It was like an impurity in a piece of clear, expensive Hetian jade.

So captivating that once you saw it, you could never forget it.

“Yes, this is my first time here. And you are, madam?” Su Mo asked politely.

At first glance he had only noticed her figure and clothing.

At second glance he realized that the woman’s figure under the loose vest was not thin at all.

Looking more carefully, he could also see obvious signs of muscle training in the exposed areas, as well as crisscrossing scars.

She was clearly no soft character.

“Ah, Mr. Su, you’re unusually polite.”

After giving Su Mo a once-over, the woman chuckled and went on, “My name is Qi Xiaomei. I’m a specially appointed guard at our Academy of Sciences. I’m usually responsible for the security of the whole Academy. Occasionally, if I see someone I like, I’ll take on a private job like showing visitors around.”

“A tour guide?”

“Yes. The Academy of Sciences covers tens of thousands of mu, and more than three-quarters of it is open to visitors. If Mr. Su wanted to explore it on foot, you probably wouldn’t finish even by the time the Academy closes at six in the afternoon.”

“I can take you around the Academy of Sciences in a simple electric vehicle so you can experience its scientific charm. Hmm, it’s one forty now, and it’s open until six. You only need to pay me five trade points,” Qi Xiaomei said gently, bowing slightly.

“Five points? That’s not too expensive.”

“But aren’t you a guard? You’re taking me on as a private job. Won’t you get caught?” Su Mo pointed at the gate, whose guards were looking in their direction, his words carrying a hidden meaning.

But as soon as she heard Su Mo agree, Qi Xiaomei shook her head.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll drive over first, and I’ll explain once we’re in the car!”

She ran off quickly and disappeared from Su Mo’s sight in less than a minute.

About three or four minutes later, a distinctive “energy vehicle” rapidly approached from the horizon.

It was distinctive

because it was not the four-wheeled vehicle Su Mo usually saw, but a sidecar motorcycle.

Qi Xiaomei sat on the motorcycle on the left, and the sidecar on the right was empty, most likely where Su Mo was meant to sit.

“Come on, get in!”

With a graceful drift, the sidecar stopped right in front of Su Mo.

After looking around and noticing that quite a few people were already staring at him, Su Mo decided to go all in and strode forward to sit down.

“Huh, this feels pretty comfortable?”

“Of course. I modified this seat specially, and all the tiger skin used inside is top quality,” Qi Xiaomei boasted, then started the vehicle and quickly vanished from everyone’s sight, driving along the small road on the left.

She only slowed down once they were completely out of the crowd’s view.

“You were wondering just now how I, a guard, can take on this kind of side job, right?”

Sitting in the sidecar and looking up at Qi Xiaomei, Su Mo was still rather unaccustomed to it.

Qi Xiaomei seemed completely unaware of that. As if she had opened a floodgate, she began to talk on and on.

“When you came in just now, you must have heard a lot of people promoting researcher courses, right? And the prices must have been quite high?”

“Yes, there were quite a few.”

“That’s it. Do you think these researchers enjoy giving lectures to outsiders?” Qi Xiaomei shook her head. “Mr. Su, at our Academy of Sciences, from researchers to guards, even to cleaners, no one receives a salary.”

“Besides three meals a day, you have to earn all your other income yourself.”

“We guards are all right. We’re not lacking food or clothing, and we can take the occasional side job from people we like to earn a bit extra and save up. But the researchers are in a much worse situation.”

“When they apply for research projects, the institute only covers seventy percent of the funding. They have to cover the remaining thirty percent. If you don’t have the money, then I’m sorry, you bear all the consequences if the research fails.”

“Besides...”

“So that’s how it is.” Qi Xiaomei explained it all in one breath, and by the end Su Mo gradually understood.

Back on Earth, it was not uncommon for researchers in scientific institutions to earn salaries dwarfed by those in other industries, even the entertainment industry.

The older generation of senior researchers had come through hard times and might not care about material things, being wholeheartedly devoted to research.

But young researchers who had studied for more than ten or twenty years had only just entered scientific institutions.

They interacted with the internet every day, so they naturally felt this obvious gap.

Furthermore, researchers were restricted from engaging too much with the outside world because of confidentiality mechanisms, and over time that led to...

the poorer a place was, the less motivation it had for research, and the lower its research efficiency became, creating a vicious cycle.

Once in the wasteland, the Tian Yuan Academy of Sciences had fundamentally improved this situation.

In this magical place, from senior researchers to ordinary workers, no one was restricted in their specific duties.

If you had enough ability, you could research better topics, earn more and live better.

Otherwise, let alone research, even making a living would become a problem.

Of course, the reason for this was quite simple.

The first advantage was the exceptional living conditions. Every researcher enjoyed the safest possible environment.

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