Chapter 335 - 184: Action

Chapter 335: Chapter 184: Action

Zhang Qiang swallowed the last bite of watermelon and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"The book says you can’t see or touch it. It runs through those super thin wires, and tons of electricity all squeeze through at once. Doesn’t it get crowded? How does it know which path is good and which is bad?"

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang.

Zhang Qiang’s eyes held a kind of primal curiosity, like the first time humans saw lightning.

Chen Zhuo stopped biting his straw.

He was suddenly reminded of something from a few years ago. On the balcony at his house that had been converted into a study, he’d done a few strange little things himself, all in an attempt to understand voltage and current.

Chen Zhuo let go of the straw.

He didn’t launch into an explanation of the directional movement of electrons, nor did he mention the drift of free charges under an electric field.

He simply turned around slowly, his gaze sweeping over Zhang Qiang’s cluttered computer desk.

Piled on the desk was an unfinished 4WD car chassis, screws, a screwdriver, and several batteries of different types.

Chen Zhuo reached out and fished a rectangular battery out of the clutter.

It was a nine-volt battery, the kind you’d put in a multimeter or an RC car controller. It had two round metal terminals on top.

Chen Zhuo held the battery, tossing it up and down in his hand a couple of times.

"Want to know if it gets crowded in there?"

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhang Qiang, his tone perfectly straight-faced, as if he were asking him if the watermelon was sweet.

Zhang Qiang nodded immediately.

Chen Zhuo handed over the nine-volt battery, the metal contacts facing up.

"Stick out your tongue," Chen Zhuo said.

Zhang Qiang froze for a moment. But the absolute authority Chen Zhuo had established with the red-and-blue coloring method moments before meant his guard was completely down.

He obediently opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

"Touch the tip of your tongue to these two metal pieces at the same time."

Chen Zhuo pointed to the two contacts on top of the battery.

Completely unsuspecting, Zhang Qiang leaned forward, and the wet tip of his tongue pressed unerringly onto the positive and negative terminals.

For that one instant, time seemed to stand still for half a second.

The next moment.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on, Zhang Qiang shot up from the small plastic stool.

The movement was so violent it sent the small stool tumbling to the floor with a loud CLATTER.

Zhang Qiang clapped both hands over his mouth and hopped in place twice as tears instantly shot from his eyes.

"Numb! Ith numb!"

Zhang Qiang’s tongue felt thick in his mouth, and he couldn’t speak clearly. He kept spitting as he pointed an accusing, shocked finger at Chen Zhuo.

"Zhuo! It bit mah tongue! It’th thpicy! An’ thour!"

Chen Zhuo sat in the swivel chair.

As he watched Zhang Qiang’s ridiculously tragic state, the corners of his usually placid eyes started to twitch uncontrollably.

Two seconds later, Chen Zhuo completely broke.

He couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. His laughter grew, filled with undisguised glee at his friend’s misfortune and the triumph of a prank well played.

Chen Zhuo casually pulled two tissues, crumpled them into a ball, and threw it at Zhang Qiang’s face as if it were a hidden weapon.

"Wipe your drool. It’s dripping on your clothes," Chen Zhuo said with a laugh.

Zhang Qiang frantically caught the wad of tissue and wiped it haphazardly across his mouth. He kept rolling his tongue around, trying to soothe the intense, stinging pain from the electric current.

"You tricked me!"

Zhang Qiang tossed the tissue into the trash can. Once he could finally get his tongue to work properly, he looked utterly wronged.

"I didn’t trick you."

Chen Zhuo pointed to the nine-volt battery on the desk.

"Didn’t you ask me what the hell electricity is? Now you know?"

Zhang Qiang nodded vigorously, glancing at the square battery with lingering fear.

"Felt it?"

Chen Zhuo leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow.

"Felt like tens of thousands of ants running all over the tip of your tongue? Crowded, wasn’t it?"

"Too fucking crowded!"

Zhang Qiang sucked in a sharp breath.

"This stuff is deadly!"

A smile still played on Chen Zhuo’s lips as he looked at him.

"And that was just a nine-volt dry cell battery."

Chen Zhuo reached out and pointed to the wall socket in the corner of the room, where the fan was plugged in.

"That one over there is two hundred and twenty volts."

Chen Zhuo’s tone was slow and leisurely.

"If you’re still curious about how crowded it is in the wires, how about I find a thin piece of metal for you? You can go poke that socket yourself and see what happens."

Zhang Qiang’s eyes followed Chen Zhuo’s finger, and they instantly went wide.

He took two quick steps back, shaking his head like a rattle drum. He stared at the white plastic socket as if it were a venomous snake, coiled and ready to strike.

"No no no no, I’m not trying it. I get it. I totally get it."

Zhang Qiang put his hands behind his back, terrified that Chen Zhuo would actually go find a piece of wire and shove it into his hands.

Thanks to this very physical demonstration, Zhang Qiang had developed a primal sense of respect and fear for the invisible, intangible thing called electricity.

Chen Zhuo’s smile faded. He picked up the half-finished carton of milk from the table again.

"Now that you know it can bite, I’ll tell you how it moves in there."

Chen Zhuo pointed at the crooked blue line Zhang Qiang had drawn in the workbook.

"The wire is a water pipe. The current is the water in the pipe. And the switch is the faucet."

Zhang Qiang stood beside him, listening more intently than he ever did in class.

"The battery is the water pump. The positive terminal is the outlet, and the negative terminal is the inlet," Chen Zhuo continued.

"Water flows from the outlet, down the pipe. When it hits a fork, more water goes through the wider sections, and less water goes through the narrower ones. Now, if a big rock is blocking one of the pipes..."

"Then the water can’t get through," Zhang Qiang finished.

"Right. That’s an open circuit."