Chapter 471

"Flattery? Praising me is just praising yourself. I didn't expect Professor Laurent to be so narcissistic."

He rose and walked toward the dining room.

Alexander Laurent fell silent.

Florence Atlante let out a long sigh.

"Finally finished! Let's eat, the food is getting cold! Sophia, Alexander—"

"Coming!"

The old man remained standing, staring at Sebastian's retreating back, his brow furrowed.

Sebastian was acting very strange today.

He never played Go normally, yet today he not only played but did so with a fierce and aggressive style.

It was as if he had some grudge against Alexander.

As the old man pondered, Florence called out impatiently.

"What are you daydreaming about? The young ones are already at the table, waiting for you to start!"

"Oh…"

After dinner, Alexander chatted with the elderly couple for a while.

Seeing it was getting late, he stood to leave.

Sophia Sullivan also rose.

"I'm heading the same way as the Professor. I'll go with him."

Alexander nodded.

"Alright."

The old man and his wife saw them to the door.

Sebastian stood at the top of the staircase, watching coldly.

They both drove here. What same way?

The old woman turned and caught the undisguised hostility in his eyes before he could hide it.

"Sebastian…"

"Yes, Grandma?"

"Do you… have some issue with Alexander?"

She had heard Sebastian's thinly veiled suggestion for Alexander to leave at noon.

"No issue," Sebastian said without changing expression.

"Then why are you targeting him?"

"I just don't like the look of him."

Florence was curious.

"I think Alexander is quite nice. Polite, considerate, sincere, and well-spoken. What exactly don't you like about him?"

"Exactly those things you just mentioned."

Florence was puzzled.

"?"

Sebastian said no more and turned to go upstairs.

"That child…" The old woman shook her head helplessly.

…

At the end of May, "Academic Perspectives" Issue 321 released the "National Key Laboratory Rankings."

The list was based on a comprehensive score of domestic laboratories' academic output volume and impact factors from the previous year.

It was published annually.

This year's biggest dark horse was the "Boundless Laboratory"!

Even though it only ranked 92nd.

It had made the list.

Across the entire MIT, with its 6 divisions, 49 directly affiliated departments, 128 undergraduate majors, 285 master's programs, and 262 doctoral programs, only 17 laboratories made the list.

Most of these labs were guided by Academicians, with research teams composed of PhDs and postdocs.

Labs like Sophia Sullivan's, with Hannah Morse, Marcus Lawrence, and Caleb Watson—a fourth-year PhD student yet to graduate—had no Academician guidance and should have gone unnoticed.

They shouldn't have even garnered attention, let alone made the list.

The university administration was equally perplexed.

In the President's office—

Xiao Ninghan flipped through "Academic Perspectives," his fingers trembling slightly.

After serial number "92," the words "Boundless Laboratory" were printed clearly.

"How is this possible?" The Vice President was equally shocked.

Xiao Ninghan suddenly thought of something.

"Check how many domestic scholars published in Nature Biotechnology last year."

The Vice President immediately opened his computer.

Five minutes later—

"Last year, domestic scholars published a total of... 6 papers in Nature Biotechnology."

Sophia Sullivan's team alone accounted for 2 of them, one-third of the country's total output.

"So that's how it is…" Xiao Ninghan sighed softly.

The Vice President's mind began to race.

"This year's International Academic Exchange Conference…"

Xiao Ninghan shook his head.

"It's too late…"

The conference opened on June 4th, less than 10 days away. Changing participants now was unrealistic.

"Next year. We'll send Sophia Sullivan's team next year."

Xiao Ninghan smiled wryly.

"Last time, when the Academic Affairs Office put up the honor roll and the official website published promotional articles, did you see those kids buying into it?"

The Vice President rubbed his nose.

"That was just a gesture of goodwill. We didn't expect them to actually buy into it…"

"Those kids have tempers, and even more rebelliousness. The university didn't participate in the departmental conflicts before, but inaction was tantamount to endorsement."

"If we had handled the fire safety inspection incident promptly, we wouldn't have fallen out with Sophia Sullivan and the others…"

But we didn't.

The university chose to make a big deal out of it initially, then let it fade away.

Xiao Ninghan changed the subject.

"This International Academic Exchange Conference might not be a loss. Our preliminary preparations were very thorough."

The Vice President sighed.

"Let's hope so."

…

The most excited was Hannah!

"We made the list! National Key Laboratory! I need to call my dad! The Morse family ancestors are smiling!"

Marcus Lawrence kept his voice low.

"Keep it down! Keep it down!"

"Oh right! Class is about to start... but Marcus, how are you so calm?"

Marcus, whose fingers were trembling under the desk.

"..." Calm?

"Sophia is amazing. She led both those Nature Biotechnology papers. I wonder when I'll be able to design experiments independently…"

A light shone in Marcus's eyes.

"You will. We're just moving a bit slower, but we're on the right path."

That was better than many lost graduate students.

Ding—

The class bell rang.

They both quieted down.

Hannah suddenly remembered something and looked sharply at Marcus.

"Where's Sophia?"

It was a specialized course today. All three of them usually attended.

She hadn't mentioned taking leave either.

Marcus shook his head.

"Not sure. Want to call her?"

"Okay."

After the dial tone—

"The number is temporarily unreachable? What's going on?"

The teacher walked up to the podium—

"Class, Professor Laurent is on leave today. I'll be substituting. Please look at the PPT…"