Yan Xiao knew that a girl capable of writing this kind of thesis could never be fooled by mere concepts.
He considered everything that a complete pickup script should contain.
First, it definitely needed the manufacturing technology for lightbulbs;
Second, how to make a 'Black Light' of a specific wavelength was also required;
Third, it needed something like the entire production method for a 'Black Light insect extermination system';
Most importantly, and the fulcrum of the entire script-the research report on 'insect phototaxis'.
"System, I want to learn ultraviolet lightbulb manufacturing technology, the kind that can control wavelength. Also the 'Black Light' insect extermination system manufacturing technology, and the research report on 'insect phototaxis'."
The system was very prompt, immediately popping up a price menu for Yan Xiao.
[Lightbulb manufacturing technology: 1,800 Study Coins]
[Black Light manufacturing patent: 3,600 Study Coins]
[Black Light insect extermination system patent: 5,000 Study Coins]
['Insect phototaxis' research report: 800 Study Coins]
After looking at the price quote given by the system, Yan Xiao felt only one thing in his heart-
Expensive...
He now had less than 3,000 Study Coins left in total, enough at most to buy the lightbulb manufacturing technology and the 'insect phototaxis' research report.
Yan Xiao, who used to play with discarded lightbulbs as hand grenades when he was a child, knew that regular lightbulbs were generally vacuum-sealed.
That was why there was that 'pop' of an explosive sound when they were smashed.
If he really wanted to make lightbulbs, there was a high probability he would need some professional equipment.
Obviously, he certainly didn't have the money to buy such equipment right now.
Going bankrupt to buy a lightbulb manufacturing and production line just to pick up girls was also unrealistic.
In the end, Yan Xiao only purchased the 'insect phototaxis' research report.
After buying the report, Yan Xiao immediately began reading it.
Time passed in the system not long ago, which was just a few breaths of effort in the real world.
Although the girl felt that Yan Xiao was 'seeking attention through sensationalism',
she didn't harbor too much disgust toward him.
The reason for this, perhaps, was his face...
Listening to Yan Xiao's slightly heavy breathing, she also wondered if she had been a bit too harsh in her attitude toward this exceptionally handsome boy.
Look at how angry he was...
Just as the girl prepared to cast aside distractions and focus all her attention on the thesis,
Yan Xiao spoke,
"Have you ever heard of the four hypotheses of 'insect phototaxis'?"
The girl turned her head, her face full of puzzlement.
Yan Xiao felt a wave of joy in his heart, thinking as expected, and then said in a very calm tone:
"I discovered a particularly interesting phenomenon. Have you ever eaten at a street food stall at night with your family?"
The girl nodded,
while also feeling extremely confused.
Was there any inevitable connection between 'insect phototaxis' and 'food stalls'?
"It's like this. If you've ever paid attention to the lighting at outdoor food stalls, you'll find that there are usually a lot of insects like moths flying around those lights."
Yan Xiao's words immediately reminded the girl of playing at her grandmother's house in the countryside when she was little, where there indeed used to be many flying insects around the streetlights at night.
"Compared to humans, most insects have a visual system where their 'eyes' are more sensitive to the photosensitive range of 'short-band light'. That is, ultraviolet and violet light waves with bands roughly between 330nm and 400nm.
Because roadside streetlights and the kind of tungsten filament lamps used at food stalls generally contain light of this band frequency, many bugs will gather around them at night."
Seeing the girl's thoughtful expression, Yan Xiao continued:
"However, when we study 'insect phototaxis', we can only deduce it backwards from phenomena, because after all, humans are not bugs and cannot possibly have a bug's feelings.
This is just like certain zoologists saying that the intelligence of a 'Golden Retriever' is equivalent to that of a seven- or eight-year-old child; both are judged in reverse through 'behavior'."
The girl nodded, indicating her agreement with Yan Xiao's statement.
Yan Xiao thought to herself, this is barely scratching the surface.
"Therefore, during the research process conducted by scientists, four hypotheses emerged regarding 'insect phototaxis'."
"Which four?" the girl asked immediately.
He wasn't afraid of her refuting him; what he feared was her not speaking.
Yan Xiao, who had a deep study of cross-sex communication, instantly realized that the girl's curiosity had been piqued.
Even if it wasn't about him as a person,
well,
she would eventually start getting curious about him!
"The first is the light interference hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that nocturnal insects don't have a very strong adaptability to light, and a sudden, intense light source will affect the insects' vision.
Moreover, once an insect enters the illumination range of a light source, it will produce symptoms similar to temporary blindness regarding areas outside the illuminated range.
To insects, some strong light sources can even cause movement disorders.
To use the barbecue stand as an example again, you see sometimes those moths flying around the bulb suddenly drop to the ground or crash into the bulb to commit suicide; that's because their vision or movement has been affected."
After finishing, Yan Xiao stole a glance at the girl's expression.
He saw the girl nodding along continuously.
It seemed she had witnessed all the examples Yan Xiao mentioned.
That was quite magical.
Could this girl also be an academic achiever who loved eating at food stalls?
Without overthinking it, Yan Xiao continued:
"The second hypothesis is called the light orientation hypothesis.
This hypothesis suggests that during the course of evolution, insects have a specific orientation system, and this system is generally called 'light compass orientation'.
It's actually not hard to understand; it means that insects' nighttime orientation is carried out through moonlight shining directly onto the ground, or other natural visible light.
When moonlight shines directly onto the ground, we can understand it as visible light parallel to the ground.
If a strong light source artificially appears-meaning the 'insect-perceivable frequency light intensity' of this light source exceeds the moonlight or some natural light-then the insects' 'light compass system' is disrupted, and they can no longer orient themselves.
For example, at a bonfire party, there are always some reckless insects that fly in. It's actually not because their marriages are unfortunate or their careers are not going smoothly, but rather akin to them being drunk or spinning around in circles until they get dizzy and accidentally meet an untimely end..."
The girl's eyes as she looked at Yan Xiao grew brighter and brighter.
It wasn't just because what he said sounded like it made a lot of sense.
It was because this research possessed immense social value.
Yan Xiao did not know what the girl was thinking; he just went on talking to himself:
"The third hypothesis is called the biological antenna hypothesis. It suggests that inside an insect's brain, it can receive light waves of a certain frequency, and these broadcasts make them mistakenly think that a mating partner is initiating a call to them..."
The girl's face turned red again...
Yan Xiao didn't notice and unceremoniously spoke of the fourth hypothesis:
"The light stress hypothesis is that some insects living in darkness for a long time are attacked by a sudden light, thereby producing an excited or agitated state.
Because the light source is touchable, they might have developed the idea of destroying the light source so that it wouldn't cause greater harm to their peers.
Only then would the behavior of 'moving towards the light' appear."
Yan Xiao talked endlessly, throwing out whatever came to mind.
Of course, he didn't elaborate too specifically.
On one hand, he didn't remember the data of many experiments all that clearly.
On the other hand, he didn't have much interest in these hypotheses either.
What he learned,
the only thing he wanted, was for it to be enough.
After Yan Xiao finished speaking, the girl asked, "Did you do all these experiments yourself?"
Yan Xiao smiled without a word.
When he hadn't figured out whether there were similar research results in this world, silence was the best answer.
Otherwise, if he claimed he did them himself,
and the girl happened to check one day only to find they were completely someone else's achievements,
If you feel this book is good, to avoid not finding it next time, please remember to add it to your bookshelf!
that would be far too embarrassing.
"My name is Yan Xiao. What about you?"
"My name is Yan Xiao, and you?"
"You're Yan Xiao?"
"Am I that famous?" Yan Xiao was quite puzzled by the girl's astonished tone.
It was probably because of his full scores across all subjects and the previous 'extortion' farce that the girl knew about him.
"My name is Lin Fangxin. Grandma mentioned you to me, saying you're exceptionally good at studying. I didn't take it seriously at first, but I didn't expect you to really understand everything."
Yan Xiao grasped the key point in the girl's words,
"Grandma?"
"Ah, my grandma is Cao Ruiying. You know her, right?"
Teacher Cao's granddaughter... What a small world...
Yan Xiao felt a sense of emotion in his heart.
Looking at it this way, the idea of playing the scoundrel with this girl was nipped in the bud...
"I know her. Teacher Cao teaches me physics."
"How come you suddenly seem to have lost enthusiasm?"
"It's nothing. Aren't you writing a thesis? I was just afraid of disturbing you." Yan Xiao made up his mind-a rabbit doesn't eat grass by its burrow.
"Ah, right, wait a moment."
After saying this, Lin Fangxin used her computer to connect to her mobile hotspot and began searching for information.
She opened a webpage called 'Zhiwang', logged in with a complicated set of account credentials and passwords,
and then typed the five keywords 'insect phototaxis' into the search box.
Results were retrieved very quickly.
Lin Fangxin turned the screen around for Yan Xiao to look along with her.
Not a single thesis related to 'insect phototaxis' was there.
What the search retrieved were mostly things like 'Application of Dragonfly Compound Eyes in the Radar Field'.
"How many theses does this website have?" Yan Xiao couldn't help asking.
"Theses from all over the world are collected here. There should be tens of millions of them..." Lin Fangxin replied.
Finally, she still couldn't hold back and asked, "Is the research on insect phototaxis you just told me about real?"
How could she ask that... Of course it was real...
Endorsed by numerous professors and Earth scientists, how could it be fake?
Naturally, Yan Xiao wasn't prepared to tell Lin Fangxin about this. Say that these were the scientific research achievements of Earth's scientists?
She would probably treat him as a 'fool' with a high probability.
Yet he couldn't not answer either.
Not answering would make it seem like he had a guilty conscience.
"These are definitely true. I'm not pulling your leg." Yan Xiao answered with a straight face.
Not giving Lin Fangxin a chance to continue asking, Yan Xiao followed up with: "Are you planning to study biology or agriculture?"
Lin Fangxin shook her head. "I'm writing this thesis to participate in this year's 'National Agricultural Science Essay Competition'. Anyway, I don't have to take the college entrance examination, and being idle is being idle, so I wanted to train myself."
"Does this competition give rewards?" Yan Xiao asked casually.
"The grand prize is 1 million, I think."
!!!
A figure like 1 million instantly piqued Yan Xiao's interest.
In fact, he had long been thinking about doing something to make some extra cash.
Because the parents of this lifetime left him an inheritance that could hardly be called wealthy.
Originally, Yan Xiao had decided to rely on his invincible written cognitive ability to dabble in translation work,
but now that he discovered the returns from participating in the competition were even greater,
there was no reason not to participate.
Especially since the thesis he had just bought from the [Patent Mall] apparently had no one researching it in this world.
"What qualifications are needed to participate?" Yan Xiao asked.
Lin Fangxin shook her head, thought for a moment, and said, "It doesn't seem to require any, but the thesis must have evidence."
Evidence was something Yan Xiao understood in his past life.
Taking a college graduation thesis as an example, the evidence consisted of reference bibliographies.
If it was an experimental type, the evidence consisted of experimental methods and results.
"Then, if this discovery of mine is to be written into a thesis to enter the competition, what kind of proof is needed?"
"This discovery of yours..." Lin Fangxin lowered her head and pondered for a while.
"It probably needs experimental design methods and result data."
Right at the moment Lin Fangxin finished speaking, Yan Xiao had already designed the experiment in his head.
It was nothing more than getting a few different types of lamps and operating them in a few experimental plots in the field.
Then weighing the carcasses of the dead bugs and so on...
"Would you like to write this thesis together with me? How about we enter the competition under our joint names?" Yan Xiao extended an invitation to Lin Fangxin.
Writing this thesis by himself without bringing Lin Fangxin along wouldn't be a major problem either.
But,
after learning that Lin Fangxin was Cao Ruiying's granddaughter, Yan Xiao firmly decided to bring her on board, even if it meant splitting the million in half.
Yan Xiao didn't think too hard about his reasons.
Most likely, though, it was his way of repaying the kindness Cao Ruiying had shown him.
"You've all been researching this for so long. It wouldn't be right for me to join now. Forget it-you should enter on your own."
Lin Fangxin shook her head like a rattle drum, but her hands kept moving.
She typed in "Huaxia Agricultural Science Network," then pointed at a banner ad on the site and said:
"When the time comes, just go to this website and click here to register. The deadline for uploading papers is in a month, so if you want to submit one for the competition, you'll need to hurry."
Yan Xiao nodded, but had no intention of giving Lin Fangxin a chance to refuse. "What do you mean, 'you've all'? This is all my own research. I happen to need a partner to help me calculate and organize some data.
"If we can get this finished before the submission deadline, we can publish the paper together.
"If I remember right, don't you need an adviser or something to publish a paper?
"How about you find us one while you're at it?"
"Find an adviser?"
"Yeah."
"You don't need an adviser. This isn't a graduation thesis, so why would you need one?"
"No adviser?" Yan Xiao, who had never published a paper before, was taken aback.
"You really don't need one. Yours is a research paper. All you need is an institutional affiliation and an author."
"All right, then. Let's put both our names on it."
Lin Fangxin still couldn't make up her mind about Yan Xiao's invitation.
As she saw it, all that remained was to write the paper, with perhaps the extra hassle of running a few more sets of experiments.
Her involvement really wouldn't contribute much.
For someone as determined to stand on her own merits as she was, it felt like charity.
"I..."
"Listen to me. Don't feel bad about it, either. I have trouble getting myself to write, so I need you to handle the writing.
"If you don't join me, I might honestly never work up any interest in writing it at all.
"Only with you on board will any of this have a chance of succeeding.
"If you feel awkward about it, I'll be the first author and you'll be the second. I'll get a little extra credit out of you, we'll win a big prize, and we'll split the prize money down the middle. How's that?"
Lin Fangxin still shook her head.
Yan Xiao persisted, pressing his case relentlessly.
After half an hour of persuasion,
and only after Yan Xiao agreed to Lin Fangxin's condition that she wouldn't take any prize money,
Lin Fangxin finally decided to join Yan Xiao in writing the paper.
Before you continue