Chapter 7: The Video Went Viral?

He Xingzhou immediately contacted the seller and asked, "Do you still have those mutated fish?"

The seller replied, "I'm here, dear! Yes, I do! How many do you need?"

He Xingzhou: "You have quite a few?"

The seller: "One cast of the net, and I caught a whole nest! (Image)"

In the image were several fish with deformed bodies. According to the seller's description, these were black sea bream, a common species in the southern seas. They looked fierce, with sharp teeth and exceptionally strong anal and dorsal fins. These mutated black sea bream were twice the size of normal ones, and their heads and eyes were disproportionately large, giving them a very bizarre appearance.

He Xingzhou was speechless. If the seller knew he had caught a whole nest of insectoid gene carriers in one net, he wondered if the man would be able to sleep at night.

"Can you make it cheaper per fish? A thousand!" The seller had quoted three thousand per fish, and He Xingzhou tried to negotiate.

The seller: "Dear, our shop does not haggle."

He Xingzhou: "A flat price is fine, but you must guarantee the fish are alive."

The seller: "I can guarantee that. These mutated fish are incredibly resilient. Normal fish have to be oxygenated to survive after being caught, but these mutated ones are perfectly fine without it."

"Alright then, I'll take three." He Xingzhou placed the order, using his research funding to pay for them. Who would have thought that the biggest expense for a micro-nuclear reactor experiment would be buying fish!

Logistics were fast, and a few days later, He Xingzhou received the three mutated black sea bream. He kept them in a water basin in his dormitory.

"What kind of fish are these? They look so ugly!" Feng Tao remarked.

"They look kind of gross!" Zhang Yang commented.

"They're mutated black sea bream," He Xingzhou said. "I'm using them for an experiment."

"That's good. I was afraid you were planning to keep them as pets." His roommates weren't very interested.

Before conducting the nuclear test to stimulate the insectoid genes, He Xingzhou first drew blood from the mutated black sea bream to analyze their genes and preserve biological samples for comparison.

The University of Science and Technology had a biology laboratory. He Xingzhou found an interest group on the school forum dedicated to studying mutated organisms and asked for their help with the genetic testing. Hearing that He Xingzhou was researching the effects of nuclear testing on mutated organisms, they readily agreed.

He Xingzhou also specifically searched the technology tree in his quantum light computer, locating the section on bio-genetic technology.

"Unlocking basic genetic knowledge requires one unit of energy."

"Unlocking genetic evolution knowledge requires one unit of energy."

Although these were considered basic knowledge, compared to the current knowledge held by humans on Earth, they were more than sufficient to be called cutting-edge biological information. He Xingzhou spent his remaining two units of energy to unlock both pieces of technological data. As the flow of information was injected into his mind, he gained a wealth of knowledge regarding biological genetics.

Everything was ready; all that remained was for the experiment to begin!

A few days later, Zhang Boyan confirmed the date of the experiment with He Xingzhou.

He specifically instructed, "The experiment is set for next Wednesday, during my class. This experiment is highly educational, so I plan to livestream it for the students. Other professors from the School of Physics will also be watching."

"The location will still be the nuclear physics laboratory; it's safer there. Are you prepared?"

"I am prepared," He Xingzhou said earnestly.

"Good," Zhang Boyan replied. "I will be overseeing the entire process, so don't feel too much psychological pressure. After all, this is a nuclear experiment; it is normal for issues to arise."

"Understood," He Xingzhou nodded.

After confirming the date with the professor, He Xingzhou began planning the third video, which would be the final installment of his "Self-Built Nuclear Reactor" series. When he logged into the backend of Bilibili, he was startled.

His inbox showed 99+ notifications. Opening them, he found they were all private messages from netizens.

"UP, update quickly! I want to see the nuclear test! (Funny face) (Dog head)"

"Is your nuclear test safe? Won't it explode?"

"When is the update???"

"Go for it, boss!"

Most of them were messages urging him to update. He Xingzhou was surprised to find that his follower count had already exceeded one hundred thousand. For a newcomer without any titles, background, or a pretty face posing for views, gaining one hundred thousand followers in just a few days was extremely difficult. Yet, He Xingzhou had accomplished this without even realizing it!

He checked his stats and saw that both of his videos had exceeded five hundred thousand views.

"I didn't expect so many people to be interested in my building a nuclear reactor," He Xingzhou thought, feeling that he had made the right choice. He needed the entire nation to pay attention to this matter, as the upcoming super-technology project would require national participation. The more interested the public was in science and technology, the better!

While He Xingzhou was reading the private messages, a chat window popped up from the backend: "Hello, I am Xiao Mu, a video editor at Bilibili. Your video 'College Student Builds a Nuclear Reactor' has received a great response on our site. Is this video produced by you personally, and do you hold the full copyright?"

He Xingzhou: "It's me, what's up?"

Xiao Mu: "It's like this, the site has noticed that many netizens are interested in this series. We suggest that you use a livestream format for the final episode to interact with your viewers. You can then edit the stream into a video afterward, which will help increase your popularity, followers, and view count. It will also bring you some economic benefits."

He Xingzhou thought about it and realized it made sense; it would further expand his influence. He replied, "The final experiment will take place in the school's nuclear physics laboratory, so I need to communicate with the school authorities."

Xiao Mu: "Understood. If it's feasible, I will arrange for some promotion for you."

He Xingzhou: "Thank you."

He Xingzhou immediately contacted Zhang Boyan. Zhang Boyan noted that this was a way to popularize scientific knowledge to the public and didn't involve any state secrets, so there was no problem with livestreaming it on the website.

Thus, He Xingzhou finalized the livestream details with the site editor. The final experiment would be displayed to the audience in a livestream format.

Using his ID "Planet Builder," he posted the livestream announcement: "Hello everyone, I am Planet Builder. The final installment of my 'College Student Builds a Nuclear Reactor' video series will be presented as a livestream on this site next Wednesday at 2:00 PM. Stay tuned!"

As soon as his update was posted, many netizens immediately left comments:

"A nuclear test livestream? I'm hitting that follow button immediately!"

"Grabbing my front-row seat!"

"Waiting for the stream; I just want to see if this is real or fake!"

"I've got my notebook ready! Time to learn how to build a nuclear reactor!"

"Asking for a friend: will this help me find a job later?"

...

Time quickly arrived at the following Wednesday, the day the micro-fission reactor experiment was set to take place.

He Xingzhou arrived at the laboratory early in the morning. The laboratory's security personnel first inspected his experimental apparatus to confirm that no nuclear accidents would occur. Furthermore, protective measures were arranged at the site, and He Xingzhou was required to wear a protective suit to conduct the experiment.