Chapter 312: Kindred Suffering, Mutual Pity

Lin Xin stood in front of the experimental table, operating the energy microscopic analyzer before him, while the screen displayed the mineral's microscopic structure magnified countless times.

It was the Gloomy Fluorescent Stone sample previously sent by the Supervision Bureau; the Ying Guang Lu energy veins flowed slowly across the screen, presenting a strange and captivating beauty.

He occasionally wrote a few lines of notes on the record board beside him, his gaze focused.

The lab door slid open silently, and Professor Luo De'an entered, also donning the standard white lab coat; his face showed fatigue, but his eyes remained clear.

He glanced at the complex data displayed on the instrument beside Lin Xin, did not speak immediately, and instead walked to the nearby storage cabinet to retrieve several reference documents that might be needed.

Only after Lin Xin finished preserving the data for this stage and lifted his head did Professor Luo De'an gently ask.

"How's the progress?"

Lin Xin turned, nodded at Professor Luo De'an as a greeting.

"The basic energy map and pollution characteristics of the Gloomy Fluorescent Stone have been preliminarily modeled, but further control experiments are needed, especially in vivo contact tests."

After finishing the business, he looked at Professor Luo De'an and then said.

"How is student Luo Jinyou's condition?"

Mentioning the adopted son, Professor Luo De'an's face showed a complex smile, with a hint of relief.

"He's mostly fine now; it's just that the night before last, multiple Mutations erupted in Tianmian City, so I couldn't let him leave lightly."

At this point, Professor Luo De'an sighed.

"Perhaps I'm too nervous, always wanting to shelter him under my wings; that child has indeed grown up, facing storms and some... 'special' things he will inevitably have to confront."

"Keeping him locked in the Academy's relatively safe ivory tower may not be a good thing either."

After the reflection, Professor Luo De'an's face showed remorse again.

"Actually, on your side, this experiment should have been led by me, but because of Xiao You's matter, a lot of time was lost, and many tasks fell onto you; I'm truly sorry."

Lin Xin heard this, gave a barely perceptible shake of his head, his tone still flat.

"Professor Luo De'an, you're overstating it; I'm not adept at researching mineral substances and can only handle some auxiliary work."

His specialty and main research area is heterotopic implantation; one can say the procedures share some similar steps.

"You're truly being modest; I'm just young, currently only listed as a teaching assistant on my side, but in terms of my own research capability, I could easily have my own lab."

Professor Luo De'an couldn't help but shake his head, feeling Lin Xin was still too modest.

Regarding heterotopic implantation research, many teachers in the Academy have praised Lin Xin.

Lin Xin merely nodded silently, then his tone suddenly shifted.

"I might have some personal matters to attend to later, may need to go out for a while; the lab here..."

"No problem, go take care of yours."

Professor Luo De'an immediately expressed understanding, since Lin Xin had helped him so much, he feared he hadn't even had time to deal with his own personal matters.

"I'll keep an eye on this; I also need to organize these data."

He seemed to recall something, walked to a locked low-temperature storage cabinet nearby, entered the code, and took out a palm-sized silver metal box.

"By the way, if you don't mind, could you deliver this to Xiao You on your way?"

Professor Luo De'an handed the metal box to Lin Xin, explaining.

"This is an Inhibitor reformulated based on his recent physiological monitoring data; its effect should be stronger than before, and side effects further reduced."

"If he later still needs to join his Mercenary Corps for missions, bring this along, and I'll be more at ease."

Lin Xin took the cold metal box, feeling it slightly heavy in his hand.

His gaze lingered on the silver box for a moment, then he lifted his eyes and nodded calmly.

"Alright, I'll remember to pass it to him."

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Luo Jinyou sat on a wooden bench by the long corridor; afternoon sunlight filtered through the vine‑covered arch, casting warm patches on him, but his gaze was vacant, clearly burdened with thoughts.

He had already heard from Qi Hengyu that Ying Duo, Shen Zexi and others were safe, and now the news about Chen Mo Zhi at the Chen Family didn't ease his mind; it made him worry even more.

Those nobles, especially the ancient great families, have rules as numerous as cattle hairs, and their interpersonal relations are even more tangled.

Ying Duo's personality... he was truly worried whether Ying Duo might inadvertently step on someone's toes and offend the wrong person.

At this point, he could only hope that Shen Zexi could stop Ying Duo.

Just as he worried in secret, a figure stopped before him.

Luo Jinyou looked up and saw Teacher Su Jingchuan's face with a hint of gloom.

Su Jingchuan wore a training suit suitable for movement, his jacket casually draped over his shoulder, and he held a tactical tablet, seeming to have just finished a training session.

"Luo Jinyou?" Teacher Su Jingchuan looked at the boy sitting on the bench, raised an eyebrow, "Are you spacing out here alone? Feeling better?"

"Teacher Su."

Luo Jinyou quickly greeted and shook his head.

"I'm fine, just thinking about things."

"Ying Duo?"

Teacher Su Jingchuan guessed boldly, but seeing Luo Jinyou's distressed expression, he knew he was right; his own gloomy look deepened.

"He hasn't returned from the Chen Family?"

"Should... probably not yet..."

Luo Jinyou answered cautiously, sensing the displeasure in Teacher Su's tone.

Teacher Su Jingchuan's face instantly fell; he raised a hand to rub his forehead, his tone full of helplessness and frustration.

"That kid... I personally invited him to my class, and what happened? He never showed up even once!"

"When I finally heard he added the class to his schedule, I was pleased, but then he turned and ran to the Chen Family? Does he even have any class schedule left in his mind? Any sign of being a student?"

Seeing Teacher Su Jingchuan's resentful expression, Luo Jinyou suddenly felt his own worries were trivial, and his gaze toward Su Jingchuan was inevitably filled with sympathy.

"Ying Duo... maybe just hasn't been able to attend for now?"

Luo Jinyou tried to help Ying Duo find a make‑up, though he himself thought the words weren't very convincing.

After all, he truly doubted it; Ying Duo had already completely given up the way of earning credits by attending classes, planning to go all‑out on the path of killing Aberrant Species.

"Didn't pay attention?" Su Jingchuan snorted through his nose, and at this moment he could no longer maintain his usual composure, "I think he simply never kept my class in mind!"

He lamented that back then he still believed he might have found a genius worthy of entrusting his brother's gun.