Chapter 1292: Pausing Recruitment, Joint Invitation

"Is it Weide? Or is it Braun?"

After parting ways with Yilisi, on the way back to the Level -3 Laboratory, Xia Duo was still thinking about this question. Of these two Great Arcanists, he was more familiar with Weide, but based solely on the information he had, he could not conclude that it was definitely Weide.

As for Braun, Xia Duo had limited understanding of him, but he could not rule out the suspicion.

But regardless, these two people were the most suspicious. Once he returned to the Main Plane, if he paid more attention to their actions, perhaps he would be able to discover some clues.

……

Returning to the laboratory, Xia Duo called Luo Zi into his Xiu Xi Shi and asked with concern, "How is that project of yours regarding the Sith Ring Structure coming along?"

"It's almost finished. Because I had some accumulation from before, now it's mostly experimental verification. In three days at most, I will be able to submit the report to the Management Center," Luo Zi said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Because he was the only one on this project, he was the only one using the relevant facilities and equipment in the laboratory, so the utilization rate was too low.

Thinking of the several completed projects in the laboratory recently, Luo Zi really felt a bit regretful. If he had known that "Maikade" really hadn't tampered with the project evaluations, he should have opened his project to more people.

Although doing so would lower the contribution evaluation of individual participants in the project, as long as the "above average" threshold was maintained, it could definitely increase the efficiency of project completion by more than just a little.

One must know that to be promoted to Level 1 Researcher, one needs at least three experiences participating in Level 1 Projects with an "above average" evaluation. In this situation, cooperation is the fastest path.

This method might not work for other researchers, because they would all try every possible way to lower the contribution evaluation of individual participants, but in the Maikade Laboratory, Luo Zi had already witnessed it—it wouldn't happen.

How could this not make him feel grateful!

Xia Duo did not care about Luo Zi's complex psychology; he just asked about the other's project progress in a business-like manner. He had another matter for finding Luo Zi this time:

"Are there still Assistant Researchers contacting you recently?"

"Yes, quite a few! But those Level 1 Researchers are also reacting very quickly. Almost every Assistant Researcher has been arranged into a project. Unless one tears off the mask of civility, it is very difficult to get away in a short time. If you want to recruit people, sir, perhaps you will have to wait for a while."

"No."

Xia Duo shook his head and said to Luo Zi, "Release the news that the Maikade Laboratory will not be recruiting any new people for a short time. If there is a recruitment plan in the future, it will be announced publicly."

"Ah? Oh!"

Luo Zi was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted. The laboratory already had many people, and recruiting more might not necessarily bring much efficiency improvement. Stopping was fine too.

"Yes, sir, I will go do it immediately!"

"Not so fast, I haven't finished speaking yet!"

Xia Duo hurriedly stopped the somewhat impatient Luo Zi and continued, "Two days ago, Hake told me that he had already accumulated the three 'good' evaluation Level 1 Projects needed for promotion.

"But you also know that Hake and the others have always focused on the field of Elven Magic, and there are very few people in the Research Institute who study Elven Magic. Now, even if he is promoted alone, he cannot find any good projects, nor can he find suitable manpower.

"Therefore, he proposed that after his promotion, he wants to continue cooperating with the Maikade Laboratory and use this to seek a transformation, turning toward the more general field of Spell design.

"Hake's situation has also given me a bit of inspiration. The conditions of our Maikade Laboratory alone are limited after all, but if several laboratories unite, it is not impossible to form a more powerful alliance.

"What do you think about this kind of thing?"

Luo Zi was different from Hake, of course mainly because their research fields were different. Hake, who focused on the field of Elven Magic, found it difficult to find suitable manpower and difficult to obtain new projects.

But Luo Zi was different. Even if he couldn't come up with a project himself, he could undertake projects provided from above; his options were far more than Hake's.

It was just that Xia Duo did not want Luo Zi and the others to treat the Maikade Laboratory only as a stepping stone for promotion. He hoped to use the laboratory establishment of Luo Zi and the others after their promotion to recruit more Assistant Researchers and undertake his outsourced projects.

An alliance or whatever was, of course, just an exaggerated statement. Xia Duo would not go so far as to engage in some private interest alliance within the Research Institute, but if everything was placed on the table and handled according to official business, neither those above nor anyone else would have anything to say.

If they still chose to cooperate with Xia Duo after being promoted to Level 1 Researcher through this method, then a considerable proportion of the resource share given to researchers by the Research Institute would be occupied.

This would form a so-called "Maikaide Camp." Although it could not compare to those veteran researchers in the resource allocation of a single project, it could be piled up by the number of laboratories!

Unless those veteran researchers were willing to relax the Suppression on their subordinates' promotions and also form a similar alliance, but what difference would that have from Xia Duo's approach?

Once those subordinates who had been suppressed from promotion for years finally got promoted, would they really still be willing to continue working for free or for cheap for their original superiors?

For this kind of thing, those above would not only not oppose it, but would instead strongly support it!

As the one who took the initiative to bring up the alliance, Xia Duo was not worried about them turning against him in the short term, but for people like Luo Zi, he was not so sure.

There were simply too many cases of dragon slayers becoming evil dragons.

Today he could successfully be promoted with the help of the Maikade Laboratory, and tomorrow he might immediately submit an application to those above to re-examine Xia Duo's rank Permission Level; it was not impossible.

After all, the practice of suppressing subordinates' promotions and exploiting subordinates' contributions was simply too tempting.

Even for Xia Duo, if he were not in the Projection Plane, he might also have such thoughts. Human nature is driven by profit, and it is really difficult to restrict.

Of course, if he were truly in the Main Plane, Xia Duo might pursue more interests outside his Territory, but within his Territory, as a superior, he would still focus more on long-term development.

Compared to letting a few people profit through suppression and exploitation, he preferred to build a relatively fair environment for competition and promotion, allowing everyone to benefit from it.

It is reasonable for those with ability to benefit more and those with less ability to benefit less.

And the overall benefit is his benefit.

The so-called "great selfishness is public service," that is about it.

……

Xia Duo's proposal made Luo Zi silent for a moment. After a long time, he swallowed his saliva, and his voice was a bit hoarse as he asked in return:

"If I don't agree, will you block my promotion, sir?"

"No. I might have asked this question too early; I should have waited until after you were promoted to ask. But since I have already asked, I still want to hear what you have to say."

Xia Duo said in a calm tone.