Chapter 10: Changing Face
On the other side, Victor took Lina's notebook and Kaya's thesis back to the laboratory.
Although the night is getting darker, scientists have never been creatures of day and night.
When Victor came back, most of the members of their Hextech Applied Machinery Research Group were still there, including Jace.
"What, Victor?"
"Do you want to get another spot in our research group for that classmate Lina?"
Victor made his intention clear right away. This confused Jace: "Why?"
"Haven't we already confirmed the results of the assessment? The one who was selected is Kaya. Having one student like this is enough for our research group, why do we need to recruit another one?"
Although Lina's performance can be described as genius, that is only in comparison with her peers.
In the eyes of a true genius like Jace, both Lina and Kaya are just juniors with decent qualifications and some training value.
It wouldn't be a big deal if there was one less student of this level, but having more would be a problem.
The professors in the research group are all big names who focus on scientific research. They are usually too lazy to even supervise their own graduate students, so how can they have the energy to supervise a newbie in the research group?
"Victor, our research group's main work is, after all, cutting-edge scientific research, not teaching."
"If we recruit one more student, I'm afraid it will affect our research progress."
Victor: “… ”
In fact, he really wanted to say, "If you attend fewer social events, our research progress will improve."
But he thought for a moment and said :
"I just think that the judgment we made before was a little biased."
"Jace, you should also know that it is actually difficult to distinguish the quality of Lina's and Kaya's paper designs. Isn't it disrespectful to scientific truth that we just hastily decide one of them as the winner?"
"This..." Jace was really persuaded.
Because he had previously felt that it was difficult to tell the winner between Lina and Kaya's papers.
In the end, because there was only one spot and one had to be chosen, the balance in his heart unconsciously tilted towards Kaya and eliminated Lina.
Now that Viktor has brought out the "scientific truth", Jayce has to re-examine his decision and wonder whether he has failed to make a fair scientific judgment.
"Well...Victor, the problem you pointed out does exist. The judgment I made at that time was indeed a bit forced."
"But our research group is where we do research after all. Whether or not to recruit another student is not something I can decide on my own."
"Well, since you brought Lina and Kaya's paper outlines..." Jace hesitated for a moment and finally made a decision: "Let everyone in the research group take a look at their paper designs. Then we will vote on it."
"If everyone thinks that it's really hard to tell who's better between Lina and Kaya, then for the sake of fairness , we'll create an extra spot for her."
"No problem." Victor nodded in agreement.
Whenever there are differences of opinion during research, members of their research group often resolve them by voting.
He brought Lina's notebook this time because he thought of the current situation.
So under the leadership of Jayce and Viktor, everyone in the research group gathered around.
There were 11 people present in total.
They gathered around a large desk, waiting to review Lina and Kaya's thesis designs with curiosity, impatience, or indifference.
And Lina's notebook was finally opened.
But when Jace, Victor and others opened the notebook, their brows knitted together:
"Zuan, where did it come from?"
They didn’t notice when they were reviewing it before: Why is there another article at the front of this notebook?
Or a history paper?
"It should be Lina's extracurricular excerpts."
"An article about Zaun's history? That's quite rare..."
No one paid much attention to it, but they just glanced at it casually, and then...
No one was thinking about the paper anymore, everyone was just reading the articles.
"How could the author describe the history before the founding of ancient Shurima so clearly?"
The first thing that attracted people was the ancient historical materials that Levi heard from Janna.
These historical materials have long been forgotten in the long river of time, and even the historians of Piltover are unable to restore them.
So everyone was naturally attracted by this "historical science article" with detailed content and fresh subject matter.
But watching...
But they gradually discovered the extraordinary nature of this article.
It is far more than just a popular science article.
The royal secrets of ancient Shurima, the Darkin War, the Rune Wars, the heroic legends of Demacia and Noxus, which are talked about by Piltover historians with great relish... this article barely touches on them all.
The article shifts the perspective away from kings, princes, generals and ministers, and focuses on the development and changes of people's lives, social systems, national laws, agriculture and industry... productivity and production relations over thousands of years, which no one has ever noticed before.
“Productive forces, production relations…”
"Excellent, such a brilliant summary!"
Everyone present applauded and praised it.
Because they are all scientists, they all believe that they can change the world with scientific creations.
But Runeland has always been ruled by magic and force for thousands of years. Even with the advent of Hextech, the situation where mages and warriors dominate the world remains unshakable.
Levi's article clearly and explicitly reveals how scientific creations have shaped human society and influenced historical changes over the past thousands of years.
No matter how powerful the mages and warriors are, they are only as powerful as individuals. They have made almost no contribution to the progress of human civilization.
The efforts and achievements of these scientists are the real driving force behind the development of the times and the progress of civilization !
These theories naturally excite scientists.
They suddenly realized that their current work was not just about making scientific inventions, but also about leading human civilization into a new era.
"Interpreting history with scientific methods..."
“This author is simply a genius!”
The scientists were all excited.
Even Jace and Viktor couldn't help but watch with fascination.
Then, they couldn't help but continue reading.
The historical context of the article gradually goes back to the past 1,000 years, to the collapse of the kingdom system, the birth of the merchant council city-state, and the split between Zaun and Piltover...
Especially the rise of the Piltover merchant group and the bloody colonial history they started.
As they watched, everyone's expressions gradually changed.
"This article..."
Victor watched most intently.
Every word of that article was like an unforgettable spell, constantly lingering in Victor's eyes and heart.
Victor was born in Zaun. Due to the serious alchemical pollution in Zaun, he was born with a weak body and disabilities in his legs and feet.
He once hated, hated Zuan, hated himself.
He didn't know why he was suffering and could only blame it all on his weak body.
It’s all because of his weak flesh and blood, and because he was born unlucky!
But now, with the appearance of this article...
It was as if a door to a new world had suddenly opened before him.
This earth-shaking feeling of subversion was just like the first time he came into contact with Hextech theory... no, it was even more shocking than that time.
"This article..."
Victor choked up and was speechless.
“This article is so malicious!!”
His colleagues all had subtle expressions.
Some even slammed the table in anger:
"Fabricating, distorting history, slandering Piltover, inciting hatred—"
"This is simply the devil's writing!!"