CHAPTER 331: CHAPTER 244 PREPARATIONS BEFORE EXPLORING THE UNDERGROUND PALACE AGAIN_2

In the next moment, Meng Die grabbed Rosen’s ear and started to twist it forcefully.

"Ah, it hurts, hurts, hurts, can you not do this?"

"Did you realize my power now?"

"Yes, yes, yes, let go."

Rosen then realized that Meng Die had been controlled by Wealth Wolf, who used Meng Die to attack him. It made Rosen understand that if he didn’t help Wealth Wolf complete this mission, Meng Die might end up killing him.

"Alright, we’ll take on this task, but you must ensure that during the mission, Tang Sanzang is kept healthy and chubby," Rosen demanded.

"Oh, that’s no problem at all, after all, it’s Tang Monk’s flesh, heh heh!"

Wealth Wolf sneered, and Rosen followed with a sneer, saying, "Then it’s settled."

"Of course, it’s settled. We tomb raiders will fatten up your provisions, and you help us explore the Ancient Tomb Palace."

The two sides reached an agreement and conducted a preliminary investigation of the current situation in the Underground Palace Tomb. Results showed that the mercury content in the tomb was evidently over the limit recently, possibly due to the tomb raiders’ activities, causing a connection with other tombs, leading the mercury from traps over there being channeled here.

You should know mercury has a strong volatilization capability, and if not promptly handled, large amounts of mercury vapor can easily lead to poisoning.

"Mercury is a hard-to-handle metal. To neutralize its toxicity, we can take two steps: first, let mercury react with sulfuric acid to generate mercury sulfide, then react with sodium chloride to form the more stable mercury chloride."

"Why is mercury chloride more stable than mercury sulfide?" Meng Die asked, puzzled, after hearing Rosen’s words.

Rosen said, "Mercury has a trivalent combining method, HgCl3, with three chlorines around one mercury atom. You should know that a triangle has stability; when evened out, it forms an equilateral triangle with sixty-degree angles, surely stable. Moreover, being a strong acid salt, it’s hard to replace."

"And mercury sulfide, Hg2S3, clearly has a 2:3 ratio, and this structure is obviously not as stable as the previous triangular form. Well, that’s it for talking; if you ask more, I can only say it’s metaphysics."

Rosen said with some unparalleled measure, as it was undeniable that explaining needed more words.

Upon hearing this, Meng Die suddenly had a light bulb flash over her head and said, "So should we be preparing sulfuric acid and salt?"

"Yes, we need concentrated sulfuric acid and non-iodized salt, with the salt needing purification to prevent additional chemical reactions," Rosen said.

Thus, tasks were assigned to Meng Die and Barefoot Immortal, letting Barefoot Immortal prepare the sulfuric acid, and Meng Die purchase and purify large amounts of salt.

Barefoot Immortal said, "I can produce acid myself. I just need to wear a hundred pairs of smelly socks and walk a kilometer; my smelly feet can generate a liter of acid, though I’m not sure if its composition is sulfuric acid."

Upon hearing this, Rosen was astonished.

Barefoot Immortal sure deserved the title of a mobile biochemical weapon.

Especially considering the strict control over sulfuric acid, making it impossible to legally trade privately; they had to find another way.

"Let me test first whether what’s produced from your feet is sulfuric acid."

"Add dilute hydrochloric acid first to exclude the sulfite ions, then add barium chloride. If white precipitate sulfur barium appears, then it’s sulfuric acid."

Moreover, this step can purify the sulfuric acid, removing incomplete reaction-produced sulfite ions, while miscellaneous-added hydrogen chloride can also be eliminated through heating, recycling for reuse.

After confirming the feasibility, Rosen began the experiment.

Took a milliliter of liquid secreted from Barefoot Immortal’s smelly feet, first dropping in dilute hydrochloric acid to exclude interference, then barium chloride.

Sure enough, white precipitate appeared.

Rosen was overjoyed, saying, "Great, it is sulfuric acid!"

However, Barefoot Immortal was not convinced, saying, "Isn’t there a possibility that the white precipitate is my stubborn foot grime?"

The composition of foot grime mainly includes detached dead skin mixed with sweat gland secretions.

But as Barefoot Immortal is no ordinary human, his foot grime can withstand the destruction of sulfuric acid, indicating its structure is very stable. Thus, under dilute sulfuric acid, it’s likely not decomposed, possibly even catalyzed to form precipitate.

Upon hearing Barefoot Immortal raise a concern again, Rosen always felt, if solving the problem was difficult, then directly solve the person who posed the question. That’s how things become peaceful.

Suddenly, he drew a kitchen knife.

Seeing the sharp knife placed against his neck, Barefoot Immortal’s face turned pale, laughing/pleadingly saying, "Don’t, please, I won’t raise any questions again, okay?"

"That’s more like it." Rosen put away the knife and said, "Now that we are sure what’s produced on your feet is sulfuric acid, we should proceed to the next phase, which involves online purchasing a treadmill for you to run on. Knowing you produce a liter of sulfuric acid walking one kilometer, let’s set a plan for you to continually run, producing large quantities of sulfuric acid, and you can lose weight in the process."

"Sounds quite good," Barefoot Immortal said, smiling.

"I’m back!" At this moment, Meng Die just returned from shopping outside.

The assignment Rosen gave Meng Die was to procure salt from outside and purify it.

After coming back, Meng Die said, "To save costs, I specifically went to coastal salt flats to buy coarse salt cheaply from local salt farmers. I bought a ton of it in one go, and the salt farmer said that due to recent wastewater pollution, the coarse salt is rich in radioactive elements, given as a free bonus without charging me extra."

Upon hearing this, Rosen’s face turned steel blue.

"Radioactive elements? Meng Die, are you serious?"

"Yes, I’m very serious."

"Alright, tell me how you plan to purify this batch of coarse salt."

It’s essential to understand coarse salt already contains numerous impurities, making purification troublesome, plus the radioactive elements.

Hydrogen isotopes?

They inhabit water and can be removed using evaporation, but some radioactive elements, such as selenium isotopes, cannot be so easily evaporated away.

Handling this is a large hassle.

Meng Die suddenly noticed Barefoot Immortal playing with a treadmill, and found interest, jumping onto it for fun.

The duo was like two hamsters enjoying treadmill playtime.

Suddenly, Rosen had an epiphany and said, "Right, why didn’t I think of that!"

When the human body exercises, mercury is secreted through the skin, eliminating excess salt. Through body filtration, radioactive elements remain inside, effectively removing them.

"No, that’s not quite right, because body filtration can’t ensure complete removal of radioactive elements, requiring multiple rounds of filtration."

After calling Meng Die over again, Rosen gave him a challenging task: to consume coarse salt while running alongside Barefoot Immortal on the treadmill.

It eventually turned out Meng Die’s daily workout could purify a ton of coarse salt, and due to Meng Die’s strong physique, only needed one filtration round to remove all radioactive elements.

Because of this, Meng Die shone brightly, becoming a truly glowing butterfly.

"Wow, what kind of cheap special effect is this? I’m actually glowing!" Meng Die exclaimed.

"No, this level of luminescence can be considered as a one-dollar special effect, not just a fifty-cent trick!" Rosen corrected.

Upon hearing this, joy filled Meng Die’s heart, signifying he was the first among them to achieve the one-dollar effect, surpassing Rosen.

"Absolute light ray!"

When radioactive elements accumulated sufficiently, Meng Die couldn’t control himself anymore. He pushed his palms forward, launching a beam of luminous light from his hands.

Boom!

Its power was astonishingly fierce.

Meanwhile, Barefoot Immortal, after prolonged running, successfully slimmed down, attaining a slender waist.

With the skill setting allowing increased distance when throwing shot puts, it also meant Barefoot Immortal could cause greater damage when using throwable weapons.