170: Chapter 170 Returning to Z University

The private car drove directly into the Z University campus and stopped in front of the familiar Biomedical Engineering building.

Chen Youhua got out of the car with his simple luggage, looked up at his laboratory on the top floor, and saw light shining from its window.

Due to time constraints, he hadn't gone home during the entire journey, coming straight to the university instead.

Standing before the glass door of the laboratory, which required dual authentication, Chen Youhua pressed his finger onto the fingerprint scanner while simultaneously looking at the camera for facial recognition.

A soft beep sounded, the lock disengaged, and he pushed the door open.

The scene inside the laboratory was exactly as he had left it. Although he had only been gone for about a month, it felt as if a very, very long time had passed.

The Researchers were each focused on their own areas. Someone was performing delicate cell inoculation before a sterile laminar flow hood.

Someone was observing a sample under a fluorescence microscope, while another was recording complex data.

His entry didn't cause much commotion. Only the few Researchers nearest the door looked up, a flash of pleasant surprise in their eyes, and greeted him softly.

"Professor Chen, you're back!"

Chen Youhua smiled and nodded to them, his gaze sweeping across the laboratory before quickly locking onto his target.

In the deep cell culture area, he saw the figure of Li Wei.

She was wearing a lab coat, sterile gloves, and a mask, completely absorbed in performing some aseptic technique through the glass window of a biosafety cabinet, her movements steady and precise.

Her assistant was skillfully passing her instruments nearby.

Almost simultaneously, from the molecular biology experimental area on the other side, came the voice of Wang Zhe—muffled but still clear—as he frowned at the screen of an electrophoresis imager.

"What's going on with this band? It's so smeared... Is the RNA degraded, or were the gel-running conditions not optimized properly?

Xiao Liu, pull up the parameters from that gel run again, let me have a look!"

Chen Youhua didn't disturb them immediately. He first walked to the door of his office and set down his luggage.

The desk was tidy, files stacked in an orderly manner.

He took off his coat, changed into the lab coat hanging behind the door, and only then headed first in Li Wei's direction.

He waited patiently outside the culture area until Li Wei finished a segment of her procedure, removed her mask to take a breath, and then he gently tapped on the glass partition.

Li Wei looked up. Seeing it was Chen Youhua, a smile immediately appeared on her somewhat tired face. She said a word to her assistant, removed her gloves, and came out.

"Youhua! You're back?"

Her tone carried genuine delight.

"Was everything smooth over at HF?"

She subconsciously wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"It was alright. Saw quite a few behemoths."

Chen Youhua smiled, looking her over.

"Looks like things haven't been idle here either. Seems like you've lost some weight again? Pushing the experiment schedule too hard?"

"It's manageable. It's just that this batch of primary neuronal cells is a bit finicky. The isolation and culture conditions need close monitoring. It's draining."

Li Wei smiled, habitually tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"With you away, Wang Zhe and I just had to shoulder a bit more responsibility, that's all."

At that moment, Wang Zhe also noticed the commotion here and practically bounded over, a bright smile on his face, though he instinctively lowered his volume.

"Well, well! Our Academician Chen has finally deigned to tear himself away from the national mega-project!

So, how was it? Are there things over there that are, like, several stories tall?

Must be pretty awe-inspiring compared to our biological work with all these little bottles and jars of reagents, huh?"

Chen Youhua shot him a look.

"Each has its own challenges. Over there, it's the engineering aesthetics of the macro scale. Here, it's the exquisite manipulation of the micro world. As for you, I could hear you wrestling with something from halfway across the room."

"Don't even mention it!"

Wang Zhe immediately complained with a pained expression.

"Extracting RNA from mouse spinal cord tissue, but it just won't come out pure. It's affecting the reverse transcription efficiency, and the qPCR data fluctuations are so huge they're unreadable.

A real headache! Must be degradation introduced by some reagent or step in the process... Youhua, you're back just in time. Quick, help me figure out where the problem might be?"

Li Wei chided him under her breath, exasperated.

"Youhua just got back, hasn't even caught his breath, and you can't even start with some good news?"

Wang Zhe slapped his forehead.

"Oh, right! Good news, yes! Our artificial nerve semi-autonomous linkage project—the in vivo degradation experiment data is excellent, biocompatibility is superb!

The electrical signal conduction tests also improved by 7% over expectations! It's just..."

He frowned again.

"It's just that batch-to-batch stability during large-scale preparation is still problematic. Reproducibility isn't ideal enough."

Chen Youhua listened attentively, his gaze shifting between the two of them, quickly grasping the key points.

"For the RNA extraction issue, start re-checking from the homogenization step. Pay attention to keeping everything on ice and RNase contamination.

For the material batch stability issue, document the process parameters and batch information for all raw materials in detail."

He paused, looking toward the special bioreactors deep in the laboratory.

"The long-term mouse implantation experiments are critical. Data recording must be extremely meticulous. Any subtle neural responses, any changes in immune markers—nothing can be overlooked.

Automated process optimization can't stop. This relates to future scalability."

The three of them conversed in low voices in the central aisle of the laboratory, naturally forming a small, informal progress review.

The other research staff passing by would cast friendly and reassured glances their way.

The core pillar was back. Everyone seemed to feel a bit more settled.

After finishing the serious discussion, Wang Zhe couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. Leaning in slightly, lowering his voice even further, his eyes darting toward the computer in the laboratory office.

"Youhua, have you seen the recent news online? It's causing quite an uproar.

Our proposal... is it really just like that?

Out there, they're hyping their GPT-5 to the heavens and earth. Compared to our enlightenment..."

Chen Youhua's expression remained calm and unruffled. He simply interrupted him mildly.

"The noise outside is their business. We only need to focus on our own projects.

The value of technology ultimately relies on solid, tangible results, not the volume of public opinion.

As for the rest, we follow the overall national arrangements."

Wang Zhe gave an awkward chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm just concerned about the bigger picture... Alright, alright, I won't ask.

Hey, Youhua, dinner together tonight? To welcome you back! A new private kitchen opened behind the school's back gate. They say their medicinal herb stewed soups are very nourishing. Perfect for all of us to replenish a bit!"

Looking at these two partners before him—different in style yet equally reliable—the fatigue from his journey dissipated considerably.

He nodded.

"Alright. But you'll have to wait until I deal with some matters on Dean Tang's end first.

You two should also wrap up your current experiments and save the data properly."