Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

The experiment went wrong on the second day.

"Dr. Hines, Mr. Lin Xuan, it seems there's a problem with subject number 104."

When the head of the medical department reported the news to the two of them, neither of them seemed too surprised.

"what's the situation?"

“He…he seems to have hydrophobia.” The head of the medical department thought for a moment, then quickly added, seemingly realizing that his statement might lead the two to misjudge the situation.

"It doesn't seem like rabies. He has no physical problems, but he is indeed afraid of water like a rabid person. He refuses to drink water and even refuses to eat food containing water. This is entirely psychological. He... believes that the water is poisonous."

"Is the water poisonous? Is that some kind of persecution complex?"

"No, not exactly. He didn't think someone poisoned the water, but rather... he thought the water itself was poisonous."

The three quickly arrived at subject number 104's room.

Number 104 is a college student who volunteered to participate in the experiment simply to earn some pocket money.

“He hasn’t had any water since yesterday, and he will become severely dehydrated if this continues.”

The head of the medical department pointed to the household microwave oven in his room as he spoke.

“Look at that, he puts bread or other food in and bakes it until it’s completely dry before eating it.”

When the group entered the room, subject number 104 was looking at them with terrified eyes. He grabbed Hines by the collar and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Dr. Hines, Mr. Lin Xuan, they're trying to kill me! They're trying to force me to drink water!"

He pointed in horror to a glass of water on the bedside table.

“These don’t seem like symptoms of rabies,” Lin Xuan said.

“Indeed.” Hines nodded in agreement with Lin Xuan’s statement.

A person with true hydrophobia will experience terrifying spasms upon seeing water, and even the sound of running water will drive them crazy. They cannot even talk about the word "water".

"What kind of college student is this? How could doing a part-time job turn him into this mess?"

Of all those present, only Hines understood what Lin Xuan was saying.

Hines approached subject number 104 and asked softly.

"You believe the water is poisonous?"

"What's there to doubt? It's like the sun having light and the air having oxygen—isn't that common sense?"

"common sense?"

The others were all taken aback, while Hines put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Young man, if you think water is poisonous, then seventy percent of your body is water right now."

Subject number 104 looked somewhat bewildered.

"Yes, Doctor, this question also troubles me. It's the most incredible thing in the universe. Water is poisonous, but I... am made of water."

After the two left the ward, Lin Xuan obtained a copy of the experimental records of subject number 104 from the director of the medical department and gave it to Hines.

"Proposition 1: Cats have three legs."

"Proposition 2: Stones are alive."

"Proposition 3: The sun is triangular in shape."

"Proposition 4: For the same volume, cotton is heavier than iron."

"Proposition 5: Water is poisonous."

"stop!"

Hines called out to Lin Xuan, pointing to proposition number 5.

"This proposition is the one you added manually at the end, and its answer is false."

As Lin Xuan spoke, she retrieved all the parameters and operational data of subject number 104 after he answered the question.

"It seems to be due to enhanced scanning. In order to improve the scanning accuracy of this area, the analytical camera increased the intensity of radiation and electromagnetic fields in a small area."

Lin Xuan explained.

"Is it a problem with the machine itself?" Hines asked Lin Xuan.

“That’s unlikely, Dr. Hines. We’ve done numerous tests on the camera before, and we can assure you that the radiation emitted by this machine is harmless to humans.”

"Then the problem lies with the operation itself."

"That's possible. We've done this kind of enhanced scanning three times before, but all of them were harmless true questions."

"Then... using the same parameters, repeat this operation and conduct another experiment on proposition 5."

"That's possible, but who will conduct the experiment?"

"I."

Hines answered calmly, and Lin Xuan nodded slightly before connecting the camera's connection device to Hines' brain.

"Then I'll start."

Lin Xuan re-executed the operation and parameters of Proposition 5 on the control panel. At this moment, Proposition 5 appeared in black font in front of Hines.

"The water is poisonous!"

Hines pressed the "fake" key.

The camera immediately emitted strong radiation, and Hines only felt a slight heat in his brain, but had no other symptoms.

"All done, Doctor."

After Lin Xuan finished executing the operation instructions, she said to Hines.

When Hines came out of the analysis and shooting room, Lin Xuan handed him a glass of water.

The latter took the water and calmly drank a sip.

His expression appeared extremely calm, but he never seemed to swallow.

His gaze gradually revealed the same fear as that of subject number 104, as if he were mentally battling an invisible and immense force.

Finally, he spat out all the water he had in his mouth with a "whoosh," and squatted down to vomit. He didn't vomit anything, but his face turned purple.

Upon hearing the commotion, the head of the medical department immediately came over and patted Hines on the back to help him breathe more easily.

Having just caught his breath, Hines held out a hand and said, "Give me some tissues or something."

After receiving the tissues, he carefully wiped the water off his leather shoes.

"It seems our experiment was a success."

Lin Xuan let out a long breath; the most incredible technology in the Three-Body world was about to be born.

Hines nodded slightly, looking at the water stains on the ground.

"Yes, I need to rest for a few days and go for psychological treatment. I'll have to trouble you to finish the rest of the work for now."

"no problem."

Lin Xuan asked the head of the medical department to find a psychologist for Hines and emphasized that if he became dehydrated, he should be forced to drink water.

As for subject number 104, Lin Xuan gave this wronged college student a large sum of money as compensation for emotional distress, and then he added a new pseudo-proposition to the child's brain.

"The water is non-toxic."

The results were not as good as Lin Xuan had imagined.

This proposition, which is completely contrary to the previous conclusion, did not negate the effect of the false proposition that "water is non-toxic." Instead, it added a new state to his mind.

Subject 104 was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and his brain gave two completely different judgments on the question of whether the water was poisonous.

Lin Xuan then understood why Hines had to resort to psychotherapy to alleviate his symptoms in the original story; it turned out that there was no way to counteract this state.

Left with no other option, Lin Xuan brought the child to the Red Coast Base and had Wang Miao directly connect his consciousness to the Thinker Array.

The moment consciousness connected, the database began to peel back the data, stripping away the two layers of states that the proposition had covered him from his mind, and subject number 104 finally returned to normal.

"Don't take on these kinds of shady part-time jobs again next time," Lin Xuan said to subject number 104 as they left.