Tanning Machine

It took Yan Xiao less than five minutes to finish translating the entire piece of oracle bone script.

Normally, fifty-odd characters shouldn't have taken that long,

but Yan Xiao had far too much content related to oracle bone script in his head.

Moreover, characters from different tribes and communities had various differences, which was why he had been delayed for a bit.

Finished writing, Yan Xiao capped his ballpoint pen and handed the paper to Wu Xiaohong.

Wu Xiaohong took it, looked it over, and wore a bizarre expression.

The gist of what Yan Xiao had written was--

The High Priest discovered that members of the tribe were hoarding food privately, which provoked the wrath of the God of Thunder. Therefore, the God of Thunder was going to set fire to the forest where they lived. If they wanted the God of Thunder to withhold his wrath, they had to have the three most beautiful maidens in the tribe sleep with the High Priest for a week.

If a maiden managed to conceive a child, then that child would be a Thunder Son blessed by the God of Thunder.

The child would be able to communicate with the God of Thunder and provide protection for the tribesmen.

Of course, even if she didn't conceive a child, it didn't matter.

As long as she had contact with the God of Thunder, the God of Thunder would not blame the people for their unreasonableness.

Looking at Yan Xiao's translation, images of an old savage man and three savage teenage girls naturally popped into Wu Xiaohong's mind.

Only, the images in his mind were all similar to desiccated corpses.

After all, he had seen too many... it was just a reflex...

"Are you sure this tortoise shell records something about the 'God of Thunder'?"

"Yes, if you don't believe me, find someone who knows their stuff to appraise it and you'll know." Yan Xiao answered with utmost confidence.

"Fine, I'll turn around and help you give this to the old... of the School of Humanities..."

Right as the name was about to slip out, Wu Xiaohong stopped himself hard,

it was a close one, almost adding yet another competitor. How perilous, how perilous...

"Please help me ask about the bonus money while you're at it. Once the bonus is issued, I'll thank you again." Yan Xiao put on a mercenary expression.

This amused Wu Xiaohong, and he said, "Alright, treat me to a good meal once the bonus is paid out."

"No problem!"

Wu Xiaohong shoved the paper into his bag and started chatting with Yan Xiao about archaeology again.

Chatting and chatting, the two of them ended up talking about the unearthing of female corpses.

"Dean Wu, let me ask you a question. You must help me clear up my confusion." Yan Xiao put on the look of someone eagerly seeking instruction.

"Go ahead."

"Well, I saw in the news that such-and-such a tomb in such-and-such a place was excavated, and a corpse of a certain gender was pulled out looking lifelike. Is that true?"

Yan Xiao's question reminded Wu Xiaohong of something that happened last month, and he said:

"You must be talking about the 'Han Dynasty female corpse' that was just unearthed a while ago. It truly was lifelike."

"Really?" Yan Xiao was very surprised.

He really wanted to know how fresh ancient corpses managed to avoid dehydration and decay.

"Really, but 'lifelike' in an archaeological sense is somewhat different from 'lifelike' in a literary sense. 'Lifelike' in archaeology just means that facial features are vaguely discernible."

Pausing for a moment, he continued: "To keep a corpse from dehydrating and rotting is truly impossible."

Just as expected...

Reporters always exaggerate...

Without clickbait, nobody reads it...

"Then I pretty much understand." Yan Xiao nodded and replied.

The meal lasted until eight o'clock in the evening. After Wu Xiaohong sent Yan Xiao out of the school gates, he picked up his phone and called Shang Hong'an, the dean of the School of Humanities.

"Hello, Old Shang, are you in your office?"

"I am."

"Perfect, I'll come over to find you."

"What's the matter?"

"You'll know when we meet in a bit."

Hanging up the phone, Wu Xiaohong walked toward the south gate of Jida University.

The School of Humanities was located not far inside the south gate, right next to the School of Communication.

Walking for a good ten minutes, Wu Xiaohong arrived at Shang Hong'an's office.

He went in,

only to find nobody there.

He had no choice but to pull out his phone again. After getting through, he learned that Shang Hong'an was busy down in the display and collection room on the third basement level.

Wu Xiaohong took the elevator down to the third basement level,

exited the elevator, walked up to a security door,

patted his pockets, but didn't find his access card...

fumbled through his bag, still didn't find it...

Pondering for a moment, he remembered that the card was in the pocket of another jacket.

Unable to get in, Wu Xiaohong could only press the doorbell on the wall.

Ding-ding-dong-dong-dong...

"Who is it?" A young girl's voice came through the intercom at the entrance.

"I'm Wu Xiaohong from the School of Archaeology. Open the door for me." Wu Xiaohong said.

"Dean Wu, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize your voice." Apologizing while she spoke, the girl opened the electronic access control from inside.

Wu Xiaohong pushed the door open, and a wave of cold air surged out from within,

causing him to shiver involuntarily. I brought too few clothes...

The reason the Display Room was placed underground was, on one hand, to prevent cultural relics from being damaged by 'light'.

On the other hand, from the perspective of safety, the security coefficient underground was somewhat higher.

Passing through the hallway, Wu Xiaohong found Shang Hong'an.

"Why are you still busy this late?" Wu Xiaohong said with a smile to Shang Hong'an.

Shang Hong'an put down the magnifying glass in his hand, wiped a non-existent sweat bead from his forehead with his sleeve, and said, "It's that piece of tortoise shell you sent over a few days ago. I've already made some headway."

"So fast?" Wu Xiaohong was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, thanks to the relatively rich burial objects unearthed from the same tomb this time."

"What's the general meaning?"

"It's sacrificial activities related to thunder and lightning."

"Related to what?" Wu Xiaohong's face was full of disbelief.

Seeing his old friend's expression, Shang Hong'an was completely baffled. "Related to thunder and lightning, what about it?"

"Is there also a God of Thunder who requires three of the most beautiful maidens?"

"Three of the most beautiful maidens?"

As if suddenly thinking of something, Shang Hong'an dropped Wu Xiaohong, ran over to the observation console, picked up the magnifying glass, and looked toward the tortoise shell piece.

"It really is! So this meant maidens!" Shang Hong'an was overjoyed.

But before he could even be happy for long, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

"How do you know? Have you started studying oracle bone script too?"

Wu Xiaohong shook his head like a rattle-drum, saying 'I don't have that much leisure time' with his mouth, while his hands didn't stop moving.

He pulled out the piece of paper Yan Xiao had translated, handed it to Shang Hong'an, and said, "Take a look at this. It was translated by my student in five minutes."

Shang Hong'an took the paper and looked at it with rapt attention.

"God of Thunder? No way?"

"It really is! This crooked Y vertical line plus two fields means thunder!"

"This one is correct!"

"So that's how it is!"

"This upside-down irregular Y is child!"

"Good!"

From initial disbelief and indifference to frequent exclamations of admiration later on, Shang Hong'an's reaction left Wu Xiaohong dumbfounded.

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This kid really knows his stuff! Is there anything he doesn't know? Wu Xiaohong thought to himself. Thinking of how Yan Xiao had a shallow grasp of archaeological research, he felt a bit happy again.

A shallow research foundation meant an opportunity to learn; once the research was deep, there would be no need to learn.

One less competitor!

"How is it? Is this translation correct?" Wu Xiaohong feigned ignorance.

"I wouldn't dare say it's entirely correct, but at least I can now determine that some of the content inside is accurate."

Pausing, Shang Hong'an continued: "As for the rest, it still needs further in-depth verification, but it looks like there shouldn't be any major issues."

Saying this, Shang Hong'an suddenly realized he had forgotten the most important question.

"Who is this student you mentioned? Is it Pan Yangyang?"

Wu Xiaohong shook his head. "That kid doesn't have that kind of capability. It's not him."

"Ke Jing?"

Wu Xiaohong still shook his head, looking completely nonchalant.

Shang Hong'an suddenly grew excited, grabbed Wu Xiaohong by the collar, and began shaking him.

While shaking him, he said, "No matter who it is, you introduce this person to me, and I'll let him directly enroll as my Ph.D. student!!!"

Wu Xiaohong, shaken to the point of existential despair, clearly was not prepared to yield just like that.

"Impossible! Even if you shake me to death, I won't reveal any information!"

Having said that, an expression of unflinching martyrdom suddenly appeared on Wu Xiaohong's face, though it only lasted for a few seconds before being broken by the shaking.

"Stop, stop, stop, I'm about to be shaken to death by you."

Shang Hong'an finally let go of Wu Xiaohong, yet wore a look of utter loss, as if he had missed out on a whole cartload of treasure.

Taking advantage of Shang Hong'an's daze, Wu Xiaohong was just about to walk out when he heard Shang Hong'an say: "You have to tell me information about this person no matter what, otherwise I won't have a way to issue him a reward.

If you really won't tell me, then I'll broadcast it across the school, put up posters, then post notices online, and make the media help me look for him."

The more Shang Hong'an spoke, the brighter his gaze became. "If all else fails, I'll buy online trolls to build momentum. I refuse to believe I won't be able to find the person!"

"Alright, alright, I'm scared of you." Wu Xiaohong waved his hand.

He knew Shang Hong'an was just talking. He understood his old friend's character very well; such a blatant move of cutting in to snatch someone was something he truly wouldn't do.

"However, you wanting him to directly pursue your Ph.D. probably won't pan out, because this kid is taking the college entrance examination this year."

"So young?" Shang Hong'an didn't quite believe it, feeling that Wu Xiaohong was trying to hoodwink him.

"Why would I lie to you? A few days ago, you know about that incident online-the one called 'Xicheng District First Mock Exam Full Score Extortion Reversal'."

Shang Hong'an nodded. "I heard a bit about it, didn't pay too much attention. Are you saying that kid is the one who translated this oracle bone script?"

"Yes, it's him."

"As expected, he's timber for my School of Humanities!" Shang Hong'an said without blushing and with a wildly beating heart.

Wu Xiaohong waved his hand and said, "Don't even think about it. This kid might not choose our school."

Shang Hong'an didn't believe it. "Then why do you say he pays so much attention to oracle bone script?"

"This kid is an all-rounder."

Wu Xiaohong didn't answer Shang Hong'an's question because he didn't know what other skills Yan Xiao had yet to reveal.

"Look, you're dodging the question again. I guessed right, didn't I?"

"No. From what I know right now, this kid is preparing to participate in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' essay contest, and the topic is 'Scientific Exploration of Blacklight Trap for Insects'."

Wu Xiaohong didn't remember the exact title Yan Xiao had spoken of, so he just remembered the three words 'Black Light' and casually fabricated a title on the spot.

"Fine. When you have time, bring this kid over to sit down. I really want to meet him." Shang Hong'an finally regained his composure.

"Sure, no problem. If not, we can go see him tomorrow."

"Doesn't he go to school?"

"Strongest High School Class."

"Then I understand. Let's go together tomorrow afternoon."

Having agreed on a time, Wu Xiaohong and Shang Hong'an left the place.

The time reached 11:00 PM, and Lin Fangxin, who was currently researching lighting manufacturing technology, had her train of thought interrupted by the sound of the door closing.

She raised her head to check the watch and prepared to get up to make herself something to eat.

As soon as she stepped out of the study, she saw her father, Lin Wushu, changing his shoes at the entryway. "Dad, you're back."

Raising his head and seeing his daughter, Lin Wushu replied, "I'm back. I heard you're preparing to participate in the Academy of Agricultural Sciences' contest. How is your paper coming along?"

"I'm preparing to rewrite the paper." Lin Fangxin replied.

Having changed his shoes, Lin Wushu walked over to the living room sofa, sat down, and asked with puzzlement, "Weren't you almost done preparing earlier? Why rewrite it?"

After filling her glass with water, Lin Fangxin also sat on the sofa. "Well, I discussed it with a classmate today, and we're preparing to write about using Black Light to catch insects."

Without waiting for Lin Wushu to ask, Lin Fangxin continued in a stream of words: "Dad, did you watch the news before? That examinee whose mock exam scores were even higher than mine-he's my new classmate.

He is amazing.

He said he previously experimented with various different lightbulbs and found that the light-sensing wavelength of many insects is around 360.

Then he himself proposed four hypotheses.

The experiment we're going to do is this one.

If the experimental results are really good, then in the future it can be mass-produced industrially. On one hand, it can reduce pesticide usage, and on the other hand, insect carcasses can also become feed or fertilizer or something...

Dad, do you know about these four hypotheses?

Let me tell you about them..."

While Lin Fangxin chattered away endlessly, Lin Wushu's mind wandered off.

As for Yan Xiao's news, he was very well aware that the whole matter was not entirely as rumored online.

Because there were many logical flaws in it.

For instance, the two identical sets of products.

Or the direction the two teachers had taken when fabricating evidence.

At first glance, they seemed free to fabricate whatever evidence they wanted.

But Lin Wushu knew that was only how it appeared.

The real question was what had led the two teachers to fabricate evidence of "extortion."

There had to be some hidden factor at work.

Such factors seemed insignificant, but they were actually shackles on the mind.

Only great wisdom could break them.

And then there was this:

Why had everything died down so quickly after the incident, with no further news at all?

Those were all questions that needed answers.

It was true that people online had short memories.

But forgetting in just three days? That was a stretch.

For a moment, Lin Wushu really wanted to tell his daughter to stay on her guard around Yan Xiao.

"Dad, could you help me find one?" Lin Fangxin asked, her face full of anticipation.

Lin Wushu nodded instinctively.

"Thanks, Dad~ You're the best~ When can I have it?"

"Huh? What?" Only then did Lin Wushu snap out of his thoughts.

"Were you even listening to me?" Lin Fangxin pouted, looking as though she was about to cry.

Lin Wushu quickly patted Lin Fangxin on the head and said, "Dad was just thinking about work. What do you want? I'll buy it for you."

"I want a Black Light," Lin Fangxin had no choice but to repeat.

"What's that?"

"It's an ultraviolet lamp with a wavelength between 330 and 400!"

Lin Wushu frowned, thought for a moment, and realized what this so-called "Black Light" was.

Not only did he know what it was, he also remembered its specific uses.

"I know what you mean now. It's a component used in tanning machines. It's very effective at treating lupus, but prolonged exposure can easily cause skin cancer."

"Dad, can you actually get one or not?" Lin Fangxin couldn't care less about "tanning machines." She just wanted to know whether he could get her one.

"Yes, don't worry. I'll give you a phone number. Call tomorrow and ask for one. I'll make the arrangements beforehand."

"Thanks, Dad~"

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