Evolution of The Puppy Seme XV
Professor Zhang's gray beard twitched, and he looked very put-off. "What are you doing, dawdling?! I have told you a hundred times to do things calmly and not in a panic. And we're in a lab. How can you be alarmed in a lab?!"
But the young assistant couldn't even speak. Instead, he pointed at the tester, stammering, "Pro-Professor! Come, come and look!"
Looking at his assistant, Professor Zhang himself became a little concerned. His face paled although he didn't think it was anything serious, and he walked over at a pace that was neither fast nor slow.
"What's the matter, is it a D grade component?" Professor Zhang said jokingly, but his assistant didn't find it funny at all.
As he finished speaking, Professor Zhang had come to stand right in front of the tester. His assistant was pointing at the letters displayed on the tester.
"I really don't know what happened to make you lose it -"
The professor hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly fell silent.
He stared unbelievably. "B? Grade B!" How can it be possible!"
At that time, the assistant had regained a little bit of his intelligence and explained more clearly. "I just saw this test result and I was afraid I had read it wrong."
Professor Zhang didn't even hear what his assistant said. He quickly picked up the leg component in the tester, his face shocked. Though he was old, he ran directly to the experimental platform and picked up a tool with the agility of someone far younger.
In a little while, he had dismantled the shell of the component.
Professor Zhang's face was flushed; he was that excited. He picked up the leg component like it was some sort of treasure, and his eyes were even a little red because of his excitement.
"Quick! Go and get me the tester in my office!" Professor Zhang's voice trembled with excitement.
The assistant hurried out of the laboratory.
He had never seen the professor in such a state before. This time the professor must be really shocked. He had been shocked by the mech component test results, and the fact that the Professor was also shocked made him further realize the importance of this matter. He ran to Professor Zhang's office as fast as he could and carried it back to the lab.
The testing instrument in the laboratory is the most basic one. You can test out the comprehensive properties of mecha parts, but cannot see their exact level. On the other hand, the tester in Professor Zhang's office is very accurate in testing all the data of each attribute.
By the time he ran breathlessly into the laboratory, Professor Zhang was hopping from foot to foot with impatience*.
(* So actually 跳脚[Tiàojiǎo] = "tantrum", or "a stomping fit", but the literal translation -- "foot dance" -- made me smile when I pictured it, so that's what I put :)
"I can't believe you just got here! You're slower than a snail! " Professor Zhang, who had been impatiently wearing circles into the ground, finally stopped. Originally he'd wanted to directly rush into his office to get the tester grabbed, but upon looking at the component in his hands, he immediately stopped himself.
He cried out in impatience and stamped his feet. "Put the tester on the table. What are you waiting for!"
The assistant could hardly take his shouting. He half-ran to put the tester on the test bench and then reached out his hand for the mecha parts in Professor Zhang's hands.
Professor Zhang agilely turned to the side, glaring at him with alertness. "What do you think you're doing?"
The assistant didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Isn't it me who usually tests all the projects?"
"No, I don't need you this time. I'll do it myself!" Professor Zhang put his hand over the component as if it were a precious baby, lest others rob him of it, and sidestepped the assistant. He carefully put it in the tester.
Then they anxiously waited for the test results to come out.
The few seconds stretched into an eternity as Professor Zhang felt the pain of anticipation.
After Professor Zhang had imprinted his feet in several circle patterns on the floor*, the tester finally made a melodious little noise.
(*Ok, this is not what's originally written, but omg the imagery is cracking me up! Another more accurate translation would be, "He stomped around in many circles")
Professor Zhang's face, which had been full of wrinkles, immediately tightened, his eyes growing wider and wider. Suddenly he threw himself before the front of the experiment table. The assistant jumped in the heart for fear that Professor Zhang had just broken something unrepairable.
[Material: F level]
[Spirit Activity: Class A]
[Comprehensive Assessment: B]
Professor Zhang's wrinkle-surrounded eyes didn't blink. He simply stared at the tester. After reading the results, his whole person seemed to light up and sparkle brilliantly.
"Heavens, to think that the spirit activity is at level A!" Professor Zhang's white beard shook excitedly and his voice began to tremble. "That person made F class material into something with level A spirit activity. They're a genius!"
Professor Zhang carefully took the mecha parts from the tester, holding it as if it were a very valuable national treasure worth an entire city.
"Professor?" The results obviously had less of an impact on the young assistant than Professor Zhang. He looked at Professor Zhang, who was very emotional and said this in a conflicted voice.
The professor had always abhorred getting worked up. To him, everything should be approached calmly. Heck, the professor had just scolded him for being too worked up. But now it was Professor Zhang who'd lost his self-control.
Professor Zhang obviously didn't realize that his young assistant was roasting him, but the assistant's sudden sound woke him up. He called hurridly for his assistant to come over.
"Quick! Take a look at this and tell me who made it!"
The assistant quickly complied, holding out his hands for Professor Zhang to hand the parts over, but nothing happened. As soon as he lifted his eyes, he saw that Professor Zhang had on a conflicted expression. Even the wrinkles on his face had stretched themselves out.
The assistant wanted to cry or laugh, he didn't know which. "Professor, you have to give me the parts for me to check who made it."
Professor Zhang hesitated for a long time before he handed over the parts carefully. He told the assistant sternly, "You must be careful. Don't damage them."
The assistant was quick to promise, but inside his heart, he was laughing so much he had already collapsed. How can mecha parts be so easily broken, let alone with his hands? Even if he smashed it with a hammer it wouldn't even dent! Professor Zhang's obviously forgotten his common sense.
The assistant, trying hard not to laugh, carefully took the mecha thigh from Professor Zhang's hands and scanned it with a small instrument on his hand.
"Huh?" The assistant was surprised.
Professor Zhang, who had been nervously staring at the mecha component, felt a stab of nerves in his heart.
"What's the matter?"
"It says that the signature on this component is anonymous. It doesn't belong to any student."
Because the armor parts are very precious, each person has a certain amount they can use. In the laboratory, each group of mecha parts will be enclosed in a metal box. Usually, this box is closed and can be opened only by the one person who owns it. The chip on the metal box will record the student's information.
And each mecha part will have the same identifying mark, which is also on the metal box. The outermost part of the mecha component also has the same chip on it as is on the box, and the information stored on it is interlinked with the metal box. These chips are specially added in the academy to record the students' achievements.
The assistant, on seeing no identifying mark, was confused. "Isn't this the homework?"
"What?!"
Professor Zhang, on seeing the result, almost forgot to breathe.
From the time he'd first given the leg component to his assistant, his emotions had been disturbed unceasingly and he had been looking forward to meeting the master behind this work. He has even decided that no matter what background the student had, or whether it was a teacher instead, he would invite them to study under him. But now his assistant was telling him that the person who made the part couldn't be identified?!
As soon as the assistant saw Professor Zhang's trembling, he panicked and hurried up to support him. He patted him on the back. "Professor, don't worry, whoever made this is here at Mulis and we'll find them sooner or later."
When Professor Zhang heard this, he became a little calmer and said quickly to his assistant. "Well then find out quickly. I must know who this student is!"
The assistant's face was bitter. "All right, I'll check it right away, but you should take a break, Professor. You can't wear yourself out."
Professor Zhang's face was discontent. His tone was still harrowed and impatient. "What do you mean take a break? We've just learned of a genius. How do you expect me to rest without finding them?!"
The assistant tried to beg once more, but Professor Zhang immediately put a stop to it by scolding him so badly that it seemed the assistant was pelted by hail*. The poor assistant had no choice but to put on a bitter face and run to the management office to check the records.
(*劈头盖脸[Pītóugàiliǎn] = "pelting" or literally, "splitting the head and covering the face". It describes something very violent.)
After going out, the assistant was still slightly concerned about the professor, so he pulled over someone in the vicinity and told him to check up on the professor.
Lu Liangjun had forgotten something, so he had gone into the laboratories to look for it, and inexplicably the professor's assistant had pulled him over. He was still a little unhappy, but after he understood what the assistant had asked, he immediately laughed and promised to do it.
His goal has always been to be Professor Zhang's disciple, but then that horrible good-for-nothing garbage had made it so that he hadn't been in the top hundred in the application scores. After he'd started school, he has not given up this goal, but although he's gotten into Professor Zhang's class, Professor Zhang always seems unsatisfied with him. And he himself is far more talented than that good-for-nothing. As long as he works harder, Professor Zhang will certainly take himself as a disciple!
Isn't this a chance given to him by heaven?!
If the assistant is asking him to take care of Professor Zhang, then he will definitely make sure Professor Zhang knows of his strengths!