Chapter 54: Chapter 54: 11.3% of Unknown Substances

“What fruit is this juice from?”

“A rare African fruit.”

Xie Yuxin nodded her head and did not probe further.

Extracting the fruit juice in the syringes into a test tube, she began to conduct the test.

As An Wen looked at the laboratory rats in the cage at the side, he suddenly had an idea.

“Senior, are the lab rats in the cage your observation subjects as well?”

“Only the one that isn’t moving is.”

“In that case, can I use one of the lab rats for an experiment?”

“What experiment?”

“I’ll feed it some of the juice, and observe if it’ll die.”

“…”

Looking at the fruit juice she was testing, Xie Yuxin was slightly at a loss for words.

Is this fruit juice or poison?

Xie Yuxin turned to glance at An Wen. “You may catch one yourself.”

“Alright, thank you, Senior.”

An Wen reached into the cage, and all the laboratory rats inside fled away in all directions.

“Don’t run, I’ll give you something nice to eat.”

As he said that, he tried reaching for one of the laboratory rats.

However, the opening of the cage was too small, and it was hard for An Wen to move his arm around. After several attempts, he was still unable to catch any one of them.

You all forced me to do this.

An Wen picked up the cage directly. His arm could move more freely now.

Squeak squeak…

In an instant, he managed to catch one of the laboratory rats. However, it was squeaking quite miserably.

“Eh? Its leg is broken?”

Taking the laboratory rat out of the cage, An Wen realized that he had accidentally broken its hind legs by pressing it too forcefully.

This is a slightly awkward situation…

Nevertheless, he did not mind, since he was just using it to test the effects of the ‘poison’.

Picking up the syringe, An Wen pushed it into the rat’s mouth and poured the fruit juice in.

Squeak squeak…

The rat resisted, and resisted, and resisted…

It realized that its attempts to resist were futile and soon came to terms with reality.

Mmm, the fruit juice is so tasty.

After drinking half the volume of fruit juice in the syringe, the rat could not drink anymore.

Placing down the syringe, An Wen pinned the rat down on the table with his hand and observed its changes.

“Stay still, and don’t run away, your leg is already broken.”

After being pinned down on the table, the rat continued struggling to break free. However, with An Wen’s strength, it would certainly be unable to break free, unless it turned into a dragon.

Five minutes passed.

The laboratory rat succumbed to its fate and laid motionlessly on the table.

At first, An Wen thought it was dead, but when he released his grip, it started running away.

Excuse me, you even learned how to play dead?

Looking at the rat which was caught by him once again and which continued to lie motionlessly on the table, playing dead, he furrowed his brows.

Could the fruit increase one’s intelligence?

Why did Yuan Pan grow bigger then?

Another five minutes passed.

The rat started struggling again, but this time, it was exerting strength with its hind legs.

Eh?

With his acute observation ability, An Wen noticed such a change.

He picked up the rat and felt its hind legs. Indeed, its hind legs had healed.

At that moment, Xie Yuxin started printing the analysis report.

“Junior, what fruit is the juice from exactly?”

Looking at the report, Xie Yuxin asked in bewilderment.

“I’m not too sure, someone brought it back from overseas and gave it to me. What’s the matter, is there a problem?”

Holding the laboratory rat in his hand, An Wen narrowed his eyes and asked.

The gears in his brain were turning swiftly as he started thinking about how to answer the upcoming questions.

Nevertheless, how he would react would still depend on what exactly Xie Yuxin discovered.

“Mmm, how should I put this… There isn’t any problem with the fruit juice, but there is a slightly larger amount of unknown substances in it than average,” Xie Yuxin replied as she looked at the report.

“Unknown substances?”

An Wen was stunned. What does that mean, the components could not be identified through the test?

“Yes, if you look at this report, the fruit juice contains an abundant variety of vitamins. There are so many varieties that there is even cobalamin,” Xie Yuxin said as she pointed to a statistic on the report.

Cobalamin?

What’s that?

An Wen was slightly baffled and looked in confusion at Xie Yuxin.

Seeing An Wen’s expression, Xie Yuxin continued explaining.

“Cobalamin is also known as vitamin B12. It is the only vitamin that contains metal elements, and is mainly found in fish, eggs, animal intestines and meat.”

“At present, there are only three plant sources of vitamin B12: soybean, pumpkin, and seaweed. This is the fourth type of plant that contains vitamin B12.”

Oh!

I understand now – in other words, there are very few plants that contain vitamin B12, but it was not that there were none.

“What else?” An Wen probed further.

“Apart from that, there is a slightly larger proportion of unknown substances in it than average. There would be unknown substances in ordinary composition analyses, but in most cases, the proportion of the unknown substances would be in the range of a few thousandths and less than one percent.”

As Ye Yuxin spoke, she did not look away from An Wen’s face for even a moment.

It was not because she thought that An Wen was handsome, but she was observing his facial expressions.

“What about the proportion of unknown substances in the fruit juice?” An Wen asked, acting curious.

“Unknown substances, 11.7%,” Xie Yuxin replied.

The room fell silent.

Neither of them said anything.

They were not fools and knew what a proportion of 11.7% unknown substances signified.

Even though An Wen did not major in life sciences, he knew that such a statistic was truly horrifying.

There were many unknown species of animals and plants alike on Earth.

However, even when testing the composition of the sap of a newly discovered plant, there would not be as high as 11.7% of unknown substances in it.

That was because plants also had ancestors, and they evolved slowly and gradually over time to their present state.

Tracing their lines of descent, one would surely be able to find similarities of the newly discovered plant species with other known species.

Even humans and laboratory rats did not have such a large difference in their genetic makeup.

What should I do?

An Wen’s eyes started to glimmer.

“Are you thinking about how to deal with me to keep the secret?” Xie Yuxin asked, appearing calm.

“Senior, you’re thinking too far, I’m just extremely surprised,” An Wen laughed awkwardly.

“Haha.”

“Haha.”

An Wen smiled and did not say anything else.

The atmosphere in the room turned solemn once again, and both of them said nothing.

After a long while, An Wen said, “Senior, you misunderstood me, I am actually not thinking about anything like you thought. Moreover, even if Senior tells other people that there is a plant comprising 11.7% of unknown substances, would anyone believe you?”

Upon saying that, An Wen kept the syringe on the table. Then, he disconnected the liquid analysis instrument from the power socket, tied the cable simply, and held it in his hand.

He kept the laboratory rat in his hand in his pocket.

Standing quietly at the side, Xie Yuxin did not stop An Wen. She could guess what he wanted to do.

However, because she knew what he was going to do, she heaved a sigh of relief.

After An Wen packed up everything and confirmed that he had not left anything behind, he smiled and said to Xie Yuxin, “Senior, I’ll play around with this equipment at home. I’ll buy you a new one the next time.”

“Mmm, if you aren’t short of money, you should buy a top-quality one for me,” Xie Yuxin said calmly, looking at An Wen.

Upon hearing that, An Wen paused for a moment and stared deeply into Xie Yuxin’s eyes.

He replied, “No problem, it’ll definitely be the best one in the market… Oh, by the way, what kind of recognition would a scientist receive if he discovers a drug that is able to heal a bone fracture within five minutes?”

Xie Yuxin’s eyes lit up, then she sighed and said, “If a scientist is able to uncover the secrets behind the recovery ability of humans, the scientist would surely be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.”

“Oh… I see… I think that Senior has such potential.”

After finishing his sentence, An Wen immediately opened the door and left the house.

Slam!

The room door slammed shut, and An Wen disappeared.

Looking at the tightly shut room door, the expression on Xie Yuxin’s face was complicated.

After a long while, she muttered softly, “Devil.”