already saves some costs. At worst, we can just buy some more transfer fluid. There's no need to go against the "landlord" right away.

Chen Mo understood that Professor Jiang did this because of laboratory safety management.

After all, if the container of the transfer fluid leaks even slightly and then comes into contact with a heat source, it's no exaggeration to call it a bomb.

Then, Professor Jiang took out his phone and contacted the standard transport vehicle in the laboratory to help with the transfer.

Old Wang nodded smugly at Chen Mo, tapping the rubber stick rhythmically in his palm.

This minor incident concerning laboratory safety gradually subsided under Professor Jiang's handling amidst the hum of the truck reversing.

"Come with me for a moment!" Professor Jiang pointed at Chen Mo. The moment he saw him, his drowsiness seemed to vanish.

Professor Jiang was eager to ask Chen Mo, the researcher, some questions he had encountered while researching the prototype of the gaseous lithium-ion battery.

Old Wang watched Chen Mo's retreating figure following Professor Jiang and scratched his head in confusion.

That's strange. Professor Jiang is such a busy person that he's always in the lab when he's busy. Why would he be taking a stroll at the entrance so early in the morning?
"Package delivered!" The delivery guy is here again.

Without thinking twice, Lao Wang signed for the recipient and then casually placed the package on the security office's desk before making an internal phone call to the recipient.

Through a ray of sunlight shining through the window of the security office, you can vaguely see a package at the bottom with the sender's address "Longgang Yuantu Xin" on it, already covered with a thin layer of dust.

(End of this chapter)