Chapter 93: Data

I don't know why, although we originally wanted to test Lu Shanshan's ability, but as we talked, the topic unconsciously shifted to Xue Xu.

Chen Mu returned to the main point: "The significance of sealing the door gap, I believe everyone understands. The reason I called you siblings here is actually because I think your abilities can help in this regard."

"What help?"

"We'll need to test the specifics."

Chen Mu pointed to an iron rod on the ground that was being used as a fence bar and asked Lu Shanshan: "Can we use it as an experimental subject?"

Lu Shanshan glanced at her brother, nodded, and said: "Sure."

Then she walked over.

A 3-millimeter-diameter iron rod, strictly speaking for modern humans, would be better called an iron pillar; at two centimeters long, it's longer than a person's height. Chen Mu, relying on his own strength, could never lift it, but with his current ability, manipulating iron of the same volume poses no problem, so it's not too troublesome.

Lu Shanshan placed both hands on the surface of the iron pillar, then closed her eyes.

About half a minute later, she opened her eyes and exhaled.

"Done?"

Chen Mu was quite curious.

"Mm."

"Your ability usage also requires contact with the object, right?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever tried using your feet?" Chen Mu suddenly asked.

"No, I haven't." Lu Shanshan blinked: "Want to give it a try?"

"Not for now; we can talk about it later."

After saying that, Chen Mu went to the side of the iron bar, squatted down, and used both hands to lift one end of it.

One end of the heavy iron bar was slightly lifted off the ground, but it quickly crashed back down heavily.

"No effect?" Tang Jing asked.

Chen Mu had been spending these days with this pile of iron bars, knowing their weight like the back of his hand, and then asked Lu Shanshan: "Can you feel that you've affected it?"

Lu Shanshan shook her head: "I can only feel my energy entering the object, but I cannot control or even perceive what changes, if any, occur to it."

"Perhaps it's because it's too big?" Tang Jing said.

"Mm."

Chen Mu then realized that testing Lu Shanshan with the limit of his own ability was indeed unsuitable.

He then separated a fist-sized iron ball from his own weapon and handed it to Lu Shanshan: "Try this one."

Lu Shanshan took the iron ball, just like before, closed her eyes and focused intently, but this time the duration was noticeably shorter—about ten seconds—and she completed the task.

"It really is lighter."

Chen Mu took back the iron ball, clearly feeling it was much lighter, yet the ball's appearance remained completely unchanged.

Tang Jing also took the iron ball, gave it a little toss, and slightly nodded: "Indeed."

Chen Mu then created another iron ball with basically the same shape; comparing the two, the weight was roughly half.

"Do you feel you've already done your best?"

"Mm, each time I can at most achieve this extent, and using the ability a second time on the same object has no further effect." Lu Shanshan said with regret.

Among the four, Lu Shanshan is relatively far-sighted, and she probably thinks about her ability in the most detail.

If this ability could work without limit on the same object, theoretically its weight could be reduced to zero.

An object without weight could be used for many things.

But it's quite obvious.

Such a good thing simply doesn't exist.

Chen Mu, although a bit regretful, also expected this; not mentioning Lu Shanshan's ability strength, the Special Ability itself, while enhancing humans, also sets certain limits, making it impossible for anyone to become absurdly strong.

"Tang Jing, can you calculate the mass of this iron ball?"

"Let me see."

Tang Jing walked over, gestured with her fingers twice, and said: "The diameter is about 0.8 millimeter, giving a volume of 0.00027 cubic centimeter; with a density of 7.8, the weight is 0.0021 gram."

The volume and density formulas for a sphere are basic basics; even a primary school student could work them out on a scrap of paper, but to mentally compute the result in the time of casual speech, few could manage.

Chen Mu had long grown accustomed to Tang Jing's human calculator, but Lu Shanshan and her brother could only be astonished.

"So Lu Shanshan's ability can only reduce weight by 0.001 gram per use?"

"Isn't that too little?"

"It's not that little, after all we can't judge weight by old standards—we ourselves aren't that heavy, and besides, the ability will grow."

"Furthermore, it's too early to draw conclusions now; one set of experimental data can't prove anything." Tang Jing said: "Let's try a different material first."

Chen Mu fetched another piece of plastic.

He shaped it into the same form as the previous iron ball.

He had Lu Shanshan follow the same procedure.

However, this time, according to Tang Jing's calculation, the reduced weight was actually less than before—even nearly ten times less.

"Let's try a larger one."

Chen Mu already had a vague guess in his mind, but without verification he dared not draw a firm conclusion.

This time, they used a piece of plastic about the size of a head.

After the test, the amount of mass reduced was greater than in the previous two attempts.

The fourth time, they used a plastic cube roughly half a person's height.

As soon as the result appeared, everyone was still puzzled.

Chen Mu and Tang Jing already spoke in unison: "I understand."

"Is it reduced proportionally?" Chen Mu looked toward Tang Jing.

"That should be correct."

"The degree of weight reduction is related to the object's initial weight."

Tang Jing nodded and said: "Lu Shanshan's ability, roughly, reduces an object's mass by half within a certain mass limit."

"According to my guess, the strength of the ability determines the object's mass upper limit, but it's still unclear whether it can exceed this 50% limit."

"Also, how to judge the object's overall specifics is another problem—for example, when two spheres are placed together, should they be counted together or separately?"

"……"

The two of them were discussing back and forth, oblivious to everyone else.

He Ying roughly understood a bit.

But Lu Shanshan and Lu Liangliang were completely baffled; they were even still amazed at Tang Jing's rapid-fire calculation speed.

"So, could you tell me what exactly is going on with my ability?"

Lu Shanshan felt a bit embarrassed, as if others understood her ability better than she did……

"Don't rush; we still need to do some verification calculations."

After saying that, Chen Mu walked over to the huge plastic cube used for the final experiment, placed his hand on it, and said: "But if our hypothesis is correct, that would be very interesting."

Just as his words fell,

Only to see that plastic cube dissolve at lightning speed with a boom, then transform around everyone into various dazzling shapes, finally reverting to a cube similar to the original.

However,

This cube had become dozens of times larger.

Like a room, it completely enveloped the five people inside.

Before Chen Mu acted, Tang Jing already knew what he was going to do, and at this moment she smiled.

Although He Ying was startled, she also quickly understood.

Only the Lu Shanshan siblings.

At this moment they looked up at the huge object that had suddenly appeared above their heads.

They were dumbfounded.