bookbashuk Chapter 142 Improved Formula
Chapter 142 Improved Formula
Chapter 142 Improved Formula
"Impossible, it doesn't exist. Give up, stop dreaming. The university and the National Natural Science Foundation of China won't approve these materials. The research center's funding is limited. You'll have to figure it out yourself."
At the research center, the professor coldly rejected Wei Xin's shameless request to fill in the required personal materials on the research center's application form and went straight to the tree and fruit laboratory.
"What about the depleted moonstones, Professor? These things are so cheap that nobody on the market is buying them. Could we try to get a batch through the research center's channels?"
Wei Xin chased after the professor, shamelessly continuing to negotiate with him with his silver tongue. He never thought the professor would agree to his first request, the million-dollar funding, which he himself felt was excessive. But if he didn't mention it, how could the professor agree to the other requests?
"Alright, I'll have your senior ask the Materials Science department if they can help us acquire some." The professor finally relented, turning to ask, "Do you know how to make energy cubes?"
"I know a little bit." Wei Xin smiled, thinking to himself, how did you know I have an expert-level energy cube making skill?
"Alright, then you and your senior sister Huang will be in charge of leading Lillie and that other person in the experiments."
The two entered the laboratory, where more than a dozen fruit and tree mixing machines were running loudly.
This type of ordinary fruit and tree mixing machine requires at least two people, and at most four people, to operate together. Too many mistakes will lead to production failure.
Ma Liang stood beside the machine, looking nervous. He was only a freshman, and the production of energy cubes was a sophomore course. He had to catch up on the theory on the spot. Lillie, on the other hand, had some experience and didn't seem very nervous.
If only she could stop eating the person whose name is written on her palm.
Wei Xin took out a Pear Berry from the basket, which could temporarily boost the intelligence of Pokémon. Since the hair growth tonic for Grimmsnarl worked for him, what about the berry? Wei Xin took a bite, but there was no change on the panel. In fact, he frowned because of the bitterness, just like the description in the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica.
Green pear (Western pear fruit), slightly bitter, needs to be taken with elixirs; exotic beasts that eat it can have their intelligence enhanced.
"Hey, don't be nervous. Anyway, the professor didn't expect us to make anything good. As long as the final result is edible, that's fine." The senior student comforted everyone while placing a bottle of mineral water next to each person.
Because of nervousness, Ma Liang felt his mouth was dry and picked up a bottle of mineral water to drink it, but his senior sister quickly stopped him, saying, "This water is not for you to drink, at least not for now."
Ma Liang didn't understand, since making energy cubes didn't require adding water.
"This is a secret formula from our research center, or you could call it mystical. Anyway, placing a bottle of mineral water next to it has a chance to improve the quality of the energy cube."
Wei Xin was slightly taken aback, thinking to himself, "Where did this ancestral method come from? Could it be that the Energy Cube also likes to quench its thirst with a mirage?" Sure enough, Newton was right; the end of science is always metaphysics. It's a pity that there is no Newton in this world, only Mendel, who studied the hybridization of Grass-type Pokémon.
The professor was making his rounds in the lab when he saw a group produce results. He took out an energy cube from the berry machine and examined it closely: "Very good energy cube. It's a pity the research center doesn't have any Mud or Broken Bags."
After saying that, the professor threw the energy cube into the chemical waste bin.
"Redo it."
The failures of others put a lot of pressure on Ma Liang. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his hands and eyes began to lose coordination, and he made frequent mistakes.
The machine emitted a beeping alarm, attracting the professor's attention. He walked over like a boss with a full health bar, and even Lillie, who had been handling things with ease, began to make mistakes.
"Old Ma, step aside, I'll take over," Wei Xin said.
Team missions usually only require one powerful carry who can wreak havoc, and a bunch of teammates who are responsible for dealing with the chaos.
Seeing this, the senior sister also took over Lillie's position.
Ten minutes later, the machine stopped. The professor, adjusting his glasses, carefully examined Wei Xin's group's finished product, clicking his tongue slightly in amazement: "Wei Xin, did you specifically study making energy cubes before?"
If it weren't for Lillie and Ma Liang's numerous mistakes, these energy cubes could have reached a high level.
"I tried making some yesterday." Wei Xin took out the energy cubes he made last night from the box on the ground. Since he couldn't be sure of the actual effect, he didn't dare to give them to the little ones at home and planned to bring them for testing first.
The professor adjusted his glasses, carefully examined the finished product in Wei Xin's hand, and took a deep breath of the cool air in the laboratory.
The color, the weight—putting aside the smell, the appearance alone suggests perfect quality.
The professor looked at Wei Xin in disbelief: "You made this yourself? Did you add anything else to it?"
"A little bit of Chinese medicinal herbs," Wei Xin said. Because he was going to feed the Pokémon, he specially chose herbs with mild flavors. In fact, apart from some trees that have fruit due to modern grafting and genetic modification, most of the plants on the land of Donghuang have been recorded and studied in the Shennong Bencao Jing (Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica).
"You also know about traditional Chinese medicine?" the professor asked. It wasn't that no one had researched combining Chinese herbs with tree fruits, but research data was insufficient.
It is said that Qin Shi Huang burned a portion of the materials, causing the transmission to be interrupted among the people. The materials that remained in the Xianyang Palace were also burned to the ground by King Xiang of Chu, making the research progress extremely difficult.
They should have stood on the shoulders of giants, but their ancestors drove the giants away.
"I know a little," Wei Xin joked. "Would you believe me if I said I was there when Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs?"
Why don't I just say I'm Shennong?
The professor initially didn't believe it, but then he glanced at the pear on the table, the teeth marks clearly visible on it, which Wei Xin had taken a bite out of.
He began to hesitate, unable to distinguish which of Wei Xin's words were true and which were false.
"Today's experiment is over. Xiao Huang, go to the College of Agriculture and borrow a few tropical dragons. Wei Xin, give me your box of energy cubes. The rest of you, come with me to the lab."
The group arrived at the laboratory. While waiting for the professor and his team to return, Lillie asked curiously, "Why do we need tropical dragons for testing? Shouldn't food and drugs be tested using double-blind methods?"
The senior sister began to explain to everyone: "The double-blind experiment has long been optimized, and the specific principle of the energy cube is still unclear. Why can a small cube made by mixing several berries together feed a Snorlax that needs to eat several meals a day? This does not conform to the principle of energy conversion at all."
The original researchers of the Energy Cube were killed in an explosion while conducting experiments; most of the recipes were discovered by later generations through trial and error.
Furthermore, the effects only occur when a Pokémon consumes it; it cannot be directly analyzed.
Wei Xin was startled. Energy cubes could kill people? Could this thing be like nitroglycerin, capable of healing and killing?
"What's the researcher's name?" Wei Xin asked curiously. The explosion during the experiment reminded him of someone, except that person had killed his younger brother.
"Nobel!"
Wei Xin: "....."
Wow, it really is you!
The senior sister continued, "Now, the research on energy cubes involves specially bred tropical dragons. They are fed energy cubes and then given a catalyst to make them quickly produce fruit. The composition of the fruit is then analyzed and compared with the fruit produced when they did not consume energy cubes. The results are quick and have a small margin of error."
As she spoke, the senior sister seemed to have thought of something and sighed: "Our Donghuang has always lagged behind in the research of energy cubes. Our patent formulas are held by others. If domestic workshops want to produce them, they can only pay a large patent fee, otherwise they can only import them."
All that hard-earned money went to foreigners.
The senior sister suddenly nudged Wei Xin beside her: "So if you, junior brother, can really improve the formula of the energy cube, you can win a national award, and you won't even have to worry about a job. A bunch of companies are waiting to hire you."
"It's hard to say," a senior student next to him poured cold water on the idea. "The formula for energy cubes has almost been researched by foreign countries. It won't be easy to achieve results in this area."
After a while, the professor pushed in two boxes of tropical dragon fruit. He placed the fruit into the testing instrument, and everyone looked up at the screen. Then, almost everyone in the laboratory shouted out a sentence.
Holy crap!