Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 91 Self-purification Effect
"Are you the person infected by the Taotie meme?" asked the "Iron Wall" who had always been following Professor Li in a muffled voice.

"Yeah." Sun Hang nodded.

Tiebi stared at Sun Hang for several seconds, but in the end he said nothing and just sat down cross-legged on the ground.

Even when sitting on the ground, he was still much taller than Sun Hang.

"Xiao Shen is always wary of strangers, so don't mind it too much." Professor Li said with a smile, handing two cups of tea to Sun Hang and Yang Qi respectively.

Xiao Shen? Sun Hang was stunned for a moment. To be honest, he just couldn't connect this nearly four-meter-tall giant with the name "Xiao Shen".

"Professor Li." Yang Qi took the teacup and asked somewhat flattered, "Excuse me, Professor, why did you ask us to come here?"

"Actually, there's nothing important. I just want to take this opportunity to take a look at this young man who is very interesting to me and Old Pei." Professor Li does not have the sense of distance of a person in a high position. Instead, he is quite friendly and gives people the feeling that he is an old grandfather next door.

"Lao Pei? Who is that?" Sun Hang took a sip of tea and asked subconsciously.

"Pei..." Yang Qi hesitated for a moment, then his pupils trembled, and he whispered to Sun Hang, "You have to call him Old Pei... He is the master of Tianshu Tower! He is the most authoritative person in the field of weird things research in the entire federation... No, it should be said that he is the most authoritative person in the field of weird things research in the entire human race, no doubt about it!"

"Don't say that." Professor Li waved his hand with a smile, "If Old Pei heard it, he would be unhappy again."

"You're not happy when someone praises you? This tower master has a really weird temper." Sun Hang said.

"If you want to accept such praise, you must bear the corresponding responsibilities. Old Pei and I are old, and the burden on our shoulders can no longer be carried..." Professor Li shook his head, "Let's not talk about this, let's talk about you."

"Me?" Sun Hang pointed at himself. "What can I talk about?"

"I conducted in-depth research on Taotie in my early years... To be honest, it was I who proposed the theory that 'Taotie's memes cannot infect humans'," said Professor Li.

"Ah?" Sun Hang was stunned. "Then does my appearance count as a slap in your face?"

"Cough cough." Yang Qi started coughing immediately after hearing what Sun Hang said. She winked at Sun Hang frantically, but was completely ignored by the latter.

"Um... Professor, what he meant actually..." Seeing that she had neither given any explicit hint nor any hint, Yang Qi had no choice but to speak up to smooth things over. However, as soon as she opened her mouth, Professor Li raised his hand to stop her.

"This is a slap in the face... a good slap! Your appearance proves that my theory is wrong - this slap is not to my face, but to the faces of those who are superstitious about authority! I have always believed that there should be no authority in the field of weird research. But every time I say this, they always think it is a self-deprecating statement... Alas." Professor Li showed a bitter smile on his face, "Old Pei also thinks so. He told me that this feeling is like walking on a tightrope with everyone. As long as you take a wrong step, the people behind you will fall into the abyss with you. This feeling, I don’t know if you can understand..."

"It's like walking on thin ice," Sun Hang concluded.

"That's right. We are walking on thin ice." Professor Li nodded in agreement. "If this continues, humankind's research on strange things will only stagnate... We will never be able to recover the lost lands. We can only watch our living space being compressed bit by bit until we are completely destroyed."

"Professor, I'm curious about something." Sun Hang asked.

"You say." "Yang Qi told me that strange creatures have existed as early as the pre-Qin period, but why have they not invaded human territory for thousands of years, but instead launched a large-scale attack on humans three hundred years ago? Why is that?" Sun Hang directly asked the question he had asked Yang Qi not long ago.

"Like you, I also want to know the answer to this question." Professor Li smiled and said, "I can't give you an accurate answer, but there are some mainstream speculations in the academic community that I can share with you."

"for example?"

"Do you know the 'self-purification effect' of the environment?" Professor Li asked.

"I've heard of it." Sun Hang nodded.

The self-purification effect generally refers to the phenomenon that water or soil, after being polluted, undergoes self-purification through physical (precipitation, dilution, adsorption, etc.), chemical (oxidation, reduction, etc.) or biological decomposition means.

Sun Hang felt that he was not illiterate before he lost his memory. Not only could he recognize words, but he could also recall a lot of knowledge from his textbooks during his school days. He even remembered a lot of calculus formulas that most people would forget after graduating from college.

"Strange things are probably nature's way of self-purification." Professor Li said slowly, "In the agricultural era, humans did not cause any serious damage to nature, but with the advancement of technology, everything has changed... Going back three hundred years, besides the 'appearance' of strange things, can you think of any other major events in human history?"

"Three hundred years..."

While Sun Hang was still thinking, Yang Qi had already given the answer: "The First Industrial Revolution."

"That's right. Soon after the First Industrial Revolution, a large number of strange creatures appeared all over the world. At that time, humans could only use flintlock rifles, steam tanks and steam warships to fight against these terrifying creatures... Many historical documents have recorded the cruelty of that war. I don't think I need to elaborate on this point." Professor Li said, "From that time on, humans have gone from being a part of nature to being 'pollutants' and 'harmful substances' that need to be eliminated."

"...This set of arguments sounds like it was put forward by some extreme environmental protection organization," Sun Hang commented.

"The person who first proposed this theory was indeed an environmentalist." Professor Li nodded. "Although there is no solid evidence to support this theory, it also has no obvious loopholes and is logically self-consistent. For this reason, this is the view with the most supporters in the academic community."

"It's called a self-purification mechanism, but in fact it's more like an immune mechanism of living things... Once the weird thing equivalent to immune cells is 'activated', they won't stop until humans, who are judged to be 'viruses', are completely wiped out," Yang Qi added.

"Then professor, are you also a supporter of this view?" Sun Hang asked.

"No, I never support any statement without solid evidence. I only believe my own eyes." Professor Li shook his head, "But I won't openly oppose it either... Topics that can arouse discussion and spark clashes of ideas are good topics. They are more beneficial than harmful to the development of the academic community."

"In addition to the 'self-purification theory', the second most supported theory is the 'territory theory'." Yang Qi said, "The territory theory is similar to the self-purification theory, which means that humans did not develop the earth vigorously in the early years and had not yet affected the 'habitats' of those monsters... But I actually think this statement is more one-sided. It describes those monsters as wild animals seeking revenge on humans. But in fact, anyone who has studied monsters knows that they are completely different from wild animals."

"The 'territory theory' has many supporters among the public, but few in the academic world," Professor Li said. "I do have a student who has been looking for solid evidence for the 'territory theory'. If you are interested, you can contact him."

"Uh... I'm not really interested." Sun Hang said, "I just want to know what your opinion is, Professor."

"I've already stated my opinion at the beginning," Professor Li spread his hands calmly, "I don't know."

(End of this chapter)