Genius Club

Chapter 42: Chapter 42 Stealing and Theft

“`

The moment he picked up the manuscript,

Professor Xu Yun couldn’t help but mock his own foolishness.

“Really, a cornered dog will jump over a wall…”

Believing that an art student could solve the Ice Crystal Problem was no less absurd than believing Van Gogh had figured out a photolithography machine.

But Professor Xu Yun still put on his glasses and began to study the manuscript.

At first, he merely felt that the young man had put in some effort and done quite a bit of research.

But…

The further he read,

the more Professor Xu Yun’s brows furrowed.

“He understands this too? How did he come up with this?”

Whoosh————

Professor Xu Yun swung his arm and swept the clutter off the lab table.

Then he placed the manuscript neatly on the table and sat up straight, taking it seriously.

“It feels like something is missing here…”

“And how did he arrive at this? The process is a bit of a leap… but it generally connects.”

Professor Xu Yun was a bit bewildered, feeling this manuscript was somewhat disjointed.

He leafed through the entire manuscript to see if it was misbound or missing pages. Finding no errors, he scratched his head and continued reading.

Gradually…

Sweat began to form on Professor Xu Yun’s forehead.

“This manuscript… it really has something!”

He was a professional.

Thus, having read only the first few pages, he could be 100% certain—

even though the manuscript wasn’t complete, had some leaps, and some minor symbol errors here and there…

It was undeniable.

This was a true piece of scientific research! Not made up, not written by a pseudo-scientist, but backed by real experimental data!

He understood the first half of the manuscript which was more basic. But some of the “brilliant inspirations” in the latter half were things he had never considered.

Whirr.

Professor Xu Yun turned another page.

What followed were many chemical equations, formulas, molecular structures, experimental data parameters, and so on…

These were the real treasures!

Without delay, Professor Xu Yun got to work.

He emptied his mind and began the operations strictly following the experimental data and steps recorded in the manuscript.

The detailed parameters and reaction formulas on the manuscript made it not too difficult to follow suit.

Although some of the equations didn’t quite connect and there were obvious gaps in the steps, Professor Xu Yun had researched this field for many years. With the manuscript prompting him to this point, he could fill in those small gaps himself.

It didn’t take long…

The substance reportedly capable of deeply bonding with water molecules to prevent ice crystals was prepared. Professor Xu Yun set up the microscope and the freezing box to start retrialing the living cell experiment.

He took a deep breath.

“Hoo…”

After a few deep breaths, he pressed the button to start lowering the temperature of the freezing box.

3 degrees Celsius,

-8 degrees Celsius,

-17 degrees Celsius,

-27 degrees Celsius…

As the experiment’s temperature kept dropping, Professor Xu Yun’s heartbeat accelerated—almost jumping out of his chest!

Ice crystals began to form on the walls of the freezing box, but the living cells in the center of the microscope’s eyepiece… were still slowly moving! The cell liquid was still flowing slowly! There was no freezing! No ice crystals!

Professor Xu Yun was shocked…

“Bring in the liquid nitrogen, the liquid nitrogen!”

Without an assistant by his side, he had to run to the storage room himself, take out a bottle of liquid nitrogen, and slowly pour it into the instrument, trickling it into the freezing box.

The temperature of liquid nitrogen is around -200 degrees Celsius, an absolute low temperature.

As the liquid nitrogen was slowly added… the temperature displayed on the computer screen plummeted like a bungee jump.

-87 degrees Celsius,

-156 degrees Celsius,

-187 degrees Celsius…

Finally.

“`

The temperature was maintained at -191 degrees Celsius.

And under the microscope, it showed—

Living cells seemed to have stopped moving! But they hadn’t completely stopped, they still twitched slightly a few times within a minute!

Furthermore, the liquid inside the cells showed no sign of freezing at all, still flowing very slowly, very slowly.

“No ice crystals… no ice crystals!”

Professor Xu Yun spoke excitedly and incoherently:

“At minus 200 degrees, cells can still maintain absolute viability at minus 200 degrees, without any ice crystals!”

Professor Xu Yun momentarily relaxed and sat down directly on the ground.

At this moment… he could no longer control his emotions.

Long suppressed!

Countless failures!

A decade of alienation from everyone!

Xu Yun thought of the grievances he had suffered over the years and his emaciated darling daughter lying on the sickbed, forever asleep, and his vision blurred with tears:

“Yiyi… Daddy has finally succeeded…”

…

It took a while for Professor Xu Yun’s emotions to calm down.

He stood up.

He held the manuscript sent by Lin Xian as if it were a sacred decree.

The experiment just now had proven, without a doubt, that this manuscript was correct.

“As long as the Ice Crystal Problem is solved, we are just A Step Away from perfecting the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid.”@@novelbin@@

“This manuscript only took two pages to solve the Ice Crystal Problem… so the following pages must record the correct formula and preparation method for the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid.”

Thinking of this, Xu Yun was thrilled.

But at the same time…

A greater confusion instantly filled his mind—

“[Where on earth did this manuscript come from?]”

To a professional, the subtleties are clear; to a layman, it is all entertainment.

With one glance, Xu Yun, being a professional scientist, could tell that the young man who brought the manuscript, Lin Xian, was merely a “copyist,” not a real “researcher.”

This was too obvious, and could not deceive him.

“I remember… the young man’s name seemed to be Lin Xian?”

Xu Yun recalled his conversation with Lin Xian:

“Do you have a senior relative doing research in the field of hibernation?”

“No.”

“Then where did these materials come from?”

“That would be inconvenient to disclose.”

…

Inconvenient to disclose.

Xu Yun paced in the laboratory, pondering.

This young man, Lin Xian, had never said the manuscript was his own research, and he openly admitted that he had no considerable research into the Hibernation Field.

So the source of the manuscript…

[It must have been obtained by Lin Xian from elsewhere.]

Xu Yun speculated that there were two most likely possibilities—

1. Lin Xian was entrusted by someone to deliver this material to him.

2. Lin Xian used illegal means and special channels to secretly copy confidential data from some research institute abroad.

“No matter the possibility… both are far-fetched.”

Xu Yun furrowed his brow and continued reasoning.

He was very clear that no one inside the country was doing research in the Hibernation Field, except for himself.

Moreover, if there really were a distinguished scientist who wanted to help him, why wouldn’t they come forward themselves? Why use Lin Xian to go through such a big roundabout?

As for stealing secrets from a foreign research institute… that was even less likely.

Lin Xian wasn’t a special forces soldier; he couldn’t possibly have done a covert infiltration?

However.

All these doubts could be set aside for the moment.

Xu Yun flipped through the manuscript, looking at the pages of chemical and molecular formulas written on the following pages.

He wanted to try it immediately.

If he strictly followed the steps described in this manuscript…

“Could it really be possible to create the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid in one go?”