The old residential area of Nandu Medical University, Academician Xiang's study.
In the dead of night, the eighty-three-year-old Academician Xiang was wide awake. The study was dimly lit, and the air was filled with the unique scent of old books and ink. He trembled as he held a magnifying glass, reading word by word a document about the "Breaking Wall" plan.
When he read about Yang Ping's team having to use "local methods" for expression and purification due to a shortage of imported specialty enzymes, and how the researchers' hands were stained from the culture medium, Academician Qin's hand trembled violently, and the magnifying glass almost slipped from his grasp. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, as if trying to inhale the bitterness and resilience of those long-gone years back into his lungs.
