"How is the progress?" Huang He emerged from the workshop and immediately entered another research institute with extremely high security. Due to the institute's high-level status, Mr. Huang didn't even bring his driver, driving himself to the institute alone.
After undergoing various checks, he finally met Professor Ni, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
Compared to their first meeting a few years ago, Professor Ni had aged even more. His hair, which was only streaked with white before, was now almost entirely white. He no longer bothered with hair dye, letting his white hair flow freely in the wind, enjoying a sense of ease.
However, Professor Ni's condition was much better than when they first met. He was currently surrounded by over a dozen people, guiding them in their research.
These people were all Professor Ni's students, whom he had taken on after arriving at the institute. For a period, Professor Ni's health had been poor, and he felt he was nearing his end. Thus, he began to frantically recruit students, hoping to pass on his knowledge and beliefs.
As it turned out, after treatment, Professor Ni's condition stabilized and improved. However, his disciples clearly could not be withdrawn, so he simply continued to accept apprentices, even publicly declaring his intention to recruit a total of 72 disciples, aiming to emulate Confucius.
Yet, Professor Ni was not blindly accepting disciples, nor was he selecting those with exceptional talent or intelligence. Instead, he sought out individuals who had made outstanding contributions to research.
Regardless of whether these achievements were due to luck or intellect, as long as they conducted their research diligently and with great effort, they would be favored by Professor Ni and taken on as his students.
In Professor Ni's words, geniuses were for proposing ideas and theories, but it was ordinary people who truly brought results to fruition.
Of course, the "ordinary people" Professor Ni referred to were at least those who could enter top universities like Tsinghua or Peking University. However, these individuals seemed rather ordinary when they arrived at this research institute within Jiangnan Group.
Currently, Professor Ni had taken on a total of 36 disciples, still needing double that number to reach his goal of 72. It seemed Professor Ni still had a considerable amount of time to continue working for Mr. Huang.
"You're finally gracing us with your presence. If I hadn't told you the product was ready, you probably wouldn't have come to see me!" Professor Ni said with a hint of annoyance.
"Alas, I was afraid my layman's presence would disturb your research. If I came every time and interrupted everyone's work, it would be too disrespectful!" Mr. Huang said with a chuckle.
"You go to the product testing room first. I've already placed the prototype there. I still have some things to attend to. I'll join you after I'm done," Professor Ni said, then casually dismissed Mr. Huang, engrossed in his work.
Mr. Huang shrugged and, without anyone accompanying him, went directly to the testing room. As expected, he saw a mobile phone placed at the core location, with a staff member nearby conducting a specific performance test on it.
Mr. Huang waited very patiently until the test was over before walking over with a radiant expression, picking up the mobile phone, and playing with it in his hands.
"Who are you? Which department are you from? Who permitted you to touch this superbrain personal terminal? Put it down immediately, or I'll call security." Seeing someone suddenly appear and take away the phone, the staff member conducting the test immediately shouted. His voice was so loud that Mr. Huang was startled.
"It's my phone. Am I not even allowed to touch it?" Mr. Huang asked cheerfully after recovering from the shock.
"What do you mean, your phone? This is institute property, and it's the institute's phone. Who exactly are you? I've never seen you in the institute before... Never mind, you can explain yourself to the security department!" After saying that, the researcher pressed something on his workstation.
Inside the institute, every desk was equipped with an alarm button, with no obstruction. A simple press would immediately summon a large number of security personnel.
Although this design was practically terrible in actual use, with 99% of alarms being false triggers. For instance, in the past two years, all 132 triggered alarms were accidental, unconscious touches by researchers during their work.
However, according to Mr. Huang's requirements, these alarm buttons were to be kept in a state where they could be triggered instantly, or rather, in a state where even if a researcher were shot on the spot, they could still press the alarm button with their last breath.
This was because movies and television shows often depicted situations where alarm buttons had too many anti-mis-triggering mechanisms, which ultimately prevented timely alarm activation.
In Mr. Huang's words, it was better for security personnel to run a thousand unnecessary trips than to miss even one potential danger. Therefore, the security personnel at this institute were quite beleaguered.
Seeing the staff member press the alarm button, Mr. Huang knew that the beleaguered security personnel would have to make another pointless trip. He shook his head helplessly and said, "Let me ask you, since you say this phone belongs to the institute, then whose is this institute?"
"Naturally, it belongs to the company!" the staff member replied.
"And whose is the company?" Huang He continued to ask.
"The company naturally belongs to the state!" the staff member answered without hesitation. Mr. Huang was stunned for a moment. He had expected the researcher to say that the company belonged to him, Huang He, so that he could then boast about being Huang He.
Although this kind of boasting was incredibly boring, it felt really good.
However, this staff member actually said the institute belonged to the state, leaving Mr. Huang unsure how to respond.
"Why do you think this institute and the company belong to the state?" Huang He asked, quite vexed.
"Nonsense. Look at the equipment and research within the institute; they're all unprofitable, or things that won't yield profit for decades. What normal private owner would be willing to spend so much money like this? Besides state funds, no one would waste their money like this!" the staff member said with a sense of self-satisfaction. "Although I know this company is nominally a private enterprise, it must be secretly run by the state."
"Uh oh, you're not a spy, trying to get information out of me!" The staff member suddenly became nervous. At that moment, the door was burst open, and four or five armed security personnel stormed in with combat formations, all their guns pointed at Mr. Huang.
For the overall safety of the laboratory, the guns were loaded with rubber bullets. However, these rubber bullets were extremely powerful. While they wouldn't damage equipment, they could injure people, creating a bloody hole in the body. Furthermore, the rubber bullets were coated with a neurotoxin, instantly paralyzing the person hit. Their controlling effect was even stronger than traditional bullets.
"All of you, put your guns down. Do you know who I am?" Mr. Huang said with a cold snort at the security personnel.
Then, with a 'bang,' a shot was fired. Mr. Huang felt a sharp pain in his arm and immediately collapsed to the ground.
"Why did you fire? Did I tell you to fire?" the captain asked, frowning at one of the security guards beside him.
"It was an accidental discharge!" the security personnel replied with an innocent expression.
"Captain, I think we should verify this person's identity. He looks like our boss!" another security team member said cautiously.
— — —
When Mr. Huang woke up, he was in a hospital bed within the institute. A group of concerned individuals surrounded him. Led by Ni Guangnan, Tong He was also present, along with Zuo Sicheng and other leaders from the institute. They all looked at Mr. Huang with embarrassed expressions.
"Is my arm ruined?" Mr. Huang asked with a wry expression, looking at his bandaged arm, which felt numb.
"It's fine. The neural agents we used are safe. The impact site will only recover slowly after 24 hours. You'll be back to normal by tomorrow! Moreover, your arm only sustained skin damage; no tendons or bones were injured. A little rest will be sufficient!" the head of the medical department quickly replied.
"Heh heh, shot by my own people in my own institute. My role as boss seems rather pathetic!" Mr. Huang said with a wry smile. Those around him couldn't help but chuckle.
"If you ask me, this is mainly your fault!" Ni Guangnan rolled his eyes. "It's because you haven't paid enough attention to the institute and haven't shown your face here often. Otherwise, security personnel and researchers wouldn't fail to recognize you!"
"Alright!" Mr. Huang was amused by Ni Guangnan's words. "Oh, so it's because I haven't paid enough attention to the institute. Does that mean I should cut the institute's R&D funding by nine-tenths to let you experience what 'not enough attention' means?"
Although Mr. Huang said this with a smile, the atmosphere in the room instantly turned icy. The previous warm and jovial mood vanished. Everyone understood that Huang He was angry.
Indeed, this was understandable. After all, who could tolerate being shot unconscious by their own security personnel in their own company, only to be joked with upon waking up?
Ni Guangnan also realized he might have said the wrong thing. But expecting him to apologize was impossible. So, he directly said, "All the mistakes are mine. At worst, I'll forfeit my salary for the entire year as compensation, alright?"
These were clearly words spoken in anger.
"Fine!" Mr. Huang nodded and immediately said, "I will issue an order shortly. Director Ni's salary for the entire next year will be deducted, and he will be suspended for investigation and sent home to rest for a year!"
"..." Everyone present was dumbfounded. They had never expected that in the blink of an eye, Ni Guangnan, who had always led the Jiangnan Optoelectronics Institute, the most significant research institute of Jiangnan Group, receiving billions in R&D investment annually, would be fired.
"..." Ni Guangnan was also stunned. After a moment of adaptation, he sighed and said, "I still have several research projects to complete, and there's work that hasn't been handed over. Please give me one more month to finish these, and then I will leave on my own!"
"Okay!" Huang He nodded. Ni Guangnan then left the ward with a dejected air, and the scene plunged into an immeasurable silence. At this moment, the institute's staff members finally understood that Huang He was the true boss of this institute.
"Where is my phone?" Huang He asked again.
"I'll get it!" Tong He said quickly, intending to rush out to retrieve the phone.
"Have that researcher who didn't recognize me come and get it for me!" Huang He said indifferently. He had glanced earlier and noticed that the researcher who caused him to be shot, as well as that team of security personnel, were not in the ward.