Chapter 20 20 Everyone wanted to win against him and spite her, which almost made her...
When Evan came out of Professor Brooke's office, he looked calm, except that the hem of his polo shirt was slightly wrinkled.
However, he would usually greet his secretary Jenna, but this time he didn't make eye contact with anyone and went straight back to his workstation.
Jenna decided to tease Cohen: "Evan's out. Guess what, did the professor scold him?"
Cohen quickly replied: 【Isn't there any?】
He figured Professor Brooke would definitely not like anyone playing these kinds of tricks under him; the deputy director of the MIRA Lab always prioritized efficiency and tasks.
Jenna pursed her lips. How could he be so naive and innocent? Are all these engineering guys a bit airheaded?
Professor Brooke certainly disliked Evan's underhanded tactics and had higher expectations and more regard for Ned. However, Evan was currently the only assist he could rely on.
He would only give Evan a slight nudge to see if Evan was out of his mind, and then continue to give Ned the cold shoulder.
Clearly, Professor Brooke's bottom line is that when Evan's postdoc term expires in a year, he can help him train a new first assistant.
He was certainly unhappy with Evan's hoarding of his secrets, feeling that Evan lacked vision and composure.
Evan's move showed that he understood his mentor's mindset and did not cross any lines.
Cohen's message came again: "[Are you coming tonight? I'm making pasta.]"
He attached a photo of his apartment, with a bottle of tequila on the dining table.
There are so many male PhD students in the lab, and he's the cute and outgoing type. Why not go on a casual date? [Note 1]
Jenna tidied up the documents and left work on time.
A month and a half passed quickly, and the assistant assessment for monkey brain surgery was approaching.
These past few days, the gossip in the break room has become increasingly lively.
"Have you heard? Ned has made significant progress. He's probably going to get that first assistant position in the first half of the monkey brain surgery."
"Yes, Raphael's face has been terribly gloomy lately."
Why didn't he go up last year?
"It is said that, just like this year, there are two candidates being evaluated. Last year, Jessie trained him and Evan, and Evan got the job."
"Did Evan give Ned some private coaching?"
"It doesn't seem like it. I haven't seen Ned and Evan together, and they've barely spoken to each other lately."
"Did Ned find someone else? That's impossible. It's said that no one is more experienced than Evan right now."
Shh, Evan's coming.
Evan leisurely poured himself a cup of coffee, even cheerfully greeting the research assistants (RAs), gazing out the window at the scenery, and slowly finished his coffee before leaving.
He was indeed in a good mood today, all his recent worries and anxieties gone. Because during lunch, as he walked behind Ned and Ada, he heard Ada say, "Stay and work tonight?"
A thought struck him. Ned was always self-disciplined, and with the assessment approaching, he was still staying up all night. This didn't make sense, unless they were doing something secretly.
He checked the server usage in the afternoon and indeed found something amiss.
In recent weeks, Ada's account has been receiving 1-2 strange nighttime computation tasks per week, with descriptions mostly consisting of general motion segmentation or motion-tracking of human behavior.
Most importantly, there was no clear project number or specific task name. It's obvious she was secretly using the server to run freelance work.
He had also heard that some cutting-edge algorithms in visual computing could perform motion analysis.
No wonder he didn't teach Professor Brooke's surgical habits much, yet Ned made rapid progress; Ada must have been using motion algorithms to help him summarize.
Tonight, they'll be running algorithms again. He sneered. Hmph, since they dare to operate in the gray area, don't blame him for catching them red-handed.
He wasn't targeting them; he just wanted two more opportunities to assist with monkey brain surgery before looking for a job.
The job market is too brutal; every line on your resume is invaluable.
Ned is only in fourth grade. He will definitely be able to stand out in fifth or sixth grade. Why rush to go on stage now and compete with him for the opportunity?
Even after Evan left, the gossip in the break room continued, but the research assistants dared not discuss him anymore and changed the subject.
"To be honest, Ned is really enviable."
"His family must be well-off, right? He lives alone in an apartment in Mount Vernon, where rent must be high."
"Yes, his family is in New York, and I heard his father is also a doctor."
"With such steady hands, to be able to compete for first assistant coach in fourth grade, that must be quite rare these days, right?"
"He doesn't live alone. Ada moved there a long time ago."
"I don't think we've officially moved, but it seems like we only go back occasionally to pick up some things."
"Honestly, is Ned completely infatuated with her? Why is he even helping her with this sEMG project?"
"I've seen her do experiments; she doesn't even know how to attach electrodes, she relies entirely on RA."
"I heard from them that Ned did everything for her last semester."
"Yes, yes, I originally thought he was a bit aloof, but I didn't expect him to be so doting on his girlfriend."
"Don't be too sour. The Ada algorithm is really powerful. The computer science department said she had a paper at a top conference last year."
"It's just a top-tier conference, not a top-tier journal." [Note 2]
Cohen and Jenna went to get coffee and overheard some gossip.
They had planned to sit for a while, but after glancing at the suddenly quiet research assistants, they simply went back to their workstations.
Tonight, Xu Aida is indeed planning to stay in the lab to run video analysis data. This will be their last night running data.
With two weeks until the assessment and three weeks until the actual surgery, Liang Siyu will have to strictly adhere to her pre-operative schedule.
In the past month and a half, apart from collecting data from the sEMG project, Xu Aida has devoted almost all his free time to improving this motion trajectory algorithm.
She gradually mastered the functions of occlusion tracking, similar device recognition, and multi-case comparison.
They also extracted fragments of other monkey brain surgeries performed by Professor Brooke, and the results of clustering and motion trajectory statistics became increasingly rich.
Liang Siyu is also using this algorithm to repeatedly compare his own operations.
In the past, he could only rely on his subjective feelings to recall and correct mistakes, but now, with video trajectory-based visualization analysis, he can clearly identify the delays in each coordination, the deviation of the suction angle, and even the slight breaks in the rhythm during the operation.
This quantitative feedback allows "deliberate practice" to truly take root. Compared to the past method of repeatedly practicing based on vague impressions, his training efficiency and focus have now made a qualitative leap.
At 10 p.m., when the lab was almost empty, they submitted the analysis task again.
Evan didn't leave work today, but he turned off the lights in his office and kept refreshing the server task management interface—sure enough, it was time. He stared at the progress bar, eagerly waiting for it to finish.
Liang Siyu and Xu Aida are also waiting for the progress bar to load.
He held her on his lap, bent over, and rested his chin on her shoulder. He was a little sleepy, but didn't dare drink too much coffee, only taking a couple of sips from her cup.
Ding! The progress bar has reached 100%. She skillfully downloaded and organized the output results, then turned her head and nudged him: "Let's go back early after we finish watching."
The access control system beeped.
Who would come back so late?
Xu Aida looked up, holding her coffee, and quickly got up from Liang Siyu's arms. She was too embarrassed to be seen being so intimate in the lab.
It was Evan who walked in!
Just as she was stunned and surprised, he rushed in with his phone in hand, quickly got to their side, and snapped a picture of the computer screen using the burst mode.
By the time Xu Aida stepped aside and Liang Siyu stood up, the other party had already put away his phone and distanced himself.
Evan gave a cold laugh: "Ned, is this your secret weapon? You dare to do video analysis without authorization?"
However, he also knew that their analysis results would not be shown to anyone else, which was not a serious matter. Professor Brooke would at most be a little unhappy and give Ned a verbal reprimand.
He turned to Xu Aida: "Ada, I don't know how free you are at Berkeley, but using the lab's computing power for large-scale analysis without permission is a clear violation of our regulations in MIRA LAB."
This was the most dangerous thing they had done. In the afternoon, he retrieved Ada's nighttime task records from the past month and a half. The total computing power used far exceeded that of ordinary temporary calls, and could not be excused as an "occasional experiment".
She'll probably have to write a written apology. It's even possible that Professor Brooke, who was already unhappy about her taking Ned to work on non-invasive electrodes, might publicly criticize her within the MIRA Lab.
Xu Aida scoffed: "You think I care? By the way, you just took unauthorized photos of my computer screen. I advise you to delete those photos. Who knows if you're trying to steal my algorithm?"
Evan had already retreated to the doorway: "Gentlemen, calm down, be friendly, okay? Otherwise, you'll have to consider explaining this to Professor Brooke."
He glanced at Liang Siyu, who was about to step forward, and reminded him, "Ned, the corridor is a monitored area. Don't be impulsive. You have a bright future ahead of you, why can't you be a little more patient? For example, wait until October?"
Actually, he didn't intend to send these photos to Professor Brooke, but he wanted to find something to use against them so he could talk to Ned about how young people should learn to respect their seniors, and that October was the right time for him to step in.
Liang Siyu looked at Evan with mixed feelings. His hands were trembling slightly, his nose was sweating, and his neck was red. He was obviously very nervous, unlike the calm and composed person he appeared to be.
He sighed: "Evan, you don't even have the confidence to compete fairly with me? That's not like you."
Evan's eyes were red. Medical school tuition was expensive. Actually, everyone's family was quite well-off, but how could someone like Ned, who could go back and inherit the family business, understand how hard others had to work?
"What do you know? Do you know what it's like to be interrogated in every round of interviews? Do you know that feeling of being picked over and questioned? You have no idea how important this opportunity is to us!"
He took a breath to calm himself down, then checked his phone in his pocket before opening the door.
"I'll wait for your message by tomorrow night. I believe you're a smart person and wouldn't want anything to end up in Professor Brooke's inbox, right?"
He raised an eyebrow, his eyes sharp. "Especially since those tasks are all listed under Ada's name on the server resource usage logs—are you sure you want her to be publicly criticized and embarrassed in front of everyone at MIRA Lab?"
If Ned did this all by himself, given his personality, he would rather confess to Professor Brook than accept his threats.
But when it comes to Ada, would Ned dare to confess and seek leniency? Professor Brooke's attitude towards Ada was clearly not so forgiving.
As he expected, Ned's face suddenly darkened, and his fists clenched tightly. However, Ada remained calm and unmoved—this girl was really steady and difficult to deal with.
Evan glanced at them warily, making sure they didn't dare to stop him, and quickly left down the corridor.
Liang Siyu slowly exhaled, but he couldn't suppress the anger and trembling in his chest.
It wasn't just because of Evan, it was because I was angry with myself for almost hurting her.
He turned his head and saw her tidying up the computer cables, looking calm as if nothing had happened.
He walked over and pulled her into his arms, his fingers gripping her back tightly, as if he wanted to meld her into his own body.
She patted him on the back: "Ned, he's nothing but a clown."
Liang Siyu sighed. He had heard that sentence: "You think I care?"
She was truly steadfast and self-consistent; as long as she believed she was doing the right thing, she didn't care what others thought. However, he wasn't so open-minded; he couldn't stand people gossiping about her and pointing fingers at her.
He always thought he wasn't the competitive type. He wasn't born lacking anything; his family wasn't wealthy, but it was enough for him to freely choose his path in life. Whether it was playing sports, pursuing high GPAs, or doing scientific research, he always managed to stand out from the crowd.
He felt that he simply had basic self-esteem and wanted to meet his internal standards.
But just now, he suddenly realized that he was wrong.
He wasn't indifferent to winning or losing at all—he had never truly lost, never really failed, and no one had ever threatened her to his face in such a cold and malicious tone.
At that moment, for the first time, he truly wanted to win, and even felt an uncontrollable urge to punch someone.
He needed to become strong enough. Not for himself, but for her. So that no one could ever say those things to her in front of him again.
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Author's Note: [Note 1] Since MIRA is a center for interdisciplinary research, Jenna, as Professor David Brooke's secretary, is generally safe from school policy as long as she doesn't date medical students.
Cohen is a PhD candidate in biomedical materials and is administratively under the School of Engineering. There is no power relationship between him and Jenna, and their dating does not present any significant ethical issues.
[Note 2] In the field of computer science, knowledge is updated rapidly, so people place more emphasis on publishing papers in top conferences. However, in traditional disciplines such as medicine, people place more emphasis on publishing in top journals. Even in interdisciplinary fields, people from different fields sometimes still have their own domain biases.
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