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Chapter 10: 10

By the time Chen Chen was woken up by the administrator of the reading room, five hours had passed .

“Student, it’s getting dark, the library will be closing soon . ”

“Ok Auntie, let me pack up a little then I’ll leave . ”

By the time Chen Chen came to his senses, there were several books piled in front of him . From Essence of Reading to Cambridge IELTS, and Official Guide to Blue Delta, all piled on the table .

Chen Chen took the books and put them where they belonged . Then, he left the library .

It was rare for Chen Chen to see the nighttime scenery on the campus . He could see bulbs of orange streetlights on the quaint walkway, illuminating like stars in the night sky .

A gust of wind blew, causing the trees by the roadside to rustle .

Early winter was approaching and the campus in December was starting to get chilly .

Chen Chen had not eaten or drank anything for five to six hours and yet, he did not feel hungry or thirsty .

Not only that, he still felt energetic . He did not feel tired . It was like he had just woken up .

He knew that this was all the effect of NZT-48 .

“From here on, the time to take NZT should be set around ten in the morning to noon . That way, it could synchronize with the time I rest . ”

Chen Chen silently calculated . In the movie, the effects of NZT-48 could last twelve hours . If it was liquidized with glucose and injected into the veins, it could last up to thirteen hours .

However, Chen Chen decided not to bother with the injection method .

After all, there was too much movement . The process was too complex and it was difficult to conceal .

Between the purchasing and disposing of the syringes and the needle mark that would show on Chen Chen’s arm, it was too easy for people to get the wrong impression .

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If somebody got the wrong impression and reported to the police, then NZT-48 would be exposed . What would follow would be the supervision of the Mainland China government . After that, even the secret of the USB drive would not be safe .

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There was a period where Chen Chen was obsessed with reading on criminal psychology . He had long forgotten the contents of those books but under the effects of NZT, he was able to access his vault of memories .

There was a quote from one of the books that went like this:

“When a person is being interrogated, his willpower is like a tube of toothpaste . Once there’s an opening, everything else will pour out with a squeeze . ”

Which was to say, Chen Chen had no interest in using his willpower to challenge the interrogation method of the officials .

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When he pushed open the door to the dorm, the scent of alcohol jumped at him .

Inside the dorm, Zhou Jie was lying down on dorm leader Wang Wei’s bed . He was rolling around in bed while howling and crying . Wang Wei stood beside and was crying without tears .

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“A bunch of amateurs got wasted?”

Chen Chen walked in and was speechless .

“Nostril hasn’t even gotten started yet . ” Chen Chen’s upper bunk mate, Li Bo, had a sad look on his face . “He got dumped . ”

Zhou Jie got the nickname Nostril because he had the same name as a certain celebrity who went viral off a meme . The celebrity’s nostril was very noticeable in the meme .

“Nostril was in a relationship?” Chen Chen was a little surprised . “Which unlucky girl was it?”

“Small wonder you don’t know . It ended before it even began,” dorm leader Wang Wei took off his glasses and said silently .

“Ooooo, Little Mei, Little Mei! I want more beer . Bring me a beer!”

Zhou Jie, who was lying on the bed, seemed to have heard Chen Chen . He demonstrated his ultimate death roll again, stomping a bunch of footprints on Wang Wei’s mattress .

“Oh well, I’ll let him sleep on my bed tonight . I’ll sleep above . ”

Wang Wei was getting agitated . “Lil Chen, you sleep down there . Help take care of him later tonight . ”

“I’ll consider myself lucky as long as he doesn’t throw up . ”

Chen Chen stopped . He suddenly remembered he had not finished his buns . They might go bad by the next day .

On the principle that he should not waste, Chen Chen took the buns and started munching .

“What the hell? Lil Chen, you’re too frugal . No wonder Lil Bo said you didn’t want to eat together . ”

Wang Wei was dumbfounded .

“I have no choice, I only have two hundred left for this month . I have to be frugal . ”

Chen Chen continued eating and drank a large mouthful of cold water .

Possibly because he had only been drinking and not eating anything, Zhou Jie opened his eyes when he heard someone eating . He asked drowsily, “Lil Chen, what are you eating?”

“Cephalosporins1, want some?”

Chen Chen took a bun and passed it over .

Zhou Jie: “…”

“D*mn, get out of my bed if you’re sober . Stop hogging my bed!”

Wang Wei could tell that Zhou Jie was getting sober just by looking at the bloke’s face so he immediately chased him out .

The stubborn Zhou Jie did not want to get up . “My head still hurts . Let me lie down for a little longer, just a bit!”

“Hurry up! Hurry up!”

Wang Wei began shaking the railing of the bed . The entire floor was creaking loudly due to the movement .

While the two of them were messing around, the people downstairs were getting fed up . They heard someone shouting from the window, “Hey, be quiet upstairs . Are you guys fighting or something?”

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Wang Wei did not hear it initially . He only realized it after the people downstairs were sounding angrier .

“Are you going to let me sleep? What are you shaking your *ss upstairs for?”

When he heard the constant cussing coming from downstairs, Wang Wei immediately stopped . He felt awkward .

However, Li Bo, who had been playing games the entire time, was fed up as well . He yanked open the curtains and shouted downstairs, “What are you shouting so d*mn loud for? Go to the dorm manager! Keep shouting!”

Wan Wei quickly pulled his sleeve . “Alright alright, keep yelling and you’re going to attract the dorm manager here . ”

“Motherf**ker, I’m going to pay them a visit tomorrow . See how tough he really is . ”

Li Bo scolded, “I’m a well-natured person . I don’t like swearing . But they were the one cussing us out first, classless…”

After this scuffle, Zhou Jie stopped causing trouble . He took the bun from Chen Chen and then silently climbed back to his bed to eat .

…

Since the three of them drank quite a lot of beer, Wang Wei and Zhou Jie fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow . Li Bo, on the other hand, went to bed after playing another round of the game .

Chen Chen was the last one to turn off the lights . He lied down on his bed for a while but could not fall asleep .

Chen Chen knew this was due to NZT-48 .

NZT’s effects lasted twelve hours . He took the pill at two o’clock . If he wanted to sleep, he was going to have to wait till two o’clock in the midnight .

So, he got back up again and looked for his computer in the dark and logged on to Jacount .

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Previously, Chen Chen had been so naïve in wanting to research the components of NZT . He wanted to find a way to counteract the side effects of the drug like the characters in the movie did .

However, after referencing the knowledge he had about the human brain, Chen Chen realized that he was getting ahead of himself .

With the current technological advancement, it was impossible to replicate NZT-48, moreover trying to remedy the side effects of NZT-48 .

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If Chen Chen wanted to start his research, he would need the support of a gigantic organization like Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson .

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Given ten to twenty years and tens of billions of funds, perhaps they could figure out some clues about NZT-48 .

By that time, Chen Chen would have long given up .

In conclusion, there was no need for Chen Chen to consider the realistic side of things . Currently, his only way out was to take advantage of NZT’s capability to make a lot of money .

After that, buy a factory . Then, he could use the infrastructure of AC380V to charge the USB drive and start a virtuous cycle .

Of course, Chen Chen had an alternative: stop taking the drug .

That would be the safest option . Currently, he had only taken one capsule of NZT . He still had time to quit cold turkey .

He could first earn enough to buy a factory and began charging the USB drive . He could then start taking the drug after he had successfully instantiated the permanent immunity shot .

Then, a new problem arose .

Without taking the drug, could he earn that much money?

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Even if he could manage it, how many years would that take?

Ten years?

Twenty years?

After taking the drug, Chen Chen was able to see things with extreme clarity .

It was due to this clarity that he was able to understand this . Based on his usual capability, he could probably make a decent living, but to get rich was out of the question .

On top of that, the drug was like the devil . It was one thing if he never tried it, but he had already tasted it and felt that fleeting sensation of having everything in control that came with the drug . When he woke up tomorrow morning, would he truly have what it took to never touch it again?

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Heh .

Not only did the addictive nature of the drug originated based on physiology but it also fed on the addictive nature of human psychology .

In addition, the options given were to live a life of mediocrity or achieving great things but with an above fifty percent chance of suddenly dropping dead after a year . Did you expect most people to be able to make a rational judgment?

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Chen Chen was not sure about other people but he knew that he would not be able to make a rational judgment .

Therefore, there was no way he was going to stop taking the pills . He could not stop taking it in his lifetime .

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As for some cheap tactics like “sell some NZT to make money” or “steal high voltage electricity to charge the USB drive”, they were out of the question . He would not try those even if he was desperate .

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