Otto Octavius, a dedicated research scholar specialized in nuclear physics, although not top in the world, was still considered a leading figure in the field. Despite being unmarried and childless at middle age, he still faced significant pressures.
Even though Otto was a native New Yorker, the place of his birth was a long way from New York City. His family couldn't be described as well-off, but rather impoverished. His father was the only one working and was an alcoholic who occasionally abused him. The family's financial situation was as grim as predictable.
Otto was exceptionally gifted in academia and had managed to get into the best schools for physics through his abilities to solve problems. After graduation, his research pathway was smooth-sailing. With the publication of several papers, he reached a pivotal point and became a top nuclear physicist in the industry.
Yet, he still faced many down-to-earth problems. If he wanted to work in New York City, he had to either rent or buy a house. In the previous years, Otto had always been renting.
The rent in New York City was notoriously high. After many years of renting, Otto realized that most of his savings were handed over to his landlord. This couldn't go on much longer.
As he aged, the proposition of marriage and starting a family became inescapable. However, if he still rented after marriage, a single-room apartment certainly couldn't meet the needs. But should he rent a family suite, the cost would be daunting. Considering this, he might as well save some money to buy a small apartment and then upgrade to a larger house later.
Having worked for many years, Otto had managed to accumulate some savings and make some friends. Therefore, approximately a year ago, he purchased an apartment at a decent location in New York City, and this year, he added a car to his assets.
Of course, even if he had money, he didn't have enough to pay for an apartment in New York in cash. Therefore, both his house and the car were mortgaged.
Once he took on the car loan and mortgage, his once sufficient income became somewhat insufficient. Other researchers could take up some part-time jobs at private research institutes to earn extra income based on their.Specialized knowledge. However, Otto specialized in nuclear energy research, and there weren't many research institutes conducting nuclear energy research in New York City. Moreover, his research heading towards fusion research, made it rarer still.
While Otto was worrying about money, someone who claimed to be the head of the Solar System Construction Plan Nuclear Physics Research Group approached him. Although the name of this project sounded like a scam, the handsome salary they offered was tempting to Otto.
After thorough investigations and questioning his colleagues, Otto found out that this project was real. The human race had actually entered the phase of solar system development and he knew nothing about it.
In order to keep up with the times, and to relieve the burden of the loans he had taken on, Otto successfully joined this project team.
As soon as he entered the project team, Otto realized that he was in the right place. First and foremost, there was the eminent Dr. Reed, and equally renowned Dr. Ethan in the field of physics. Together with Otto, the team was truly star-studded.
Moreover, the project that this team researched was exceptional. It was the heart of the solar system development plan. They aimed to extract the energy from the sun as a clean source of energy to be used by the human race.
Top-notch colleagues in scientific research, cutting-edge laboratory hardware facilities, and the highest level of salary in the industry - can any other job be better than this? Otto felt that he was incredibly fortunate.
But soon, he realized that there was a reason for the project team offering him such a high salary.
Firstly, Dr. Reed did not work full-time with the project team. He was also responsible for near-Earth exploration and the development of Mercury. Dr. Ethan was also not full-time, as he had to help at the Stark Building with the Mercury Base and Robotics research.
Consequently, Otto was the only one to fully devote himself to this project. To add insult to injury, as soon as Otto arrived, these two colleagues disappeared. If they visited the laboratory once a week, it was considered a good week. All of the heavy responsibilities of the research now fell on Otto.
Even if he had to develop each individual part of a Dyson Sphere, the workload was overwhelming. After Otto took full charge of the project, his hair fell out faster than his salary came in. The dark circles under his eyes grew quicker than his salary. After just one month, he was already exhausted beyond recognition.
To make things even worse, Otto initially thought that the laboratory assistants here weren't professional enough. But as time went on, the bio-experiment project team borrowed more than a dozen assistants, and the Mercury Development Project Group borrowed another dozen. More than thirty laboratory assistants were all dismissed, leaving Otto all alone in the entire project group.
Otto thought that perhaps the project leader was targeting him. But after asking his colleagues, he found out that the condition was the same for every project in the program. There was an extreme shortage of staff members, and some projects had even stopped due to the shortage.
The responsibility of the development of human civilization was thrust onto Otto's shoulders. More importantly, he didn't want to default on his mortgage. In order to maintain his generous salary, he forced himself to continue to work.
Concerning scientific research, Otto was extremely conscientious. He would not tolerate any mistakes in the experiment data. Even if the results were slow, rigor must be guaranteed. However, this was not a workload that one person could handle. After working himself to the bone for a month, Otto realized this couldn't go on.