Chemical Intuition

[Ernest Henry Shackleton]: Where is this? The whaling station on South Georgia Island? Or... heaven?

As the new member joined the group, some of the old-timers popped up as well.

[Isaac Newton]: Who is this?

[Albert Einstein]: Shackleton? I think I've seen that name in the newspaper.

Just then, another heavyweight figure appeared.

His ID was [John von Neumann].

He was a true legend. Though he was relatively junior in the group, his standing might not have been much lower than Newton's.

[John von Neumann]: Ernest Henry Shackleton? Since the captain of the "Endurance" is here, that bearded Mendeleev will probably be saved.

[James Prescott Joule]: Forgive my ignorance, but I do not know this gentleman either.

Watching these big shots still have the leisure to chat about irrelevant things, Li Dong was frantic.

The Periodic Table was about to die of thirst, guys!

So he got straight to the point.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: Mr. Shackleton! Whether this is heaven is not important.

[Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems]: There is a member in the group, Mr. Mendeleev. He was stranded on a tropical desert island after a shipwreck and is severely dehydrated! He needs your professional guidance!

[Shackleton]: Mendeleev? The Russian who created the Periodic Table?

[Shackleton]: God bless! His chemical reagents and materials science have saved my expeditions countless times.

[Shackleton]: @Mendeleev, sir, tell me, can you still move? Can you still bend your fingers?

Several seconds passed before Mendeleev finally replied in the group.

[Mendeleev]: I can... but I feel terrible...

[Shackleton]: As long as you can move, that's enough! Listen to me. I looked at Senior-Year's document. The principle is right, but you don't have the strength for distillation now.

[Shackleton]: So what you need to do now is crawl into the shadow of the reefs! Look for cone-shaped shellfish attached to the rocks. Take only the meat—don't touch the shells! Chew it up and hold it in your mouth, let your saliva break it down before swallowing. Don't waste a shred of strength!

[Shackleton]: Also, don't gulp it down. First, lick up the moisture that hasn't evaporated from the shady cracks in the rocks. After sunset, use cloth or grass leaves to collect dew. That is the clean fresh water you can get.

What Shackleton said sounded simple, but it was knowledge he had distilled from countless moments of despair.

Over the next half hour, only Shackleton's occasional questions and Mendeleev's intermittent feedback appeared in the group.

[Mendeleev]: Damn it... this shellfish tastes worse than rubber... This is far too unsanitary. It must contain a huge amount of pathogenic bacteria...

[Shackleton]: Do you want to live, or do you want hygiene?

[Mendeleev]: ...I swallowed it.

Gradually, Mendeleev's avatar in the group member list began to regain its color.

Li Dong let out a long breath.

He should be saved!

[Mendeleev]: My stomach still feels terrible, but I really did survive.

[Mendeleev]: @Ernest Henry Shackleton, thank you. Your voice is more pleasant than a tsar's pardon.

[Shackleton]: Haha, no need to be polite, Mr. Mendeleev. I should thank you too. Without your chemical theories, I don't know how many times I would have died.

The two masters, separated by time and space, exchanged greetings in the group, making Li Dong feel he had done a pretty good job as group owner.

So much so that he completely forgot how Mendeleev had gotten into danger in the first place.

Just as he was feeling smug...

[Mendeleev]: @Currently Grinding Senior-Year Problems, I must thank you as well. I will remember this life-saving favor.

As soon as those words appeared, a red packet suddenly popped up on the screen.

[Mendeleev has sent an exclusive red packet]

Looking at the red packet, Li Dong felt conflicted.

Ah, I really don't want this red packet...

I saved him to help someone, not to fleece him.

Too bad this crappy system doesn't have a reject function. It would be great if I could send it back...

That was what he said, but his hand clicked it without a second's hesitation.

[You have received Mendeleev's gift]

[Obtained passive skill: Chemical Intuition (Basic Version)]

[Description: A token of gratitude from the father of the Periodic Table.]

[From now on, you will be able to see through appearances to the essence, just as Mendeleev arranged elements in his dreams. You will instinctively sense the flow of electron clouds, the breaking and recombination of chemical bonds—the architectural beauty of the microscopic world.]

As Li Dong claimed the red packet, he felt as though a membrane in his brain had been gently pierced.

Subconsciously, he looked toward the chemistry exam paper on the desk, the one he had scored eighty-eight on.

The organic deduction problems that had given him headaches before now looked completely different.

Before, it had been:

Eyes: "C8H10"

Brain: "Memorized formula—aromatic hydrocarbon."

But now, those carbon and hydrogen atoms automatically arranged and combined themselves before his eyes. The conjugated pi bonds of the benzene ring rotated, while the methyl groups on the side chains bounced.

Why was this position prone to substitution reactions?

Because the electron cloud density there was the highest.

This... this is Chemical Intuition?

Li Dong muttered to himself.

He could score highly through rote memorization too, but that meant knowing what without knowing why. Change the question type even slightly, and he would be completely lost.

But now, this lofty, bird's-eye perspective made him feel that it was time to tackle advanced university chemistry.

This haul was huge!

After school that afternoon, since tomorrow was the day of the Huaxuan Cup semifinals and Li Dong needed to go to Chengdu to compete, he asked Old Yang for leave, packed his things, and went straight home.

As soon as he reached the door, Li Dong smelled braised pork.

Do we have guests?

He took out his key and opened the door.

"Mom, I'm back."

In the living room, his mother, Li Qin, was carrying dishes out of the kitchen, while a middle-aged man sat on the sofa.

The man wore a leather jacket and was puffing away at a cigarette. Two woven sacks full of parts sat on the floor beside his feet.

Hearing the door open, both of them froze for a moment.

"Xiaodong? Why are you back today? Shouldn't you be at school?" Li Qin asked in surprise.

The man on the sofa stubbed out his cigarette and stood up as well.

"Xiaodong's back."

Li Dong looked at the man with a complicated expression, but he still called out to him.

"Uncle."

This was his biological uncle, Liu Haibo.

Li Dong had not liked this uncle much in the past.

In his childhood impression, his uncle had always been an overly ambitious man. He was not well educated, yet he went around talking about making a fortune. One day he dealt in fruit, the next he tried his hand at transportation, but nothing ever worked out. His mother often secretly gave him money behind his father's back.

Until...

That year, Li Dong's father died in a bus accident, and their family's world collapsed.

Not only had they lost their pillar of support, they also had to compensate the passengers in the vehicle a large sum of money.

At that time, all their relatives and friends avoided their family.

Only this uncle, who had always seemed unreliable, said nothing and pulled all the working capital out of his small hardware processing plant, which had just begun to show some promise.

He stuffed a bank card into Li Qin's hand.

"Sis, pay off the debts first. Don't let people point fingers at us. If the money's gone, I'll earn more!"

Because of that, his factory's cash flow broke down. His wife divorced him too, and he went back to drifting through life again.

"Hey, Xiaodong, you've grown taller. You're one point eight meters now, right?"

Liu Haibo smiled and patted Li Dong on the shoulder.

"Uncle, how's your factory doing now?"

Li Dong asked as he changed his shoes.

Although the funding had dried up, his uncle had scraped together money over the past two years and reopened the small processing plant, specializing in rough processing work for larger factories.

At the mention of the factory, Liu Haibo sighed.

"Just keeping myself busy for nothing."

"There are orders, but the management is a complete mess."

"You know I only have a middle school education. There are thousands of different part specifications. I have to remember all the incoming and outgoing inventory in my head. If I ship the wrong goods, I have to pay compensation."

"Another batch got returned today. I'm worried sick."

At that moment, Li Qin brought the dishes to the table and called out.

"Enough. Eat first. Stop talking about such unhappy things."

"By the way, Xiaodong, you still haven't told me. Why did you come home instead of staying at school today?"

Li Dong set down his backpack.

"I'm going to Chengdu tomorrow."

"What are you going to Chengdu for?"

"To take part in a physics competition."

"A physics competition?"

Li Qin asked, somewhat puzzled.

"That thing... does it give you extra points on the Gaokao?"

Li Dong: "..."