Mrs. C rushed forward, blocking him. "Doctor, this is the result of all your hard nights of research. How can you let these people see it before it hits the market? What if it gets out?"
Dr. B shook his head with a smile. "Even if they see it, it's fine. It's a chance for everyone to witness it firsthand. Besides, some of these materials only appeared after the apocalypse, and they don't know the formula."
The farm owners exchanged glances and nodded in unison. "Dr. B, let us be the witnesses!"
Hooked.
Human greed is like that: just looking, just observing, and before you know it, you've fallen into the pit. In fact, teaching old folks in China with a little trick and small daily gifts for a few weeks does the same thing, even more so.
Jing Shu pretended to hesitate a moment, then said, "Fine, but I'll make it clear. The herbs I cultivated, whether good or bad, will all go through evaluation. Anything useless at the end counts as your loss."
Dr. B laughed magnanimously. "Of course, beautiful lady."
So, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Jing Shu carried out two pots of herbs, laughing proudly. "Doctor, you're going to lose. One pot's halfway dead, the other is normal. Let's see how you increase the yield by fifty percent now."
Post-apocalypse yields were generally low, and the farm owners had felt that recently. They were genuinely curious to see how the Water of Life would affect dying plants.
Privately, the farm owners whispered among themselves about how to test and observe, and how to verify the results. After all, seeing isn't always believing.
Dr. B led everyone, including Eiffel, to his four-story sealed building from last time. After some guidance, the bandaged and grotesque Tis brought them to the doctor's private lab.
The farm owners couldn't stop marveling at the lab. Even Jing Shu had to admit that Dr. B's success had reason—so few con artists put on a show this convincingly, almost becoming real doctors in the process.
Dr. B guided them to complex instruments, then placed Jing Shu's two pots of "herbs" inside the sealed lab. Through the exterior glass, everyone could watch the herbs' condition.
"This is a great moment, a moment to witness a miracle. I suggest you record it. From now on, I'll start the experiment," Dr. B said as he switched on the projector.
"This projection helps us observe the cell division in these two pots, so we can understand it more clearly. I'll also explain more during the process. Any questions, you're free to ask. In the vast universe, you have the right to know this interesting knowledge."
Everyone sat seriously as Tis, still wrapped in bandages, added a few more items.
"Today, we're testing ten corn kernels, ten strawberries, these seeds, and some sodium-potassium minerals. The Water of Life can improve the quality and cell count of all these materials."
He placed them under the microscope, projecting the images outside so everyone could observe the changes in detail.
Jing Shu couldn't help but think, "Damn, Dr. B went all out. He'd spent all night yesterday recording cell division videos, combined them, fast-forwarded them, and made the process look seamless. One slip today, a shaky hand, a pause or a triangular play icon on the projector, and the trick would be exposed."
But Dr. B was an old hand and had successfully fooled many people before.
No one would guess that the live projection was pre-recorded, perfectly explaining the principle with time shifts. Even Austin Castle's scientists couldn't pick it apart. Of course, Jing Shu's two pots had been prepared in advance.
The evaluation began.
Dr. B started explaining in a torrent of complex jargon, so fast and technical that Zhen Nantian's translator couldn't keep up. He worked frantically in the lab, giving the impression of a passionate, naturally gifted scientist completely devoted to his work.
Jing Shu began to feel sleepy, and the farm owners were dozing off too, but they kept their eyes on the plants, recording everything, even if they couldn't understand the advanced talk.
From evolution to cosmic molecules and black holes, it sounded tangentially related but out of reach, highbrow and impressive. Jing Shu admired only Dr. B's skill.
Just as the farm owners were squirming, Dr. B suddenly shouted, "Oh my God, look! The cells are dividing! Watch these miraculous cells! In just a few hours, the division is complete. Incredible!"
Everyone perked up, witnessing a scene that stunned and impressed them. Though the process took hours and their necks ached, the video clearly showed the plants growing beyond what the naked eye could detect.
The healthy pot slowly 'grew,' its palm-sized leaves doubling in size within hours. Under the microscope, the cellular activity seemed to multiply into millions. Leaves and roots visibly expanded in mere hours.
The nearly dead pot also doubled in size after several hours, sprouting more leaves, showing the Water of Life had 'revived' it.
Tiny corn kernels, strawberries, even the small seeds doubled, and even the minerals expanded slightly, all on their own.
To make the video match the real samples so precisely, Dr. B had put a lot of effort into this. From the outside, the combination of microscope footage and real plants was visually striking. Jing Shu almost believed the carbohydrates really expanded that much, without affecting original quality.
After all, two years later, Wu City in China would indeed invent gigantic food—but those foods were terribly awful to eat, and outside of carbs, offered almost no nutrition.