If you want to set up a lab to research and develop so many projects, going solo just won't cut it. Even Sophia knows how crucial it is to recruit the right people. So first, she tasked the four team leaders—Adam among them—with hiring the staff they needed. Then she hit the road herself, scouring the globe for talent.
Recruiting for a lab takes ages, especially since the top-tier talents are basically national treasures—you can't poach them overnight. As for regular folks, well, they'd just eat up resources and slow Sophia down, so Adam was mentally prepared for a long stretch with nobody useful around.
But Sophia’s efficiency? Seriously, it’s next level.
Just ten days later, Sophia brought home a beanpole and introduced him to the Zade Family Head. In the memory vision, this beanpole wore thick glasses and had a clumsy, awkward vibe—like a shut-in with social anxiety who’d never heard of the outside world.
“Adam, this is Stephen Evenson, my new assistant.” After a quick intro, Sophia started handing out tasks to her fresh recruit: “Go join the third team and work on basic math theory. When you have time, check out the second team, see if there’s anything you can help with.”
“Okay.” The beanpole replied nervously, then jumped right into work.
“Wait, who is this guy?” Adam had figured Sophia was clueless about people and would leave all the recruiting to him. He never expected Sophia to actually bring someone in—let alone a guy! Besides the surprise, Adam felt a weird, unexplainable sense of rivalry. “Where’d you find this dude? Is he even up to the job?”
“I stopped by the International Mathematicians Conference and just dragged him back. As for whether he’s up to it…” Sophia tapped her chin, thinking. “He’ll do—for now.”
Hold up—International Mathematicians Conference? This beanpole’s that young and already attending such a high-level event? And if Sophia says he’s “good enough for now,” does that mean this socially awkward recluse is actually a math genius?
Honestly, someone like that should be considered a strategic asset—wherever he goes, he ought to be treated like royalty. Take a look at the beanpole now—Adam glanced over and was instantly stunned. The Tiberius Laboratory was still a dusty construction site, so the beanpole just plopped down anywhere, notebook in hand, scribbling away. Even when dust blew into his face, he’d just wipe it off and keep working, totally unfazed.
Is he really this tough and dedicated, all fired up like a revolutionary?
No way, not possible. Even American grunts need their Coke and barbecue on the battlefield, let alone pampered scientists. After Adam finished ranting in his head, he realized something: in Stephen’s crazy focus and obsession, there was a subtle... indescribable... maybe—like he’d been scared straight.
Maybe this awkwardness and quiet isn’t his real personality—he’s just acting all obedient because he’s been traumatized.
Of course, nobody’s actually going to rough up a math prodigy, so...
“Sophia,” Adam whispered, “seriously, why’d he come back with you?”
“Oh, that? Just a coincidence,” Sophia replied calmly, not seeing anything special about it. “I happened to run into him, gave him a few pointers, and he just tagged along.”
Auntie made it sound easy, but Spirit Yangqi couldn’t help but snark from the sidelines.
According to Stephen Evenson himself, his first meeting with Susan Soo was nothing short of a thrill ride.
Back then, Stephen was a rising star in the math world—young and famous. Genius in science, but a bit of a character: in short, way too cocky. He’d talk big, challenge anyone and everyone, and his trash talk had no filter. But since he was so good, he kept beating everyone and figured he was untouchable.
But at that International Mathematicians Conference, he hit a wall like never before.
First, he ran into Teacher Yang’s shishu and lost by a hair. That stung his pride a bit, but it wasn’t a big deal—just a minor setback. If he’d taken it as a lesson that there’s always someone better, maybe he’d have become humble, worked harder, and made a name for himself in the math world.
But his real mistake came when he started mouthing off to Susan Soo.
“What do women know about math? Go home and have babies!” The toxic winds of academia whipped Stephen’s coat as he, annoyed from his earlier loss, let his mouth run wild. But when you’re digging your own grave, you never realize how deep it is. Next thing you know, Susan Soo challenged him to a ‘friendly’ match.
Which is to say, she showed him just how weak, clueless, shallow, and dumb he really was!
If losing to Chen Shishu taught him there are always bigger fish, Susan Soo’s ‘lesson’ made him doubt reality itself—like one plus one no longer equals two. After Susan pinned him down and schooled him from every angle, all his arrogance was wiped out. He was left wondering, Who am I? Where am I? Why am I lying on the ground? What even is math? His mind was a total mess.
So, the once-arrogant rising star of math wilted into a socially anxious beanpole, and Susan Soo scooped him up like discarded junk.
Just like that, Sophia became the ultimate boss in his eyes, and he was her very first recruit. From then on, if Sophia said go east, he wouldn’t dare go west; if she said climb a tree, he wouldn’t even chase a chicken.
This future deputy of Tiberius Laboratory, in the spring of 1981, was so crushed he didn’t know if he was a man or a pig. Even when construction dust caked his face, he just wiped it off and kept grinding away in the scientific trenches, desperately trying to find some shred of self-worth.
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“If I can’t do math, what’s the point of living… If I can’t do math, what’s the point of living…” The beanpole kept muttering, looking totally deranged.
But honestly, the whole Tiberius Laboratory started with this beanpole, slowly pieced together bit by bit until it really took off.
Back then, sixteen-year-old Stephen was a total teenage edgelord—but also a total genius. And his keeper, Sophia, was the ultimate science boss. The two of them were obsessed with the Keystone Team’s pure math puzzles, geeking out in a dusty shed by the construction site. Sometimes, they’d chill out with some Cybertron Team tech just for fun.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
Unlike the other teams that had just two part-timers, the Manchester Team was stacked. After all the top recruits joined forces for intense study sessions, Manchester finally cracked the tech Sophia had handed over a month ago.
At the time, Parker Peterson—then deputy leader of Manchester—rushed up to Adam Zade, not even waiting for Adam to finish washing up before blurting out, “This data could make us rich! We’ve studied it in detail and found over thirty products and projects in there—each one world-leading, each one a gold mine!”
“That’s to be expected.” Adam was totally chill, patting moisturizer onto his face in the mirror. “But we’ve got to be careful about which projects we launch. We don’t have the resources—or the need—to roll out everything at once. The market has its own rules. Pick one for the debut, but the first product from Tiberius Laboratory—from me, Adam Zade—has to be a smash hit.”
“I’ve already got the best idea—high-interaction-rate optical communication network!” Parker Peterson, still in his thirties and full of youthful ambition, had a sharp, determined look. “Switch up the materials, cut costs, throttle the speed down to just one five-hundredth of the design rate—it’ll still blow current networks out of the water. I bet the Ivy League and the Pentagon will be all over it.”
“The Pentagon?” Adam nodded, unreadable. “Good. Weapons are one of the most lucrative businesses. If we can connect with the Pentagon this time, I want my arms sold worldwide in the future.”
“Leader! Deputy!” A young researcher burst in, totally ignoring formalities, waving a stack of papers. “We just got new files from the Cybertron Team—a new processor design. Compared to current chips, it’s like a rocket ship! If this thing comes out, it’ll change the entire world!”
This young researcher, Morsey, was recruited by Adam straight out of college. He’s talented but way too impulsive—his head’s full of naive ideas. Still needs some seasoning. Adam didn’t even look at him, just grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste, and asked coolly, “How much of a boost?”
With Sophia’s skills and that blueprint she sketched earlier, a boost of hundreds or thousands of times is nothing.
“It’s a five million eight hundred thousand times speedup!”
Pfft—an entire tube of toothpaste squirted out, dripping cartoonishly off the toothbrush.
“Cough, cough, cough!” Parker Peterson started hacking like he’d suddenly come down with asthma.