Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1642 Products
Although it does sound like high school chemistry, how to replace sulfate ions with something as abstract as "hunger" is where alchemy comes in.

The final white starved product is anhydrous [starved lead-based compound].

It possesses the properties of starvation and lead. Starvation allows it to contain high-purity starvation, but due to the properties of lead itself, it cannot be consumed directly—though it is perfect for experiments.

"Wow!" Victoria exclaimed, looking at the finished product in the bottle. "I've never extracted such a good product before. If I had this skill back then, my teacher would have praised me—of course, this is mainly because the raw materials were good."

Han Xingzhi just provided very pure hunger, which made the reaction products quite pure as well.

If there were other emotions involved, there would actually be other colors in varying shades. But in the current reaction product, it is almost a pure white, like table salt.

"Alright, that's it." Victoria put the round-bottom flask away. "Actually, there could be a crystallization process, and the reaction products would be even better. But my technique isn't very good, so I won't do such a difficult step."

[It's already quite impressive that this isn't necessary. Not separating it and crystallizing it separately would just make it look less appealing.]

"Then, Shangluo, this reaction waste gas needs to be treated." Victoria removed a test tube from the other end. The test tube contained water, and the reaction waste gas is water-soluble, so after removing it, she just needed to put the cap back on and seal it.

"How to deal with this?"

“It’s best not to handle it ourselves,” Victoria replied. “Take this test tube with us and we’ll take it back to Rome to deal with it. There seems to be a powerful alchemist here who will be angry if I conduct such a basic experiment and then carelessly discard reaction waste.”

hum-

A chime rang out.

Clearly, "that person" was indeed watching this area, as it was indeed within his scope of business.

Faced with advanced technology, what they're doing might indeed be interesting, but it's merely showing off their limited skills. If they don't clean up properly after the experiment and instead litter with the waste gas, who knows what strange things the next experiment might produce?

"Alright! Mission accomplished." Shang Luo took the fried chicken from Wen Yuan. "You can eat now."

"Ah," Han Xingzhi sat up.

He glanced at the fried chicken and shook his head: "Let's forget about it?"

"Hey? What's wrong? Don't you want to eat anymore?"

"I no longer have those worldly desires."

"You really aren't going to eat?"

"I feel like my brain has been emptied out—forget it, I'm not eating."

"Hey, you said it yourself." He and Wen Yuan each broke off half of the fried chicken and ate it. "Hmm, not bad."

He originally wanted to pat Han Xingzhi on the shoulder, but since he had just finished the experiment and still had fried chicken in his hand, he decided not to.

[Logically speaking, it's not right for you to eat in the lab. But it doesn't matter, this isn't a lab anyway.]

Han Xingzhi stood up dejectedly, but it was a relief for him—at least he wouldn't be hungry until tonight.

"But I feel bad for owing you a piece of fried chicken. How about I treat you to a meal sometime?"

"It's alright, no need." He waved his hand. "I think cultivation is more important right now." "Don't think that just because you've entered a state of enlightenment you can ignore everything."

"It's okay. I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine."

after an hour.

"Bro! Fried chicken! I want fried chicken again! But what if I'm not hungry anymore?!"

"What's wrong with you??" Shang Luo asked in surprise. "Why are you eating fried chicken when you're clearly not hungry?"

"What a rip-off! I went to so much trouble to get you a piece, but I didn't eat it because I wasn't hungry! Isn't that a huge loss?"

It seems this isn't hunger, but rather unfulfilled greed. The emptiness created by hunger has brought him to a state of Buddha-like tranquility, allowing him to suppress his greed.

[No, Shangluo. Actually, it's because: after you drained its hunger, although it will take some time to eliminate that hunger, the emptiness in its heart will soon be filled by other fermenting emotions.]

"How could this be?!"

Yes. So this tactic is rarely used—overuse might trigger some adverse reactions. But since it's for obtaining evidence, a small sacrifice isn't a big deal; it's also a method of testifying in Rome. It seems his hunger has been filled by something else; he feels cheated because he didn't get to eat that piece of fried chicken.

"Okay, okay, see you at McDonald's."

Shang Luo hadn't gone far. He was still inside the Grand Palace, and they found him right at the golden archway at the palace gate.

"Is it really okay for me to eat like this?"

"Eat up. I'll take care of Master Sa. Just eat what you need. This meal is on me, so eat as much as you like."

"But... ah!" He clutched his forehead, "I'm in so much pain! I'm not hungry, but I still want to eat. Brother, have you ever experienced this feeling—when you're staying up all night, you're so sleepy, but you just can't fall asleep. Everything else in your mind is in agony except for sleep, and you just can't sleep!"

"It seems the side effects are indeed quite significant."

[Perhaps because the extracted hunger was too pure, it resulted in a rather large void. If we're talking about insomnia, this should be considered very pure insomnia.]

“Okay.” Shang Luo rummaged through his package and pulled out a small, golden pepper shaker. He took the paper bag containing the fried chicken, sprinkled some on the chicken, and then shook the bag vigorously.

"Eat."

When I came to my senses, my stomach was already full.

"I feel whole again. Ah, so full." Han Xingzhi leaned back, finally satisfied.

It seemed that because of the powerful alchemical potion, his eating was not hindered.

Although the extracted white hunger left him with a deficiency, the golden hunger made up for it. He really got a good deal.

"On the other hand, what will happen if I don't feed him?"

He might need several days to recover—I've heard that in Rome, there are occasional illegal labs that extract specific emotions from people. If this happens every time, his brain will quickly become riddled with unfillable holes. A single instance of hunger is manageable; it's like donating blood, helping to improve flow circulation. But if someone turns blood donation into a profession, starts selling blood, or even exploiting people, the resulting void cannot be filled by time alone.

(End of this chapter)