Autistic genius, a flourishing era of scientific research

"Comparing these calculation results, it seems that the iron sheet has undergone a qualitative change, but strangely, it has not turned into another substance and still retains its iron composition. I actually have some suspicions that the softened iron sheet may have a different effect than other iron sheets. Or perhaps the softened iron sheet is different from other iron sheets."

Xia Fei said, "Isn't that nonsense? I don't believe that after softening and then hardening back to the original piece of iron, there must be something wrong!"

Lu Ze listened to the three of them talking for a while, but he could tell that the focus was actually on this device, and even more so on the theme of studying ghosts that Jiang Yan mentioned.

Jiang Yan picked up the iron sheet and said, "It should have changed, but we haven't figured it out yet."

"I was convinced I saw a ghost, so I created this ghost research device."

Several people were silent, probably not expecting Jiang Yan to really think this way.

Xia Fei scratched his hair and asked, "What does that ghost look like? Aren't you afraid? You saw a ghost, and then you want to study it? If I saw a ghost--"

"Then you will just scream and be treated as a psychopath." Liming interrupted him and continued.

Xu Weiran nodded in agreement. "Anyway, you won't be like Jiang Yan, trying to assemble this ghost research device to study ghosts. You'll just scream and get beaten up by your parents. Your family runs a repair shop. If you were as smart as Jiang Yan, you might just go back to repairing ghosts."

Liming: "But you definitely won't succeed. You can't even make a device like this that hits the mark by accident."

Xia Fei: “…”

Before he could finish his words, they snatched it away.

Lu Ze's mouth twitched when he heard this, and he said speechlessly: "Then Jiang Yan's reaction is really--" strange.

"Impressive, isn't it!" Xia Fei said proudly, "Look, this is definitely number one in our class, and will be number one in our grade. He's very smart, and his brain is different from the average people like us. Don't be jealous, we can't be jealous."

Lu Ze glanced at Xu Weiran and Liming, and seeing that they both looked in agreement, he felt strange.

He was speechless and said, "Isn't Jiang Yan's reaction strange? To put it more seriously, she's a little crazy, a little psychotic. Who would bother studying ghosts? Even if they did, shouldn't they be practicing feudal superstition? Burning paper and performing rituals? Why would they use this—"

He pointed at the device and said, "Using this machine-like thing to study ghosts?"

Li Ming was silent for a moment. "Isn't that strange? We can calculate data based on this research device. Doesn't that seem strange?"

Xia Fei: "...I think it's amazing. Anyway, when I see a ghost, I just scream. If there really were ghosts, I would definitely scream and then ask my parents to find a fortune teller to catch a ghost for me the next day. Like, creating a device like this to study ghosts? I don't have the brains or the ideas to do that."

Xia Fei now has only one thought: Jiang Yan's way of thinking is different from theirs. This is a true genius who has a gap between him and ordinary people. He really admires him.

"What is Jiang Yan thinking?" Xu Weiran did not ask whether it was strange or not, but looked at Jiang Yan and asked her about her thoughts.

Lu Ze saw that the attitudes of the three people were obvious. Whether it was strange or not was beyond words. They were obviously positive and supportive of Jiang Yan's research on ghosts.

"I think you three are pretty weird too."

It was as if Jiang Yan had drugged him. He was actually only surprised for a moment by Jiang Yan's idea, and then nothing happened.

They began to discuss ideas for studying ghosts with Jiang Yan!

Lu Ze: ...Are they four lunatics? Have they become stupid from studying too much?

After listening to them for so long, Jiang Yan was asked about her thinking and gave a brief explanation:

"In many ghost stories, ghosts can make things move automatically without wind or on their own. This is also seen in TV dramas. After I saw the ghost that night, I saw the shadows of the trees on the roadside move."

"Why would something move inexplicably?" Jiang Yan looked up at Li Ming who was sitting on the ground not far ahead.

Li Ming followed the scenario she described and said, "Just as you said, there was a ghost causing trouble, so it moved."

Jiang Yan: “…”

She stood up expressionlessly, and at the same time, she grabbed the collar of Xia Fei, who was sitting next to her, and pulled him up.

Xu Weiran was startled by her decisive style of acting without any prior notice. He silently tidied his clothes, then moved to the edge of the sofa and sat next to Li Ming, just across from Jiang Yan. He could directly see what Jiang Yan was going to do to Xia Fei who was pulled up.

But Jiang Yan didn't do anything. She just pulled Xia Fei to his feet and then let go.

When he let go, he patted Xia Fei's wrinkled collar.

Xia Fei straightened his hair uncomfortably, then immediately said, "I know what Jiang Yan means—things move because they have force."

Lu Ze stood aside, deep in thought.

"Is that right?" Xia Fei said and looked at Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan pursed her lips and nodded, then sat down again. "When the wind blows things, it's the wind that exerts force. When I pull Xia Fei, it's me who exerts force. So, since the ghost can make the tree shadow move, it means the ghost exerts force on the tree shadow."

Xu Weiran immediately said, "That's true, but a shadow is just a dark area left behind when light is blocked by an object. It can't move just by applying force."

Jiang Yan asked him, "Under what circumstances would the shadow move?"

Xu Weiran's eyes flashed. "Let's take the most common and common situation as an example. When the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the shadows of fixed objects on the ground will move."

"But this 'movement' isn't what we usually mean by 'movement'. It should be described as a change in shadow caused by the change in the direction of light."

"It's not the movement of the 'force' applied."

"Yeah." Xia Fei suddenly frowned.

Liming looked at the device in front of him and stood up. "I can't figure it out. Let me simulate it! I'll go get a flashlight."

Then he quickly went to Jiang Yan's room, found the flashlight in the drawer of Jiang Yan's room, and shone it on the device for studying ghosts.

Because it was daytime, the shadow cast by the flashlight was not very obvious.

Jiang Yan waved to them, and then they gathered together, blocking the light, and the shadow of the device became clearer.

"Give me the flashlight." Jiang Yan said to Li Ming.

Li Ming gave it to her immediately, and Jiang Yan turned around and handed the flashlight to Xia Fei. Xia Fei was stunned for a moment before he understood and handed it to Lu Ze who came to join in the experiment.

Lu Ze was not that stupid. After getting the flashlight, he handed it to Li Ming, who then passed it to Xu Weiran, and finally the flashlight returned to Jiang Yan.

"So it seems the shadow is actually moving. Even though it's different from what we usually say, that movement only occurs when 'force' is applied, to the naked eye, the shadow of this device is definitely moving!" Xu Weiran said, "As long as the light changes quickly enough."