“For a brute, you’ve been incredibly meticulous lately.”
Griffin’s voice carried its usual flat, indifferent tone.
But the words he spoke almost made Ross Vance think he had misheard.
“I actually quite enjoy playing butler for you, My Lord.”
Ross Vance stared blankly for a second, then burst out laughing.
“Alright, keep at it then.
I’ll issue you an official butler license later.”
The two walked down the corridor, bypassed the training area, and arrived at the independent two-story building on the north side of the base.
The first floor served as the scientists’ dormitory and temporary research laboratory, while the second floor housed the Battle Sisters.
Griffin pushed open the white wooden door at the end of the hallway, and Ross Vance stepped inside.
Seven people in white uniforms were crowded around a long table, completely oblivious to anyone entering.
They were in the middle of a fierce argument.
“Your energy conversion efficiency calculation is wrong!
The phase three value must be at least two orders of magnitude higher than your current figure!”
“Bullshit!
Your basic assumption is flawed.
This world’s physical constants don’t fully match our reference data.
Fix that first before you talk to me about thresholds!”
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, please stop shouting.
Take a look at this.
I measured the background electromagnetic radiation of the local environment and found a highly intriguing anomalous signal…”
“I looked at your anomalous signal.
It’s almost certainly spillover from a local communications satellite.
It has nothing to do with our equipment.”
“How do you know it has nothing to do with it?
Have you tested it?”
“Of course I tested it!
I stayed up until three in the morning last night measuring it.
Here’s the data, see for yourself!”
A young man wearing thick-framed glasses slammed a data slate onto the table with a sharp smack, then picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.
No one noticed that Ross Vance had been standing at the door watching them for nearly half a minute.
Griffin finally couldn’t help himself and coughed heavily.
“Ahem.”
Seven heads snapped around simultaneously.
The clamor around the long table ceased instantly, as if someone had hit a pause button.
The young man with glasses still had his mouth open, holding his coffee cup in mid-air, completely frozen the moment he saw Ross Vance.
The middle-aged man who had just slammed the table kept his hand suspended over the data slate.
A tall, thin man standing at the very edge instinctively hid the instrument in his hands behind his back, looking exactly like a student caught playing with his phone by a teacher.
The air froze for about two seconds.
Then, all seven of them scrambled into motion as if hit by an electric shock.
Some straightened their collars, others adjusted their glasses.
The tall, thin man who had hidden his instrument brought it out from behind his back again, looking unsure of whether he should lay it down or keep hiding it.
After a brief, rustling flurry of activity, the seven of them stood in a neat line in front of Ross Vance.
White lab coats, white shirts, dark blue work uniforms—they were of varying heights and builds.
But they all shared one thing.
Their eyes shone with that unique curiosity and excitement for the unknown that only intellectuals possessed.
The young man with glasses stood on the far left.
He wiped a trace of coffee from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, took a deep breath, and spoke.
His voice still carried the lingering excitement of their argument, but his tone had quickly shifted to a formal reporting style.
“My Lord, apologies for not noticing your arrival earlier.
We were just discussing some…
preliminary findings.”
“Hahaha, no worries, no worries.”
Ross Vance waved his hand dismissively, a relaxed smile on his face.
“Seeing you all get down to business so quickly sets my mind at ease.”
He took two steps forward, glancing over the various unnamed instruments and equipment scattered across the table.
Then he looked back at the seven men standing at attention in front of him.
“But before we continue, would you mind introducing yourselves first?
I only know that you are scientists, but I don’t know who is who yet.
And while you’re at it, why don’t you tell me what you were just arguing about?”
The seven scientists looked back and forth at one another, their eyes filled with the hesitant “you go first” look.
In the end, it was the young man with glasses who spoke up first.
He took half a step forward and straightened his spine.
“Reporting to My Lord, we are scientists from the Human Federation.
It is our absolute honor to serve you.”
He gestured to the four people on his side, then pointed to the other three.
“The seven of us are split into two disciplines.
We four in the white uniforms are physicists.
Those three in the blue work uniforms are engineers.”
Ross Vance nodded, his gaze sweeping over each of their faces.
The four physicists came in all shapes and sizes, but they all carried the distinct aura of people who spent far too much time cooped up in a laboratory.
The three engineers were built sturdier.
One of them was on the shorter side but had exceptionally broad shoulders—clearly someone accustomed to manually dismantling and assembling heavy machinery.
“Alright, physicists and engineers, a complete team.”
Ross Vance slipped his hands into his pockets, looking at them with a smile.
“So, what was the argument about?
I stood at the door for quite a while listening to you.
Something about energy conversion efficiency and mismatched physical constants?
You had me completely lost.”
The young man with glasses opened his mouth, closed it, and turned to look at the middle-aged man who had slammed the table earlier.
The middle-aged man cleared his throat, but before he could speak, the tall, thin scientist on the end could no longer hold back.
“My Lord, we discovered that the physical constants of this world do not fully align with our original reference frame.”
“Alright, alright.”
Ross Vance raised a hand to interrupt him.
“You can explain those highly technical matters to me slowly later.
Right now, I only want to know one thing.”
He looked into the eyes of the seven scientists.
“What do you need?
Equipment, materials, instruments—compile a list and give it to Griffin.
If it’s something I can acquire, I will do my best to get it.
If it’s something we can’t buy, tell me how to build it, and I’ll find a way.”
The eyes of all seven scientists lit up simultaneously.
The young man with glasses pushed up his spectacles, unable to suppress the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“My Lord, in that case, we won’t stand on ceremony.”
“We currently do not fully understand the physical laws of this world, so we need to conduct a series of experiments to obtain the necessary data.”
He pushed his glasses up again, his talking speed noticeably accelerating, like a dam breaking after holding back a flood of words.
“Therefore, our first priority is a physics laboratory.”
Ross Vance nodded, waiting for him to continue.
“As for experimental equipment…”
The young man picked up the data slate from the table and swiped his finger across the screen, revealing a long, densely packed list.
“Spectrometers, particle counters, high-precision oscilloscopes, signal generators, spectrum analyzers…
these are the absolute basics.
If we can acquire an electron microscope and an X-ray diffractometer, that would be even better, though those are quite expensive and bulky.”
He paused, then added:
“Also, we need a complete suite of electromagnetic field measuring equipment, including gaussmeters, fluxmeters, and magnetic field probes.
The background electromagnetic radiation of this world is vastly different from our original reference frame.
We must establish baseline data first.”
The blue-uniformed engineer next to him took over, his voice a register deeper than the young man’s.
“My Lord, once the physics lab is up and running, our engineering division will also require a small machine shop.
It doesn’t need to be anything highly advanced—a lathe, a milling machine, a drill press, and a welder will suffice.
We can fabricate certain components ourselves.
Otherwise, relying solely on purchasing will make many experiments impossible to conduct.”
Ross Vance remained silent for two seconds after listening to their requests.
He turned to look at Griffin.
“Are these things easy to get?”
Griffin thought for a moment.
“Most of them can be purchased from professional equipment suppliers, but some are subject to export controls and will require special channels.
Additionally, massive equipment like electron microscopes can sometimes be found on the secondhand market, but we’ll have to rely on luck.”
“Money is not an issue,” Ross Vance said.
“Make a list first, and prioritize it.
If we can buy it directly, buy it.
If not, I’ll find a way.”
The scientists’ eyes shone even brighter.
The young man with glasses nodded vigorously.
“Understood, My Lord.
I will compile the list tonight.”
Ross Vance patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, “Don’t rush too much.
Make sure to rest.
I don’t want my scientists dropping dead from exhaustion at their lab benches.”
The young man’s ears flushed slightly, and he didn’t reply.
Ross Vance scanned the group with a smile, then left with Griffin.
As they walked away, he instructed Griffin to satisfy every single requirement the scientists had.
After all, the next step of his plan depended entirely on them.