The afternoon classes were just as boring as the morning ones. Now, Shen Xingkong found all his lessons tedious; his mind was entirely focused on how to develop his special abilities.
However, as he sat in the classroom, he frequently felt two pairs of eyes on him. One was from Wang Lei, and the other was from Li Yingni.
Wang Lei's gaze was arrogant and smug, as if he was silently telling Shen Xingkong that if he dared to mess with him again, he would meet an even worse fate. Li Yingni's gaze, on the other hand, was strange—somewhat melancholic—as she occasionally turned back to glance at Shen Xingkong, who acted like an idiot, giving her no response at all.
Finally, when school was over, Shen Xingkong couldn’t wait to get home.
At the entrance of the medical school, Chang Le was getting into his Audi with the new girl he had recently started dating. Just as they got in, they saw Shen Xingkong get into the car as well. Shen Xingkong clearly became the third wheel but acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary, making Chang Le so furious that he almost wanted to kick him out of the car.
The Audi was indeed fast. What would have taken over half an hour by bus took only ten minutes for Chang Le to drop Shen Xingkong off at the gate of his neighborhood. Shen Xingkong secretly despised Chang Le, knowing he was driving so fast just to get rid of him so he could be alone with the girl.
Feeling resentful towards Chang Le for his constant girl-chasing while he himself had to “stay lonely,” Shen Xingkong ran all the way upstairs and into his apartment, then sat down in front of his second-hand computer. He turned on the computer and visited the medical forum where he had posted early that morning, but he was quickly disappointed. His post had only garnered a pathetic five or six replies, leading him to believe that the people in the forum thought he was crazy.
Casually, he opened his post and saw the first reply, which was somewhat polite:
“Are you a lunatic?”
The second reply was even more polite:
“You either took the wrong medicine or have shit for brains.”
The third reply was more artistic:
“You’re a genetically mutated alien, a high school student with the maturity of a kindergartener, a congenital Mongoloid frog-head, the abandoned child of the Yeti from Mount Everest, the culprit behind a clogged septic tank, the offspring of an African who mated with a black pig, a black chimpanzee with hormonal imbalances...”
“Damn!” Shen Xingkong couldn't help but swear. Was it really necessary to be like this just because he asked a question?
The fourth reply finally had some credibility:
“I can give you a clear answer: just stuff some pig intestines into your head to act as blood vessels.”
By the time he got to the fifth reply, Shen Xingkong didn’t even want to look anymore, but he couldn’t help himself. When he scrolled down a bit too much, he ended up reading it anyway.
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“From an evolutionary biology perspective, there are generally two ways to thicken blood vessel walls. First, you can promote the division and proliferation of the cells in the vessel walls, but it’s best if they proliferate outward, otherwise, the vessels might get clogged. Second, according to Darwin’s theory of evolution, an organism’s physiological state changes in response to environmental changes. When the human body needs to thicken its blood vessel walls to survive, the walls will naturally thicken over time, but it would require a long period of evolution.”
“Huh?”
Shen Xingkong’s eyes immediately locked onto the computer screen. The fifth reply caught his attention. It seemed that not everyone in the forum was an uncultured idiot; at least one person had provided a serious and reasonable answer.
According to this reply, thickening blood vessel walls was not an impossible task, but both methods seemed too futuristic. Whether it was inducing cell proliferation in the blood vessel walls or creating an environment that necessitated the thickening of the walls, Shen Xingkong had no idea where to start or what to do specifically.
After thinking for a long time, Shen Xingkong even forgot to make dinner. He eventually decided to reach out to the forum member who had posted the fifth reply; perhaps he could find some unexpected guidance. He used his mouse to click on the member's ID, and a screen with the member’s information popped up, including an option to send a private message.
Shen Xingkong sent the member a polite message, expressing his hope to exchange QQ numbers for a deeper conversation. After sending the message, he sat in front of the computer and waited, occasionally refreshing the page, hoping for a reply.
As time passed, Shen Xingkong ended up waiting for three full hours in front of the computer, long enough for the sun to set, and he was starving.
“What kind of expert is this? He’s probably just like that pervert Chang Le, out messing around somewhere at night. Whatever, I need to eat first.” Shen Xingkong grumbled to himself, then got up and went to the kitchen to make dinner.
A little later, Shen Xingkong returned to the computer with a full belly, feeling great. He burped and pressed F5 to refresh the webpage.
As soon as the page refreshed, the computer speakers suddenly made a “ding” sound, and the webpage notified Shen Xingkong that he had just received a new message. His eyes immediately lit up, and he opened the message to find a QQ number.
“Ha ha!” Shen Xingkong couldn’t help but laugh out loud. If he had known it would be like this, he would have gone to eat sooner—no need to starve for half the night!
He launched his QQ client and sent a friend request to the expert, making sure to note that he was the one from the forum. Soon, the expert accepted his request, and Shen Xingkong quickly found his avatar in his friends list. He double-clicked on it and typed a quick greeting.
“Hello, expert.”
“Are you the one who posted about thickening blood vessel walls on the forum?”
“Yes, thank you so much for replying to my post.” Shen Xingkong made sure to be polite.
“It was nothing, ha ha. You’re quite unique!” The expert had found Shen Xingkong’s inquiry “special.”
“Let’s not talk about that! Expert, regarding the two methods you mentioned, which do you think is more feasible with current technology?”
“Could you first tell me why you’re so interested in blood vessel walls?” The expert seemed more intrigued by Shen Xingkong himself.
“I’m studying medicine. Recently, I’ve been learning about cerebral blood vessels, and I thought if we could thicken the walls of the blood vessels in the brain, it might help prevent hypertension in the future.” Shen Xingkong casually lied, keeping it simple.
“It’s not that easy, ha ha! As I mentioned in the forum, the first method is clearly unfeasible because the physiological state of the human body is determined by DNA. Human DNA has long since been programmed to design the structure of every cell and even every hair on our bodies. It would take a significant stimulus, strong enough to cause a DNA mutation, to make any changes possible.”
“What kind of stimulus are you talking about?” Shen Xingkong was determined to get to the bottom of it.
“For example, nuclear radiation…”
“Forget it, tell me more about the second method!” Shen Xingkong was definitely someone who knew when to back off.
“The second method seems feasible, but it’s actually not,” the expert teased, leaving Shen Xingkong hanging for a moment.