At six o'clock in the morning, my phone vibrated.

Nana opened her eyes immediately. The screen lit up, and an encrypted email automatically unfolded. She glanced at the contents and turned to look at Chen Hao, who was yawning on the other side of the room.

“They granted me the permissions,” she said.

"Huh?" Chen Hao, still chewing on half a biscuit, asked, "Who? What's going on?"

“Research Institute.” Nana brought up the projector, and a long list of equipment names floated in the air: “Quantum entanglement array, ecological simulation cabin, three-level data direct connection channel… all are open in advance.”

Carl jumped up from the sofa, nearly knocking over the coffee table: "Really? We haven't even had a meeting yet!"

“It’s true.” Nana tapped the end of the list. “It also includes instructions for use and access to the reservation system.”

Susan leaned closer to look, swiping her finger a few times: "This access level... is two levels higher than that of a regular researcher."

"So we're not newbies?" Carl grinned.

“You are,” Chen Hao said, a biscuit dangling from his mouth, “but people might think you have a powerful mentor behind you.”

At 9:00 AM sharp, a black commuter car stopped downstairs.

As the car door opened, Chen Hao hesitated, wondering whether to take the half-empty bottle of soda. Finally, he put it down, brushing the crumbs off his pants: "Don't let people think we're from the countryside."

The car didn't enter the main building, but instead turned directly into a dedicated passageway on the east side of the complex. The metal doors opened automatically, revealing an interior corridor so clean it gleamed.

The receptionist was a young woman who spoke fluently: "Please follow me, all four of you. Professor Li is already waiting."

They were led to a spacious research lab. A dynamic progress screen hung on the wall, and four identity cards were placed on the table, next to each with their respective device binding instructions. The air conditioner was blowing a gentle breeze, and there was a faint smell of disinfectant in the air.

An elderly man in a white coat was standing by the window. Hearing the noise, he turned around.

“You’ve arrived,” he said. “I am Li Zhenhua.”

Chen Hao was taken aback. This was the professor who had publicly questioned the accuracy of their data at the press conference.

"You still dare to see us?" he blurted out.

Li Zhenhua smiled and said, "I've survived to this day by questioning. But now, your data has saved us for three months. I not only want to meet you, but I also want to be your guide."

"His attitude changed pretty quickly," Chen Hao muttered.

“Science doesn’t care about saving face.” Li Zhenhua walked to the control panel. “It’s all about results. Your results are convincing, so I’m your mentor now.”

"What's the purpose of a mentor?" Carl asked.

"I'll help you avoid some detours," Li Zhenhua said. "For example, how do you plan to calibrate the initial parameters for cross-dimensional energy transfer? Just try it out?"

"Otherwise what?" Chen Hao shrugged.

"Seventy years ago, someone did this and blew up half of the experimental site." Li Zhenhua pulled up a record, "I'm here to tell you which road has landmines buried underneath."

Chen Hao didn't say anything more. At least this person didn't pretend to flatter them, but directly presented the facts.

At 11 a.m., the team began to familiarize themselves with the equipment.

Carl was the first to rush to the gravity field generator and input a set of custom parameters. The alarm immediately went off and the red light flashed.

"Insufficient permissions?" His expression changed. "Did they just give me an empty shell?"

Nana accessed the backend and checked the logs: "The security protocol is locked by default and requires manual authorization. This is not specific to us; it applies to all new devices."

She contacted technical support, and less than five minutes later, a system notification sounded: "User group permissions have been updated, and advanced operations can be performed."

The other party added a message: "Sorry, we forgot you're not ordinary newbies. We'll unlock it earlier next time."

Carl breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and smiled at Chen Hao: "Looks like we've really gained some influence."

Li Zhenhua didn't leave during lunchtime.

He sat at a small table in the corner, eating his boxed lunch while reviewing their draft experimental plan. After finishing, he walked over and pointed to one line: "This sampling frequency is too high; the equipment can't handle continuous operation."

“We’ve always done it this way,” Chen Hao said.

"Because the machines you used before were almost falling apart," Li Zhenhua said. "The new ones don't need to be cheap. If there's a problem, they'll be fixed within two hours, and if they break down three times, we'll replace them with new ones."

Susan looked up: "No one has ever treated a research team like this."

“That’s because you hadn’t reached this floor yet,” Li Zhenhua said. “Now you’ve arrived.”

At 2 p.m., Li Zhenhua took them to the equipment warehouse.

The moment Karl pushed open the door, his mouth dropped open. The entire floor was filled with numbered instrument cabinets, each one with a name that could be found in old documents, but previously they could only see pictures on a screen.

“These can all be booked in advance,” Li Zhenhua said. “They are given priority over projects at level B and above.”

"Why?" Chen Hao asked, "Just because we sent out a report?"

"Because you solved a problem that had been stuck for others for five years," Li Zhenhua said. "Resources always flow to where they can be produced. This is the law, not a gift."

On the way back to the research lab, Chen Hao remained silent.

He didn't realize it until Nana pointed out that the ID card he was holding was about to break.

“I’m just not used to it,” he said. “Before, you had to fill out an application form and get someone to sign it just to borrow an oscilloscope. Now, people are afraid we won’t use it.”

At 7 p.m., the team held its first internal coordination meeting.

In the middle of the table were four shift schedules, three equipment manuals, and a pile of printed reference materials. Nana compiled a list of all available resources and projected it onto the wall.

“We have a three-month grace period,” she said. “We can do small-scale testing first to validate the basic model.”

“There’s no need to rush this time,” Susan said. “We can take our time.”

“But I’m afraid I won’t be able to slow down.” Chen Hao stared at the screen. “The thought of so many things waiting to be used makes me want to try them out as soon as possible.”

Carl raised his hand: "I've already adjusted the parameters. Can we test it tomorrow?"

"Yes," Nana said. "The simulator reservation is successful, and the time slot is 10:00 AM."

"Great!" Karl exclaimed excitedly, and immediately increased the feedback sensitivity of the simulator.

The system immediately triggered an alarm, the screen went black for a moment, and then returned to normal.

"Did I mess up again?" He shrank back.

Li Zhenhua happened to be passing by, came in, glanced at the log, and said, "It's nothing. This equipment was designed with novice users' mistakes in mind. Low cost of error is what gives young people a chance."

He turned and left, leaving behind a sentence that lingered in his mind: "If it were any other team, this machine would never be opened."

At 11 p.m., the laboratory lights were still on.

Susan was organizing the first batch of literature, Nana was synchronizing with the database, and Carl was squatting next to the simulation chamber writing fault logs. Chen Hao sat at the control panel and typed the first line of the official experimental log.

It was completely dark outside, and the hallway was quiet.

He stopped what he was doing and glanced at the ID card on the table. The light shone on it, reflecting the light.

“I always felt like I was just using their Wi-Fi without permission,” he suddenly said. “But now it seems… I actually got the key.”

No one responded.

But the sound of keyboards continued, and page after page of data was entered into the system.

The progress screen on the wall flickered and displayed "[Project Preparation Phase: 17% Complete]".

Chen Hao took a sip of the now-cold tea and reached out to press the start button for a test program.

Nana suddenly spoke as soon as her finger touched the button.

“The research institute just sent me a message,” she said. “The meeting originally scheduled for tomorrow morning has been moved up by two hours.”