Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed



After a relentless month and 23 days, spending a whopping sixteen million dollars, the fully automated lab with two sets of biosafety systems was finally completed, just as the third snowfall of the winter ceased.

Halley, with his startup team in tow, conducted the final checks on the lab's smart system.

Meanwhile, an array of experimental instruments, procured through Corley's tech company's international channels, began to arrive on site.

Mamie and Scales were swamped these past few days.

Besides getting acquainted with the operation of the smart system alongside Halley, they had to inventory the arriving instruments and arrange the spatial layout.

From the placement of lab benches to the positioning of the water cooler.

They took charge of everything themselves, sparing no detail.

Aside from attending classes, eating, and sleeping, nearly all their time was spent here.

The Dixon family-

"Caley's heading out again?"

"Yes, grandma!"

"But it's Saturday, no classes. Why are you always running about? Could it be... you've got a girlfriend?!" The old lady's eyes sparkled with curiosity at her last question.

"No!"

"Then what's the rush?"

"I'm off to do something big! Bye for now, grandma-" With that, he grabbed his backpack, wrapped his scarf tightly around him, and strode out the door.

The grandmother was skeptical, "Kids these days, always thinking they have big things to do."

The grandfather, sitting on the sofa enjoying his tea and newspaper, just smiled subtly, a look of mysterious understanding on his face.

As Scales made his way to the lab, Mamie also hopped into a taxi.

"Driver, to the East Suburb, please!"

“That area's all construction sites. What's a young lady like you going there for?"

Mamie's expression turned serious, and she replied with emphasis, "To do something big."

Along the way, she received a call from Duke-

"Hey, Duke! What's up?"

"You've been so quiet lately! Dad's been missing you."

"I miss you too! Muah! Muah!"

After a couple of virtual kisses that. instantly cheered Duke up, he complained, "Miss me but

call?

Who are you trying to fortet belongs to en.kikistont

"Ah, I've just been so busy! Super, super busy!"

"What are you busy with? Can Duke get a little hint?"

"You'll find out soon enough!"

"Keeping secrets from me?"

"Hehe..."noveldrama

"Alright," Duke tried to suppress his bubbling curiosity, "just don't make me wait too long!"

Mamie checked the time, "Absolutely not! Oops, gotta go, almost there! Bye bye bye!" "Hey-wait, sweetie?!"

But she had already hung up.

Duke put down his phone, feeling a sudden pang of regret for letting his daughter go study up north.

Wouldn't it have been better to just study in a local college closer to home? Why the need to go so far away?

As he wallowed in his thoughts, a shout from downstairs snapped him out of it-

"Landlord! Are you home? The water pipe burst; we need it fixed ASAP!"

Just as Duke's emotions were beginning to settle, they were briskly interrupted. He leaned out the window, "Got it! I'm on it!"

While Lin and He were swamped with work, Roseanne was even busier.

Just handing over the smart system's permissions took an entire day.

Roseanne sat before a fingerprint scanner, and with each item Halley activated on the tablet, she pressed her finger down for authentication.

With a total of 926 permissions, she

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pressed down almost a thousand times, not including the times when the scans didn't register and had to be redone.

By the end, her fingers felt alien to her.

In the midst of all this, she also had to answer calls from equipment suppliers, sign for the international shipments of various lab

instruments, verify quantities and

prices, and handle the final

payments on the spot.

In essence, there was not a moment's rest.

Even drinking water was something she could only do when Halley reminded her.

After nearly a week of this frenzied pace, the lab was finally set up.

Everything was ready, all that was left was the grand opening!