Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 336 - Chapter 336 Chapter 335 The Earworms and Dragon Girls First

Chapter 336: Chapter 335: The Earworm’s and Dragon Girl’s First Work Experience Chapter 336: Chapter 335: The Earworm’s and Dragon Girl’s First Work Experience It was August, and yellow leaves carpeted the ground beneath the Golden Moon.

Days had passed since Richard’s last battle with Suo Men and Mu Konni from the Mysterious Organization. During this time, Richard had been repairing the internal injuries his body sustained, recuperating his physical condition, and researching various subjects in the main laboratory. Meanwhile, he suffered from a kind of “disturbance” he had never experienced before.

The disturbance did not come from Pandora, who abandoned sleep, but from…

The main laboratory, the research institute.

In the afternoon, the soft sunlight of autumn shone in, brightening the place.

Richard sat at the laboratory table, pondering the contents on the Papyrus Scroll, while subconsciously tapping rhythmically on the tabletop.

“Tap, tap tap tap tap, tap, tap tap tap tap…”

The melody echoing in Richard’s mind these past days was produced by his tapping sounds, commonly known as an earworm.

An earworm isn’t anything strange; according to modern Earth’s research, almost everyone has experienced it at some point– a fragment of a song or another musical piece involuntarily repeating in one’s ears.

Scientifically, the “earworm” doesn’t actually happen in the ears but in the brain. It is purely a neural activity of the brain. When the phenomenon of an “earworm” occurs, the auditory cortex, which is responsible for processing auditory information, becomes active. It displays the same state as if one were listening to music, making it feel as though there is real music playing nearby.

There are many mechanisms for this to happen. Some say it is related to the “brain encoding music in many ways,” while others relate it to “involuntary memory retrieval,” and still others to “information being stored in the brain related to the significance of the information” among various other explanations.

In reality, the probability of experiencing an “earworm” increases when one is under significant stress or in a particular mental state.

And if one were to delve into the root of Richard’s “earworm,” it would be quite thought-provoking. Richard’s “earworm” originated from the text he deciphered from the Black Spirit Empire’s books–Keguo Liling, Dulier Monwu.

Keguo Liling, Dulier Monwu.

It appeared to be just an ordinary phrase, but ever since Richard fully deciphered this sentence from the Black Spirit Empire’s book many days ago, an indescribable “cognitive itching” accompanied by a strange melody had appeared in his brain, eventually developing into an “earworm.”

Although the “earworm” was not very harmful, being entwined by it for so many days, Richard still found it quite bothersome. He was aware that with something like an “earworm,” the best remedy was to let it be; resisting it only made it more difficult to banish.

Richard shifted his gaze from the Papyrus Scroll, stopped the tapping of his fingers on the desk, exhaled lightly, and couldn’t help thinking: he didn’t know how long the “earworm” would persist, nor did he know what the phrase “Keguo Liling, Dulier Monwu” from the Black Spirit Empire’s book truly meant.

While thinking about these things, Richard felt a gaze upon him. Instinctively turning his head, he saw Pandora sitting on the bed, sneaking looks at him. When she saw him turn, Pandora quickly averted her gaze and busied herself with her fingers.

Richard turned his head back, and Pandora lifted her eyes once more.

Richard turned again, and Pandora looked down again.

When he turned back a third time, Pandora’s gaze met his once more, unmoving this time.

Pandora blinked her eyes, widened them slightly, as if annoyed that Richard had broken the rules of the game “who gets seen first, is the dog.” But after a moment, Pandora spoke out, “Richard, I… want to learn something.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t want to just sit on the bed and play by myself. I want… to help you, to do some work,” Pandora said earnestly, as if she had given it a lot of thought.

After hearing Pandora’s words, Richard’s eyebrows twitched, and he did not reject her, simply responding, “Sure.”

“Snap!”

At his reply, Pandora immediately jumped off the bed, barefoot, briskly approached Richard, and asked, “So, what do I do?”

“Um… Let’s start with something simple,” Richard said, “like… washing test tubes.”

“Washing test tubes?”

“Um, washing test tubes, do you know how to wash them?”

“I… don’t know,” Pandora shook her head, “but I can try.”

“Okay, follow me,” Richard said as he led Pandora to one side, stopping in front of a basin filled with used test tubes in the corner of the main laboratory.

He brought over the buckets of clean water, the waste bucket, the test tube rack, and a brush, and then demonstrated the test tube washing process to Pandora.

“The first step is to pour out the wasteful liquid inside the test tubes, then half-fill them with water, shake them up and then pour the water out. Refill with water, shake again, and pour out. Do this washing process three times in a row.”

“If, after washing three times, there is still dirt inside the test tubes, use a test tube brush to scrub it off. When brushing, twist the brush up and down, left and right, but don’t use too much force, or you’ll break the test tube.”

“After brushing with the test tube brush, wash it with shaking water three times. Finally, pour out the water; the standard is that the water adhering to the inner wall should not form drops or run down in streams.”

“When everything is complete, you can place the test tube on this rack. Do you understand?”

Richard washed a test tube clean and placed it onto a rack on the table, then looked at Pandora and asked.

Pandora’s eyes widened, and her lips parted, “Eh… I… understand…”

“Good, now you try,” Richard said, handing a test tube and brush to Pandora.

Pandora first looked at the test tube, then at the brush, and carefully recalled Richard’s steps before getting started.

She began by pouring the residual liquid from the test tube, followed by adding clean water and shaking it.

But as soon as Pandora poured in half a test tube of water and tried to shake it forcefully, like Richard had done, a “crack” sound was heard; the slender, pitiful test tube shattered in her hands.

Pandora was stunned for a moment, then looked up at Richard with innocent eyes, “This… this… wasn’t on purpose…”

“No problem,” Richard was very “understanding of Dragon intentions” and said aloud, “It’s normal for a test tube to break, as long as you don’t hurt yourself. Let’s continue.”

After speaking, Richard helped Pandora collect and dispose of the glass shards and placed a new test tube in her hands.

Pandora took the test tube and repeated the procedure: pour out the liquid, add water, shake…

“Splash!”

The second test tube once again broke on cue.

Pandora looked up again with innocent eyes, “This… this… really wasn’t on purpose…”

“I know,” Richard said calmly, giving her a third test tube, “I know you didn’t mean to. Just be mindful this time, make sure not to shake too hard…”

Before Richard could finish his sentence, “Splash!” the familiar sound arose from Pandora’s palms again–she hadn’t even started the washing yet!

Pandora muttered quietly, “I… am just too nervous…”

“Whew, it’s okay…” Richard’s face remained expressionless as he picked up the fourth test tube, “We have plenty of test tubes left, and lots of chances.”

Pandora nodded vigorously, “Mm.”

Then…

“Splash!”

“Splash!”

“Splash!”

The fifth, the sixth, the seventh…

…