Chapter 205: Chapter 143: Because There Was No Second Seed Before

Despicable.

Lin Ziyin’s face flushed as she retorted defensively:

"I... I thought this seed was really rare. What if I gave it to the other group members and they lost it?! If the research subject is gone, what’s there to study?

I was doing this for the good of the whole group! Besides, I’m the group leader. There’s nothing wrong with me keeping the seed for safekeeping, right?!"

"Whatever you say," Wen Miaomiao said, too disdainful to argue.

Lin Ziyin was secretly annoyed but couldn’t be bothered to bicker with Wen Miaomiao either.

She held the black seed out to Shu Yao, her tone challenging. "Weren’t you going to open the seed? I have one right here. Go on, open it!"

Shu Yao didn’t take it. Instead, she looked at Li Hancheng.

Li Hancheng got the hint and immediately said, "Wait a moment! Our group’s seed is with our leader. I’ll have him send it over right now!"

Although he didn’t really believe Shu Yao could open the seed, he figured there was no harm in trying.

Li Hancheng immediately contacted his group leader, sent his location, and asked him to have the seed delivered by courier, adding that it was urgent.

In less than ten minutes, a courier robot delivered the seed to the Shu’s house.

Just as Li Hancheng got the seed in his hands, his group leader—who had just received the delivery confirmation—called to say he had gathered the other members to watch the seed-opening process together.

Li Hancheng winced.

Through the video call, the group leader noticed his expression. "Is something wrong? Is it not a good time?"

Li Hancheng stammered a little but was still honest. "To be honest... I don’t really believe it’ll work... After all, we’ve tried so many methods and failed to open this seed. I was just operating on a whim when I decided to let my cousin’s friend help."

The group leader was understanding. "It’s fine. If your cousin’s friend has a method we haven’t tried before, it could still be helpful for our research. I’m not entirely satisfied with our paper anyway and was thinking of adding some new content."

After considering this, Li Hancheng realized his leader had a point and couldn’t help but nod.

"Okay, you contact the other members first. I’ll go talk to my cousin’s friend."

The two went their separate ways.

Li Hancheng went to find Shu Yao at the tea party.

"Um... Sister Yao..." the young man said shyly.

"Stop calling her ’sister’ all the time," Wen Miaomiao corrected him. "She might not even be older than you."

Li Hancheng stared at Shu Yao for a moment.

He also found it strange how "Sister Yao" had slipped out so naturally when addressing someone he barely knew.

’Maybe it’s because Shu Yao just has that "big sister" aura about her.’

"Did you get the seed?" Shu Yao asked.

Li Hancheng nodded, his face red. He scratched his hair, looking embarrassed. "It’s just that... the other members of my group... they also want to see how you open the seed."

Shu Yao was surprised. "You invited all of them over?"

"No, no!" Li Hancheng said hurriedly. "It’s just, while you’re opening the seed, could I start a group video call with my members on the side?"

"Oh, that’s fine." Shu Yao stood up and motioned for him to follow. "Come with me."

Li Hancheng followed her to the living room.

It was much quieter than outside.

Out of curiosity, Wen Miaomiao tagged along.

And Lin Ziyin as well.

Li Hancheng started the video call with his other group members.

As the only one present on-site, he handed their group’s black seed to Shu Yao under the watchful eyes of the other nine members on the call.

After taking the seed, Shu Yao didn’t rush to open it.

"I’ve read your paper. The title is ’A Conjecture on a Certain Seed.’ It’s quite interesting."

The group members looked bewildered.

The group leader was furious. "Li Hancheng, how could you! Don’t you realize that by leaking our paper, the hard work all ten of us poured in for over half a year could all be for nothing!"

Li Hancheng explained frantically, "Leader, it wasn’t me... It was my cousin! My cousin did it without my permission!"

"You must be the leader," Shu Yao said, looking at Song Xiaoxing, the leader of Li Hancheng’s group. "The point you proposed is interesting, but it’s incorrect."

Song Xiaoxing’s face fell, but his tone remained humble. "I always felt something wasn’t quite right, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. If you have a different perspective, please, refute me."

His conjecture about the seed focused on its outer shell. For over half a year, he had searched through a lot of literature and conducted numerous related studies, concluding that the seed’s hard shell was most likely a type of fossil.

The seed was encased within the fossil.

Shu Yao said, "I don’t know if you’ve noticed whether the seeds from the other groups are any different."

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