Chapter 94 - 93: Special Investigation Bureau: No, Wait, You Two...

"Nothing."

"All the data shows that your body is completely normal, no different from usual."

As he spoke, Zhou Zheng glanced at the instruments to the side and sighed.

"Based on the intel from the Special Fifth Bureau, we thought you being with him was causing some strange phenomena. But looking at it now, the data is normal too."

The instruments were right there. With Xu Huo and Wang Chao both present, the readings showed nothing more than a slightly elevated heart rate.

"So you’re saying there’s no so-called metaphysics at play?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.

"No, there’s actually one more thing we haven’t tested..."

Zhou Zheng pondered for a long time before speaking.

"According to the Special Fifth Bureau’s investigation, Mr. Wang, do you or do you not have a notebook full of business plans?"

A notebook?

Filled with business plans?!

A stunned expression appeared on Xu Huo’s face as he stared in disbelief at the honest-looking Wang Chao.

Wang Chao was aghast. "How did you know?!"

Zhou Zheng just smiled without explaining. With the Special Fifth Bureau’s resources and authority, running a check on Wang Chao was a simple matter.

They all knew those petty people loved to spy on others.

"Mr. Wang, do you have any business plans you’re fond of recently?"

"Tell us about them."

Zhou Zheng had discovered a pattern and was trying to crack its secret, but unfortunately, his previous examinations had yielded nothing.

However, they did have one rule when conducting experiments.

When your first experiment succeeds but the second one fails, it’s best to think back and see if you missed any steps in the procedure.

Even if it’s a step as ridiculous as kowtowing to the test subject, it cannot be skipped!

Zhou Zheng felt they were missing a little bit of ’business startup’.

"A business plan?"

Wang Chao’s heart tightened. He did indeed have plans—many, many plans. Each one was the result of his own careful deliberation.

"Originally, I wanted to raise pigs, but that’s not an option anymore."

"So..."

Wang Chao thought for a moment, then began.

"I was thinking of trying... education?"

’Making money off *that*?!’

Xu Huo raised his eyebrows, intrigued by the man’s bold idea.

Zhou Zheng glanced at the instruments. The data was still normal. "Go on, tell us more."

"Well, it’s nothing much. I was just analyzing our country’s current situation."

Wang Chao took a deep breath, and after careful consideration, he laid out his train of thought.

"I’ve noticed that the national literacy rate is generally rising, while the illiteracy rate is gradually falling."

"This is a good trend. It’s a clear sign that the country is developing and rising at a rapid pace!"

The development of a society is the development of its civilization. A civilization isn’t an individual, but an entire group.

Literacy and illiteracy rates are one manifestation of that developmental speed.

"And once people become literate, they start to think. And once they start to think, their desires and ambitions expand!"

Wang Chao continued.

This was why ancient rulers suppressed the wisdom of the common people. Literate people think more, and when people think more, they find more answers.

And what kind of answers were those?

Answers on how to realize their ambitions!

"In modern society, knowledge is wealth, and wealth is knowledge!"

"And so-called knowledge, when you get right down to it, is education!"

Wang Chao was resolute and full of confidence.

"People have desires. When they were illiterate, everyone thought that just being able to read made you a cultured person, that you’d be set for life."

"Even now, it’s the same. Knowledge is a path to the heavens, and how far you can walk on it depends entirely on the individual."

"It’s also the most common path for ordinary people to realize their desires."

"But this path isn’t easy. The further you go, the narrower it gets. But by the same token... how can a single road have only one lane?"

"The path to the heavens is never just a single-plank bridge!"

"Once you step onto this road, you begin to realize the diversity of knowledge."

Knowledge is a concept.

Culture is knowledge, dance is knowledge, music is knowledge—these are all different tracks.

"And as long as I control the gate to any one of these tracks, countless people will be willing to pay me a toll to pass through!"

Wang Chao said excitedly.

"My market will be everyone!"

"When it comes to knowledge, to the path of satisfying their ambitions, people never skimp on the cost!"

"Even the most basic tutoring center, one that just watches kids do their homework, can make money!"

Xu Huo’s mouth twitched.

"Which area are you planning to target?"

"Any of them, really. Every branch could work."

Wang Chao said vaguely, "Like that ’top-up degree’ program that was just implemented. I feel like that’s a great entry point."

"As society develops, the value of a university degree will decline. The demographic dividend will shrink, competition will get fiercer, and the first thing people will compete over is academic credentials."

"I have a feeling this top-up degree thing is going to be huge in the future!"

’He’s already targeting the top-up degree program that just started in ’01?’

Xu Huo’s mouth twitched. He recalled his previous life, where at the train and high-speed rail stations in a certain place, you’d be bombarded with a sea of advertisements the moment you stepped off.

’Want a top-up degree? Of course you should choose XX...’

"You only get one shot at upgrading your degree, you have to choose XX..."

Just how insane was this training institution?

How insane could a school that only focused on top-up degrees be?

Actually, it was ridiculously insane!

Its market value was never announced, but you could make a rough estimate.

Conservatively, it had about twenty-five thousand students a year. And being conservative with the tuition, let’s say fifteen thousand per person. That’s 25,000 x 15,000—a cash flow of nearly four hundred million in tuition fees alone per year!

As for how much profit that was after costs... anyone in education knows it’s an incredibly lucrative industry with very low overhead!

"I’m thinking I can start by trying out the ’teacher’ thing."

Wang Chao said obediently.

"A teacher? You’d have to pass the civil service exam for that, right?" Zhou Zheng said after a moment’s thought.

"No, I want to start a tutoring center. I’d find some professional teachers or university students to teach ordinary kids during their off-hours, like on holidays."

Wang Chao thoughtfully added:

"As the population grows, the competition will definitely get more intense. When adults can’t win the rat race, they’ll shift their focus onto their children."

"And what can children compete in? School, basically."

"If I do this, I’ll mainly be selling two services: one is instruction, and the other is peace of mind for the parents."

"Uh, I’ve already picked out a location. I’m planning to set it up in a densely populated area. That way, I don’t have to worry about a scene like the pig farm. If someone dies, people will definitely find out!"

Sometimes, parents don’t enroll their kids in tutoring centers because they’ve realized something, but because they want to give themselves a reason to feel at ease, a reason to shift the blame.

’After all, I’ve already enrolled you in extra classes and spent so much money. If you still do so poorly on your exams, it must be your fault. Besides, I spent the money; I did my part.’

It’s like those elementary school tutoring centers that don’t actually teach anything, but just restrict the kids’ freedom and make them do their holiday homework.

Are they useful? Not in the slightest. The kids who do their homework would do it at home anyway, and the ones who don’t won’t do it at the tutoring center either.

But the parents will still think they’ve done their best.

So, what these people are selling isn’t knowledge, but a ’peace of mind pill’!

"The data is still fine."

Zhou Zheng wasn’t concerned about that. He turned his head to look at the machine beside him, his brow furrowed.

After a long moment, he waved his hand dismissively.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Wang."

Hearing this, Wang Chao quickly pulled off the wires attached to him, then handed what he had brought to Xu Huo.

It was money.

"Just keep it. Consider it my investment. One of these plans is bound to work out," Xu Huo said, offering a few words of comfort.

"Alright, Brother Huo, I’ll be going then."

Wang Chao seemed a bit distracted. Without any further pleasantries, he took the money and left.

His mood had been low for the past two days. Xu Huo could see it, but he didn’t know why.

He turned back to look at Zhou Zheng.

"Hiss... How strange. Nothing happened at all..."

Zhou Zheng scratched his head, but he couldn’t figure out the reason for the life of him.

"If you ask me, it’s just a matter of luck. Nothing more than survivorship bias."

Xu Huo explained with a chuckle.

"No, there’s something too metaphysical about you two. To be honest, in almost half the times you’ve met, a case has occurred!"

Zhou Zheng eyed Xu Huo suspiciously, his brow furrowed.

"Then what’s your hypothesis?" Xu Huo had no intention of arguing with him. "Where’s the evidence?"

"There is no evidence."

Zhou Zheng shook his head.

"We suspect that, for you two, a ’case’ exists in a vague state of superposition, somewhere between existing and not existing. Life and death also hang in this balance."

"And the two of you act as the observers. Through the observer effect, you collapse this vague superposition into a definite state!"

"The prerequisite for this observation is you two meeting."

Zhou Zheng explained.

He was clearly discussing metaphysics, yet he was explaining it from a scientific perspective.

This was the job of the Special Seventh Bureau: to explain the strange with science, and then use science to control it!

"And when you two meet, it creates a sort of quantum entanglement, which in turn triggers the observer effect."

Zhou Zheng stated.

"Tsk, if you put it that way, then let’s say I go to a place first and then leave, and Chao Zi goes there alone and leaves, and then we both go there at the same time."

Xu Huo tried his best to dissuade him.

"Would a case still occur at that place?"

Zhou Zheng fell into deep thought.

The observer effect, a rather chilling phenomenon demonstrated by the double-slit experiment, implies that the material world we perceive doesn’t exist independently, but can be influenced by the observer.

It’s like how there might be a corpse behind you. Before you look, it’s uncertain; it might not exist, it could even be a piece of cake. But when you turn to look, that cake transforms into a corpse.

A single observer is all it takes to collapse the state.

But Zhou Zheng had never heard of an observer effect that required two people to observe simultaneously...

Once one person has fixed the state, could it possibly transform into another state before their very eyes when a second person arrives?!

That’s ridiculous!

"That makes sense. Why don’t we..."

Zhou Zheng’s eyebrows suddenly shot up, and he spoke with great interest.

"Test it out?"

"I’m not in a hurry to get back to the Capital City anyway."

Test it out?!

Xu Huo’s heart skipped a beat. But after thinking it over, he realized that if this could get the guy to stop focusing on him...

"How do we test it?"

"Just like you said. We’ll go to a specific location first, act as observers, and fix the state of the scene. Then, we’ll bring Mr. Wang over!"

The more Zhou Zheng thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

"Didn’t Mr. Wang say he picked a place? Let’s go check it out!"

It wasn’t scientific.

But it was very much in the spirit of experimentation!

And even more in line with quantum mechanics!

"Are you sure?"

Xu Huo’s mouth twitched. He looked at this researcher of special abilities, surprised that his methods were so simple and crude.

"Of course I’m sure!"

Zhou Zheng said, patting his chest.

"What if you run into a corpse?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.

"Me? Run into a corpse?"

Zhou Zheng paused. As a researcher, he wasn’t particularly brave, but he wasn’t exactly scared either.

"How could I possibly run into a corpse?"

"I’ve encountered all sorts of bizarre things. I’m quite good at drawing conclusions!"

"According to the premise that the observer effect is triggered by the two of you meeting, then with just you and me this time, the prerequisites for triggering the effect simply aren’t met!"

"How could we possibly run into a corpse?!"

Zhou Zheng patted his chest, absolutely certain.

At that moment, Zhou Zheng’s face was brimming with a confident smile.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

"Let’s go, we’ll go take a look!"

...

...

Meanwhile, Wang Chao had returned home.

He stared at his front door for a long time, then let out a deep sigh.

"Sigh~"