CHAPTER 1705: CHAPTER 808 MISUNDERSTANDING ARRIVAL IN THE CAPITAL_2

Seeing that Ren Fei was about to leave, Yan Fei grabbed him: "Don’t go! Do you know why I’m here? I’m about to sell something. This thing is one of a kind right now. If you’re free, come with me as a witness to prove that what I’ve got is legitimate!"

Ren Fei couldn’t help but laugh, exasperated. You’re really not holding back, huh?

After chatting for a while, he realized that this guy in front of him really wasn’t the type to be overly polite. What’s said is said, and once it’s over, it’s genuinely over for him.

However, he really couldn’t join him. He still had to go back and wait for further instructions. Initially, the plan was to transfer him to the coastal region, but now the higher-ups were hesitating. They felt that while he was skilled in external affairs, his performance in internal matters—based on this latest observation—was somewhat lacking!

When Ren Fei refused to go, Yan Fei wasn’t happy: "This is really important stuff. What if I sell it, and someone leaks it afterward? Then you’ll just end up busier."

Ren Fei gave a wry smile: "Still can’t do it. Also, stop calling me Ren Fei. My real name is Li Quanming. The name Ren Fei is just for outside use. Now that I’m back, Ren Fei no longer exists."

"You don’t have to tell me all that. We probably won’t cross paths again anyway." Yan Fei waved as he got into his car. "Want me to give you a ride part of the way?"

"No need. I’ve got my own car." Ren Fei—no, Li Quanming—gave a bitter smile as he waved goodbye.

Yan Fei had just driven a short distance when Yang Xing called again. He told Yang Xing he’d be there soon and hurriedly drove toward their workplace.

When he arrived and found Yang Xing waiting alone to greet him, he immediately frowned with dissatisfaction: "Why’s it just you, Teacher Yang?"

Yang Xing explained: "Let’s find a computer first so I can take a quick look at the contents. Then I’ll help you contact someone."

"There’s a lot of data!" Yan Fei muttered, following Yang Xing into the yard and into a small, cluttered office. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t that the space was small—it was that these people were treating the office like a research lab, with stuff piled up everywhere.

"The more, the better." Yang Xing was grinning from ear to ear as he watched Yan Fei start dismantling a computer case, clearly in high spirits. "The more, the better."

Yan Fei skillfully opened the case, pulled out a wide data cable, and connected it to his hard drive. Then he powered it on, entered the BIOS settings, hit the Enter key, and the old machine started booting up with a series of clattering noises.

"You guys don’t bother upgrading your computers? These are way outdated." The wait for the system to boot was long, and Yan Fei couldn’t help but complain.

"You think everyone’s as rich as you? Just hurry up and check what’s on there for me..." Yang Xing waved off the complaint, his attention fixed on the bulbous monitor screen.

"Still not quite ready. It hasn’t booted up fully yet." Yan Fei remained composed. "Did you report this to your superiors?"

"Not yet! I only mentioned the part where you earned an extra twenty-five thousand dollars for us. Don’t know if they’ve decided to give you back your money yet." Yang Xing replied absentmindedly. "This is too significant. I need to check the data first before saying anything. Can’t let too many people know; too much noise wouldn’t be good. Best to show it to the top leaders only after I’ve reviewed it."

"It’s ready!" Yan Fei began clicking with the mouse. "A bit slow, huh? These are all large files. Some contain images that I really can’t create, so I’ve just roughly described them. You’ll have to make do. There are plenty of pictures, though. If needed later, I could sketch them out for you on the spot."

"Hold up, hold up. Don’t open too many at once or the system will crash." Seeing Yan Fei clicking excessively, Yang Xing quickly stopped him. "Let me start with these. Okay, this one’s good. It’s genetics technology, but I don’t really understand it. We’ll probably need to find someone else to take a look..."

The phrase "different professions are worlds apart" exists for a reason. The deeper you delve into a field, the more specialized it becomes. Even within the same discipline, differing focuses can lead to a lack of understanding of corresponding knowledge points.

"When calling others, don’t mention that this data is mine. Just say I’m acting as an agent." A sudden thought struck Yan Fei, and he blurted out. "I’m worried about attracting too much attention."

Yang Xing, still scanning the data on the screen, didn’t even look up. "Fine, whatever you say. But don’t set the asking price too high!"

"Relax. I only care about getting my twenty-five thousand dollars back." Yan Fei nodded in agreement.

He hadn’t planned on charging anything initially, but his mind had shifted after seeing their setup, further solidifying his decision to sell.

As Yang Xing browsed through the files, he eventually stood up, overwhelmed. "No, I have to call someone else. There’s too much I don’t understand. I have no way of estimating its value."

"Then make the call, quick!" Yan Fei had been waiting for these words.

Yang Xing gladly saved himself the phone bill and used Yan Fei’s phone to dial a number. "Hello, Director Su, are you free right now? If not, can you make some time? Someone has brought over some data that I think you need to see. Yes, I’m at..."

After hanging up, Yang Xing went back to browsing the files and suddenly remembered a question: "Did you record all of these yourself?"

"Yep!"

"Impressive." Yang Xing was at a loss for words and simply gave him a thumbs up. "With such a memory, you’re wasting yourself on business. You should really focus on academic research. That way..."

"That way I’d end up like you, so broke I’d have to go buy a secondhand house in the suburbs!" Yan Fei jumped in. "Instead of living like I do now, in a big house with a beautiful college-student wife, driving a luxury car worth over a million, going anywhere I please, jet-setting like it’s nothing. Plus, I can run two labs and organize a crowd of people to do research for me!"

"Stop, stop, I was wrong, okay?" Yang Xing conceded helplessly. He’d only made a casual remark, but Yan Fei had thoroughly torn him apart.

"I wasn’t even done!" Yan Fei was on a roll. "I can even toss twenty-five thousand bucks at people when you’re negotiating over fossils so they have nothing left to argue about..."

Speaking of that twenty-five grand, Yan Fei could only hope the Torres couple wouldn’t get unlucky and have someone trace its shady origins. But knowing how detail-oriented Yan Fei was, he’d given them old bills, so there shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, he had stacks of freshly printed ones in the warehouse as well. If he’d handed those over, the Torres couple might’ve broken down crying...

Yang Xing, thoroughly dispirited, had nothing left to say. He couldn’t even argue at this point. Telling Yan Fei to devote himself to research was laughable when Yan Fei, with his current resources, could fund and conduct his own research projects, and even build two labs. What more could Yang Xing say? It was also clear that Yan Fei intended to keep investing in research in the future...

Maybe one genius could lead the progress of an era, but when compared to involving more people in scientific research, the gains and losses of such efforts couldn’t be fully evaluated in the short term.

"Take a look at this!" Yang Xing suddenly perked up, finding something that might interest Yan Fei. "This is about the development of a new anti-cancer drug. Interested?"

"I’m not in the pharmaceutical business. What’s the point of researching this?" Yan Fei clearly understood the nature of the content and had zero interest in it.

"This could generate profits." Yang Xing pressed further. "The research your labs are doing now may be cutting edge for its time, but it’s unlikely to generate quick economic returns. For a company, that’s not a sustainable path. Developing drugs, on the other hand—once results come out, the profits can be substantial."

"You know about this stuff?" Yan Fei couldn’t help but look at Yang Xing with surprise as he spoke so convincingly.

"You think I only know about fossils?" Yang Xing chuckled helplessly. "Who wouldn’t know about this? Even just reading the news teaches you this stuff. Companies invest in new products, new products bring bigger profits, and then there’s more funding for further research. That’s a virtuous cycle. If you only invest in technology that doesn’t yield results in the short term, always spending without producing, eventually no one will be willing to support research anymore."

"How did science originally develop? Wasn’t it because people had needs? People wanted to move faster, carry more things, so we went from wheelbarrows to cars. People invented canoes, found they weren’t enough, and now we have aircraft carriers..."