Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

The next morning, Lin Feng was awakened by the chirping of birds outside his window.

He sat up, rubbed his temples, quickly washed up, changed his clothes, and went to Old Qi's office.

"Xiao Feng," Old Qi's voice trembled slightly as he saw Lin Feng arrive, "You said yesterday... there was progress?"

"Okay." Lin Feng nodded, patted the file bag in his hand, "Professor Qi, let's go to the lab, we can explain as we go."

"Good! Good!" Old Qi said "good" twice, then turned around and led the way, his steps were so fast that he didn't look like a seventy-year-old.

"As you requested, all the materials are ready." Old Qi pointed to the equipment on the worktable—petition dishes, test tubes, pipettes, gene editing kits, various culture medium raw materials...

The items were plentiful, but arranged in an orderly manner.

Lin Feng put on a sterile suit, gloves, and goggles.

Old Qi quickly dressed and stood beside him, looking as focused as a primary school student.

"Let's begin."

Lin Feng's voice sounded muffled through the mask, but it was very clear.

The first step is to prepare the culture medium.

He took eighteen kinds of raw materials, weighing them with milligram precision. The order of addition, stirring speed, and dissolving time of each raw material were strictly regulated. Old Qi watched from the side, his eyes widening—some steps were completely opposite to what he had tried before.

"Why use a sodium lactate buffer system?" Old Qi couldn't help but ask.

"The root exudates of the star-moon grass are acidic, and traditional phosphate buffer systems would inhibit the colonization of symbiotic microorganisms," Lin Feng explained while demonstrating. "Sodium lactate can not only stabilize the pH, but also serve as a carbon source."

Old Qi suddenly realized and quickly wrote it down in his notebook.

The second step is gene editing.

Lin Feng took out the frozen callus tissue from the star-moon grass—it was extracted from the wild plant and, after dedifferentiation treatment, was in its most easily editable state.

He operated under a microscope, using a microinjector to introduce edited gene fragments into cells. His movements were as steady as a surgeon performing precision surgery, with the depth, angle, and injection volume of each injection accurate to the micrometer level.

"Here," Lin Feng pointed to a gene locus on the screen, "I enhanced the expression of the drought-resistant gene, but at the same time inserted a temperature-sensitive promoter—this makes it more active in low-temperature environments, which is consistent with the characteristics of the plateau climate."

Old Qi was dumbfounded.

This ingenious genetic design has transcended the scope of traditional botany; it's more like... writing a life program.

The third step is to inoculate symbiotic microorganisms.

Lin Feng took three different bacterial solutions from three different culture flasks. He mixed them in a specific ratio and then sprayed them evenly onto the surface of the culture medium.

"These three microorganisms," he explained, "are nitrogen-fixing, phosphorus-solubilizing, and plant growth hormone-secreting. They naturally coexist with starflower, but I modified their metabolic pathways to triple the efficiency of the symbiosis."

Old Qi could no longer speak; he was just frantically taking notes.

The final step is setting up the environment.

培养箱的参数被仔细调整：温度8℃，湿度75%，光照强度5000勒克斯，光周期14小时光照/10小时黑暗。二氧化碳浓度设定在1000ppm。

"High-altitude simulated environment." Lin Feng straightened up after setting the last parameter. "The growing conditions for wild star and moon grass are too demanding, and we cannot completely replicate them. So my idea is—not to replicate the environment, but to modify the plant so that it can thrive better in an artificial environment."

After saying that, he placed the petri dish into the incubator and locked the door.

The entire process took fifty-eight minutes.

It was done in one smooth motion, without a single pause or unnecessary movement.

Old Qi looked at the tightly closed incubator door, then at Lin Feng, opened his mouth, and finally only uttered one sentence: "How long do we have to wait?"

"One week." Lin Feng took off his gloves. "Theoretically, the improved Star Moon Grass should grow faster. But to be on the safe side, let's observe for a week."

"Alright." Old Qi nodded emphatically. "I will personally oversee things this week."

The next seven days were filled with agonizing waiting.

Professor Qi really did live next to the laboratory. He spent all his time there every day, except for necessary meetings. He would check the incubator data every two hours, recording minute changes in temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration.

Lin Feng, on the contrary, remained calm.

He returned to his dormitory and organized the data on controlled nuclear fusion, occasionally calling Shen Moran—she was studying business management in the mountain city, busy every day, but her voice always carried a smile.

"The third branch of the coffee shop is opening in Chengdu," she said on the phone. "Xiaoxiao said she wants to combine Lin's Hot Pot with the coffee shop to create a hybrid business model of hot pot and afternoon tea."

"She's quick-witted," Lin Feng laughed.

"How about you? Is everything going well in Shanghai?"

"Successfully." Lin Feng looked at the magnolia flowers outside the window.

On the fifth day, Old Qi called, his voice trembling with excitement: "Xiao Feng! Come quick! The seedlings have sprouted!"

When Lin Feng arrived at the laboratory, Professor Qi was leaning over the observation window of the incubator, looking as excited as a child.

Through the glass, you can see a layer of tender green shoots emerging from the soil in the petri dish. Although they are still very small, they are densely packed and full of vitality.

"The sprouts appeared in the middle of the night yesterday," Old Qi's voice trembled, "I stayed up all night watching them grow little by little... Look at the color, look at how fast they're growing..."

Lin Feng also went over to take a look.

Indeed, it's quite good. The seedlings are robust, with vibrant green leaves, and there are no common signs of yellowing or excessive growth.

"Test the precursors of the active ingredient," he said.

Mr. Qi immediately took a sample and sent it for testing.

Two hours later, the results came back: the content of the active ingredient precursor had reached 150% of that in wild seedlings.

"It's done..." Old Qi looked at the report, his hands trembling so much he could barely hold the paper. "It really is done..."

On the seventh day, the star and moon grass grew to five centimeters tall.

The leaves are fully extended, with clear veins, and fluorescent spots are already faintly visible on the underside. Sampling and testing revealed an active ingredient content of 98%.

"Slightly lower than wild mature plants," Lin Feng said, looking at the data, "but considering this is an artificial environment with a shortened growth cycle, this data is already very ideal. Moreover, the content will increase as the plant matures."

Old Qi was no longer able to speak.

He turned around, faced Lin Feng, and bowed deeply.

"Old Qi, what's wrong with you...?" Lin Feng quickly helped him up.

"This bow is on behalf of all the patients waiting for their medicine." Old Qi raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed. "Xiao Feng, you have saved countless families by cultivating the Star Moon Grass."

Lin Feng was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head: "It's the result of everyone's joint efforts."

He handed the 300-page technical manual to Mr. Qi: "All the steps are here. From seedling cultivation to harvesting, from extraction to purification, the whole process. As long as you follow this, large-scale production will be no problem."

Old Qi took the document bag and held it in his arms as if it were a rare treasure.

"The timeline for the launch of anti-cancer drugs can be set now," Lin Feng continued. "Once the raw material issue is resolved, production capacity should be able to increase rapidly. I suggest we first cover severely ill patients, and then gradually expand the reach."

"Okay, okay." Old Qi nodded repeatedly. "I will immediately organize experts to discuss and formulate a plan."

"Well," Lin Feng glanced at the time, "I'll be going now. I still have some things to take care of."

Old Qi was taken aback, but without asking any further questions, he simply said one word: "Okay."

The two walked out of the laboratory side by side.

The sunlight was perfect in the corridor. Through the window, you could see that the magnolias in the garden were in full bloom, as white as snow.

"Xiao Feng," Old Qi suddenly called out to him at the crossroads, "Take care of yourself. You're still young, and you have a long road ahead of you."

Lin Feng laughed: "You too, don't stay up so late all the time."

He turned around and headed towards the exit.

Zhao Weiguo was already waiting at the door. He had rejoined the team a month ago. He had lost some weight, but was in good spirits, and his eyes shone with light.

"Mr. Lin." He opened the car door.

"Brother Zhao," Lin Feng said, getting into the car, "how is your wife recovering?"

"You've been discharged and are recuperating at home." Zhao Weiguo started the car, his voice filled with gratitude. "The doctor said the cancer cell clearance rate is 99%, and regular checkups are all that's needed. Mr. Lin, I..."

"Let's not talk about this," Lin Feng interrupted him. "Let's go back to Harbin Institute of Technology."

"Yes."

The car drove away from the Biomedical Center and merged into the traffic of Shanghai.

Outside the window, the bustling metropolis gleams in the sunlight. Skyscrapers, traffic, crowds... behind every ordinary day, someone is striving for an extraordinary cause.

Four hours later, the plane landed in Harbin.