Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 209 - 208 Four Great Evil Techniques

Li Zheng and Lin Yujing’s complication was naturally noticed by others.

While you may have someone in your mind, there might be another person who has you in theirs.

The prerequisite, of course, is that you either excel in your studies or are at least good-looking.

And in this laboratory, the one who had Li Zheng on her mind was another person, Qi Yingnan.

Staring intently at Lin Yujing was also Duan Peipei.

As for everyone else, they definitely had no intention of disturbing Li Zheng and Lin Yujing.

Firstly, in the realm of academic elites, grades are supreme, and only these two were qualified to be each other’s partners.

Secondly, when the class leader was announced earlier, the whole class had already witnessed the two whispering to each other and exchanging glances; moreover, they were already schoolmates, which made it really inconvenient for others to interfere.

Even Teacher Fu, who was busy preparing at the front, was hoping in his heart that the pair would team up quickly to see what kind of sparks they would create.

Strictly speaking, this was also Qi Yingnan’s stance.

Despite chatting amicably with the group’s big shot, upon seeing Li Zheng’s detached gaze after entering the lab, Qi Yingnan probably understood Li Zheng’s thoughts.

"Aren’t you going to hurry up?" Qi Yingnan bumped Li Zheng’s shoulder, nudging towards Lin Yujing, who had already claimed the treasured window seat to nap in the sun, "If someone else sits there before you, you’ll be the fool."

Li Zheng was first startled, then heaved a sigh.

It’s no wonder Brother Wuji understands me.

It wasn’t for any other reason, mainly because he had never worked with Lin Yujing before.

Setting aside their battle axes and studying together would indeed be very good.

If they could catch Academic Fortune, that would be even better.

The only downside was...

"I’ve just lost a battle, and if I go over there now... wouldn’t that be like bowing down in submission..." Li Zheng frowned and rubbed his cheek, completely lacking his usual decisiveness.

Qi Yingnan watched Li Zheng for a long time, also beginning to frown and rub his cheek.

What the hell are you talking about?

A 90-point intellectual field is indeed difficult for ordinary people to understand...

On the other side, Duan Peipei wasn’t burdened with so many thoughts.

God must surely be pure; how could she possibly get involved with a boy?

Emboldened by the power of faith, she walked firmly to the window and stood at the empty spot next to Lin Yujing.

But standing there, it was inevitable to feel somewhat awkward still.

"Yu Jing, can I... can I be in the same team as you?" Duan Peipei asked tentatively, twisting her body slightly.

"Ah..." Lin Yujing lifted her head from her nap, her expression stiff but unable to find a reason to refuse.

In her frustration, she turned her head sharply and glared straight at Li Zheng.

Won’t you hurry up?!

This was yet another of the laws regarding women; all annoyance, after cycling through the brain’s circuits, would ultimately fall onto men.

Qi Yingnan, seeing Duan Peipei cut in, had already pushed Li Zheng toward this side.

Now seeing Lin Yujing’s glare, Qi Yingnan simply gave a forceful shove, pushing Li Zheng forward.

Brother, I can only help you this far.

With Qi Yingnan’s push, Li Zheng stumbled, bracing himself against the lab table.

At this point, he simply steeled his heart, gritted his teeth, lifted his head, twisted his body, and stepped around Duan Peipei to face Lin Yujing, "You... you... why are you glaring at me? Do you want to team up?"

"???" Lin Yujing became even more exasperated, "Do I need a reason to glare at you?"

"Right..." Li Zheng, flustered, turned aside and scratched his face, "…since I’m already here, why don’t we just pair up?"

"Not sincere, say it again."

"So... how about we team up?"

"Even less sincere."

"Why are you being so difficult?"

"It’s your tone that comes with a dregs flavor, isn’t it?"

"How am I dregs?" Li Zheng glared, "I’ve already drawn clear lines with those I needed to, what more do you want from me?"

"~~~"

Duan Peipei, stuck between the two, already had a face drooping with grievance.

So they had already...

And talking about drawing clear lines...

Under the onslaught of these piercing blows, she turned somberly away, as if merging souls with Jiang Qinghua, silently and quietly leaving the scene.

With the spot vacated, Li Zheng brazenly took it, pulling out a chair and sitting down, turning the raw rice into cooked rice.

Lin Yujing just huffed out of inertia before turning her head, "My experiment... actually, I’m not good at it either..."

"Heh." Li Zheng would believe her when pigs flew, "I’m actively seeking cooperation here, and you still plan to sabotage me, is that fun?"

"No... I really haven’t done much of it."

"Joking, aren’t you the one who claims to have cultivated in a space-level laboratory?"

"Actually, I’ve only been there once... something like an astronaut experience pod."

"Keep making it up."

"Believe it or not."

On the other side, because too much time had been wasted on others, Qi Yingnan and Duan Peipei were also left without partners, and as the class was about to start, Fu Xuefeng directly paired the two together.

Qi Yingnan didn’t have any extras thoughts, he was here solely for the provincial team, and partnering with anyone wouldn’t affect his studies.

Duan Peipei had even less thoughts, not just devoid of thoughts, but utterly resigned.

Earlier, when Zhang Tao had announced the scores and mentioned the school, Qi Yingnan also remembered Duan Peipei.

While tallying up the experimental apparatus, Qi Yingnan casually brought up, "By the way, you’re from Class Eight, right?"

"Class Nine." Duan Peipei answered woodenly.

"Hey, sorry, I can’t quite remember." Qi Yingnan waved and smiled, "That thing, don’t take it too hard with Li Zheng. The people in our group all have unconventional minds, they’re simply lunatics, no malice intended."

"Group?"

"Oh, there’s this Dragon Ball Group, for people who are into competitions." Qi Yingnan laughed and gestured towards Li Zheng, "This guy just usurped the group leader role, pretty much the most abnormal one now, ha ha."

"Ah?!" Duan Peipei’s heart, already subdued, was hit by another earthquake, and she asked with wide eyes, "Are you talking about the group that collects provincial-level Dragon Balls?"

"Ha ha, yeah, that’s the one. I’ve taken the math one before, but that was just for fun." Qi Yingnan lifted his glasses with a smile, "Physics is my main focus, I even attended last year’s provincial team training as an auditor."

"You can audit training sessions?"

"Yeah, there aren’t many spots, and it costs money." Qi Yingnan looked over the experimental apparatus, "Each of these competitions and training sessions is subsidized by the organizing committee and the universities, they sometimes open up some spots for auditors to offset the costs a bit."

Listening to all this, Duan Peipei gradually got back in the mood proper for the training.

"That’s pretty incredible." Duan Peipei exclaimed in awe but then suddenly thought of something, "Then, if you attended last year’s provincial team training... you must know Wu Shu, right?"

"Of course, I know her, and the previous group leader was there too. I joined the Dragon Ball Group then." Qi Yingnan pursed his lips and sighed, "At that time, I felt that facing the group leader, I could compete with a year of effort... As for Wu Shu’s realm... it’s really hard to see..."

These legends also piqued Duan Peipei’s interest, like an ordinary sect disciple listening eagerly to the senior brother recounting the past Mount Hua Swordfight.

And naturally, she couldn’t help asking some very gossipy questions.

"How does Lin Yujing compare to Wu Shu then?"

"I really don’t know about that, a single informal exam isn’t enough to make a judgment." Qi Yingnan nodded emphatically, "What I do know is that Wu Shu’s experimental technique is so flawless that not even genuine professors can find fault with it. That skill even extends to chemistry, last year in the Chem Competitions, she barely studied for the chemistry experiment and still won the national gold."

"Wow." Duan Peipei was filled with longing.

Under the relentless ridicule from Li Zheng and Lin Yujing, and in the presence of the true powerhouse Qi Yingnan, she had unconsciously shed her aloof arrogance, becoming a stunned baby.

"So, it’s still hard to make a judgment about Lin Yujing’s level," Qi Yingnan crossed his arms, stretching his arm muscles, "Just so you know, I started preparing for experiments in my first year, and last year during the provincial team’s training, although I didn’t qualify to compete, my experimental results ranked third."

"Wow!"

"So, I probably won’t follow Teacher Fu’s pace for experiments, and will play around with my own ideas more, don’t mind me."

"Wow! No problem."

"Alright." Qi Yingnan then turned to look at Li and Lin, who were engaged in their exchange, his eyes narrowing slightly, "These two, showing off their love in class, let’s just focus on studying well. If possible, let’s take the edge off their spirit."

"Wow!" Duan Peipei’s eyes lit up, "Then I’ll just cling to your powerful coattails."

"It’s not about that, it’s about improving together."

...

The first experimental class started promptly.

Being an advanced class targeting the provincial team, it naturally skipped the basics and jumped straight to solving actual problems.

Without any preamble, Fu Xuefeng started off with a warm-up question—

[Measuring the refractive index of a transparent container and liquid]

This was one of the most common optical experimental questions: direct a beam of light onto a cup filled with an unknown liquid, draw the light path on graph paper, measure, calculate, and then write a report.

After demonstrating and explaining the key points of the experiment, it was time for group experimentation.

Facing such a basic question, everyone started working without hesitation.

Fu Xuefeng walked around, offering guidance, and seeing that most people were experienced hands, he felt much better.

The theoretical test before had been both difficult and unconventional, leading to poor results, which made Fu Xuefeng doubt the level of his students.

Looking at it now, his worries were unnecessary. Clearly, everyone was well-prepared, just thrown off by the unusual problems. When it came down to the actual experiments, they were all slick veterans.

Especially Qi Yingnan’s group, whether it was speed, accuracy, or consistency, they all reached the level of the top performers from past provincial teams.

Fu Xuefeng had basically checked on everyone by the time he finally approached Li Zheng and Lin Yujing.

Couln’t help it; the tastiest bites are always saved for last.

Come on, show me a realm of 90 points!

Though Fu Xuefeng was looking forward to it, he didn’t hurry over from the front, but instead approached slowly from behind.

He couldn’t deny it; he had a bit of a wicked sense of fun. He wasn’t just looking forward to their experimental results, but also their interaction.

He didn’t know that the situation was far more tense than he imagined.

Li Zheng wiped his sweat, glaring as he questioned, "I have already set up the formulas, and you can’t adjust the laser pointer?"

"It’s not that... it says to adjust it to the best state, but what exactly qualifies as the best state?"

"Like, thinner?"

"If it’s too thin, wouldn’t it become invisible?"

"Then, just visible enough?"

"Right... but what exactly is ’just visible enough’?"

"Forget it, just like this..." Lin Yujing then began securing the laser pointer on the experiment table, "Is it screwed in this way?"

"Are you scratching a cat? You’re screwing it in too slowly, let me do it." Li Zheng stepped forward and started turning the knob, "Tighten it hard, that makes the beam stable."

"I suppose..."

"Push hard... push hard..."

"This isn’t right, if we tighten it any more the laser pointer will explode, won’t it?"

"Hey, it’s German-made, they can take it... Jinghua’s wealthy, right? I just want to test the pressure limit of this laser pointer..."

"Let’s not..."

After much effort, the two finally got the laser to project.

While they were measuring and drawing the light paths, Li Zheng accidentally touched Lin Yujing’s hand, causing her to shudder and, in a chain reaction, spill the cup.

"!!!" Li Zheng growled, "You..."

"It’s all your fault!"

"What’s my fault now?"

"Your fault for everything... hurry up and refill the liquid..."

"Ai, I didn’t know you were so clumsy, your brain must not have fully developed." As Lin Yujing was replacing the liquid, Li Zheng looked around anxiously, "This isn’t good... everyone else is already done..."

"Why do you care about them..."

"We have to at least get the lab report filled out..." Li Zheng took a deep breath, "We have to resort to the Evil Technique."

"Evil Technique?"

"People from our group said, there are Four Great Evil Techniques in physics experiments." Li Zheng gasped for breath, even he seemed a bit scared as he gestured with his hands—

"Tasting method to measure the heat capacity of an unknown liquid."

"Touch method to measure the frequency of waves."

"Screwdriver method to measure the internal structure of a black box."

"Stripping method to measure the electrical resistance."

After saying that, Li Zheng focused on the cup of unknown liquid.

"As for the refractive index, it’s not impossible to gauge it by taste... I roughly remember the refractive indices of common liquids, so as long as I can taste it, I can directly get the answer."

"Let’s... let’s not..." Lin Yujing quickly guarded the unknown liquid, "What if it’s poisonous... even if it’s not, you can’t handle things like hydrochloric acid..."

"It won’t be, for safety, the teacher wouldn’t use anything too dangerous," Li Zheng said fervently, staring at the unknown liquid, "Occasionally trying out an Evil Technique can be quite an experience."

"Still, let’s not... the tongue isn’t regenerable... and can you really tell the difference between hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid?" Lin Yujing, scared, hid the bottle behind her, "Aren’t you afraid you’ll only be able to say ’uh’ in the future?"

"Just one drop, only one drop..."

From behind the desk, Fu Xuefeng could not bear it anymore.

"Cough!!"

The two jumped in fright.

"You two... come out for a second..."

Without another word, he turned and left the room with a stern face.

"You had to practice your Evil Technique!" After cursing, Lin Yujing put down the liquid and hurried after him with her head down.

Li Zheng just sighed, looking at the liquid, but couldn’t resist. He touched a drop to his tongue; finding no taste, he then licked it.

Sugar water...

Well... let’s fill in a refractive index of 1.3.

After filling it in, he then walked out.

"Ha!" Qi Yingnan turned his head, relishing the misfortune, "You’re not up to it, Li Zheng. You haven’t even finished drawing the coordinate graph."

"What’s the result?" Li Zheng just asked, "1.3?"

"...You... couldn’t be..."

"Hmm." Li Zheng nodded silently, "Evil Technique’s awesome..."

"..."