Meg pursed her lips, a hint of frustration in her voice. "What are we going to do? The deadline is at the end of November."


    Calvin thought for a moment before responding, "I''ll arrange for Mr. Zane to help you out when the timees."


    "Won''t that be a bit awkward? He''s our mentor, after all," Meg replied quietly, feeling uneasy about a mentor stepping in so directly.


    Calvin waved her concerns away as he walked towards Lab 3 and punched in the code. "There''s nothing wrong with it. In academic research, the lines between mentor and student are pretty blurred."


    Hearing this, Meg didn''t argue further. Zane was the only one in the Informatics Department who could really help, and she didn''t want to miss this chance.


    **


    Mirabe only had two sses that afternoon. Once they wrapped up, she headed straight to Zane''s office.


    Zane pulled a brown paper envelope from his drawer and handed it to her. "Take these home and look them over. When you''re done, bring them back. Although these topics are from seven or eight years ago, some of the content is still pretty confidential, so please keep it to yourself."


    Mirabe nodded as she took the envelope. "I understand."


    "Good."


    Although she was just a freshman, Zane''s first impression of Mirabe was positive. She didn''t seem frivolous or deceitful, so he feltfortable sharing the materials with her.


    "Take a good look. You might find something inspiring, and who knows, maybe you''ll surprise your teacher," Zane joked.


    Mirabe''s eyebrows lifted slightly as she nodded. A little surprise might be possible, but she was more focused on reaching the pinnacle of her career. Of course, she wouldn''t say something so bold in front of Zane.


    Just then, there was a knock at the door. Zane''s smile faded as he looked up to see Mr. Calvin. Remembering their midday discussion, he said to Mirabe, "You can go now."


    "Alright." Mirabe nodded and walked out, the brown paper envelope in hand.


    As she passed Calvin, she gave him a brief nod before leaving.


    Calvin''s eyes followed the envelope in her hand, noting its faded appearance. It seemed simr to the one Zane had earlier.


    "Sorry for the dy, Mr. Calvin," Zane said as he approached.


    Calvin''s thoughts were interrupted, and he shook his head. "No problem. Let''s talk in my office."


    "Sure."


    Soon, Zane followed Calvin to his office. Calvin went to the water dispenser, poured a ss of water for Zane, and ced it on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch. After a moment, he began, "Here''s the thing. My student, Meg, whom you saw earlier, has a paper on gic genomics that she wants to submit to an international biochemistry journal. She needs your department''s help with some dataparison experiments."


    Zane was a bit surprised to hear this. He knew Meg had formed an experimental team with her


    ssmates during her freshmann et


    year and had already published two papers in domestic academic journals. She was a highly talented stúdent and Calvin''s star pupil.


    "Alright, I''ll have Linden from our department take care of it," Zane agreed without much hesitation.


    Their department didn''t get ma


    opportunities for experimental work, so coborating with other departments was good practice.


    Calvin coughed slightly. "This experiment is quite important. Let''s not have Linden


    handle it."