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墨書 Inktalez
The Laboratory building was eerily quiet at two in the morning.
As I munched on instant noodles, I stared intently at the computer screen. The contents of the USB Drive given to me by Senior Zhang sent chills down my spine—almost every high-impact paper published by the Laboratory in the past three years showed signs of data fabrication. The most shocking was a folder named "L.L.'s Original Records."
It was Sister Li Ling's Experiment Record.
"How about a midnight snack?" Senior Zhang pushed the door open, carrying two cups of milk tea. Seeing my expression, he sighed, "Have you finished looking through everything?"
I bit down hard on the straw. "You knew about this data all along?"
"Li Ling gave me this evidence the day before her defense last year." He sat down across from me. "But I didn't do anything."
"So you just watched her..."
"Do you think I didn't want to help her?" Senior Zhang suddenly raised his voice. "What the hell could I do? Report it? Who doesn't know about Professor Zhou's connections in the Laboratory?"
It was the first time I heard him curse. In my memory, he always appeared as a nice guy, even apologizing for misspelling Experiment Record.
"Then why do you want to help me now?" I locked eyes with him.
He turned his head away. "Because... never mind that. What are you planning to do?"
I looked down at my noodle cup. "Next week’s defense, I'm going with Professor Zhou."
"Are you crazy?!" Senior Zhang grabbed my wrist. "Didn't you see what happened to Li Ling?"
"Precisely because I saw it, I can't back down now." I pulled my hand away from his grip. "But this time it's different; I need your help."
He was taken aback. "What do you want to do?"
I took a Voice Recorder out of the drawer. "Hasn't Professor Zhou been asking me to report to his office? Tomorrow, I want him to admit to the fraud himself."
"That's too risky..."
"This is the only chance we have." I bit my lip. "Before the defense, he's most anxious about these incriminating details. If I can get him to talk..."
Senior Zhang snatched the Voice Recorder from my hand. "Do you really think he'll fall for it that easily?"
"That's why I need your help." I took a deep breath. "Tomorrow, the department will be testing new equipment, and you're in charge of demonstrating the experiment, right?"
He nodded, suddenly realizing something. "You mean..."
"Help me schedule a meeting with Professor Zhou for tomorrow at four o'clock." I pulled out a document from my bag. "Just say it's to discuss this Project Proposal."
Senior Zhang quickly glanced at it. "Isn't this Li Ling's previous research direction?"
"Exactly." A smile crept onto my face. "This is what he fears the most."
At three fifty in the afternoon the next day, I stood at the door of Professor Zhou's office. The voice recorder was hidden in the inner pocket of my lab coat, and my palms were sweaty.
"Come in," his voice was as gentle as ever.
Sunlight streamed through the blinds, casting striped shadows on the floor. Professor Zhou sat behind his desk, reviewing documents.
"Professor Zhou," I placed the project proposal on the desk, "these are some ideas I've been considering recently, and I would like your guidance."
He glanced at the title, and a flicker of something unusual crossed his eyes. "This direction... seems somewhat familiar."
"It's a topic that Sister Li Ling worked on before," I intentionally mentioned her name. "I think her experimental design was quite clever; I just don't know why it didn't continue..."
Professor Zhou set down the documents and stared at me for a few seconds. "You seem quite concerned about Li Ling's situation."
"I just think it's a pity," I pretended to flip through the proposal. "Such a great experimental idea, such perfect data—why did it suddenly just..."
"Perfect data?" His voice suddenly turned cold. "What do you mean by that?"
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