Life at The Top novel Chapter 697

The following day, Jasper sat in his Bentley that he had greatly missed and arrived at the provincial Research Institute of Sciences.

While Southeast Province had contributed a lot to scientific research, the small run-down building before him revealed a very real issue.

The country was in dire need of economic development, so most of the money would go into construction or investment. Thus, it resulted in a grave decrease in investments in scientific research.

After instructing Julian to wait for him in the car, Jasper entered the run-down building that seemed to have three or four decades’ worth of history.

Following the address Dawson had given him, Jasper arrived outside an office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” A man’s raspy voice sounded from inside the office.

Jasper walked in and saw a man in his 50s wearing a white lab coat. He was tinkering with a chip behind his office desk.

What was supposed to be a clean lab coat was now dirty, and the man’s hair that looked like a bird’s nest greatly aged his appearance.

The man paid Jasper no attention once he entered. Instead, Jasper found him murmuring something as if he was trying to solve a hard problem—all while fiddling with the chip in his hand.

Jasper did not rush him, opting to wait patiently by the side.

Jasper took in the decor of the office. It was simple and very messy. Equipment could be found all over the place and most of them were rather old. It was evident that they had not been keeping up with the times.

The most eye-catching part of the room were the certificates and awards that covered the better half of the wall. Those were all testaments to the owner of this office’s success and glory.

After ten full minutes, the man looked up and saw Jasper. Only then did he put the chip down, speaking slightly apologetically, “Sorry, I can’t really stop when I’m researching. I totally forgot about you.”

Jasper smiled. “Don’t worry about it. You must be Professor Elbert McGee, I assume?”

Elbert replied, “I am. You must be the businessman the head introduced, Ja… Jas…”

“Jasper,” he introduced himself after seeing how Elbert had forgotten.

Elbert knocked his forehead with his palm and replied, “Ah, yes. Jasper.”

“How can I help you?” Elbert asked straightforwardly.

Jasper took a seat and spoke, “I’ve come to invite you to be my company’s chief technical expert, Professor McGee.”

Without thinking, Elbert shook his head. “No way. I just want to do my research in peace. I don’t want anything to do with businessmen like you.”

As far as Elbert was concerned, businessmen and people like him were completely different. Businessmen were willing to do anything for the sake of profits. His research that he had spent time and effort on would only become money-making tools once it fell in the hands of a businessman.

Conrad nodded extremely contentedly. “Well done. I spent a lot of money hiring you from overseas, and it seems I’ve made the right step.

“There’s one more thing you need to pay attention to.”

Conrad passed Valentine a document and spoke, “JW Electronics are manufacturing MP3 players as well, but they do not have the license to do so.”

Valentine was stunned. The country lacked awareness when it came to patents and copyrights, so it was very common to see pirated products. In all honesty, normal people did not actually care about such a thing. However, the fact that Conrad, the only person in the country with the license to manufacture the MP3 player, was raising the issue meant that there was more to this than Valentine thought.

“Do you wish for us to pick on them, Mr. Monty?” Valentine asked.

Conrad smiled faintly. “Pirating without patent rights is a very severe problem overseas, right, Valentine?”

Valentine nodded seriously. “It is. The moment such an incident is found overseas, it does not matter how many funds were involved, the company would surely be sued to the point of bankruptcy while the person in charge of the company would also have to face civil responsibilities. That’s why almost no one dares to do such a thing overseas.’

“Our country has a Patent Copyright Protection Act as well.” Conrad thrummed his fingers on the desk. “Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

Valentine’s eyes shone as he replied, “I understand. I’ll gather as much evidence as I can once I return and sue this JW Electronics. As long as you give me enough support, I can very well beat them in a court case.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll get as much support as you need.” Conrad waved him off. “Go wild!”