Different World Card Master: Change the World with Cards

149: chew chew chewXu Bai thought about his cards-making situation and asked,

“My mental power level has increased, but I don’t feel like it’s that useful.”

Liu Mengyan: “Before, your mental power wasn’t high, which only reduced the number of cardss you could make each day, since you probably didn’t research much then.”

Liu Mengyun: “Now you’ve started researching, and your mental power has also increased, so you probably won’t experience the frustration we feel when we run out of mental power halfway through our research.”

Wu Zijin: “Exactly, it’s like suddenly having to hold it in when you’re halfway through peeing. That feeling is incredibly ‘refreshing’.”

Liu Mengyun: “Ew~~~ Don’t say it like that, it’s disgusting.”

“It’s a metaphor! Don’t you think it’s very vivid and apt?”

...After everyone finished touring the lab, their stomachs were pretty much empty.

They took out the ingredients they had agreed to prepare and planned to celebrate with a hotpot.

For the people of the Tianlong Republic, if they’re unhappy, they eat; if they’re happy, they eat; if they start work, they eat; if they finish work, they eat.

Sometimes, good food can solve many problems.

Xu Le only perked up at this moment, as the things in the lab weren’t fun at all, and he wasn’t interested in them.

“A-woo!”

He took a bite, and the juice inside the meatball splattered out. After a few chews, the bouncy meatball danced between his lips and teeth.

Xu Le nodded happily, very satisfied with today’s food.

This time, Xu Bai learned from the previous lesson and bought more ingredients to ensure everyone had enough to eat.

So, even Fugui’s bowl was full, which is why Fugui didn’t bother Xu Le and focused on eating the food in his own bowl.

“Look what I brought.”

Wu Zijin held up the dish in his hand and presented it to Xu Bai like a treasure.

Xu Bai looked at it but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“What is this?”

Liu Mengyun leaned over to look, a little surprised.

“This doesn’t seem to be something that grows in our southern region.”

Wu Zijin: “Good eye! This is a plant called ‘Shama’ from the Yellow Sand Beast Zone in the western region, near the inner perimeter. Eating it can make your hair grow.”

As soon as Wu Zijin finished speaking,

Xu Bai and the Liu Mengyan sisters both looked up at Wu Zijin’s head.

A question popped into all their minds:

Is he wearing a wig right now?

“No, why are you looking at me like that?” After asking, Wu Zijin seemed to remember that what he had just said could easily cause misunderstanding, so he quickly clarified,

“My hair is real, real! If you don’t believe me, pull it! It’s not a wig! I’m not bald!”

Hearing Wu Zijin’s explanation, Xu Bai and Liu Mengyan lowered their heads again to fish for meat in the hotpot.

Liu Mengyun, however, reached out her eager hand.

“Ah, that hurts!” Wu Zijin took two steps back, moving away from Liu Mengyun.

“Why did you pull my hair?”

Liu Mengyun looked innocent. “Didn’t you tell us to pull it?!”

Wu Zijin opened his mouth, speechless.

Damn!

To avoid retaliation, Liu Mengyun quickly changed the subject.

“Um, where did you buy this thing called Shama?”

Wu Zijin rubbed his head. Forget it, a good man doesn’t fight with women.

“You can’t buy it here. I asked a friend to specifically bring it from the west. We researchers are most prone to hair loss, so we can eat some Shama to supplement.”

With that, Wu Zijin tossed the washed Shama into the hotpot... A few minutes later.

Xu Bai: Chew, chew, chew.

Wu Zijin: Chew, chew, chew.

Liu Mengyan: Chew, chew, chew.

Liu Mengyun: Chew, chew, chew.

Xu Le: Chew, chew, chew.

Fugui: Chew, chew, chew.

One second, two seconds... five seconds passed.

Xu Le was the first to spit out what was in his mouth, pulling at it with his hand and disgustedly throwing it into the corner of the table.

“Brother, Lele can’t chew it.”

Hearing Xu Le’s words, everyone exclaimed, “Ptooey!” and also spat out what was in their mouths.

Xu Bai: “Lele, Big Brother can’t chew it either.”

Liu Mengyun: “Wu Zijin, are you sure this is how you’re supposed to eat it? It’s completely unchewable. Look, even the dog can’t chew it.”

Although Wu Zijin felt like she was insulting him, seeing Fugui the dog continuously chewing made him think that her statement wasn’t wrong.

“It should... it should be eaten this way, right?”

Wu Zijin said, unsure himself.

Liu Mengyan rummaged through the bag that had contained the Shama and found a note inside.

She unfolded the note and read the words aloud:

“After washing, eat it directly as a cold salad. Warning! Do not boil, as boiling will make Shama’s toughness much stronger and very difficult to break.”

After hearing what Liu Mengyan read, everyone started to criticize Wu Zijin.

Wu Zijin quickly apologized and took on the task of washing the dishes later.

And so, everyone finished their inaugural hotpot meal amidst laughter and playful banter... Fugui: Chew, chew, chew, chew, chew...

After the inaugural meal, everyone got down to business. Xu Bai needed to plan everyone’s research tasks for the future.

“Our first phase of the task is to re-identify the materials you previously researched and deemed not very useful.

We need to re-examine the composition, structure, and properties of these materials, and try to see if we can discover their application in batteries.

You are all familiar with these materials, so the research will be fast. The next task will require a bit more time.

Both of your teams have many novel and different materials. You can try exchanging research. Different people have different research approaches, and you can also communicate with each other. Perhaps it will spark even better ideas.”

The three of them nodded, agreeing to Xu Bai’s proposal.

They hadn’t done this before because they were competitors, but now, they were researchers in the same institute.

They had each researched those materials before without finding results, so now it was just a matter of making use of waste.

If the other party found results, although the profit wouldn’t be as much as if they had found it themselves, they would still get a share of the fruits of victory.

Wu Zijin: “So, are we still going to the Guild Commercial Street to buy new ‘stones’ to extract materials?”

“Yes, but we must remember that many things require us to act within our capabilities. You cannot expect yourself to understand all materials. Right now, you need to filter out materials that are useful to you as much as possible.”

Liu Mengyan: “How do we determine which materials are useful to us?”

Xu Bai thought for a moment. Currently, he only knew the requirements for materials needed to make dry cell batteries.

However, many things are taken one step at a time, so he said,

“For now, I can only tell you that the essence of a dry cell battery is a chemical power source that generates current through spontaneous oxidation-reduction reactions between two electrodes in an electrolyte.

Therefore, the positive electrode material needs to have strong oxidizing properties, and the negative electrode material needs to have strong reducing properties. You can use this requirement to make your judgment.”

The three of them recorded Xu Bai’s words in their notebooks, planning to experiment later.

The three were seasoned researchers and could discuss and allocate their tasks among themselves without Xu Bai needing to say much.

At the same time, according to the bet, the hierarchy within the research institute was as follows:

Xu Bai > Wu Zijin > Liu Mengyan > Liu Mengyun