o— If she got locked in the little black room, wouldn’t she be unable to continue collecting Brother Hua Yi’s handsome photos, or find out his food preferences and hobbies?
What a harsh punishment!
Wen Shiling shrank back in fear.
However, if Brother Hua Yi needed Curios, she was willing to take the risk.
How could a rising star of the Herta Space Station be treated like an ordinary researcher?
If he was limited by clearance and procedures and couldn’t quickly apply for Curios to research, wouldn’t that be a huge loss for scientific progress?
With Brother Hua Yi’s talent, he would become a top figure at the station sooner or later.
Shiling was just bringing him what was rightfully his ahead of time.
When Brother Hua Yi eventually stunned the entire universe, she might even be considered a great contributor!
The little girl thought this way not because she was ignorant of the consequences of abusing her authority, nor because she had a complete lack of respect for the station’s rules.
She simply believed in the handsome big brother standing before her.
However, when she heard that he was thinking about a fan gift for her and had flatly refused her offer to help procure Curios, and then saw his final, serious, lecturing expression, the little girl couldn’t immediately grasp the level of integrity he had shown in the face of temptation, nor could she understand the profound kindness behind his advice.
But one thing was certain: Brother Hua Yi was a good person!
The little fan’s adoration grew even stronger.
She seized the opportunity to chatter away, asking her handsome and gentle idol what he had eaten at the station recently and which meal plans he liked.
—o— Outside the office area, on a senior rest platform inaccessible to ordinary researchers, a withered old man stood hunched over.
He was at a high vantage point, squinting his old eyes at the newcomer in the Department of Lumina Archives.
He removed the high-performance earpiece he was wearing.
It was a marvel of technology, a cutting-edge device that many ordinary planetary civilizations couldn’t produce even with their combined industrial might.
It could detect minute vibrations in the air, allowing researchers to determine if any abnormal sound changes occurred during delicate experiments.
With a slight modification, it could also become a “wind-following ear,” allowing one to eavesdrop from a certain distance.
Rubbing the ear that was aching slightly from Wen Shiling’s distant excited squeals, the former Head of the Department of Universal Things, Wen Huairen, stared fixedly at Hua Yi in the office area.
“He actually refused?
This young man…” Wen Shiling was only a Level II Researcher, and a child whose mind still lacked the cunning of a truly seasoned researcher.
No matter how gifted she was, how could she possibly handle all her duties at the station alone without making a single mistake if no one was watching over her?
For some of the larger electronic equipment, a child her size couldn’t even reach the control panel.
Wen Huairen knew that Shiling had been gathering information on Hua Yi, and he knew about her plans to establish some fan club.
He had even anticipated that the little girl would try to curry favor with her idol and had been prepared to turn a blind eye.
Back when Wen Huairen was in charge of the Department of Universal Things, every single Credit of research funding was accounted for, to say nothing of applications involving Curios.
Wen Huairen’s eye for value was famously sharp; he had bought numerous one-of-a-kind Curios from the Interastral Peace Corporation at low prices, only to watch their market value skyrocket across the galaxy.
During its development phase, the Department of Universal Things grew stronger and larger by acting as a reseller.
While opening up its own sources of income, it never forgot to throttle expenditure.
To summarize, it was opening the sources for his own department while throttling the flow for the Department of Cosmic Geography.
Those were truly momentous years.
He still remembered how the Department of Cosmic Geography had to struggle to advance their research with a star-surveying drill cobbled together from scrap materials.
They weren’t like today’s department, asking for money at the drop of a hat.
Well, the geography department had applied to his department for funding countless times back then, but Wen Huairen never approved it.
Even after getting beaten up by José Lazaro from the geography department, Wen Huairen remained steadfast in his philosophy of throttling expenditure.
Now that his son, Wen Mingde, was the Head of the Department of Universal Things, the research funding he approved had increased.
Even though the number of goods sold by the Interastral Peace Corporation with the supplier tag [Herta · Universal Things] was growing, Wen Huairen still admonished his son to pay attention to throttling expenditure.
Unfortunately, Wen Mingde didn’t listen to his old man.
With the various research departments flourishing now, Wen Huairen had no reason to accuse his son of poor management.
But at this moment, the sharp-eyed Wen Huairen realized he had misjudged.
Or rather, he hadn’t expected the newcomer’s character to be so noble.
Originally, Wen Huairen had been prepared to inform his son and let Shiling get away with her little antics, within limits.
But this young man from the Department of Lumina Archives, a newcomer, had actually withstood the temptation of Curios!
Curios!
Strange objects scattered throughout the universe, most of which were impossible to replicate with science and technology, each possessing unique effects or properties.
At the Herta Space Station, a researcher successfully applying for a Curio often meant securing a high-level thesis, which was a crucial factor for promotion.
At the same time, if a researcher failed to produce any decent research results for a long time and performed mediocrely, the station would not renew their contract after the employment period ended.
So, it wasn’t a stretch to equate Curios with a researcher’s career.
And Hua Yi had refused.
Wen Huairen could tell that the young man was by no means unaware of the importance of Curios.
He could call Shiling by her name and showed no confusion at the word “Curio,” so he clearly knew about the Department of Universal Things.
He had flatly refused a massive, readily available benefit, knowing full well what it was, and had even counseled Wen Shiling against it.
“Tsk.
Even if you’re a decent kid, I can’t just have my department give you research funding for no reason, much less proactively give you a Curio to study without receiving an application through the proper channels…
At most, I’ll just adjust your name in the department’s backend system to raise your priority.” The old man, widely recognized by countless people at the Herta Space Station as a notorious miser, mumbled under his breath.
“Maybe I should poach Hua Yi for the Department of Universal Things?
With the mindset and skill he used to optimize the database for the Department of Star-Field Species, he could do great things in my department.
What’s he doing in the Department of Lumina Archives, collecting the beards of old guys at the station to perform secret rituals?
If Mingde wasn’t so unwilling to keep throttling expenditure, I’d definitely be cutting the Department of Lumina Archives’ funding.
The results they produce are disproportionate to the capital invested.
The return rate is too low.” Wen Huairen, a firm believer in the philosophy of opening sources and throttling expenditure, slowly left the senior rest area.
He planned to continue scouring the Interastral Peace Corporation for some antiques.
If he could get his hands on a Curio or two, he could increase his department’s revenue once again.
—o—