Chapter 53: Chapter 51 Xu Yun’s Speculation
"Strange..."
In the confined space, looking at the ’3/100’ knowledge points in front of him, Xu Yun was a bit puzzled as he rubbed his chin:
"Where did these three knowledge points come from?"
One must know.
In the past ten years, Xu Yun had been advancing his studies from the youth class to now pursuing a Ph.D. in biology and a master’s in condensed matter, accumulating a total of 300 knowledge points, and not long ago, he opened three doors.
According to time calculation, a knowledge point is generated only every 12 days on average.
Indeed, the quality of the content learned in each stage over these ten years varied, so sometimes it generated faster, sometimes slower.
But no matter what, it shouldn’t have resulted in this situation where three knowledge points appeared all at once.
Subsequently, Xu Yun checked the space once more, confirmed there were no other anomalies, and returned to reality.
He came to the desk, picked up paper and pen, and wrote down a few groups of words:
Organize project, Cyclic knowledge expansion, Newton portrait.
These three groups of words summarized his actions after returning from the 1665 dungeon:
Organizing a project was considered an enhancement of his research status, cyclic expansion was a new knowledge or idea gained from a rewarded formula, and the Newton portrait was a recent upheaval.
Then Xu Yun drew a line under the latter two groups of words.
From perspectives of probability and reasoning, the latter two seemed more plausible.
He then pondered and, touching his chin, analyzed:
"If nothing unexpected happens, the lab over there can officially attempt the synthesis of compounds the day after tomorrow. If it’s the former cause, once the technical barriers are broken, the knowledge points should correspondingly increase. As for the latter..."
Xu Yun scratched his head, took out his phone again, and opened Penguin.
It’s strange, in 1112 everyone liked to play on Penguin Space, most of them have now shifted to Moments, even one-on-one chats are mostly on WeChat, but uniquely, for group chats, everyone still prefers Penguin groups.
For instance, Xu Yun, apart from having a group called "A Close-Knit Family" on WeChat, almost all other group chats exist on Penguin.
At this moment, Xu Yun opened a Penguin group named ’Forehead Protection Association’, established by several graduates from Ke Da.
This was a small group Xu Yun often frequented, with a total of over 70 members.
Among them, there were a bunch of big names, recipients of awards such as the Green Orange Award, 28-year-old associate professors, each with a resume like the protagonists of online novels.
Besides their abilities, they were also quite ’upright’ ideologically, frequently meeting offline for meals.
When Xu Yun opened the group chat, it was bustling with lively discussions.
[Wish you nine dots on the board]: "@Xiao Hong, you can’t say for sure, foreigners have faked it more than once. Back then, they could even claim a dustpan was from tens of thousands of years ago, so fabricating a portrait is nothing."
[Xiao Hong]: "(facepalm) I’m not saying they won’t fake it, I think even if they fake it, at least do it with Nike or Adidas, right? Making it Anta is just advertising domestic brands..."
[Pastoral Song]: "Could it be Great Britain preparing to pledge allegiance after Brexit, haha."
[He Jiajia]: "Relax, relax, at least it’s not the Queen in the portrait, otherwise that would be scarier, being alive over three hundred years ago..."
"...."
As Xu Yun expected, the group’s speed in catching up with the gossip was not slow. They must be discussing Mr. Niu’s portrait by now.
Seeing the flood of conversation, Xu Yun suddenly thought of the knowledge points, and tentatively typed:
"Guys, do you think there’s a possibility that a Transmigrator brought the shoes back?"
After Xu Yun posted this, the group initially went silent for a moment, then several ’dumbfounded’ emojis appeared.
[He Jiajia]: "Wang Mang: God Xu, I’m familiar with this!"
[Chen Chaoyuan]: "God Xu, you’re late. We’ve already discussed this possibility, it’s about as likely as the revival of the ’Otherworld Conquest Manual’ I’m following."
[Xiao Hong]: "Got it, if a Transmigrator really exists, then your book can be revived, right?"
[Chen Chaoyuan]: "?"
Seeing the increasingly sidetracked chat, Xu Yun couldn’t help but slightly shake his head.
Clearly.
Although the Newton portrait caused quite a stir within the circle, everyone’s attitude toward it was somewhat ambiguous, preferring to believe in fraud over the existence of a Transmigrator.
And right then, a group admin suddenly appeared in the group.
[Chaoyang]: "@everyone, I’ve just about found out what’s going on with the Newton portrait."
This person’s avatar was a rising sun from the mountain, looking somewhat like someone who had seen through the worldly matters, yet he was one of the top figures in the ’Forehead Protection Association’:
Huaxia’s quantum genius, recipient of the Fresnel Prize, who became an associate professor at Ke Da at the age of 28, broke four world records in photon entanglement in the Physical World, known as Mr. Xiao Yang, Lu Chaoyang.
As soon as Lu Chaoyang @ mentioned everyone, a bunch of emojis popped up in the group.
Then Lu Chaoyang continued typing:
"I inquired with a friend at Churchill College, and the portrait is indeed real, but the original owner Belém Brisson may have drawn those sneakers on the portrait during his lifetime, then used certain special substances to temporarily cover the original traces—such as transient state esters of a six-membered ring, which are colorless and tasteless. During museum authentication, for protection reasons, chemical analysis cannot be performed on the artwork, only the year of its creation can be authenticated at most."
"These substances gradually decompose upon contact with air. Even if they didn’t fully reveal during the ceremony, they would inevitably be discovered afterward due to the high foot traffic at the museum. It’s just a matter of time before they were exposed."
[Su Yuyan]: "Technically feasible, but what’s the reason? Why would he do that?"
[Chaoyang]:
"I personally believe it’s Belém Brisson’s satire on the BCI incident. I specifically checked this person’s data; he had lived in Hu for more than a decade. His feelings and impressions of the local area should be quite positive, even having arguments on YouTube in 2018 with others over some smear remarks, indicating he’s upright and not the typical Western admirer."
"Additionally, Newton is the founding father of Western modern physics. Adding a side profile of Anta shoes in his portrait symbolizes him standing on the shoulders of giants wearing shoes from the East, thus satirizing that Great Britain’s foundation comes from the East, perfectly aligning with the 19th-century history. In my view, this standpoint is plausible."
"Alright, I’m done, slipping away now."
With Lu Chaoyang’s statement, the entire group gradually fell into silence.
In terms of affection, Lu Chaoyang was one of the top figures in the group and related fields domestically, with quite reliable connections.
Logically, the scenario he depicted was also close to reality. Both Belém Brisson’s intention and his concealment methods withstand scrutiny, more so than Transmigrator or fraud theories.
Seeing this, Xu Yun couldn’t help but sigh.
The Weibo heat fell from seventh to eighth, which basically represented the maximum heat the Newton portrait could achieve. Meanwhile, Lu Chaoyang’s words could represent a conclusion within the circle.
In other words, the topic’s heat pretty much ends here.
To verify whether the Easter egg is related to knowledge points, either another Easter egg needs to be discovered, or...
The physical sneakers need to be unearthed.
Little Niu... or Old Niu’s portrait was drawn in 1701, over 300 years have passed; it’s almost impossible for the shoes to be preserved in their original form.
"If there’s time before it gets dark, I want to dig out your eyes~"
As Xu Yun was pondering, his phone suddenly rang, switching from the QQ group to an incoming call interface.
Xu Yun pressed and slid the green call button, and after a moment, Qiu Sheng’s voice came from the receiver:
"Old Xu, the substitution reaction was successful, two hours earlier than we expected. If nothing goes wrong, we can start synthesis tomorrow morning!"