Chapter 212: Materials
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In other professions, those who were usually older, more experienced, and more considerate would obtain greater achievements. Because of this, an ordinary person would make a misconception when they looked at scientists and thought that an older scientist would be more capable.
In fact, it was completely different. the most outstanding research of any great scientist, be it Einstein or Newton, was usually carried out when they were between the ages of 25 to 35. This was the point when the human body was the most energetic and the brain’s cognitive ability was the most dynamic. After that, everything would gradually go downhill.
However, the research results of these great scientists would often take a long time of refinement before they could become internationally acclaimed, which gave off the impression that a famous scientist was also an ‘old guy’.
It was precisely because of this that in the eyes of insiders, the research conducted by a talented and young doctorate degree holder might not necessarily be worse than that of a well-known and influential professor.
However, when a boy, who was not even 20 years old and skipped high school straight to a graduate school, requested for a separate laboratory for his own independent experiment, it would indeed give off a ridiculous feeling.
The people in the laboratory would have long raised their disagreements if it was not for Steven’s well-known bad temper and compelling strong stance that repressed everyone in the lab till n.o.body dared to comment anything.
What made them even more surprised was that the following day, Maggette, the Dean of Stanford’s Science Faculty, immediately made a part.i.tion of a gla.s.s room between the two corners of the wall for Zhang Lisheng.
Moreover, the appearance of this gla.s.s room was similar to the gla.s.s room Steven used, which was also constructed with single-sided reflective special gla.s.s. All of the common experimental tools were available inside and the scale of the experimental platform was actually the large platform similar to the one Steven used. It was a waste for it to just be used to study insects alone as the overall cost was roughly estimated to be about at least 500,000 USD.
Since Zhang Lisheng’s donation was carried out in a non-public manner, n.o.body knew that the young man had actually spent a hundred times the cost to get such treatment. Naturally, ill feelings began to form against him, and they would even faintly discriminate against him behind Steven.
Because of such an alienating situation, it would be disheartening for an ordinary person, but it suited Zhang Lisheng’s intention even more.
With his own independent s.p.a.ce, he was very willing to ignore anyone and just stay up all night in the lab, to either improve his wizard power using a secret cultivation technique or to make up for his shortcomings in becoming a qualified biologist while trying to carry out horrifying experiments that combined two types of civilization—science and mythology—and be contented with his lot.
Late at night, Stanford fell into silence. Other than the library and dormitory buildings that were still illuminated by light, the entire campus fell into darkness.
Inside the C2 lab on the third floor of the laboratory building, Zhang Lisheng, who had not slept for several days, ended his secret cultivation that had lasted for four to five hours. Energetically, he grabbed the lush beard on his chin and climbed up from the floor to open the freezer that was filled with all sorts of strange experimental materials. After ransacking through it for a while, he sighed and took out his phone to make a call.
The phone rang for a while before someone finally picked it up. A loud and laughing male voice resonated through the upbeat dance music in the background. “Hey, Doctor! Is there a reason for you to look for me?”
“Fierce Dog! The materials I want still have not arrived, but I’ve already paid for them two days ago!”
“Oh, Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! How many times have I told you already that a small problem has occurred during the customs clearance of these materials? It would take a few more days for it to reach your hand and right now, every customer of mine is facing the same issue as well. I don’t…”
“Listen, buddy! I’m not your ‘other customer’!” Zhang Lisheng’s calm voice cut off the male voice on the phone. “I’ve always been fair and well-disciplined. Right now, my experiment has reached its most critical stage! Without the ‘materials’, my inspiration may fleet away! You promised that you would send me two pieces of the materials before 12 am tonight, so if you can’t do it, I would have no choice but to use you instead of the materials you were supposed to deliver to me.”
“Are you threatening me? Doctor, this is not…” The voice on the phone became silent for a moment and the surrounding music was suddenly turned off.
“If you think that this is a threat, Fierce Dog, you’re greatly mistaken!” Zhang Lisheng chuckled in a low voice.
The other end of the phone was in the manager’s office on the second floor of a large nightclub in downtown Stanford.
At this time, in a rather huge room that had a cashmere red carpet on the ground with a suspicious brown stain on it, there were also some brown spot stains on the wallpapers on the four walls, that had a shade of warm yellow color. The walls connected to the carpet that was made of planks of redwood. A diamond-shaped crystal lamp hung down from the ceiling, making the entire room very bright.
Under the crystal lamp stood a handsome Asian young man with a stunning black mustache who was touching the scar on his face as a ferocious smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. “Alright then, Doctor! I’ve served many people like you and you’re the one who has the most energy among them when you speak. Just with this alone, I’d definitely send you the materials today even if I have to take it from the other customers’ urgent parcels. Please wait for a moment, my men will contact you!”
After spouting the last sentence, the young man hung up the phone and gently shook his legs placed on the coffee table. With a hypocritical smile, he said, “Guys! All of you have heard, right? The ‘doctor’ who has just started trading with us said that he will use me as his experiment’s material instead…”
“Fierce Dog! You just took over your father’s business, so maybe you don’t quite understand. The nature of our business is different from other businesses! Many of the customers we’re facing with are scientists whose brains are not quite the same with ordinary people. Since it’s us who are at fault this time…” Upon seeing the young man’s unhappy expression, an experienced middle-aged man sitting in front of him advised.
“Uncle, the problem right now is our ‘customer’ doesn’t want to let me go! It’s not me who wants to do anything to him.” The young man frowned and took his feet away from the coffee table before glancing around at his men. In the end, he pointed towards two big burly men who were playing darts in the corner. “Iron Chain, Gas! Go teach that Dr. No. 7 in Stanford a little lesson… Oh, and bring two, wait, three materials with you! After teaching him a lesson, leave the materials for him. Remember, it’s only a small lesson! It should be relentless but never cross the line! Uncle is right, the nature of our field is different from other businesses!”
“Yes, boss!”
“Don’t worry, boss!”
After the two muscular and strong brawny men heard the young man’s instruction, they immediately threw away the darts they were carrying and went to the clothes rack to pick on two fitting FedEx uniforms. After putting them on, they strode out of the room.
At the same time, Zhang Lisheng who was in Stanford’s laboratory building was taking out a mutilated human corpse that had its stomach sliced open, leaving behind white ribs that had been turned over before, from the freezer before placing it on the experimental platform.
” A cold corpse can actually fetch up to 20,000 dollars! Not only that, it’s not delivered on time as well! This is really crazy! Come to think of it, that big island in the foreign world is really a paradise! If I’ve taken all of the strong midgets who were killed for my experiments, it’d be enough for me to use them for a whole year already! It’s a good thing I can go there again after a few days! This time, I’d seize this chance to complete a large-scale experiment of Corpse Puppet and conveniently refine a few wizard gus as spares while I’m at it…” As he muttered to himself, he dropped the blue reagent that he had just formulated onto the corpse with a dropper.
The instant the reagent was dripped onto the body, it immediately burnt the skin, flesh, and blood, releasing a burnt smell that made the unsightly mutilated corpse become more like revolting garbage at first sight.
In the US, there were more people who were willing to donate their organs for the benefit of disabled people or to donate their corpses for the purposes of scientific research. However, when they were distributed to thousands of university medical schools and biology colleges, the corpses were still in short supply.
From the perspective of public ethics, especially in scientific research or even anatomical dissection, the scientists would also have to use the remains of voluntary donors properly, in which most would eventually be buried properly.
The only way to experiment with human corpses destructively like what Zhang Lisheng was doing was to buy from the black market.
In fact, this business of buying and selling corpses had already formed a comprehensive industrial chain. Every year, there would be tens of thousands of human corpses imported into the US from poor countries in Africa, Asia, and South America through various channels. The most conservative estimate of the transaction amount would also amount to one billion USD.
Among these corpses, the fresh goods cruelly predetermined to have the capabilities to provide organ transplants could usually fetch up to 100,000 USD while those frozen corpses that could only be used for scientific research are about 10,000 USD if it was complete.
Moreover, in the second type of corpses trading, the buyers would often be US universities or research inst.i.tutions. Under the pretense of ‘doing for the sake of science’s progress’, many of the trades were even carried out in a semi-open state. The reason Zhang Lisheng could come in contact with Fierce Dog was that he inadvertently saw the pop-up advertis.e.m.e.nt on the Internet.
The previous few transactions between them were very smooth but the luck these few days was not that good.
Without a complete corpse, the effect of using a dissected corpse for his Corpse Puppet improvement was, of course, not good.
After the blue reagent corroded the corpse to a certain extent, Zhang Lisheng cast the Corpse Puppet Refining Method using his thoughts. Wizard power began to surge through his flesh and blood, drawing the remaining life force in the corpse to get in line with it.
After having no response for a long time, a gush of faint black mist appeared from Zhang Lisheng’s body, rising up to the spot between his brows before heading back to his seven orifices and being heaved out of his nose.
That gush of black mist tore through the air and set off a series of “psst szh…” sounds that sent chills down his spine. It wrapped around the corpse lying on the experimental bed and actually caused its arm to move gently.
However, just with this small movement, the corpse’s arm that was already corroded till it was riddled with a thousand wounds suddenly gushed out a stench-filled smoke before directly transforming into a pile of ash.
“Huh! The result of this experiment is basically as superfluous as capturing a living mosquito and pouring medicine into its mouth…” Looking at the mutilated corpse transforming into powder section by section, Zhang Lisheng could not help but say in an irritated manner. At this moment, his mobile phone suddenly rang, the sound of birds chirping being heard.